JANUARY 10
1992
All Japan ran a show in Kumamoto, which was highlighted by a ***1/2 match pitting Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Toshiaki Kawada against Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj69d9Smn1A
Eddie Gilbert announced that he was re-forming the First Family in the Global Wrestling Federation. His first recruit was perennial underachiever and underrated worker Barry Horowitz, who was ecstatic when he received the invitation to join.
1993
Cactus Jack began his babyface run in WCW in a ***1/4 “Come As You Are” street fight against Paul Orndorff on WCW Main Event. The match at SuperBrawl III was probably better overall, but this served as a worthy lead-in. Vader attacked Cactus Jack after he targeted Harley Race, who was at ringside, to cement Jack’s babyface turn. However, his shining moment came after the match, when Cactus knocked all the heels out with a shovel in the middle of an interview. Orndorff had not been used regularly by a major promotion in many years, and the quality of his matches with Cactus was the reason he was signed to a contract by WCW, where he would finish his career. The show drew a strong 2.2 rating in yet another sign that just as the Bill Watts regime was crumbling, he was finally showing signs of booking life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iffrrs-k560
1994
The 1-2-3 Kid and Marty Jannetty unexpectedly won the WWF World Tag Team Titles in a *** match on Monday Night RAW, unseating The Quebecers, who were scheduled to defend against Bret and Owen Hart in two weeks at the Royal Rumble. The reason the 1-2-3 Kid had longevity in the underdog role was because occasionally, he was booked to win a match that no one expected him to win such as this one. The show tied its all time record by pulling a 3.4 rating, as it was the first show in months to not go head to head with Monday Night Football. You can watch this show on the WWE Network.
1996
FMW ran a strong show in Chiba with a pair of ***1/2 matches as the standouts on the card. Aja Kong wrestled Combat Toyoda as part of Toyoda’s retirement tour, an interpromotional match signed because both were in the same training class and Toyoda wanted a match with Kong before hanging up her boots. Meanwhile Hayabusa, Masato Tanaka and Koji Nakagawa faced W*ING Kanemura, Mitsuhiro Matsunaga & Hido in – get this – a No Rope Barbed Wire Spider Net Double Hell Death Match.
1998
ECW ran House Party ’98 at the ECW Arena. The Justin Credible push continued its nauseous overkill, as he pinned The Great Sasuke in what was admittedly a decent match by the standards of ECW at the time. Meanwhile, The Sandman faced Sabu in a *** “Stairway To Hell” ladder match. Rob Van Dam also had a match against Bam Bam Bigelow that some people really enjoyed, but I am not one of them. It may be worth checking out to form your own opinion.
1999
Michinoku Pro held a card in Miyagi with a tremendous ****1/4 main event, as Naohiro Hoshikawa, Masato Yakushiji and Masaru Seno teamed to take on Crazy Max in their earliest days as a group, comprised of Shiima Nobunaga, who was later more famously known as CIMA; Judo Suwa, later simply known as SUWA and Sumo Fuji, who was later billed as Don Fujii.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IVTfFrLxe8
ECW held Guilty As Charged, its first pay-per-view of 1999, in Kissimmee, FL in front of 2,600 fans. Paul E. started the show by shuffling the card around because Jerry Lynn was injured and Masato Tanaka was unable to make the show. In the main event, Taz defeated Shane Douglas to win the ECW World Title in a match that was built up for most of 1998. Despite the long-term booking, ECW never found a way to make this match very compelling. In addition, Justin Credible defeated Tommy Dreamer in a “Stairway To Hell” ladder match after a heel Terry Funk lent a helping hand. Funk was pushed as the icon who was symbolic of everything good about professional wrestling for so long that his brief run as a heel predictably fell flat. The show drew an 0.24 buyrate, which translates to approximately 100,000 buys. You can watch this show on the WWE Network.
In The “To Watch” Queue:
Fuerza Guerrera, Blue Panther & Emilio Charles Jr. vs Misterioso, Blue Demon & Volador (CMLL 01/10/92)
Atsushi Onita vs The Sheik (FMW 01/10/92)
Daisuke Ikeda vs Hisakatsu Oya (FMW 01/10/96)
