WCW/New Japan Supershow

WCW/New Japan Supershow was an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) jointly promoted by the Atlanta, Georgia based World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and the Japanese New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) wrestling promotions. It was held in 1991, 1992 and 1993, and was promoted as "Starrcade" in Japan, but not billed as such in the United States due to WCW already having a show called "Starrcade" held each year in December.[1] The show would be taped in Japan and then edited and aired in North America at a later date in WCW. The last two of this three events were also the two first January 4 Dome Show.

I

WCW/New Japan Supershow I
Information
Promotion World Championship Wrestling
New Japan Pro Wrestling
Date March 21, 1991
Aired April 1991
Attendance 64,500
Venue Tokyo Dome
City Tokyo, Japan
Pay-per-view chronology

WrestleWar (1991) WCW/New Japan Supershow I SuperBrawl I

WCW/New Japan Supershow I, was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event that took place March 21, 1991 from the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, co-promoted by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), who hosted the event and the US-Based World Championship Wrestling (WCW) that supplied a number of the wrestlers on the show. The event was viewed by 64,500 people in Japan and later shown in the United States as a PPV in April, 1991. In Japan the event was referred to as Starrcade in Tokyo Dome[2] Several of the matches on the show were not included in the PPV broadcast, held for the benefit of the crowd in attendance only. The WCW/NJPW Supershows were part of a small group of WCW produced PPVs not included in the "on demand" features when the WWE Network was launched in 2014.[3]

The main event match between Ric Flair and Tatsumi Fujinami was presented very differently in the United States and in Japan. During the show it was announced that Ric Flair's NWA World Heavyweight Championship was on the line, but not the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, in the US those were considered the same championship and represented by one belt. The PPV announcers stated that Fujinami's IWGP Heavyweight Championship was also on the line in the match even though no such mention was made during the introductions. The outcome of the match was also presented differently, to the Japanese crowd Fujinami defeated Flair by pinfall and thus won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The title change was ignored in the US, claiming that Fujinami had been disqualified for throwing Ric Flair over the top rope and thus did not win the match.[4] A later rematch between the two at SuperBrawl I saw Flair regain the NWA title, but in all promotional material produced by WCW it was billed as a successful title defense against Fujinami.[5][6]

No. Results[7] Stipulations Times
1D Animal Hamaguchi, Kengo Kimura, Osamu Kido and Kantaro Hoshino defeated Super Strong Machine, Hiro Saito, Tatsutoshi Goto and Norio Honaga Eight-man tag team match 10:12
2 Shiro Koshinaka, Kuniaki Kobayashi and Takayuki Iizuka defeated Tim Horner, Brian Pillman and Tom Zenk Six-man tag team match 12:10
3D Scott Norton defeated The Equalizer Singles match 02:23
4 Jushin Thunder Liger (c) defeated Akira Nogami Singles match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship 16:08
5 Arn Anderson and Barry Windham defeated Masa Saito and Masahiro Chono Tag team match 09:17
6 The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) (WCW) defeated Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki (IWGP) Tag team match for the WCW Tag Team Championship and IWGP Tag Team Championship 12:56
7 El Gigante defeated Big Cat Hughes Singles match 02:16
8D Big Van Vader and Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Doom (Ron Simmons and Butch Reed) Tag team match 13:17
9D Riki Choshu defeated Tiger Jeet Singh Singles match 11:07
10 The Great Muta defeated Sting Singles match 11:41
11 Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Ric Flair (c) Singles match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship 23:06
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
  • D – indicates the match was a dark match

II

WCW/New Japan Supershow II
Information
Promotion World Championship Wrestling
New Japan Pro Wrestling
Date January 4, 1992
Aired March 1992
Attendance 60,000
Venue Tokyo Dome
City Tokyo, Japan
Pay-per-view chronology

Starrcade 1991 WCW/New Japan Supershow II SuperBrawl II
NJPW January 4 Dome Show chronology

First WCW/New Japan Supershow II Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome

WCW/New Japan Supershow II (known as Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome in Japan) took place on January 4, 1992 from the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan.[8] The show the first NJPW January 4 Dome Show, something that would become an annual tradition in NJPW and would become their biggest show of the year, their Super Bowl event. The show was broadcast on Pay-per-view (PPV) months later in the United States under the name "WCW/New Japan Supershow II. The US PPV broadcast did not include several of the matches of the 12 match show, with only six being broadcast in the U.S. our of a total of twelve matches. The WCW/NJPW Supershows were part of a small group of WCW produced PPVs that were not included in the "on demand" features when the WWE Network was launched in 2014.[3]

The main event of the show was a tag team match between The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) and the team of the top Face of NJPW and WCW as The Great Muta teamed up with Sting. The show also featured WCW World Heavyweight Champion Lex Luger successfully defending the championship against NJPW representative Masahiro Chono.

No. Results[7] Stipulations Times
1D Black Cat defeated Hiroyoshi Yamamoto Singles match 10:28
2D Osamu Kido and Kuniaki Kobayashi defeated Kengo Kimura and Kantaro Hoshino Tag team match 11:54
3 Jushin Thunder Liger, Masashi Aoyagi and Akira Nogami defeated Hiro Saito, Super Strong Machine and Norio Honaga Six-man tag team match 15:12
4 The Enforcers (Arn Anderson and Larry Zbyszko) defeated Michiyoshi Ohara and Shiro Koshinaka Tag team match 12:32
5 Dusty Rhodes and Dustin Rhodes defeated Masa Saito and Kim Duk Tag team match 14:23
6D Tony Halme defeated Scott Norton Singles match 08:41
7D Shinya Hashimoto defeated Bill Kazmaier Singles match 08:37
8 Big Van Vader wrestled El Gigante to a double disqualification Singles match 04:49
9D Antonio Inoki defeated Hiroshi Hase Singles match 10:09
10 Lex Luger (c) defeated Masahiro Chono Singles match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship 15:09
11D Riki Choshu (G18) defeated Tatsumi Fujinami (IWGP) Singles match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and the Greatest 18 Championship 12:11
12 Sting and The Great Muta defeated The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) Tag team match 11:03
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
  • D – indicates the match was a dark match

III

WCW/New Japan Supershow III
Information
Promotion World Championship Wrestling
New Japan Pro Wrestling
Date January 4, 1993
Aired March 1993
Attendance 63,500
Venue Tokyo Dome
City Tokyo, Japan
Pay-per-view chronology

Starrcade (1992) WCW/New Japan Supershow III SuperBrawl III
NJPW January 4 Dome Show chronology

Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome WCW/New Japan Supershow III Battlefield

WCW/New Japan Supershow III (known as "Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome" in Japan) took place on January 4, 1993 from the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan.[9] The show would be the third and final show available on pay-per-view in the United States under the name "WCW/New Japan Supershow". In Japan the show was promoted under the name "Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome" and was the second annual NJPW January 4 Dome Show, NJPW's premier event of the year. The WCW/NJPW Supershows were a part of a small group of WCW produced PPVs not that were included in the "on demand" features when the WWE Network was launched in 2014.[3]

The US broadcast originally advertised that they would show the eight match of the show, an IWGP Tag Team Championship match between champions The Hell Raisers (Hawk Warrior and Power Warrior) defending the championship against WCW representatives The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott), but by the time the PPV was shown in the US the Steiner Brothers had informed WCW that they were leaving the company and thus the match was pulled from the show. Instead WCW chose to have the match with WAR's Koki Kitahara, Masao Orihara, and Nobukazu Hirai vs. NJPW's Akira Nogami, Takayuki Iizuka, and El Samurai.

No. Results[7] Stipulations Times
1D Shiro Koshinaka, The Great Kabuki, Masashi Aoyagi and Akitoshi Saito defeated Super Strong Machine, Hiro Saito, Tatsutoshi Goto and Norio Honaga Eight-man tag team match 14:20
2 Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Último Dragón (c) Singles match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship 20:09
3 Ron Simmons defeated Tony Halme Singles match 06:10
4 Masa Saito and Shinya Hashimoto defeated Scott Norton and Dustin Rhodes Tag team match 13:57
5 The Great Muta (IWGP) defeated Masahiro Chono (NWA) Singles match for the IWGP Heavyweight Champion and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship 19:48
6 Takayuki Iizuka, Akira Nogami and El Samurai defeated Nobukazu Hirai, Masao Orihara and Koki Kitahara Six-man tag team match 15:11
7 Sting defeated Hiroshi Hase Singles match 15:31
8D The Hell Raisers (Hawk Warrior and Power Warrior) (c) wrestled The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) to a double countout Tag team match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship 14:38
9D Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Takashi Ishikawa Singles match 11:41
10D Genichiro Tenryu defeated Riki Choshu Singles match 18:14
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
  • D – indicates the match was a dark match

See also

Notes

    References

    1. ↑ "Partial Results From 1991". Puroresufan.com. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
    2. ↑ "WCW/New Japan Pay Per Views WCW/New Japan Supershow". Prowrestlinghistory.com. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
    3. 1 2 3 "16 PPVs now on the WWE Network". Retrieved May 30, 2015.
    4. ↑ "Can Ric Flair shatter the "myth" of Japanese Superiority?". The Wrestler. Kappa Publications. pp. 11–12. July 1991.
    5. ↑ "Historical Cards: SuperBrawl I (May 19, 1991. St. Petersburg, Florida)". PWI Presents: 2007 Wrestling Almanak and book of facts. Kappa Publications. p. 156. 2007 Edition.
    6. ↑ "SuperBrawl "Return of the Rising Sun"". Pro Wrestling History. May 19, 1991. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
    7. 1 2 3 Cawthon, Graham (2014). the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 4: World Championship Wrestling 1989-1994. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 1499656343.
    8. ↑ "WCW/New Japan Pay Per Views WCW/New Japan Supershow II". Prowrestlinghistory.com. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
    9. ↑ "WCW/New Japan Pay Per Views WCW/New Japan Supershow III". Prowrestlinghistory.com. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
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