Pro-Wrestling NOAH – Top 25 Matches In NOAH History (2000-2007)
I’ve had this DVD set sitting on my shelf for a LONG time. In fact, I think I’ve moved house twice since owning it and still never got round to publishing a review. It’s not that I haven’t tried either – but I think this 9-disc set may be cursed. I’ve seen most of the matches, and I’ve even started reviewing it a number of times. But I’ve barely gotten more than a couple of discs in each time when something has happened. I think I’ve had two different laptops breakdown on me whilst being halfway through a review of this massive compilation at different times. I remember once being in the middle of disc 3 and my whole DVD player sparking out and breaking. However, following the overwhelmingly positive responses I’ve been getting to my Wrestle Kingdom 9 review, and the support for checking out and reviewing more non-ROH stuff – I decided to give this another whirl.
Calling it the ‘Top 25 Matches In NOAH History’ now seems a little misleading. Granted most of these take place in what many would consider to be NOAH’s ‘golden era’, but still, in 2015 the promotion is still (just about) on it’s feet. That means it is basically eight years since this compilation was put together. I don’t follow NOAH that closely anymore, but I think it’s a safe assumption to make that somewhere in those eight years they may have had OTHER good matches. Back in circa-2007 the readers of the Green Destiny fan website voted on what they considered to be the Top 25 Matches in NOAH thus far – and these are the matches they came up with. Somebody worked hard to put them together in a loving 9-disc set (looking online, it appears to be a guy going by the handle ‘GBBRutal’) – and you can still pick it up from IVPvideos.com. It really is amazing value for money, with plenty from the stars of AJPW’s 90’s glory days (Misawa, Kobashi, Taue, Akiyama) proving they still had some gas in the tank, whilst the next generation led by the likes of Naomichi Marufuji and KENTA also came to the fore.
25) Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jushin Liger/Koji Kanemoto – IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Title Match
26th January 2003 – So Liger was in the midst of a bit of a war with the NOAH juniors, in particular the veteran Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. Kikuchi, along with partner Kanemaru, had stormed to NJPW and won the IWGP Jr. Tag straps (from Liger incidentally)…so now the veterans of New Japan’s junior division (Liger and Kanemoto) want to take the belts back on Kanemaru and Kikuchi’s home turf.
Kanemaru was also GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion at this point, and Koji demonstrates the animosity between the two teams as he grabs the GHC belt and tosses it out of the ring in a show of disrespect. Kanemaru does the same thing to Koji’s IWGP Jr. Heavyweight belt, and the two teams have to be separated repeatedly before the bell. Liger and Kikuchi start, creating an immediate buzz from the crowd. SHOTEEIIIII! NO SOLD! SHOTEEIIII AGAIN! KIKUCHI NO SELLS AGAIN! He keeps throwing elbows, even when the masked veteran tosses him out of the ring! Pretty soon all four guys are in the ring for another brawl, with the ref freaking out trying to restore some kind of order. Everything is SERIOUSLY stiff as well. Kanemoto in particular is clearly pasting Kanemaru with his strikes. We go three minutes before any kind of wrestling move is attempted – with Koji slamming Kanemaru into the ground for a corkscrew senton. Kik and Liger are STILL fighting on the floor too! Kanemaru breaks the railings with Kanemoto’s body, then runs at him for a SPRINGBOARD LEG DROP OFF THE GUARDRAIL! SUPER STIFF HEADBUTT BY KIKUCHI! ARE YOU INSANE? Kanemoto’s head is immediately bloody and swollen, and both guys look like they’ve been knocked senseless by that. Koji in particular is really struggling, particularly as Kanemaru is all over him. Finally Liger has seen enough, and storms the ring attacking Kikuchi’s heavily taped midsection. Despite not being the legal man he hangs Kik in a tree of woe, then directs Kanemoto into a running dropkick straight into the injured midsection. Next he tries to do the same thing, only for Kikuchi to power up…before Kanemaru crotches him against the ringpost! On the floor Kanemoto delivers more stiff kicks and elbows to Kiku’s injured torso.
And by stiff I mean he is taking run-ups and kicking him in the ribs as hard as he possibly can. Then Liger simply grabs him by the throat and throttles him into the ground! STALLING PILEDRIVER by Liger! Even after all that abuse Liger can’t hang with Kikuchi in a headbutt duel though, so drives his neck into the canvas again with a nasty-looking DDT. Kanemoto touches his head, with blood still oozing and the swelling very obvious…then starts PUNCHING KIKUCHI IN THE SAME SPOT! This is seriously brutal sh*t! Liger bites at the forehead as well as the challengers try to bloody their veteran opponent the way he did to Koji. Even the ref isn’t safe, with Kanemoto tossing him aside so he and Liger can put the boots to Kik’s back some more. Finally Koji makes a mistake, missing the same corkscrew senton he tried earlier and allowing Kiku to make a vital hot tag to Kanemaru. He MISSES a moonsault though, and gets his knee dropkicked out from under him! Repeated dragon screws come next, and pretty soon the GHC Jr Champion is as messed up as his partner was. Kanemoto misses a moonsault (trying to one-up Kanemaru like a dickhead), but slaps him in an ANKLELOCK seconds later when he tries to capitalise. He refuses to break it when Kanemaru makes the ropes…and still won’t let go even when Kikuchi starts STOMPING HIS HEAD! ROLLING BRAINBUSTERS BY KANEMARU! TIGER SUPLEX BY KANEMOTO! BOTH MEN DOWN! Tags all round, and the crowd buzz as Liger and Kikuchi prepare to go to war again. FIREBALL BOMB…gets 2! KICK/SHOTEI COMBO BY THE NEW JAPAN TEAM! LIGERBOMB! KANEMARU SAVES! NECK DROP LIGERBOMB! ONE COUNT OF DISRESPECT! KIKUCHI WITH ELBOWS! LIGER HITS THE AVALANCHE BRAINBUSTER! KIKUCHI REFUSES TO STAY DOWN! SHOTEEEIIIIII! LIGER WINS! New Japan have their belts back at an epic 27:12
Rating - ****1/2 - When you have something this good ranked at #25 on a ‘Top 25’ set you know you’re going to get value for money. I’ve seen this one a number of times over the years and it still remains an absolute scorcher of a match. The NOAH/NJPW junior rivalry was red-hot here – and everyone had something at stake. The New Japan guys wanted to get their belts back and embarrass the NOAH team on their own turf. Liger and Kikuchi wanted to freaking kill each other. Kanemoto and Kanemaru were the Jr. Heavyweight Champions of their respective companies so they had pride at stake too. They were fleshing out these stories before the bell even rung and you simply couldn’t take your eyes off what you were watching. The last few minutes, with Kanemaru and Liger killing Kikuchi, and him simply refusing to lie down is sheer magic.
24) Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa vs Naomichi Marufuji/KENTA – GHC Tag Title Match
25th April 2004 – This was a hotly anticipated match because it pitted the dominant GHC Jr. Tag Champions (KENTA and Marufuji) against the reigning heavyweight equivalents. Obviously Misawa and Ogawa had been teaming for several years by this stage, but interest was high since the juniors were so dominant in their own weight category. Since defeating Liger and Murahama in the finals of a tournament to crown the first ever Jr. Tag Champs in NOAH (that match is on this set) nobody had been able to beat them. They were also massive fan favourites thanks to their dazzling movesets and incredible wrestling ability. Can the young lions dethrone the old guard?
No feeling out process here – the juniors charge across the ring wildly swinging boots at their experienced opponents. A Marufuji superkick sends Ogawa sprawling as Kenta drives repeated kicks into Misawa’s chest. DOUBLE SUPERKICK on Misawa! Shiranui blocked though, with Maru getting battered all the way out of the ring with an elbow smash. With his partner struggling on the floor, Kenta is unable to fight off both champions and soon finds himself getting smashed against the railings by Ogawa. That hurts him so much that the veterans decide to spend the next several minutes working on his back. Kenta tries to swing elbows at Misawa, who is like ‘hell no kid’ and almost takes is head off with an elbow smash of his own. The variation in approach between Misawa and Ogawa is fascinating too. Obviously Misawa is uncompromising and rugged, stretching Kenta viciously or pummelling him with big elbows. Ogawa, smaller and more resourceful, is far craftier – and takes seems more intent on doing psychological damage, or pissing Marufuji off as he watches his partner get dissected. Even when Marufuji does try to help, he gets absolutely obliterated by another elbow flurry from Misawa…meaning he isn’t in position to take a tag when Kenta gets to their corner. Of course, it’s asshole Ogawa who takes great pleasure in hauling the devastated Kenta away from his corner and into a back suplex. He then pokes him in the eyes, before strolling towards Marufuji smiling and wagging his finger at him. Seriously, the place is going to explode when Maru gets some payback on him later in the match. The fans are pretty pleased when Kenta somehow flies out of the corner into a headscissors on Misawa then dives into a hot tag! Misawa tries to shut Maru down with an elbow, but he dropkicks the knees out from under him…then dives into a SOMERSAULT PLANCHA TO THE FLOOR! That bastard Ogawa thwarts him again though, blocking a Shiranui on the floor to crotch him against the ringpost. Marufuji gets his brains scrambled against the post and a suplex on the entrance ramp too, buying Misawa all the time he needs to recover. Back in the ring Ogawa pokes him in the eyes again and scores a nearfall with a Saito suplex.
With Marufuji now trapped in the ring, the champs once again concentrate on working a specific body region – this time with the head, neck and throat taking a real beating. ELBOW SMASH/BACK DROP DRIVER COMBO gets 2! And when Kenta tries to help he eats an elbow smash/jawbreaker combo too! RUNNING KNEE TO THE APRON by Misawa! Marufuji fights back…SHIRANUI ON THE F*CKING STAGE! Both guys take a while to recover…and when they do eventually battle back to the ring Misawa thinks he’s gotten the better of Maru by blocking another Shiranui attempt. This time, though, the youngster has the edge on him and flips in mid-air to hit a neckbreaker instead! Kenta is tagged in, once again swinging kicks for all he is worth! KAWADA KICKS ON MISAWA! The crowd goes NUTS at that. Misawa is like ‘you little sh*t’! ELBOWS ON KENTA! NO SOLD! RUNNING BOOT TO THE FACE! STRETCH PLUM! The knowledgeable fans are in disbelief at Kenta using Kawada’s moves on Misawa…and so is the veteran himself. He is seriously rattled before doing his best to KO the plucky youngster with a running elbow. TIGER DRIVER! BACK DROP DRIVER BY OGAWA! KENTA NO SELLS! BUSAIKU KNEE ON MISAWA! BOTH MEN DOWN! Tags all round…and still Ogawa gets the better of Marufuji! He DDT’s him, then catapults him into an elbow from Misawa for 2. Kenta tries to help, but gets shoved into the ropes by Ogawa, crotching Maru in the corner in position for a superplex. Finally Maru gets a hold of his rival – putting him in a tree of woe for the VAN TERMINATOR! SUPERKICK! MISAWA SAVES OGAWA FROM THE SHIRANUI! EMERALD FUSION! MARU KICKS OUT! SPRINGBOARD LEG DROP BY KENTA! ROUNDHOUSE KICK ON OGAWA! Misawa is the only man left standing, scooping Marufuji up for a Tiger Driver. With his last burst of energy Marufuji swings a lariat in the great man’s direction…but Misawa is too strong and destroys him with one of the meanest looking elbows of the entire match. Kenta saves his ass by kicking Misawa’s head in on the top rope. Maru climbs…SHIRANUI KAI NAILED! OGAWA SAVES! SUPERKICK ON MISAWA! NO SOLD! ELBOW SMASH COMBO! MARU KICKS OUT! EMERALD FUSION KAI! MISAWA WINS! Maru is finally pinned at 28:39
Rating - ****1/2 - This match has been a favourite of mine for a long time, and I still love it even now having seen it countless times. It isn’t wholly perfect, but it takes you on a total rollercoaster, through peaks and troughs, highs and lows and leaves you absolutely exhausted after the near 30-minute battle you’ve witnessed. With KENTA now in WWE, and Marufuji now an established main event player in puroresu, it can be hard to remember just how exciting and innovative these two were when they burst onto the junior heavyweight scene with NOAH’s formation. Fans all over the world loved these guys, and the fans here were as lively as I’ve ever seen a puro crowd as they witnessed the amazing spectacle of these super-talented kids looking to overcome a wily old veteran in Ogawa, and one of the most legendary figures in the business (Misawa). Their plan to ambush the veterans at the start failed, and in truth they spent the vast majority of this match on the back foot. But that was far from the whole story. There were SO many sub-plots going on here. For instance, this may well be my favourite Ogawa match ever. If you’ve ever wondered why he has the nickname ‘Rat Boy’ check this one out. He is a total dick throughout, and his mindgames with Marufuji are simply brilliant. You also had the KENTA/Misawa stuff going on too. KENTA is a protégé of Misawa’s great rival Kenta Kobashi, making them natural rivals anyway. So when KENTA busted out the moves of one of Misawa’s greatest ever rivals (Kawada) too, the place went mental. The juniors showed phenomenal resilience, representing the new generation with pride as they looked to dethrone the veterans. The reaction when Marufuji hit the Shiranui Kai and seemed on the verge of victory was amazing…and it was SO in keeping with the story told throughout the match that it would be Ogawa denying Marufuji that cathartic, victorious moment. Of course, you could argue this match would have been better if the young guns had gone over. But these things take time in Japan. New stars tend to be nurtured over several years before their big ‘breakout’ moment. Marufuji and KENTA weren’t ‘there yet’ so to speak. However, the fact that they survived this long, and needed Misawa’s ‘special occasion’ Emerald Fusion Kai variant to finish them gave them a pretty serious rub. To reiterate if it wasn’t already apparent – I LOVE this match.
23) Jushin Liger vs Makoto Hashi – GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title Match
6th March 2004 – The beef between Liger and the NOAH junior heavyweight division went on for a long time. Last time we visited this rivalry it was January 2003 and we saw Liger and Kanemoto overcoming Kanemaru and Kikuchi to regain the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag belts. Liger had to be separated from Takashi Sugiura after that match, and later in 2003 actually defeated Sugiura to become NOAH’s Junior Heavyweight Champion. He still holds that belt, and defends it here against plucky, tenacious young lion Makoto Hashi. Hashi fights with honour, pride and intensity…and has an incredible ability to endure punishment. He won the GHC Junior strap once before, but only by forfeit victory when reigning champion Marufuji injured his knee during a match between them and couldn’t continue. Showing his nobility he refused to accept the championship on that occasion. Here he’d like to win the belt the ‘right way’, and defend the honour of Pro-Wrestling NOAH in the process.
Liger’s outfit has some minor green detailing on it, which is a nice touch. Hashi was only in his mid-20’s at this point and is clearly pumped to step up to the veteran – getting in his face as soon as he enters the ring with the famous music still blaring. It’s a partisan NOAH crowd so they are fully behind Makoto – dousing the entire ring in streamers for him. He literally CLOBBERS Liger with a lariat from the bell then batters him with so many headbutts that the champion literally clings to the ropes to escape. SLAP DUEL! ABISEGERI! Liger stomps the challenger down in the corner, punishing him for his disrespect and getting roundly jeered by the crowd. They go to the mat next, with Liger looking to school and stretch the plucky younger man in an effort to escape his ferocious headbutts. Every time Hashi breaks free of his clutches he steams in with headbutts and the odd Mongolian chop. When he ventures into executing actual moves even they are targeted on Liger’s masked head – be it an inverted DDT, standard DDT or grounded headscissors. These sequences go for several minutes, trading between Liger dominating the mat to occasional bursts of Hashi, headbutt-orientated offence. I’m presuming this is heavy going even for the Japanese audience as the camera repeatedly cuts to shots of Hashi’s mentor (Jun Akiyama) watching in the crowd. The challenger tries to climb the ropes for a diving headbutt, but eats SHOTEI and falls all the way to the floor! Liger shows he is capable of working a quicker pace too, diving off the apron into a somersault senton on the younger man. But once again Hashi comes back throwing headbutts. DIVING HEADBUTT OFF THE APRON MISSES! BRAINBUSTAAAAAA ON THE FLOOR BY LIGER!
Hashi’s mouth is busted, his head is killing him and he lies motionless on the floor as the veteran champion marches back into the ring and stands triumphantly waiting for a count-out victory! Basically the entire NOAH junior division is at ringside urging Hashi back inside (Marufuji, KENTA, Kanemaru, Kotaro Suzuki etc)…and he just about beats the twenty count. When he crawls back inside Liger is waiting to rattle his brains against the mat with a powerbomb. From there the veteran slows it down again, emphasising his dominance by cruelly stretching the youngster out with abdominal stretches and Mexican surfboards. Despite being wounded Hashi still fervently sticks to his headbutts…but clearly their impact has been lessened because this time Liger beckons him on, then puts him back on the mat with a palm strike. Ligerbomb blocked, then Hashi ducks a Shotei and chases the champion through the ropes…for an INVERTED DDT ON THE APRON! Akiyama approves of that! Diving headbutt off the apron is NAILED second time of asking too. It’s further injuring him, but clearly Hashi thinks the repeated headbutts are his ticket to the Junior Heavyweight Title so he’s sticking with it. Shotei thrown by Liger to block a headbutt…but Hashi blocks the Shotei and decks him with a lariat instead! GORIMAN SUPLEX gets 2! As does a diving headbutt (what else?) from the second rope. German suplex scores for the champion, then a FISHERMAN BUSTER! Hashi’s head must be killing him but he still gives it the one count of disrespect treatment! HEADBUTT DUEL ON THE TOP ROPE! GORIMAN SUPERPLEX BY HASHI! The crowd are on fire for him now…GORIMAN DRIVER! LIGER KICKS OUT! Hashi is in disbelief and clings to the referee’s shirt almost in tears! Liger elbows at the head but the challenger simply won’t back down! SUNSET FLIP LIGERBOMB! HASHI KICKS OUT! BRAINBUSTER COUNTERED TO A SMALL PACKAGE…JUST 2! BRAINBUSTER! HASHI WILL NOT DIE! SHOTEEEEEEEIIIIII! Liger retains at 22:20
Rating - **** - Cards on the table, I’m not the biggest fan of Makoto Hashi. The continual headbutts have always irked me, as he does them to the point of stupidity. However, where this one gets real kudos is that they work this into the story. From the first ten seconds it’s clear Hashi is going all out with the headbutts – basing his entire strategy around them. And Liger REALLY puts that over, first by clinging to the ropes in terror, then by working the mat hard simply to avoid them. On the floor things got even more interesting because Liger used the headbutt strategy against Hashi – by giving him the Brainbuster on the floor. It then became a battle over whether Hashi could do enough damage with his headbutts, and survive Liger’s continual attacks on his head before he got knocked the f out. In the end, we got our answer as one massive Shotei KO’d the challenger and led Liger to victory. My problem with this is largely based on the fact that they simply didn’t need well over twenty minutes to do this. It was like they had a solid 17-minutes of quality content, and stretching it out over an additional five really hurt them. There is only so many times the camera can cut away to a shot of Jun Akiyama looking STERN before the lulls in the action become apparent. In addition to this (and as ever with Hashi matches), the fact that Hashi does nothing to sell his head at all really damages the story they are going for. The crowd were hot for him, so I guess his logic is ‘why bother’, but as a DVD/TV experience I’m telling you this would have been far more dramatic if Hashi had (at any point) acted like headbutting a guy for the best part of half an hour actually hurt his own skull. Still, watching Liger drag an inferior worker to one of the best matches of his career has its merits…
22) Kenta Kobashi vs Minoru Suzuki – GHC Heavyweight Title Match
8th January 2005 – This GHC Title reign of Kobashi’s is, according to most, the pinnacle of the existence of this particular championship. Just as Samoa Joe or Bryan Danielson became synonymous with the ROH World Championship during their reigns, and consistently delivered matches of such high quality that almost every defence became a legitimate draw – Kobashi’s two year reign at the top of NOAH from 2003 to 2005 is viewed with genuine reverence and prestige. This was one of the highlights of his reign. New Japan fans today will be extremely familiar with Suzuki’s work. He’s grumpy, bad tempered, but utterly brilliant – particularly when it comes to mat wrestling. Well, the same was true of him in 2005. The only difference is that he was younger here, and still relatively fresh into his return to puroresu after a spell where he really concentrate on his MMA career.
The uber-confident smirk on Suzuki’s face during the introductions is pretty terrifying. He continues the displays of bravado after the bell as he prances around, shadow boxes, then displays how freaking awesome he is at mat wrestling by effortlessly grounding the champ. Then he starts ducking Kobashi’s chops and SLAPPING HIM IN THE FACE! Kobashi is desperate to use his power against the challenger, but at every turn Minoru us busting out crazy sh*t to stop him from doing so. The climax of that is a sadistic cranking armbreaker on Kobashi’s chopping arm. The pop when Kobashi is even able to pin him down for a simple headlock is really loud, such was the effectiveness of Suzuki’s early work. Kobashi clings to that headlock for all he’s worth because he is so fearful of Suzuki’s skills, and even after several minutes spent in the hold he hasn’t softened the challenger up enough to hit the Burning Sword chop. In the end it’s Suzuki’s over-confidence which costs him – as he grins at Kenta from the apron…and gets socked across the jaw with an overhand chop. The champ is then so keen to press home his advantage he is quite happy to work a headlock on the floor. MACHINE GUN CHOPS! SPINNING CHOP TO THE FACE! Finally he has worn down the challenger enough to rattle off one of his trademark chop sequences. But he goes for one chop too many…and once again Suzuki smiles as he grabs the arm and plunges backwards into a HANGING ARMBAR IN THE ROPES! Next he drills repeated kicks to the chopping arm and tries to lock onto a cross armbreaker. The way he is specifically working Kobashi’s right arm, rather than the ‘tradititional’ left arm (unless you’re in Mexico) is really awesome. He also seems to invent a new strike – as he simultaneously elbows and knees at the bad arm. Kobashi is still wildly swinging chops in his direction, but it’s clear that the arm of the champion has been pretty seriously wounded. Sh*t gets serious as Minoru repeatedly slaps the veteran in the face, then grins as he tries to return fire before dropping him to the canvas in a Fujiwara armbar. The attack on the arm is relentless…
With one big burst of energy and strength Kobashi finally shakes him off, blocking an attempted armbreaker into a HALF NELSON SUPLEX! He rolls around in pain after delivering the move of course, but the impact of it hurled Suzuki straight out of the ring and onto the entrance ramp. Minoru clamps onto his Choke Sleeper on the ramp, almost to protect himself as Kobashi lines up another suplex…and he eventually rides the champ so hard that they both collapse off the stage to the floor. We’re almost twenty minutes in now and the difference between two fighters is pronounced. Kobashi is dripping in sweat, chest heaving, limp arm hanging by his side and slumped in the corner…whilst across the ring from him Suzuki is still skipping around, smiling and gazing at the champion with evil intentions. People were giving Suzuki no chance of winning this at the start of the match, but now it’s hard to see how he can lose it. He moves in for the kill, hoisting Kobashi into the air for the GOTCH PILEDRIVER…then putting his foot over the fallen champion’s head and roaring victoriously. He doesn’t just want to win – he wants a knock-out! Kobashi somehow beats the ten-count, then somehow scoops him up for another half nelson suplex – although he can barely get the challenger off his feet now. NO SOLD! NECK DROP SAITO SUPLEX BY SUZUKI! NO SOLD! MANJI GATAME! Once again the arm is being violently cranked and ultimately the hold is only broken because Kenta collapses into the ropes. He is clinging to the ropes for dear life soon after as Suzuki looks to finish him off with the Choke Sleeper. BURNING LARIATOOOOO! Suzuki kicks out though, and it probably did as much damage to Kobashi’s arm as it did to him! Kobashi goes for a powerbomb next, but gets visibly less elevation than he normally does and sees it rolled through into a CROSS ARMBREAKER! KNEE STRIKES TO THE ARM! LEFT ARM LARIAT BY KOBASHI! BURNING LARIAT TO THE BACK OF THE HEAD! BACK DROP DRIVER! He clings to the bad arm, all but saying this is all he has left. LARIATOOOOOOO! ROLLING BACK DROP DRIVERS! SUZUKI IS STILL SMILING! He tries to throw slaps but drops to his knees. He is a spent force. BURNING LARIATOOOOOOO! This was an absolute masterpiece, and Kobashi retains at 25:22
Rating - ****1/2 - This match isn’t for everyone. It is never fought at a particularly quick pace and it isn’t packed with high spots. What it is however, is a subtle and compelling study in wrestling psychology. Minoru Suzuki is utterly brilliant in this sort of match. The way he conveys his character, and uses facial expressions and body language to physically emote the story he is telling is masterful – and something every young wrestler should study. This was a filler defence for Kobashi. People were excited about it in the sense that it was a world class worker like Suzuki coming to NOAH to work Kobashi – but nobody expected him to win. So working a match whereby they spent twenty minutes with Kobashi barely able to lay a glove on Suzuki was an extremely courageous choice – and it worked. Kobashi was stronger and had the lethal chops in his arsenal. But Minoru was a superior strategist and tactician. He was the Scar to Kobashi’s Mufasa – looking to succeed with cunning and skill rather than brute strength. And he nearly succeeded. I’ve seen it written that Kobashi ‘didn’t sell’ in this match – which is totally false. He sold like HELL for Suzuki from minute one of the contest. The way he executed his core moves like the Half Nelson Suplex was altered to emphasise a weakness in his arm. When he went for a powerbomb, notice how he barely lifted Suzuki above waist-height. And the final offensive flurry wasn’t ‘no-selling’. It was clearly meant to be Kobashi, desperate after getting his ass handed to him, swung for the fences and went for broke with one last burst of energy. He looked mournfully at his arm as if to say ‘this is going to hurt’, then unleashed a sequence using lariats and back suplexes (i.e. his ‘brute strength). The idea was that he was going to knock Suzuki out before his arm fell off…and ultimately Minoru couldn’t survive. This may be something of an acquired taste, but if you like matches where story-telling and ring psychology take prevalence over high octane spot exchanges then this one is for you.
21) Takeshi Morishima/Mohammed Yone vs Jun Akiyama/Takeshi Rikio – GHC Tag Title Match
1st April 2007 – Morishima and Yone defend the GHC Tag Titles here, in the midst of Morishima’s run as Ring Of Honor World Champion. Mori and Rikio used to team together as the ‘Wild II’, so there is history between those two. I believe this is right after Akiyama went ‘back to the midcard’, started wearing blue trunks again and tried to earn his way back to the top of NOAH after losing the GHC Heavyweight Title to Naomichi Marufuji. He’s back wearing white by this point so I presume he has earned his place back in championship contention. Rikio himself was still trying to rebuild his career after being chosen as the guy to end Kobashi’s fabled GHC Heavyweight Title reign…then absolutely FLOPPING as the top guy in NOAH.
Morishima and Rikio are up in each other’s business during the introductions. They each order their respective partners out of the ring so they can start together too. That initial exchange is so hard-hitting that it ends with them both simultaneously knocking each other down with lariats. Yone tags and peppers the veteran Akiyama with kicks before he can establish himself…which Jun doesn’t like one bit. He boots Mohammed over the guardrails then drags him about five rows into the crowd! Mori is super-pumped for this though, and boxes Akiyama around when he returns to the ring (before dishing out an extra shot to Rikio on the apron for no reason). Rikio returns the favour moments later though, smashing Morishima out of the ring and into the announce table so he and Aki can start isolating Yone. DDT IN THE CROWD from Morishima to Rikio! Their issue is becoming bigger than this match it seems. Yone is inspired by their antics too – and hauls Akiyama up the bleachers and all the way into the Korakuen Hall cheap seats! RUNNING KNEE BY MORI! He’s not done either, because when Riki tries to rescue his partner he eats a clubbing lariat from his rival and crashes to the concrete. Back in the ring the champs get 2 with a Bossman Slam/diving leg drop combo on Jun. There are women in the front row who are starting to look genuinely scared for their health every time Mori and Rikio brawl on the floor now too. In the ring Morishima works a sleeper on Akiyama, even as Rikio repeatedly whacks him in the face. Like…literally pummels his face! Yone, meanwhile, is still desperate to prove his worth and continues to engage Aki in some real sh*tkicking contests whenever possible. His latest attempt to do so ends badly as he gets floored with a signature jumping knee to the head, allowing Akiyama to tag out. Rikio further punishes him with a few lariats and a jackhammer for 2. SCUD MISSILE DROPKICK from Morishima saves his partner, and as Rikio tries to escape he pursues him again with the cartwheel Stinger Splash. Amazingly Riki scoops Morishima’s massive body up into an overhead suplex…EXPLODER ’98 by Akiyama! NO SOLD! Mori charges at Jun again only to be hammered with a running knee to the head. Yone prevents further damage by GRABBING Jun’s knee – leaving him in position for a Mori superplex which gets 2. DOOMSDAY SPINNING HEEL KICK by the champs! It needs Rikio to break the count this time. Back Drop Driver lined up…but again Rikio saves, this time running through his old Wild II partner with a football tackle. Riki and Mori start lugging the crap out of each other. It isn’t pretty but it probably hurts like hell – and once more ends with them both flat out on the canvas. Mohammed pummels Rikio with kicks to the head to the point that it’s rather surprising when the big former GHC Champion rolls a shoulder over to kick out. KINNIKU BUSTER! Akiyama breaks the pin! The champs set Rikio up for another Doomsday…but this time he COUNTERS WITH A MID-AIR LARIAT ON YONE! LARIAT BY MORI! SPINNING HEEL KICK BY YONE! ALL FOUR DOWN! Riki and Yone are up first, with Takeshi shaking off an attempted kick to slap him about. EXPLODER ’98! YONE KICKS OUT! LARIATOOOO! STILL YONE KICKS OUT! Akiyama is choking Mori out and making him watch! MUSO NAILED! We have new Tag Champions at 23:16
Rating - **** - The fact that this will end up being one of the weakest matches on this DVD set tells you everything about how great the compilation actually is. This is still a hell of a match which I enjoyed from start to finish, even though I could tell it was a step below some of the other matches in terms of quality. The problem here is that the two key stories – Rikio’s war with Morishima and Yone’s battle for respect amongst three current or former recognised World Champions – hinged on the weaker members of the match delivering. Rikio just isn’t a particularly engaging performer. He’s not overly charismatic, he is hard to get behind as either a heel or a face, and compared to a lot of these guys his strikes look so ugly too. I’m not saying his interactions with Morishima weren’t a lot of fun, because they were…but compare Rikio’s attempt at conveying a grudge to Liger earlier, or compare his attempt and ‘selling’ the story of a match to Minoru Suzuki’s in the last match on the set. Having explained why I’ve only gone to 4*, I’ll clarify once again that this is still a really strong match. It carried multiple plot threads well, brings in elements of crowd brawling which aren’t as common in puroresu and the finishing sequence, where Yone refuses to quit despite taking a real battering from two former GHC Heavyweight Champions, is really dramatic.
20) Minoru Suzuki/Naomichi Marufuji vs Jun Akiyama/Makoto Hashi – GHC Tag Title Match
18th July 2005 – This one is from NOAH’s big 5th Anniversary show at the Tokyo Dome, which I’ve actually reviewed before. We’ll be revisiting this event later as it also contained the legendary Kobashi/Sasaki chop-fest which ranks extremely on this list. Marufuji and Suzuki won the GHC belts from Doug Williams and 2 Cold Scorpio at an FWA show in the UK, effectively heralding Marufuji’s transition from junior heavyweight to a man capable of fighting the heavyweights on the NOAH roster too. Makoto Hashi comes into this with an injured head…which is obviously a big problem since 95% of his offence consists of headbutts.
Check out young boy Eddie Edwards at ringside clearing up streamers. The camera repeatedly focuses on Hashi’s bandaged head, hammering the point home that he is crazy to even attempt to wrestle this one. His skull is immediately hurt with a Marufuji kick to the head, but despite cringing in pain he shakes it off and tosses strikes back at his opponent. TOP ROPE FLYING WOLVERINE HEADBUTT TO THE FLOOR! Suzuki and Akiyama step between the ropes next…and as you’d expect Suzuki is a cock – smiling broadly as he slaps Jun across the face. The champs try to isolate Akiyama, who looks less than impressed when Marufuji (a former junior heavyweight) tries to trade strikes with him. It’s Maru’s lightweight striking which actually allows Jun to tag out to Hashi again soon afterwards. The youngster fights hard and even dishes out some headbutts to Suzuki…but battling an injury means he’s always an easy target. Marufuji dives OVER THE ROPES looking for a sunset flip bomb off the apron and eventually nails it after Minoru sarcastically flicks Hashi’s desperate hands off the ropes. Hashi’s skull bounces nastily off the floor of the Tokyo Dome, and when Akiyama tries to help him out he gets dragged up (huge) aisle for a DDT ON THE ENTRANCE RAMP! It means he is out of action for a while and the Suzuki/Marufuji duo have carte blanche to beat the tar out of Hashi inside the ring. Suzuki rips off the bandaging around his head and camel clutches him in position for a running boot to the face from Maru. Palm strike flurry by Minoru next, followed by a sadistic knee right into the stomach when Hashi tries to show fighting spirit and no sell the strikes. He then hangs the hapless kid in the ropes to repeatedly boot him in his injured skull too. By and large the Tokyo Dome fans are routing Hashi on in his battle to survive in this match…but even they can’t help but laugh at Suzuki’s antics when he totally ignores Hashi’s latest attempt at a gutsy comeback and dismissively slaps him across the chops. DOUBLE SPRINGBOARD TREE OF WOE DROPKICK from Marufuji as well.
Just when all seemed lost for Makoto he drops Maru with a wild brainbuster, hits one weak-looking headbutt and lunges into the much-needed tag to the now-recovered Akiyama on the apron. Jun literally HEAVES Marufuji over the top rope on top of Suzuki, but can’t cope with Maru’s speed and soon has his knees dropkicked from under him. Suzuki in…SLAP DUEL! Neither man backs down, and Suzuki is SMILING! In the end it’s Jun that collapses backwards, necessitating Hashi tagging himself back in. That’s just what Minoru wants and he quickly pummels Hash into the canvas again with strikes. Goriman Suplex COUNTERED to the Manji Gatame – with a foot firmly planted in the side of Hashi’s injured head too. Somehow Akiyama’s fiery protégé escapes that, bringing back Aki to powerbomb Marufuji into the KING CRAB LOCK! Unfortunately his partner isn’t strong enough to keep Suzuki at bay, and the sadistic co-champion rakes Akiyama’s eyes to break it. INVERTED DDT ON THE APRON from Hashi to Suzuki! Inside the ring Jun blocks the Shiranui and hits a SLIDING KNEE TO THE FACE! EXPLODER ’98! Hashi decides to hit a diving headbutt for literally no reason, and actually costs his team the match because he isn’t the legal man. Akiyama tags him, and he hits ANOTHER diving headbutt. And he isn’t selling them at all. At least he then does something far more interesting by picking Maru up and giving him a Blue Thunder Driver – the move innovated by his mentor Akiyama. GORIMAN DRIVER gets 2! Marufuji back flips out of a back superplex attempt and nails a PELE KICK! SHIRANUI! BOTH MEN DOWN! Maru is up first, dragging Hashi up the ropes looking for the Shiranui Kai. BACK SUPERPLEX BY AKIYAMA TO SAVE! Annoyingly Hashi then delivers another selling-free diving headbutt like it’s no big deal. Suzuki gives him a f*cking nasty slap (hopefully to punish him), then stands in position so Maru can spring OFF HIM into another Shiranui on Aki. Hashi tries to fight both champions on his own…but gets his skull caved in with a combination chop/superkick strike. GOTCH PILEDRIVER! Akiyama saves! Hashi’s head is bleeding now! Minoru dumps him on the top rope then CHOKES AKIYAMA IN THE ROPES! AVALANCHE SHIRANUI! Marufuji pins Hashi to retain at 24:55
Rating - **** - I gave it 4* last time I reviewed this, and I’m sticking with that rating. On the whole this is a strong match – but it really is let down by another completely inconsistent performance from Makoto Hashi. To play up his positives – he makes for a HELL of a babyface in peril. Fans seem to love him, and his facials are quite incredible. He really can put over a beating, and he made Suzuki and Marufuji look a million dollars as they were beating him senseless. But his obsession with diving headbutts KILLS matches for me. He had a pre-existing head injury, and had his head worked over for more than ten minutes by an outstanding worker like Marufuji and a well-documented asshole like Suzuki. There is NO WAY he should be hitting diving headbutts like they don’t hurt him at all. It’s not like Kobashi in the Kobashi/Suzuki GHC Title Match where Kenta was obviously hitting ‘one last flurry’ with the bad arm trying to win. Hashi was doing headbutts here because he has nothing else, and it really hurt the last five minutes. Minoru Suzuki, once again, was an absolute delight to watch though…
19) Jun Akiyama/Takeshi Rikio vs Yoshihiro Takayama/Takashi Sugiura – GHC Tag Title Match
28th April 2007 – So we saw Akiyama and Rikio take the belts from Morishima and Yone earlier. I believe this was their first defence of the belts, and it should be a hell of a contest. Takayama is a big, ugly, uncompromising, marauding, brute of a worker and will have crossed paths with both Akiyama and Rikio on several occasions before now. Interestingly, his partner is Sugiura. This was around the time NOAH had started seeing main event potential in Sugiura, so had started transitioning him to the heavyweight division and exposing him to main event level matches on a regular basis. Of course, these things take a long time in Japan, and it wouldn’t be until the end of 2009 (and after a critically acclaimed cross-promotional rivalry with New Japan’s Shinsuke Nakamura) that he would finally become GHC Heavyweight Champion.
Rikio and Takayama start, and it’s every bit as bruising as you might expect. The sound of their bodies crashing into each other echoes around the Budokan, and it appears they can’t be separated. Sugiura comes in next and instantly marks his territory by steaming into Akiyama with a barrage of kicks. ELBOW SMASH DUEL! Sugiura refuses to back down…but he does start to weaken and slow, allowing Jun to put him on the deck with a boot to the face. Tak aids his partner by hauling Akiyama out of the ring for a trip into the guardrails. Sugiura is an accomplished wrestler, and with his bigger partner having weakened Akiyama, he now looks to work the mat with him to negate the height difference between them. It’s an interesting approach, with Sugi providing the finesse and fighting spirit whilst Takayama serves as a battering ram when needed. Even the size and might of Rikio is no match for the heavy-handed tactics of Taka, getting whipped into a straight kick to the head on the outside. The desire of Sugiura to prove he belongs amongst these heavyweights is visible throughout though – including a hell of a sequence where he stretches Rikio in a Boston crab, even though he is getting absolutely battered with elbow strikes from Akiyama. It’s when he tries to match strikes with the champs that he runs into problems – failing to hold his own with Rikio then getting plastered with a lariat. DDT ON THE STAGE by Akiyama! Followed by a SUPER RUN-UP KNEE TO THE FACE! DDT OFF THE STAGE ONTO THE GUARDRAILS! At last the champions are able to use their size to dominate Sugi, cutting him off from his partner for several minutes…although even at this point he has to be repeatedly slapped down and reminded of ‘his place’ as he tenaciously continues to fight. The King Crab Lock comes to close to choking him out as Rikio disposes of his partner on the outside, but STILL he simply won’t give up the fight.
Finally he shakes off one of Akiyama’s knee strikes then nails him with the SPEAR! Takayama gets a much needed tag, but there is no subtlety in his approach at all making him easy pickings for the champs. First Jun blocks a wild kick attempt with a dragon screw, then Rikio counters another into a capture suplex. Sugiura is soon required again, and has recovered sufficiently to drive Aki into the mat with another Spear. He spinebusters the veteran as he attempts a flying knee strike, then destroys him with a NECK DROP GERMAN for 2. Anklelock applied! Rikio saves his partner and gets knee’d in the head for his trouble…as on the other side of the ring Akiyama is unable to move thanks to the Anklelock and crawls into a RUNNING KNEE TO THE FACE BY TAKAYAMA! DOUBLE TEAM KNOCK-OUT KNEE! AKIYAMA KICKS OUT! EVEREST GERMAN! RIKIO SAVES! He clatters into Tak with a sliding lariat, but the huge blonde looks thoroughly unimpressed and drops him with a knee to the gut. Riki is still trying to catch his breath as Sugiura crashes into his midsection again with yet another Spear. DEAD-LIFT gutwrench suplex! NODOWA OTOSHI BY RIKIO! Knee strike/lariat combo on Sugiura gets 2. And STILL Sugiura keeps fighting! HE SPINEBUSTERS AKIYAMA INTO RIKIO! ROLLING SUPLEXES ON RIKIO! OLYMPIC SLAM! FOR 2! The crowd are crazy into Sugi now, and are devastated he didn’t win there. Jun Akiyama tries to help his partner…but sees his powerbomb countered with a rana. FLYING CROSSBODY BY RIKIO! LARIATOOOOO ON TAKAYAMA! HEAD DROP DRAGON SUPLEX ON SUGIURA! ALL FOUR DOWN! Akiyama is up first, dropping Sugi again with the EXPLODER ’98! SUGIURA NO SELLS! RUNNING POWERBOMB BY RIKIO! TAKAYAMA SAVES! SLAPS BY SUGI! SLAPS BY RIKIO! MEGA RUN-UP LARIATOOOO! SUGIURA KICKS THE F*CK OUT! YES! MUUUSOOOOOOOOO! Finally Sugiura has nothing left, and the champs retain at 27:09
Rating - ****1/2 - You may not be as familiar with some of the workers in this one if you’ve never been majorly into puro. Even if you do know these guys, if you hadn’t seen this match – on paper it isn’t great. By 2007 Takayama was really running on fumes as his exhaustive career caught up with him. Rikio didn’t have the best of reputations. Sugiura was largely unproven at this level, and even Akiyama was starting to slow up. It makes this masterclass in making a star all the more remarkable. In the ring with three former GHC Champions, Takashi Sugiura was determined to make his mark. Even on his own team it felt like he was the ‘leading man’ so to speak, as Takayama largely served as a physical enforcer and back-up to the Sugi coming out party. He refused to back down from strike exchanges, he tried to match power with the former sumo Rikio, he tried to out-wit the veteran Akiyama. Even after being isolated for several minutes, and even having been obliterated on the entrance ramp he refused to back down. This story lasted damn near half an hour, and in the last five minutes the place was absolutely electric. Sugiura had the crowd in the palm of his hand, first for his nearfall on Rikio – then as he withstood incredible punishment from the champions and continually fought back. The pop for his kick-out on Rikio’s running lariat right at the death is one of the loudest reactions I’ve ever heard from a puro crowd. I’d not heard much about this match and didn’t have particularly high expectations…but it blew me away.
18) Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama vs Kenta Kobashi/Yoshihiro Takayama
2nd December 2007 – Although no championships are on the line here, this one is a hugely significant and emotional Budokan Hall main event. In the summer of 2006, Kobashi vacated the GHC Tag Titles that he held with Tamon Honda and took an extended hiatus from wrestling. Soon afterwards the news leaked out that Kobashi was battling kidney cancer…although by the end of ’06 he was back appearing in front of a NOAH crowd telling them that he would be back. Fast forward a year to December 2007, and here we have Kobashi’s return match from cancer. He two of his greatest friends/rivals over the years in current GHC Heavyweight Champion Misawa and former ‘Burning’ tag partner Jun Akiyama. The atmosphere is absolutely ELECTRIC before any of the wrestlers even enter the arena. Some of the matches on this set have the entrances clipped. Thankfully this isn’t one of them. We see everything, from the lights going out, to the ring being bathed in purple spotlights (to honour Kobashi) and the entrances of every wrestler in turn. Kobashi goes back to using his famous ‘Grand Sword’ theme for his return and the pop for the familiar opening piano chords of that piece of music is really special.
The amount of purple streamers that have to be cleaned up from ringside is insane. Akiyama steps through the ropes and straight-up DEMANDS that Kobashi start for his team, thinking that after more than a year out of action he’ll be easy pickings. Kenta sets him straight right away with a tasty chop inside twenty seconds. Misawa then welcomes his great rival back to the ring as well – socking him in the mouth and a crunching elbow smash. The speed with which Misawa’s pale chest is turned scorched red from Kobashi’s chops is utterly terrifying. CHOP/KICK COMBO in the corner by Kobashi and Tak! Jun wisely tags himself back in, battering Takayama’s mangled face with elbows and knee strikes. It remains Kobashi that has the crowd in the palm of his hands though, tagging back in to assist his partner with more chops, then the Burning Sword for 2 as the audience roars in delight. The colossal amount of photographers are scattered as Takayama boots Aki over the guardrails…hotly pursued by Kobashi who is still peppering him with chops even as he lies sprawled over the announce tables. Misawa tags a much-needed tag and starts driving elbows into Tak’s NOSE! Given how bashed up that thing is already it seems particularly cruel. Despite the Misawa/Akiyama team’s success with Tak, they still can’t lay a glove on Kobashi and at ten minutes he’s back in the ring again hammering poor Misawa with more chops. Finally the returning hero makes a mistake and tries to jump off the second rope with a shoulder tackle. Misawa, GHC Champion at this point, has seen the spot multiple times before and cuts it off with an elbow smash to the face. Before Kenta has time to get to his feet Akiyama steams into him with a running knee…and for the first time their team has the ring-rusty Kobashi isolated and on the defensive. Quickly his chops use their potency and Aki is able to repeatedly floor him with his devastating barrage of knee strikes from various positions. The two aggressors start targeting the back and neck…and draw legit heat as Misawa starts sneaking in behind the ref’s back to jump Kobashi from behind.
NECK CHOPS TO MISAWA! NO SOLD! ROOOAAAARING ELBOW! Kobashi goes down in a heap, and his own partner starts showing concern for him as he tries to assist him from the apron. Takayama pins Misawa to the top rope – allowing Kobashi to drop him with a superplex. At this point it seriously seems like he has nothing left, so the tag to Takayama is vital. The problem with that is that Misawa and Akiyama simply haven’t had as many problems dealing with Tak…and quickly Misawa himself has blocked the Everest German and deposited him on the mat with a running elbow. Knee strikes block the Exploder ’98 though, and Takayama slaps Akiyama in a sleeper hold where he can use his sheer size to control proceedings. Kobashi has recovered sufficiently to be allowed back in, and with Jun worn down with that sleeper he is easy pickings for the MACHINE GUN CHOPS! HIS CHEST IS BLEEDING…AND HE SCREAMS AT KOBASHI FOR MORE! SPINNING CHOP TO THE FACE! HEAD DROP SLEEPER SUPLEX NAILED! Misawa gets MAJOR heat for breaking the fall! Tamon Honda is on commentary in floods of tears as he watches his great friend Kobashi do what he does best! He scales the ropes…MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONSAAAAAUUUUULT! AKIYAMA KICKS OUT! BURNING LARIAT COUNTERED TO EXPLODER ’98! Misawa tagged…TIGER DRIVER! ROARING ELBOW…COUNTERED TO THE HALF NELSON SUPLEX! MISAWA NO SELLS! BURNING LARIATOOOOOOOO! EVEREST GERMAN BY TAKAYAMA! BURNING LARIAT AGAIN! AKIYAMA SAVES! BURNING HAMMER BLOCKED…RUNNING KNEE BY JUN! EXPLODER ’98! The crowd will Kobashi to fight back, but he slowly crawls to his feet into a RUNNING ELBOW! FOR 2! EMERALD FUSION! KOBASHI KICKS OUT AGAIN! With Takayama beaten down on the floor Akiyama feeds the fallen Kobashi to Misawa on the second rope. AVALANCHE EMERALD FUSION! Finally Misawa wins at 27:04
Rating - ****1/2 - This has always been a match that has divided the critics. I’ve seen some really low ratings for it, and I’ve seen some people even go to 5* for it. I’m not saying it’s quite that good, but I definitely fall into the camp of critics who absolutely loved it. The brilliance of it is that it struck the perfect tone, playing up Kobashi’s return absolutely beautifully, whilst still adhering to all the traditional puroresu codes. The willingness of everyone else in the match to put Kobashi over, even in defeat, was really admirable too. It made perfect sense that Misawa would win. He was the GHC Champion so, in kayfabe at least, the ‘top guy’ in the company. Kobashi had been out of action for more than a year, making him the ‘lowest ranked’ competitor in the match, therefore it’s only right that he takes the pinfall. But everything else here made the great, returning, leading man look like a superstar. For almost fifteen minutes Misawa and Akiyama couldn’t touch him, and even when they did manage to isolate him it needed a surprisingly aggressive approach – including obvious heel tactics such as sneak attacks – to keep him grounded. Takayama too, went out of his way to make Kobashi look superb. He took a beating from Misawa and Akiyama, making the point that he was the limited worker and thus putting over Kenta’s strengths even more. The kicker for me was Kobashi’s great comeback sequence. After taking nearly ten minutes of abuse (including signature moves of both opponents like the Tiger Driver and the Exploder ’98) the place went wild when he countered the Roaring Elbow into his trademark Half Nelson Suplex. Seeing Honda crying his eyes out as Kobashi scaled the ropes for his knee-murdering Moonsault sent chills down my spine. When pro wrestling can effect and move you like that, you KNOW it’s good. Sure this may not have been perfect and it may have been sluggish at times. But that shouldn’t surprise anyone considering it put together four ageing, battered veterans of the sport who’s best days were well behind them. Regardless of that this one still moved me greatly. An awesome, emotionally draining battle…
SIDENOTE – The post-match scenes from this one are kept intact on the DVD compilation too. The fans LOUDLY chant Kobashi’s name over Misawa’s entrance music, and several visibly weep as he smiles broadly and hugs all three other guys. Everyone has their hands raised to a deserved standing ovation. Kobashi’s music then plays, and he leaves the ring receiving gifts and adulation from the crowd as he leaves the ring first. Although he still produced some killer matches (like this one), post-cancer Kobashi never reached the heights of his glory days. The fact that he came back at all was miraculous enough of course, and his return to the ring was a real heart-warming tale of human courage and endurance. In the following six years he’d unfortunately spend almost as much time injured as he did in the ring thanks to some really serious arm issues…and finally called time on his magnificent career in late-2013.
17) Akira Taue vs Yuji Nagata
6th June 2003 – This is Taue’s first appearance on the compilation. As beloved as he is, in truth his best days were well behind him even in 2000 when NOAH was first formed. As time caught up with him, periodically he’d prove he was still capable of some amazing performances though, as this one will show. Nagata was hot at this point, coming off the back reigning at the top of New Japan as IWGP Heavyweight Champion for well over a year. He also brings with him a young-looking Shinsuke Nakamura to work his corner for the evening.
They begin with one of the most intense tests of strength you’ll ever see. Nagata is a seriously lethal technician, but he lacks experience compared to Taue and it shows as the veteran almost skips into a heel kick. Continually Nagata tries to engage Akira, only to be struck away by the rangy Taue. The crowd is lapping this up, and pops huge as he ducks another strike attempt into ORE GA TAUE! Nagata rolls out of the ring to recover, realising that he has been comprehensively out-wrestled in the first few minutes. NODOWA OTOSHI! GETS 2! Taue wants to press home his advantage and drags Yuji to the apron. Nodowa to the floor blocked…so Akira rips up the protective mats instead! NODOWA OTOSHI ON THE CONCRETE! Nagata barely beats the count back into the ring, and when he does he eats a roundhouse kick to the back of the head for 2. REPEATED CHOPS IN THE CORNER! Taue is absolutely dominant! Out of nowhere Nagata lands the Back Drop Hold. It’s his first serious offence of the match, but such is the danger he possesses that it changes things in an instant. Now he’s able to absolutely NAIL Taue with kicks as well as viciously assaulting the left arm in preparation for one of his Nagata Lock variants. Where Taue was blocking kicks earlier, how he is taking them in the face – as evidenced by getting absolutely rocked with a boot against the guardrails. Nagata then drives his injured shoulder into the ringpost to continue that thread too. But Taue simply refuses to quit! He doesn’t go down in the face of a flurry of enzi kicks…then flattens Nagata with a DDT. Since it uses the bad arm he’s slow to get up afterwards, but when he does he runs through his opponent with the DYNAMIC KICK! SUPER NODOWA OTOSHI…gets 2! Nagata fights for all he’s worth…NODOWA OTOSHI AGAIN! ROLLED INTO THE DYNAMIC BOMB! NAGATA KICKS OUT! Ore Ga Taue blocked, into an EXPLODER by Nagata. KICKS TO THE ARM! NAGATA LOCK II! Akira makes the ropes but staggers wounded into a pumping overhead belly to belly suplex from the dangerous NJPW fighter. Rolling heel kick clatters into Taue’s skull, and as he staggers back into the corner Nagata is on him again with the Justice Knee. AVALANCHE EXPLODER SUPLEX! And he made sure he had the bad arm wrenched on it too! BACK DROP! TAUE IS STILL FIGHTING! BACK DROP HOLD! TAUE KICKS OUT! NAGATA LOCK III! Taue has nothing left and has to submit at 15:53
Rating - ****1/2 - By all logic Taue should be a horrible wrestler. He doesn’t look like a wrestler, he is weirdly uncoordinated, he walks bizarrely and he doesn’t appear to possess an ounce of athleticism. But the reason he became one of the most beloved and respected workers in the world is because he ‘gets’ psychology in a way precious few others do. He understands how to tell stories within a match, and we saw all of that here. This one shows that you don’t have to go twenty minutes, thirty minutes or an hour to produce a killer MOTYC – if you have the right story, you execute it properly and sell it correctly it shouldn’t matter how long the match is. To fully appreciate this match you need to understand that Yuji Nagata was HOT at this point. He’d been the top guy in New Japan for a year, and even if NJPW wasn’t necessarily in the best of health at this point, he was respected all around Japan as a dangerous and effective pro-wrestler – with lethal striking skills to compliment his documented amateur wrestling prowess. Taue, well past his prime, faced this dangerous foe with heart, honour and courage…and used every bit of his experience looking to beat him. I loved the opening period, with Nagata trying to use all his usual tricks but getting totally out-foxed by the wily old pro. In the end Nagata won because he devised a hell of a strategy around the shoulder that Taue couldn’t survive. But you were left in no doubt that the old-timer was still a tough competitor, who gave everything he had and made the guy in his supposed ‘prime’ work seriously hard to pull out the victory.
16) Naomichi Marufuji/KENTA vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Makoto Hashi – GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Title Match
12th September 2003 – This was still in the relatively early stages of Marufuji and KENTA’s fabled two year run as Junior Tag Champions in NOAH. Kanemaru and Hashi have been positioned in front of them as top challengers, which makes sense considering Kane was still relatively fresh off his nearly year-long reign as Junior Heavyweight singles champion and Hashi was getting pretty major play as a protégé of Jun Akiyama.
Hashi and Kenta start out…kicking the ever-loving SH*T out of each other! Hell, Kenta is so fired up he throws a kick at Kanemaru just for fun – then all four have to be separated as tensions boil over. Marufuji and Kanemaru are in next, making RVD and Jerry Lynn look like the Big Show and Great Khali such is the speed of their near-miss, back-and-forth exchange. At this point in his career, carrying probably 30-40lbs less in muscle mass, Maru was just insanely quick and athletic. Hashi tries throwing chops at Kenta (which is a slap in the face given who his mentor is), but soon has to go back to his tried and tested headbutts when Kenta greets his chops with more savage kicks across the pecs. The champs start isolating Makoto, making him a target since he is clearly the lowest ranking wrestler in the match. Marufuji really gives his leg a working over, denying him a solid vertical base and keeping him on the deck where he can’t throw as many headbutts. Poor Hashi endures the punishment for several minutes before jumping off the ropes into a FLYING Mongolian chop (complete with some passable selling of the leg) enabling him to tag out. Kanemaru springs into action, driving Kenta chest-first into the guardrails…but that unfortunately serves to piss him off. Kenta marches back into the ring and starts really pasting Kane with some kicks. INVERTED APRON DDT BY HASHI! Just as Kenta looked to press home his advantage he gets blind-sided by the guy on the outside! JUMPING BODY SLAM OFF THE STAGE by Kanemaru! Just when the champions looked dominant, the challengers have turned the tide of the match in their favour. That is perfectly embodied as Hashi actually OUT-STRIKES Kenta in a slap/kick battle. Clearly his back is hurting him too, so Kane putting him in a rope-hung Boston crab does him no favours. Hashi gives him a backbreaker on the floor (and crumples to sell the leg), before spring off the apron for a DIVING HEADBUTT TO THE RIBS!
But, just as with Hashi earlier, when all seems lost for the guy getting worked over he lands a desperate strike (this time Kenta hits a jumping enzi on Makoto) before tagging out for some recovery time. Marufuji trips both opponents to the floor…then dives at them with a ROPE RUN SPRINGBOARD SOMERSAULT PLANCHA! Superkick on Hashi…no sold…so Hashi can clobber him with a lariat. Kanemaru then tosses him off from a frankensteiner attempt to give him a split-legged moonsault for 2. Brainbuster blocked…Shiranui blocked! Kanemaru tries to pin him WITH FEET ON THE ROPES…for 2! PELE KICK ON KANE! The speed with which Marufuji and Kanemaru can counter each other is crazy. GERMAN ON KENTA! MOONSAULT! GETS 2! Kanemaru jumps off the ropes going for the ribs again, but gets blocked with a MID-AIR BUSAIKU KNEE! Hashi in, countering a kick into the GORIMAN SUPLEX for 2. Frog splash/diving headbutt combo by the challengers (both aimed at the ribs) gets 2! Blue Thunder Driver COUNTERED to a fisherman buster by Kenta! This is crazy! Falcon Arrow nailed, although Kenta is seriously slowed thanks to all the damage he’s taken. FLYING KNEE DROP ON HASHI’S FREAKING HEAD! Kanemaru rescues his partner – BRAINBUSTER ON MARUFUJI! INVERTED DDT FROM HASHI TO KENTA! SHIRANUI OFF THE F*CKING GUARDRAILS FROM MARUFUJI TO KANEMARU! GORIMAN DRIVER ON KENTA! MARU BREAKS THE PIN! Kenta fights for his life on the top rope with Hashi, until Marufuji pulls Hashi away into position for the DOOMSDAY BUSAIKU! KANEMARU SAVES! BUSAIKU KNEE! TRANSITIONED INTO A CROSS ARMBREAKER! HASHI SURVIVES! TIGER SUPLEX! HASHI KICKS OUT! SLAP DUEL! BUSAIKU KNEE ON KANEMARU! SHIRANUUIIIIII! REPEATED KICKS TO HASHI’S HEAD! IT’S OVER! Kenta pins Hashi at 25:32
Rating - ****1/2 - A quite incredible display of junior heavyweight wrestling at its absolute best. To fully understand the aura around Marufuji and KENTA you need to see matches like this. All Japan never really embraced the junior division, so when NOAH splintered off and started giving these amazing athletes a platform to produce stuff like this it was legitimately mind-blowing. The speed with which Marufuji and Kanemaru were able to pull off incredibly complex sequences was an insane spectacle. And they actually told a hell of a story to go with it, which I liked. First the champs isolated Hashi, trying to work over his leg. But just when it seemed like they were going to dominate, Hashi tagged out and got time to recover. The same thing happened to KENTA in the second half, as the challengers worked his midsection hard but allowed him to tag out just when they wanted to press their advantage home. Marufuji and Kanemaru, the ‘leaders’ of their respective teams were electric every time they got together – and in the end it became a battle over whether the champions could destroy Hashi, or the challengers could obliterate KENTA first. The last five minutes basically consisted entirely of super-hot false finishes and high spots and were simply amazing.
15) Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda – GHC Tag Title Match
6th June 2003 – This is from the same show as the Nagata/Taue match earlier, so fans seriously got their money’s worth with this one. Here we see Akiyama and his STERNNESS lieutenant Saito defending the belts against Kobashi and his long-time friend, former Olympic amateur wrestler Honda. Kobashi was GHC Heavyweight Champion at this point and the long-game was building towards a big Kobashi/Akiyama GHC Title Match which eventually took place in 2004. This Tag Title reign was the first championship in Saito’s already-lengthy career at this point, so he in particular will fight tooth and nail to retain. Can Akiyama score the big win over Kobashi to earn himself a title shot?
Excitement abounds as Akiyama and Kobashi agree to start for their respective teams. First knockdown goes to Jun, but only after he pokes his rival in the eyes…prompting Kobashi to get right in his face. Akiyama is a strong guy, but even he can’t withstand a chop barrage, finally admitting defeat and tagging out with his chest noticeably reddened. Saito and Honda enter, with the champ quickly countering one of Tamon’s Rolling Olympic Hell variants into a belly to belly suplex. Honda lands some lusty blows but can’t make any headway against the sheer power of Saito and tags Kobashi back. The GHC Champion wisely tries to negate Saito by grinding him into the mat with chinlocks, but doesn’t weaken him sufficiently to enable Honda to hit his suplexes or ground stretches. It means that the STERNNESS team soon have the former Olympian isolated in the ring. For several minutes they keep Honda grounded and incapacitated, cleverly making sure Kobashi is blocked from assisting his partner…until eventually Honda hits a Saito suplex on Aki and gets a much-needed tag. Kobashi immediately shows up Saito by lifting Jun into a stalling suplex (just as he’d done to Honda earlier). Akiyama retaliates with REPEATED DDT’S ON THE RAMP! Tamon tags in quite necessarily, and since Akiyama is now weakened he is able to start utilising his grounded submissions – quickly targeting Jun’s left leg. Saito assists his partner, hauling Honda out of the ring then tossing him CHEST-FIRST into the guardrails. He drives repeated kicks into his ribs as they brawl in the front row, then joins with Jun for a SPIKE PILEDRIVER ON THE FLOOR!
The camera pans to Kobashi right after that, and his face reads ‘well that’s us f*cked’. Poor Honda is completely defenceless now, and eats a jumping knee drop to the back of the neck as he hangs limp in the ropes. When Kobashi tries to help Akiyama scoops him up and GUILLOTINES HIM ON THE RAILS! The beatdown on Honda continues, with his neck and midsection taking most of the punishment. Out of nowhere he lands a spear on Akiyama though, tagging Kobashi in to DESTROY him with chops. Half Nelson Suplex blocked, but Akiyama has been chopped into semi-consciousness it seems. HEAD DROP SLEEPER SUPLEX! NECK DROP GERMAN SUPLEX BY SAITO! How is Kobashi not dead after that? Somehow he battles back to his feet, hitting Akitoshi with the HALF NELSON SUPLEX! He and Akiyama brawl onto stage. HEAD DROP HALF NELSON SUPLEX ON THE ENTRANCE RAMP! Makoto Hashi, at ringside for Akiyama, desperately tries to revive his mentor as inside the ring Honda nearly snatches the win with a Dead End suplex on Saito. Tamon Shooter locked in – but all the time the camera shows the rapidly recovering Akiyama getting closer to the ring before eventually breaking the holds. EXPLODER ’98 ON THE FLOOR on Kobashi! EXPLODER ’98 ON HONDA! FOR 2! KING CRAB LOCK! Somehow Honda makes the ropes, although he can barely fight back and eats a JUMPING ELBOW TO THE NECK from a remorseless Akiyama. Kobashi finally saves him from the Sternness Dust. DEAD END ON SAITO! OLYMPIC HELL ON AKIYAMA! Akitoshi just about saves his partner there…but as Akiyama tries to escape he eats ROLLING NECK DROP DEAD ENDS! HONDA WINS! We have new champions at 26:53
Rating - **** - I remember way back in 2003 there was a lot of buzz around this one. And it is a seriously good match, although in my opinion it’s way too high on this compilation. Tamon Honda is a guy I’ve never been able to get into, so given that he was pretty much the focal point of this match it is maybe obvious why I didn’t like it as much. I did find the story intriguing though – with Honda established as the ‘weak link’ in the match for well over twenty minutes, beaten senseless by the champions, but showing incredible heart to survive everything they threw at him before producing a killer offensive flurry to snatch the win. I struggle to take him that seriously with guys the size of Akiyama and Saito though…and given his lack of muscle or height, the mangled state of his knees and the fact he was in his mid-40’s, building an entire match around him doesn’t work too well for me. The exchanges between Kobashi and Akiyama were, predictably, solid gold though. Their eventual GHC Title showdown would be a classic.
14) Naomichi Marufuji/KENTA vs Ricky Marvin/Juventud Guerrera – GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Title Match
1st November 2003 – I’ve not seen this one for a while, but if you were ever to ask me what my favourite Marufuji/KENTA tag match was, then I’d probably say this one. I absolutely loved it when I reviewed by ‘02/’03 Marufuji/KENTA compilation tape and really can’t wait to check it out again here. Once again Marufuji and KENTA defend their GHC Tag Titles – this time against a duo with Latin American influence in Marvin and Juvi. Marvin was a mainstay of NOAH’s junior division for a long time, but this was more of a flying visit from Guerrera. He produced some awesome in-ring performances during his brief run in this promotion…but as with pretty much everywhere else he has worked, reported issues with his attitude meant he wasn’t kept around for long.
I still have no idea why Ricky Marvin comes out dressed as Rey Mysterio. Clearly there is plenty of heat between the teams too, since both the Mexicans trash talk before the match, whilst Juvi tries to piss Kenta off by wearing one of his shirts…not knowing that Kenta had the same idea and is wearing a Guerrera shirt. SPRINGBOARD PLANCHA TO THE FLOOR BY MARUFUJI! Back inside the challengers drop Kenta with a leapfrog powerbomb combo, then a double 619 for 2. BRAINBUSTER by Kenta as these four go back and forth at serious speed. Maru catapults Marvin through the air with a superkick, with the poor ref desperately trying to restore some order. Eventually the Mexicans clear the ring, then use the space to flip around, marking their turf. Kenta and Guerrera ‘officially’ start for their respective teams, drawing a near-standing ovation for their fast-paced back and forth. The Juice’s big mouth sees him get kicked HARD in the head though. DOUBLE SPRINGBOARD flying headscissors from Ricky to Marufuji! It knocks him out of the ring where Juventud is waiting to hit a wheelbarrow bulldog on the floor. Kenta helps his partner out by crotching both challengers against the ringpost in turn. He and Maru start isolating Marvin, all the while trying to wind Guerrera up by gesturing in his direction or calling his name. Eventually Ricky has enough of getting kicked in the head and counters one of Kenta’s strikes into an anklelock…and as the Japanese athlete tries to escape he gets HIS head caved in by a springboard leg drop from Juvi. A super-fast nearfall exchange between Juventud and Kenta comes next…before they start CRAZILY countering each other’s trademark sh*t. LAST RITES by Guerrera, transitioned straight into a dragon sleeper as he and Marvin continue to focus on Kenta’s head and neck. Poetry In Motion nailed, followed by Ricky’s rolling Mexican surfboard. Despite their dominance at this point, the Mexican challengers are still vulnerable. Marvin makes the mistake of trying to trade strikes with Kenta in the corner…and is punished with a volley of punishing kicks.
He goes back to the neck with a sliding blockbuster to him back on the ground soon after. Marufuji tags in…and OUT LUCHAS THE LUCHADORS! He hits a rope-run flipping armdrag on Marvin, and at the same time nails a SPRINGBOARD DROPKICK on Guerrera! SPRINGBOARD FLYING HEADSCISSORS OFF THE APRON FROM MARVIN TO KENTA! He then tries to springboard straight back in at Maru…and EATS a superkick! Ricky drags him to the top rope, puts him on his shoulders so Juvi can hit a SPRINGBOARD SUPER RANA! MOONSAULT BY RICKY! SHIRANUI…COUNTERED TO THE JUVI DRIVER! 450 SPLASH! KENTA SAVES! Juvi tries to trade strikes with Kenta and gets straight-up DESTROYED with a running kick to the head for 2. ROLLING Falcon Arrows gets another nearfall, but Kenta is still noticeably slowed after taking all that abuse earlier. He looks for victory with a cross armbreaker, which Guerrera sells like total death making his survival of the hold seem particularly heroic. KICKS! ELBOWS! KICK TO KENTA’S NECK! FLYING HEADSCISSORS OFF THE APRON ON MARUFUJI! ULTRA RANA BY MARVIN! SPRINGBOARD HEADSCISSORS ON KENTA! JUVI DRIVER! KENTA KICKS OUT! Wrist Clutch Juvi Driver…COUNTERED WITH THE BUSAIKU KNEE! BOTH MEN DOWN! Marvin takes a tag and absolutely plasters Marufuji with a superkick, then a TOP ROPE QUEBRADA for 2! How are these guys still moving this quickly? He crotches Maru on the ropes…SPRINGBOARD FRANKENSTEINER! 619 DUCKED! BASEMENT 619 INSTEAD! FOR 2! KUNG FU STYLE NEAR MISS STRIKE EXCHANGE! SUPERKICK BY MARUFUJI! DOOMSDAY BUSAIKU DUCKED! VICTORY ROLL BY MARVIN! LA MAGISTRAL BY GUERRERA! DUELLING TWO COUNTS! DOOMSDAY RANA ON KENTA! Maru saves Kenta by crotching Marvin on the top as he positions himself for the Frog Splash. BUSAIKU KNEE! SHIRANUI KAI! MARUFUJI WINS! This insane spectacle is over at last in 29:20.
Rating - ****1/2 - This one is batsh*t crazy, an amazing watch, and prevented from getting 5* only by a couple of instances of minor sloppiness – which is almost understandable considering how long they went, how fast they were going and how many different styles they were trying to fuse together. This was truly a ‘hybrid style’ match in every sense of the phrase, packing in traditional puroresu sensibilities and classic Japanese junior heavyweight stuff alongside some American southern tag formula work, MMA-style strike-offs, obvious Lucha Libre influences and more. The speed with which Marufuji and Marvin were still able to move almost half an hour into a match like this will blow you away. And Guerrera delivered the type of performance that has convinced almost every major promotion on the planet to give him a shot, even though he clearly brings plenty of baggage with him wherever he goes. He was BRILLIANT here. His experience on TV in America really showed, as he almost played a pantomime villain – drawing major reactions from the Japanese audience as he did all he could to get under the ‘home team’s skin. I’ve been watching wrestling for a LONG time, and this always stands out as one of the more memorable matches I’ve ever witnessed. It’s not perfect, but watching four elite athletes move at breathtaking speed and working a fusion of SO MANY styles is the kind of unique spectacle that you just don’t see very often.
13) Naomichi Marufuji/KENTA vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Takashi Sugiura – GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Title Match
5th June 2005 – By this point KENTA and Marufuji, the inaugural Junior Heavyweight Tag Champs in NOAH, had held the belts for approaching two years. They had defeated all comers and transformed themselves from under-rated cruiserweights to legitimate, drawing superstars for the promotion. How much longer could their reign continue? Clearly their belts are in serious jeopardy here as they face another of the truly elite-level NOAH juniors in Kanemaru, alongside the fast rising and sizeable (for a junior) Sugiura. The vast majority of the matches in this set take place in Tokyo – be it at the Budokan, the Korakuen, the Ariake or the Dome – so it’s nice to get a change of scenery for this one, journeying to Sapporo. If you’re interested, the first match on the set (Kanemaru/Kikuchi vs Liger/Kanemoto) took place in Kobe, whilst #7 in the Top 25 countdown (Marufuji/KENTA vs Liger/Murahama) took place in Osaka. Clearly the juniors ‘bring it’ on the road far more than the heavyweights…
Kanemaru was Jr. Heavyweight Champion at this point…and I have no idea what belt Sugiura wears to the ring. It appears to be some kind of fake though since everyone laughs when he shows it off. As usual Marufuji and Kanemaru are electric, and get a standing ovation from a seriously vocal audience for their work in the opening minutes. Maru seems far more wary of Sugiura, the biggest man in the match. He tags in and instantly slows Maru down, keeping him on the mat with his impressive wrestling skills. Kenta backs himself to trade strikes with Sugi…and gets TAKEN DOWN with authority! A running boot knocks Kenta off the apron as Marufuji and Kanemaru brawl on the other side of the ring. Kenta has to cling to Sugi’s leg to save himself, before Marufuji joins him and they hit a RUNNING BOOT/SUNSET FLIP BOMB COMBO OFF THE APRON! That move scrambled Sugiura’s brains against the floor of the arena, and he doesn’t have much time to recover before Marufuji gives him a DDT on the ramp. Back in the ring the champs stay working the head and neck – to the point that another successful defence looks all but inevitable at this stage. It’s interesting how much of a dick Marufuji is though. He was just starting to team with Minoru Suzuki (who is on commentary) in the heavyweight division, and he has all kinds of new tricks up his sleeve – like trying to use the ropes to pin Sugi, or kicking his legs away from the ropes behind the ref’s back when Kenta works a submission. Sugiura remains the strongest man in the match though, and just when all hope seemed lost he manages to counter a Kenta flying headscissors into a powerbomb…and collapses backwards into the crucial tag to Kane. JUMPING GUILLOTINE LEG DROP OVER THE GUARDRAILS from Kanemaru to Kenta! That move decimates his ribs midsection, and Marufuji gets some rough trips into the barriers as well when he tries to come to his partner’s aid. It’s the turn of the challengers to grind home an advantage, first stretching out Kenta’s injured torso with repeated camel clutches then spiking him on his face with Kanemaru’s Deep Impact DDT. Lion Tamer applied next, and Sugi makes sure to get a receipt on Maru for earlier by using his feet to prevent Kenta from grabbing a rope. In the end Marufuji tries to storm the ring to get at Sugiura…and walks right into a SAITO SUPLEX from Kane! Meanwhile Sugi is doing his best to snap Kenta’s arm with a kimura.
Hot tag to Marufuji finally comes, and he storms the ring with the rope-run lucha armdrag on Kane…WITH added missile dropkick on Sugiura! TOP ROPE SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT INTO THE FRONT ROW! He returns to the ring, leaving Kanemaru desperately battling to clamber over the railings before losing via count-out. Shiranui blocked into a tilta-whirl DDT! Spear by Sugiura, but that takes a lot out of his battered neck so he can’t follow up! Argentine backbreaker blocked into a sliding kick to the head…and here comes Kenta to dish out more punishment – rocketing his head back with a springboard dropkick for 2. Falcon Arrow blocked…Busaiku Knee COUNTERED with a jumping knee into Kenta’s chest! Kenta flips out of the Olympic Slam and drives a kick into Sugi’s damaged neck before they both drop to the mat through sheer exhaustion. Kanemaru in with a MOONSAULT for 2! Marufuji meets him in mid-air as he comes off the ropes again seconds later, and drives a dropkick into his stomach. VAN MARUFUJI-NATOR NAILED! Sugiura dives in to break a hot nearfall on the back of that. SHIRANUI KAI…COUNTERED WITH AN AVALANCHE DDT FOR 2! ELEVATED DEEP IMPACT COMBO! KENTA SAVES! BRAINBUSTER ON MARU! HE KICKS OUT! BRAINBUSTER…COUNTERED TO THE PERFECT INSIDE CRADLE! FOR 2! AVALANCHE SHIRANUIIIIIII! BOTH MEN DOWN! Tags all round, so Kenta and Sugi can stiff the sh*t out of each other! Kenta drops Sugiura on that neck again with a fisherman buster! SPEAR BY SUGI! GOURDBUSTER ON KENTA’S MIDSECTION! BUSAIKU KNEE! POETRY IN MOTION by the champs! POWEROMB SHIRANUI COMBO! KANEMARU BREAKS THE PIN! Does Sugi have anything left! KICK TO THE HEAD! BUSAIKU KNEE ON KANEMARU! They try to hit the Powerbomb Shiranui combo on Kane…WHO COUNTERS MARUFUJI INTO A BACK SUPERPLEX! ALL FOUR MEN DOWN! KENTA REPEATEDLY KICKS SUGI IN THE HEAD! NO SOLD! OLYMPIC SLAM! AWESOMEBOMB BY SUGI! MARUFUJI SAVES! SUPERKICKS! SPEAR! BRAINBUSTER ON MARU! NO F*CKING SOLD! SHIRANUI! ELBOW DUEL BETWEEN KENTA AND SUGIURA! THEY ARE F*CKING PUNCHING EACH OTHER RIGHT IN THE FACE! ANKLELOCK! KENTA MAKES THE ROPES! GERMAN SUPLEX! ROLLED INTO A DRAGON SUPLEX! KENTA KICKS OUT! OLYMPIC SLAM AGAIN! STILL 2! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? AVALANCHE OLYMPIC SLAM! NEW CHAMPIONS! The two year reign of Kenta and Marufuji ends at 34:51
Rating - ****1/2 - Every single Marufuji/KENTA tag on this compilation is insanely good. This one is 35 minutes long and had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. The last ten minutes consist almost entirely of ballistic, non-stop false finishes – with the red hot crowd biting on almost every single one. After such a momentous initial reign as Jr. Heavyweight Tag Champs the moment when KENTA and Marufuji finally passed the belts on to someone else needed to be truly memorable, and this one absolutely delivered that. They put on one last killer match, and in losing the belts gave a huge vote of confidence to Takashi Sugiura who, in years to come, would go on to be arguably NOAH’s top star and the guy to help carry the promotion in the dark years after Misawa’s death in 2009. I could have done with slightly better selling from KENTA and Sugiura on their respective heat segment injuries, but that is a minor criticism. To the credit of all four guys, in a match this long they could have easily forgotten about all that limb/body-part work as they tossed high spots around at the end – but they really didn’t. KENTA and Marufuji were continually going after Sugi’s neck, whilst the majority of Kane and Sugi’s offensive flurries were focused on crushing KENTA’s midsection. Even the finish damaged that body part.
12) Takeshi Morishima/Takeshi Rikio vs Naomichi Marufuji/KENTA
16th July 2006 – After they finally lost the Jr. Heavyweight Tag straps in 2005, KENTA and Marufuji’s time as a tag team came to an end. They’d done great things together as a duo, but it was now time to focus on their individual career goals. Within weeks of losing their belts to Kanemaru and Sugiura both had moved on. Marufuji moved into the heavyweight division and claimed the heavyweight GHC Tag Titles alongside Minoru Suzuki…and by September of 2006 was the top challenger to Akiyama’s GHC Heavyweight Title. KENTA, meanwhile, concentrated on becoming the top singles star in the junior division…and soon dethroned Kanemaru for the Junior Heavyweight singles crown. In fact, they only teamed up on very rare occasions now. They did it in ROH a couple of times in 2006, and reunited here to oppose the ‘Wild II’ of Morishima and Rikio. In many ways these four are the biggest success stories in Pro-Wrestling NOAH. None of them had major reputations before the AJPW split. Now they have all become legitimate draws in their own right. Marufuji and KENTA are outstanding athletes and had proven that junior heavyweights could do serious business in Japan. Rikio was the man who defeated the great Kenta Kobashi for the GHC Heavyweight Title…whilst Morishima had a fast-growing reputation of his own with many viewing him as a future GHC Champion too. The apparent leaders of NOAH’s new generation collide here, as arguably the top heavyweight team faces off with the top junior duo.
Marufuji is already noticeably bigger than he was during the Junior Tag Title run, and starts off with former heavyweight champion Rikio with a point to prove. Rikio quickly drops him to the ground with an emphatic slap across the face, which basically says ‘you should’ve stuck to the juniors’. He dominates the opening minutes, effortlessly over-powering Maru with headlocks and shoulder blocks. Tags all round, and Kenta isn’t interested in waiting around for Morishima to out-muscle him like Rikio just did to his partner. STRIKE DUEL! KENTA OUT-STRIKES MORI! FISHERMAN BUSTER! He slips trying a missile dropkick though, barely clipping Morishima’s knee in his over-exuberance…and Mori is soon back on his feet to punish him with a lariat. Kenta is clinging on for dear life, needing a superkick from Maru to save him from the Back Drop Driver. Superkick/Buzzsaw Kick combo rocks Mori though, causing him to fall out of the ring. Marufuji is on the floor waiting for him, and drags the bigger worker around ringside breaking multiple portions of the guardrails with some violent Irish whips. It takes plenty of teamwork but soon the juniors have Morishima totally isolated. Kenta’s striking is particularly devastating – kicking Mori all over the ring and causing visible welts to appear on his body. He isn’t softened up enough for the Shiranui though, and Mori soon snaps Marufuji across the ring with a belly to belly suplex. Rikio gets a tag and once again totally dominates Maru. He is so big and strong that Marufuji seems to have no answer. Even Kenta is powerless to help him this time, with Riki NO SELLING the superkick/buzzsaw kick combo to drop Marufuju with a diving powerbomb for 2. He attempts a back superplex…but sees it COUNTERED into a sunset flip bomb! And when he tries to no sell that Marufuji crashes into him again with a superkick! Kenta really starts to potato Rikio with kicks…PALM STRIKE BY RIKIO! RUNNING HIP ATTACK BY MORISHIMA! CARTWHEEL BODY AVALANCHE! Wild II obliterate minutes of dominance from the juniors in mere seconds! NECK DROP URINAGE from Mori to Kenta gets 2.
Scud Missile dropkick blocked though, with Kenta somehow dragging his big ass into a superplex leaving them both on the canvas. Poetry In Motion COUNTERED TO AN STO SLAM! TOPE SUICIDA BY MORI! He absolutely destroyed both opponents with that. Rikio then wants to prove the dominance of the heavyweight division by retrieving Kenta’s battered body rather than accept a count-out victory. Wild II control proceedings with some incredibly basic but brutally executed offensive moves. They use knees to the stomach, body slams and stretches to severely punish Kenta’s midsection as Marufuji watches helplessly from the apron. DIVING DOUBLE STOMP FROM RIKIO! He then dusts off Maru’s attempt to help his partner with another nasty slap. From nothing Kenta manages to land a back suplex and get a hot tag…but his own partner is so beaten up he can’t hit his usual rope-run lucha armdrag and basically topples off the ropes back into Rikio’s clutches. Somehow he slides through Rik’s legs into a basement dropkick on Morishima…then sprints into a sliding lariat on Rikio as he tries to recover. STRAIGHT-JACKET GERMAN! But of course, Rikio is so big he can’t maintain a bridge to pin him. RUNNING TORPEDO HEADBUTT BY RIKIO! SCUD MISSILE DROPKICK BY MORISHIMA! Once again the Wild II absolutely decimate the juniors in mere seconds. Morishima hits the Bossman Slam for 2, followed by the Amaze Impact. DOOMSDAY DEVICE…DUCKED BY MARU! Kenta is still seriously hurt…but somehow hoists Morishima into a BRIDGING GERMAN SUPLEX FOR 2! BUSAIKU KNEE! REPEATED KICKS TO THE HEAD! Morishima BARELY kicked out that time. SHIRANUI POWERBOMB COMBO! GO 2 SLEEEEEEEEEP! MORISHIMA KICKS OUT! BUSAIKU ON RIKIO! NO SOLD! LARIATOOOOO! BACK DROP DRIVER ON KENTA! HE KICKS OUT! SLIDING LARIATOOOOO! STILL 2! MARU SAVES WITH THE SHIRANUI! MUSO BY RIKIO! BUSAIKU KNEE ON HIM! ALL FOUR DOWN! Kenta is bleeding from the mouth as we enter the final minute…but frantically tries to pin Morishima! LARIAT BY MORI! FOR 2! MARU AND RIKIO ARE PASTING EACH OTHER ON THE FLOOR! THIRTY SECONDS! GO 2 SLEEP COUNTERED TO A ROLL-UP FOR 2! SLAP DUEL! NEITHER MAN BACKS DOWN! 30:00 DRAW!
Rating - ****1/2 - This one was absolutely brutal. I know some people will point to a couple of minor botches from Marufuji and KENTA, Rikio being a little too uncharismatic to play the ‘dominating giant’, or the lack of a finish…but for me this one had everything. Rich story-telling, amazing drama, four guys absolutely NAILING their role within the match and a quite stunning closing sequence. We opened with Marufuji, packing on weight and desperate to cut it in the heavyweight division, testing his skills against a former heavyweight champion…and roundly failing. Rikio, as he would be throughout the match, was simply too big and too strong for him to get the better of. KENTA had a different strategy, and tried to attack Morishima using his speed and striking – skills he had refined in the junior division. But his over-enthusiasm cost him dearly. Slipping on the top rope, although unintentional, worked PERFECTLY as it played up KENTA’s desire to use junior heavyweight skills against the bigger guys…even though the higher risk strategy leaves him vulnerable to some serious punishment if it goes wrong. Time and again the Wild II were able to blitz their smaller opponents, eradicating minutes of offence from the juniors in seconds with a simply flurry of decisive blows. But they simply couldn’t put Marufuji or KENTA away. Even as the juniors tired, they fought for all they were worth. And by the end they couldn’t be separated. On the floor Marufuji had survived everything Rikio threw at him – and was still able to trade strikes. Inside the ring KENTA, who was brutalised for long periods, was still trying to pin Morishima…or slap the sh*t out of him. A brilliant spotlight for the ‘new generation’ of NOAH superstars.
11) KENTA vs SUWA – GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title Match
18th September 2005 – In the Autumn of 2005 people absolutely raved about this match. KENTA ended that summer as Junior Heavyweight Champion after concluding the lengthy reign of Yoshinobu Kanemaru and finally emerged from Marufuji’s shadow as a legitimate singles star in his own right. That was until the evil SUWA made his way to NOAH from the Dragon Gate promotion. Few workers in Japan are as dastardly, evil and downright vicious as SUWA. He is as violent and unpredictable as they come and a serious challenge to KENTA’s championship here.
If you had any doubts about how much of an ass Suwa is, they’ll quickly be eradicated when he steals Joe Higuchi’s GHC declaration and rips it up. Seriously, it’s so disrespectful it’s almost sacrilegious in NOAH! He then flips Joe himself off as the highly-respected septuagenarian admonishes him. Kenta is understandably furious, and meets him in the middle of the ring with a flurry of massive kicks. Suwa tries to run…so Kenta starts bashing his face against the timekeeping table. RING BELL TO THE FACE BY SUWA! With the champion unconscious he then pulls out a heavy metal amp case from under the ring and REPEATEDLY brains him with it. The ref has no choice but to disqualify him at 01:33, as Suwa himself gets pelted with garbage. Joe Higuchi looks absolutely livid…and as Suwa tries to walk out he orders the match be restarted. A rejuvenated Kenta sprints up the aisle and catches his challenger for a vicious suplex on the stage. Suwa gets in Higuchi’s face…JOE WANTS TO FIGHT! HE’S TAKING HIS JACKET OFF! Kenta ensures Joe doesn’t need to get into a fight, instead dragging Suwa back to the ring for more kicks across the chest. Unfortunately for him Suwa has plenty more dirty tricks in his arsenal – and soon has him on the ground again after ripping off some wrist tape and using it to choke him with. He then rips off the turnbuckle pad and THROWS IT AT HIGUCHI! LOW BLOW ON KENTA! Tsuyoshi Kikuchi tries to fix the turnbuckles…so Suwa boots him in the head too! The champion, incapacitated after the low blow, has his back violently attacked. It gets rammed into the side of the ring, then smashed into the guardrails…and just when he seemed set to fight back Suwa drops him again by crotching him against the ringpost. Next Kenta tries a springboard move…only for Suwa to SHOVE THE REF INTO THE ROPES! It trips him, causing him to fall flat on his face again. Suwa is delivering possibly the single most evil performance in the history of puroresu here. Camel clutch applied next, of course with plenty of fish-hooking and gouges into the nose and face. Suwa is even shouting at the referee in English rather than Japanese to emphasise how much of a villain he is. John Woo Dropkick gets 2! At last Kenta musters up some offence – hitting a flying headscissors and a running boot to the head – but he’s so beaten up he can barely drag himself up from the mat to capitalise. Eventually he gestures to the referee, then springs off the ropes into a missile dropkick. Suwa gives him another low blow though, before drilling him into the canvas with a flapjack. ELBOW SUICIDAAAAAAAA! Right in front of Joe Higuchi! Suwa has the champ on the ropes, but appeared to have knocked himself loopy with that, so retreats to the ring to recover. BUSAIKU KNEE COUNTERED TO THE JET POOL…FOR 2! Suwa’s finisher, the FFF, is blocked too though…with Kenta flipping him round into a tiger suplex. PUNCH TO THE FACE! NO SOLD! REPEATED LOW BLOWS! JOHN WOO! FFF…COUNTERED TO GO 2 SLEEEEEEEEEEP! BOTH MEN DOWN! They get back to their feet swinging horrific shoot punches right into each other’s jaws until Kenta lands the Koutoubu Kick for 2. Busaiku Knee! NO SOLD! HEAD KICKS! BUSAIKU KNEE AGAIN! KENTA RETAINS! Match time was 18:19 (total).
Rating - **** - It’s easy to see why people love this match. SUWA is absolutely irresistible, delivering an all-time great puroresu villain performance. He pulls out every dirty trick in the heel playbook, and drew insane heat through his interactions with respected former referee/current GHC committee member Joe Higuchi. I actually have a few issues with KENTA’s performance though, which is why I didn’t go higher on my rating. SUWA oozed personality and charisma in everything he did…and in contrast, KENTA looked extremely bland. He seemed to be running through his usual spots on autopilot. He didn’t convey any real anger at SUWA’s antics. He didn’t really look too annoyed that he’d been attacked with a foreign object. Hell, he didn’t even attempt to sell the back SUWA savagely attacked. I really do enjoy this one. SUWA’s performance is marvellous, and his whole run in NOAH before his 2007 retirement was really enjoyable. I do think his brilliance rather masks some problems though, putting this one a few slots higher in the Top 25 countdown than I’d have ranked it.
10) Kenta Kobashi vs Akira Taue – GHC Heavyweight Title Match
10th September 2004 – Such is Kobashi’s importance to NOAH that, despite spending the vast majority of NOAH’s existence either injured, ill or retired, he still features in a staggering EIGHT of the top ten matches in this countdown. Here we are in the midst of his legendary GHC Heavyweight Title reign, defending his cherished prize against a man he goes WAY back with. Kobashi and Taue have been fighting each other since the 90’s, and even though Taue’s best years were behind him he still should be considered a seriously cerebral and dangerous foe.
The pre-match staredown between these two guys oozes emotion. First blood goes to Taue as he elbows Kobashi in the THROAT then floors him with a jumping enzi. DYNAMIC KICK OFF THE APRON! TOPE SUICIDAAAAAA! The champion is completely stumped by the electric start from his challenger…and as he tries to crawl away Taue repeatedly scoops him up to drop him ribs-first over the railings, making recovery impossible. Sleeper hold applied next, punishing the injuries he’s opened up whilst allowing the past-his-prime Taue crucial recovery time. Kobashi realises he needs to use his superior power and speed…and does so soon after as he chops him so hard he falls out of the ring, before diving at him with a PESCADO! Pretty soon Akira’s chest is grotesquely discoloured thanks to the sadistic barrage of chops coming his way and his early momentum has been entirely extinguished. Taue starts to show his age as Kobashi effortlessly rides him on the mat, stretching him out with an assortment of abdominal stretch variants. But he refuses to quit, and finally frees himself with a signature close-range heel kick. THEN HE ATTACKS KOBASHI’S KNEES! Back in the day he and Kawada used to absolutely torture Kobashi’s suspect knees and just when he looked dead and buried here, he’s digging deep into his old playbook to mount a comeback! A dragon screw scores and is quickly followed with a half crab and an STF, all doing damage to his left leg. Kobashi tries to chop at the bruised and reddened chest again, but this time his knee gives way from under him and Akira puts him on the mat with a shinbreaker. Somehow the champ hobbles to the entrance ramp but he’s still struggling to walk and Taue easily catches him…FOR A NODOWA OTOSHI ON THE STAGE!
Such is the damage done to the champ that Taue can even take him on at his own game now – grabbing the great man and dropping him on his neck with ROLLING GERMANS! Nodowa on the apron blocked – ORE GA TAUE OFF THE APRON TO THE FLOOR INSTEAD! Kobashi took a COLOSSAL bump on that, and remains motionless on the green mats even with multiple seconds (Kikuchi, Honda, Go Shiozaki and KENTA) trying to revive him. Eventually Taue has to physically drag his ass into the ring, looking to win by knock-out it seems. Kobashi moves midway through the count, so he hauls him up for the DYNAMIC BOMB! And crazily the crowd are rallying behind the challenger now. They chant is name…then groan in disappointment as he walks into a Burning Lariat from nowhere to leave them both on the canvas. NODOWA OTOSHI BY KOBASHI! The champ needs the assistance of the ropes just to get back to his feet…but he keeps fighting! MOONSAULT MISSES! He crashes onto his damaged body and knees again, and Taue is on him in a flash with a NODOWA OTOSHI! ORE GA TAUE! GETS 2! Kobashi tries a powerbomb…TAUE COUNTERS TO A HURRICANRANA! DYNAMIC KICK! CHICHIBU CEMENT! KOBASHI KICKS OUT! Taue is getting desperate now, and actually climbs to the top rope – diving off into a lovably uncoordinated body splash. Kobashi tosses a weak-ass lariat back his way, then falls to the mat looking out on his feet. Frantically seeking victory, Taue looks for a small package…only for the champ to escape into the KOBASHI-PLEX for 2! REPEATED SPINNING NECK CHOPS! BURNING LARIATOOOOOO! TAUE KICKS OUT! The crowd will Taue on…but gasp in shock as Kobashi hauls him up for the debut of the WRIST CLUTCH BURNING HAMMER! TAUE IS DEAD! Kobashi retains at 28:05
Rating - ****1/2 - Kobashi famously only hit the Burning Hammer successfully seven times throughout his storied career. It was such a feared and respected move in puroresu that simply attempting it caused crowds to gasp in wonder and shock. Therefore it is the ultimate compliment to the outstanding performer that Taue was (and everything he contributed throughout his own career) that Kobashi physically innovated a new version of his famous ‘special occasion’ finishing move just to beat him. Just like the Taue/Nagata match earlier, the brilliance of the story they told quickly makes you forget about Taue’s weird physique and total lack of athleticism – you get swept away in watching the drama unfold. Taue set out looking to prove the adage about being ‘as good once as you ever were’ true, blitzing the unsuspecting champion from the outset…then going back to an old reliable tactic of working his surgically repaired knees for an advantage. Kobashi was positioned as the harder hitter, the stronger, and the quicker of the two…but also completely unable to outwit an old fox like Akira Taue. And the strategy nearly worked. He blasted Kobashi with all his signature finishers – tossing him into the stage, off the apron…and even breaking out his own innovated finisher - the ‘Chichibu Cement’ brainbuster/chokeslam move - seeking victory. For what it’s worth, I thought Kobashi sold it PERFECTLY too. He limped around to sell the leg (Taue didn’t work on it long enough to require any greater selling than that), he flopped around and played dead…and in the end was so convincing a foil to Taue’s tactics that the entire crowd rallied behind the challenger. The first ten minutes were a little slow going, and Taue’s style does make me question just how much ‘mass appeal’ this one has. But I loved it
9) Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs Kenta Kobashi/Kentaro Shiga – GHC Tag Title Match
19th October 2002 – The Kobashi/Akiyama rivalry was a staple of NOAH’s early years. Akiyama beat Kobashi in his big ‘breakout’ singles match right before they left AJPW and was positioned as the heir-apparent to Kobashi and Misawa’s positions as the ‘aces’ of NOAH. Unfortunately NOAH’s heavyweight scene was a little devoid of quality, so after Jun’s first shot with the GHC Heavyweight Title horribly tanked, they realised they needed to rebuild him properly before fans would accept him in the way they did Kobashi or Misawa. He had his own stable, and was given this reign with the Tag Titles alongside his second-in-command, Saito, as part of that process. Kobashi, Akiyama’s great rival, steps up to challenge them flanked by one of his multiple protégés in Kentaro Shiga.
Akiyama shoos Shiga away like a stray dog, and is only interested in starting the match with Kobashi. Just to make sure he swiftly kicks Kobashi’s protégé off the apron as soon as the bell rings. As if to remind him of his own place, Kenta chases Akiyama around the ring with chops. Saito is much bigger and can’t be muscled around the ring like Kobashi did to Akiyama…but even he is no match for the great man when it comes to chop battles. The future Dark Agent is beaten into the corner, allowing Kentaro in for the first time. Shiga is brim-full of confidence and vigour, but SO much smaller than everyone else in the match. Despite his courage, Saito stiffs the crap out of him with kicks to leave him firmly on the back foot. Next he tries to slap Akiyama about and gets PASTED with some of the most vicious palm strikes you’ll ever see. In an effort to completely murder Shiga, Jun tries to suplex him off the stage…and the look on his face is priceless as Kentaro counters it into a DDT ON THE RAILING! That was awesome, although he kills it’s impact somewhat by hitting a sh*tty-looking tope suicida moments later. TORNADO GUILLOTINE ON THE GUARDRAILS! Akiyama has to take him seriously after that! The former GHC Champion is so beaten up he can’t even stand to run the ropes, and needs Saito to rescue him from being pinned. He does eventually mount a comeback, trapping the overly-enthusiastic Shiga in the Nagata Lock II. Although Shiga survives that hold it leaves him in real trouble and allows Akiyama to tag Saito back in.
Saito is completely uncompromising with the kid, taunting him and Kobashi as he picks him apart with a multitude of heavy-handed strikes…or whips him into the barriers with such force that he actually skips over them and into the laps of some fans. Amongst Saito’s overly physical approach, Akiyama periodically tags in and continues to treat Shiga like a young boy – not taking him remotely seriously and drawing real heat for trying to break his nose with a stiff knee drop. Shiga is soon left bleeding from the nose and mouth, with one camera shot appearing to show him missing a tooth. Far from showing sympathy – Akiyama starts closed-fist striking him directly in the mouth looking to draw more blood. Credit to Kentaro for hanging in there, and at the 20-minute mark he finds an escape route after dropping Akiyama with a lariat (again, sticking to the theme that Akiyama should take him more seriously). Kobashi tags, immediately taking the same liberties with Akiyama that he had been taking with Shiga seconds earlier – blitzing him with strikes and completely ignoring some pretty weak elbows coming back his way. Half Nelson Suplex blocked though, with Saito making the save by drilling him with an axe kick followed by a NECK DROP GERMAN! Kobashi has no choice but to tag Shiga back…and like a freaking idiot Shiga completely MISSES Saito on a flying crossbody attempt, even though he was standing right in front of him and didn’t move. Even the respectful Japanese fans crack up laughing at his stupidity.
Immediately his big cathartic comeback sequence has lost all heat, meaning nobody really buys the back drop/flying neckbreaker combo he and Kobashi hit on Saito as a nearfall. Super sh*tty diving Ace Crusher nailed, and Shiga’s execution is KILLING this match now. It’s almost a relief when Saito puts him out of his misery with a violent gamengiri. Kobashi and Akiyama are left to settle it amongst themselves, with Jun blocking a number of suplexes before applying the KING CRAB LOCK! He legitimately made Kobashi pass out with this hold back at one of NOAH’s first ever events! This time Shiga is on hand to rescue him, although the punishment continues as Jun hits the Exploder for 2. HEAD DROP HALF NELSON SUPLEX! BOTH MEN DOWN! Akiyama crawls towards the ropes…as Kobashi grabs him for ANOTHER HALF NELSON SUPLEX! Burning Lariat ducked…Exploder ’98 blocked! Saito steams into the ring to save his partner from the Burning Hammer – since that has been established back in 2000 as the hold Kobashi needs to beat Akiyama. Blood and saliva pours from Shiga’s mouth as he tags in…TO GIVE AKIYAMA AN EXPLODER SUPLEX! That is SUPER disrespectful, but still Aki tries to treat him like a young boy rather than just finish him. He aims a stiff boot in Shiga’s face, but the kid shakes it off and takes him down into the Shiga Sleeper! It looks like Jun is KO’d, so Kentaro prepares to finish him with the Tornado DDT…but it’s countered in mid-air to a BRAINBUSTER! KING CRAB LOCK! KOBASHI SAVES! EXPLODER ’98…COUNTERED TO A ROLL-UP FOR 2! EXPLODER ’98 NAILED! SHIGA KICKS OUT! STERNNESS DUST! Akiyama cockily SITS on Shiga as he pins him to retain at 31:11
Rating - **** - This is one of my least favourite matches in this compilation, and for me it is MILES too high at #9…but it’s still a hell of a war that I really enjoyed for the most part. The big problem here is that whilst Kobashi and Akiyama were EXCELLENT, the whole match was held back by the inadequacies of their partners – in particular Kentaro Shiga. To be totally up front, I’ve NEVER liked Shiga. This is easily the best match I’ve ever seen him wrestle, and he still sucks at multiple points. The way he destroys his own big comeback sequence with multiple botches is so embarrassing it’s almost painful to watch. BUT, he does make for a hell of a whipping boy. You’ll seldom see a more enjoyable heat segment on a babyface in peril than him getting worked over by Saito and Akiyama. I also loved the plot they ran with throughout the match of Akiyama refusing to take Shiga seriously. Even when the kid was hitting him with his own signature moves he still tried to dust him off with humiliating strikes rather than actually wrestling him. And that’s why the finish was so utterly fantastic. At last realising he needed to take Shiga seriously (after he’d kicked out of the Exploder ’98), Jun broke out his ‘special occasion’ finisher…but then instantly put Shiga back in his place with the cocky pinfall he used to win. The Kobashi/Akiyama exchanges were, at least, predictably excellent. You were always aware there was simmering heat between them, from Jun demanding to start the match with him…to Kobashi’s rather neat mirroring of Akiyama’s treatment of Shiga. Just as Jun wanted to disrespect and belittle Kentaro, Kobashi seemed to want to do the same thing to him. Which makes perfect sense – Shiga’s motivation was wanting to get to main event level like everyone else. Akiyama’s motivation is he wants to become an ACE, like Kobashi. Had Shiga’s execution been a little better, my rating would have perhaps have been higher. As is, whilst this is a hell of a match, there are multiple matches that are a LOT better in this compilation.
8) Naomichi Marufuji vs KENTA – GHC Heavyweight Title Match
29th October 2006 – Not only did these two make a fantastic tag team, but they’ve also faced each other multiple times in numerous highly-regarded singles battles. For many, however, THIS is the definitive match between them. Marufuji successfully completed his transition to the heavyweight division, defeating Jun Akiyama to become GHC Heavyweight Champion in September of 2006. KENTA had a strong 2006 as well, including pushing mentor Kenta Kobashi to his very limits in a really good singles match between them (Kobashi needed the Burning Hammer to beat him). Marufuji always seemed to have the ‘star quality’ when they teamed up. He did the flashy moves, he wore shiny pants, he had more physical charisma etc...yet on a professional level he had so much to be envious of KENTA for. Marufuji never got endorsed by anyone the way Kobashi endorsed KENTA. Marufuji had never pushed Kobashi so far he needed a Burning Hammer to beat him. Marufuji was never outright FEARED for his striking ability. Although they’d fought before, each man steps into the ring tonight with much to prove. Was Marufuji the star of the team? Can he legitimise his own GHC Title reign at the expense of his Kobashi-endorsed former partner? Or can KENTA prove that he was always the ‘better man’?
GREAT facials from both guys during the intros and entrances. They lock eyes during Marufuji’s entrance and don’t break eye contact at any point. Kenta’s no-thrills approach positions him as the aggressor in the early minutes – prompting the flashier champion to take evasive action with multiple strike combinations being thrown in his direction. Everything they do is done with an amazing intensity. Even basic exchanges on the mat are made to feel extremely important as they scream in each other’s faces and continually jostle for superiority. SLAP DUEL! Marufuji doesn’t like getting slapped by his former partner at all, so plants a spinning heel kick into his gut. He then flattens him with a sliding lariat. As dangerous as Kenta is, Marufuji realises he is potentially both quicker AND stronger. SLINGSHOT DDT ON THE APRON! And as Kenta tries to drag himself back in Maru catapults him throat-first into the bottom rope. His neck is now apparently seriously hurt, weakening his strikes and allowing Marufuji to put him on the canvas with a solitary elbow to the neck. MISSILE DROPKICK FROM THE APRON TO THE GUARDRAILS! He then chokes Kenta against the railings too – with a secondary focus clearly on making it hard for him to breathe as well as damaging the neck. Shades of Kenta’s American rival Bryan Danielson now, as Maru drags him to the mat with a crossface chickenwing. As if to make the point that he is dominant – he traps Kenta in the corner and starts KICKING HIM! Kenta is f*cking livid…and even with his neck screaming in pain he marches forward and drops Maru with a single roundhouse kick to the chest. He remorselessly PUNTS the champ in the ribs, which Marufuji sells like total death by collapsing against the ropes dry-heaving.
He tries to leave the ring but the challenger gives chase, dropping him RIBS-FIRST OVER THE RAILINGS! Just as Maru did to him earlier, he attacks as the champ tries to return to the ring and pins him stomach-first on the ropes for a flying knee drop. A crazily intense strike duel ends with Kenta drilling Marufuji’s ribs with another brutal kick…before he sadistically walks away to watch the champ writhing in pain. Just to get Kenta away from him Maru springboards off the top rope and dropkicks him off the apron to the rails! SUPERKICK! SPRINGBOARD TOP ROPE MOONSAULT INTO THE CROWD! BUT MARUFUJI IS HURT AND SMACKS HIS OWN FACE ON THE RAIL! Kenta is busted open too, so both guys are absolutely mangled after that spot. I can’t even tell where the challenger is cut, but he is bleeding everywhere! He tries to throw a ragged kick but it’s easily countered into a capture suplex, putting both men on the canvas again selling their respective injuries. Marufuji takes an absolute age trying to climb the ropes…but when Kenta tries to climb after him he counters with a SPRINGBOARD FACECRUSHER AGAINST THE RINGPOST! KENTA BOOTS HIM IN THE RIBS AGAIN! He then nails a mid-air Ace Crusher to seemingly put the champ on the brink of defeat. He even modifies his offence, hitting a springboard lariat (instead of a dropkick) since that protects his neck. Maru explodes back at him with a running lariat…before collapsing to the ground alongside his long-time partner as 20+ minutes of frantic warfare starts to catch up with them. He lines up the Shiranui, only for Kenta to counter by THROWING HIM INTO THE GUARDRAILS! That looked almost as nasty as his landing on that moonsault spot!
GERMAN SUPLEX OFF THE STAGE! MARUFUJI FLIPS OUT OF IT IN MID-AIR! SUPERKICK! KENTA DRIVES HIS RIBS INTO THE ENTRANCE RAMP! FALCON ARROW OFF THE APRON! The ref is considering stopping it such is the extent of Marufuji’s injuries, but Kenta shoves him away and hits a SPRINGBOARD DOUBLE STOMP TO THE FLOOR! Springboard dropkick follows that (and Kenta spins in the air to protect his neck too!). BUTTERFLY SUPLEX INTO THE TURNBUCKLES! TIGER SUPLEX…FOR 2! BUSAIKU KNEE! MARUFUJI KICKS OUT! Go 2 Sleep…COUNTERED TO THE SHIRANUI! ROPE RUN FALCON ARROW…BLOCKED WITH A SUPERKICK! MARU JUMPS OFF THE TOP ROPE! KENTA CATCHES HIM! GO 2 SLEEP…COUNTERED WITH A HEAD DROP GERMAN! NO SOLD! BACK DROP DRIVER BY KENTA! NO SOLD! NECK DROP GERMAN BY MARUFUJI! NO SOLD! GERMAN F*CKING SUPLEX DUEL! KENTA LANDS ON HIS FEET! SUPERKICK BY MARU! BOTH MEN ARE DEAD! SHOTGUN SUPERKICK! ARM CAPTURE SHIRANUI! GETS 2! AVALANCHE SHIRANUI…COUNTERED WITH A ROPE RUN TIGER SUPERPLEX! HOLY SH*T! With his face covered in blood, Kenta motions that it’s time to finish things. POP-UP GO 2 SLEEP…TO THE RIBS! STILL MARUFUJI KICKS OUT! SUPER RUN-UP BUSAIKU KNEE IS BLOCKED! SUPERKICK…NO SOLD! BUSAIKU KNEE! Both these guys are killing each other here. They drag their battered bodies of the canvas and start kicking each other as hard as they possibly can! Even the ref looks totally blown up! Maru does his best to take Kenta’s head off with a kick flurry, then hauls him up the ropes for the SHIRANUI KAI! KENTA KICKS OUT! POLE SHIFT! MARUFUJI WINS! It’s finally over at 35:32
Rating - ***** - I often get asked what my ‘favourite match of all time’ is. Although I can never give a definitive answer (I have so many favourites), this one always enters into the conversation. I absolutely adore this match. I’ve seen it many times in the years since it took place, and on each occasion I’ve seen something else utterly fantastic about it. On this viewing I noticed how KENTA switched up his usual springboard offensive strikes, as a subtle nod and sell on Marufuji’s early neck work. I’ve seen this one get heavily criticised for going too hard on the spots at the end…and whilst I do see how that may alienate some purists, I think it was utterly awesome. These two let it all hang out and threw EVERYTHING they had out there. Having risen from insignificant juniors in All Japan, to undercard attractions in NOAH, they relished the spotlight being in a Budokan Hall main event for the Heavyweight Title…and they literally did every spot they knew. But, my argument has always been that there IS a story there. It’s never just spots solely for the sake of them. Sure they went a bit insane at the end – but the core focus was always the same. KENTA was always trying to destroy Marufuji’s ribs and midsection, just as anything Marufuji did was aimed at the neck. And for the most part, the selling (in the context of two juniors throwing spots around like confetti) was actually decent as well. These two guys make such natural foils for each other. Both are great wrestlers, but they are both so different. Marufuji is flashy, athletic and powerful, whilst KENTA is a no-nonsense, no-thrills, hard-hitting bad-ass. Marufuji tried to use his power and speed, and succeeded in opening up an injury. KENTA, hugely fired up to get the better of his former partner on the biggest stage possible, used his strikes in return – violently assaulting the ribs and torso. They continually upped the stakes with each other, until at the end they were damn near killing each other looking to prove who the better man and more deserving champion was. Marufuji nearly taking his own head off on the guardrails ranks as one of the most frightening spots you’ll ever see. Check this one out however possible. It deserves to be higher than #8 in my opinion…
SIDENOTE – This was KENTA’s second high profile 5* match in just weeks, following on from his outstanding ROH World Title challenge to Bryan Danielson at ROH’s Glory By Honor 5. I read online that this show didn’t draw particularly well, with the blame placed on Marufuji and KENTA not being ‘draws’ in the heavyweight division rather than on the rather lacklustre and underwhelming undercard. Misawa reportedly believed the experiment with his young guns had failed. He would defeat Marufuji for the GHC Title in his next defence, and although Morishima got a brief chance to prove himself, until Misawa’s death in 2009 NOAH’s top prize would largely remain in the hands of ‘proven commodities’ like Misawa, Akiyama or Kensuke Sasaki. Critics have since accused Misawa of short-sightedness, and suggested he should have done more to ‘help’ Maru and KENTA by stacking the undercard rather than leaving them to carry a one-match show. Being brutally honest, it took Misawa’s death in 2009 for the ‘next generation’ (Morishima, Shiozaki, Sugiura, KENTA and Marufuji) to get genuine opportunities to carry the company. And given NOAH’s downturn in fortunes since 2009…maybe Misawa had a point (sadly).
7) Naomichi Marufuji/KENTA vs Jushin Liger/Takehiro Murahama – GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Title Tournament Final
16th July 2003 – We’ve seen some of Marufuji and KENTA’s finest defences of the Junior Tag straps, and we’ve seen how they eventually lost them. Now, well into the Top 10, we check out how they got them in the first place. This is the finals of the tournament to crown the first ever champions. Liger you’ll be familiar with, but his partner may not be as recognisable to you. Murahama is a seasoned kickboxer and MMA fighter, who dabbled in pro-wrestling with Osaka Pro and NJPW. This match probably serves as the highlight of his puroresu career. He is a small guy, but moves amazingly quickly and has some really killer strike combos.
Kenta tries to pick a fight with Murahama during his entrance…immediately pitching them as obvious enemies. It’s inevitable that they start the match together, both completely uninterested in locking up and only looking to deliver a devastating strike flurry. Murahama immediately makes an impression and shows his MMA acumen by blocking a kick and taking Kenta DOWN! Amusingly, Kenta vents his frustration on that by punting Liger in the face. Liger tosses Kenta back into his corner and demands Marufuji instead. SHOTEI!! That rocked Maru so hard he has to leave the ring to recover. SUPER STIFF STRIKE DUEL between Kenta and Mura! For a second time Kenta comes off worse on a strike exchange with him, leaving him on the defensive. Fed up of getting kicked so hard, he tries to brawl with him on the floor instead…and winds up kicking him into the front row! SPRINGBOARD PLANCHA INTO THE CROWD BY KENTA! SUPERKICK FROM MARU TO LIGER! SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT OVER THE GUARDRAIL! They lack the experience of Liger, or the striking firepower of Murahama – but they are young, athletic and explosive high-fliers…and using those skills puts the NOAH team firmly in charge. Murahama shows great endurance though, and when given the chance demonstrates some flying skills of his own by driving Kenta out of the ring and diving straight at him with a TOPE ATOMICO! Liger takes a tag, and as the biggest man in the match quickly showcases his strength by almost powerbombing Kenta through the canvas. Mexican surfboard applied next, followed by a camel clutch WITH kicks to the chest from Murahama! The pace slows as the outsiders press home their advantage.
They know they aren’t as explosively quick as the NOAH team, so they utilise what skills they do have and dish out a devastating assault on Kenta’s back. After several minutes Kenta manages to swing a wild kick back in Mura’s direction…but ever the veteran, Liger spots the danger and knocks Marufuji off the apron before a tag can be made. He then drops Kenta down onto the damaged back again with a fisherman buster for 2. The tag does eventually come, but again Liger shows his class as he dodges all of Marufuji’s wildly paced assaults to nail him with a Shotei. Frankensteiner blocked…only for Maru to block a Liger dive with a mid-air dropkick. FLYING HEADSCISSORS…LIGER COUNTERS WITH A POWERBOMB! LIGERBOMB! GETS 2! ROLLING BRAINBUSTERS! KENTA SAVES! SUPER BRAINBUSTER…MARU FLIPS OUT! SUPERKICK! NO SOLD! SHOTEI! BOTH MEN DOWN! Tags all round, and a rejuvenated Kenta FINALLY gets the better of Murahama in a strike exchange. It doesn’t last long though, with Mura hitting back using a volley of palm strikes and a heel kick! JUMPING BRAINBUSTER gets 2! NECK DROP GERMAN! STILL 2! Murahama violently kicks at Kenta’s arm, setting him up for a KIMURA! Kenta makes the ropes, but with his arm now hanging limp it’s crucial he tags Marufuji in. ABISEGERI TO BLOCK THE VAN TERMINATOR! HEEL KICK FROM KENTA TO LIGER! MURAHAMA BLOCKS THE SHIRANUI WITH KNOCK-OUT KICKS! KENTA SAVES WITH THE BUSAIKU ON LIGER! DOOMSDAY BUSAIKU ON MURAHAMA! LIGER SAVES! SHOOTING STAR F*CKING PRESS BY MARUFUJI! THE MOVE LIGER INVENTED! Marufuji and Kenta are the first ever GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Champions at 24:27
Rating - ****1/2 - Every single KENTA/Marufuji tag in this compilation has been an absolute classic. Although this one isn’t my favourite of them, it’s no exception. It is a quite brilliant junior heavyweight battle, and it has aged incredibly well. The MMA/striking-influenced stuff coming from Murahama and KENTA is as relevant now as it was way back in 2003, and more than a decade later it’s still an absolute blast watching the veteran Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger pick apart explosive young juniors using all of his experience and power. Although this one had plenty of spots and action-packed flurries, the real reason I think this one reached so high on the list was the fact that there always seemed to be a genuine rationale and logic behind what was happening. From KENTA trying (and failing) to prove himself a better striker than an experienced MMA figher, to Marufuji trying to make his name at Liger’s expense, to the NOAH team trying to work as fast as possible because that was where they were better than the outsiders. Everything they did served a purpose, or planted a seed for something that paid off later. Never was that more apparent than in the closing moments when Marufuji stole the very move Jushin Liger innovated to win. Comparing it to other KENTA/Marufuji tags in this set, I preferred the story-telling of the Misawa/Ogawa tag, the high-spots of the Marvin/Juventud tag, and the sheer drama of the matches with Kanemaru/Sugiura and the Wild II…but this was still pretty great.
6) Kenta Kobashi vs Tamon Honda – GHC Heavyweight Title Match
13th April 2003 – This was Kobashi’s first defence of the belt after winning it from Misawa. It was all set to be the very definition of a filler title defence. We’re at the Differ Ariake, the small 1200-seater venue owned by NOAH, so clearly this wasn’t expected to be the highest profile GHC Title Match ever. Kobashi’s challenger is his old friend Tamon Honda. There is plenty of respect between them, but inside the great Kobashi would surely be extremely disappointed if he were to fall to an ageing, limited performer like Tamon. Can Honda pull off a colossal upset? On an only-slightly-related note, I just found out that Tamon Honda’s cousin is professional football (soccer) player Keisuke Honda.
As if to point out how unfancied Honda is for this one, the camera immediately cuts to a shot of Masahiro Chono, a potential future challenger to Kobashi. He immediately makes sure Kobashi is taking him seriously though as he endures a couple of chops before using his amaresu skills to put the champ flat on his back. Next Kenta tries to grapple with his challenger…and once again gets dumped on his ass with repeated suplexes! The opening minutes are genuinely fascinating, with Honda using his amateur skills repeatedly, forcing Kobashi to cling on to basic holds like front facelocks for dear life – desperately trying to use his size to his advantage. Honda also shows he has no problems at all going after the bad knees of the champ – friends or not. It takes north of five minutes for Kobashi’s strength to really come to the fore, as he muscles Tamon over his head for a stalling suplex. It’s the champion’s turn to start stretching out the challenger, and since Kobashi is so much bigger and stronger than Honda it isn’t long before he is able to repeatedly ground him for an assortment of holds. Even a basic headlock becomes a real struggle for Honda to escape. It’s almost like Kobashi is getting a kick out of dominating a former Olympian on the mat – spurning opportunities to use chops or lariats and actively choosing to stay on the mat. Putting the icing on the cake, he then hauls Honda to the ropes for a few leg drops on the exposed neck before giving him a DDT on the entrance ramp. Acting in self-defence, Tamon starts ducking attempted chops to his throat. He then drags Kobashi, from inside the ring, over the ropes…INTO A GERMAN SUPLEX ON THE STAGE! It gives the challenger a window of opportunity…and he takes it.
He grabs Kobashi’s right arm (the one he uses for chops and lariats) which is already bandaged and apparently injured, and he BRUTALLY attacks it. From arm wrenches, to cross armbreakers to wrist-clutch throws…the assault on the arm is borderline sadistic. It’s what you get for trying to act like a superior wrestler to an Olympic-level amateur! He crunches the offending limb into the ringpost, then uses it for an armbar takedown on the floor. Kobashi is reduced to chopping with his weaker left arm, and totally unable to get the challenger up for the Half Nelson Suplex. He clings to a sleeper hold (using the good arm), trying to target Honda’s neck again, but Tamon easily breaks it with an ARM CAPTURE CUTTER! Kobashi throws chops, and lands a back suplex…but is reduced to rolling around on the ground screaming in pain after hitting them such is the damage inflicted to his arm. He starts innovating ways to punish Honda’s neck without using his arm, first with a Rocker Dropper (which is no sold), then with a left arm DDT…but Honda simply refuses to go down! He counters a left arm facelock into a northern lights suplex. HALF NELSON SUPLEX BY KOBASHI! And he’s flipped what arms he uses to execute that to sell the arm! OLYMPIC HELL SUPLEX BY HONDA! WRIST CLUTCH POWERBOMB…GETS 2! Kobashi tries to escape. DEAD END SUPLEX OFF THE TOP FREAKING ROPE! FOR 2! TAMON SHOOTER ON THE BAD ARM! OLYMPIC HELL! Somehow Kobashi survives, and battles out of a powerbomb to land a LARIAT from the left side! BURNING LARIAT…COUNTERED WITH A SPEAR! DEAD END SUPLEX! NO SOLD! BURNING LARIATOOOOOOOO! But it hurts the arm so much Kobashi can’t cover! ARM CAPTURE ROLL-UP BY HONDA…GETS 2! HEAD DROP SLEEPER SUPLEX BY KOBASHI! HONDA KICKS OUT! BURNING LARIAAAAAT! Kobashi retains at 26:55
Rating - ****1/2 - The mark of a truly great champion is when you are able to elevate apparent filler title defences against guys well below you on the card and still get GREAT matches out of them. In Ring Of Honor parlance, the reason Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness are held in such high regard for their title reigns is that they were able to do just that. The same is true for Kobashi in Pro-Wrestling NOAH. Nobody thought Honda was winning this, so to be able to deliver a match with this much quality is a fantastic achievement. In many ways it reminded me of the Kobashi/Suzuki match from earlier in the set. Not just because it focused on working Kobashi’s arm, but also because they didn’t necessarily work in tons of spots…but had the crowd on tenterhooks thanks to the outstanding story they told. I loved that Kobashi seemed to almost be treating it as a filler defence in the first ten minutes. He was turning down opportunities to do his usual tricks, and seemed determined to prove himself to be as good a WRESTLER as the former Olympian. Honda responded with amazing violence, flat-out DEMANDING that Kobashi take him seriously by picking apart that arm. He did such a great job (and Kobashi sold it seriously well on the whole too) that in the last five minutes the place was electric. When you have a crowd that KNOWS who is going to win responding to your work in this way you know you’re doing something right. An outstanding first defence for Kobashi, and a career-best performance for Tamon Honda.
Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama
23rd December 2000 – This isn’t part of the Top 25 countdown, and is included on the set as a rather random ‘bonus match’. The feud between Kobashi and Akiyama was an early focal point of the breakaway NOAH promotion. They were former Burning partners, but by this point Akiyama felt ready to take his spot as the ‘ace’ of a company. He’d actually beaten Kobashi in a singles match towards the end of their time in All Japan, and made his mark at early NOAH shows by attacking Kobashi again…before legitimately choking him into unconsciousness with the King Crab Lock. We’re still in NOAH’s first few months of business at this point. Kobashi badly needed to get his knees fixed and could barely walk, but kept working because Misawa needed him to help get NOAH off the ground. This is taped for their traditional Christmas Eve show, and is one of the biggest events they ran in 2000…
Kobashi has masses of tape on his knees and looks like he can barely walk down the entrance steps. He really did badly need to take time off at this point. His chopping arm still works fine though, and he quickly puts Akiyama on his ass with one of his trademark strikes. He looks particularly fired up for this and has no intention of letting Jun make his name at his expense. Akiyama was still significantly smaller and in the process of gaining weight…but the perks of that lack of size (plus his functioning knees) is that he is visibly quicker than Kobashi. He might not be as powerful but he easily darts about and takes the bigger man down for a slap flurry. Interestingly, he starts going straight for chinlocks and chokes – trying to choke Kobashi out like he did before. SPINNING CHOP TO THE FACE! Kobashi always had superb facials and here he legit looks like he wants to murder Akiyama…who superkicks him over the guardrails into the crowd out of sheer self-preservation. He drives repeated elbows into Kenta’s neck before hauling him through the ropes for a DDT on the entrance walkway. SUPER RUN-UP ELBOW STRIKE! Kobashi retaliates with a STALLING SUPLEX ON THE STAGE! JUMPING DDT TOO! He really wants to mess Akiyama up, sadistically leg dropping the neck as he battles back into the ring then planting him head-first into the canvas with another DDT. As he continues to decimate the neck with chops then a FRONT FACELOCK SUPLEX, look around ringside and check out the young boys – including super-young looking KENTA, Morishima and Rikio.
Next Kobashi clings to a vicious side headlock, wrenching the neck so hard that he even clings on to it when Aki drops him with a back suplex. DROPKICKS TO THE KNEES! After 15-minutes of getting his ass kicked, Akiyama has had enough of playing nice. He wants to be the ace of NOAH, and decides he has no choice but to go after his former partner’s notorious injuries. Kobashi is, again, absolutely livid and drops him on his head with a HALF NELSON SUPLEX! NO SOLD! EXPLODER SUPLEX! Kobashi falls to the floor at last giving Jun some recovery time. It’s already noticeable how much he’s struggling to walk…and as he fights back to a vertical base Akiyama dives off the apron at him, with a knee strike to the chopping arm! Not happy with that, he KNEE DROPS THE ARM INTO THE GUARDRAIL! Fujiwara armbar applied next, with Akiyama even trying to snap the fingers to fully negate any form of chop. After multiple arm submissions, the assault continues with armbreakers against the ringpost and railings. Kobashi also has a MASSIVE bruise on his cheekbone, causing one of his eyes to basically swell shut. He nails a desperation sleeper suplex, but goes down alongside his opponent cradling his injured arm. Back to the entrance stage they go, with Kobashi finding the strength for a HALF NELSON SUPLEX ON THE RAMP! It was a big gamble given the state of his arm but it inflicted further punishment to Akiyama’s neck and affords him some time to tend to his injured arm. BLACK CRUSH NAILED! Using the left arm too!
Burning Lariat ducked…Exploder ’98 blocked! JUMPING KNEE TO THE BAD ARM! NO SOLD! BURNING LARIATOOOOOO! Kobashi loses precious seconds tending to his injured arm before pinning though, and only gets 2. Moonsault COUNTERED WITH A JACK-KNIFE POWERBOMB! Akiyama kicks at the bad legs, but still fails with the Exploder ’98 off the apron…so hits another diving knee strike instead. EXPLODER ’98 ON THE EXPOSED CONCRETE FLOOR! Akiyama then almost gets into a fight with the referee to stop him counting Kobashi out. He knows he needs a pinfall victory if he is to be considered NOAH’s top star! KOBASHI DDT ON KOBASHI! He steals a move to insult him, cradles the arm to do further damage there…and of course drops him on his head again. TOP ROPE DIVING ELBOW TO THE HEAD! EXPLOIDAAAA! FOR 2! KING CRAB LOCK! Kobashi sells that like utter death and frantically bails to the ropes since that’s how he got choked out. WRIST CLUTCH EXPLODER! STILL KOBASHI KICKS OUT! Akiyama repeatedly pins him, begging Kobashi to lie down and pass the torch! He tries for an avalanche Exploder…KOBASHI BLOCKS WITH A TOP ROPE LARIAT! BOTH MEN DOWN! BURNING LARIATOOOOOO! Kobashi basically collapses on top of Akiyama and still can’t pin him! LARIAT AGAIN! TWO AGAIN! Kenta clings to his wounded arm, pondering whether he has another Lariat left in him. He decides he doesn’t so there’s only one thing for it. BUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRNING HAMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEER! Kobashi wins at 35:58
Rating - ***** - How the hell is this one not in the Top 25? Looking around the internet for other reviews, it appears that there are quite a few who didn’t like this as much as me…but it absolutely blew me away. It was a total war – brutal and beautifully violent, yet telling an utterly captivating story too. I will say that this isn’t a match you can come into cold. You need to have an awareness of the history between them that set up this epic battle. Kobashi was extremely motivated to beat Akiyama. He’d already lost clean to him back in All Japan…and from the moment NOAH opened it’s doors it felt like Akiyama had the edge on him. He’d attacked him, he’d won multiple high profile matches and he’d even legitimately choked him into unconsciousness. Although Kobashi was a superstar, coming into this it was well-documented that his body was a wreck, and Akiyama had all the form. But despite his initial success, Jun knew he could never be NOAH’s true ace without a definitive win over the legendary Kobashi. After Kobashi did his best to murder him for the first fifteen minutes, Akiyama finally snapped. He used the bad knees to create an opening then DESTROYED the arm. The attack was arguably even more brutal than those deployed by Tamon Honda or Minoru Suzuki in matches which did make the Top 25. The finish, too, was sheer poetry. Kobashi flung lariat after lariat at Akiyama, but thanks to all the damage Jun had done to the arm they simply weren’t working. Such was Kobashi’s desperation to FINALLY end the issue with Akiyama, avenge the AJPW defeat and settle all the scores from NOAH’s formative shows that he busted out the Burning Hammer. I get that not everyone liked this as much as me, but it’s a real shame this didn’t crack the Top 25 whilst rather mediocre performances from Makoto Hashi and Kentaro Shiga did. Amazingly, they’d have an even better match than this in 2004 which is still to come…
5) Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama – GHC Heavyweight Title Match
25th April 2004 – Unlike the Honda defence, Kobashi’s GHC Title appears to be in very real jeopardy at this point. We know what a warrior he is, but he hadn’t defended the belt against anyone like Takayama yet. Tak is bigger than Kobashi, strikes just as hard and is every bit as tough. This was one of Kobashi’s marquee title defences, and generally gets held up as one of the more famous and notorious matches from NOAH’s early years. Takayama was half of New Japan’s IWGP Tag Champs at this point in time, and is seconded by his tag partner (and future challenger to Kobashi), Minoru Suzuki – with both IWGP belts slung over his shoulder.
Tak is visibly much bigger than Kobashi, putting a really interesting spin on the usual Kobashi match where he is such a physically imposing guy. Interestingly, the champ seems to realise he needs to strike before the challenger can use that size…and steams into him with spinning chops before going straight for the Half Nelson Suplex. Takayama blocks it and boots him right in the face! Penalty Kick gets no sold…but so do Kobashi’s chops! Kenta tries to negate the size by working holds next, trapping the big man in a surfboard and making him work extremely hard to free himself. As soon as he does so Kobashi takes him to the mat, working assorted holds designed to exhaust him. The success of this strategy is exemplified as Kobashi is able to take Takayama to the floor and brawl with him out there – ordinarily an environment where Tak would be considered more dangerous. DDT ON THE EXPOSED CONCRETE! Back inside the ring he attempts the stalling suplex…but Takayama uses his extensive experience to his advantage and counters to a variant of Akiyama’s King Crab Lock (front guillotine choke), knowing that Kobashi has a vulnerability to this hold. It doesn’t get the victory but it does a hell of a job neutralising him, instantly allowing Takayama to pepper him with his signature stiff kicks and knee strikes. And he isn’t pulling them at all – Kobashi’s face and chest soon start welting up from the impact. And if that wasn’t enough he starts KICKING THE BAD KNEES! TREE OF WOE BODY AVALANCHE! That does so much damage that the champ has to roll out of the ring to recover. He comes back trying to throw chops…so Takayama KNEE STRIKES THE ARM! That looked awesome and reduces Kenta to rolling around outside the ring in absolute agony for a second time in mere minutes. He re-enters the ring right into a Kimura, then another flurry of savage kicks! BURNING LARIAT ON THE FLOOR! But pulling that off does incredible damage to Kobashi, and as he crawls away Takayama grabs him for an EVEREST GERMAN SUPLEX OFF THE F*CKING APRON!
Both injured by absorbing a finishing move on the floor, neither man moves particularly freely when they return to the ring. Kobashi can’t chop Takayama effectively so tries HEADBUTTING HIM INSTEAD! Then he switches to the good arm to hit a running neckbreaker for 2. Tak retorts by butterflying the bad arm for a suplex and keeping hold of it for a cross armbreaker. Shoulderbreakers next, prompting Kenta to again use his good arm in applying a sleeper hold. The champ looks for a diving football tackle…and eats a MID-AIR KNEE STRIKE! KOBASHI-PLEX ON KOBASHI! WITH THE INJURED RIGHT ARM HOOKED TOO! EVEREST GERMAN SUPLEX! GETS 2! Straight-jacket German blocked! RUNNING KNEE TO THE BAD SHOULDER! NO SOLD! SPINNING CHOPS TO THE FACE! HALF NELSON SUPLEX NAILED! Of course, that flurry does extensive damage to his already-injured arm so leaves Kobashi flat on the deck alongside his opponent. MICHINOKU DRIVER! I’m not sure I can remember ever seeing Kobashi use that before, but he did it because the arm injury meant he couldn’t lift big Takayama up for a suplex or brainbuster. Burning Lariat COUNTERED TO A DRAGON SUPLEX…FOR 2! RUNNING KNEE! Takayama wants to win by TKO! With the crowd roaring him on the champ barely beats the ten-count…and as Tak storms in for another knee strike Kobashi lunges back at him with a LARIATOOOOOOO! Back to the knee goes Tak, swinging violent kicks at it then SHOOT PUNCHING HIM IN THE FREAKING FACE! KICKS! HEAD STOMPS! KNEE KICKS! KOBASHI SURVIVES! NECK DROP HALF NELSON SUPLEX! BRAINBUSTAAAAAAAAA! TAKAYAMA KICKS OUT! Burning Hammer blocked with KICKS TO THE HEAD! NO SOLD! BURNING LARIATOOOO! TWO COUNT! KOBASHI CLIMBS THE ROPES! MOOOOOOONSAULT! HE LANDED ON TAKAYAMA’S FACE! IT’S OVER! Kobashi retains at 28:47!
Rating - ****1/2 - Being bluntly critical, I thought that Kobashi used his injured arm a little too much down the stretch. That’s not to say I didn’t really love some of the stuff he did to sell the injury earlier in the match…but in the last five minutes it felt like he abandoned it a little. I say that only to clear up why I didn’t go to 5* on such an astonishingly violent, at times utterly barbaric fight between two big, bad dudes. You don’t see Kobashi cast as the smaller guy too often so this really did feel unique. Kobashi tried to negate the size by keeping Takayama grounded…but it didn’t work. Tak was absolutely vicious – not only in using the knees to get an advantage, but in the delivery of every single strike. Be it a kick, an elbow or a knee - the challenger was totally uncompromising. He was, in all honesty, beating the sh*t out of Kobashi at points. When wrestling LOOKS this painful and brutal it’s incredibly easy to get on board with the performers. In the end Takayama couldn’t do enough damage to Kobashi’s arm, or knock the champ out, before he succumbed to one of Kobashi’s multiple offensive bombs. It’s not my favourite match on the set but, much like the Sasaki match later, it is so damn violent it’s easy to see why plenty of fans love this one.
4) Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama – GHC Heavyweight Title Match
10th July 2004 – From the brutal challenge of Takayama, we go to NOAH’s debut in the Tokyo Dome and the re-emergence of one of Kobashi’s greatest ever foes. His former tag team partner Jun Akiyama steps up to challenge him, looking to regain the GHC Title he once held…and more importantly looking to knock Kobashi off his perch as the top guy in Pro-Wrestling NOAH. He tried, and failed, in 2000 to establish himself as the ace. But their wars in NOAH’s first year of existence took their toll on Kobashi – eventually forcing him onto the injured list. Whilst he recovered from multiple knee surgeries, Akiyama concentrated on rebuilding his career. He vowed that the next time these two met, it would be him who emerged as the pre-eminent wrestler in the company. And many felt this would be his time. His run with Akitoshi Saito as GHC Tag Champions was well-received (until Kobashi and Honda ended it), and he’d had critically acclaimed performances in other promotions – including a run to the finals of New Japan’s 2003 G-1 Climax tournament. People felt that this would be his time. This would be the moment where he stopped being the nearly man, regained NOAH’s top prize and finally earned a spot alongside the likes of his contemporaries Kobashi, Misawa, Kawada and Taue as a true puroresu great.
Akiyama looks insanely psyched up for this and doesn’t even feel Kobashi’s initial attempts to chop or shoulder tackle him. But likewise, the champion isn’t budging either and angrily pursues him looking to prove his dominance. As impressive as Jun appears in the opening five minutes, Kobashi looks on another level – first by successfully driving him out of the ring, then by comprehensively winning a strike battle. Realising his initial tactics simply weren’t working, Akiyama goes for a kneebar. It’s a simple hold but has serious consequences for a guy like Kobashi who can’t walk properly at the best of times. With the champ now on the mat Aki tries to make fun of him by grabbing at his hair and raking at his face…so Kobashi NECK CHOPS him into the dirt! A couple of Burning Swords find the mark as Kobashi starts to use powerful striking and neck-centric offence to cement his advantage. Akiyama’s chest is already looking messy…but he shakes his head and stands defiantly as Kenta continues to paste him with chops, then finally hits a jumping knee strike at the 10-minute mark. Clearly he needs to break out something bigger if he is to make a dent in Kobashi’s dominance, and he does so by giving him a jumping DDT on the apron…followed by a facecrusher across the guardrails. Now he visibly ACTS like he wants to be the top dog in NOAH, standing tall in the ring and actively refusing to let Kobashi back in. In a huge stadium, both these athletes are incredibly effective at using body language to convey their motivations. The challenger slows the pace and continues to stand tall over Kobashi, once again physically exemplifying his desire to climb past him to the top of the mountain. It takes all of Kobashi’s energy to block the King Crab Lock at this stage, but his only reward is getting battered in the corner with strikes then the KOBASHI DDT as well. DIVING ELBOW TO THE NECK gets 2! King Crab Lock applied and the crowd loudly gasp as Kobashi’s body goes limp. They know the history of these two athletes and this hold and they applaud heartily as the great champion battles to the ropes.
Kobashi just needs to defend himself at this stage, and grabs a tight side headlock as Akiyama lines up a back suplex. It snares Aki on the mat at the mercy of Kobashi’s superior power and strength. As Jun tries to escape he gets hooked up for the SLEEPER SUPLEX! MACHINE GUN CHOPS! Akiyama rolls to the apron trying to escape…but Kobashi follows him and hooks him for a SUPERPLEX OFF THE APRON TO THE FLOOR! That spot was so brutal Akiyama needs to be checked over by multiple ringside personnel whilst Kobashi is left coughing up BLOOD! They both get a standing ovation as they clamber back inside the ring…where they promptly both collapse. Kobashi is up first, hauling his opponent up for the HALF NELSON SUPLEX! Burning Lariat blocked…so he pulls Akiyama up instead for the ORANGE CRUSH! FOR 2! LARIATOOOO! STILL 2! Going for broke Kobashi attempts the Burning Hammer…but Akiyama has fallen victim to that move before and fights like hell to evade it. GERMAN SUPLEX ON KOBASHI! SHINING WIZARD! AVALANCHE EXPLODER TO THE FLOOR! DANGEROUS! Kobashi barely has the strength to get back into the ring, and when he does he walks right into the EXPLODER ’98 for 2! Akiyama looks focused; determined to make this his career-defining victory. He drags the champ all the way to the top rope for an AVALANCHE EXPLODER ’98! KOBASHI KICKS OUT! Aki repeatedly pins him, almost in shock that he hasn’t won the match. MOUNTED HEADBUTTS! FIGURE 4 KING CRAB LOCK! Once again the challenger is left in disbelief that he isn’t GHC Champion…and pulls him up once more for the WRIST CLUTCH EXPLOIIIIDAAAAAA! KOBASHI KICKS OUT AGAIN! STERNNESS DUST…COUNTERED WITH A BRAINBUSTER WHICH FOLDS AKIYAMA IN HALF! AND STILL AKI GETS UP! NECK DROP KOBASHI-PLEX! AKIYAMA F*CKING NO SELLS! EXPLODER ’98! KOBASHI NO SELLS! HEAD DROP HALF NELSON! AKIYAMA WILL NOT DIE! EXPLOOOIIIIDAAAAAA! RUNNING ELBOW! BURNING LARIATOOOOO! BOTH MEN DOWN! Kobashi is up first…BURNING LARIAT AGAIN! FOR 2! MOONSAULT NAILED! AKIYAMA KICKS OUT! BURNING…F’N…HAMMER! Kobashi retains at 35:34
Rating - ***** - I gave this 5* when I reviewed the Departure 2004 event, and I stick with that rating. This is an amazing depiction of one man’s desperate battle to claim a top spot which he truly believes is his, and a great champion’s determination to prove he remains the best around on the biggest stage of all. This is always framed as a big match for Jun Akiyama, and he turned in a hell of a performance. Everything he did from first minute to last perfectly portrayed a man fed up of being considered a ‘lesser talent’ than Kobashi or Misawa. Here he was, headlining the Tokyo Dome, doing everything he possibly could to get his career-defining victory. He literally went through every big move he had, from Exploders to the floor, Exploders from the top rope, the Wrist Clutch Exploder, a Sternness Dust attempt and an incredible figure 4 King Crab Lock variant. Make no mistake, Jun’s performance here was pretty much perfect. And as a result people tend to overlook Kobashi (not a sentence you’ll see typed too often). This was a huge match for him too. Kobashi still wants to prove he is to NOAH what Misawa, Kawada, Tsuruta or Baba were to AJPW. He desperately didn’t want his chance to shine as a box office headliner in the Tokyo Dome to be the moment when Akiyama took his title. From the opening minute Kobashi fought like HELL to preserve his position at the top of the NOAH mountain. The brilliance of this match is how well it played up to a stadium crowd. They didn’t go for any overly ornate or elaborate limb work. That style of match can be fantastic, but fans sitting way back in the cheap seats aren’t necessarily going to appreciate it. Every movement each man made was big and brash. They used their immense bodies to project their motivations and the story of the match at every turn. It truly was a titanic struggle as two battle-hardened gladiators with opposing desires looked to beat each other to a pulp in pursuit of glory.
3) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi – GHC Heavyweight Title Match
1st March 2003 – Many consider the last ‘great’ match of Misawa’s legendary career. Here he holds the GHC Championship, and prepares to defend it against one of his toughest ever adversaries. Kobashi stands before him in a similar role to that which we saw Jun Akiyama portray in the previous match. Back from his knee injuries, Kobashi challenges Misawa desperate to prove he is now better than his former partner. Misawa was ‘the man’ for a long period of time in All Japan. Kobashi now wants to prove he can carry Pro-Wrestling NOAH just as Misawa did for their previous company. He wants to step out of the shadows of his great rival and prove himself to be the ‘top dog’ in the very company Misawa established.
Kobashi, clearly the favourite of the live crowd, throws the first strike and misses with a spinning chop. His face is eerily similar to Akiyama’s in their Dome match and oozes determination to topple a legendary champion. Misawa has wrestled him enough to know his tricks though, and quickly sets about using his speed to outfox his challenger. That quickness means he is able to get the better of chain wrestling exchanges and continually put Kobashi on the mat. In the end Kobashi gets frustrated, makes a mistake, and eats a HEAD DROP DRIVER! That looked super-brutal and it’s understandable that he needs to leave the ring to recover. Sadly Misawa has no interest in letting him rest, so scales the turnbuckles for a TOP ROPE DIVING ELBOW TO THE FLOOR! Everything the champ does is aerial at this stage – following it with a cannonball off the apron, a missile dropkick back into the ring then the Tiger Body Press for 2. All that offence renders Kobashi defenceless and allows Misawa to hook up his chopping arm for an armbar. It clearly has a real effect, as when he rattles off a chop seconds later Misawa is able to totally ignore it and rattle his jaw with an elbow smash. The arm is also too weak to pull off the sleeper suplex at this stage. Misawa knocks him out of the ring…where circumstance decides to help him out. Misawa tries a diving elbow off the apron…and gets shoved FACE-FIRST INTO THE GUARDRAILS! Not WWE-style…you can hear his face thud horrifically into the metal railings, splitting his chin wide open. Kobashi isn’t remotely sympathetic and pulls him up for a HALF NELSON SUPLEX ON THE FLOOR! Next he starts elbowing Misawa’s face into the turnbuckles do open the cut up further! Everything he does batters the face at this point, from gourdbusters to facelocks to a Rocker Dropper. DDT ON THE ENTRANCE STAGE! Misawa tries his signature monkey flip…only to get dropped face-first into the turnbuckles. ROLLING KOBASHI-PLEXES! The face and neck of the champion are taking an absolute pasting here, and with Misawa on his knees Kobashi is still throwing chops across his neck. AND STILL MISAWA GETS UP!
He stares straight at his rival as if to say ‘is that all you got?’ ELBOWS FROM MISAWA! BACK DROP DRIVER BY KOBASHI! He tries it again…GERMAN SUPLEX BY MISAWA! NO SOLD! TIGER SUPLEX! NO SOLD AGAIN! ROARING ELBOWS! BOTH MEN DOWN! The place is so loud there is a little kid in the crowd covering her ears! Tiger Suplex ’85 blocked…Tiger Driver blocked too! So Misawa starts elbowing the sh*t out of Kobashi’s head! Now he gets to pull out the Tiger Driver. TIGER SUPLEX ’85 GETS 2! TIGER DRIVER AGAIN! The champion is emptying the tank to keep the pretender from assuming the throne! Emerald Fusion COUNTERED WITH A HALF NELSON SUPLEX! MISAWA NO SELLS! SLEEPER SUPLEX! Misawa tries to spring out of the corner with an elbow…so Kobashi meets him in mid-air with a lariat to the back of the head! And he’s selling the arm! BURNING LARIATOOOOOO FOR 2! Misawa escapes to the apron to SUPLEX HIM OVER THE ROPES ONTO THE STAGE! At this point both of them are seriously wounded and basically killing each other to prove who the better man is. ELBOW SUICIDA ONTO THE RAMP! And Misawa isn’t done! NECK DROP TIGER SUPLEX OFF THE STAGE TO THE DAMN FLOOR! How is Kobashi not dead after that bump…and how on earth does he find the will to get back into the ring with the man that did it? He needs the ropes to stand up…and turns round into a jumping knee to the face! Misawa starts to look frustrated though. He shakes his head and wonders what he needs to do to finally defeat his old rival. Kobashi is STILL fighting and throwing chops too! EMERALD FUSION! KOBASHI KICKS OUT…AND THE PLACE GOES NUTS! LARIATS VS ELBOWS DUEL! BURNING LARIATOOOOO! BRAINBUSTER ON MISAWA! FOR 2! BURNING HAMMER NAILED! IT’S OVER! KOBASHI WINS! 33:28 is your time.
Rating - ***** - I’ve long considered this match the perfect way to introduce someone to puroresu for the first time. It has plenty of the subtle, nuanced ‘Kings Road style’ story-telling you might expect from these two, but they’d updated their act for the new millennium…by throwning masses of absolutely insane spots too. It really irritates me when I see people accuse this one of having no storyline and just being ‘moves’…because that is so grossly inaccurate and misleading. Much like Kobashi/Akiyama, this one is a bruising and Herculean battle between two ageing warriors – each looking to prove they are the absolute best in the company. Misawa, the kingpin in AJPW and NOAH for so long doesn’t want to let go of his spot…and fights like hell to keep it. Kobashi, so long a ‘second’ to Misawa and so long in his shadow, was desperate to dethrone him and truly become the ‘ace’ of a promotion for the first time. Those were their motivations, and they barely stopped short of actually killing each other to achieve their goals. From Kobashi remorselessly assaulting Misawa’s mangled face, to Misawa tossing Kobashi on his NECK from the stage. They do go pretty heavy on the ‘fighting spirit’ no sells at times…but given the story of the match it does make sense. Neither man wants to stay down and admit defeat against their adversary, so withstands incredible pain in order to keep fighting. If you have a friend who wants to start checking out guys like Misawa or Kobashi and get into Japanese wrestling – as I said, I’ve always found this is an awesome starting point. I believe it wound up being the last ‘5*’ match of Misawa’s life, and it really is worthy of that rating.
2) Kenta Kobashi/Go Shiozaki vs Kensuke Sasaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima
5th November 2005 – In the summer of 2005 Kobashi and Sasaki stole the show in the Tokyo Dome with a now-infamous, super-stiff slug-out. In many ways this is considered the rematch of that classic, and this time they bring their super-talented protégés with them to join the fun. Kobashi, who won in the Dome, brings his latest protégé Go Shiozaki with him. Sasaki brings his adoptive son Nakajima, whom it should be pointed out is only 17/18 years old at this stage – yet is already freakishly good. Sasaki and Nakajima’s AJPW All Asia Tag Titles aren’t on the line here.
Both Go and Nakajima act like typical young boys at first. They both sprint to the ring to make their entrances as brief as possible, and both bow to their opposition during their introductions. They start for their respective teams as well…and instantly start beating each other SENSELESS with some brutal elbows. Naka rattles off a few of his signature stiff kicks…but is knocked back by a superkick from Go! Kobashi tags…and looks at Nakajima as if to say ‘get real kid’. Wisely the teenager tags Sasaki in before he gets murdered. CHOPS! Having seen the Tokyo Dome match the crowd goes ballistic for this…but having LIVED the Dome match neither Kobashi nor Sasaki want to feel that kind of pain again at this stage. Shiozaki is the first of the youngsters to step up to a veteran – trying to batter Sasaki with elbows only to be thrown across the ring. CHOPS ON SASAKI…WHO SLAPS HIM IN THE FACE! Kensuke is brutal with him, so you’d better believe when Kobashi tags in with Nakajima moments later he doles out exactly the same treatment. The youngster is almost reduced to tears as Kobashi smokes him with chops. Nakajima tries to fight back, so Kobashi pulls him BY HIS EARS into the corner for more chops. Sasaki tries to get some revenge by CHOPPING GO IN THE BACK OF THE HEAD! MEXICAN SURFBOARD BURNING SWORD COMBO ON NAKAJIMA! Watching the veterans take turns brutally picking on the protégés is so much fun. Naka gets serious applause for fighting past Kobashi with a missile dropkick, tagging out to his ‘father’ to continue to the match for Kensuke Office team. He steams into Kenta with the chop/lariat sequence, followed by the facecrusher for 2. CHOP DUEL! NEITHER MAN BACKS DOWN! BACK DROP DRIVER BY SASAKI! NO SOLD! KOBASHI CHOPS SASAKI’S ARM! BURNING SWORD! With Kensuke on the mat (and his chest looking like mincemeat) Kobashi feels ok tagging Shiozaki in. That turns out to be a mistake as Sasaki no sells every elbow Go throws at him before taking him off his feet with a single chop.
He boxes the hapless kid around the ring with repeated close-range lariats, then feeds him to Nakajima…who nearly decapitates him with a roundhouse kick to the skull. Shiozaki sells it like he’s been knocked out and can barely stand afterwards. Naka’s response is to rub salt in the wounds by stealing Go’s traditional dropkick spot for 2. Sasaki looks to polish him off with the Northern Lights Bomb…BUT GO COUNTERS WITH A SUPLEX! And Kensuke gave him no help whatsoever to hit that! MACHINE GUN CHOPS BY KOBASHI! MACHINE GUN CHOPS BY SASAKI! MORE CHOPS BY KOBASHI! SASAKI’S CHEST IS POURING BLOOD! HALF NELSON SUPLEX! SASAKI NO SELLS! HALF NELSON SUPLEX AGAIN! NAKAJIMA SAVES HIS PARTNER WITH A GERMAN SUPLEX ON KOBASHI! BACK DROP DRIVER BY SHIOZAKI! DRAGON SUPLEX FROM KENSUKE TO GO! ALL FOUR DOWN! The kids let the grown ups talk, leaving the ring as Sasaki hits the Ipponzeoi…into the POWER SPECIAL! Kobashi fights free with chops (blood actually sprays off Sasaki’s chest like he’s a Walking Dead kill now)…so Nakajima demands a tag! Misawa-style missile dropkick from the teenager to the veteran! MACHINE GUN KICKS ON KOBASHI! KOBASHI CHOPS HIS LEGS! CLOVERLEAF! And Shiozaki rushes to grab Sasaki before he can break it…meaning it’s to Nakajima’s immense credit that he survives the hold by himself. Go takes a tag and returns the favour for his mentor, giving Nakajima a Misawa-style missile dropkick, followed by a fisherman buster for 2. DEATH ROLL by Nakajima! EVEREST GERMAN! KOBASHI SAVES! HE AND SASAKI START CHOPPING THE SH*T OUT OF EACH OTHER AGAIN ON THE FLOOR! GERMAN SUPLEX INTO THE TURNBUCKLES BY SHIOZAKI! BRIDGING GERMAN…NAKAJIMA KICKS OUT! MOONSAULT GETS KNEES! KICKS BY NAKA! SUPERKICK BY GO! DEATH ROLL! Sasaki gets a tag…GO STARTS SLAPPING HIM! LARIATOOOOOOOOO KILLS GO! KOBASHI SAVES! SASAKI THROWS HIS OWN PARTNER AT KOBASHI! TORNADO BOMB ON SHIOZAKI…WHO KICKS OUT! LARIATOOOOO! SHIOZAKI BUMPS ON HIS NECK! SASAKI WINS! Kensuke Office take the victory at 24:59
Rating - ****1/2 - I love the hell out of this match, but for my money it’s a little high at #2. I’m guessing it climbed so high on the list because it was largely voted upon by a western puro fanbase. Since so many people saw (and loved) the first Kobashi/Sasaki battle, and this was a rematch (in spirit at least) it’s natural that it would get a lot of votes. The mentor/protégé dynamic on each team made for compelling viewing. Each youngster did their best to prove themselves ‘better’ than their rival on the opposition team…and periodically took turns trying to step-up to one of the veterans. Although seeing Kobashi and Kensuke lock horns again was a blast, in truth some of the most joyous parts of this match were watching the interactions between the vets and the young boys. Kobashi’s face when Nakajima made like he was going to fight him was awesome. Watching Sasaki be relentlessly brutal with Shiozaki rocked. And seeing Nakajima (who was, at this point, an insane prodigy) step up to Kobashi and pin him in the corner with Machine Gun kicks had the Budokan crowd in raptures. Go had been wrestling for less than two years at this point and his lack of experience showed at times, which is probably the main reason why I didn’t go to 5*.
1) Kenta Kobashi vs Kensuke Sasaki
18th July 2005 – And this is the match from which a lot of the animosity in the previous encounter stems. It is #1 on the Top 25 countdown and amongst the most popular and discussed matches of 2005. Kenta Kobashi dropped the GHC Heavyweight Title to Takeshi Rikio, but very much remained in position as the ‘ace’ of NOAH (which arguably contributed to Rikio’s lack of success). At NOAH’s second ever Tokyo Dome show (for their 5th Anniversary) he takes part in a dream match against another legendary hard-hitter in Kensuke Sasaki. Both of these two had been around for a long time, and knew exactly what was expected of them here. On a card which had Misawa/Kawada in the main event, Hiroshi Tanahashi brought in from New Japan and an undercard featuring the beloved Kanemaru/KENTA Jr. Heavywight Title match as well as the Suzuki/Marufuji vs Akiyama/Hashi Tag Title bout we saw earlier in the compilation this was the one that stole the show.
I believe this was the night Kobashi went back to using his ‘Grand Sword’ entrance theme, judging from how much the commentators mark out for it. BACK DROP DRIVER BY SASAKI! Determined to make his mark in a NOAH ring, the outsider drops the ace of the company on his head in the first ten seconds! Kobashi looks livid…and gets up to do the same right back. Except Sasaki no sells, and runs straight at him with a lariat. Both men leave the ring to recover…staring across at each other angrily pointing and gesturing. Kobashi tries to impose himself on Sasaki, dishing out the knees against the ropes and the Burning Sword chop. He drags Kensuke to the apron and pummels his chest with JUMPING chops too, then hauling him to the mats for a DDT on the floor. PESCADO NAILED! Kobashi is leaving his rival in no doubt who the top dog in NOAH is! Sasaki refuses to back down though, battering him into the corner with chops and lariats…and scaling the ropes for a colossal FRANKENSTEINER! Diving lariat from the top rope gets 2. TOP ROPE PLANCHA TO THE FLOOR! Just like Kobashi, Sasaki will clearly stop at nothing to prove himself to be the tougher man it seems. Kobashi gets RIGHT IN HIS FACE! CHOPS BY KOBASHI! NO SOLD! CHOPS BY SASAKI! NO SOLD! CHOP WAR! BACK AND FORTH THEY GO…AND THEY JUST DON’T STOP! Sweat and blood flies through the air as they stiff lumps of flesh off each other’s chests! MACHINE GUN CHOP DUEL! Fatigue starts to set in…but still they scream defiantly at each other and continue pasting each other with chops.
Fans in the crowd are visibly covering their faces now! RUNNING CHOP BY KOBASHI! SASAKI GOES DOWN! Kenta then collapses alongside him through sheer exhaustion. Both of their chests are disgusting shades of purple now. SUPERPLEX BY KOBASHI! NO SOLD! ROLLING HALF NELSON SUPLEXES INSTEAD! Kensuke retreats, and as Kobashi pursues him still swinging chops he hooks him up for a NORTHERN LIGHTS BOMB OFF THE APRON! Sasaki’s wife, famed Joshi wrestler Akira Hokuto, watches from the crowd looking rightfully concerned for her husband’s well-being. But at least he can stand up – waiting crouched in the ring as a semi-conscious Kobashi barely beats a 20-count to get back inside. TIGER SUPLEX GETS 2! That’s a special occasion move for Sasaki! LARIATOOOOOOOOOO! KOBASHI KICKS OUT! TORNADO BOMB…COUNTERED TO THE BURNING LARIAT! BOTH MEN DOWN! IPPONZEOI! POWER SPECIAL! Kobashi escapes and starts chopping Kensuke’s THROAT! NORTHERN LIGHTS BOMB….COUNTERED WITH A BRAINBUSTER! SASAKI NO SELLS! NORTHERN LIGHTS BOMB NAILED! KOBASHI NO SELLS! DUELLING LARIATS! THEY’RE BOTH ON THE MAT AGAIN! HEAD DROP SLEEPER SUPLEX BY KOBASHI! BURNING LARIATOOOOO! SASAKI KICKS OUT! MOONSAULT! STILL ONLY 2! LARIATS BY SASAKI – BUT THEY’RE BLOCKED! SPINNING CHOPS BY KOBASHI! LARIATOOOOOO! KOBASHI WINS! The war is over at 23:37!
Rating - ***** - This match is ten years old this year, and in truth it probably remains the most iconic match in Pro-Wrestling NOAH history. It may not be the best, but it almost certainly stands as the most famous and widely-viewed bout the green brand has ever produced. Back when I reviewed the Destiny 2005 show itself I described this match using the following text: “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”. A tad profane perhaps, but I stand by that interpretation. Kobashi stood tall as the ace of NOAH, whilst Sasaki came in as a powerful outsider looking to take down the biggest fish in the pond. Both had legendary careers behind them already, and both were notoriously tough. They whipped the massive Tokyo Dome crowd into a frenzy (seriously, it’s one of the loudest stadium crowds you’ll ever hear) with a total war trying to prove who the alpha male was. It had all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop…and I can appreciate some fans may not have enjoyed the style they worked. With hindsight, personally even I preferred Kobashi’s ROH battle with Samoa Joe to this in 2005. However, for what they wanted to do…and the sheer spectacle they delivered on a huge stage I think it’s impossible to deny this is deserving of a maximum rating.
Tape Rating - ***** - Speaking of maximum ratings, quite obviously this compilation deserves 5 stars. 9 discs/18 hours of unspeakably good professional wrestling awaits you should you purchase the (frankly bargainous) $25 set from IVPvideos. Not everything is Grade A solid gold (I’m looking at Makoto Hashi in particular there), but when really great 4* matches are considered the ‘worst matches’ in a set then you know you’re onto a winner. Some of these encounters are legitimate all-time great contests. From Marufuji and KENTA growing and coming of age, to Kobashi ending his stellar career by making even cancer lie down for him, Akiyama’s desperate battle to become the ace he so badly wanted to be, veterans like Misawa, Liger, Taue and Sasaki showing how great they could still be alongside rising stars like Morishima, Shiozaki, Nakajima, Kanemaru and Sugiura – this set has SO much to offer from a time when NOAH truly was at the peak of it’s powers and the height of its popularity. This review has been a real labour of love and I can’t recommend it strongly enough. If you loved All Japan in the 90’s (or if you have the even better ‘AJPW Best Matches Of The 90s' compilation), you’ll love this set
Top 7 Matches
7) Kenta Kobashi vs Akira Taue (****1/2 - 10/09/2004)
6) Naomichi Marufuji/KENTA vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Takashi Sugiura (****1/2 - 05/06/2005)
5) Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama (***** - 23/12/2000)
4) Kenta Kobashi vs Kensuke Sasaki (***** - 18/07/2005)
3) Naomichi Marufuji vs KENTA (***** - 29/10/2006)
2) Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama (***** - 10/07/2004)
1) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (***** - 01/03/2003)