Strong Style Symphony - New Japan Spirit 1999: WrestleFile Historical Verdict

Masahiro Chono and Atsushi Onita fought to a NO CONTEST by double knockout in 16:10 in the no-rope explosive barbed-wire death match at Strong Style Symphony on April 10, 1999. WrestleFile graded the Tokyo Dome special attraction C+ / 6.8. The unusual stipulated fight did not produce a credited singles winner; recording Chono or Onita as victorious would contradict the event ledger. Separate championship matches on the same show had clear outcomes: Jushin Thunder Liger and the Great Sasuke WON the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag belts, while Keiji Muto successfully RETAINED the IWGP Heavyweight Championship over Don Frye. The no-contest finish stands apart from both.

nWo Japan's Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima defeated Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata in 13:55 at Strong Style Symphony - New Japan Spirit on April 10, 1999. WrestleFile graded the NEW JAPAN PROGRESS tag C+ / 6.8. Tenzan and Kojima formed the winning pair; Nakanishi and Nagata lost. This Tokyo Dome match predates the August Gingu Climax show where the same Tencozy duo defeated different opponents, Fujinami and Koshinaka, and Nakanishi-Nagata later won the IWGP heavyweight tag title. Neither of those August outcomes belongs to this April non-title team result. The date and opponent pairing establish the distinction.

Tatsuhito Takaiwa of New Japan defeated BattlARTS wrestler Minoru Tanaka in 11:52 in the inter-promotional third match of Strong Style Symphony on April 10, 1999. WrestleFile graded the encounter C+ / 6.5. Takaiwa was the winning wrestler, while Tanaka lost, and no IWGP junior championship transfer was attached to this crossover singles result. The same Tokyo Dome show later saw Jushin Thunder Liger and the Great Sasuke WIN the junior tag titles and Koji Kanemoto RETAIN the individual junior singles title against Shinjiro Otani. The New Japan-versus-BattlARTS pairing must not be merged with those distinct junior championship stories.

Jushin Thunder Liger and the Great Sasuke defeated defending IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Kendo Kashin and Dr. Wagner Jr. in 15:55 to WIN those belts at Strong Style Symphony on April 10, 1999. WrestleFile graded the fourth Tokyo Dome match B- / 7.1. The challengers Liger and Sasuke became NEW team titleholders, while Kashin and Wagner lost the junior tag titles. This switch was separate from Koji Kanemoto's successful individual IWGP junior defense over Shinjiro Otani in the following match. The evening's heavyweight singles and heavyweight tag champions also retained their different belts.

Koji Kanemoto defeated Shinjiro Otani in 24:23 to RETAIN the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at Strong Style Symphony - New Japan Spirit in Tokyo Dome on April 10, 1999. WrestleFile assigned B / 7.5, one of the strongest individual scores on the eight-match card. Kanemoto was already singles champion and kept that belt. The preceding junior tag championship, however, CHANGED from Kashin and Dr. Wagner Jr. to Liger and the Great Sasuke. The separate heavyweight championship main event saw Keiji Muto retain over Don Frye, making these three championship stories distinct in format, titleholder and outcome.

Kazuo Yamazaki and Kazuyuki Fujita of New Japan defeated BattlARTS' Yuki Ishikawa and Alexander Otsuka in 11:27 in the sixth match at Strong Style Symphony on April 10, 1999. WrestleFile graded the inter-promotional Tokyo Dome tag C+ / 6.8. The NJPW side of Yamazaki and Fujita won against the BattlARTS pair; this is distinct from the earlier singles crossover result in which Takaiwa defeated BattlARTS representative Minoru Tanaka. Neither match determined a heavyweight championship change, which never occurred in this show because Keiji Muto retained against Don Frye in the final.

Kensuke Sasaki and Shiro Koshinaka defeated Tatsumi Fujinami and Genichiro Tenryu in 17:33 to RETAIN the IWGP Tag Team Championship at Strong Style Symphony in April 1999. WrestleFile graded the penultimate Tokyo Dome contest B- / 7.4. Sasaki and Koshinaka entered as heavyweight team titleholders and defeated their challengers. This title defense must not be mistaken for the separate IWGP JUNIOR Tag Championship transfer earlier to Liger and the Great Sasuke over Kashin and Dr. Wagner Jr. The evening ended with a third distinction: IWGP heavyweight singles champion Muto also kept his belt over Don Frye.

Keiji Muto defeated Don Frye in 12:16 to RETAIN the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in Strong Style Symphony's final match at Tokyo Dome on April 10, 1999. WrestleFile gave the championship main event B / 7.8, top score of the eight-bout card. Muto had won the belt from Scott Norton at January's Wrestling World show and did not surrender it to Frye in April. The same event featured a successful heavyweight tag defense by Sasaki and Koshinaka, a successful junior singles defense by Kanemoto, and a separate junior tag title CHANGE to Liger and the Great Sasuke. Each outcome has different titleholders and challengers.