NJPW catch up Oct to Dec 1993

[Chitohausen]

The Burning Spirit in Autumn series wrapped up with a big show at Osaka-jō Hall on September 26.

On that night, the Great Sasuke made his first big impact since arriving in New Japan, when he pinned IWGP Jr heavyweight champ Jushin Thunder Liger in a non-title match!  After the decision was announced, Sasuke made his intentions clear . . . he's here to take the Jr heavyweight crown from Liger!

Masahiro Chono pulled off a HUGE upset, defeating Tatsumi Fujinami earlier on the tour, and he continued to impress, with a win over the former Olympian Yoshiaki Yatsu in Osaka!

The war between Heisei Ishingun and Raging Staff came to an end, when Heisei Ishingun's Kengo Kimura, Shiro Koshinaka and Kuniaki Kobayashi defeated Raging Staff members Super Strong Machine, Hiro Saito and Tatsutoshi Goto in a match with the stipulation that the losing faction must split up!  Afterwards, the members of Raging Staff all blamed each other for the loss, and started brawling!

The main event was an historic match, that saw the winner of the G1 Climax, Mitsuharu Misawa, defeat reigning IWGP Heavyweight champion the Great Muta to win the title!  The match lasted almost 30 minutes, before Misawa drove Muta into the mat with the Tiger Driver '91 to secure the pinfall victory and the IWGP title!

On October 8, the Super Grade Tag League began.  Ten teams took part in the round robin tournament, with the reigning IWGP tag team champs the Jurassic Powers of Scott Norton and Hercules Hernandez and Keiji Mutoh and Hiroshi Hase both finishing with 14 points.  The two teams met in the finals of the league, with Mutoh and Hase pulling off the upset, and defeating the champions in just under 15 minutes, when Mutoh hit Hernandez with a top-rope Frankensteiner for the 1, 2, 3!

Also on this tour, the former members of Raging Staff faced off against each other in a series of wild, violent matches!

The final show of the tour took place on November 4 at Tokyo's Sumo Hall.  As well as the finals of the tag league, we saw a dream match as new IWGP champ Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada squared off with NJPW legends Tatsumi Fujinami and Riki Choshu!  After almost 25 minutes of back and forth action, the All Japan team got the win when Misawa pinned Fujinami with the Tiger Driver '91!

The final standings of the Super Grade League were:

WINNERS: Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase [14]
2. The Jurassic Powers (Scott Norton & Hercules Hernandez) [14]
3. Masahiro Chono & Kensuke Sasaki [13]
4. Tatsumi Fujinami & Osamu Kido [13]
5. Stan Hansen & Danny Spivey [10]
6. Shiro Koshinaka & Kengo Kimura [8]
7. Masa Saito & The Barbarian [4]
8. The J-J-Jacks (Takayuki Iizuka & Akira Nogami) [4]
9. Jushin Thunder Liger & Ultimo Dragon [4]
10. Ken Shamrock & Minoru Suzuki [2]

The last tour of the year, "Final Battle '93", kicked off on November 20 at Tokyo's Korakuen Hall.

We saw some great matches, including newcomer Black Tiger teaming up with Norio Honaga to defeat Jushin Thunder Liger and El Samurai, after a swinging DDT from Black Tiger on Samurai!

Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Masa Saito in a wild match, and the main event saw the first match of Antonio Inoki's Retirement Countdown tour.  In that match, Inoki came up short against IWGP champ Mitsuharu Misawa!  Misawa pinned the legend with the Tiger Driver!

[Chitohausen]

The "Final Battle '93" tour continued throughout the first half of December.

This tour gave the younger stars of New Japan's new generation the chance to shine.  On December 3 at Korakuen Hall, the winners of the SG Tag League, Keiji Mutoh and Hiroshi Hase, joined up with Masahiro Chono, to defeat IWGP Tag champs The Jurassic Powers and fellow American Wayne Bloom.  Mutoh pinned Bloom with a Moonsault to win that match.

Also on that Korakuen Hall show, we saw a Wrestler vs Boxer match, as Antonio Inoki met the dangerous boxer and kickboxer from Finland, Tony Halme!  It was a brutal affair, that saw both men bleeding before it was over.  Inoki took the best that Halme had to offer, but his fighting spirit carried him through, and Inoki picked up with the win after forcing Halme to submit to the Octopus Hold.

A week later, on December 10, NJPW was at the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium in Nagoya.  Just over 11,000 fans witnessed a great card, headlined by two championship matches!

Before the title matches, former tag team partners squared off, as Tatsumi Fujinami defeated his long-time tag team partner Kengo Kimura.  Fujinami got the win with the Dragon Sleeper, and then offered his hand to his former partner.  Despite the ongoing rivalry between the stars of NJPW and Kimura's Heisei Ishingun, Kimura shook the Dragon's hand as a show of respect, then raised his arm.

In the semi main event, the winners of the 1993 SG Tag League, Keiji Mutoh and Hiroshi Hase, defeated the IWGP tag champs The Jurassic Powers, Scott Norton and Hercules Hernandez, to win the titles!  This is the second time Mutoh and Hase have held the titles together, as they defeated the Steiner Brothers at Nippon Budokan back in November of 1991.

The main event saw All Japan's Mitsuharu Misawa defend his IWGP title for the first time, in a nearly 30-minute slobberknocker, against Stan "the Lariat" Hansen!  Hansen battered the champion throughout the match, but in the end, Misawa was able to fight back, and pin Hansen after the Tiger Driver '91!

The final show of the year took place on December 13 at Osaka-jō Hall.

Fans were treated to another title change, as Ultimo Dragon upset IWGP Jr heavyweight champion Jushin Thunder Liger to win the title!  Dragon got the pinfall in just under 12 minutes after connecting with a top-rope Powerbomb!

Kensuke Sasaki has continued his rise as a singles wrestler, after teaming with Hiroshi Hase and Road Warrior Hawk over the past few years.  On this show, he pinned tough veteran Tatsutoshi Goto in under 5 minutes with a brutal Northern Lights Bomb.

The main event of the Osaka show saw NJPW vs AJPW in a wild 5 on 5 elimination match!  The last time we saw a big multi-man battle between the two promotions, All Japan was victorious, but this time, it was the New Japan team getting their hands raised!

Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu, Masahiro Chono, Keiji Mutoh and Hiroshi Hase represented New Japan, while All Japan's team consisted of Genichiro Tenryu, Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, Yoshiaki Yatsu and Jun Akiyama.

Choshu and Mutoh survived the match, with Choshu pinning Kawada after a Lariat and Powerbomb at the 40-minute mark to win the match for New Japan!

The December 30 TV was a special Year in Review show, which also hyped the matches that will take place on January 4 at the Tokyo Dome:

Shinjiro Ohtani opens the show against El Samurai!

Hiroyoshi Tenzan is back in Japan after a learning excursion to Europe, and he meets Manabu Nakanishi!

Ultimo Dragon defends his newly-won IWGP Junior heavyweight title against the Great Sasuke!

The J-J-Jacks, Takayuki Iizuka and Akira Nogami, square off with Heisei Ishingun's Shiro Koshinaka and Masashi Aoyagi!

Former stablemates collide, as Super Strong Machine meets Tatsutoshi Goto!

Former IWGP Junior heavyweight champ Jushin Thunder Liger looks to move back into contention for the title, as he squares off with Tiger Mask III!  These two have met in the past, and both hold victories over the other.

Boxer Tony Halme and Karateka Akitoshi Saito meet in a mixed style match!

Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki, who held the IWGP tag titles twice in 1990, face former champions Scott Norton and Hercules Hernandez!

Rick and Scott Steiner travel to Japan to square off with Stan Hansen and Dan Spivey!

Hulk Hogan returns to Japan to face the Dragon, Tatsumi Fujinami!

In another battle between New Japan and All Japan, Riki Choshu goes one on one with Genichiro Tenryu!

The second match of Antonio Inoki's Retirement Countdown series will see the legend battle WCW's Sting!

And, the main event, the new generation takes centre stage, as Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono square off with IWGP champ Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada from All Japan Pro Wrestling!