Superstar Sleeze

GO BLUE! On a favorites list, he makes it, no doubt. I will have to work hard to see if i can prove his mettle for the List. Also whoever said Angle is this great bully jock, meet the real bully jock. Angle is just a pretender to the throne.

Kurt Angle as the happy go lucky comedy character was awesome. Kurt Angle The Wrestling Machine (who more aptly be named Spot Monkey) is so lame. I have no problem with a quick pace or go, go, go. Wrestling does not have to be wrestled at a crawl for me to be entertained, but the spots have to have consequence and need to be connected. I don't know how many times I have seen Kurt Angle take somebody's offense and then just get up break up a lock up and throw his mediocre punches and then hit his suplexes. It is no different than when I playing my brother in SD! Here Comes The Pain and I happen to hit Square more times then he hits Circle. That is not wrestling. Angle has decided he is tired of taking offense and now wants to do his. Spots are meaningless. So why I should I invest them? The transitions are horrendous. There is no defense for the transitions that happen in a Kurt Angle match. The last time I watched Angle was when I was watching a ton of AJ Style. I am a huge AJ Styles mark. I think he is really an incredible wrestler. The feud over Karen was great and violent. The matches were totally disconnected from the storyline. Neither was pissed at each other. AJ was trying to work a "prove yourself to the vet" match and Angle was doing fuck knows what. Even the commentators where stupefied because they were hyping this bloody brawl because these guys hate each other and instead it was just spots. That is Kurt Angle. If you do not impose your will on him, the match will suck. He can be carried to a great match because he has all the athletic tools, but he has the worst wrestling IQ ever. He has been a part of enough good to great stuff that I will consider him, but I really feel that is all his opponent's doing. If Kurt Angle had it his way, he would just keep wrestling like a video game.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - NJPW 10/08/07 Holy Clusterfuck! They essentially have two completely different matches over the course of one match. The first "match" was incredible and if they had just tacked on a 2 minute finish onto would have rivaled or exceeded their first encounter in greatness. The second match was standard 00s puroresu that is good, but overstuffed. Now the reason why I contend it is two separate matches is that if you JIP'd after Tanahashi's first comeback from neck injury, you would think that you missed maybe 5 minutes of matwork and that match was just revving up. You would never know that Nagata's knee had been worked on and that Tanahashi neck was fucked up. That is the definition of disjointed. What a glorious beginning it was! The intense jockeying for position remains from last match, but this time there is no Nagata beatdown due to a slight. Tanahashi goes right for the legs and he flips off the fans! The new wrinkle that makes this all the more engaging is that Tanahashi is heeling it up. I think he was working a very subtle heel in the April match with the early match "insults", but it much more prominent in this bout to great effect. This pretty boy is very good at exuding that cocky aura and laying waste to the knee. This really gets the crowd behind Nagata, who was already the fan favorite in the last match. It makes perfect sense for Tanahashi to come in with a new attitude and edge. He was a young champion dethroned and he wants to prove himself. Now he has a bit of an attitude, I like that. Tanahashi goes fo his second figure-4, but a kick to the head rocks him. Nagata versus a douchey heel is Nagata at his best so I was pumped for this comeback. Great callback as an escaping Tanahashi catches Nagata's running kick attempts the Dragon Leg Screw, but Nagata chops out of it this time! Nagata with knees now and a BRAINBUSTER ON EXPOSED CONCRETE! Tanahashi needs a count of 19 to get back in. He is really favoring the back of his neck. Ref checks on Tanahashi and Nagata pulls him off. Nagata hits a piledriver for 2. Forearm to back of neck and a Crippler's Crossface. Tanahashi si fucked. Tanahashi sweeps the leg to save himself from a roundhouse kick to head. If the match ended two minutes later with Tanahashi pulling out a desperation bomb or getting a leg submission. I would fight tooth and nail for this match to get respect it deserves as a Top 5 match of the decade. Up until this point, it was just amazing wrestling. I would argue the brainbuster on the concrete actually did a mid-match turn and made Tanahashi a very sympathetic babyface. This clawing out a victory would be great for his standing as it firmly entrenches him in the upper echelon, but leaving open rematch possibilities. Unfortunately, the second half of the match did happen. In a vacuum, it was fine, entertaining 00s style puroresu. It is something on its own that might make the bottom 10 of a Top 100. After Tanahashi sweeps the leg, all selling is turned off and Tanahashi just runs through his standard offense. If you JIP'd to this part, you would never know they had been wrestling 15 minutes, which drives me bonkers. Basically it is a barrage of sling blades and exploders. Tanahashi does go back to the leg for a hot second with a Texas Cloverleaf, but nothing doing, which does set up the actual finish. Nagata is not able to capitalize on a back drop driver due to his knee and an onslaught of High Fly Flow wins it for Tanahashi. As infuriating as KENTA/Nakajima was, this just seems that much more annoying. Tanahashi/Nagata were putting on a classic and then just dropped everything to do a bombfest. When two halves of a match are this irreconcilable, you can not even rate, you can only think of what may have been.

Holy shit! How good was that Jericho/Kane match with all that struggle, wicked stiff strikes and interesting spots. I was thinking TINDERRRRRR Break and I pick me head up and Jericho had Kane in a nasty cravat trying to take him over. Kane hits back and throws Jericho up in the air. I was hooked. Jericho was laying his shit in. Kane who usually is pretty light and was hitting Y2J pretty damn hard. We even got hardway blood from the chin. I loved the dropkick counter to the flying clothesline. The tease and payoff with the exposed turnbuckle was awesome. I loved how urgently they both worked this. They came off like two guys trying to win a match rather than going through the motions and hitting their spots. It was really good action/reaction type wrestling. If you glanced by it, give it a second look.

This was the Buddy Rogers Show and it was a joy to watch it. In fairness, Lou was very good, but the straight man tends to get overshadowed when the show piece is that good. I loved that Lou did those subtle heel tactics from the Silverstein match and threw them in Rogers' face to the joy of the crowd. Rogers outcheated him, but Thesz gave as good as he got. It was interesting there was not much of a babyface shine instead Rogers controlled with headlocks. Thesz applied a sweet, sweet drop toe hold. I loved Rogers' burst of energy and the piledriver finish for the first fall. The second and third fall were crazy heated. The knee lifts to the head were nasty. The punches on the ropes and the bumps over them were awesome. AIRPLAN SPIN FU!!!! The highlight of the match to me was at the beginning of the third fall Rogers is about to walk into a Thesz move puts on the brakes and struts. It was crazy cool. "I don't like him either, mother" - Russ Davis, made me laugh out loud. The ending with Rogers head caught in the ropes shows that pretty much everything has been done before. This is a perfect way to do an intense mat-based contest, but blending in color and showmanship.

I really liked the match. My only complaint might be that it was too repetitious with the same Thesz tactics over and over, but Silverstein not really countering with much until its too late. That being said I loved the subtle heel touches from Lou like the constant crowding on the ropes and sneaking in those closed fists. When Silverstien finally did get going with those flying headbutts he had me rocking. The pacing was tremendous. It was really perpetual motion and just constant, intense matwork. Those "rips" were killer. I thought the Thesz Press finish was a great way to end it. Silverstein is an admirable opponent, but not in Thesz's league.

From my understanding, it is a donation towards the preservation of that specific collection (i.e. the Wrestling comes from the Sylvia & Russ Davis Collection). The link is here http://www.chicagofilmarchives.org/donate/adopt-a-collection and I am sure there is a number or email to inquire what our money would go towards.

So I was going to donate to the Chicago Film Archive myself because this is really tremendous stuff, but then I saw the "adopt a collection". I was wondering if there was interest on here to pool our money and adopt this collection. I don't know if this something being discussed on Wrestling Classics or other boards. Anyone who is interested let me know. I can't watch to all the Thesz/Rogers/Gagne stuff. Is there a Gagne/Roger match?

I have never said this before, but I have always thought the person I line up the most with is you, Chad. My God, that is pretty much my exact Top 5. I might throw in Kawada or Jumbo over Kobashi. But that is pretty spot on. My 1, 2, 3 as of now is Flair, Hansen, Misawa. There is a pretty wide gap after Misawa.

Ok, Ill bite, what's a blue eye? Is it just a person with blue eyes?

Going to the House Show at the Garden (The Boston Garden >>> Podunk One in NYC) and I all want is a 20 minute Slater Gator match is that too much to ask for? Cena vs Kane is being run on top, God help me. Jericho vs Rollins will at least be fun if not really good.

I got to disagree with you, brutha on the arm selling. Nagata kicks the shit out of Tanahashi. He progresses in strategy to arm. After all at that point he needed either to knock the kid out or submit him. He goes for the arm, but that only lasts a minute, maybe two at most. Tanahashi retreats due to cross armbreaker and Nagata tries to get payback by knocking Tanahashi off apron, but gets his knee wrenched, which was perfect. I don't think the arm work was fully developed. Nagata was heading there, but a very cool transition altered that. In addition, I think Tanahashi was really good at selling while working the knee. You had the feeling that his control was tenuous at best. Yes, Nagata's knee is being destroyed, but Tanahashi is still reeling from the kicks to the head. It makes Nagata's comeback very believeable. I loved this as a young champion vs experienced veteran challenger. They did that dynamic very well, where most people fuck it up. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Yuji Nagata - NJPW 4/13/07 In a surprisingly loaded year, Tanahasi and Nagata pull ahead of everyone else to be the most likely Match of the Year for 2007 and a potential Match of the Decade with a superbly worked championship bout. So few matches in puroresu in the 00s used that escalating, championship style match. Not only is the layout refreshing for the time period is executed nearly perfectly to deliver one of the most satisfying matches of the decade. Nagata has been the Ace for New Japan during the interim period between the Musketeers and Tanahashi & Co. He is built in the image of Inoki. He is pro wrestler that excels at striking and counterwrestling. If shoot-style imitates MMA, Nagata imitates shoot-style. Tanahashi is a move in a flashier and for lack of a better term a more American direction. In the year 2007, Tanahashi is coming in the champion, but he is by no means The Man, yet. Nagata is mighty over with the crowd and seems very intent on taking down this punk and proving why he is Mr. IWGP. It was a sight for sore eyes to watch a well-worked feeling-out process that was not just strike exchanges. As expected Nagata dominates on the mat and with strikes. Tanahashi can keep up, but he won't be able to win if he lets Nagata dictate this style of match. He needs to use quick strikes to set up openings for his moves. He does just that and Nagata escapes to the floor. Tanahasi poses and knocks him off apron. Bad move, brutha. Nagata takes this as a slight and is madder than a hornet when he gets back in. Nagata tears into Tanahasi with kicks, knees and elbows. It is quite the beating. Nagata moves to the arm and looks for a cross armbreaker, but Tanahashiy gets to the ropes and powders. Nagata looks to get his receipt by kicking Tanahashi off the apron, but Tanahashi catches and Dragon Leg Screw across top rope. AMAZING TRANSITION! Nagata looks to stay in control with a suplex, but Tanahashi gets a quick neckbreaker and is on that knee like his life depends on it. In a lot of ways it does. He was overmatched in so many ways that this opening reallty levels the playing field and he really exploits it. Nagata to his credit does some great selling including a Flair Flop and the Kawada collapse halfway cross the ring. Still it feels like Tanahashi is only tenuously in control. Nagata is able to get a flash submission hold applied (crossface), but Tanahashi survives. It is the knee in the corne that puts Nagata back in top who rattles off an Exploder and Shining Wizard. Nagata's knee gives way on the third brainbuster and here comes Tanahashi. Now he is going for finishing blows using Sling Blade to set up the Dragon Suplex and High Fly Flow, but High Fly Flow eats knees and Nagata gets a dramatic two count. However, High Flow Fly did land on the injured knees so Nagata can't capitalize right a way. Tanahashi goes for another Sling Blade, but Nagata hits a wicked back drop driver and it is all knotted up in the fourth quarter. Tanahashi with headbutts on his knee and a quick German with all his weight on legs on the cover, but for two. You really get a sense how much winning this match means to Tanahashi. Winning the match is important??!?!?!?!? I love this match!!! Tanahashi goes for the Dragon Suplex, but Nagata breaks out. A desperation, but wicked roundhouse kick rocks Tanahashi and two back drop drivers do Tanahashi in. Nagata wins the IWGP Championship and proves that he is still The Man! Excellent match where my minor quibbles stem from one too many suplex here and there and that last Nagata transition could have been done a little more creatively. Still as a match that showcases a young champion against an experienced veteran challenger there are not many better. Tanahashi gets cocky early over a small victory and Nagata made him pay. Tanahashi had to resort to lucky break to even up the match. Still, Tanahashi looked pretty much fucked from all the head shots and here comes Nagata again. The finish sequence was very dramatic and I was hanging on more than one nearfall. This falls just short of my Top 5 and I would say with confidence this will be in my Top 10. Tremendous and must watch. ****3/4

Bob Backlund: Titans of Wrestling http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/19300-bob-backlund/?hl=backlund Shawn Michaels: I really need to officially complete my Rockers Blog. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/19155-the-rockers/?hl=rockers Tito Santana: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/15282-tito-santana-appreciation-thread/

I LOVE THE HAMMER!!!!! Nobody was better in the 80s WWF midcard in getting a guy out of his comfort zone and making a match interesting. He worked such a different style than everyone else in WWF at the time and at the very least it led to unique matches for his opponent. This is a list of must-see matches after he lost the IC Title: The Dream Team vs Tito Santana & Ricky Steamboat - MLG 4/85 WWF World Tag Team Champions US Express vs Dream Team - MSG 9/85 WWF World Tag Team Champions Dream Team vs British Bulldogs - Wrestlemania II WWF World Tag Team Champions British Bulldogs vs Dream Team - SNME 10/86 Survivor Series '87 Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Tito Santana - MSG 11/88 Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Blue Blazer - Boston 4/89 The New Dream Team vs The Rockers - 6/89 Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin - MLG 10/89 Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin - Royal Rumble '90 And here is a shit ton of post-IC Title run matches: http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-best-of-dream-team-hammer-swings.html

Reviews & Discussion of Brian Pillman in early '91 when I personally think he was most poised to break out into main event scene: http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2014/02/wargames-taped-fists-yellow-dogs-brian.html Reviews & Discussion of Brian Pulliman in '95-'96. This covers Surfer Brian right into the Loose Canon into the Respect Match. If he had his health, Pillman could have been a monster heel. Still great AJPW-erffic match with Badd and I am missing the Wright match from GAB of '95. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2013/12/loose-canon-chronicles-brian-pillman.html I hope to complete Pillman's entire WCW career sometime in Q1 of next year.

Agreed. That this is a totally awesome match. Wanted to investigate this sentence, "His push wasn't something All Japan fans of the time particularly enjoyed, and I can only surmise that's because he didn't fit the mold." Do you mean American fans? I can see American fans rejecting Ogawa for the reasons you mention. However it is clear the Budokan was loving Ogawa cheering for him right from the outset. To me All Japan fans in Japan were clearly behind the Ogawa push 100%. I thought this played more like a very underdog version of "Lie Cheat Steal" Eddie Guerrero and really compelling. You wanted Ogawa to prevail and be that Cinderella Story. As opposed to later Ogawa matches especially the amazing 2003 Kobashi match where you just want to Ogawa to be destroyed by Kobashi. You have to love the series of nearfalls to end it before Ogawa is caught complaining to the ref and Akiyama kills him dead. This was a great way to create a new star when All Japan needed one.

Mitsuharu Misawa, Jun Akiyama & Satoru Asako vs Toshiaki Kawada, Yoshinari Ogawa & Takao Omori - AJPW 8/26/98 I am pretty sure I have watched this JIP both times. So do we know why Akiyama and Ogawa hate each other. I loved, loved Omori backing Akiyama back into the ropes and on the break Akiyama, which Jun unleashes the vicious back elbow on Ogawa. The even better one is when he winds up to hit Omori with a running elbow and changes direction at the last minute to smoke Ogawa. Reading other eviews, it sounds like Ogawa was a dick to Akiyama at the beginning of the match which is totally in line with what I thought. Akiyama seemed like a bully against Ogawa just always singling him out, but I am sure if we knew the backstory that we would cheering right along. I have missed Misawa/Kawada interacting just so much greatness. Also, there is just so much energy, which was lacking from their Dome match. But also still doing the little things like Kawada blocking a suplex by smacking Asako's side really hard or side-stepping Asako and then just wiping him out with a spinning heel kick. Then he tells Omori to take care of his light work. Hell OMori, kicks Asako's ass then missile dropkicks Misawa and even takes it to Akiyama before tagging in Ogawa. I am a huge Ogawa fan, but I thought he looked too strong here. His greatness is predicated by being the guy who clearly cant hang but uses underhanded tactics to get under people's skin and take advantage. Here he seemed to be winning too many skirmishes with Akiyama. Maybe early on they still wanted to establish him a bit. Akiyama looks to destroy Ogawa, but Ogawa has answers in the form of the enziguiri and a little help from his friends. Ogawa pins him with jacknife cover. I cant wait for singles match. Perfect six-man to build towards a nice upper midcard singles match and still be very fun and breezy. ****

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Minoru Suzuki vs Yuji Nagata - Tokyo Dome 01/04/07 Nagata against a dickish heel that busts him open is always gold. Nagata would have been great in the South in the 80s. Suzuki doing the Burt Reynolds laying down on the ramp with the titles and saying "Come get me, big boy" was awesome. Suzuki is an absolute ass to start and suckers Nagata into the ropes. Where Suzuki is able to apply a triangle choke and then on outside he smashes a chair over his head to bust him open. Suzuki doing Burt Reynolds pose again in the ring with all ringside photographers taking pictures. Suzuki goes for the kill with the chair, but people are trying to stop him and Nagata is able to kick the chair back into Suzuki's face. The playing field has been levelled and now Nagata is going open a can of whoop ass. I loved this opening, but the rest of the match was too uneven to rank among the best Nagata matches. Besides the slapfests, it was the loooooooooooooong time between spots. I am not one to usually complain about this, but when a hiptoss out of an ab stretch has a 45 second before next contact I am going to zone out. Nagata had a bit more fire against Makabe and Murakami. Suzuki does well playing the overmatched heel but times his comebacks well with the sleeper and piledriver. Nagata is too blinded by hatred to pin Suzuki after a wicked back drop driver and pulls him up. Suzuki is able to knee Nagata in the head and applies the sleeper. Nagata goes for the armbreaker to get out as before, but does not have enough strength. Nagata passes out and in a great finish to an uneven match. Minoru Suzuki is very entertaining to watch, but I have yet to see him really knock it out of the park. The Mutoh & Kobashi matches, which are thought were better than this were hosed by his opponent's idiosyncrasies. Here Nagata could not match his own level hatred that he could tap into against Murakami & Makabe. It is a great layout, but falls a bit short on execution. ****

Minoru Suzuki & Yoshihiro Takayama vs Yuji Nagata & Naofumi Yamamoto - NJPW 10/09/06 YOSHI TATSU~! So finally I review a wrestling match involving the most famous Japanese wrestler in America of the past decade! I always wondered if he ever had any good puroresu matches before he came Stateside. I guess this is best match of the bunch, but he really has nothing to do with why this match is so good. This is one of my favorite genre of matches: Top Face & Overmatched Rookie versus Two Main Event Heels. Miyamoto & Shiga crush this performance in performing the same role as Yamamoto in their tag matches, but this match has Minoru Suzuki and Takayama as the heels, which gives it a unique wrinkle. Suzuki is one of the few heels that can carefully toe the line about adding levity to his matches and still be a total badass. I loved him avoiding Nagata, pegging Yamamoto on the apron and promptly tagging out. Also another bitchy heel move that needs to be stolen is counting along with the ref while he counts back an interfering babyface tag partner. Yet another hidden highlight was when he was holding Nagata in the corner and Takayama came in with the big knee on Nagata he sold the move and the crowd loved it. Takayama is made for these matches where he is the cocky bully that is kicking some hapless chump's ass. What didn't help Yamamoto's case was he bull rushed early and then did Takayama's one foot cover that's a no-no and he got pulverized for that. My biggest complaint was that while Takayama and Suzuki put a new wrinkle on this match they did not really kick the shit out of the kid as much as they could. Nagata was actually pretty good as the top babyface eager to get involved and finally did open a can of whoop-ass. His slapfest with Minoru Suzuki was one of the best of its kind. Nagata looks to finish off Takayama, but Yamamoto wants to exact some revenge so Nagata obliges. Where this match really falters in comparison to the Miyamoto & Shiga matches is that Yamamoto does not get that big false finish that makes you think "Holy shit, the kid is going to pull it off". Instead, he eats a knee lift and an Everest German while Suzuki detains Nagata. It was not as hot a finish as the build was giving them. It is always a joy to watch Suzuki and Takayama work, but the babyfaces fail to get the above just a fun match. This has an outside shot at the Top 100. ***1/2

Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda/KENTA vs Yoshihiro Takayama/Takuma Sano/Atsushi Aoki - Budokan 3/2/08 This match would be way better as Kobashi/KENTA vs Takayama/Aoki. Honda is just so old at this point that besides the same dangling Olympic Hell from the corner spot he added nothing. As much as I have come to love Sano he was ultimately expendable. Each of the other match up were really well done. Aoki tagging Kobashi at every turn was not as good as Marufuji and Sugiura, but added some good heat to the match. Of course, when Kobashi got his hands on the little punk it was great stuff. Takayama/KENTA is just as electric as their 2004 match. There is just so much great struggle. KENTA/Aoki was a little spotty, but had a great energy to it. Kobashi/Takayama have crazy freaky chemistry with each other it is like the polar opposite of Kobashi/Sasaki. In a lot of ways, this six-man follows the template of the previous six man, but isnt as good. Sugiura, Marufuji and Morishima are all out to prove themselves to Kobashi and all would be NOAH main event talent. They each take their different paths Sugiura is a mean bastard, Marufuji is a cocky douche and Morishima is a monster who wants him in the ring. Aoki is a punk junior, but he is nowhere near Marufuji's credibility. Sano is old. Takayama is Kobashi's peer (ok, just slightly below, but treated as equals). The match benefits as the other two Kobashi comeback matches do from Kobashi being more vulnerable and not guzzling his opponents. The opening portion feels flat especially compared to the other six-man besides KENTA/Takayama bit. The KENTA FIP drives this match into the really good territory as they kick the shit out of KENTA. Kobashi is in for the hot tag, but this is not the Kobashi of yesteryear and eventually succumb to Team Takayama. Kobashi's team has to save him from certain doom from an Everest Suplex. Kobashi is able to tag out to KENTA. The juniors come in for a big, fast-paced finale. In an unusual moment for puroresu, Takayama accidentally big boots his own partner, Aoki. KENTA hits the Go 2 Sleep on Aoki to win. Afterwards Kobashi/Takayama brawl on the ramp. There is plenty of action in the match to satisfy the action marks, but I did not think there was as much substance as the previous six-man that I really liked. Everything was good, but there was nothing that really hooked me in. If this happened on RAW, yes I would be going crazy, but for NOAH this seemed pretty run of the mill. The middle portion with KENTA FIP and the false Kobashi hot tag give this enough legs that it should make the Top 100. ***3/4

Graham which match did you like better? I thought Misawa was in better shape in 2003, which made for a more heated and energetic encounter, but 2007 told better story. I say they are very even. I'd give slight edge to 2003. GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Takuma Sano - Budokan 4/28/07 Regardless of my feelings toward this match, I am shocked they ran this a top of a Budokan card. It shows you how much Misawa felt comfortable working with Sano and how thin and directionless NOAH was. That being said I did really like this match a lot. It is the Roundhouse Kick versus The Emerald Elbow, it is just a badass story. I thought this match told the better story over the 2003 encounter in regard to how much Sano was able to hold Misawa at bay, but did not have the same energy as the '03 match. Sano hits an early roundhouse kick to send Misawa to the floor. SUICIDE DIVE! Misawa tries to rebound off the railing, but roundhouse kick to the chest, which would be a frequent occurrence. DOUBLE STOMP FROM TOP ROPE TO FLOOR!!! HOLY SHIT! Sano is just so damn tempted by working Misawa's legs even though it is going to be blown off, which is exactly what happens. Every time Misawa gets a little chippy with those elbows there is a roundhouse kick to the chest to greet him, which sets up double stomps and a german suplex. Misawa looks to come off the top rope and everybody say it with me: ROUNDHOUSE KICK! That looked sick. Sano follows him to the floor with a somersault plancha. Sano tries to end this with suplexes and kicks to no avail. Misawa converts one suplex to Emerald Flowsion, but does not have much in the tank. He hits another Emerald Flowsion for only 2. I just notice there has been no heat this entire match. Fuck this crowd! Misawa blows him away with some elbows and hits a Fireman's Carry Emerald Flowsion for the win to a dead crowd. Not your typical Misawa match as he got less offense than usual and relied on three big bombs late to escape the match. Normally, he would be peppering more offense through the match, but Sano was really keeping him in check with those roundhouse kicks. The beginning of the match was really good, but there was a lot of meandering in the middle. Sano had a great answer to Misawa's elbow, but you never really felt Misawa was in danger because Sano really had no bomb. His roundhouse kicks were not setting anything up but standard moves. If the roundhouse kicks set up body part work or head shots than maybe, but Sano needed more to take the match to the next level. The 2003 match benefited from a hotter crowd and an more energetic crowd. Still this is a great match because of how well the story was told. Sano is out matched by the great Misawa, but can hold him in check with the roundhouse kick like no one before, but unlike a Kawada or Kobashi he has no follow-up bombs. Misawa is able to find an opening to hit his bombs and win. ****

GHC Heavyweight Champion Akira Taue vs Takeshi Morishima - NOAH 12/04/05 THE CHAMP IS HERE!!! This is the polar opposite of the Rikio match. There was no crowd heat, but liked the work quite a bit more, but not enough to say it really exceeds very good. It is surprising that I liked Rikio and Marufuji matches more than Morishima match even though Morishima is my favorite of three. Morishima knows how to through his weight around and is a great offensive wrestler even at this point, but his transitions and selling need a lot work to take his matches to the next level. Taue was on his A game making Morishima look like a million bucks and the future of the company. There were two times Morishima steamrolled Taue and Taue took ridiculous bumps for him. All of Taue's counters had a sense of desperation to them. The first as Morishima perched on the top rope and Taue nailed him with a Dynamic Kick causing him to crash the floor. The next was an out of nowhere Nodowa on the floor. The most crucial was on what would have been Morishima second Back Drop Driver. Taue counterweighted him and just sold how much that counter meant to him because he was sucking air and looked in a bad way. He hit a Dynamic Kick to consolidate, but was in rough shape after numerous head drops and lariats. Backdrop Nodowa, but does not get a good cover. Taue knows he needs something big and goes to apron. Morishima big boot, but Taue NAILS him with a roundhouse kick to the head. NODOWA FROM APRON!!! After being teased in the past couple matches, I finally see one of my favorite spots in wrestling. Morishima is fucked. He makes one of last stand, but a knee to head and a hair pull nodowa finishes it for the Champ! Taue makes this match worth watching selling and bumping for Morishima. There are some boring patches early, but the finish run is pretty exciting even if the crowd does not care. A borderline top 100 match, but worth watching for Taue keeping someone strong in a loss and just generally being a badass. ***1/2

GHC Heavyweight Champion Takeshi Rikio vs Akira Taue - Budokan 11/05/05 Without a doubt, the MVP of this match was the crowd. As much as I think Japanese crowds are underrated, very rarely do they add as much they did on this night to buoy this match. They were absolutely rabid for Akira Taue even before they came out. Everytime, a small Rikio chant was started it was immediately drowned out by a mighty Taue chant. When Taue won the championship, there is the great wave of people pressing up against the railing screaming Taue! Taue! Taue! Since, incidentally enough, Kobashi/Taue in 2004, NOAH has seemed directionless and cold. On this one night, Akira Taue brought back the magic. We all known it could not be sustainable, but damn it if it was not one helluva moment. Taue hits an early dropkick sending Rikio crashing to the floor. Everyone erupts because they know what is next. INCOMING! Flying Taue through the ropes onto Rikio! I popped right along with them. The heat for this match was off the charts and really kept the early boring segments very interesting. I loved Taue going for the apron Nodowa settling for a Big Boot, but when he goes for the Nodowa on the floor, he eats a powerbomb. That was some really strong work in Rikio struggling to gain a foothold in this match. It is not to last and Taue runs through some of his usual mid-match offense to the delight of the crowd. Then the match really picks up. I LOVED Rikio's big string of offense before the finish. You could tell how much the crowd was in fear of Taue losing with each Rikio slam. Rikio hitting the Nodowa and then a big splash from the top. O NO HE DIDNT IT! Crowd is losing it. Rikio throws Taue DOWN! Still cant secure the victory. Taue hits a suplex Nodowa and out on to the ramp. They do a great job out there this time Rikio blocks the big boot. Taue awkwardly falls off ramp adding to the feel of the match. NODOWA OFF THE RAMP TO THE FLOOR!!! Can you feel it? In classic Taue fashion, the crowd and I get revved up for a vertical suplex-Nodowa, but Taue just hits a normal vertical suplex, which is sold like death. This is why Taue is King! He has all losing our mind over a vertical suplex. He hits a back drop NODOWA to win the title and the pop is HUGE! I usually don't have this problem with puroresu where the intangibles dictate how great the match is. Usually if I find the work and story engaging thats how I rate it. Here like you often find in American wrestling, it was the feel good moment that was the real hook. even though the actual match was just good. If you watch this match with sound off, it is a decent *** affair with a nice finish run. You crank the sound though baby and this badboy is awesome. I am giving it ***3/4 and saying it is a lock for the top 100. TAUE! TAUE! TAUE!

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue - NOAH 8/01/04 Somewhere between 2003 and 2003, Misawa's health and/or motivation in the ring declined rapidly. The difference between Misawa/Sano and the Misawa/Kojima & Misawa/Taue is stunning and sad. It is not just that he is slower, everything seems so mechanical and like he is going through the motions. That was my biggest hang up with this match. I loved the individual spots because they are all our favorite Misawa/Taue spots, but it felt like any exhibition. Misawa would run through his spots and then Taue his. They were just sleepwalking through this match. It was an early NODOWA~! that set up the Taue on top with Misawa making his extended comeback. I thought it was interesting that you heard Keiji Mutoh's name dropped when Taue used a dragon leg screw and then a figure-4. I was waiting for the Taue SHINING WIZARD~! Then Misawa runs through his usual aerial offense. Then Taue runs through his Big Boot/Nodowa/Dynamic Bomb offense. Finally we get some sense of struggle on the Super Nodowa and the Nodowa from the apron, which Misawa blows him away with an elbow. An O'Connor Roll from Misawa was pretty sweet and unexpected in this very familiar match. Taue chants start up. There is a perfect microcosm of Taue in this match where he hits this absolutely shitty dropkick and follows it up with one of the best dropkicks ever. I loved the Dynamic Bomb/Big Splash combo should have been the finish. Taue hits a barrage of Nodowas and a Dynamic Bomb. As soon as the ref only gets to two it signals a draw. Fuck that finish. They did not seem fully expended. They did not even do the big run up. It was like yep we did everything and checked all the boxes now just call a draw. Almost everything about this match through the finish felt like an exhibition and perfunctory. Very disappointing. If you want to watch Misawa/Taue from the 00s, watch the '01 match.

Are Misawa/Ogawa vs Tenryu/Akiyama & Misawa vs Tenryu both from 2005 worth watching? They sound way more intriguing than most of the matches from 2008 & 2009.