FEBRUARY 10
1990
New Japan Pro Wrestling held the Super Fight in Tokyo Dome show in front of 63,900 fans. Masa Saito defeated Larry Zbyszko to win the AWA World Title in a surprisingly strong ***1/2 match. Also on the show, two interpromotional tag team matches occurred, as Jumbo Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu of All Japan faced Kengo Kimura and Osamu Kido of New Japan in a ***1/2 match; meanwhile, Genichiro Tenryu and Tiger Mask of All Japan faced George Takano and Riki Choshu of New Japan in a ***3/4 match. Perhaps the most famous match on the show was a brief but intense *** brawl between Vader and Stan Hansen. Vader’s eye popped out of socket and he unbelievably pushed it back in to continue the match. The show was originally built around Ric Flair defending the NWA World Title against The Great Muta. However, as booker, there were important TV tapings for which Flair wanted to be present back in WCW; additionally, WCW was going to cut his salary for the days of travel to and from Japan, which meant that it no longer made financial sense to work the show.
World Wide Wrestling aired a show taped on January 30 at Marietta, Georgia’s Cobb County Civic Center. The tournament to crown new U.S. Tag Team Champions continued with the quarterfinal round, which saw the Fabulous Freebirds defeat Eddie Gilbert and Tommy Rich while the Midnight Express defeated the Rock & Roll Express in a *** match.
On WWF Superstars, Rick Martel was a guest on the Brother Love Show and debuted his trademark fragrance “Arrogance”. Also on the show, Jack Tunney confirmed that Hulk Hogan would face the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI, and that an announcement of which title would be on the line would happen soon.
In one of the most bizarre and unintentionally funny segments in the history of pro wrestling, Kerry Von Erich introduced a band to the Sportatorium crowd on a USWA card that he said stood for “world peace and anti-drug”, which he said also represented everything the Von Erichs believed in. The band was Russian hair metal group Gorky Park, who seemed more interested in attending an after party than joining forces with Kerry Von Erich as he seemed to imply was happening.
1992
New Japan Pro Wrestling held a card in Nagoya highlighted by two stellar matches. First, Keiji Muto and Hiroshi Hase teamed to face Scott Norton and Brad Armstrong in a ***1/2 match, and second, Jushin Liger faced Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit) in a classic ****1/2 match, Liger’s second match at that level within two days.
1996
CMLL held a card at Arena Coliseo in Mexico City, highlighted by El Hijo del Santo, El Dandy and Silver King facing Negro Casas, Apolo Dantes and El Satanico in a ***1/2 match.
