| Simon Watches NOAH - 2000s | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 24 2013, 02:30 PM (5,307 Views) | |
| Big Tuna | Dec 24 2013, 02:30 PM Post #1 |
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Since there's so much more in the 2000s both in terms of availability and companies, it's best to split it up by companies. Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuhuaru Misawa/Akira Taue [Best of Three Falls], 8/5/2000 This is a mission statement for the entire company as the main event of the very first show, so it's great that it kicks all this ass. It's also a totally fresh start for Akiyama, who comes out now in all white. Two minutes in, Kobashi nukes Misawa with a Sleeper Suplex, and Akiyama puts on a Front Guillotine Choke to go 1-0. The second fall is a real match, and much better. There's not a ton of story here, but there's a lot of really good stuff and it's four great wrestlers doing stuff for 18 minutes. Misawa is pissed off about getting choked out and keeps trying to humiliate Akiyama, but can't do it, which puts him over pretty big. Taue is kind of the odd man out, but breaks out his lovably random athletic feats. Akiyama is a good FIP, but tags himself back in after Kobashi's hot tag, and he also beats Taue with the Exploder to win 2-0. ***1/4 Post-match, AKIYAMA DROPS KOBASHI WITH A SAITO SUPLEX. INNOVATIVE FOR 1984! |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 24 2013, 08:51 PM Post #2 |
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Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama, 8/6/2000 This is the main event of the second show, and gets the highlight as the first real rivalry in NOAH and the basis of the company. Kobashi's eternally bad knee is taped up. Akiyama tries to go straight ahead at the start, but when that fails, he takes it to the mat. Kobashi uses his power to keep Akiyama away from the knee. He also manages to turn the tide first, a classic AJPW/NOAH sign of superiority, and gets extra brutal on the floor in revenge for the previous night's betrayal. He works on the neck until Akiyama can go after the knee to great success. They have some nearfalls, but save a ton of stuff. Akiyama keeps going to the leg to cut off the big comebacks, and when the Exploders don't do it, he puts on the Front Guillotine Choke for the ref stop. ***3/4 Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Takeshi Rikio vs. Jun Akiyama/Yoshihiro Takayama/Yoshinobu Kanemaru, 9/15/2000 In the aftermath of that, Kobashi and Akiyama formed rival stables, Burning and Sternness. Takayama is coming into his own at this point and Kikuchi is still awesome, but the third members are lacking. The focus is obviously Kobashi/Akiyama, but an amazing Kikuchi/Takayama feud emerges somehow. Takayama is a great bully and Kikuchi is the greatest underdog in Japanese history. This is like 15 great minutes in 20ish, and the Rikio and Kanemaru stuff hurt in the middle. Kikuchi carried Kanemaru at the end though, and won with the Blue Thunder Driver. *** Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jun Akiyama/Yoshihiro Takayama, 9/16/2000 This is more like it. 13 minutes and all of it awesome. The two great feuds get highlighted a lot as Akiyama jumps Kobashi on the ramp to start, and keeps antagonizing him through the match when they predictably isolate Kikuchi. Akiyama continues to be a made guy in early NOAH, as he keeps getting the best of Kobashi in the finishing run. Kikuchi Kikichi's it the fuck up before Takayama beats him with the Everest German. *** Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikichi/Takeshi Rikio vs. Jun Akiyama/Yoshihiro Takayama/Kentaro Shiga, 9/25/2000 Shiga for Kanemaru at this point is a lateral move, but this is 25 minutes when it needs to only be like 15-20. I guess NOAH's problems were there the entire time, so that's a neat and depressing fact. The four from the straight tag match bring it as usual, and Kobashi/Takayama gets a lot of play here. They show flashes of future greatness and carry the match with their insane stiffness. Shiga is weak and dog shit, so him getting a lot here sinks this below great. Takayama gets good stuff out of Rikio at the end and murders him with a knee to the gut to win. TAKAYAMA THE NEW GOD. **3/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 25 2013, 01:14 AM Post #3 |
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Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, 10/7/2000 This is a foregone conclusion, but it is a world of fun watching Takayama bully Kikuchi around destroy him with forearms, kicks, slaps, punches, boots, and knees (there's really not a strike the man can't do). And it's a world of fun watching Kikuchi sell everything like total death and make the kind of firey underdog comebacks that only he can do. Kikuchi works over the arm in order to stay alive, but Takayama once again obliterates a dude with knees and it's a TKO. *** Kenta Kobashi/Takeshi Rikio vs. Jun Akiyama/Yoshinobu Kanemaru, 10/7/2000 Really strange match. Kobashi is jumped before the match again and hit with a DDT on the ramp. Rikio is isolated and whatever, it's a lot of Rikio/Kanemaru and that blows. Kobashi gets in and murders both Akiyama and Kanemaru with short range Lariats, and pins Akiyama to win in 7 minutes. What the shit? ** Kenta Kobashi vs. Takao Omori, 10/11/2000 Kobashi is on some kind of insane revenge tour now as he attacks Omori before the bell and has switched to his well known black 2000s gear. Omori isn't much though, so Kobashi totally running through him is fantastic to see. He bloodies up Omori and almost fights Takayama when he comes out to try and motivate his tag partner. Kobashi kills him more and wins via TKO after a short range Lariat. **1/2 Jun Akiyama vs. Makoto Hashi, 11/16/2000 Only six minutes, but they did everything this needed to do with that time. Hashi gets put over as a rookie with a world of potential, they have some great exchanges, and Akiyama puts him away fairly easily to get himself over at the end. Exploder puts the kid away, and Akiyama looks impressed. **1/2 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 26 2013, 01:26 AM Post #4 |
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Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Takeshi Rikio/KENTA vs. Jun Akiyama/Takeshi Morishima/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Kentaro Shiga, 12/2/2000 Another needlessly long match and not nearly enough Kobashi vs. Akiyama. Kanemaru is getting decent as far as being a pure spot guy, and as the debut of KENTA and Morishima on this list, they show lots of potential. Akiyama ruining rookies is my favorite thing in NOAH now, and Morishima is already hitting super hard. Shiga manning up is so laughable, and he's once again in here way too much. Just too long for these dudes. Morishima/Rikio at the end is surprisingly good though, and Morishima wins with a Lariat. **3/4 Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/KENTA vs. Jun Akiyama/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Kentaro Shiga, 12/15/2000 GREAT. MORE SHIGA. FUCK. This has a lot more of Kobashi/Akiyama than the last match, so it's better. Rookie KENTA was a lot of fun, even if he doesn't resemble real KENTA at all, and was a great FIP. They didn't waste much time here getting into that either, which helped a lot. Kobashi had a good hot tag and then Kikuchi carried Shiga through a finishing run. And then he put this asshole over with a Triangle Choke. ![]() *** Shinya Hashimoto vs. Takao Omori, 12/23/2000 Hash has left NJPW by now and is working some NOAH dates to build up the opening of his ZERO ONE company in 2001. This isn't great, but it's wonderful. Hash eats Omori alive, and this asshole thinks Hash is being too stiff, so he takes it home early. Hash gets annoyed with this and gets more brutal. He wins with the Brainbuster, and in the great part, Omori gets his push dropped after this and never recovers. **3/4 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Vader, NOAH (12/23/2000) This is the last real great Vader singles match. It's not on the level of their AJPW stuff the year before since Vader's freefall in ability starts in mid-2000 and it's only 14 minutes, but it's still Misawa vs. Vader and is going to rule. Vader tries to murder Misawa 8 and a half years earlier with the German Murderplex. He works on Vader's arm for some openings and then goes wild with elbows. a Running Elbow gets Misawa the win and he sells the elbow after. ***1/2 Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama, 12/23/2000 This was amazing. They got 36 minutes and delivered to a surprising degree, despite a small flaw. They go hard at necks early on, until Akiyama overcomes Kobashi's beating by attacking his arm. He doesn't work on it for a real long time, but Kobashi's selling is really good and Akiyama does a lot of really really brutal stuff to the arm. Unfortunately, they give up this thread. Kobashi doesn't no-sell it, but he gradually fades away the selling. The finishing run is good and full of that kind of struggle that the 90s AJPW crew is known for. Kobashi survives Akiyama's biggest bombs, but has to break out the Burning Hammer to put him down. ***3/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 31 2013, 06:26 PM Post #5 |
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Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Shinya Hashimoto/Alexander Otsuka, 1/13/2001 Zero-One comes to NOAH to hype their debut on March 2nd, which will be covered on the other one. Neither of the Z1 guys actually want to face Ogawa because he's a small nuisance and they came here to fight Misawa. Hash especially wants in, and they build up the BATTLE OF DA GAWDS super well. Hashimoto wastes Misawa once gets in and chokes him with his boot and the young boys get on the apron, AND HASHIMOTO SLAPS THE SHIT OUT OF A YOUNG MARUFUJI. OH MY GOD YES. AND MISAWA RUNS AND DROPS HASH WITH AN ELBOW AND CHOKES HIM TOO. Things settle down some before Hash goes on another rampage at the end. Otsuka is in legally, but Hash goes nuts on Misawa. Ogawa jumps on his legs to hold him away like the little rat he is, and Misawa hits a Rolling Elbow and Tiger Driver to pin Otsuka. ***1/2 Kenta Kobashi/Akira Taue vs. Jun Akiyama/Vader, 1/13/2001 Kobashi's announced that he's going in for knee surgery at the end of January and his knee is super taped up to reflect that, so Akiyama decided to destroy his leg a little more anyways. Kobashi and Taue get really aggressive to stop this, as Taue hits Akiyama with a Chokeslam on the ramp and Kobashi goes wild on Vader. But you can't isolate Vader, and he eventually Vader's Up and starts breaking Kobashi. Taue is next, and Akiyama brings up his level of intensity to match Vader's. TAUE MAKES WITH ATHLETIC FEATS TO LIVE! KOBASHI GETS THE HOT TAG! He sells his knee real well but can't last long, and it lets Akyiama and Vader destroy him with bombs. Kobashi still survives Vader's Chokeslam and Powerbomb. He hits the Vader Bomb, BUT THEN DECIDES TO HIT HIS FINAL (PROBABLY) VADERSAULT EVER FOR THE WIN. ***3/4 Kenta Kobashi/Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Naomichi Marufuji, 1/18/2001 This is Kobashi's actual final match before surgery, and it's JIP at 7 minutes. Marufuji is starting to become decent and Misawa is Misawa. Taue and Kobashi control Marufuji well enough, and Misawa's hot tag is great. Kobashi's knee really hinders him again , so Taue gets in. Taue vs. Misawa is great and Marufuji has a nice run of stuff at the end vs. Taue. Kobashi can at least cut off Misawa from the saves, and Taue hits a Chokeslam for the win. *** |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 31 2013, 09:43 PM Post #6 |
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Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Naomichi Marufuji, 3/3/2001 Maru goes right after this shit, since that's the only way he has a shot. His highspots are all basic now, but he hits them SO well and it comes off a lot better than his 2010s awfulness. Misawa eventually took over with the basics, but Marufuji used his flipping and athleticism to repeatedly avoid big bombs. Misawa gets bored with this game and starts destroying the kid with elbows, and he has no answer for that. Misawa hits the Running Elbow to win. *** Yoshihiro Takayama/Takao Omori vs. Takeshi Morishima/Kentaro Shiga, 3/3/2001 TAKAYAMA VS. YOUNG MORI! YEAH! Takayama is still lugging around this fucking anchor, but is obviously carrying the team. Shiga brings it for once and he and Morishima clearly know how outmatched they are, so like Marufuji, they just go wild immediately to have a shot. They throw it all at Omori, the weak link, and get a nice control segment before Morishima makes his way in cut them off and kill them. He makes the finishing run awesome, before Omori runs it with the Axe Bomber to pin Mori. **1/2 Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Jun Izumida, 3/22/2001 Takayama does his thing again with someone and gets a really gppd match out of some random dude out of nowhere. Izu is one of those solid guys that's always stuck in opening six mans in AJPW/NOAH and thus always gets bogged down by shitty and/or old guys, but he looked good here. He brought the fight to Takayama for eight minutes and hit hard, and Takayama got to murder him with a high kick for the win. **3/4 Yoshihiro Takayama/Takao Omori vs. Vader/Takeshi Morishima, 3/30/2001 VADER VS. TAKAYAMA?! No, I guess not. Huge cocktease to have them in the same match and not deliver. Vader helps Morishima a lot here with a good little control segment, but it's still Omori and he's not really interested in selling anything, and it's seven minutes, so there's a whole lot that keeps this average. Morishima vs. Takayama is good at the end, and Takayama wins with the Everest German. **1/2 |
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| Big Tuna | Jan 2 2014, 12:54 AM Post #7 |
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Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama [GHC Title Tournament - Semi-Finals], 4/11/2001 This is these two for 15-20, so while it's not this big classic or anything, it's still great. They had a lot of new and awesome counters against each other. Akiyama went after the neck like he did in their last match and it's good, except that now Misawa has that shit scouted and Akiyama doesn't get nearly as far with it. The traditional struggle over huge moves is there and adds a lot, but they clearly hold back on big stuff. They go to a double count out, but there's a restart. Misawa barely survives the Front Guillotine Choke and then in a rarity for this style, he gets the win after sitting down on a Sunset Flip try by Akiyama for kind of an upset. ***1/4 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshihiro Takayama [GHC Heavyweight Championship Tournament - Finals], 4/15/2001 YEAH EPIC. They have a lot of great matwork before Takayama begins destroying Misawa. He gets like no offense in for 10 minutes as Takayama dismantles him with knees and kicks and elbows. Misawa survives the Everest German, SO TAKAYAMA KICKS HIM AS HARD AS POSSIBLE IN THE CHEST AND THROAT. AND GOES APESHIT WITH ELBOWS TO THE SIDE OF THE NECK. MISAWA IS FUCKING BLEEDING FROM THE NECK. WHEN HE GETS UP, IT LOOKS LIKE HE'S BLEEDING FROM THE THROAT EVEN. AND NOBODY GIVES A SHIT? Completely insane. He fights back after this, and Takayama kicks out of a tiger Driver, Rolling Elbow, and a Running Elbow, so Misawa breaks out the Emerald Frosion to win the belt! **** Mitsuharu Misawa [c] vs. Akira Taue [GHC Heavyweight Championship], 5/18/2001 This is only 15 minutes, so you think this is a low key type deal, right? NAH, FUCK YOU. IMMEDIATE DYNAMIC KICK BARRAGE FROM TAUE. CHOKESLAM OFF THE BIG ASS RAMP ONTO THE TIMEKEEPER'S TABLE THAT DOESN'T BREAK BECAUSE JAPAN. He then throws bombs, but Misawa kicks out because he's the dude. Misawa's casual indifference to taking bombs in the 2000s because he now knows he can survive everyone's shit, especially with Kobashi gone, is the best. Misawa lasts through everything, and hits a Running Elbow and Emerald Frosion to win. ***1/2 Jun Akiyama vs. Takeshi Morishima, 5/25/2001 Morishima's first big singles match! He's shaved his head bald too, so that's real weird to see. He brings stiffness at Akiyama, so Akiyama proves dominance by stretching him in some really nasty ways. Morishima mans up, but he's not at Akiyama's level, so Jun isn't troubled with knocking him back down. The tubby little bitch survives an Exploder that folds him up in a real nasty way, but the Front Guillotine Choke does the trick. *** |
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| Big Tuna | Jan 3 2014, 02:08 AM Post #8 |
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Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima, 6/9/2001 Morishima and Rikio team up for the first time as Wild II, but fuck that, because Saito's joined STERNNESS and it's beautiful given how great some of the matches in 02-03 with he and Jun are. This isn't great because Saito was a little off and Rikio and Mori are still real young, but Akiyama stretching them was great as always. It broke down, and Takao Omori randomly came down and hit Akiyama with the AXE BOMBAH. Rikio hit the Powerbomb to win. **1/2 Omori tries to celebrate, BUT MORISHIMA KNOCKS HIM DOWN WITH A FOREARM! He tells Rikio what happened and then the Sternness underlings attack them for a pull apart. Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Takao Omori/Takashi Sugiura, 6/17/2001 Akiyama is obviously pissed about Omori making him lose to a rookie. SUGI'S HERE. He's not Big Boss Sugi yet, and is a rookie, but looks just as natural in there with Akiyama as Omori does, which while admittedly a low bar, says a lot. He does awesome on the mat against Akiyama in the first half and is a good hot tag at the end. Saito brings it unlike last time, and he hits Sugi with a Steiner Screwdriver to win. **3/4 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinaru Ogawa/Daisuke Ikeda/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Kentaro Shiga, 6/20/2001 Misawa's group is called WAVE. And it has FUCKING DAISUKE IKEDA! YEAH! This is awesome, as they build up Misawa/Akiyama just so well. Marufuji shines as the low man who gets isolated and has a bunch of high flying offense, and Kanemaru kept abusing him. Ikeda didn't get to do a ton in here, but he got the finishing run of stuff. He got triple and quadruple teamed, but Misawa ruined everyone else and kept Akiyama back long enough for Ikeda to put down that bitch Shiga with a Lariat. ***1/2 Mitsuharu Misawa [c] vs. Jun Akiyama [GHC Heavyweight Championship], 7/27/2001 YEAH! This ruled everything, as they played off their last two matches big time. Akiyama tries his thing on the neck, but Misawa keeps cutting him off. He has him totally scouted and survives everything with his total confidence. Akiyama doesn't chip away at him in any way, but Misawa keeps dropping him with huge stuff. And it just...doesn't work? Misawa is baffled now, but Akiyama catches him with his flurry at the end of Exploders, and wins the title with the Wrist-Clutch Exploder! ***3/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Jan 3 2014, 03:44 AM Post #9 |
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Takeshi Rikio vs. Makoto Hashi, 8/15/2001 Shockingly good Hashi showing. He has some great armwork and headbutt based offense in the first half, but of course, Rikio isn't going to sell fucking any part of that. He does good power stuff though and Hashi shows the FIRE. He kicks out of an awesome Lariat and a Chokeslam, but then a Powerbomb puts him down. **1/4 Takeshi Morishima vs. KENTA, 8/15/2001 This is somehow worse, as these two do a lot more basic stuff despite having much much brighter futures. KENTA has a good run of generic flippery at the end, before he gets caught with traditional heavyweight things. Morishima ends it with a Backdrop Driver. ** Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa/Takuma Sano/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Kentaro Shiga, 8/15/2001 LOVING THE WAVE/STERNNESS EIGHT MANS! This lacks Ikeda, so it's not AS good, but all the other players are the same and Sano is pretty great. Marufuji was in for like 80% of this and did real well for himself on offense and as an FIP. The big guns mostly stayed away but for parts at the end, and everyone for to shine a lot. Lots of big teamwork flashes and nearfalls at the end, and disappointingly, Shiga makes Marufuji tap out to a Jujigatame. *** Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito/Makoto Hashi vs. Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima/Daisuke Ikeda, 8/27/2001 GREAT SHIT. Hashi is on STERNNESS now, and it means Ikeda gets to just horribly abuse someone. Ikeda working normal pro wrestling is fine because he's a GOAT level guy and can do it, but he's best when just stretching and smacking the shit out of someone. So the mauling of Hashi rules, and then Saito gets in and rules vs. Ikeda. Akiyama comes in to end it, but then lets Hashi shine. Hashi lets him down because he's so small and inexperienced, so he loses after a Doomsday Device by Wild 2. ***1/4 Tatsuhiko Takaiwa vs. KENTA, 8/31/2001 Takaiwa is coming in from Zero One, and little KENTA immediately goes after him. He knows he has no real shot, so he goes wild with flying and roll ups until Takaiwa catches him and murders him. KENTA gets abused and as a result, shows a ton of energy and fight that he'd later make a career on. KENTA has a great comeback, but gets cut off with a Lariat and beat with the DVD. **3/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Jan 3 2014, 08:26 PM Post #10 |
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Jun Akiyama [c] vs. Tamon Honda [GHC Heavyweight Championship], 9/5/2001 Honda is a career midcarder who won a tournament over guys like Ikeda and Morishima and Rikio who hasn't even been pushed really in NOAH like the others. And you wonder why Akiyama never took as a GHC Champion? Not Jun's fault at all. Honda IS good though, the booking's just real weird. And it's JIP with only 7 minutes left. Akiyama does well as the dominant figure on top, and Honda has some good desperate nearfalls and tricks before the Front Guillotine Choke ends it. *** Shinjiro Ohtani/Takao Omori vs. Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima, 10/7/2001 Ohtani has bulked up to be a heavyweight after NJPW's horrible treatment of the juniors in 2000, but ended up leaving to go to Z1 at some point in 2001 anyways. So Wild 2 goes after him to make a name for themselves, and the Omori/W2 thing continues. This isn't great, because Omori and Rikio, but it is fun. Omori ends up beating Morishima with that fuck awful AXE BOMBAH. **1/2 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Shinjiro Ohtani/Takao Omori, 10/12/2001 This is a big improvement, as this is like 75% Misawa vs. Ohtani. Young Ohtani comes at the King in a huge way and it's just fantastic. Omori and Ogawa get treated like the bags of shit that they are, and Misawa vs. Ohtani just keeps happening. Ohtani gets revealed as outgunned once his measly one finisher fails to put Misawa down, so he can run through his until one works. Elbows and Tiger Driver don't work, but the yet to be kicked out of Emerald Frosion does. *** Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito, 10/17/2001 This is JIP with only 8 shown, but it rules. Akiyama and Saito randomly becoming NOAH's team of the year is such a strange development. Misawa and Akiyama have a long run, but then the underlings get it at the end, and it falls short because it's an Ogawa finishing run. Saito thankfully wins with a Jumping Enzuiguri. **3/4 Yoshinobu Kanemaru [c] vs. Tatsuhiko Takaiwa [GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship], 10/19/2001 This isn't great, but it's a title match on Youtube, so I'd like to have it in the review. They start off HOT with big moves, but then it slows WAY down in the middle without a ton going on, since Kanemaru isn't equipped yet to go 20 and Takaiwa never really became a great 15+ minute wrestler or especially a guy who could have a great match without a GOAT like Liger, Kanemoto, or Ohtani in there with him. Plus he's now after the peak of his career too. They get it up again for the finishing run, and Takaiwa hits a Super Michinoku Driver for the win and the belt. **3/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Jan 3 2014, 11:24 PM Post #11 |
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Jun Akiyama/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Kentaro Shiga vs. Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima/KENTA, 11/18/2001 KENTA! KENTA VS. AKIYAMA! KENTA was the guy isolated for most of this, and was a great FIP. He also had some awesome fiery comebacks too. Morishima had a great run off the hot tag, and Rikio? Rikio was certainly in this match. Shiga even had a nice run of offense here! KENTA got back in and had a great run at the end against Kanemaru with some big nearfalls. Kanemaru gets the win with the Brainbuster. *** Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Makoto Hashi vs. Tamon Honda/KENTA, 11/27/2001 More Kanemaru vs. KENTA! Honda is AMAZING here as this tired veteran finally snapping against young punks. He has some awesome slaps and throws, and Hashi hangs in there real well. KENTA vs. Kanemaru is again the focus and just so fucking good. Kanemaru was apparently really good in the early 2000s. KENTA gets closer to a fluke roll up win than in the last match, but he still gets beat after the Brainbuster. *** Tatsuhiko Takaiwa/Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji, 11/30/2001 WE'RE HERE! KENTAFUJI IS UPON US. This wasn't great, since it was mostly about building Takaiwa vs. Marufuji at the end of the tour and they weren't really doing a lot of great stuff together. KENTA gets to do some cool stuff against the very capable Hosikawa at the end, and while Maru and Takaiwa brawl on the floor, Hoshikawa wins with a flying Enzuiguiri. **3/4 Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Takeshi Morishima, 11/30/2001 YEAH TAKAYAMA'S BACK. This is two minutes though, so it's not much. Mori rushes at the start to get in offense, but Takayama cuts him off with a huge knee and then chokes him out with a Sleeper for the ref stop. *1/2 Jun Akiyama vs. Takeshi Rikio, 11/30/2001 Akiyama again does what he can with this fat wretched shit. He basically led him through the classic format with a test of strength spot, strikefest, building up to the end, etc. He brings actual fire out of Rikio, because Akiyama is too fucking good to not have a great singles match in this style with 15 minutes given. He lets him do his generic heavyweight offense for nearfalls too, before he shuts this down with the Exploder to win. *** |
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| Big Tuna | Feb 2 2014, 04:05 PM Post #12 |
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Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Makoto Hashi, NOAH (2/10/2002) Another awesome Hashi futile attempt against a top guy. His only hope is his amazing headbutt arsenal, so he goes wild. But Takayama has an exceptionally hard head, so he survives. And since 2002 is when Takayama becomes best in the world-level great, he destroys him with slaps and knees and kicks. Knee lift knocks out Hashi and Tak covers to win. **3/4 Akira Taue/Tamon Honda/Masao Inoue vs. Akitoshi Saito/Makoto Hashi/Kentaro Shiga, NOAH (2/17/2002) Hashi continues to try and become a man, as Akiyama is busy tonight and has left the Sternness underlings on their own. Taue is Taue as usual, and that's great. Masao Inoue is an unimpressive career midcarder, but he's not awful or anything, he just rarely stands out. Saito is a wonderful shitkicker, and both Honda and Shiga make good accountings for themselves. Honda's matwork is great. Hashi steps up big at the end and takes over from Saito as the obvious leader. And then because NOAH is weird, Inoue makes him tap out to a Torture Rack. **3/4 Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jushin Liger/Wataru Inoue, NJPW (2/17/2002) NJPW INVADES NOAH! THE JUNIORS FEUD OF THE 2000S IS HERE! The great thing about interpromotional feuds are how heated everyone involved gets, and from the moment Kanemuaru gestures during the intros that this is their house, Liger and Watru go apeshit. Even tepid boring ass Wataru Inoue gets fired up and Liger gets to unleash his inner heel when he's an invader. Kikuchi gets fired up again like it's 1993 and Fuchi is bullying him, and Kanemaru is eager to defend his turf. Kikuchi remembers that he can be THE greatest babyface in the world if he applies himself, and his hot tags are incredible. Wataru makes mistakes and doesn't follow on things Liger starts, which helps the NOAH team and evens out Liger being the all-time junior Ace. Kanemaru is built well by surviving the Liger Bomb and Fisherman's Buster, and then Wataru gets in to lose to Kanemaru's Brainbuster. ***3/4 There is a MASSIVE pull-apart between the NOAH and NJPW sides after the match. Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobshi vs. Jun Akiyama/Yuji Nagata, NJPW (2/17/2002) This is Kobashi's return, so the focus is on how his knee holds up. He's mad at Akiyama for largely causing the injury, but Akiyama stands up to him as an equal again, and Akiyama and Nagata eventually work over the leg. This is three of the best in the world and a really good wrestler in Nagata, so every possible pairing here is great. Kobashi's selling is wonderful of course and Nagata having actual established leg holds helps the story a ton. Kobashi's knee holds up just fine, but he hasn't worked at a high level in 13 months, so he's not used to this kind of punishment and gets destroyed at the end. Akiyama wastes him with Exploders, and the Wrist-Clutch Exploder ends it. ***1/2 |
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| Big Tuna | Feb 7 2014, 06:14 PM Post #13 |
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Vader vs. Takeshi Morishima, 3/14/2002 Vader is declining as Morishima starts to elevate his game little by little. This is short at some five minutes or less, but that might be for the best, all things considered. Some great fat/power spots and lots and lots of hard hitting. Vader destroys Morishima with a Lariat for the win. ** Jun Akiyama/Makoto Hashi vs. Yoshinari Ogawa/Naomichi Marufuji, 3/14/2002 This is building up two matches at the end of the tour for the Heavyweight and Junior Titles. The Akiyama/Hashi dynamic again just kills it, and Akiyama is amazing at giving the opponents just enough to look credible against him for the month that he's still the Ace. More on that infuriating decision later. This foreshadows that, as Ogawa gets WAY too much offense in on Akiyama, since I guess they just gave up on trying to make a new top guy now that Kobashi is back. They finally isolate Marufuji, and Akiyama gets to be Akiyama again, treating these lower level chumps with the open disdain he usually does. That's over FAR too quickly as Hashi is isolated next due to his inexperience. Ogawa is fine as Misawa's sneaky little buddy, like a caricature of what people think X-Pac was to Triple H in 2000, but when he has to be the veteran on a team, it's no good. Marufuji is already better than him. Akiyama kills it on the hot tag and finishing run but since he gains nothing from a win, he gives the shot to Hashi again. Maru/Hashi RULES. HASHI HITS AN AMAZING SUPER BLUE THUNDER DRIVER TO WIN! YEAH! *** Jun Akiyama vs. Makoto Hashi, 3/24/2002 Hashi now has actual momentum and again seeks to earn Akiyama's respect. Ace Akiyama puts on a perfect performance here, getting Hashi over HUGE in defeat while also firmly getting over that he's at a level above Hashi. Classic Ace stuff here. Hashi abandons his headbutt plan to try and work the knees, but it doesn't work out well for him, although Akiyama sells it well in transition. Hashi gets to kick out of an Exploder, but a second one pins him. Akiyama slaps him on the mat post-match, still not impressed. *** Jun Akiyama vs. Kentaro Shiga, 4/6/2002 Akiyama is even less impressed here, but Shiga doesn't pay the respect to his stable boss that Hashi did, and goes right after him. As a result, Akiyama is much less sporting about this and murders Shiga for 5-6 minutes. Shiga looks alright and shows fire. Akiyama makes him hit hard too, so that's nice. Akiyama wins with the Wrist-Clutch Exploder, going to his kill move to hurt Shiga for his insolence. **3/4 Naomichi Marufuji [c] vs. Makoto Hashi [GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship], 4/7/2002 This is very good and could have been great after their great finishing run in the March tag, but it suffers from a few problems. Firstly, it goes on far too long at 20+ minutes, and they have to kill a lot of time at the beginning. It's a reminder that as great as they are in shorter matches and tags against top level workers, they're still a few years off from being able to pull this off. Also, Marufuji fucks his leg up here at the end, and the referee has to stop the match, awarding the title to Hashi. This means they never got to really hit their stride. FUCK YEAH HASHI. **1/2 Post-match, Hashi says he can't accept the title like this, and he vacates it. A tournament will be held in May. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jushin Liger/Minoru Tanaka, 4/7/2002 THE GOOD SHIT. After his young boy let him down in February, Liger's now come back with a proven winner. AND LIGER BREAKS TRADITION BY RUNNING TO ATTACK KIKUCHI ON THE RAMP DURING HIS ENTRANCE HOLY SHIT. They isolate Kikuchi first and Liger is still king of all heels. Tanaka makes a try at it, and he's pretty solid. Kanemaru shows a ton of fire too, but he also gets isolated by the dream team. KANEMARU TEARS LIGER'S MASK TO A FACE POP! I LOVE THIS FEUD! LIGER STRAIGHT UP CHOKES HIM IN RESPONSE. The fan response for Tanaka/Kikuchi at the end is really disappointing, but this is NOAH and they've pretty much trained fans not to take submissions seriously, so you can understand the relative silence for big holds compared to NJPW. Kikuchi is made to tap out by Minoru's Jujigatame. ***1/4 Jun Akiyama [c] vs. Yoshinari Ogawa [GHC Heavyweight Championship], 4/7/2002 Akiyama does what he can here, but this is four minutes long. Akiyama goes wild at Ogawa early on, AND OGAWA COUNTERS AN EXPLODER INTO AN INSIDE CRADLE TO WIN THE TITLE. MOTHERFUCKER. This...god damnit. GOD DAMNIT, NOAH. FUCK OFF. There's a lot of reasons Akiyama never became the Ace he was capable of. Misawa didn't give him the gentle build that Jumbo gave to him, but then Misawa put him over incredibly strong in 2000 and 2001. He didn't have the best quality of opposition, but he still got to be the guy to go over to NJPW and be treated like a God there, and he wrestled like an Ace should. This is the death knell. Ogawa is a career midcarder who got pushed down everyone's throats because I have no idea why. Shitty junior heavyweight gets to be the first junior ever (not counting dudes like Fujinami who put on weight to become heavyweights) in Japan to win a top title. OGAWA GETS TO BE THAT DUDE. NOT LIGER. NOT KIKUCHI. NOT KANEMOTO OR OHTANI. FUCKING RAT BOY OGAWA. NOAH builds up amazing good will, but they deserve everything bad that's happened to them in the last 5 years for this bullshit call. ** |
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| Big Tuna | Feb 8 2014, 03:12 AM Post #14 |
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Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Jun Akiyama/Makoto Hashi, 5/11/2002 Awesome seven minutes. Akiyama is PISSED after losing the title, and he jumps Misawa before Ogawa can come out. He takes him through the crowd and actually shoves Misawa out the arena doors and locks him out. Ogawa gets beat up and isolated in the ring and after five minutes, Misawa comes running down the ramp in through the other way and he cleans house. He goes wild and has a ton of fire behind all his elbows. Ogawa beats Hashi with a Backdrop Hold. *** Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. KENTA [GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship - Tournament Final], 5/26/2002 KENTA is on something of a miracle run here as a rookie, out of his depth in a big match against the more experienced Kanemaru. There's a lot of basic stuff early on that impedes this ever being great and it goes on too long for a blatant win by Kanemaru since there's never any real hope KENTA will actually win. This has a good finishing run regardless, and Kanemaru wins with the Brainbuster. **1/2 Takeshi Rikio vs. KENTA, 6/2/2002 This is fairly short at some eight minutes. KENTA goes right for it, but isn't there yet. He has trouble dealing with Rikio's power, so he goes to the knee. It's basic rookie kneework since he's still pretty new to all of this, being his two year or so anniversary in the business. KENTA stays on the knee, but Rikio's selling isn't amazing. He wins with kind of a shitty Lariat. **1/4 Takeshi Morishima vs. Makoto Hashi, 6/2/2002 MY DUDE HASHI! This is slightly better but also neither of them is as as good here as KENTA was in his match. It's also short at 7-8 minutes so it's still not great. These two being relative rookies is also a part of that. Their basics are fine, but they don't have a lot of interesting little flourishes or ideas to make this more than a good little deal. Morishima gets a lot out of a Cobra Clutch, which is so weird in retrospect. He makes Hashi tap to a Cobra Clutch Backbreaker type hold. **1/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Feb 10 2014, 01:55 AM Post #15 |
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Kenta Kobashi/Kotaro Suzuki vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Masao Inoue, 7/5/2002 After his failed return in February, Kobashi took another break to get really back in shape, and this is his return from that. This is also the debut of Kotaro Suzuki in this review. Everyone involved does their job well, and their job here is to get Kobashi's return over. Suzuki gets isolated, Inoue looks to have improved since last time, and Kanemaru continues to be decent, if not great. Kobashi comes off like THE Man, but it's still no excuse for the Akiyama thing. Kotaro has a good run at the end, and Kanemaru beats him with the Brainbuster. *** Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. 2 Cold Scorpio/Richard Slinger, 7/14/2002 YEAH SCORP. He's still awesome. Slinger is average, but there's three great wrestlers here, so this is really good! Not super long, and it sort of fell down in the middle, but hey. Scorp took some awesome bumps at Kobashi's hands, and Slinger got dragged to something fun in a finishing run with Kikuchi. Kobashi got tagged in at the end and murdered Slinger with a short range Lariat to win. **3/4 Jun Akiyama/Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Akira Taue/KENTA, 7/14/2002 This is largely about KENTA. He insists on fighting Kanemaru first to try and avenge his loss in the title match, AND THEN TAKES THE FIGHT TO AKIYAMA! FUCK YEAH! Akiyama, at this point, is beyond tired of everyone coming at him, and gets super aggressive and heelish with the boy. KENTA keeps pushing his luck and eventually dies when he gets caught and stuck in there at the end. Akiyama destroys him, but then gains nothing from a win, so he gets Kanemaru back in there, who ends it with a Brainbuster. ***1/4 Takeshi Morishima/Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yoshihiro Takayama/Bison Smith, 7/26/2002 ALL THIS STIFFNESS. And hey, Bison Smith's debut! He's dead now. Takayama vs. Ikeda is wonderful, as Takayama is now in the rarefied air of being a potential best wrestler in the world, and elevates the match with his brutal stiffness and motivation. There's a little too much Bison and he's not BAD, but he's on a team with Takayama, so any time he's in there, it feels like a waste. Ikeda punches him REALLY hard though, so fuck it. This is full of weird athletic feats from Bison and Mori an Bison starts to impress at the end with his Claw hold based offense. Morishima's starting to get a feel for himself by now, as he wins with a Backdrop Driver. *** Jun Akiyama/Kotaro Suzuki vs. Takuma Sano/KENTA, 7/26/2002 YEAH, KENTA GOES AFTER AKIYAMA AGAIN! And this time, Akiyama is tasked with a rookie on his team, so he pretty much has to be the guy in the ring if he wants to win a match. KENTA has someone to bully, and as is tradition, he relishes it. AND AKIYAMA MURDERS KENTA WITH GREAT ANNOYANCE AGAIN! I LOVE HEEL AKIYAMA! KENTA shows just so much god damned fire, and their interactions carry the match while Suzuki is still very new and Sano is so-so. Suzuki has a good run at the end against KENTA, but he gets beaten with a Bridging German. *** Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi/Satoru Asako vs. Akira Taue/Makoto Hashi/Masao Inoue, 7/26/2002 This is Asako's retirement match, and as a throwback, Kobashi dons the orange trunks. A lot of focus is on Asako vs. Inoue, so this isn't amazing because he's an aged career midcarder against a current career midcarder, but there's still enough of three of the Four Corners here and Hashi continues to rule. Asako looked pretty good here and Inoue was the weak link as he is in 90% of matches like these. Good finishing run for the most part, and almost because NOAH is mocking me now I think, Asako beats Hashi with a Michinoku Driver. *** |
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| Big Tuna | Feb 11 2014, 09:52 PM Post #16 |
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Kenta Kobashi/KENTA vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Kotaro Suzuki, 9/1/2002 YEAH KOBASHI VS. MISAWA'S HERE! This is JIP, but we still get 10 minutes. Misawa and Kobashi get right into it, and OF COURSE, it's amazing. KENTA's also becoming himself, as he's in his grey tights and throwing a lot more kicks, meaning he's about one change away from his final form. Kotaro is caught and abused and this is basically a perfectly simple TV style deal. Misawa gets in, but largely dominated by Kobashi before they tag out. Another cool KENTA/Kotaro run, and KENTA gets another win with his beautiful Bridging German. ***1/4 Kenta Kobashi (c)/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/KENTA/Kentaro Shiga vs. Jun Akiyama (c)/Akitoshi Saito/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Makoto Hashi [Captains Falls Elimination Match], 9/5/2002 Basically this means that the match is over when one of the captains is beaten, but people can be eliminated before then. Shiga has switched sides to Kobashi's BURNING stable. The first five minute is amazing, as both teams quadruple up on the captains to try and end it early, ending in a 4v4 standoff. Shiga is again a weak link due to his refusal to hit like a man like everyone else here, but it turns into a great spot where Akiyama refuses to sell it and eventually gets violent with the betrayer. Kobashi and Akiyama then get into a pissing contest over Stalling Suplexes and have a staredown while having KENTA and Hashi in the air for them for like a minute. Akiyama hits Kikuchi with an Exploder, and Saito follows with a Saito Suplex and then a Tenryu Enzuiguri to eliminate Kikuchi! NO! There's a lot of clipping here which is upsetting, and Hashi is out next due to a Shiga STS. KENTA vs. Kanemaru rules, and KENTA is beat after a Brainbuster. The others then keep Shiga out, and it becomes a 3 on 1 on Kobashi. Everyone gets big stuff in, and then to be a dick, Akiyama beats Kobshi with a Lariat. **** Yoshinari Ogawa [c] vs. Yoshihiro Takayama [GHC Heavyweight Championship], 9/7/2002 YEAH, OGAWA FINALLY DIES. TAKAYAMA KILL. This is a classic story of a sneaky little shithead who doesn't deserve his title matched up against an unstoppable destroyer and trying to figure out any way out. Takayama totally dominates him in the first half, and is wonderful about it. Ogawa uses cheating to go after the arm but it fails. When it fails, he does his best to go nuts with roll ups, but then Takayama ends this farce with the Everest German. *** Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi [c] vs. El Samurai/Masayuki Naruse [IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship], 9/23/2002 Thank god, it's finally back. Kikuchi and Kanemaru recently invaded NJPW and stole their belts, furthering the heat. HEEL SAMURAI IS HERE! YEAH! This isn't long or very complicated, but it's super super heated and everyone involved is great int the ring at the time this takes place, so while not amazing, it can't be anything that isn't great. Lots of good nearfalls between Naruse and Kanemaru and Kikuchi is again a total star in all this. Kanemaru beats Naruse with a Brainbuster. *** Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima [c] vs. Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito [GHC Tag Team Championship], 9/23/2002 YEAH MORE HEEL AKIYAMA DEALING WITH YOUNG PUNKS. He has this casual indifference at the start of this, basically assured that the titles are his and it's a matter of time. The champions are pissed about this, and want to only fight him. This in turn makes Saito feel disrespected, creating a wonderful cycle of violence. And I mean VIOLENCE. Ridiculously stiff slaps from everyone, brutal brutal punches from STERNNESS, etc. This is best Rikio and Mori have ever looked, despite the small slip in quality when they had to control. Saito and Rikio have a fun little finishing run, and Saito wins the titles with his sweet Enzuiguri, named SICKLE DEATH. ***1/2 Yoshihiro Takayama [c] vs. Mitsuharu Misawa [GHC Heavyweight Championship], 9/23/2002 YEAH! Wonderful big time slugfest. Takayama uses knees and kicks and generally abuses his size and weight advantage. Misawa Misawa's it right the fuck up with elbows and a wonderful general disregard for his body that will eventually kill him. They hit retardedly hard here to the point that it's the only time Misawa's ever injured anyone with elbows. Some awesome nearfalls, and in a somewhat disappointing but ultimately logical move, Misawa regains the GHC Title with a disgusting Running Elbow. ***3/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Feb 13 2014, 03:27 AM Post #17 |
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In an incredibly noteworthy thing I found out just now, NOAH outdrew NJPW in their Budokan Hall shows in the same month period in August to September. It's both a decline in NJPW business after all the Inokism/losing several stop stars by then and a rise in NOAH's. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi [c] vs. KENTA/Takashi Sugiura [IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship], 10/12/2002 YEAH SUGI GETTING SHOTS TOO! This is a lot of fun, as KENTA and Sugi step up really really big, even if they're not totally ready YET. Kikuchi shows his usual fire, in an unusual position of dominance. KENTA and Sugi start hot by dominating Kikuchi, but Kanemaru gets in, and again gets the best of KENTA in a hateful manner. They have some great nearfalls between them and KENTA continues to inch closer and closer. Sugi uses his power and continues to slowly become very good but Kanemaru cuts him off with a low blow. Kikuchi wins with a Blue Thunder Driver. *** Kenta Kobashi/Kentaro Shiga vs. Jun Akiyama/Yoshinobu Kanemaru, 10/17/2002 Kenta and Shiga have a title shot at STERNNESS, so this is something of a warm up. Shiga is eager to prove himself and Akiyama is insulted by this. Which leads to, yet again, the best part of NOAH's 2002 in Akiyama's anger at rookies trying to come after him. No longer confined by the Ace role, he's free to be dickish and rude when he chops down challengers, and does it while constantly sneering at and attacking Kobashi. Control seg on Shiga is full of good stuff, and then Kobashi's hot tag rules. He winds up murdering Shiga in the finishing run, and accidentally drops a Powerbomb into a nasty Sidewalk Slam, inventing the Diamondhead. This gets the win. *** Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito [c] vs. Kenta Kobashi/Kentaro Shiga [GHC Tag Team Championship], 10/19/2002 This didn't NEED 30, because it's Shiga and I don't understand his push. But it's still three great wrestlers in there, two of which are best in the world tier. Shiga uses his speed do cool stuff on the floor, and Akiyama and Saito really just decimate him. This is probably the best Shiga match ever, as they work a perfect kind of heels vs. super strong face/sidekick deal. Kobashi/Akiyama is again fucking amazing. They build to an awesome Kobashi hot tag, and Shiga gets back in. He gets some big nearfalls, but can't handle Akiyama's big stuff, and he wins with the STERNNESS DUST! ***3/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Feb 18 2014, 07:07 PM Post #18 |
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Kenta Kobashi/KENTA/Kentaro Shiga vs. Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito/Yoshinobu Kanemaru, 11/20/2002 This feud is the best. KENTA gets 90% of the focus here and is really coming into his own, attitude-wise, as he continues to go right for Akiyama and Kanemaru. He gets isolated and it's a lot of fun. Shiga yet again fails to man up in the ring with these five and he's looking more and more like a lost cause, and gets abused for it. KENTA also gets the finishing run too! He survives a good amount of teamwork, but Saito beats him with the Sickle Death. *** Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue, 11/24/2002 This is JIP to the last 10 minutes, but it looks like an incredible bombfest. Taue works over Kobashi's knee a little, and Kobashi sells real well. Taue makes the classic mistake of using the knee as a distraction for bombs instead of as a real weapon, and when Taue's bombs don't do the job and Kobashi is able to move around on his bad leg, Taue's a sitting duck. OR HE BREAKS OUT THE CHOKESLAM ON THE UNPROTECTED FLOOR AND DEBUTS THE ORE GA TAUE. FUCK YEAH TAUE'S NOT BENDING OVER AND TAKING THIS SHIT. Kobashi counters the Dynamic Bomb with a god damn Huracanrana somehow, and hits a Lariat, followed by the Burning Lariat to win it. *** Mitsuharu Misawa/Takuma Sano vs. Kenta Kobashi/Kentaro Shiga, 12/1/2002 Shiga is once again the odd man out in terms of great wrestlers. They start with a super hot Misawa/Kobashi run of stuff to build up their 2003 title clash, and Sano holds his own against Kobashi too. He joins the long list of veterans to slap Shiga around to try and make him become a man only to see Shiga fall short and throw the weakest strikes in the country, possibly. Shiga is isolated and that's great because he gets beat up some more. Kobashi does stuff for a while when he gets in and then Shiga beats Sano with the STS. *** It's okay though, because Shiga breaks his neck in January 2003 and is out until mid 2005! Yaaaaaay! Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi [c] vs. Jado & Gedo [IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship], 12/7/2002 We get master heels Jado and Gedo here. TONS of heat and all the cheating as they continue to be the best pure heel act in Japan, since they're also working heel in NJPW pretty much for all eternity. Kikuchi shows all his usual fire and it's wonderful. Kanemaru gets fired up due to the cheating and continues to put on a great string of performances in the first half of the decade. Great finishing run, and Kanemaru wins with the Brainbuster! THE MIRACLE RUN CONTINUES! ***1/2 Mitsuharu Misawa [c] vs. Yoshinari Ogawa [GHC Heavyweight Championship], 12/7/2002 This is too long as 23-24 minutes, but it WAS fun. Misawa is annoyed at Ogawa's dirty tricks, stalling, and general skullduggery now being used against him when he's the one who plucked Ogawa from nothing four years ago and forced him into "greatness". So he kills him! YEAH! Unfortunately it's not the end of Ogawa getting opportunities and titles, but it feels like it should be with how bad he dies. Emerald Frosion does the deal. *** |
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| Big Tuna | Mar 8 2014, 09:27 PM Post #19 |
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Mitsuharu Misawa/Masahiro Chono vs. Kenta Kobashi/Akira Taue, 1/10/2003 The build to Misawa vs. Kobashi on March 1st has started. Chono has died his hair blond for some reason now, and it is so strange. He also now has generic baggy leather pants and really just looks horrible for a guy who excelled on appearance for the last 8 years. he match itself is really good and hits everything that this kind of all-star deal should and it builds a Kobashi/Chono match very very well. There isn't a ton of story as it largely becomes an escalating bombfest, but there's so many great bombs here, so it was really great. Kobashi and Taue are far removed from the days of the HDA terrorizing him, so they can actually get along here and it proves key. Chono saves after a Powerbomb/Super Chokeslam combo, but Misawa is fucked up after that. Chono keeps saving, but Taue finally holds him at bay and Kobashi puts down Misawa with a disgusting Brainbuster. ***1/2 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito [c] vs. Shinjiro Ohtani/Masato Tanaka [GHC Tag Team Championship], 1/10/2003 Zero-One invades and comes for the Tag Titles! Akiyama gets pissed off at this and pissed off Akiyama is the best Akiyama. There's a ton of awesome awesome moments in this. Saito is largely written off by the Z1 team as a weak link and gets all indignant and stiff about that. Ohtani and Tanaka are a team that suddenly has a ton of chemistry, and they have some great control segments. Great finishing run mostly, and in kind of a shock, Saito beats Tanaka with a Steiner Screwdriver! ***1/4 Kenta Kobashi/KENTA vs. Shinjiro Ohtani/Masato Tanaka, 1/13/2003 This Kobashi/KENTA team is the best. I've never seen a pairing of the Ace and the most fiery young junior before, it's really fantastic. And they're both in their element against the Z1 team. Kobashi is defending his turf, and KENTA is trying to prove himself. Tanaka and Ohtani up their game huge here in terms of being total assholes. Ohtani threatens Kobashi with his sword, gives him the finger, and they both treat KENTA like kind of a practice dummy. All the big finishing run stuff is fantastic, and KENTA gets stuck in there with a more experienced team that won't allow a tag out. They did an AMAZING job making me believe in an upset, but Ohtani got KENTA with the Spiral Bomb for the win. **** Mitsuharu Misawa/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kenta Kobashi/KENTA, 1/26/2003 MORE BIG MATCH BUILD! KENTA VS. MARUFUJI HOLY SHIT! This is all wonderful. Misawa and Kobashi were understandably holding back against each other somewhat, so a lot of the focus went to KENTA vs. Marufuji, and it was the best junior stuff NOAH's done so far. Both of them are super crisp and fast and they're also insanely hungry to get over and in top spots, so they're busting out all this crazy and inventive stuff. There's more to this match up than they give, but this was low level great. Kobashi beats Marufuji with the Burning Lariat. *** Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi [c] vs. Jushin Liger/Koji Kanemoto [IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship], 1/26/2003 This is JIP, but we still get 12 minutes! This really should have been better than it was, looking at the names involved. Liger and Kanemoto are an AMAZING team of assholes, but it also has a certain credibility behind it as they kick so much fucking ass together so they're cheating just to rub in how great they are. Kanemaru was sort of whatever on his hot tag, which didn't help. Kikuchi brought it at the end to barely put this over the top into greatness, and he had some awesome fired up fighting spirit sells. He basically bounced off his head off a Super Brainbuster and stood up but then Liger hit a short-range Shotei to win the belts back. *** |
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| Big Tuna | Mar 9 2014, 12:32 AM Post #20 |
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KENTA/Takashi Sugiura vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Makoto Hashi, 2/16/2003 This is JIP also and only 4 minutes, but the NOAH junior start their breakout year with a KILLER spotfest. Sugi uses his amazing power, KENTA kicks super hard, Hashi brings THE EFFORT~...and Kanemaru is also in the ring. Good for him! Lots of super quick stuff, and Kanemaru reverses a roll up from KENTA into his own for the win! **1/2 Post-match, Kanemaru shakes Sugiura's hand. KENTA is mad about this and he pulls Kanemaru off, AND KICKS HIM SUPER HARD BECAUSE FUCK HIM. AND THE OTHER THREE ALL ATTACK KENTA! NO! Sugiura hugs Hashi and Kanemaru and they triple team him, BUT NAOMICHI MARUFUJI RUNS OUT TO SAVE! Kotaro Suzuki is also there, BUT FUCK THAT. MARUFUJI AND KENTA SHAKE HANDS! Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda/KENTA/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Makoto Hashi, 2/18/2003 Honda has replaced Shiga as the #2 in Burning! YAY! And it's his hometown! KENTA is PISSED at Hashi and Kanemaru for the attack on 2/16 and he starts with a beautifully stiff fight with Hashi. Honda gets to show off his immense mat skill some, and we get a tease of Kobashi/Akiyama. KENTA gets isolated in his quest for revenge and Sternness yet again has a great control segment. Finishing run is awesome as we get more KENTA/Hashi. Honda gets in for the hometown win with his beautiful Bridging German. ***3/4 In the back after the match off a quick cut, HASHI AND KANEMARU ARE ATTACKING KENTA! WHOA! GOOD FOR YOU NOAH, DEFYING ALL JAPANESE CONVENTIONS! Kobashi comes over to save, and the Sternness junior and Burning have a big pull apart. Kobashi gets KENTA and Kikuchi back. Kanemaru backs off and Kobashi chops Hashi away and tries to restrain his guys. Akiyama comes over finally to do the same. KENTA and Kanemaru yell at each other and break through again to fight before getting pulled apart. |
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6:52 PM Jul 10