Jingu Climax | |||
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![]() Meiji Jingu Stadium, the venue of the event | |||
Promotion | New Japan Pro-Wrestling | ||
Date | August 28, 1999[1] | ||
City | Tokyo,Japan[1] | ||
Venue | Meiji Jingu Stadium[1] | ||
Attendance | 48,000[1] | ||
Tagline(s) | Battle of Last Summer | ||
Event chronology | |||
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Jingu Climax:Battle of Last Summer was a majorprofessional wrestling event produced byNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It took place on August 28, 1999, at theMeiji Jingu Stadium inTokyo,Japan and was televised live onTV Asahi.[2]
Themain event was marketed as a "dream match", aNo Rope Explosive Barbed Wire Barricade Explosive Land Mine Double Hell Deathmatch pittingKeiji Mutoh's alter ego The Great Muta againstAtsushi Onita's alter ego The Great Nita. Muta won the match. Other major matches on the card featuredShinya Hashimoto versusMasahiro Chono,The Mad Dogs (Michiyoshi Ohara andTatsutoshi Goto) defending theIWGP Tag Team Championship againstManabu Nakanishi andYuji Nagata,Koji Kanemoto defending theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship againstKendo Kashin andShinjiro Otani andTatsuhito Takaiwa defending theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship againstEl Samurai andJushin Liger.[2]
The event was centered around aNo Rope Explosive Barbed Wire Barricade Explosive Land Mine Double Hell Deathmatch betweenKeiji Mutoh's alter ego The Great Muta andAtsushi Onita's alter ego The Great Nita. Mutoh began using the Great Mutacharacter inWorld Championship Wrestling in 1989 and incorporated the character into NJPW in 1990.[3] With the growing popularity of the Great Muta in Japanese wrestling, several wrestlers began imitating it. Onita imitated the character inFrontier Martial-Arts Wrestling as the "Great Nita" in 1994.[4] Years later, after Onita departed FMW in 1998, he began feuding with Muta under his Great Nita alter ego and claimed to be more sadistic than Muta, setting up a match between the Great Muta and the Great Nita under Onita's deathmatch speciality which he had popularized in his promotion FMW.[5]
On June 8,Kendo Kashin defeated theIWGP Junior Heavyweight ChampionKoji Kanemoto in the tournament final to win the1999 Best of the Super Juniors tournament, thus earning a future title shot against Kanemoto for the Junior Heavyweight Championship.[6][7] This set up a title match between the two for the Junior Heavyweight Championship at Jingu Climax.[8]
The event kicked off with a singles match betweenKazuyuki Fujita andBrian Johnston. Fujita won the match by making Johnston submit to thecross armbreaker.[9]
Next,Shinjiro Otani andTatsuhito Takaiwa defended theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship againstEl Samurai andJushin Liger in the first championship match of the event. Otani nailed aSpiral Bomb to Liger to retain the titles.[9]
Next,Koji Kanemoto defended theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship againstKendo Kashin. Kashin made Kanemoto submit to the cross armbreaker to win the Junior Heavyweight Championship.[9]
Next,nWo Japan membersTen-Koji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan andSatoshi Kojima) took on the team ofShiro Koshinaka andTatsumi Fujinami. Tenzan hit a kneeling kick to Koshinaka for the win.[9]
The match was followed by the final championship match of the event in whichThe Mad Dogs (Michiyoshi Ohara andTatsutoshi Goto) defended theIWGP Tag Team Championship againstManabu Nakanishi andYuji Nagata. Nagata delivered aBackdrop Hold to Ohara to win the match and the Tag Team Championship.[9]
Later,Don Frye took onScott Norton. Frye made Norton submit to therear naked choke for the win.[9]
It was followed by the penultimate match of the event in whichShinya Hashimoto took onMasahiro Chono. Hashimoto passed out in Chono'sSTF submission hold, forcing the referee to stop the match and award the win to Chono.[9]
The main event was aNo Rope Explosive Barbed Wire Barricade Explosive Land Mine Double Hell Deathmatch betweenKeiji Mutoh's alter ego "The Great Muta" andAtsushi Onita's alter ego "The Great Nita". After a back and forth match, Muta knocked out Nita with aKama and Nita was unable to answer the referee's ten count, which resulted in Muta getting the win.[9]
On July 26, 2020New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) announced theirreturn to the venue after 21 years for the first time in the promotion's history on August 29 being the promotion second outdoor event of the promotion's history.[10]
No. | Results | Stipulations | Times[2] | ||
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1 | Kazuyuki Fujita defeatedBrian Johnston via submission | Singles match | 3:55 | ||
2 | Shinjiro Otani andTatsuhito Takaiwa (c) defeatedEl Samurai andJushin Liger | Tag team match for theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship | 15:00 | ||
3 | Kendo Kashin defeatedKoji Kanemoto (c) via submission | Singles match for theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship | 14:45 | ||
4 | nWo Japan (Hiroyoshi Tenzan andSatoshi Kojima) defeatedShiro Koshinaka andTatsumi Fujinami | Tag team match | 8:38 | ||
5 | Manabu Nakanishi andYuji Nagata defeatedThe Mad Dogs (Michiyoshi Ohara andTatsutoshi Goto) (c) | Tag team match for theIWGP Tag Team Championship | 16:01 | ||
6 | Don Frye defeatedScott Norton via submission | Singles match | 7:53 | ||
7 | Masahiro Chono defeatedShinya Hashimoto via referee stoppage | Singles match | 15:45 | ||
8 | The Great Muta defeatedThe Great Nita | No Rope Explosive Barbed Wire Barricade Explosive Land Mine Double Hell Deathmatch | 13:32 | ||
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