WCW/New Japan Supershow I, was a professional wrestlingpay-per-view (PPV) event that took place March 21, 1991 from the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, co-promoted by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), who hosted the event and the US-BasedWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) that supplied a number of the wrestlers on the show. The event was viewed by 64,500 people in Japan and later shown in the United States as a PPV in April, 1991. In Japan the event was referred to as Starrcade in Tokyo Dome[2] Several of the matches on the show were not included in the PPV broadcast, held for the benefit of the crowd in attendance only. The WCW/NJPW Supershows were part of a small group of WCW produced PPVs not included in the "on demand" features when the WWE Network was launched in 2014.[3]
The main event match between Ric Flair and Tatsumi Fujinami was presented very differently in the United States and in Japan. During the show it was announced that Ric Flair's NWA World Heavyweight Championship was on the line, but not the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, in the US those were considered the same championship and represented by one belt. The PPV announcers stated that Fujinami's IWGP Heavyweight Championship was also on the line in the match even though no such mention was made during the introductions. The outcome of the match was also presented differently, to the Japanese crowd Fujinami defeated Flair by pinfall and thus won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The title change was ignored in the US, claiming that Fujinami had been disqualified for throwing Ric Flair over the top rope and thus did not win the match.[4] A later rematch between the two at SuperBrawl I saw Flair regain the NWA title, but in all promotional material produced by WCW it was billed as a successful title defense against Fujinami.[5][6]
WCW/New Japan Supershow II (known as Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome in Japan) took place on January 4, 1992, from the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan.[8] The show was the first NJPW January 4 Dome Show, something that would become an annual tradition in NJPW and would become their biggest show of the year, their Super Bowl event. The show was broadcast on pay-per-view (PPV) months later in the United States under the name "WCW/New Japan Supershow II". The US PPV broadcast did not include several of the matches of the 12-match show, with only six being broadcast in the U.S. out of a total of twelve matches. The WCW/NJPW Supershows were part of a small group of WCW-produced PPVs that were not included in the "on demand" features when the WWE Network was launched in 2014.[3]
WCW/New Japan Supershow III (known as "Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome" in Japan) took place on January 4, 1993 from the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan.[9] The show would be the third and final show available on pay-per-view in the United States under the name "WCW/New Japan Supershow". In Japan the show was promoted under the name "Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome" and was the second annual NJPW January 4 Dome Show, NJPW's premier event of the year. The WCW/NJPW Supershows were a part of a small group of WCW produced PPVs not that were included in the "on demand" features when the WWE Network was launched in 2014.[3]
The US broadcast originally advertised that they would show the eight match of the show, an IWGP Tag Team Championship match between champions The Hell Raisers (Hawk Warrior and Power Warrior) defending the championship against WCW representatives The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott), but by the time the PPV was shown in the US the Steiner Brothers had informed WCW that they were leaving the company and thus the match was pulled from the show. Instead WCW chose to have the match with WAR's Koki Kitahara, Masao Orihara, and Nobukazu Hirai vs. NJPW's Akira Nogami, Takayuki Iizuka, and El Samurai.
^"Can Ric Flair shatter the "myth" of Japanese Superiority?". The Wrestler. Kappa Publications. pp. 11–12. July 1991.
^"Historical Cards: SuperBrawl I (May 19, 1991. St. Petersburg, Florida)". PWI Presents: 2007 Wrestling Almanak and book of facts. Kappa Publications. p. 156. 2007 Edition.
^ abcCawthon, Graham (2014). the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 4: World Championship Wrestling 1989-1994. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN1499656343.
