The Four Heaven in Nagoya Dome 1997: WrestleFile Historical Verdict

Kazuyuki Fujita defeated Kendo Kashin in 5:00 in the Nagoya Dome opening match on August 10, 1997. WrestleFile assessed the compact result C / 6.3, a supporting grade on a show that later carried two championship transfers and a heavyweight title defense. Fujita and Kashin were the complete two-person lineup for this opener. No belt or tournament is recorded as changing hands, nor is a specific finish supplied. Shinjiro Otani's J-Crown acquisition against El Samurai and Kensuke Sasaki and Kazuo Yamazaki winning the IWGP team titles happened in entirely separate later contests.

The New Japan Regular Army team of Junji Hirata, Osamu Kido, Takashi Iizuka, Tadao Yasuda and Tatsuhito Takaiwa defeated five Heisei Ishingun opponents, Kengo Kimura, Tatsutoshi Goto, Akira Nogami, Michiyoshi Ohara and Akitoshi Saito, in 14:19. WrestleFile gave this ten-person match C+ / 6.8. The August 1997 Nagoya Dome result credits Hirata's unit rather than the Heisei side, unlike other event dates when Ishingun representatives won similar faction contests. This was a regular-army versus faction match, not the later IWGP Tag Team Championship change where Sasaki and Yamazaki defeated the two-man Bull Powers.

Koji Kanemoto defeated Jushin Thunder Liger in 21:51 in the third bout of The Four Heaven in Nagoya Dome, promoted as a Super Junior Special. WrestleFile graded the singles pairing B- / 7.1, ahead of most non-title undercard results. Kanemoto's win over Liger was separate from the next J-Crown Championship bout, in which Shinjiro Otani defeated incumbent El Samurai to win the title. Calling Kanemoto's victory here a J-Crown championship change would invent a belt transfer; the available results identify it as a special singles attraction, with the junior crown contest immediately following.

Shinjiro Otani defeated J-Crown Champion El Samurai in 18:15 to WIN the championship at the August 10, 1997 Nagoya Dome event. WrestleFile scored this fourth match B / 7.5. Otani entered as challenger and exited as new titleholder, contrasting with Shinya Hashimoto's later successful IWGP Heavyweight defense against Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the final. Kanemoto's win over Liger in the previous Super Junior Special did not decide the J-Crown. The show featured this individual junior title change alongside a separate IWGP Tag Team Championship acquisition by Sasaki and Yamazaki, giving the two switches independent winners.

Don Frye defeated Cal Worsham in 7:57 in the fifth match of The Four Heaven in Nagoya Dome, billed as a special match. WrestleFile graded the singles result C / 6.3, below the later championship attractions. Frye was the recorded winner; Worsham was the opponent. The saved event entry does not supply a round-by-round decision or finish, so it would be inaccurate to convert this into a particular mixed-martial-arts knockout simply based on Frye's background. The Great Muta's separate different-style match versus Naoya Ogawa later had an explicitly documented referee-stoppage outcome with Antonio Inoki officiating.

Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Riki Choshu in 6:48 in the sixth contest at Nagoya Dome on August 10, 1997, billed as Mei Shobu Kazoeuta - Epilogue. WrestleFile graded the veteran singles pairing C / 6.3. Fujinami won the recorded match; Choshu lost. This was not a championship bout, and no further details of a specific finishing maneuver are established in the saved source. The next match would change the IWGP Tag Team Championship to Kensuke Sasaki and Kazuo Yamazaki, followed by an unusual referee stoppage in Muta-Ogawa and Shinya Hashimoto's heavyweight title retention.

Kensuke Sasaki and Kazuo Yamazaki defeated reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions Manabu Nakanishi and Satoshi Kojima, Bull Powers, in 12:13 to WIN the team belts at The Four Heaven in Nagoya Dome. WrestleFile scored this seventh match B- / 7.4. Sasaki and Yamazaki were challengers who became new champions; Nakanishi and Kojima were the defeated incumbent team. This outcome was distinct from the earlier J-Crown change to Shinjiro Otani over El Samurai and the later defense by heavyweight champion Shinya Hashimoto against Tenzan. Crediting the correct team, title lineage and change-versus-retention status is the key historical value of the match.

The Great Muta defeated Naoya Ogawa by REFEREE STOPPAGE in 6:39 in the unusual different-style fight at Nagoya Dome in August 1997. Antonio Inoki was the SPECIAL REFEREE, not one of the two competitors, and WrestleFile gave the eighth match C+ / 6.6. The stoppage is documented and should not be rewritten as a pinfall or judges' decision. Neither the J-Crown won earlier by Otani nor the IWGP Tag Team Championship taken by Sasaki and Yamazaki was at stake. The heavyweight championship's status would be settled separately when Shinya Hashimoto retained against Tenzan in the following contest.

Shinya Hashimoto defeated challenger Hiroyoshi Tenzan in 17:09 to RETAIN the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in The Four Heaven in Nagoya Dome's final match on August 10, 1997. WrestleFile gave this main event B / 7.8, its strongest numeric individual score. Hashimoto entered and left as the reigning singles champion. The night's distinct title transfers belonged to Shinjiro Otani taking the J-Crown from El Samurai and Kensuke Sasaki and Kazuo Yamazaki taking the IWGP tag belts from Bull Powers. The Muta-Ogawa referee stoppage immediately before Hashimoto-Tenzan was another separate result; it did not cause a heavyweight championship vacancy or switch.