Event: Bridge of Dreams - Weekly Pro Wrestling at Tokyo Dome
Date: April 2, 1995 (This like the third show on my birthday before I was born smh bet there’s not gonna be anymore)
Venue: Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: ~60,000
Commentators: None
I FUCKIN’ FOUND IT
Thank you random person who uploaded the whole show to their Google Drive (which inconveniently never showed up on Google results) so I could download it you are a beautiful soul. This is gonna be a long post bc this fuckin’ show is 6 hours so skim if you wish I won’t give a fuck, just read anything I type in ALL CAPS! The picture isn’t too good, but def watchable for a VHS that’s been copied over god knows how many times since this shit was never released. Sound a little buzzy but I don’t speak Japanese anyway so fuck it LET’S GO!
They have an 8 minute or so opening segment welcoming everyone to the show I’m assuming, it looks like all the wrestlers competing, or maybe just a couple from each promotion are on the stage as well and they all get a bouquet of flowers bc Japan is so weirdly respectful.
(JWP) Candy Okutsu, Dynamite Kansai, Fusayo Nouchi, & Hikari Fukuoka vs Cutie Suzuki, Devil Masami, Hiromi Yagi, & Mayumi Ozaki
Wow this is a lot of fun. They do a great job getting everyone involved early but still keeping it mostly two women in the ring at a time. The action is all solid with some fucking awesome peaks throughout, all really similar to the women’s matches I’ve been reviewing already, but definitely one of the better ones. Dynamite is the only real power worker in the match so when she comes in she just murders people with lariats sick looking suplexes
Devil does a giant swing spot that lasts forever and Japanese crowds seem to love those. She does a Toyota Roll as well and wow I did not realize Japanese crowds loved those types of moves so much, shit makes me dizzy. They start hitting progressively bigger moves so teammates keep coming in to break them up, but they keep it up with just two people in the ring for the most part with a double team move here or there. Devil and Dynamite are easily my favorites in this, probably bc they’re the only two that aren’t just speedy cruiserweights and they keep hitting these sick fucking strikes
Devil’s team is able to take the first real advantage as this finally breaks down to everyone involved and they all hit stereo dives to the outside
Candy makes this really awesome comeback pretty soon after though and both teams go back and forth with lots of quick tags again, really fun shit. They try and isolate Dynamite in the corner but she just MURDERS FUSAYO with an elbow sending her to the floor
It all breaks down again and the finish comes when Dynamite hits her Splash Mountain Powerbomb from the top rope on Devil for the win
That got like 17 minutes or so but it felt shorter, great opener.
(LLPW) UFC Rules: Harley Saito vs Shinobu Kandori
Imagine this, you’re a small wrestling promotion allowed to showcase one match on this huge supershow and what do you book? A fucking shoot fight
It’d be one thing if they were an MMA company or some shit. Harley gets a knockdown in like 10 seconds with some sick knees and a head kick and I guess they do 10 counts like in boxing. Kandori gets up at 4 and hits a nice judo throw and goes for a triangle but it doesn’t really work so they’re just hitting each other in the face from the ground, pretty viciously. She actually ends up locking that triangle in pretty fucking tight and OH SHIT Harley gives up. Well that was like a minute lol but at least it was fun, entrances lasted longer though
(AJW) Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue vs Blizzard Yuki & Manami Toyota
No clue who Blizzard is but these other three
This spills out to the ramp like instantly and both power girls take huge running starts to kill Blizzard and Manami with lariats over the top rope
This is really fucking good too, they do the obvious power vs speed dynamic you’d expect and Kyoko/Manami’s chemistry is top notch, Aja is a fucking force and Blizzard plays her part really well too. Aja’s strikes are fucking dominant and neither girl really has an answer for them so Manami and Blizzard really only have control with Kyoko is in
Manami does the second Toyota Roll of the show but it’s named after her so I can’t blame the girl. Manami tries her best to use her speed, but Aja is just too powerful and stuffs almost everything either girl tries to do against her. They isolate Manami for awhile, just fucking killing her with painful holds. Aja almost botches a powerbomb at one point, but recovers it and hits it clean but Manami def got a concussion from how hard her head bounced off the mat JESUS! She makes a comeback and tags in Blizzard but hot tags aren’t a thing in Japan so she just gets murdered with a clothesline instantly
The smaller girls finally say FUCK it and both come into the ring to take out the opponents. They each hit dives to the outside but neither of them are caught on camera
Blizzard and Manami try to take advantage of their first real chance with a sweet Doomsday Device Dropkick, but Aja breaks it up so then they trade a few super close near falls. Blizzard then goes crazy hitting exploder suplexes
Aja comes in and murders Manami with another powerbomb that poor girl. More of all 4 in the ring, mostly Aja/Manami doing stuff though and OH MY FUCK AJA HITS THE MOST BRUTAL SPINNING BACK FIST I’VE EVER SEEN
That gets a two so Aja goes up top and hits this weird falling back body drop from the top rope? That gets the win, should have went with just winning after that Uraken tho, good shit still.
Some Japanese woman gets on the mic after, maybe a figure head for AJW IDK she’s probably just congratulating them on a good match or maybe she’s a wrestler challenging Aja for her belt...that actually seems like what’s happening man maybe I should just learn the language.
BRUH! They bring out Lou GODDAM THESZ! Ol’ Lou in Japan on ‘Mania day
He reads off a piece of paper saying he’s very honored to be at the supershow and thanks the promoters of Weekly Pro Wrestling Magazine which put this on. He mentions his historic match against Rikidozan like 40 years prior and gets this crowd all emotional about Riki. He says that today he’s just one of the 60,000 wrestling fans here. He says that wrestling is the most beautiful of all contact sports. I don’t know how many of these fans understood what he said but that was pretty cool.
The ring announcer introduces the next match as an “Alien Deathmatch” because...THEY BRING OUT HILLBILLY ALIENS! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS
I hope Lou is still making his way to his seats and isn’t here to watch this after his speech. There’s like four of them walking super slowly to the ring, I’m assuming this one in front that isn’t dressed as a redneck is the participant in the match. Ryuma Go is out next and he has this awesome entrance to “Eye of the Tiger” and he’s not an alien or anything.
(Go Gundan) Alien Deathmatch for the Go Gundan Interplanetary Championship: Ryuma Go vs Uchuu Majin Silver X (w/ REDNECK ALIENS!!!!!)
I’m just gonna call the alien wrestling X for simplicity’s sake and he also has a shitty X drawn on his mask. This is trash though, X doesn’t look like he has any wrestling training, Go might be good but IDK bc he doesn’t do too much. The aliens on the outside get involved early, heping X get rope breaks and stuff so Go goes to the outside just to get quadruple teamed fucking dumbass. They can’t even make a beatdown with a chair entertaining so fuck this when it goes back to being 1 on 1 in the ring with X in control. Go ends up outside again so the aliens start working over his knee with a chair. X actually continues the knee work in the ring with a half boston crab and even a Figure-4 OH SHIT he might actually have some training or he at least watches Nitro :hm: The crowd actually might be hotter for this than the two women’s matches that were actually good
They’re all for Go as he makes a pretty solid comeback. Go has a half crab on and one of the aliens try to break it up but he no-sells like 6 kicks first then just locks it right back on
Go then fights off ALL FOUR fucking aliens with some foreign object that I can’t tell what it is. The numbers game catches up to him and X goes back to work on the knee with a Cloverleaf. X does some more boring offense hmm I wonder if the X means 10 like a roman numeral :hm: They botch Go’s comeback spot and he only takes out 2 of the 3 aliens interfering so the other one just looks lost and leaves the ring on his own
Go hits a million different clotheslines throughout this match but for some reason the one he wins with must have been strong. LOL I don’t even know what the fuck this was but “Eye of the Tiger” plays again so whatever. I wish I knew what Lou Thesz thought about this.
Go gets a mic and cuts a short promo afterwards, I don’t think he received a belt lol.
(IWA Japan) Barbed Wire Board & Barbed Wire Baseball Bat Texas Tornado Deathmatch: Cactus Jack & The Headhunters (Headhunter A & B) vs Leatherface, Shoji Nakamaki & Terry Funk
Barbed wire covered boards surround the ring and they have a few baseball bats covered as well. Jack’s team comes out to “Symphony of Destruction” and they’ve got more weapons. They stop at the top of the ramp bc it looks like that’s where this match is starting. Jack tries to make a break for the barbed wire weapons, but gets caught by Nakamaki and I can already tell this is gonna be a lot of fun. Everyone’s just beating each other up with weapons and the 400+ pound Headhunters are already diving off the ramp
Funk takes a shot to the face from a barbed wire bat like instantly to bust him open and he wasn’t even the first one bleeding lmao Leatherface says fuck this and just leaves
Jack hits a Cactus Clothesline over the rail on fuck as a Headhunter is killing Nakamaki’s face with barbed wire, this shit is so bloody already FUCK! I think Funk is fighting a photographer at one point
The Headhunters are too damn big to be doing these dives onto the ramp
Jack gets hanged over the top rope and starts screaming at the Headhunters to help him bc he doesn’t want to lose another ear
Funk is rolling around on a barbed wire board, no idea how that happened. The amount of blood Funk and Nakamaki have lost already is insane. They sandwich Nakamaki between two barbed wire boards at one point so a Headhunter can FUCKING MURDER HIM WITH A MOONSAULT JESUS FUCKING CHRIST
BUT WAIT LEATHERFACE IS BACK AND HE HAS A FUCKING CHAINSAW! It’s rigged to spark I’m assuming and hopefully has no blade bc he takes out everyone with it TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE IN THIS BITCH!
Leatherface gets his hair (I think it’s a wig) stuck in the goddam wire so the ref has to help him get free
Funk even locks on a Spinning Toe Hold during this clusterfuck
Jack then pours gasoline on a barbed wire board and tries to get it to light as Funk throws chairs blindly into the ring and ACCIDENTALLY HITS A FAN!
I think they gave up on the fire but the Headhunters hit fucking diving planchas over the top, these men are WAY TOO BIG FOR THIS SHIT! We get a Cactus Clothesline on Funk and then he hits like a reverse Doomsday Device on Nakamaki on the outside. Jack takes a sick bump to the floor and FUNK HITS A MOONSAULT TO THE OUTSIDE! In the ring, Nakamaki sends a Headhunter face first into a barbed wire board in the corner and wins it with a roll-up, this shit was crazy.
(Pancrase) Pancrase Rules: Christopher DeWeaver vs Minoru Suzuki
Pancrase is an actual MMA company so I’ll accept them doing this, plus YOUNG SUZUKI
DeWeaver is like a foot taller than Suzuki so he tries to use that and hits these knees to the face with such ease bc his knees go up to Suzuki’s chest already
Suzuki gets a quick takedown though and they scramble on the ground for a bit until Suzuki gets a heel hook locked in the for the quick win LOL at both the shootfights on the card lasting 3 minutes total.
(PWFG) Carl Greco & Don Arakawa vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Yuki Ishikawa
BRUH! Greco and Arakawa come out to what I’m 99% sure is the theme from The Godfather movies
Fujiwara and Ishikawa come out to “Flight of the Valkries” so best two themes in a match for sure go out to these guys. Entrance themes probably the best part of this bc it gets way too much time and it’s like they can’t decide if they want to wrestle a straight or a comedy match bc Arakawa does some shitty comedy eye pokes, but when Greco comes in they do some like Greco-roman mat wrestling which I guess might be because of his name. The crowd is eating up all the dumb shit Arakawa is doing like poking Fujiwara in the ass and shit to break up a hold. Meanwhile Fujiwara and Ishikawa attempt to do real wrestling with Fujiwara obviously working the arm of Greco to set up for his armbar. Okay Arakawa started doing some regular offense and it made me miss his shitty comedy stuff so I see now why that was his go to. Greco has a rear naked choke at one point that the ref breaks up for no reason. Greco and Ishikawa have a solid exchange late in the match but they do a 10 count like in boxing after Greco hits these nice knees which really fucks up the pacing of the match I hate that goddam concept in wrestling. Ishikawa ends up winning when Greco passes out in a triangle hold. I’m starting to think this may have been a “shoot” tag team match bc there were no pins or anything, but it was obviously worked. IDK about Japan y’all.
(Michinoku Pro) Gran Naniwa, Super Delfin, & TAKA Michinoku vs The Great Sasuke, SATO, & Shiryu
They start with a slow pace so I’m assuming this is getting good time bc they aren’t just going balls to the wall like the short Super J Cup matches. The guys you’ve probably heard of (Sasuke, TAKA, & Delfin) are the obvious standouts with the Michinoku/Sasuke exchanges being AWESOME
The other guys hold their own pretty well too, doing the usual 90s junior stuff. Naniwa/Shiryu have a fun exchange but I’m just distracted by their absolutely terrible ring gear. Oh I get it Naniwa has a crab gimmick so he acts like he has dick crabs, fucking terrible. This comedy is just as shitty as Arakawa’s, but the wrestling is so much better and it’s not as common so it’s more forgivable. BRUH! At one point all three of TAKA’s team are trying to attack Shinryu and he does this hilarious kip-up shit and then the four of them just start dancing and shit
Delfin gets thrown out of the ring and goes face first into some female wrestlers tits, I really wasn’t expecting this much comedy, but it is much better than Arankawa’s at least. It’s still fucking with the pace of the match which hasn’t ever really picked up, but all the action is still fluid and solid, really odd match tbh. Alright ngl this one spot is hilarious, Naniwa keeps throwing opponents to Delfin on the apron and he wrenches their arm, so Shiryu reverses and gives Naniwa’s arm to Delfin who wrenches it not knowing it’s his partner so Naniwa gets butt hurt and tries to leave
Delfin talks him out of it and they basically continue comedy triple teaming Shinryu which has been most of the second half of the match so far. Okay as the match keeps going these comedy spots are progressively becoming more choreographed and absurd and I’m starting to really fuck with them
We get the first dives to the outside like 18 minutes in which is insane for these guys but when they start doing them WOW! TAKA makes one that was far as fuck and Sasuke is Sasuke so that’s fun. They drop the comedy for the most part for the endgame, lots of near falls and fun shit here. Sasuke does a plancha at one point and lands hard as shit on the rail JESUS! Delfin ends up getting the pin on Shiryu with the Tornado DDT and UNSTOPPABLE Delfin Clutch pin. I wasn’t expecting as much comedy at first, but it really started growing on me and all the wrestling really was good, still felt like a waste of Sasuke though.
Naniwa gets a mic after the match and I think conducts a post match interview with Delfin while TAKA just chills in the corner
I don’t know what they’re saying, but the crowd definitely seems to like it.
(RINGS) Akira Maeda vs Chris Dolman
This is ass, I honestly can’t tell if it’s bad MMA or a bad worked shoot but after shitty MMA stuff for five minutes, Maeda wins with a heel hook.
After the match they honor Dolman with a trophy and picture for some reason. This takes forever no wonder this was a 6 hour show. Dolman says thanks for supporting RINGS, the best fighting style in the world.
(UWFi) Billy Scott, Masahito Kakihara, & Nobuhiko Takada vs Gary Albright, Gene Lydick, & Kazuo Yamazaki
The team with two whites come out to "Thunderstruck” solid choice. LOL that last match killed the crowd, but this one put them 6 extra feet under. It’s not really bad or anything it’s just boring, and more worked shoot stuff that definitely looks real and painful, it just isn’t all that entertaining. The crowd picks up when Kakihara comes in because I think there’s some with him and Yamazaki, like they really want Yamazaki to kick his ass. Yamazaki’s strikes are a high point but most of this match is on the mat and I’m just not feeling it. They also do the 10 second knockdown rule in this match UGH! One thing I do like is that this isn’t just filled with interference like all the other tag matches on the night. Albright finally gets tagged in late in the match and he’s pretty over since the crowd likes his power and he hits some nice German Suplexes. It really doesn’t get any better or worse, everyone just keeps doing the same stuff really, not very many tags, mostly just mat work. Lydick really starts taking a beating late and ends up having to tap to a cross armbreaker by Takada. Overall, I’d say this was alright, an okay change of pace I guess as long as they pick back up after this.
They introduce a Japanese legend and Lou Thesz wheels him out in a wheelchair and I didn’t hear his name but he looks familiar so I’m sure he’s super famous. He’s able to stand to cut a promo in the ring, probably saying the same things Lou Thesz did earlier I’m assuming. They do a 10 bell salute after and everyone gets all emotional but I have no idea who died.
(FMW) Explosive Barbed Wire Deathmatch: The Great Nita vs King Pogo
The ropes have been replaced with barbed wire for this one. Pogo starts the match with mist right to the face
This match blows though, they do a lot of nothing trying to tease the barbed wire until finally Nita gets sent into it and OH SHIT that’s where the explosives are too bc that shit explodes on him
Pogo then gets this scythe and starts stabbing Nita in the fucking back with it. They just do fucking knife play for like 5 minutes, this scythe gets stuck in Nita’s mouth and on his throat, but he survives the attempted murder and starts hitting Pogo with the scythe. We get the first wrestling move, a DDT maybe 8 minutes or so into the match. Nita teases pushing Pogo’s head into the wire and explosives but doesn’t do shit and Pogo ends up with a barbed wire bat from somewhere and uses that to send Nita into another explosive. Pogo misses a murder shot with the bat and hits the wire so that explodes in his face. Even with the explosives this feels so tame compared to the IWA Japan match earlier. After the second wrestling move (a bulldog), Nita send Pogo into an explosive again and wins after that with a roll-up. Fuck this garbage.
Nita pours water over his head and the unconscious Pogo after the match trying to wake him up and then he helps Pogo crawl out of the ring and then Nita just like yells at the crowd for a few minutes in the ring while crawling around and shit UGH the match was bad enough.
(AJPW) Akira Taue, Johnny Ace, & Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa, & Stan Hansen
BRUH A KOBASHI/MISAWA/HANSEN TEAM
Each guy gets their own entrance for this one and Big Johnny comes out to “Kickstart My Heart” Alright I’m pretty drunk rn so lets get this shit started. This is awesome, Kobashi’s really improved by this point and he’s super over, to be fair his whole team is stupid fucking over bc just look who they are. Misawa’s amazing like you’d expect and Hansen’s brawling is fucking awesome. And I mean everyone else on the other team does great, but like does anyone care with the three they’re against? They work a slow pace for most of the opening half of the match, all really solid stuff though and what few double team moves we get are really fun. Kobashi gets isolated for a bit, they do a great job keeping him in the corner away from his teammates. They do this cool spot where Taue holds Kobashi while Kawada has a running start down the ramp and hits him with a big boot. Kobashi finally makes a desperate tag to Hansen who comes in and wrecks Kawada with a powerbomb. Misawa then comes in and has this awesome exchange with Taue. All three of the major starts end up hitting DDT’s at the same time
and this has really started picking up since like the 20 minute mark. Ace comes in and we get a super close near fall off of an Ace Cutter
Everyone’s really giving A+ effort here, this is great shit, Ace even hits a moonsault
The crowd pops huge for the first Lariat by Hansen, but the ring announcer says there’s only 3 minutes left
Kawada hits a nice lariat of his own against Hansen, but then HANSEN COMES BACK WITH A DROPKICK
Misawa and Kawada have a great exchange during the second to last minute before Taue comes in to try and put Misawa away in the last minute and he gets super close with a couple near falls but Misawa won’t stay down and almost gets the win himself with a hurricanrana. Kobashi gets a hot tag not long before the 30 minute time limit is reached, but even with there not being a winner WHAT A MATCH!
The ring announcer guy talks for fucking ever and I have no idea what he’s saying, maybe putting over the attendance or something bc it’s a sell out but who knows.
(NJPW) IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Shinya Hashimoto vs Masahiro Chono
This starts out pretty good, they trade a lot of solid strikes, but then they go into this boring ass test of strength that last entirely too long and kills the crowd completely. Yeah they’re just going through the motions UGH why do all the Chono matches I watch have to be shitty, like I know he’s a pretty good wrestler but come on. Chono works the leg, but it goes nowhere, and he makes sure to keep taunting the mostly dead crowd. Chono tries a heel hook which is a solid strategy since it won like 5 matches tonight, but of course it goes nowhere as well. Chono locks on the STF which gets a nice reaction from the crowd. They work the hold for awhile before Hashimoto just uses his fat to lay on Chono. Solid near fall after a corner biel throw by Hashimoto, and then he follows it up with his first real offense of the match, working Chono’s arm. Then they do this spot where Hashimoto eats a shit ton of kicks before making a comeback and hitting a pretty sick looking brainbuster for the win. Not terrible, but not particularly good either. LOL that this is the reason NJPW has never released this though supposedly.
I’m done listening to Japanese people talk so I’m not gonna watch this last 4 minute old guy promo. But overall this was a very hit or miss show which is to be expected when you do a 13 promotion 13 match card, but it was definitely more hit than miss with the Women’s tag matches, AJPW and IWA Japan matches being the highlights for sure.