Battlefield (professional wrestling)

Battlefield was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It took place on January 4, 1994 in the Tokyo Dome. The show drew 48,000 spectators.

Battlefield
Hulk Hogan, who defeated Tatsumi Fujinami at the event.
PromotionNew Japan Pro-Wrestling
DateJanuary 4, 1994[1]
CityTokyo, Japan
VenueTokyo Dome
Attendance48,000[1]
Pay-per-view chronology
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Wrestling Dontaku 1993
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Wrestling Dontaku 1994
January 4 Tokyo Dome Show chronology
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Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome
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Battle 7

Unlike the previous two years' January 4 events the 1994 show was not a co-promotion with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) although it did feature former WCW wrestlers The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott), who were working for WCW's rival, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), at the time. The show also featured Brutus Beefcake and Hulk Hogan before they began working with WCW, working freelance for NJPW for one night.

The show featured 11 matches in total, including two title matches that saw The Hell Raisers (Hawk and Power Warrior) defeat The Jurassic Powers (Hercules Hernandez and Scott Norton) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship, while Shinya Hashimoto successfully defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Masahiro Chono. The show also featured a Mask vs. Mask match where Tiger Mask was unmasked and revealed as Koji Kanemoto.

Production

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Other on-screen personnel
Role: Name:
English Commentators Kevin Kelly
Chris Charlton
Rocky Romero
Japanese Commentators Shinpei Nogami
Milano Collection A.T.
Katsuhiko Kanazawa
Kazuyoshi Sakai
Togi Makabe
Ring announcers Makoto Abe
Kimihiko Ozaki
Referees Kenta Sato
Marty Asami
Red Shoes Unno

Background

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The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".[2][3]

Storylines

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Battlefield featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[4]

Results

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No.ResultsStipulationsTimes[1]
1Heisei Ishingun (The Great Kabuki, Kengo Kimura, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Michiyoshi Ohara and Shiro Koshinaka) defeated El Samurai, Manabu Nakanishi, Osamu Kido, Satoshi Kojima and Yuji NagataTen-man tag team match12:09
2Akira Nogami and Takayuki Iizuka defeated Akitoshi Saito and Masashi AoyagiTag team match14:07
3Brutus Beefcake defeated Black CatSingles match08:06
4Super Strong Machine defeated Tatsutoshi GotoSingles match08:51
5Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Tiger MaskMask vs. Mask match14:26
6The Hell Raisers (Hawk and Power Warrior) defeated The Jurassic Powers (Hercules Hernandez and Scott Norton) (c)Tag team match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship12:47
7The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) defeated Hiroshi Hase and Keiji MutohTag team match20:51
8Hulk Hogan defeated Tatsumi FujinamiSingles match13:33
9Riki Choshu defeated Yoshiaki FujiwaraSingles match09:04
10Shinya Hashimoto (c) defeated Masahiro ChonoSingles match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship28:00
11Genichiro Tenryu defeated Antonio InokiSingles match15:56
(c) – the champion(s) heading into the match

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Battlefield". ProWrestlingHistory.com. January 4, 1994. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
  2. ^ "GFW News: New Japan Pro Wrestling "Wrestle Kingdom 9" press conference details". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. December 23, 2014. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  3. ^ Keller, Wade (December 13, 2016). "New Japan's WrestleKingdom 11 to air on AXS TV starting Jan. 13 in four weekly special episodes with Ross & Barnett on commentary". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  4. ^ Grabianowski, Ed. "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
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