New Japan Pro Wrestling
J-CROWN: ALL OR NOTHING

Time: 2 hours

This tournament took place during New Japan's annual G-1 Climax series at the Sumo Hall, being an undercard attraction in addition to te heavyweight tournament. In terms of results, this was one of the most predictable tournaments I have on tape, and that may have held back the tournament's redeeming value a bit. However, it was a great tournament work- wise, noe as great as the first two Super J Cup events but at least comparable to the Super Junior Tag League. This tournament was historical and almost monumental because all eight entrants put their respective juniors titles on the line. The result was every match being a title match, and the final match having eight belts on the line.

QUARTERFINALS

August 2, 1996

IWGP Jr. Title vs. NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Title
Match 1: Great Sasuke vs Masayoshi Motegi

Motegi attacked Sasuke at the bell and immediately hit a tope. Motegi focused his attack on Sasuke's leg for a while, including using a figure four and an STF. He gained an early near fall on Sasuke after a lariat. Motegi hit a urunage and reapplied the STF. Sasuke fought back and hit a spin kick for a near fall. Sasuke knocked Motegi out of the ring with a handspring elbow and hit his tope con hilo. Sasuke gained a near fall with an in-ring quebrada. Motegi fought back and hit a tope suicida. He gained a near fall on Sasuke with a three-locomotion German suplex and another with a doctor bomb. Sasuke gained a near fall with a German suplex and pinned Motegi at 11:50 with a tiger suplex. A good match elevated by Sasuke's work. ***1/4

WAR International Jr. Heavyweight Title vs. British Jr. Heavyweight Title
Match 2: Ultimo Dragon vs Jushin Liger

Dragon hit a tope suicida early on and followed up with a Hokuto-like somersault plancha. Liger hit a wicked released German suplex and a koppo kick for a near fall. Dragon gained a near fall with la magistral. Liger blocked a second la magistral attempt but Dragon countered and maneuvered Liger into a pinning position at 2:38. Fans popped huge for the upset and one of Dragon's biggest wins of his career. *3/4

August 3, 1996

NWA World Light Heavyweight Title vs. NWA World Welterweight Title
Match 3: Shinjiro Otani vs Negro Casas

Otani looked great on the mat early on. They had a chop fest and Otani came out of top. Casas hit a top rope headscissors takedown on Otani. Otani hit a savate kick and gained a near fall with a powerbomb. Otani missed his springboard spin kick (swan dive). Casas gained a near fall with la magistral. He geined another near fall with a top rope senton. Otani dropkicked Casas off the top rope to the floor and hit a springboard plancha. Casas dropkicked Otani off the apron to the floor and hit a tope suicida. Casas hit a senton off the apron to the floor. Otani hit a springboard missile dropkick and a second one to the back of Casas' head. Otani hit his springboard swan dive and pinned Casas at 11:34. Very good match, but something was missing at times. ***1/4

WWF World Light Heavyweight Title vs. NWA World Jr. Lightheavyweight Title
Match 4: El Samurai vs Gran Hamada

They traded the advantage with solid but unspectacular matwork in the opening minutes. Samurai gained an early near fall with a piledriver. Hamada gained a near fall with a huracanrana. Hamada hit a plancha but appeared to blow out his knee legit. Hamada hit a tornado DDT for a near fall. He gave Samurai a second tornado DDT, this one in mid-air, for another near fall. Hamada gained a near fall with a back suplex. Samurai hit a lariat but Hamada fought back with a urunage. Samurai gained a near fall with a powerbomb. He gained another near fall on Hamada with a diving headbutt. Samurai back suplexed Hamada and pinned him in 12:37 after a powerbomb. The match was made by the last few minutes being very good. ***

SEMIFINALS

August 4, 1996

WAR International Jr. Heavyweight Title & British Jr. Heavyweight Title vs NWA World Light Heavyweight Title & NWA World Welterweight Title
Match 5: Ultimo Dragon vs. Shinjiro Otani

This was as flawless a match as I have ever seen a New Japan juniors match. Both men had one of their best singles matches here. In particular, Dragon might have had the best singles match of his career. The two started out with smooth matwork. Dragon attempted la magistral for a pop. Otani's selling of that move was really cool. More fluid matwork followed and Dragon stiffed Otani with his kicks. Most of the first ten minutes saw mostly wear-down and submission moves and a few high spots interspersed in a smart fashion. Dragon dropkicked Otani off the apron to the floor to pick up the action level. Dragon missed a tope and Otani suplexed him on the floor. Otani hit a flip dive off the apron and crowd heat picked up as he gave Dragon a springboard spin kick for a near fall. Otani gave Dragon a tiger suplex for a near fall. Dragon then gave Otani la magistral for a super near fall. Dragon tombstoned Otani and gave him a moonsault for another near fall. Otani reversed a Dragon huracanrana attempt for a great near fall as crowd heat was at a fever pitch. Dragon gave Otani his dragon suplex for a near fall and gave Otani an in-ring quebrada for another near fall. Otani countered a Dragon huracanrana with a powerbomb and hit a perfect springboard missile dropkick. Otani then gained a super near fall with the dragon suplex. Otani kept going for a move off the top rope but Dragon cut him off each time. Finally, Dragon sort of gave Otani a face front suplex off the top rope, but both men fell hard onto the mat. Dragon then gave Otani a Liger bomb and pinned him at 16:04. For execution of moves, this was as flawless a match as you will ever see. Very good psychology for a juniors match and only a few minutes shy of the five star plateau. ****3/4

IWGP Jr. Title & NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Title vs WWF World Light Heavyweight Title & NWA World Jr. Lightheavyweight Title
Match 6: Great Sasuke vs El Samurai

Samurai hit a tope suicida less than a minute into the match. Sasuke dominated the action on the mat for a few minutes. Samurai focused his attack on Sasuke's left leg for several minutes. Sasuke fought back and applied an armlock. He did a cartwheel into a cross-bodyblock on Samurai for a near fall. Samurai gained a near fall with a top rope huracanrana and another with a German suplex. Samurai hit a backdrop driver. Sasuke came back with a savate kick and followed with his uncatchable Asai moonsault sending Samurai halfway over the railing. Sasuke then hit his ryder kick off the top rope to the floor. Samurai sidestepped a Sasuke in-ring quebrada and hit an inverted DDT. Samurai missed a diving headbutt, but recovered and gave Sasuke an inverted DDT and a powerbomb for a heated near fall. Sasuke caught Samurai and gave him a top rope superplex for a near fall. Sasuke gave Samurai a huracanrana for a near fall but Samurai rolled through and gained a near fall of his own. Sasuke powerbombed Samurai and pinned him at 16:24. Excellent match, particularly the final five minutes. ****1/4

FINAL

August 5, 1996

J-Crown Final for all 8 titles
Match 7: Ultimo Dragon vs Great Sasuke

The match started with fast-paced matwork and counters. They did a bunch of fast-paced mirror spots for a pop. Dragon briefly worked on Sasuke's legs. Both men threw spin kicks at each other. Dragon hit an in-ring quebrada for a near fall. Sasuke went for an in-ring quebrada but Dragon dropkicked him in mid-air. Dragon hit a tope suicida and followed up with an Asai moonsault that landed himself in the front row. Dragon gained a near fall after a brainbuster and another with a Liger bomb. Sasuke caught Dragon and dropkicked him off the top rope to the floor. Sasuke hit an Asai moonsault at 9:25. He then missed a moonsault back in the ring. Dragon gained a heated near fall with a Dragon suplex and another with his top rope huracanrana. Sasuke went for a top rope flip plancha over the ringpost but Dragon caught him and Sasuke landed head-first on the floor in a powerbomb position, fracturing his skull in the process. Sasuke missed a moonsault back in the ring and Dragon gained a near fall with la magistral. Sasuke countered a Dragon powerbomb with a huracanrana and scored the pin at 13:53 to win the 8-belt J-Crown tournament. It was unfortunate they had to go to the finish early due to Sasuke's injury, because this match seemed to be on its way to perhaps equaling the Dragon-Otani classic the previous day. The sudden finish was appropriate given the turn of the events and the match still turned out fantastic. ****1/4

Overall, a great video. Not the best, but certainly one I would highly recommend to most wrestling fans. All the first round matches had good work and the final three matches were as great as one would have expected. Otani vs Dragon was a gem and almost worth purchasing the tape just for that match. Though cut short, the final match was fantastic and definitely a must-see match as well. The productuion on this tape was first rate as well, with a slick opening montage of clips at the start of the video. Although I don't think today's juniors could readily duplicate the work of this tournament, I would love to see another J-Crown style tournament.

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