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.
Promotion	New Japan Pro-Wrestling
Date	January 4, 1994[1]
City	Tokyo, Japan
Venue	Tokyo Dome
Attendance	48,000[1]
January 4 Tokyo Dome Show chronology
← Previous Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome Next → 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

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

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

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

No.	Results	Stipulations	Times[1]
1	Heisei Ishingun (The Great Kabuki, Kengo Kimura, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Michiyoshi Ohara and Shiro Koshinaka) defeated El Samurai, Manabu Nakanishi, Osamu Kido, Satoshi Kojima and Yuji Nagata	Ten-man tag team match	12:09
2	Akira Nogami and Takayuki Iizuka defeated Akitoshi Saito and Masashi Aoyagi	Tag team match	14:07
3	Brutus Beefcake defeated Black Cat	Singles match	08:06
4	Super Strong Machine defeated Tatsutoshi Goto	Singles match	08:51
5	Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Tiger Mask	Mask vs. Mask match	14:26
6	The Hell Raisers (Hawk and Power Warrior) defeated The Jurassic Powers (Hercules Hernandez and Scott Norton) (c)	Tag team match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship	12:47
7	The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) defeated Hiroshi Hase and Keiji Mutoh	Tag team match	20:51
8	Hulk Hogan defeated Tatsumi Fujinami	Singles match	13:33
9	Riki Choshu defeated Yoshiaki Fujiwara	Singles match	09:04
10	Shinya Hashimoto (c) defeated Masahiro Chono	Singles match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship	28:00
11	Genichiro Tenryu defeated Antonio Inoki	Singles match	15:56
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

References

1. "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.

External links

• NJPW.co.jp (in Japanese)