Which company has common NJPW shown better, WCW or AEW?
The forbidden door that opened AEW June 26, 2022 is closed for now, but despite a late build and numerous injuries and map changes, the joint AEW/NJPW show was definitely a success. The sold-out crowd of around 16,000 raucous fans were treated to a great job in the ring from start to finish with no real lull, with a surprise appearance from Katsuyori Shibata attacking Will Ospreay after his terrific match with Orange Cassidy. After the event, NJPW President Takami Ohbari said he would like to host a sequel in the Land of the Rising Sun – possibly during NJPW’s 50th anniversary year which runs through March 2023.
It certainly looks like the budding relationship between the world’s two top wrestling promotions not named Stardom will continue to blossom in the years to come. However, this was far from the first time that NJPW held a joint show with an American wrestling company. In fact, they did four different joint shows with WCW between 1991 and 1995. So, let’s take a look at which company did the better NJPW – WCW or AEW joint show?
The professional wrestling industry, and the world at large, are very different in 2022 than they were in the early 90s. Technology has given us access to many professional wrestling these days that would have blown the heads of band traders in the 1990s. This is not an apples to oranges comparison, but we will use star ratings from Dave Meltzer and ratings from Cagematch.net to provide a baseline.
New Japan Wrestling and WCW Clash in NJPW Starrcade 1991
On March 21, 1991, wrestlers from New Japan Wrestling and WCW faced off at the NJPW Starrcade, held at the Tokyo Dome. Cagematch.net gave it a rating of 6.42.
Notable matches:
Steiners beat Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki (4.5 Meltzer, 7.52 Cagematch)
Great Muta defeats Sting (3.5, 7.57)
Tatsumi Fujinami and Ric Flair no contest (3.5, 6.79)
The inaugural joint show between NJPW and WCW is best known for the controversial “Dusty Finish” in the main event between Ric Flair and Tatsumi Fujinami for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Politics took over, as often happens in co-promotion shows, as neither company wanted to drop their world championship to the other. This resulted in what appeared to be a victory for Tatsumi Fujinami, but it was overturned on a late DQ appeal by NWA referee Bill Alfonso, much to the dismay of the Japanese public.
NJPW and WCW meet several times in the 1990s
On January 4, 1992, New Japan and WCW held another joint show at Tokyo Dome called Super Warriors. Cagematch only gave him 3.85. This show is historic mainly for the fact that it was NJPW’s first show on its sacred date of January 4, as they have held a Tokyo Dome show on January 4 every year since then. Only one match on the show was rated by either Meltzer or Cagematch, and that was Great Muta and Sting defeating The Steiners (4.25, 7.13).
On January 4, 1993, NJPW and WCW would face off again in the Tokyo Dome at Fantastic Story. Cagematch gave this event a 7.08.
Notable matches:
Jushin Thunder Liger defeats Ultimo Dragon (3.75, 7.14)
Great Muta defeats Masahiro Chono (4.25, 7.28)
Hawk Warrior & Power Warrior and The Steiners double count (4, 7.11)
Genichiro Tenryu defeats Riki Choshu 4, 7.57)
Along with WCW, NJPW co-promoted this show with Genichiro Tenryu’s WAR promotion, and the final two matches saw NJPW and WAR contestants go head-to-head. This would be the last joint NJPW/WCW broadcast on Japanese soil.
Dubbed the “World Cup of Wrestling”, Starrcade 1995 rolled out of Nashville, Tennessee, on December 27, and would see WCW and NJPW face off in a series of seven singles matches for the so-called “World Cup of Wrestling”. struggle”. WCW would end up winning 4-3, although there was no physical trophy for the winner, and it was treated more like USA vs. Japan than WCW vs. NJPW, although some WCW competitors are not from the United States. In any case, this event had the most direct competition between the two promotions. Cagematch gave it a 6.28.
Notable matches:
Jushin Thunder Liger defeats Chris Benoit (4, 6.90)
Koji Kanemoto beats Alex Wright (3.75, 6.44)
Shinjiro Otani defeats Eddie Guerrero (4.25, 7.74)
AEW and NJPW open the forbidden door
What made Forbidden Door so special, aside from the molten crowd, was that every match (excluding the women’s) featured at least one man from each promotion battling against each other. Match quality was incredibly stellar all night, with every men’s match having a Cagematch rating of at least 7.57 and up to 9.13 (Ospreay/Cassidy). The event itself received a rating of 9.31. Granted, we’re in a different era, but NJPW/WCW shows couldn’t compete with Forbidden Door when it came to quality. It featured a legitimate dream match in Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, saw two young NJPW stars shine in Shota Umino and Clark Connors, and featured a myriad of other awesome matches and moments.
The show also featured Claudio Castagnoli’s “surprise” AEW debut, and Shibata’s aforementioned surprise return, which was the moment of the night for this present writer. Even the Buy In was great. This show was a long time coming and felt like the natural sequel to 2018’s ALL IN, and even with all the uncertainty surrounding it, they still put on one hell of a show – currently sitting at No. 43 in the top shows by Cagematch. time.
Who did the Joint New Japan Show better, WCW or AEW?
The easy answer is AEW, but that doesn’t go without saying that the NJPW/WCW shows were pretty big at the time and successful on their own, drawing around 64,500, 60,000, and 63,500 fans to the Tokyo Dome, respectively. For comparison, the last night of Wrestle Kingdom 14 in 2019 drew just over 38,000 fans. They were obviously doing something right to attract those crowds. But one downside to these cards was that less than half of each show’s matches actually featured NJPW vs. WCW, so they didn’t feel as much like a true joint show as Forbidden Door.