Toryumon TV 3 or Dragon Fever

Sumo Fuji and Judo Suwa run roughshod.

April 22, 1999 – Tokyo, Japan

Genki Horiguchi vs. SAITO
SAITO is the future Super Shisa, not Ryo Saito. The match is joined in progress with Horiguchi in control. They do some mirror wrestling. Horiguchi is dressed like Jorge Rivera. He hits a dropkick. SAITO goes after the arm. Horiguchi counters and works the back. He hits a back bodydrop. SAITO botches a monkey flip. He misses a dropkick. Horiguchi puts on a weak armbar. SAITO gets to the ropes. Horiguchi hits a slam and a moonsault for 2. He hits a crossbody. He hits a hurricanrana but SAITO rolls through for 2. SAITO gets another roll up for 2. He hits a fall away slam for 2. He hits a butterfly suplex for 2. Horiguchi hits the Beach Break, I think entirely by accident, for 2 when SAITO falls into the ropes. SAITO hits an armdrag. He hits a missile dropkick to the back for 2. He hits a thrust kick. He gets a sunset flip for the win at 6:28 shown of 10:33. This was pretty lousy, with both guys getting sloppy at different points. At least the mat wrestling was fluid.
Rating: *¾

Before the next match they show some clips of Kenichiro Arai and Sumo Fuji warring in Mexico. Arai really did a number on Fuji, busting him open a couple of times.

Shiima Nobunaga {CM}, Sumo Fuji {CM} & Judo Suwa {CM} vs. Magnum TOKYO, Dragon Kid & Kenichiro Arai
The match is joined in progress with Kid hitting Nobunaga with a pair of head scissor takedowns. He hits a tiger feint kick. TOKYO hits Suwa with a shoulder tackle. Suwa brutalizes the babyface team. He works TOKYO’s arm. TOKYO botches a fancy armdrag. He hits the Ace Crusher. He hits a baseball slide and a quebrada. Fuji hits a cheap shot on Arai. He chokes him with his wrist tape. Arai goes to the eyes. He hits a standing moonsault for 2. Crazy Max gangs up on Arai. Nobunaga hits a baseball slide to the face. He hits a senton on Kid. Suwa hits an elbowdrop. Fuji and Nobunaga hit a facebuster for 2. He hits legdrops. Fuji hits an elbowdrop for 2. TARU holds Kid in the corner while the rest of Crazy Max hit a triple baseball slide. TOKYO and Nobunaga look to square off but Fuji and Suwa get in the way. They hit a springboard Hart Attack. They leapfrog onto TOKYO’s back. Suwa hits a reverse DDT. He works Kid’s arm. He hits a Manhattan drop. He hits a facebuster for 2. TARU attacks Kid but Fuji hits him by mistake. Kid hits Suwa with a hurricanrana. TOKYO dropkicks Nobunaga. Kid hits him with a super hurricanrana. Arai cleans house with headbutts. Kid and TOKYO hit stereo dives. Arai hits Fuji with a chinbreaker. He hits a headbutt and a diving headbutt for 2. Fuji hits a low blow. He hits a side slam for 2. Fuji avoids a chokeslam in a very cool way. He avoids a low blow and hits on of his own. He hits a big boot and a clothesline for 2. He hits a 450 splash but doesn’t go for the cover. He hits a diving headbutt for 2. Nobunaga hits a chinbreaker. Suwa helps him hit a big DDT for 2. TOKYO hits the Gyrating Frankensteiner for 2. Nobunaga hits a powerbomb. He misses a corkscrew splash. TOKYO hits a reverse dragon screw and puts on a Regal Stretch. Suwa makes the save. Kid hits Suwa with the Ultra Hurricanrana. Suwa slams him. Kid hits a hurricanrana. Suwa hits a facebuster for 2. He hits a flapjack for 2. Kid gets a roll up for 2. He hits the Rewind Hurricanrana. He hits the Dragon Rana for 2 when Fuji makes the save. Nobunaga hits the Venus and Iconoclasm. He hits the Perfect Driver and the Mad Splash for 2 when Arai makes the save. Nobunaga hits Arai with the Venus and a plancha. Fuji cuts back TOKYO’s la magistral for 2. TOKYO counters the chokeslam to a facebuster. He gets a roll up for 2. Fuji blocks a couple suplexes so TOKYO hits a DDT for 2. He hits the Viagra Driver. He hits the AV Star Press for 2 when Nobunaga makes the save. Suwa hits a superbomb. Everyone brawls on the floor. In the ring Fuji hits TOKYO with a lariat for 2. TOKYO gets la magistral for 2. TARU hits a cheap shot and Fuji hits the chokeslam. He hits a lariat to the back. He hits another to the face for the win at 24:54 shown of 33:17. That finish was awesome! I totally did not expect Fuji to beat TOKYO, and the way they got there was great. The match felt a little long, but by and large this is a great example of why people got into Toryumon early on.
Rating: ***¾

After the match Crazy Max goes insane, beating on everyone. Suwa rips Kid’s mask apart as Fuji and Arai brawl. Suwa puts on Kid’s torn mask while TOKYO struggles to regain his composure. Later on Ultimo Dragon comes out and smacks everyone. He hugs the embarrassed Dragon Kid, so apparently the abuse was for allowing the unmasking to happen.

April 25, 1999 – Kanagawa, Japan

Kenichiro Arai vs. Sumo Fuji {CM}
The match is joined in progress with Fuji in control. Arai fights back and sends him to the floor. He hits a chair shot. Back in the ring Fuji hits a stun gun. He hits a side slam for 2. He exposes a turnbuckle and rams Arai’s face into it. Arai is unaffected as the hard-headed staple of Toryumon, so Fuji hits a low blow. Arai returns the favor with a headbutt to the groin. He puts on a chinlock but Fuji gets to the ropes. Arai hits a standing moonsault for 2. He misses a diving headbutt. Fuji hits a powerslam for 2. Arai blocks the chokeslam in his awesome way and hits an atomic drop. He hits a big boot. Fujii kills him with a lariat for 2. He hits the chokeslam for 2. He hits another crazy lariat but won’t go for the cover. Well that’s just dumb Fuji! He tells the referee to declare Arai unable to continue but Arai starts to get his wits about him again. Fuji hits a low blow and goes for an avalanche chokeslam but Arai blocks it and hits a chinbreaker off of the turnbuckle. He unloads with headbutts. He hits the 450 splash but doesn’t go for the cover. He hits the divng headbutt for the win at 9:34 shown of 14:47. They kept it simple, but the hate was palpable and the finish was brilliant. They’d have an important rematch about six years later that would pale in comparison to this.
Rating: ***¼

Stalker Ichikawa vs. Tsubo Genjin
Not sure what Genjin is supposed to be, but he’s brought to the ring by a handler, tied up with a chain and chewing a giant novelty bone. He thinks the referee is his opponent until he is told otherwise. He and Ichikawa run the ropes together. Ichikawa misses a crossbody. Genjin puts on a Camel Clutch. He switches to a half crab. Ichikawa fires back with chops. Genjin hits a low blow. He takes out the referee and Ichikawa counts the pin for him. Ichikawa rolls Genjin up for 2. Genjin rolls Ichikawa up for 2, despite the referee counting fast. He hits a bodyslam and takes a break in the front row. He hits a crossbody for 2. Ichikawa rolls him up for 2. He gets a small package for 2. He gets a sunset flip for 2. He runs the ropes until he gasses out and Genjin pins him for the win at 9:05. I can’t believe they showed this in its entirety. I was so bored. I’m sure Japanese fans in 1999 got more of a kick out of it, but Western fans beware.
Rating: DUD

Shiima Nobunaga {CM}, TARU {CM} & Sumo Fuji {CM} vs. Genki Horiguchi, Susumu Mochizuki & SAITO
The match is joined in progress with Nobunaga fighting Horiguchi. TARU hits a brainbuster. SAITO, now wearing similar gear to Horiguchi, gets abused by Crazy Max. TARU hits the Kakato Otoshi. Fuji hits an elbowdrop for 2. TARU hits a back heel kick. SAITO ducks an enziguiri and hits a pair of dropkicks. He hits a plancha. Horiguchi hits Nobunaga with a dropkick and a crossbody. He hits a hurricanrana for 2. Nobunaga crotches him up top. He hits the Venus and Iconoclasm. TARU hits a powerbomb for 2. Fuji hits Mochizuki with a running powerslam. He hits a lariat. TARU kicks the crap out of Mochizuki for 2. SAITO counters the chokeslam to a cross armbreaker. Fuji gets to the ropes. Fuji hits a low blow. He hits a powerslam for 2. Nobunaga hits Horiguchi with a leg lariat. He hits a corkscrew plancha. Fuji chokeslams SAITO. He hits a lariat for the win at 8:05 shown of 29:03. I was curious to see more Mochizuki, but the story of this episode has been building Fuji up as a tough guy and Crazy Max as jerks, so it makes sense for them to make short work of their rookie opponents. After the match Nobunaga hits SAITO with the Mad Splash.
Rating: **

Dragon Kid © vs. Judo Suwa {CM} [NWA Welterweight Championship Match]
The match is joined in progress with Kid in control Suwa comes back with a side slam. He hits a legdrop. He hits the slingshot elbowdrop. He slams Kid and catapults him into the ropes. He hits another legdrop. He props Kid on the top rope and hits a lariat. He suplexes Kid to the floor in a really scary spot. He hits a suicide dive. Back in the ring Suwa hits an armbreaker. He hits another over the top rope. He hits a Tree of Woe dropkick. He goes for another but Kid avoids it, causing Suwa to crotch himself on the post. Kid hits a head scissor takedown from the apron back into the ring. Suwa avoids the Ultra Hurricanrana. Kid hits a facebuster. He hits the Jesus for 2. He hits the Rewind Hurricanrana. He hits the Dragon Rana for 2 but he’s too hurt to cover. Also Suwa may have hit a low blow but it’s hard to tell. Suwa blocks the Ultra Hurricanrana and hits the World Liner for the win and the title at 9:04 shown of 12:28. Just a boring squash for Suwa, though it’s interesting to see that Kid, while terribly green at this time, was doing moves that all the American and European high flyers would steal a couple years later.
Rating: **¼

I really like how the events of the six man tag in the first half of the show led to the big singles matches in the second half. That’s just good television.