NOAH – Destiny 2005: 5th Anniversary Show – 18th July 2005
It’s taken me a fair amount of time to get round to it, but a while back this event was the talk of the summer. Despite it being a NOAH show meaning there’s bound to be a load of droll tag matches you don’t want to see, there’s some incredible matches lined up. Kanemaru/KENTA and Kobashi/Sasaki have big reputations as MOTYC’s. Elsewhere Minoru Suzuki and Naomichi Marufuji defend the GHC Tag Titles they won on June 18th in England against Jun Akiyama and his boy Makoto Hashi. Takeshi Rikio defends the Heavyweight crown against one of NJPW’s big young prospects – Hiroshi Tanahashi. All that plus a main event that reprises the defining rivalry in 90’s puro in Mitsuharu Misawa taking on Toshiaki Kawada. It’s NOAH’s second time in the Tokyo Dome…I preferred the lighting last time, and it seemed more packed as well then. Still, they’ve clearly proved far more of a draw at the venue than NJPW has done recently.
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Mitsuo Momota/Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Masashi Aoyagi/Takashi Sugiura/SUWA
Yes indeed, standard thrown together NOAH tag format here. On the bright side, I actually like most of the talent in this one. Kikuchi continues to rattle around and does alright in this environment. Momota is fun for old man getting his ass kicked value. Sugiura and SUWA are two of the bigger guys in the Junior division who are capable of more than many give them credit for. Nakajima is Kensuke Sasaki’s protégé and has had quite the break-out year in 2005. He’s still a little raw but has a lot of potential.
Nakajima bows to everyone in sight and ends up starting with Suwa. In classic Suwa fashion he tries to heel it up until Nakajima gives him a series of stiff kicks. Momota back drops Suwa into a diving headbutt by Kikuchi for 2. Tsuyoshi and Sugiura engage in a healthy elbow strike duel. Momota dishes out the open hand chops then a DDT. Nakajima in again to kick lumps out of Sugiura. HEAD DROP GERMAN scores but Suwa breaks the pin. Aoyagi tags, and proceeds to stiff Katsuhiko about the place. All three take turns to put a beating on the youngest of the three opponents. Suwa scales the ropes to hit a DIVING ELBOW DROP TO THE BALLS! Aoyagi follows with a sick-looking stomp to the same spot. Nakajima wipes him out with a spinning heel kick and tags out at last. Kikuchi back in with elbows to Aoyagi then a German suplex for Suwa. Everyone else is brawling now as Kikuchi gets 2 with a back suplex powerbomb. Momota back suplexes Aoyagi then gets speared by Sugiura. Nakajima tags Takashi with a missile dropkick. SHOTGUN DROPKICK from Suwa to Kikuchi, followed by a flapjack on Nakajima. FFF finishes Kikuchi at 09:32.
Rating - ** - As it goes that was fun. The isolation stuff on the fiesty young Nakajima was good, as was the heel schtick from Suwa. Inevitably it broke down to a flurry of spots since, lets face it, this match means nothing, and that was fun too. It was good to see Momota kept largely out of the way so the more able other five could do their thing. Nakajima is ridiculously good considering he wasn’t even 17 by this point. Yes folks, he’s THAT young.
Tamon Honda/Go Shiozaki vs Takeshi Morishima/Mohammed Yone
Go Shiozaki is a graduate of NOAH’s dojo, and this was actually his first full tour for the company. He needs to fill out a little if he wants to truly hang with the heavyweights, but he has all the potential in the world. He was awesome at Universal Uproar. Honda is probably my least favourite puro worker. Just because you were a good amateur wrestler…it doesn’t necessarily make you a good pro. Morishima and Yone make a decent team, pairing up two guys that tend to get lost in NOAH’s midcard. Although Morishima was rumoured to get the push Takeshi Rikio ended up getting before he got injured.
Shiozaki and Honma jump the gun and attack their opponents before the bell…Go hitting Morishima with a pescado. He goes for a missile dropkick but Morishima catches and plants him. They botch a side slam before Takeshi starts to work the youngster with an abdominal stretch. Yone continues the punishment by cranking his head, then going to a grounded headscissors. Morishima tries to take Go’s head off with a lariat but he shows some guts and comes back with a back suplex. Honda tagged and he hits back drop drivers on both men. He somehow manages to muscle Morishima into a German suplex. Shiozaki manages to drill the big man with his missile dropkick this time. Amazingly he finds the power to give Morishima a German suplex as well. Moonsault misses and Yone comes off the second rope with a leg drop for 2. Shiozaki with a rolling cradle for a 2 of his own before this time he does hit the moonsault. Morishima plants Honda with a back drop driver then KILLS Go with a massive Sambo suplex. DOOMSDAY SPINNING HEEL KICK! Honda has to make the save, but he isn’t there after Yone hits the MUSCLEBUSTER! Go stares at the lights at 08:26.
Rating - * - There was some messy stuff, but that’s to be expected given the inexperience of Shiozaki and the sucktitude of Tamon Honda. In between that there was some good, old-fashioned teaching the new guy a lesson with Go and a head bump here and there. It’s all valuable experience for the young man, whilst giving Honda, Morishima (who’s still fairly young himself) and Yone spots on the card. Ultimately it’s filler crap that you can skip right past though.
Akitoshi Saito/Masao Inoue/Shiro Koshinaka/Kishin Kiwabata vs Akira Taue/Takuma Sano/Jun Izumida/Haruka Eigen
Talk about ramming as much of the NOAH crap into one match as is humanly possible. Taue and Koshinaka are both way past their best. Eigen is so old that you have to respect him for still wrestling, without ever wanting to see him. Everyone else is your typical NOAH midcarders. Big, stiff, but mostly bland and lacking what it takes to elevate them from the pack with any great deal of success. All would be fine in the role of a tag partner (see Ogawa, Yoshinari) but they’re never going to break out and become a Misawa, Kobashi, Kawada, Mutoh, Hashimoto etc. All the dark agents (Saito etc) wear black which is a cool touch.
Taue is still damn popular and the crowd are excited to see him start with Koshinaka. Taue gives him a butt-butt but Shiro comes back with a series of ass-strikes. Saito, Inoue and Kiwabata try to do it as well, but Kiwabata misfires and Eigen takes over on him in the corner. Sano and Saito have a few generic heavyweight exchanges culminating in Saito scoring with a stalling vertical suplex. Eigen with chops on Inoue. Taue winds up to B*TCH SLAP Kiwabata then hit a DDT. In the end it’s Kiwabata that finds himself cut off from his team until he clotheslines Taue allowing him to tag out. Koshinaka with a butt-butt on Akira for 2. Everyone is brawling in really slow, pathetic fashion now. Taue boots Saito down then tags to Sano who scores with a missile dropkick. Double stomp right into Saito’s stomach for 2. Koshinaka in for more ass-related offence until Sano drops him on his head. Izumida in but Inoue unleashes a clothesline flurry in the corner. More slow-mo brawling with Taue chokeslamming Inoue into another double stomp from Sano. Inoue pins Izumida to end the misery at a painfully long 11:55.
Rating – DUD – That really was so bad. Some of those guys can still go with the right opponents, but throwing them all together was a horrible idea. Izumida, Kiwabata, Saito and Inoue range from average to absolutely dreadful. Koshinaka did nothing more than ass comedy. Eigen is old. Sano apparently used to be a good junior heavyweight. Why is it he sucks so hard and won’t go away these days? Fair play to Taue, he might be old but he still looked miles better than anyone else here. That flat out sucked.
Mushiking Terry vs Black Mask
This is something for the kids now. I don’t know the full details, nor do I particularly care. Terry is some form of popular cartoon character in Japan. Knowing how much those crazy Japs love their cartoons, now we get a wrestling incarnation. I really hope Black Mask is a rival in the cartoon, other wise it’s the most generic “evil masked guy” name ever. If you’re curious, it’s Ricky Marvin as BM, with Kotaro Suzuki as MT. Lets not go ahead and criticise this right away…after all, Jushin Liger started off this way and he’s still the sh*t! Both guys have incredibly gay big introductions which appear to be supposed to get the crowd pumped. Maybe it’s the acoustics but it doesn’t seem to work.
Terry with an early satellite headscissors on Mask, who flips over the top rope to the floor to avoid a dropkick to the knee. DIVING PLANCHA by Suzuki. Black Mask returns fire with a Jerry Lynn-esque leg drop over the middle rope. Terry misses a crossbody and Mask hits a SPRINGBOARD SWANTON for 2. Octopus stretch as Marvin looks to break MT down. Springboard headscissors by Mushiking, which the kiddies seem to like. He actually runs up Black Mask into a hurricanrana for 2. Mask slaps on a Crippler Crossface but isn’t getting the win there. Terry catches BM on the top rope…SUPER SWINGING NECKBREAKER FROM BLACK MASK! Michinoku Driver for 2. Terry with a 619 to the stomach into freaky half nelson/tiger suplex for three at 07:58.
Rating - ** - As an exhibition of junior wrestling that could’ve been a lot worse. The gimmicks and crap like that seemed to suck the life out of a lot of people, but Kotaro Suzuki and Ricky Marvin (not MT/BM) crammed a lot into those 8 minutes. I liked seeing Marvin work a slightly more grounded style as he worked the neck in what little time he had on offence…but this is to make all the little children pleased so their hero could hardly lose now, could he? I like the Mushiking suplex thingy.
Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs KENTA – GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title Match
Kanemaru won the belt from Jushin Liger last time NOAH appeared in the Tokyo Dome to begin his third reign as champion over a year ago. Since then he’s turned away the challenges of Low Ki, Taka Michinoku, Takashi Sugiura, Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Kotaro Suzuki. Everyone knows KENTA is one of the top cruiserweights in the world. He held the Jr. Heavyweight Tag straps with Marufuji for almost two years before Kanemaru finally beat him for those, alongside Takashi Sugiura. Can he return the compliment now?
It’s a red-hot start as they literally plaster each other with stiff strikes then trade big boots to the face. To the mat next and they’re just as even trading holds there. Kanemaru goes for a springboard crossbody out of the corner but Kenta steps out of the way. That seems to injure Kanemaru’s arm, allowing Kenta to go to work. On the floor he shoves the champion shoulder-first into the ringpost. He cranks on a hammerlock, then as Kanemaru looks to escape he mounts the ropes for a FLYING headscissors. All his trademark stiff kicks are directed right to the arm as well. Fujiwara armbar locked in but Yoshinobu gets to the bottom rope. They fight to the top rope where Kanemaru blocks whatever Kenta was going for and nails a SUPER DDT! Kenta rolls out of the ring his neck hurts so much…so Kanemaru goes after him with a JUMPING DDT OFF THE APRON! Figure 4 headscissors keeps piling on the punishment to the weakening neck. Outside again and Kanemaru leg drops Kenta throat-first over the railings. Back inside he slows it right down with a sleeper hold. Tree of woe basement dropkick next, and Kenta has a vacant look on his face. Now Kanemaru uses the camel clutch but Kenta breaks that and hits a back suplex. Kanemaru goes for another jumping DDT and gets met with a kick to the shoulder.
Kenta finds the mark with a springboard missile dropkick for 2. To the top again but Kanemaru POWERBOMBS to counter a flying headscissors. Frog splash from the champion for 2, then a SECOND JUMPING DDT! MOONSAULT MISSES..and Kenta lands a fisherman buster to leave them both reeling. Bridging German by the challenger gets 2. To the top rope he goes but Yoshi lifts the foot up to block a knee drop. DVD blocked…brainbuster blocked…TIGER SUPLEX by Kenta! BRAINBUSTER SCORES FOR KANEMARU, BUT IT’S NO SOLD! BUSAIKU KNEE STRIKE! That was crazy! Both take a while to get to their feet and when they do it’s Kanemaru with ANOTHER BRAINBUSTER! MOONSAULT NAILED…for 2. A THIRD BRAINBUSTER – STILL ONLY 2! Kanemaru goes for a super brainbuster now but Kenta refuses and hits another fisherman buster out of the corner. POWERBOMB INTO THE BUCKLES! ALLEY-OOP! LIGERBOMB! Kenta unloads with a series of strikes…BUSAIKU KNEE NO SOLD! BUSAIKU KNEE AGAIN – JUST 2! FIREMAN’S CARRY KNEE STRIKE…KANEMARU KICKS! KICKS TO THE HEAD…BUSAIKU KNEEEEEEE! New champion at 20:31.
Rating - **** - Not the MOTYC I’ve seen a few people tout it as, but certainly an excellent match. The last five minutes were balls to the wall insane fun. I didn’t like the fact that KENTA’s early arm-work went nowhere, and after having his neck worked on the whole match, the spot-insanity chaos of the finish at the end seemed a little unrealistic. Abandoning the smark reviewer thought-process, it was bags of fun with lots of stuff to mark-out over at the death. I did prefer Liger/Kanemaru from Departure 2004 though.
Minoru Suzuki/Naomichi Marufuji vs Jun Akiyama/Makoto Hashi – GHC Tag Title Match
Suzu-fuji took the belts from Doug Williams and Scorpio at an FWA show in Morecambe, demonstrating a transition for Naomichi from the Junior to the heavyweight ranks. Suzuki is awesome as the foul-tempered, heelish bastard too. Akiyama is teaming with his protégé Makoto Hashi who, for whatever reason, has a heavily bandaged head going into this. Surely Minoru Suzuki will want to expose that. I don’t keep up to date with NOAH storylines – it might even be Suzuki who caused it.
Hashi and Marufuji start out with some fast-paced stuff, with Naomichi going right for Hashi’s injured head with a dropkick. Hashi responds by clotheslining him off the apron…TOP ROPE DIVING HEADBUTT TO THE FLOOR! Akiyama tags and demands Suzuki step in to face him. They look to go all amaresu on us until Minoru starts kicking Jun in the gut then slapping him. Marufuji in to have all his strikes no-sold and Akiyama boots him in the face. Tag to Hashi who starts headbutting Suzuki in the floor. Marufuji goes for a sunset flip bomb to the floor and with Minoru’s help HE NAILS IT! They drag Akiyama out of the ring to give him a DDT ON THE RAMP! That leaves them alone with the injured Hashi now who shows guts just avoiding a count-out. Suzuki puts him in a camel clutch and rips off his head bandage as Akiyama limps back to ringside. Marufuji makes it worse for Makoto with a running dropkick. Together the champions drape him in the ropes to put the boots in some more. Naomichi with a cobra clutch but Hashi fights out, only to get slapped back down by Suzuki. He can barely stand up but still tries to take the fight to Minoru who shoves him in the corner for a basement dropkick. DOUBLE SPRINGBOARD basement dropkick by Marufuji. To the top again to hit a frog splash for 2.
Finally Hashi manages to suplex ‘Fuji and tag out to Akiyama who smacks Suzuki off the apron then backdrops Marufuji on top of him. Marufuji back in with a dropkick to the head, then it’s time for Suzuki and Jun to SLAP DUEL! Hashi tags in again but he hasn’t recovered enough and Suzuki puts him in an abdominal stretch. Akiyama/Marufji again, and with the cruiserweight taking a powerbomb then getting put in a front choke. Hashi is fighting with Suzuki and gives him an INVERTED DDT ON THE APRON! Meanwhile Jun blocks the Shiranui and kills Naomichi with a RUNNING KNEE! EXPLODAAAA! Hashi with a diving headbutt but he isn’t the legal man. He tags in legally and hits another for 2. Blue Thunder driver but Suzuki breaks the pin. KI KRUSHAAAAA…MARUFUJI KICKS OUT! Pele kick by Marufuji…SHIRANUI! They go to the top rope but Akiyama drags Marufuji out with a back superplex. ANOTHER diving headbutt by Hashi. Suzuki tries to cobra clutch Akiyama…SHIRANUI OFF SUZUKI BY MARUFUJI! They have Hashi alone now…CRADLE PILEDRIVER! TOP ROPE BASEMENT DROPKICK! The kid just won’t lay down so it’s an AVALANCHE SHIRANUUUIIIII! Finally he’s dead at 24:54.
Rating - **** - Great match, that left me exhausted much like some of the classic AJPW tags of the past. The isolation and complete demolition of Makoto Hashi by the champions was quite brutal to watch and the big spots at the end rocked. The Akiyama/Suzuki exchanges were money that left me begging for a singles match between them. However, I’m left somewhat bemused by Hashi’s performance. On the one hand, he nailed the plucky underdog taking a beatdown, and the crowd were eating his comebacks up. The big problem I had (and this isn’t unusual with Hashi) that his limited offence saw him hit endless headbutts. The guy had an injured head, and had Suzuki and Marufuji attacking it all match. How was he still hitting diving headbutts? Was that courageous defiance or bad selling? Even I can’t tell…
Takeshi Rikio vs Hiroshi Tanahashi – GHC Heavyweight Title Match
Rikio was the guy that ended up polishing off Kenta Kobashi’s epic reign as champion in a match that’s well worth downloading (not that I did that or anything). He is yet to really set the world alight though, but he’s young and it’s a lot to ask of him to fill the shoes of the great Kobashi. Tanahashi is one of NJPW’s superb rising stars (along with guys like Shinsuke Nakamura and Katsuyori Shibata) and I’ve enjoyed a lot of his stuff. His U-30 title reign produced some good matches, and he went all the way to the 2004 G1 Climax final where he fell to Hiroyoshi Tenzan. I love Rikio’s entrance theme, perhaps more than the champ himself. Yoshihiro Takayama is on commentary…
Tanahashi looks fired up for this, and tries to wind Rikio up early. The champ has a power advantage but Tanahashi still manages a crossbody block. Rikio with a series of elbows then a grounding of his quicker opponent with a chinlock. He catches Tanahashi in a bearhug but the challenger counters out with a small package. He dropkicks Rikio off the apron to get some space, then gets 2 back inside with a standing somersault senton. He looks for a sleeper but Rikio is too strong again and back drops free. Dragon sleeper on the challenger who finds the ropes pronto. Rikio sails off the ropes with a crossbody for 2. Hiroshi tries to fight it but still ends up taking a powerbomb into the turnbuckles and now looks out of it. He blocks a back superplex attempt and nails a MOONSAULT PRESS! Rikio to the floor…TOPE BOTCH LUNACY! Tanahashi ended up murdering himself on the rails there. He tries it again and f*cks it up again on the ropes. Third time lucky? HE EATS GUARDRAIL AGAIN! Well this is just a mess now ain’t it? Tanahashi re-enters the ring with a missile dropkick then busts out the rolling Germans for 2. Rikio blocks a dragon suplex so Tana slaps on a dragon sleeper instead. Rikio goes for a running suplex but Tanahashi slides off his shoulders to score with a running neckbreaker. LARIATOOO from Rikio. He starts with a relentless slap flurry then powerbombs him for 2. Tanahashi counters the Muso with a roll-up then gets FOOTBALL TACKLED into the corner. B*tch slap/lariat combo for 2. MUSO and this one is over at 17:11.
Rating - ** - I’d heard this was a complete abomination and, whilst this wasn’t good, it certainly wasn’t too bad. It’s a story you’ve seen done a million times though, especially in the puro world, and when it isn’t done with any great skill as this one very clearly wasn’t, it bombed. Tanahashi was alright as the underdog but botching that tope three times simply killed the match. Rikio flat-out sucked as well. He was completely devoid of charisma as he beat down Tanahashi, which just made it impossible to get into. Both guys are better than this I swear. Rikio’s two GHC matches with Kobashi seem a long time ago now though, and Tanahashi isn’t good enough to carry someone like him to a good match yet.
Genichiro Tenryu vs Yoshinari Ogawa
This is a grudge match of sorts (according to a brief video package at least) after bad blood has brewed between them during tag matches, leading to angry throwing of furniture. I can’t believe this gets billing over the GHC Title match though…doesn’t speak volumes for the belt, or Rikio as champion. Luckily, Tenryu is one of those veterans who defies all logic and continues to put on decent matches every once in a while. I have more time for Ogawa since he impressed me back in March at International Showdown, but lets face it. This ain’t no dream match…
Tenryu wrestles in the largest pair of man-pants you’ll ever see in your life. Clean breaks to start as both try to one-up each other. Tenryu refuses a handshake and Ogawa doesn’t like it. Grumpy old man chops and a clothesline for rat-boy. Ogawa goes to the knee to get an advantage, wrapping it around the ringpost in aggressive fashion then locking in a figure 4 around it. Tenryu comes back with more chops to try and get some space but now Ogawa is wise to it and counters by ramming his head into the ringpost then dropping him with a DDT. Double underhook stretch by Ogawa, but Tenryu enziguris free and applies a double underhook of his own. Ogawa goes to the eyes and headscissors him over the ropes. It’s got personal again and he goes for a back suplex through a table. Tenryu blocks and slams his head into the table instead. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Back in the ring Ogawa blocks a powerbomb and nails an enzi. Back suplex, before he brings the disrespectful kicks to the head. A second back suplex succeeds as well for 2. Tenryu with a couple of lariats but Yoshi kicks out. BRAINBUSTAAA for 2. Tenryu with one more crappy looking lariat and this is over at 10:24. At least they end up being friends and Tenryu helps Ogawa to the back.
Rating – DUD – Boring, boring, boring…and not very interesting either. It actually started like it might have some potential as they both tried to act all disrespectful and cocky, but in the end it became the kind of lumbering, cumbersome dross that you can see in the WWE. It felt a lot longer than 10 minutes watching it by the way.
Kensuke Sasaki vs Kenta Kobashi
Unlike the previous match, this is a dream match on the puro scene. Kobashi has dominated NOAH for the last couple of years, but elsewhere Kensuke Sasaki has found success in both All Japan and New Japan and is a huge name in his own right. Obviously this is Japan and everyone hits hard…but this should be HARD! Kobashi comes out to ‘Grand Sword’ (his old AJPW entrance music) causing the commentators, the fans and the reviewer alike to all mark out like crazy.
The bell rings and Sasaki hits a BACK DROP DRIVER off the bat! Kobashi shakes it off and throws a few chops before hitting a BACK DROP of his own. Sasaki no-sells and hits a LARIATOOO and both guys roll to the floor. They have a stare down across the ring which the crowd marks out for. Test of strength between two of puroresu’s defining powerhouses right now. Knucklelock throw by Kensuke to break that. Kobashi with knees to the stomach then a wind-up chop. To the apron where he positions Sasaki for a series of JUMPING PRECISION CHOPS! DDT on the floor and Kensuke is reeling. PESCADO FROM KOBASHI! Sasaki comes back in the corner with a flurry of chop/lariats then a SUPER RANA! To the top again and he hits a diving clothesline for 2. Kobashi goes to the floor so Sasaki follows him with a SUICIDE DIVE! Kobashi is getting pissed now and he starts chopping away…but Sasaki eggs him on! ALL OUT CHOP WARFARE! THEY’RE LETTING IT ALL HANG OUT NOW! KOBASHI MACHINE GUN CHOPS! SASAKI MACHINE GUN CHOPS! NOW KOBASHI AGAIN...THEN SASAKI FOR SOME MORE! THEY HAVE PURPLE CHESTS FOR F*CKS SAKE! Still the chops keep coming but both guys are absolutely blown up now and stare off before chopping again. RUNNING THROAT CHOP from Kobashi and both men are DOWN!
Kobashi is the first man up again too but Sasaki catches him with a powerslam. On the ropes and Kenta pulls him out with a superplex. HALF NELSON SUPLEX SCORES! HALF NELSON SUPLEX NUMBER TWO! Amazingly Kensuke isn’t dead so Kobashi neck chops him to the floor. SASAKI WITH A F*CKING NORTHERN LIGHTS BOMB TO THE CONCRETE! DANGEROOOUUUUUS! They show Mrs Sasaki who is probably quite concerned about the welts on her husbands chest. Meanwhile Kenta only just beats the twenty-count. Sasaki follows up that NLB with a tiger suplex for 2. LARIATOOOO…but Kobashi kicks out again. He blocks Sasaki’s one-legged powerbomb and floors him with a lariat TO THE FACE! Judo throw from Sasaki…STRANGLEHOLD LOCKED IN! Kobashi gets the ropes and blocks another lariat with more neck chops. BRAINBUSTAAAA NO SOLD! NORTHERN LIGHTS BOMB NO SOLD! DOUBLE LARIATO AND THEY BOTH GO DOWN! SLEEPER SUPLEX BY KOBASHI! MOONSAULTOOOO FOR 2! SPINNING NECK CHOPS…BURNING LARIATOOOOOOO! Sasaki is out at 23:38.
Rating - ***** - An epic, hulking, tough b*tch of a manliness-fest. Two guys letting it all hang out to stiff the f*ck out of each other and prove who’s tougher. That’s what wrestling is all about – putting on a sensational spectacle to entertain the crap out of those who watch. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t clever (but then how can you expect that of a match that features a five minute chop war?), but it was incredible to watch. 25 minutes of marking out goodness as far as I’m concerned. Kobashi has wrestled plenty of “smart” matches in his life, if you want to see him do that then go watch them. Pleasing the overly critical smarks wasn’t what this was about. Screw the haters, 2005 MOTY right here!
After all the crazy sh*t they show each other respect including an amazing one-liner from Sasaki (‘Kobashi…arigato’).
Toshiaki Kawada vs Mitsuharu Misawa
Does this really need an introduction? It’s one of the most storied rivalries in wrestling history. Former classmates at school, they trained together, came up through the business together. They tagged together and became stars in AJPW with each other. Some of the most epic battles in all of wrestling took place between the two as they fought for AJPW’s Triple Crown. But then in 2000 things changed when Misawa broke away from AJPW to form NOAH, taking all but two native talents with him. One of those guys…Toshiaki Kawada. AJPW may have been on a downward spiral since then but Kawada has continued to be their ace, putting on numerous amazing matches with the likes of Mutoh, Sasaki, Tenzan, Jamal, Kojima, Tenryu etc. But now he’s become a freelancer, and sure enough NOAH have snapped up his services to headline their second Tokyo Dome show. The biggest question is…does Misawa still have enough left in the tank to produce anything near the classics in the 90’s?
Both give their opponent early clean breaks, and it’s noticeable that Kawada looks by far the better-conditioned athlete of the two. Formalities aside, they tee off on each other with chops and elbows. Arm wrench heel kick by Kawada floors Misawa. Half crab applied WITH head stomping. Bow and arrow next, Kawada taking his old adversary to school early. Misawa comes back with elbows and a TIGER DRIVER! His frog splash gets 2, then he slaps on the facelock. He elbows on the neck…STRIKE FLURRY FROM KAWADA! Misawa rolls out so Tosh goes after him and exposes the concrete floor. Misawa with elbows…TIGER DRIVER ON THE FLOOR! In the ring again with Misawa hitting a second rope dropkick to the head. Kawada blocks the tiger suplex so Misawa takes him down in a sleeper hold. Kawada looks so beat up he can barely run, but he comes back with a running boot and a SICK ASS JUMPING ENZI! Misawa has duly been knocked stupid and Kawada follows up with a series of knee strikes and kicks to the face. Misawa is desperate and goes for a Tiger Driver off the apron but Kawada blocks. He goes for a diving elbow off the apron and gets met with an elbow strike to the face. Now it’s getting real bitter with Toshiaki taking the fight up the aisle for a POWERBOMB ON THE RAMP!
But he doesn’t want to win by count-out and he runs back up the ramp when it looks like Misawa won’t make it to bring him back. He goes for another powerbomb but gets suckered into an ELBOW DUEL! Those are so brutally stiff. STRETCH PLUM WITH CRANK! Misawa kicks out at 2 from the pin though. HEAD DROP GERMAN NO SOLD…SO KAWADA DOES IT AGAIN! NO SOLD AGAIN…JUMPING ENZIGURIIIIII! Misawa just won’t stay down though so Kawada KICKS HIM IN THE F*CKING FACE AGAIN! BRAINBUSTER NAILED…for 2. Misawa kicks out of another powerbomb as well, leaving Tosh wondering what he has to do. Misawa ducks the running kick to the face that’s won…HOLY SH*T GANSO BOMB! MISAWA KICKS OUT! NO NO NO! Kawada goes for another powerbomb but Misawa rana’s out. He’s throwing elbows to block all of Kawada’s offence now. Emerald Fusion blocked…the roaring elbow isn’t. EMERALD FUSION…for 2. SNAP tiger suplex drops Kawada on his head again. TIGER DRIVER ’91 for 2. Kawada is up again…ELBOW VS KICK DUEL! Misawa kills him with a running elbow strike but he kicks out again. Kawada is out on his feet…ELBOW STRIKE FLURRY! KAWADA WON’T GO DOWN! RUNNING ELBOW SMASH OF DEATH! Kawada actually is out now at 26:59.
Rating - **** - Miles better than I heard it was. It’s been called a greatest hits compilation of all their good stuff from the 90’s, and so what. It’s all good sh*t. I loved the story of two guys who know each other so well, don’t particularly like each other and absolutely batter the crap out of each other trying to get a win. Clearly it was never going to be as good as back in the day, but they’re a lot older now. Kawada can still go, and his performance here was awesome – he should’ve gone over. People have seen Misawa beat him more than enough and still would’ve marked out big time for the invading guy going over (and setting up another big rematch etc). Misawa, at least, entered his best performance for a while. He still looked a little over the hill, and botched his own finisher at one point…AND kicked out of the freakin’ Ganso Bomb again, but…bright side. It’s a fitting addition to their already epic series. It was nice to see them get another chance to do battle before one of them (surely Misawa) calls it a day. If you want to see what they can really do though, go back to AJPW.
Tape Rating - *** - Good show…really good in fact. As usual with NOAH there’s a whole lot of crap. The undercard matches range from rubbish through to disappointing, or too short (in the case of Terry-Mask). But as the show progresses there are some great contests. Kanemaru and KENTA electrify for the Jr. Heavyweight title. The Tag Title match is an absolute war. Kobashi/Sasaki steals the show and is really a must-see and Misawa/Kawada take us home with a thrilling main event that, if you can forget about how good they were 10 years ago, is decent too. Not as good as Departure 2004 last time we were in the Dome with NOAH (and Kobashi/Akiyama is far superior to Kobashi/Sasaki) but check this out if you can.
Top 3 Matches
3) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (****)
2) Minoru Suzuki/Naomichi Marufuji vs Jun Akiyana/Makoto Hashi (****)
1) Kenta Kobashi vs Kensuke Sasaki (*****)