Collision in Korea was a co-promotional event for WCW and NJPW involving Eric Bischoff and Antonio Inoki. It was memorably featured on the third season of Dark Side of the Ring raising its profile for a new generation. It was a watershed for diplomatic relations involving the sport in April of 1995.
It was headlined by Scott Norton vs Shinya Hashimoto for the IWGP Title on night one, and Ric Flair v Antonio Inoki on night two, after Hulk Hogan passed on taking the trip. Here are ten things they did not reveal in the TV documentary about the famous event from North Korea, that may have slipped past your international radar.
10 Inoki Promoted Shows In Pakistan, Iraq and China
Inoki, the founder of NJPW was also a prominent politician in Japan, and Eric Bischoff, newly appointed Vice President of WCW wanted to rebrand from a regional promotion plus exchange talent. Invited to be part of an “international peace festival” that encouraged better ties with countries, Inoki used his political pull despite the Japanese and American governments being firmly against it.
Inoki had a history of organising shows in unusual places such as Pakistan, mainland China and even Iraq. There he was instrumental in negotiating the release of Japanese hostages in his time in political office, during the first Gulf War in the early '90s. His "Sports and Peace" party merged the physical and politics together for a new ideology of cooperation.
9 Masahiro Chono Went Pale As A Ghost When He Heard About The Trip
Scott Norton, in his fantastic book Strong Style tells of the news breaking in the gaijin locker room in NJPW. Masa and Hittori came into the room and proclaimed “We have matches in Korea, we go at the end of the month” just as if it was a throwaway comment and Norton double checked - he heard it right.
He recalled looking over at Chonoand saw he was as “pale as a ghost”. Describing the unusual situation, the normally polite Japanese disposition disintegrated as Hiro Saito, Goto and Chono talked over each other rapidly as if "he was on the floor of the NYSE".
8 Airport And Plane Ride Promos With Muhammad Ali
After being forced to wear three-piece suits for the journey on the bullet train and getting drenched in sweat, Norton, Hawk and Benoit arrived at the airport. Ali and Norton had an impromptu trash-talking segment for the media where they both just winged it. Ali said on his arrival "I want you, I want you big boy", Norton eventually realised he was talking to him, before squaring up, as airport commuters and media were startled, and their cameras went off.
They traveled to Korea in an old military plane straight like it was from the 1940s with Norton and Hawk sitting next to Ali. He was a huge fan of wrestling and Hawk in particular and the two started doing promo wars with each other and pretending he was going to kick Hawk's behind. Ali apparently went leftfield involving the topic of Terry Punk's pigs.
7 Less Than World-Class Gym Facilities
Hawk, Benoit and Norton arrived eight hours before the show and were hyped to try out the "world-class gym" facilities at the May Day Stadium and "state of the art weight facilities" that was "the finest known to mankind". They arrived at the gym and all they had was one Olympic Bar and some weight plates. Disappointed, the wrestlers still managed to have a decent workout through improvisation.
What was more pressing was the lack of food in the run-up to the event, with the wrestlers not getting anything despite requests. Finally, some brown puree soup was brought out, but Norton gulped down some cans of cold Campbell’s soup in preparation for his match, that he had brought from the States instead.
6 Memorial Rib & Ali Shadowboxing
The wrestlers were taken to pay their respects to Kil Il Sung, the first communist dictator at his tomb. Hundreds of concrete steps needed to be climbed to visit the memorial. Scott Steiner one-third of the way up blurted out "I can't take it anymore carry me" to Norton in front of Hawk, with the NWJP star retorting "I've been carrying you for the last five years, I am tired of it" with even Steiner seeing the funny side eventually.
This is where Ali took off his jacket, shot past them jogging up the stairs and started shadow boxing at the top with the sunlight behind him in a brief remission of his Alzheimers, in an iconic real-life visual for everyone to witness. Norton says the entire experience of meeting Ali made North Korea worth it, despite his later incident over phone calls with his wife, and being intensely interrogated by North Korean security.
5 Scott Steiner And The State Dinner
At the state dinner where Scorpio notoriously stole the metal chopsticks, the food was apparently incredible for the first time on the trip, with it stretching across long tables as wrestlers and dignitaries mixed. Everyone was treated to a dance routine that Norton describes as something out of Cirque Du Soleil mixed with a magic show.
With thirty dancers in various costumes changing in synchronization constantly, Scott Steiner’s curiosity was piqued. He tried to get a sneak peak backstage to ascertain how the performers were accomplishing what he was seeing, before being harshly escorted back to his seat by two guards.
4 Mosaic Of Wrestlers' Faces
Inoki stated the event was much larger than he had initially planned and considers the event a badge of honour, with the opening ceremonies rivalling something out of the Olympics for scale and number of people involved.
Many special features were to be seen during the event, and Norton vividly recalls seeing a giant mosaic of different wrestlers faces being displayed. One was of his face on his entrance, that took minutes to walk to the ring, measuring about one hundred square feet in size.
3 Overall Attendance Numbers
The May Day Stadium attendance for the event was estimated at 165K and 190K for the two-day event, though it was "forced attendance". This was a long way before Wrestlemania started even thinking about using a two-day concept to maximise revenue, and spread the card out to avoid fan fatigue.
David Meltzer has disputed these numbers rounding them down to a still remarkable 150K and 165K but it still dwarfs anything the WWE has put on in North America. With their current record in Arlington Texas at the AT&T Stadium for Wrestlemania 32 with Triple H and Roman Reigns in the main event for the WWE Championship recording 101,763 for a one night show.
2 Each Wrestler Got A Pencil Sketch Portrait On Leaving
Norton recalls visiting a street bazaar, with two armed military men about 100m behind Benoit and himself. On his visit, he saw some people sketching pencil drawings of all the wrestlers who were visiting. The big guy was actually quite moved when every wrestler got a drawing as a gift of themselves from these artists on leaving.
Returning from this bazaar Benoit and Norton escaped from their armed handlers in the underground pedestrian tunnels, running to another intersection eventually being cut off by a new set of guards. Hattori warned them “not to play around with these guys” again.
1 Flair Always Stuck Close To Hawk, Steiner or Norton
Ric Flair was paranoid about the trip from the beginning once the passports were taken away, worrying if they would actually escape the country. He always had one of Hawk, Steiner of Norton by his side, never more than ten feet away while out and about, or at the hotel, with the rotating restaurant and views of Pyongyang at all times.
The Koreans apparently tried to get Flair to make prewritten statements about North Korea and its leaders compared to the USA, so this was probably what spooked him. Wrestling in the main event was a satisfying experience for him though, with the reaction in the last match with Inoki in front of a tough crowd. This goes a long way to explain why he kissed the ground in Japan on his return from the flight in a $3000 suit during a torrential rainstorm shouting "I love Japan".