I'm really digging 2003 NJPW even with the MMA Inoki-ism. Well I'm avoiding the legit MMA that is shown. Here I came across a commercial compilation showing things from the summer of 2003. It starts with the Best of the Super Jrs. X which I'm happy to find. The matches they have included only have the last few minutes shown. It's a nice taste of the action. I believe I've seen some matches NOAH's Takashi Sugiura wrestled...maybe I really dug he vs Kanemoto from 06/11. Also there's another tag Liger/Kanemoto vs Marufuji/K. Suzuki from 06/10 that looked good (again maybe saw this years ago when watch NJ vs NOAH dvd). Also on the comm. comp. is the continuation of Enson Inoue (who I know from PRIDE) vs Kazunari Murakami. It's shown in full and Murakami gets beat up in a great brawling spectacle like from 05/02/03. Also is Tenzan vs Takayama, or the last 7 minutes. It's OK...cool to see these two face each other. We do get the BOSJ X finals though!

Koji Kanemoto vs Masahito Kakihara (06/11): Oh yeah! This was a great bout! Most of this was scrambling on the mat and is exactly what you want. Koji then starts with the kicks and gains the advantage. Kakihara isn't going to back down. Things really got great and I felt the near falls actually worked too. Exciting stuff that harkens back to the heart of New Japan Junior division mixing wrestling with select high spots...Tiger Mask, Fujinami but without the formula of the 90's..or that's how it seemed.

06/13 show:

Masayuki Naruse vs. Minoru Suzuki - Sweet 6 minute match. Kinda shoot style but, seems kinda like Inoki Strong Style evolved with people's knowledge of MMA. Both guys impressed me as Suzuki wasn't quite considered Pro-Wrestling like he is nowadays. I'd really like to see more Masayuki Naruse. I only know him from Fire Pro but he hung in there with Suzuki and then some. I believe he was in RINGS but that's its own can off worms The shoot style slippery slope must wait until I work through more of my DVDs and heaven knows I'm doing a crappy job...ahem..moving forward...

Tadao Yasuda vs. Enson Inoue - More fun brawling shoot feeling stuff but it's more of an angle than a match.

Yuji Nagata vs. Katsuyori Shibata - Very good hard hitting stuff marred by an 80's finish in 2003. The Makai Club stable interferes for Shibata and denies us a clean finish unfortunately. This was getting to be a great match too...Shibata was going to make his comeback and we were going to get into the hot final third. This is still absolutely worth checking out though. In honest words, I can see the issue with the booking now. We really haven't had anything to sink our teeth into match wise. I'm not sure anything has been longer than 10 minutes yet.

Manabu Nakanishi vs. Mitsuya Nagai - this is not shown on the tape unfortunately

Tiger Mask vs. Takehiro Murahama - Oh ho ho, this was sweet! I haven't watched BattlArts in a long time but this reminded me of that. Very stiff striking, grappling, suplexes and a couple dives. Murahama reminds me of Koji Kanemoto...he seems like he could do it all. Add this match to the list of Murahama matches to watch. Tiger Mask IV was fantastic as well. Great shit - recommended!

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Masahiro Chono vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yutaka Yoshie - joined in progress showing the last 5 minutes. Fun stuff from what was shown. I didn't know Yoshie was pushed this much...damn.

Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Shinsuke Nakamura - This is a sick badass battle. Nakamura pushes the titanic Takayama eats a tremendous beating as a result. This is not one sided as it may seem but damn they don't go easy on each other. For a twelve minute match... I'm gonna call it a classic. Pre-Beat It Nakamura doesn't get a ton of love but damn, I'd like to see more of him if he's doing this shit. Absolutely nails the up and coming young star role against the baddest dude of the early 2000's. HIGHLY Recommended

Now I'll include some NOAH vs NJPW that I've never seen or reviewed. These take place in NOAH.

Yuji Nagata vs Jun Akiyama (07/16) - Under 10 minute bomb fest. It's a lot of fun but not indicative of their usual matches (if you're interested in starting here). That said, if you like these two then you'll have a good time.

Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda vs. Shinya Makabe & Yoshihiro Takayama (07/16): This was like a delicious meal but you gotta be patient. Once it gets done and out the oven, it's worth the wait. Here things really pick up once Makabe, Takayama and Kobashi are on the apron/ring ramp. Honda Dead End German suplexes the blonde giant back into the ring and Kobashi eats chair shots to the back for breakfast. Let ultra stiff chopping begin. Honda is an acquired taste that I've never fully gotten used to but here I liked him. He uses his wide variety of sleeper and neck holds to great effect (which masks his physical limitations). Makabe was great all the way back in 2003. And Kobashi vs Takayama you already know about. Great match...Recommended.

There was a bunch of excellent wrestling here. I definitely encourage you to check some of this out. Everything is online in one place or another.

Thanks for reading!!