Network of Wrestling – The Sensation #1 04/18/93
By Maffew Gregg on October 8, 2023
Network Of Wrestling
City Gymnasium, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka
Attendance: 1,780
Buddy Landel no-showed last month’s Korakuen Hall so NOW are done with him. Maybe Flair was right and he just got lost in the sleeves?
Alex Porteau vs. Kishin Kawabata
Every time I think about The Pug I’m reminded of the amazing The Howard Stern Show character Eric The Actor. Eric was a man with a million things wrong with him (one of which was “wrestling fan”) but throughout it all he maintained an enormous ego and would routinely tell the King Of All Media to fuck off when he didn’t give him money. He had an idea for a children’s book called Dougie The Puggy involving a small dog that hung out with Katherine McKee. Sadly much like himself, the idea never got off the ground. I must have listened to ETA compilations a million times over the years and yet still enjoy his grunting every time. Alex wins with a weak Backdrop Driver at 6:14.
Hisakatsu Oya vs. Masanobu Kurisu
To establish the new big deal heel, Masanobu hits the ref with a chair, makes a mess with Oya on the outside before attacking the ref a second time and getting DQ’d 2:05. Masanobu’s mate Goro attempts to choke Oya with a rope so good guy (but also massive heel?) Ueda makes the save with everyone scaring the fans by rolling into them. Eh, the crowd scattering as Masanobu charged at them looked cool and this was at least better than Oya’s usual dullness.
Bob Orton Jr. vs. Hiroshi Hatanaka
Can reliable Bob get something out of Hatanaka? Bob wins a test of strength by walking backwards up the ropes before doing the lucha body press sequence so I’m guessing yes. Or maybe not as they take it really slowly after that as Hatanaka takes over. Eventually Bob takes a dropkick to the outside to give us the contractually-obligated crowd brawl. This allows Bob to recharge his batteries like the pink bits in F-Zero and takes over the match to pick things up with his Hall Of Fame punches. He’s up there with Savage, Lawler and Cash Wheeler. Orton bulldogs Hatanaka into the ring post to try a count out but no such luck so he oversells an Irish Whip instead before immediately coming back with a Superplex to end this at 17:25 Bob was game but much like Hatanaka’s career, this was unnecessarily long and unremarkable.
Goro Tsurumi vs. Apollo Sugawara
This show is turning into a cruel joke. They immediately go to the contractually-obligated brawl on the outside before heading back inside for more punching and kicking. Goro reverses a standing armbar into a Russian Leg Sweep to win at 7:15
8 Man Battle Royal: Hisakatsu Oya vs. Alex Porteau vs. Apollo Sugawara vs. Bob Orton Jr. vs. Goro Tsurumi vs. Hiroshi Hatanaka vs. Kishin Kawabata vs. Masanobu Kurisu
God love them for trying to present an 8 Man Battle Royal as a positive. Oya gets the Single Crab submission while Apollo tries pinning someone at 9:58 as this may be the most boring show to ever feature on the Blog Of Doom.
Ishinriki vs. Dusty Wolfe
WON reported Ishinriki quit NOW a few weeks ago but Dave now realises it was an angle as he’s back but Ishinriki still can’t understand why Kendo Nagasaki would team up with Ueda. Well they’ve got to do something after Onita preferred to eat a barbed wire burger than be involved with NOW.
Dusty Wolfe enters the ring wearing a giant cowboy hat to the sound of House Of Pain’s Jump Around in case you needed help figuring out he’s white. The man who spent half his life as a WWF enhancement talent pulls Ishinriki’s hair which gets him a Duggan-style shoulder tackle for his troubles. Wolfe is too lumpy to properly take a hip toss so Ishinriki goes for an Abdominal Stretch instead. How did Dusty Wolfe get flown over? “You’ve got to come to this NOW show, they’ve got real American jobbers!” A slow swinging neckbreaker gets two as Ishinriki is realising in real time what a mistake this was. Wolfe lands a clothesline with such little effort I’m surprised a fan didn’t attempt a citizen’s arrest. Ishinriki flies with a springboard clothesline to the outside before finishing with the Camel Clutch at 10:52 and immediately leaves the ring in disgust.
I could go on about how miscast Dusty was in this role but instead I’ll post a picture of him and wonder what NOW thought they were getting:
Kendo Nagasaki & Umanosuke Ueda vs. Chuck Williams & Rod Price
OK so we’re relying on Rod Price to save this show, and Chris Adams isn’t around to pull his hair out. Chuck Williams would become Rockin’ Rebel to give this show the sad ending it deserves. At least NOW can run shows in Philadelphia. Rebel and his mullet-so-big-it’s-paying-rent exchange holds with Kendo until Ueda tags in to polite applause. Wait the 900 year old stabby dude is a face now? The Yorkshire Ripper would have done well in Japan. Rod tags in to chinlock Ueda for about five minutes as I’m throwing in the towel on this show. They’re clearly going long and Ueda physically doesn’t have the energy or ability to do anything more than lie on the mat as he’s reached his Great Kabuki story arc. Ueda allows himself to be thrown into some chairs and then spends the rest of the match lying on the mat some more while everyone works around him. Why is Ueda playing the role of Ricky Morton? He’s old enough to have known Jelly Roll Morton. Kendo tags in for blahblahblah no sane individual is still reading this dreck piledriver finishes at 15:00 and then everyone brawls in the crowd so Goro and Masanobu can show up and tease more brawls at later shows but FANSWE’REOUTTATIME.
Overall: NOW have put on some entertaining shows. This wasn’t one of them.
Next Week: The last NOW handheld fan cam of the year as the pirates tape traders realise it’s not worth the effort.
Only interesting thing about the show was NOW’s pamphlet explaining who the American wrestlers are features an entry for Rod Price but doesn’t have a photo of the guy. It’s just a blank mess and I guess we just imagine a wrestler, which would have been a better use of time than watching this.
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