#240: Atsushi Onita vs. Masahiro Chono, NJPW Strong Style Symphony (4/10/1999).
This is a No Rope Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match.
Onita, an invader from FMW, was attempting to coax Riki Choshu to come out of retirement for a match, but Choshu instead set Onita up to face other opponents inside of New Japan’s ring. Famously, Onita branded Kensuke Sasaki with a fireball earlier in the year, to the absolute jeers of the New Japan faithful. Choshu wanted Onita to prove himself to be a worthy reason to come out of retirement, so he set Onita up to face Masahiro Chono, one of the defining faces of the promotion in the 1990s.
This is as rare of a gimmick match in New Japan as it gets, and it’s the opening match of a Tokyo Dome event, which allegedly drew over 60,000 fans.
Onita’s entrance is the stuff of legend. It’s one of the most iconic entrances not only in the history of Puroresu, but all of wrestling anywhere in the world. Wearing blue jeans and a leather jacket, Onita enters to “Wild Thing” playing, with a chair and a drink, as he’s hit with a chorus of boos and trash on the ramp. At one point, Onita takes a seat on the ramp and smokes a cigarette. Incredible. Not to be out done, Chono enters in all black, driving a black Hummer.
The bell sounds, and here we go! Onita slowly circles around Chono, as the crowd grows increasingly louder with each passing second. They lock up, and Chono explodes with punches. Onita goes to throw Chono into the barbed wire, but he’s able to block it. They lock wrists, and Chono takes Onita down with a front face lock. Onita with some punches to the head, and he very nearly gets Chono tossed into the wire.
Onita kicks Chono in the midsection, then hits an enziguri. He hits a powerbomb and bridges into a pin, but Chono kicks out. Onita with some hard kicks to the spine. He grabs a chair, and Chono quickly kicks it out of his hand. Chono takes the chair, as the sirens start to go off, signaling that the explosion is approaching. Chono with the STF submission. He grabs the chair, and drills Onita in the midsection with it.
He throws the chair at Onita, who blocks it, and the chair hits the barbed wire, causing a big explosion! Onita takes the chair and hits Chono in the spine and ribs with it. He takes the top part of the chair and hits Chono in the neck. Running bulldog into the chair by Onita, followed by another shot to the back. Onita whips Chono into the barbed wire, setting off another explosion! The crowd gasps in shock. Onita faceplants Chono into the chair, which gets him a nearfall.
He trips Chono, and goes for the Sharpshooter, but Chono blocks it by applying an Ankle Lock. Onita is back to his feet, and connects with a few strikes to the head. They slap one another, and Onita connects with some headbutts. He tries to force Chono into the barbed wire, but Chono moves, and Onita goes back first into it, causing another explosion. Onita is bleeding from his arm, and one of the gashes looks really bad.
Chono zeroes in on the injured arm, hyperextending it against his knee. He’s telling Onita to get back to his feet. He lays in some hard strikes to Onita’s head, as he poses for the crowd. Onita connects with a low blow, and Chono with one of his own! Fair game. Onita launches the chair at Chono’s head, and then hits a bridging Powerbomb for a 2 count. Chono is busted open, as both men approach each other on their knees. They each land headbutts on the other.
They look like rabid dogs, as they slowly get back to their feet. Chono with a big boot to Onita, sending him into the barbed wire. Chono with another boot to the face, and it sends him, Onita and the referee into the barbed wire, setting off another explosive. Tiger Hattori comes in, and makes the count, which Onita kicks out of. Another big boot by Chono, and Onita kicks out once again. Chono eggs Onita on, as he lands one more big boot to the head. Again, Onita kicks out.
Saito Suplex by Chono, and Onita holds onto his head on the way down. He brings Chono to the barbed wire, causing the explosion to harm both men in the process. Tiger counts to 10, and neither man are able to make it back to their feet. This is a Double Knockout finish. That was a total dud ending to a match that was just okay in my book. It was pure spectacle, and the explosion spots were well done. Outside of that, I don’t think either man really did anything of note. For an Exploding No Rope Barbed Wire Death Match, this was kind of boring.
This did have cool entrances, in particular the one with Onita, and the explosion spots were very cool. Other than that, this was kind of forgettable.