- "New Japan vs. UWF-I" IWGP Heavyweight Championship Keiji Muto (c) [NJPW] defeats Nobuhiko Takada [UWF] to retain the title
WRESTLEFILE EVENT FILE
New Japan vs. UWF International Total War 1995: WrestleFile Historical Verdict
The factual record, historical context, match-by-match analysis, and WrestleFile verdict.
NJPWOctober 9, 1995Tokyo Dome
THE WRESTLEGRADEC+6.8 / 10FINAL EVENT SCOREMASTER FILE RANK#1031OF 1288
- PROMOTION
- New Japan Pro-Wrestling
- DATE
- October 9, 1995
- VENUE
- Tokyo Dome
- LOCATION
- Tokyo, Japan
- ATTENDANCE
- 67,000
- EVENT TYPE
- PPV
New Japan versus UWF International Total War was an eight-match, promotion-against-promotion Tokyo Dome confrontation on October 9, 1995, not a conventional championship show with an unrelated undercard. Keiji Muto defeated UWF International's Nobuhiko Takada in the IWGP Heavyweight Championship main event to retain his belt. The result was a successful defense, and it should not be confused with the later 1996 rematch in which the championship changed hands.
Read the Full FileContinue the event-level analysis
The exchange was not a sweep. UWF International's Yoshihiro Takayama beat Takashi Iizuka, Naoki Sano defeated Jushin Thunder Liger and Masahito Kakihara beat Kensuke Sasaki. New Japan answered with Riki Choshu over Yoji Anjo, Shinya Hashimoto over Tatsuo Nakano and Shinjiro Otani over Kenichi Yamamoto. Yuji Nagata and Tokimitsu Ishizawa also beat Hiromitsu Kanehara and Kazushi Sakuraba as a New Japan team. Listing both sides' winners gives meaning to the main event without pretending every singles meeting was a title bout.
Reported attendance was 67,000. WrestleFile's C+ overall mark reflects supporting grades largely between C and C+, while Muto-Takada earned B / 7.8, the event's best assessment. The headliner is the main full-watch option, with Kakihara-Sasaki and Choshu-Anjo useful counterexamples for understanding the mixed inter-promotional results. The card's real historical purpose is the direct New Japan-UWF International contest with Muto preserving the heavyweight championship at its conclusion.
Event ContextBackground, stakes & historical setting
New Japan versus UWF International Total War took place October 9, 1995 at Tokyo Dome. The card was structured as a direct confrontation between New Japan Pro-Wrestling and UWF International wrestlers. Keiji Muto, representing New Japan and entering as IWGP Heavyweight Champion, defeated Nobuhiko Takada to retain the championship in the last bout. That was a defense, not a title change.
The results show success on both sides. UWF International's Yoshihiro Takayama defeated Takashi Iizuka and Masahito Kakihara defeated Kensuke Sasaki. New Japan's Riki Choshu beat Yoji Anjo and Shinya Hashimoto beat Tatsuo Nakano. Naoki Sano defeated Jushin Thunder Liger for UWF International, while New Japan's Shinjiro Otani defeated Kenichi Yamamoto.
A tag match gave New Japan's Yuji Nagata and Tokimitsu Ishizawa the victory over Hiromitsu Kanehara and Kazushi Sakuraba. The listed attendance was 67,000. These separate wins and the final heavyweight retention distinguish the inter-promotional event from the 1996 Wrestling World show, where the same Muto and Takada championship pairing ended differently. The difference is fundamental to preserving the proper title chronology and the outcomes of this multi-promotion series. The Tokyo Dome confrontation had a distinct conclusion before the subsequent championship rematch.
VIEWING GUIDE
Watch, Skim or Skip?
- "New Japan vs. UWF-I" | Masahito Kakihara [UWF] defeats Kensuke Sasaki [NJPW]
- "New Japan vs. UWF-I" | Yuji Nagata & Tokimitsu Ishizawa [NJPW] defeat Hiromitsu Kanehara & Kazushi Sakuraba [UWF]
- "New Japan vs. UWF-I" | Shinjiro Otani [NJPW] defeats Kenichi Yamamoto [UWF]
- "New Japan vs. UWF-I" | Yoshihiro Takayama [UWF] defeats Takashi Iizuka [NJPW]
- "New Japan vs. UWF-I" | Naoki Sano [UWF] defeats Jushin Thunder Liger [NJPW]
- "New Japan vs. UWF-I" | Riki Choshu [NJPW] defeats Yoji Anjo [UWF]
- "New Japan vs. UWF-I" | Shinya Hashimoto [NJPW] defeats Tatsuo Nakano [UWF]
MATCH-BY-MATCH ANALYSIS
The Card, On the Record
01"New Japan vs. UWF-I" | Yuji Nagata & Tokimitsu Ishizawa [NJPW] defeat Hiromitsu Kanehara & Kazushi Sakuraba [UWF]C+
WRESTLER FILES
New Japan's Yuji Nagata and Tokimitsu Ishizawa defeated UWF International partners Hiromitsu Kanehara and Kazushi Sakuraba in 10:47 at Total War at Tokyo Dome on October 9, 1995. WrestleFile graded the inter-promotional tag C+ / 6.5. Nagata and Ishizawa were the winning two-man unit, not UWF's Kanehara and Sakuraba. The show's broader NJPW-UWF score was split across other singles matches, including UWF wins by Takayama and Kakihara. The heavyweight title was defended later by Keiji Muto against Nobuhiko Takada, a separate main event that did not affect this opening tag's result.
VERDICT
Useful historical material that works best as part of the full card.
02"New Japan vs. UWF-I" | Shinjiro Otani [NJPW] defeats Kenichi Yamamoto [UWF]C
WRESTLER FILES
Shinjiro Otani of New Japan defeated Kenichi Yamamoto of UWF International in 7:18 in the second bout of the October 1995 Tokyo Dome Total War card. WrestleFile gave the cross-promotion singles result C / 6.3. Otani was the NJPW winner, with Yamamoto his UWF opponent. The result is independent of the later title-retaining victory by Keiji Muto over Nobuhiko Takada, and should not be described as an IWGP junior championship change. The event produced wins for both organizations in different matches, so Otani's result establishes one specific NJPW point without inventing a promotion-wide sweep.
VERDICT
Useful historical material that works best as part of the full card.
03"New Japan vs. UWF-I" | Yoshihiro Takayama [UWF] defeats Takashi Iizuka [NJPW]C
WRESTLER FILES
UWF International's Yoshihiro Takayama defeated New Japan's Takashi Iizuka in 7:39 in Total War's third singles contest on October 9, 1995. WrestleFile graded it C / 6.3. Takayama's victory shows UWF International winning a middle-card bout despite NJPW eventually retaining the IWGP Heavyweight title through Muto's main event. Iizuka was the defeated New Japan wrestler, not Takayama's partner. No title or specific stoppage method appears in the saved result, making this a stand-alone inter-promotional win rather than an early championship switch or an inferred submission.
VERDICT
Useful historical material that works best as part of the full card.
04"New Japan vs. UWF-I" | Naoki Sano [UWF] defeats Jushin Thunder Liger [NJPW]C+
WRESTLER FILES
Naoki Sano of UWF International defeated New Japan's Jushin Thunder Liger in 10:14 on the October 1995 Total War stadium-scale Tokyo Dome show. WrestleFile scored the fourth match C+ / 6.5. Sano was the winner over Liger, giving UWF another sourced individual success. Although Liger was prominent in the junior division, this particular result does not document an IWGP Junior Heavyweight title change. The final heavyweight championship defense belonged to Keiji Muto against Takada under a different title lineage. Distinguishing Sano's non-title victory from that ending preserves the card's mixed promotional outcomes.
VERDICT
Useful historical material that works best as part of the full card.
05"New Japan vs. UWF-I" | Riki Choshu [NJPW] defeats Yoji Anjo [UWF]C
WRESTLER FILES
New Japan veteran Riki Choshu defeated UWF International wrestler Yoji Anjo in just 4:45 in the fifth match of Total War on October 9, 1995. WrestleFile assigned C / 6.3 to this short inter-promotional contest. Choshu was the winner and Anjo the opponent, providing a New Japan victory between the UWF wins by Sano over Liger and Kakihara over Kensuke Sasaki. The show was not a single-elimination tournament in which this bout installed a new heavyweight champion. The IWGP title remained with Keiji Muto after his later successful defense against Nobuhiko Takada.
VERDICT
Useful historical material that works best as part of the full card.
06"New Japan vs. UWF-I" | Masahito Kakihara [UWF] defeats Kensuke Sasaki [NJPW]C+
WRESTLER FILES
Masahito Kakihara of UWF International defeated New Japan's Kensuke Sasaki in 9:13 in Total War's sixth singles match at Tokyo Dome. WrestleFile graded this inter-promotional result C+ / 6.8, above the scores for several preceding pairings. Kakihara, not Sasaki, received the win, adding another UWF result to a card with victories on both sides. Sasaki's loss did not transfer the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to the UWF roster; the incumbent was Keiji Muto, who faced and defeated Nobuhiko Takada in the last match. The distinction is essential when tracing the 1995 promotional confrontation.
VERDICT
Useful historical material that works best as part of the full card.
07"New Japan vs. UWF-I" | Shinya Hashimoto [NJPW] defeats Tatsuo Nakano [UWF]C+
WRESTLER FILES
Shinya Hashimoto of New Japan defeated UWF International's Tatsuo Nakano in 7:20 in the seventh contest at Total War on October 9, 1995. WrestleFile gave the penultimate cross-promotional singles result C+ / 6.6. Hashimoto was the winner, with Nakano losing, but no heavyweight championship was decided here. Hashimoto's past reigns should not be mistaken for holding the IWGP title in this specific October card; Keiji Muto entered the main event as defending champion. That following match against Nobuhiko Takada ended in a successful Muto defense rather than a belt change.
VERDICT
Useful historical material that works best as part of the full card.
08"New Japan vs. UWF-I" IWGP Heavyweight Championship Keiji Muto (c) [NJPW] defeats Nobuhiko Takada [UWF] to retain the titleB
WRESTLER FILES
Keiji Muto defeated UWF International challenger Nobuhiko Takada in 16:16 to RETAIN the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in New Japan versus UWF International Total War's final match on October 9, 1995. WrestleFile scored the Tokyo Dome main event B / 7.8, highest on the eight-bout card. Muto represented NJPW and entered as reigning champion, while Takada challenged for the belt. The outcome is a successful 1995 defense, not the separate 1996 Wrestling World championship result involving the same two wrestlers. The card's other NJPW-UWF victories also split across both promotions, but the final title stayed with Muto.
VERDICT
A solid match worth a full viewing if the participants interest you.
BOOKING VERDICTC+
Muto against Takada earned B and produced a clear IWGP Heavyweight Championship retention, making the finale the central viewing recommendation. WrestleFile's C+ overall event grade reflects that the supporting matches were generally scored lower: Nagata and Ishizawa's tag victory received C+, Takayama over Iizuka received C, and Hashimoto over Nakano received C+.
The result of the larger confrontation can't be reduced to the final result alone. Kakihara defeated Sasaki for UWF International, and Choshu defeated Anjo for New Japan. Those bouts register different winners but weren't rated as strongly as Muto-Takada. Viewers should watch a representative UWF International win and a New Japan win before the title defense to understand why the headlining rivalry gave the show its identity despite the uneven critical reception.
CROWD & PRESENTATIONC+
The Tokyo Dome event reported 67,000 in attendance, with the matches organized around New Japan and UWF International team affiliations. The card's series of singles and tag meetings allowed comparisons across styles and rosters throughout the night. Yuji Nagata and Tokimitsu Ishizawa defeated Hiromitsu Kanehara and Kazushi Sakuraba, while Shinjiro Otani beat Kenichi Yamamoto earlier on the bill.
The closing stretch moved through UWF International victories by Takayama and Kakihara, New Japan wins by Choshu and Hashimoto, and Muto retaining against Takada. The exact sequence matters because the central rivalry wasn't just one bout at the end. The results and crowd figure establish a Dome-scale confrontation, but don't prove claims about particular crowd chants or backstage instructions.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCEB-
New Japan versus UWF International Total War on October 9, 1995 was built around an entire inter-promotional confrontation rather than a typical collection of title matches. The closing IWGP Heavyweight Championship bout ended with Keiji Muto defeating Nobuhiko Takada to retain the title, giving New Japan's top champion a decisive win against UWF International's leading representative. The match received B, the event's highest recorded match grade.
The supporting card didn't show a complete sweep by one side. Yoshihiro Takayama beat Takashi Iizuka and Masahito Kakihara defeated Kensuke Sasaki for UWF International, while New Japan's Riki Choshu beat Yoji Anjo and Shinya Hashimoto defeated Tatsuo Nakano. Those mixed results are the essential context for the main event: the event was sold through promotion-versus-promotion stakes, and its titleholder prevailed at the end.
WHAT AGED WELL
- The running order makes the event hierarchy easy to understand even decades later.
- The strongest late-card matches have enough time and consequence to remain useful viewing.
- The show preserves a clear snapshot of New Japan's roster priorities before the modern major-event calendar.
WHAT AGED POORLY
- Some supporting matches are more valuable as historical context than as essential modern viewing.
- The card can feel uneven when short functional bouts sit beside much longer headline programs.
- Older event branding is less self-explanatory than the recurring names New Japan would use later.
RESEARCH VERDICTWhere the Evidence Lands
The event's match record explicitly names the New Japan and UWF International affiliations, its cross-promotional outcomes and Keiji Muto's successful heavyweight defense against Nobuhiko Takada. That evidence supports a comparison of team results and match order, not broad claims that all the matches favored one style or promotion. The reported crowd of 67,000 and Tokyo Dome setting establish the scale of the confrontation.
The WrestleFile overall C+ and the B assigned to Muto-Takada are retained critic assessments, not official win-loss data. The contextual comparison with their later 1996 meeting is useful because the same two wrestlers produced a different championship outcome. The narrative therefore keeps 1995's retention and the following year's switch distinct while judging the rest of the card by its recorded grades.
RESEARCH SOURCESSources & Methodology5 sources
These sources support the event record, historical context, critical reception, and streaming information used throughout this Event File.
- The SmackDown Hotelstructured event identity, PPV type, network and ordered results
- PUROLOVEindependent historical event/date block, card and durations
- WWF Old Schoolindependent annual New Japan historical cross-check
- Wikipedia major NJPW eventsbroad chronology and event-identity cross-check
- Ring History NJPW chronologypromotion chronology cross-check
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