G. Badger

Lenny Leonard on commentary helped this match, I won't lie. The crowd really needed to be ravenous for this to hit in the right way. And as I know, the longer DGUSA goes on the smaller the crowd gets. Nonetheless this was a very good match! And like their previous stuff, it's mainly due to Jimmy Jacobs. He kinda gets the idea behind hardcore spot matches and is willing to take a beating. He gets bombed against the guardrail for instance. Both guys bleeds. Chairs, a belt and the spikes are in play and this ends in a very sick finish... and ends just in time before it over stayed its welcome. Watch Aries vs Yoshino and BxB Hulk vs Shingo (which is is a classic) from the same show. Both are more worth your time than the Mox vs Jimmy match.

The Pac vs Quack opening is a thing of beauty. Things never really let up and while not as poetic as the first few minutes, this was awesome go-go bananas shit. Doi seemed to be the most tame of the bunch but he kicked things up and all four dudes were on fire by the end. I should note no one sold a thing beyond getting knocked down for a pin or rolling out of the ring for safety. That goes without saying for many of these tag matches. It's just the style so I can't use it as a criticism. I bring it up because that's really the only "flaw"... this was as bat shit of a Dragon Gate style tag as you can get...even more notably with one native Dragon Gate wrestler! At 15 minutes it ended on a perfect note. This was a classic in my book. Also check out Shingo/YAMATO vs CIMA/Dragon Kid and BxB Hulk vs Masato Yoshino from the same show. That match to me is probably the best singles DGUSA match without Shingo or Danielson so far in the promotion.

This was pretty good but it definitely felt like a level below their very best stuff. It felt slower and looser than the top notch DG 6 man matches or tags. I think we could have settled for Yoshino and Doi vs CIMA and Dragon Kid. Perhaps I have seen too much of this lately and you'll like it more than me. I mean if you're interested I would definitely recommend checking it out. It wasn't my cup of tea but it was many other people's.

I thought this was going to a very good but by the numbers tag match. I'm pretty familiar with the Speed Muscle tag spots just like I'm familiar with the Young Bucks'spots. They are still impressive and exciting but I know'em when I see 'em. What keeps this fresh is Shingo & Kid screwing with those spots...cutting them off, countering etc. One I really dug was seeing Shingo absorb Doi's rapid fire slaps and firing back with a stiff punch to the jaw. I haven't seen anyone do that... it's simple but surprising. In addition to that we get great escalated spots where moves normally done are now done off the turn buckle, off the ropes etc. They were a little slow going in the beginning and I think it was to make this longer (it's almost 20 minutes) but when they got cooking, there was no stopping them. I would say this was a near classic DG tag match.

Yeah, I'm not going to talk about this match but one that took place the day prior at Untouchable 2010: Bryan Danielson vs. YAMATO - If you're in 2010 or now and looking for super fast paced or absolute tank-emptying wrestling, this is not it. That said, this is still awesome stuff and I'm glad it wasn't those things. This match a brilliantly paced and built technical wrestling duel. YAMATO seems to have hit his stride in 2010. He had a great match or two in the 2010 Best of the Super Juniors in NJPW. And it's almost what I can compare this to...a imagined final to a BOSJ. It very much feels like a very high end NJ Jrs. match. It's clever, it's hard hitting, it's classic stuff. You were looking for Dragon vs Mox and you got a bonus review/recommendation

Tank emptying all time classic match for DGUSA. This is basically the match you wanted to see if you're a fan of these guys. This is basically a ROH match dream match in a Dragon Gate ring. I wasn't sure at first but they paced this really well... again bringing this to the absolute pinnacle of what they could do. Frankly if it wasn't so darn hot in the building it may have been even better.

This very easily could have been your typical overlong indie wrestling match. They do magic here as each matchup and spot is a little something different each time. Additionally they wrestle at a really good clip. Of course they aren't selling but as this is about the fireworks, this absolutely delivers. Honestly it over delivers... It's a spot fest but a great one!

This was an intense stiff fight. I liked that they even incorporated a leg and arm work story here. I can now understand why they didn't do this in the Danielson match earlier in the show (again would have liked some just "plain old" chain wrestling). Anyhow I'm probably not going to convince anyone to change their opinion on this match or Davey. If you like Davey and appreciate him for what he does (good & bad) AND you haven't seen this one then you really should. It's classic stuff. Shingo is one of my faves but also has bad habits from time to time but I think he was nearly perfect here. I'm really happy with those lariats and elbows towards the end... they really helped cement this as a top tier match.

Saw this entry had no replies in 10 yrs. so I'll add something since I just watched it. Absolute balls to the wall Bucks spot smorgasbord! Where this gets great is the awesome stuff that CIMA & Yokosuka bring to the match. They just gel flawlessly with each other. I've seen this called a classic but I won't go that far as we've seen the Bucks build off this framework since 2009. Still this is non-stop "tag rules be damned" wrestling. 17 minutes of exactly what you want. Also recommend Shingo vs Naruki Doi from this same show.

Sorry for the delay! I figure with Mania & the solar eclipse people would have some diversion for a few days. So I gave myself a couple more days to cover Dragon Gate USA for 2011. This is pretty much the end of the beginning for DGUSA. Although it rarely was simply Dragon Gate in the U.S. only, this early period really does focus on the Japanese talent being the centerpiece of the promotion. 2010 sees the formation of the Ronin stable which despite being a Japanese word/concept is comprised of Americans. The guys (Gargano, Taylor, Swann) are in essence the future of the company. Although my reviews don't show it Sami Callihan also is coming to prominence along with other indie talent of this era. The cards on a whole are more independent wrestling with some DG guys vs Dragon Gate USA. Personally I think this is at least one reason the company got absorbed by Gabe's other group Evolve. But I am just giving some background on this as we look at some of the best of DGUSA in 2011. Masato Yoshino/Pac vs CIMA/Dragon Kid (United NYC 2011) - Yeah that was a sick finish! And this was a great match overall. It wasn't trying to be a barn burner from start to finish and I can appreciate that as this was a 20 minute match. Eventually they kicked it into high gear and it was flawless. The PAC/Yoshino team is insane. And while I have seen a good bit of the Kid/CIMA team they are kinda the gold standard for teams in DGUSA. They have the moves, the character, the history etc. Austin Aries vs Akira Tozawa (United Philly 2011) - Wow! That was a fantastic match. The pacing was just excellent... there was action yet also included a bit of comedy & a touch of shenanigans. They seamlessly worked all of that in without losing momentum. Tozawa and Aries are a great pairing. They both have that jack-of-all-trades/all-arounder style - hard hits, explosive, unorthodox attacks etc. I'm going to be conservative and say this was a near classic. But part of me wants to say "classic"...it just hit everything perfectly at around 15 minutes. Akira Tozawa vs BxB Hulk (United Finale 2011) - Tozawa is getting booked into the big matches and he is delivering. This is another one I'd put in the near classic category. This was so very stiff and intense. I don't think that the pacing was a excellent as the Aries match but the ferocity exceeded the previous bout. Hulk just unloaded on Akira. However he got it right back...a couple of those bicycle kicks were nasty! As were his elbow strikes. Tozawa is on a roll in 2011. Let's hope he keeps it up! This looks to be the last BxB Hulk match that I have so big shout out to him. He can be spotty at times but when with the right opponent he can be absolutely fantastic in this style of wrestling. Mercury Rising 2011 PAC vs Akira Tozawa - Great match but not as great as the previous two bouts with Tozawa. Early on this was on track to be better by the fact that there were some organic moments that made this look damn real. I think what prevents this being a near classic is the pacing. This thing was in 3rd gear the whole time. And had it really gone to 4th gear then I think that would have helped. Or had it built up to a 4th gear... that too would have been good. It seemed to lack an urgency or a real intensity. I guess they wrestled the night before (oh this is when they started doing the Wrestlemania double shot weekends) so that comes across here a lil' bit. Still you might really dig this and I'm a fan of PAC & Tozawa so I'm liking it too. YAMATO vs Austin Aries - The only thing that would have made this better was a submission victory. And don't believe they weren't going for those way later in the match than you would have thought but, a submission win would have sealed the deal on this being an all time classic. It is damn close. As good as Tozawa vs Aries was Aries vs YAMATO is an even better pairing. This is more on the technical side of Aries' talents and I dug it. It's like Aries vs Danielson in that the technical wrestling sets the foundation of the match. And more so than "oh let's work a body part." Here and in the best matches, we're reminded that wrestling holds hurt and end matches & and win titles. When the wrestlers treat them seriously then we do too. And then we in turn treat everything else a little more seriously as well. One mistake, one wrong step can end it. That's the story you're telling whether the match ends like that or not. That's always in the back of your mind. This match does that... some of my favorite matches do that. You could say, "they didn't sell the leg work enough" and I would say you're over thinking things. You're watching with you head and not your heart here. They don't blow the work off, they are limping, staggering, staying on the mat longer. They are hurt but not incapacitated. It is a thin line to walk but they walk it. This is a classic match. It's more in that golden era ROH style despite it taking place in a Dragon Gate USA ring in 2011. Fearless 2011 Austin Aries vs Johnny Gargano - Very good match...there were moments that this was actually pretty great. I'm docking points for when Gargano is on offense. There's that "why do the same move simply when I can do it fancy" indie tendency. Like everything has to be a signature move type habit...and it comes across as you're not trying to hurt the opponent to win the match or exact revenge... it's like you're performing. He seems to be a fast learners so I'm hoping he grows out of this. I remember watching some later DGUSA where he was the ace and I think he'd greatly improved. All that said, this was a very good TNA style main event match (if you catch my drift). A review I read elsewhere comments on how Johnny sold the shoulder (which was taped up) and that contributed to the quality of the match. Hell if I could tell because that's news to me! I watched this with the sound off so I suspect there was a bit of announcers doing the storytelling. Be that as it may, this was still pretty good. Masato Yoshino/Pac vs YAMATO/Akira Tozawa - Holy crap! This was sweet! One of those matches where it builds from pretty good -> great -> classic match by the time the bell is rung. I thought Yoshino was taking the night off but, I guess he was just conserving energy. Pac did a phenomenal job here as he really did the lion's share of the work during the early & middle portions of the match. I would say Yamato & Tozawa shared their duties pretty equally. Things picked up in the final portion and it really elevated this to a classic. Glad I got to see another Pac/Yoshino match as well as more Yamato & Tozawa. CIMA vs YAMATO (Untouchable 2011) - Now we're talking! A match with a injured limb story. This reminds me of a '06 Danielson title defense match. Yamato is Danielson here...not flashy but patiently brutal. He's taking his lumps, waiting to punish his opponent for their mistake. CIMA is that flashy, confident challenger. He's got an attack for every situation and every angle. CIMA is the one you're looking at. He's doing the cool moves and eventually he's doing the heavy selling. And that is what makes this great. A lot of times Danielson is doing the selling where his opponent often doesn't do enough to get their pain across. Here CIMA, the senior, does a fantastic job selling his pain. He delays his follow ups, he's constantly trying to get his joint to pop into place or adjust his protective gear to optimize support. But he never over does it and it allows him to still wrestle an exciting Jr. style match. Which is fantastic as YAMATO makes him pay for that decision I additionally enjoyed how much like Danielson didn't focus all of his efforts on that one injury. He eventually transfers his aggression to another body part after his opponent's defenses have been compromised. Way of the Ronin 2011 Johnny Gargano vs Naruki Doi - I'm not gonna lie, this is a "let's run through a bunch of moves" match. This is a high level version of that indie tendancy. But it still is what it is. And this isn't what I'd call a fireworks match either. Just like a fireworks display, there's a build to a finish. And the dueling chants by the fans...ugh...it was interesting back in the late 90's & early 2000's because it really felt organic. Like you were actually rooting for a wrestler even if it still corny..this is the beginning of the end with chants...I fucking am so over fans being marks for themselves. It's the biggest turn off of modern wrestling and this is a great example. It's the equivalent of the beach ball at a concert. Like, are you not entertained? Ugh...I'm not anymore...Nearly gave up to on this one. I did not like this. It was OK but they had no transitions between control and Gargano would just do a fucking flurry of fancy moves right after taking a beating. You what know dude...do a fucking scoop slam, a snap mare, suplex or two...maybe try a Boston crab or a sleeper hold. This was junk food wrestling at its worst. Matches like this are why I stayed away from this at the time. This reminds me of that Teddy Hart vs Jack Evans match where all they do is crazy shit for 15 minutes. This is not encouraging for my DVD which features Johnny vs Shingo... Masato Yoshino/Pac vs CIMA/Ricochet - I was thinking this was pretty good... probably too many crazy moves in the middle...like having Pac & Ricochet in one match is a bit much...I'd gladly take Pac btw...no goofy selling & mannerisms like Ricochet...but when it got to the end it was great. They focused things so the action meant something and felt dramatic. There was even a bit of shenanigans but what easily could have sunk the match actually helped it. Not as great as the other Masato Yoshino/Pac tags but, still worth your time. That was a great way to end this little side project. 2011 was still looking very good for DGUSA...at least in the big match department. I very much stayed away from the US indie talent if you couldn't tell. That generation of wrestler is kinda when things started to sour in my opinion. I was probably a little harsh since I enjoyed them on the DVDs I own. To be fair, I really wanted to see the Japanese talent. That's the whole reason I was ever interested in DGUSA along with seeing them go up against the top US (former ROH) talent like Bryan, Davey & Aries. These matches have exceeded my expectations. I have really enjoyed the '09 - '11 period of the promotion. Gargano is still a work in progress. In a tag setting, I think his shortcomings are less noticeable but Gabe strapped a rocket to him. In fact, he defeats Yamato for the title at the very end of 2011...which is bullshit and am glad I didn't see this. Ricochet, while irritating, is a heel now and wisely is paired with the veteran CIMA. For 2011, if you're an old ROH fan and haven't checked any of this stuff out OR maybe only saw a match or two of these guys in ROH, I'd recommend digging a little deeper. The Dragon Gate natives are absolutely the reason to seek this stuff out. Everything from this post and last is online (for a limited time probably) but, many of the DVDs are available on eBay.

This is your story match. You're using their previous encounters and what you've learned and applying it to this match. Walter is a tank and can finish anyone especially when he hits his powebomb. That move spells DEATH. Sami is a hard hitting dynamo and can finish you with his Stretch Muffler. More importantly, Sami has had a harder tournament - Tommy End, Yoshihito Sasaki & Davey Richards. That's pretty damn good compared to Rico Bushido, Mark Haskins & a lazy/hurt? Go Shiozaki. This was a very good fight where the man who wanted it the most won. That's a feel good story and dammit we need that in wrestling - Even if it means guys getting put thru tables and clotheslined so hard their heads disappear. Excellent ending to an excellent event. I did a blog about this whole show so check that out... It's from a few years ago. I actually just saw that these were up here so thought I'd share. Also here's my "awards" for the whole event: MVP: Sami Callihan, runner up: El Generico Best Match: Davey Richards vs Zack Sabre Jr., runner up: Sami Callihan vs Yoshihito Sasaki, honorable mention: all 3 El Generico bouts Best Surprise: Yoshihito Sasaki Worst Surprise: Go Shiozaki dogging it (although I will say his one finger was taped each night so, I'll give him that. However, this doesn't excuse slow paced, aimless matches on night 2 & 3)

This is Sekimoto's 3rd defense in as many nights and probably his toughest challenge. You'd think the more muscular Moss or Bad Bones would take that honor. However, if you're familiar with Generico then, you know he can take a beating and come right back and get the win. Daisuke's best defense, Generico's 3rd 4 star match in a row. You might even think it was better. Go see this And go see The Generic One's other bouts from this tournament.

Sami really looks like he's got a screw loose! He brings so much intensity and bravado to the ring that, I'm invested before the bell rings. A handshake to start the match means Sasaki and Sami are going to be rough. And good gravy, this is violent wonderful wrestling and a near classic bout.

I've really been digging the 2009-2010 Dragon Gate USA shows that I've purchased. So I thought to look online to see if there's any other well regarded matches available. And wouldn't you know it, there's a bunch! I'm pretty sure the account that's posted them will be taken down imminently so I'm jumping on the opportunity. Below is a kind of "best of" watch list from what's available. I've used a couple sources like Cagematch as well as my own preferences to guide my selections. I'll list the show title and year as a header. Then, I'll have the match ups for that show. Let's look! Open the Historic Gate 2009 Shingo vs Naruki Doi - Hell yeah! This was an excellent battle. I think Doi & Shingo are pretty evenly matched. Shingo might have more strength but Doi is a tad faster. There's a good portion where they do some leg work but they just kinda move on past it. It's typical of NJPW juniors and it's no different here. It's what holds it back from being a classic but they put effort into it (doesn't feel like going through the motions) and they don't spend too much time on it. That's to say, it's not a story point. I feel the story is more about two of Dragon Gate's most explosive wrestlers squaring off. Near classic battle. Sick finish too! Young Bucks vs CIMA/Susumu Yokosuka - So much fringe & tassel! Beyond that, this is an absolute balls to the wall Bucks spot smorgasbord! Where this gets great is the awesome stuff that CIMA & Yokosuka bring to the match. They just gel flawlessly with each other. I've seen this called a classic but I won't go that far as we've seen the Bucks build off this framework since 2009. Still this is non-stop "tag rules be damned" wrestling. 17 minutes of exactly what you want. Definitely a great start to the promotion! Open the Freedom Gate 2009 Naruki Doi/Masato Yoshino vs Shingo/Dragon Kid - I might have said this elsewhere but Doi & Yoshino vs MCMG is a match that made me get excited about newer wrestling... that was a TNA Impact match from '08. Go look that up on the 'tube So for a minute here I thought this was going to a very good but by the numbers tag match. I'm pretty familiar with the Speed Muscle tag spots just like I'm familiar with the Young Bucks'spots. They are still impressive and exciting but I know'em when I see 'em. What keeps this fresh is Shingo & Kid screwing with those spots...cutting them off, countering etc. One I really dug was seeing Shingo absorb Doi's rapid fire slaps and firing back with a stiff punch to the jaw. I haven't seen anyone do that... it's simple but surprising. In addition to that we get great escalated spots where moves normally done are now done off the turn buckle, off the ropes etc. They were a little slow going in the beginning and I think it was to make this longer (it's almost 20 minutes) but when they got cooking, there was no stopping them. I would say this was a near classic DG tag match. Mercury Rising 2010 BxB Hulk/Naruki Doi/Masato Yoshino vs CIMA/GAMMA/Dragon Kid - This was pretty good but it definitely felt like a level below their very best stuff. It felt slower and looser than the top notch DG 6 man matches or tags. I think we could have settled for Yoshino and Doi vs CIMA and Dragon Kid. But we sorta get that in the above match if you swap Shingo for CIMA. Perhaps I have seen too much of this lately and you'll like it more than me. The Wrestling Observer gave it ****3/4 stars another source gave it ****1/2 so with my rating...it averages out to ****1/3 or a near classic... I mean if you're interested I would definitely recommend checking it out. It wasn't my cup of tea but it was many other people's. Uprising 2010 Mike Quackenbush/Jigsaw vs Naruki Doi/Pac - The Pac vs Quack opening is a thing of beauty. Things never really let up and while not as poetic as the first few minutes, this was awesome go-go bananas shit. Doi seemed to be the most tame of the bunch but he kicked things up and all four dudes were on fire by the end. I should note no one sold a thing beyond getting knocked down for a pin or rolling out of the ring for safety. That goes without saying for many of these tag matches. It's just the style so I can't use it as a criticism. I bring it up because that's really the only "flaw"... this was as bat shit of a Dragon Gate style tag as you can get...even more notably with one native Dragon Gate wrestler! At 15 minutes it ended on a perfect note. This was a classic in my book. Shingo/YAMATO vs CIMA/Dragon Kid - This was different as the majority of the match was a heel vs baby face tag match. Then the final third they kicked it into Dragon Gate madness... but even the it wasn't that crazy. With Shingo and YAMATO is was closer to what you'd get from NOAH or NJPW juniors wrestling. They knew to let the previous match be the bat shit high speed "Dragon Gate match." That said, this was still very awesome and a near classic. Dragon Kid was at his best here playing face in peril /new age young Rey Misterio Jr. with his fancy moves. BxB Hulk vs Masato Yoshino - Lightning fast wrestling! Holy cow! I'm really not sure how to rate this because this was not very deep but the fireworks were top notch... and at 75 mph. Things could have broken down especially on Hulk's end but no! execution was flawless. And then when BxB started nailing his kicks...that's what really sealed the deal for me. This was a classic to me...probably the best singles DGUSA match without Shingo or Danielson so far. Uprising 2010, based on those 3 matches, was amazing! It actually might be a DVD I might buying and doing a full show review down the road. Of course, I'm trying not to buy more DVDs... Bushido 2010 Austin Aries vs Masato Yoshino - A great match and something different than what "we" have been watching. This is more Aries' style but Yoshino is perfectly at home with this. He's just as good at it as Aries. Here there's a focus on Aries' arm and to a lesser extent Yoshino's leg. And you know Yoshino doesn't really sell the leg at all so I take back what I said about being as good as Aries in this style. Austin sells the arm all match long...even opting to use over hand chops instead of his elbow strikes. Yoshino not selling the knee is OK but definitely would have been nice...but going after the knees of a wrestler that use the ropes and turn buckles is kinda dumb. It forces them to blow off the knee work or sell it and have a lame match. So good for Yoshino to not even sell it. Anyway, I didn't even think of any of that selling b.s. with Yoshino until after the match. I was enjoying the story they were telling too much to notice. Of all the short term big stars to temporarily wrestled in DGUSA, Aries is the best fit. Great match! Jon Moxley vs Jimmy Jacobs – I Quit Match - Lenny Leonard on commentary helped this match, I won't lie. The crowd really needed to be ravenous for this to hit in the right way. And as I know, the longer DGUSA goes on the smaller the crowd gets. Nonetheless this was a very good match! And like their previous stuff, it's mainly due to Jimmy Jacobs. He kinda gets the idea behind hardcore spot matches and is willing to take a beating. He gets bombed against the guardrail for instance. Both guys bleeds. Chairs, a belt and the spikes are in play and this ends in a very sick finish... and ends just in time before it over stayed its welcome. BxB Hulk vs Shingo - This is one I thought "oh this is very good" for about 50% of the match. Then, for the next 25% "yeah this is a great match actually." So we're at 75% or 3/4 of the way through. Then they really kick it up and I'm like "this is a near classic... they are really just upping things to that next level" for the next 20% of the match. And that final 5%..they do absolutely what they needed to do to make this a classic. BxB hitting Shingo with some of the stiffest kicks to the face & head for instance. But there's more than that...the layout was pretty great at the end...the fans were eating out of the palm of their hands. This is a longer one and definitely is more in that NOAH Jr./ROH style of pacing and layout as opposed to Dragon Gate. Chalk up another awesome singles match for Shingo...Hulk too. Very good show from these three matches. Obviously the main event raises the rating there. Maybe not one I would buy unless there's other things on there that interest me... plus I think it might be a little more uncommon of a show. Freedom Fight 2010 Johnny Gargano/Chuck Taylor/Rich Swann vs Austin Aries/Genki Horiguchi/Ricochet - This got recommended by a trusted source but I'm going to have to disagree. Maybe in 2010 or watching each show would make things better. I can't stand Gargano or Ricochet here. Ricochet looks not engaged in an athletic contest but performing a gymnastics or dance routine. Gargano is just hamming it up so much that the HBK would think its too much. I mean it's sort of a comedy match but eh...I'm not watching these for this. If this was on an FIP card (the crowd size is starting to resemble one), I might have dug it a little more. But don't get me wrong its a good match but not a great one. This is the future of DGUSA... people are wanting to see lucharesu & ROH style stuff..but this is something else. YAMATO vs Masato Yoshino - I got vapor locked on the first half of this match. There's a lot of good leg work by YAMATO but also a lot of stomping :S Things do pick up but at the cost of all of the leg work. Yoshino needs his legs to do "his" offense. He's not going to sell at an equal level and well we basically wasted 10 minutes with the beginning. I dunno, they kinda lost me. I've heard this called a great match so maybe you should check it out??? Yoshino does have a tendency to blow off selling and sometimes it's OK (see match vs Aries) and sometimes not. There was a disappointing Yoshino vs Shingo match from 07/22/18 where the poor selling wrecked the match in my eyes (see my post from 2018 - Spotlight: Dragon Gate 2010's - Shingo & YAMATO). 2010 doesn't end on a strong note unfortunately. 2010 is the first "full" year of shows for DGUSA and is that golden period. As you know I cherry pick but, it's clear that the promotion is very much Dragon Gate in the USA. Not just another "Gabe project" yet. However you can see that Gabe S. wanted/needed to push some American talent. This is good from one perspective but the quality of wrestling is not as high. The 6 man match is a great example of that. If you were an ROH fan then I would definitely recommend checking this stuff out. I truly was luke warm about it back in '09-'10 but have come around to really digging it. I knew that I liked Danielson, YAMATO & Shingo Takagi so I focused on getting those DVDs. But yeah, this is fun stuff. I'm not sure I would want to watch it all of the time but, for a few shows in a month... it's worth the while. If the YouTube channel is still up, I might check out a few matches from 2011. I'm still going to watch my final DGUSA DVD but just might watch those first... just in case that YouTube channel goes bye-bye sooner rather than later. Thanks for reading!

Browsing around on YouTube and found Gaora has a vintage Dragon Gate channel like they do for AJPW. Looks like they have the video for the Danielson vs Doi match as well as Young Bucks vs Horiguchi & Saito. I'll post both below: ---

This is probably the last "classic" period DGUSA show that I'll review. I have one last DVD and that's from near of the company the end Open the Ultimate Gate 2013. That features the Shingo vs Gargano main event. It actually looks like a pretty good card as well. However I might have found some stuff online and perhaps a compilation type post is in the works. But let's get onto the show, Untouchable 2010! Arik Cannon vs Kyle O'Reilly - This was a dark match and a bonus on the DVD but I am putting it on here. This was very good stuff. Digging Arik Cannon on these shows. He doesn't fit the image DGUSA but the dude is a workhorse. K.O is pretty mature in this match despite being more of a tag guy in this period. But you can see he was well on his way to greatness. Mike Quackenbush vs. BxB Hulk vs. Akira Tozawa - Really good match...neat dynamic with Hulk & Quack being baby faces and Tozawa being heel. There were no double teams but I felt like the faces tried to wrestling a technical match with each other but when Tozawa was in it was more rough neck. I dunno..this had a good rhythm to it...Hulk was on defense most of the early portions with Tozawa & Quack ambushing each other in order to keep working over BxB. I almost thought BxB was hurt and going to be taking a backseat this time. Eventually they switched things up and all 3 were involved. It wasn't mind blowing but it just was a really enjoyable match. Brodie Lee vs. Da Soul Touchaz (Acid Jaz, Marshe Rockett & Willie Richardson) - Not watching this... Dragon Kid vs. SHINGO - If you want to see these guys do a bunch of awesome spots then, this is a match for you! And hey on this part of the card that's all you can ask for. They definitely pulled out the stops. It wasn't going to touch Shingo vs Davey or Danielson but this was very good to great. The execution was spot on and they did all kinds of crazy shit. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Jon Moxley - As bonus on the DVD we get a worked shoot of Jimmy Jacobs showing us his apartment and talking about Age of the Fall and how during this time he became a drug addict and derailed his own career and life essentially. He talked how Gabe called him up and wanted to help and give him something to work towards by offering him a spot on the DGUSA roster. This was really interesting and honest. I don't think I knew this. Then because this is wrestling, this leads to talking about the Jacobs vs Moxley feud which is a little bit like Punk vs Raven. They show an abbreviated version to lead into this. And they start by brawling in the crowd. Eventually things settled down as they fight in the ring. Chairs, chains and even spikes come into play. I think it lacked something special to make it awesome. Honestly, Moxley is a heel naturally but here needed to know how to work as a heel. He just is a creep. But anyhow, this needed more heel work as well as a few standout spots like a table spot or a move or two on the chairs. I almost get the impression that they were to keep things PG-13 for the PPV. Everything worthwhile about this match is due to Jimmy Jacobs. Like this moment where he surprises the crowd & Moxley with metal spikes. ----- Drake Younger vs. Chuck Taylor vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Rich Swann - Great PWG style Four Way match! Just so many spots, moves, etc. Not everything hit 100% percent but that's some of the charm. These guys were putting it all out there. Gargano gets better every time. He's goofy as is Chuck Taylor and this type of thing is why I skipped this stuff when it was on PPV. Wrestling has only gone further down this path and well 14 years later this doesn't seem so bad. I've basically mellowed out on this in that time WORLD-1 (Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi) vs. WARRIORS International (CIMA & Ricochet) - This was a great match that imo was held back by Ricochet's execution problems. In 2010, he really needed to step up his execution. It was embarrassing or anything but it was not as crisp as CIMA, Doi or Yoshino's. He was in the great 4 way match from Enter the Dragon 2010 but here, he was off his game. I'm not a lover or hater of Ricochet...so I think I'm being honest when I'm watching this thinking "oh please don't screw this up"... And for the most part he doesn't BUT he does hold it back from being one of those Holy Shit Dragon Gate tag matches...it wasn't solely his execution but I think his selling is hammy. All that aside the Japanese guys were killing it and Ricochet wasn't in this too much and doesn't mess anything up, and down the home stretch pulls it together. I think if Chuck Taylor was in this spot, it would have been a classic. Bryan Danielson vs. YAMATO - If you're in 2010 or now and looking for super fast paced or absolute tank-emptying wrestling, this is not it. That said, this is still awesome stuff and I'm glad it wasn't those things. We got that intense battle last show vs Shingo. This match a brilliantly paced and built technical wrestling duel. YAMATO seems to have hit his stride in 2010. He had a great match or two in the 2010 Best of the Super Juniors in NJPW. And it's almost what I can compare this to...a imagined final to a BOSJ. It very much feels like a very high end NJ Jrs. match. It's clever, it's hard hitting, it's classic stuff. ----- This was another great show by Dragon Gate USA! The only drag really was Jimmy vs Mox. It just felt out of place here. I kinda blame Hockey as he was asked to to do a CZW-lite match... As was Jimmy. I'd have preferred just a straight match. But it's not a spoiler. Everything else delivered and then some. This is an easy recommendation for you to scoop this up on eBay. This has all been a surprise to me because back in '09-'10, I was not interested in DGUSA beyond a couple matches. The wrestling they were showing on previews on PPV didn't look for me. Admittedly this is the time I was into watching all of the classic stuff from Japan in the '90s. And much of this go-go style is not my preference over a long term viewing so keep that in mind. You might like some things more or less based on that. However, I definitely can appreciate it and do enjoy it when done well. And the matches I've recommended absolutely do "it" well Like I said, I hope to have 1 more review of '09-'10 matches That will be a" Best Of " post. I'm liking this stuff but I really don't need more DVDs! And then a final post with the 2013 show. Hope you are digging these Thanks for reading!

I've been watching a lot online and need to get back to my massive DVD pile. Dragon Gate USA is what I have in mind. This week its Dragon Gate USA's Enter the Dragon 2010. This is their first anniversary show and takes place in the ECW Arena (or whatever it was called in 2010). Since CZW runs a lot of shows here (all?) this has some very prominent CZW wrestlers. I think many of these guys do get incorporated into the DGUSA/Evolve program. In hindsight, DGUSA was Gabe using B-level (at the time) and propping them up with Dragon Gate guys. It was sort of an ROH reboot. He was on the money in picking talent as you probably have seen most of the U.S. talent on WWE and/or AEW in the last few years. Its a really good looking show. But I will level with you...I bought this for Shingo vs Bryan Danielson. Let's go! CIMA vs. Johnny Gargano - This is a good match that is pretty much a young Gargano going along for the CIMA ride. This is probably a bit longer than I would have had for my opening match. Clearly Gabe S. saw something in Johnny early on. Arik Cannon vs. Ricochet vs. Chuck Taylor vs. Adam Cole - This very easily could have been your typical overlong indie wrestling match. They do magic here as each matchup and spot is a little something different each time. Additionally they wrestle at a really good clip. Of course they aren't selling but as this is about the fireworks, this absolutely delivers. Honestly it over delivers... It's a spot fest but a great one! ---- Drake Younger vs. Naruki Doi - A showcase match for Drake Younger vs the very popular Naruki Doi. Doi was injured (he was hiding his taped up ribs under a tank top). This was a lot of fun. Little angle after the match and Drake juices BxB Hulk vs. Masaaki Mochizuki- Very good match made by their efforts. They were dripping with sweat very early. It's clearly super hot inside the building with the crowd fanning themselves off. So things get a little loose in the execution department due to fatigue. Had the heat not been a factor, this is an easy great match. ----- Scott Reed (w/Nicole Matthews) vs. Rich Swann - Fun super quick showcase type match that goes right into an angle. CHIKARA Sekigun (Hallowicked, Jigsaw & Mike Quackenbush) & Masato Yoshino vs. KAMIKAZE USA (Akira Tozawa, Gran Akuma, Jon Moxley & YAMATO) - Well holy cow! This was awesome. Fast pedal to the metal, balls to the wall wrestling action. This really reminded me of the original Dragon Gate matches in ROH. If you liked those you're going to want to watch this! I'm going to even call this a classic multi man match! And I'm saying that as I think this is exactly the type of match Gabe S. envisioned. I guess on the PPV this was the main event which I think knocked it out of the park. ----- Bryan Danielson vs. SHINGO - Tank emptying all time classic match for DGUSA. This is basically the match you wanted to see if your a fan of these guys. This is basically a ROH match dream match in a Dragon Gate ring. I wasn't sure at first but they paced this really well... again bringing this toe the absolute pinnacle of what they could do. Frankly if it wasn't so darn hot in there it may have been even better. -Bonus- Jimmy Jacobs vs Sami Callihan - There's a few dark matches that were on the live show but they're included on the 2 DVD set. The one that caught my eye was Jimmy Jacobs vs Sami Callihan. This was really good - stiff, intense wrestling. I can see if they just didn't have time for this but man, this deserved to be on the PPV. I know from watching the 16 Carat wXw stuff from this time, Sami definitely has the goods. Jacobs still has "it" as well plus he's a bigger name from ROH so it's odd this was a dark match. Overall, this was a great show. Perhaps the best DGUSA show ever? I've seen that said. I've only seen a few and I know the earlier ones are better than the later ones. These feel like ROH offshoot shows. The later ones are far less... If only from fan attendance and well most of the actual Dragon Gate guys aren't there consistently/putting forth the effort. Anyhow, this was a great purchase and definitely recommend scooping this up from eBay or elsewhere. Danielson vs Shingo, the 8 man match, and the 4 corner match are absolutely worth your time. Thanks for reading folks!

I got in the mood to check out some vintage (vintage?!) TNA wrestling after enjoying my copy of TNA Impact for the PS2. I checked the matches listed and Hard Justice 2008 looked perfect. Check they even are promoting the game during the show. This one has been up for 11 years so I'm thinking they won't pull it down or put it behind a pay wall any time soon. I am going to put it up top if you want to watch it sans reviews. I don't do spoilers/play by play reviews but if you want to go in fresh, there you go! Here it is courtesy of TNA: If you want some reviews as a watch-guide or maybe to read my takes, here they are Conquenses Creed vs Petey Williams - Very good to great X division title match opener. I mean they did like a few moves each that should have been the finisher. There was some shenanigans but it all worked out in the end so it wasn't a problem. Creed aka Xaiver Woods had a rocket push and the fans (myself included) were like 'who the fuck is this cartoon character looking like that dude from that Ready 2 Rumble boxing game!?' People love this goofy shit now but not so much then. Pairing him with Jay Lethal was a good idea because they looked like two looney tunes and they actually had fun matches. Anyhow, very good stuff here The Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky) and Awesome Kong vs ODB, Taylor Wilde and Gail Kim - This is pretty good. Gail Kim vs Kong is always worth the time. Actually everyone but Velvet Sky was good. The Knockout division was always really good. Not necessarily a PPV caliber match but a good way to get your top talent in the show. Beer Money vs LAX - Sweet ass entrance with an MC rapping and Hector Guerrero and their babe dancing (everyone seemed to have a babe at this time b/c of Spike TV I bet). Also Hernandez should have had a big singles run at some point...maybe I missed it during the Hogan era but the dude was big, he was young & could move and was over with the fans. Anyhow, this was an all action tag title match! I would even call it a classic TNA tag title match to be honest. Not only was the wrestling on point but they worked the story of Homicide having his eyes hurt in a previous encounter (probably that week's episode). They didn't over sell it but it was enough to still keep some heat on Beer Money. There's some shenanigans but again nothing that didn't work in terms of the story. However in '08, I would have disagreed because they used this finish way too much to the point where it was Jeff Jarrett bullshit booking. But I'm OK with it now because I'm watching this in retrospect. Hopefully there's no more B.S. on the show and I'll give this a pass. Jay Lethal vs Sonjay Dutt (Black Tie Ball And Chain Match) - Gimmick match...also Tenay says this is Lethal's PPV debut!? Is that right? Or just as Black Machismo? Really dug this mid card feud though... had similar vibes to Doring & Roadkill feuding with Nova & Chetti or Simon Diamond & partner. Fun story, good wrestling, humor...this was really good. They had some good classic chain spots, did some brawling and were able to pull of some high risk moves. Some people were chanting "boring" but they were quickly silenced (thankfully... ass hats...). The tuxedo/black tie part was kinda silly since you could win by tearing this off of your opponent or by pinning them...how is that humiliating? They wrestle in essentially speedos...typical over complicated gimmick but Dutt & Jay don't really waste any time on this. Christian Cage and Rhino vs Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother D-Von) (Jersey Street Fight) - Great hardcore tour the building, use the weapons, do the spots match. These are the 4 guys who should be doing this kind of match and they do it right. Not as crazy as it could have been but it's perfect for where it's at on the card. Loads of shit in the ring at the end, post match shenanigans ala ECW...yeah this was cool to see. AJ Styles vs Kurt Angle (Last Man Standing Match) - All time classic TNA match without a doubt. This was part of the Karen Angle-AJ-Kurt story and there were some excellent matches and moments from this feud. The intensity was off the charts here..every hit looked like they laid it in. The pacing was on point even when they got down to the finish (last man standings/Texas deathmatches can be anticlimactic) but they did this right..teasing all along the way of what would be enough to score a pin fall or submission THEN teasing what would be enough to keep these guys down for 10. This was fought from bell to bell like it really meant something. An absolute all time classic and another feather in AJ & Angle's TNA caps. This is one I didn't about but damn this was one of the best I've seen so far this year. Booker T vs Samoa Joe (Six Sides of Steel with Weapons TNA World Title Match): Not gonna lie, I was not interested in Booker T in TNA. Loved him in WCW...but when he came in I could see TNA becoming more like WCW in the bad ways... and I was right! But really his in ring stuff wasn't up to snuff especially with stuff Joe & Kurt did or Kurt & AJ...he'll even Sting was putting it all out there despite his age. Booker was just that guy waiting to go back to WWE and doing a WWE style whereas the other guys upped their game (at least during this era before Main Event Mafia which is when I was pretty much avoiding since it was NWO all fucking over again). Reading the Wikipedia page, this era was pretty much the beginning of the end of my big time interest in TNA...the seeds were planted around this time. Haha I'm still miffed 16 years later (holy crap...this was 16 years ago!!?) Anyhow, the match! Don't think it can top the previous ones but, let's see...Yeah this was good perhaps very good. It definitely felt like a step down from the AJ/Kurt match but also from the Rhino/Christian vs 3D/Dudleys match. Joe definitely brought the goods doing all of the risky stuff both offensively and defensively. But at least Booker was OK doing a match like this and taking his shots when it was his turn. It was a by the numbers TNA PPV main event but that doesn't make it bad. Had this not been an absolute banger of a PPV (one I totally remember the Impact episodes leading up to), this match may have looked better. This was actually probably a good way to keep things going post AJ/Kurt, there's definitely some cool spots plus we get a twist to keep the story going for the next few weeks. So from a business standpoint, this is a good way to end the show. Overall, this was a great PPV show for TNA. Like I said, I absolutely remember all of this but on paper non of it seemed like enough to get to buy it. It was too much dough and TNA was starting to get the taint of WCW on it. In all fairness, I was right where 2 matches were some shade of WCW especially at the finish line. I was watching ROH at the time (got a couple of their PPVs instead) as well as getting deeper into puroresu. So I made the right call for then BUT with the passage of time (and at no charge!), I was finally able to enjoy this. And damn is it enjoyable! I watched every match which is a rarity for me. Damn near every match was a gimmick match but they were all different enough that it stayed exciting. Only one bull crap finish (to a classic tag match) so I'll let it slide...again it actually works so that's fine. Thankfully no bull crap with Kurt vs AJ or anything else truly. Absolutely recommend checking this show out...either as a nostalgia trip or just for the great action.

I'm going to level with you. I have written a ton of stuff prior to this. I'm not going to include most of it because it amounts to me rambling on about game mechanics, what I think the developers intended, my struggle to understand the move system. I'm going to get that part of the review out of the way now. This is more like the Smackdown games than Fire Pro for PS2. To me Fire Pro Returns is the best wrestling game ever. This took me some getting used to because the controls are closer to the WWE games at the time and its been a decade since I played SD for PS1. I've looked at the WWE SD games for the PS2 and this looks just as good if not better in some instances. I don't think it's anywhere as deep if we're talking about match types or a season/story mode. No lethal lockdown cage, no king of the mountain match, no monsters ball or ladder matches. That stinks but therethere's the Ultimate X match so, that kinda makes up for it. The story mode for PS2 is you playing as Suicide in a narrative in order to unlock wrestlers and arenas. Not all of the TNA roster is ready at the start. That kinda stinks but, OK sure that's cool...I'll play story mode to unlock guys. I grew up playing PS1 in high school so I know the drill. Would have preferred to just win a tournament to unlock guys... there's no tournament match either but there's some Free for All matches but I would have liked that. OK so the move thing is the biggest time vacuum I've participated in recently. There's no Create a Wrestler mode for PS2 and there's no way to kinda see all the moves that are available and how they're mapped out. There's a guide in the game, one on gameFAQs in the board but I had to find a 12 year old guide on IGN that actually gives you a decent understanding of how the moves are laid out. Thing is most brawler and grapplers have many of the same moves - slams, suplexes, etc. The high flyers (X Division guys) are the ones that have the real interesting ones and honestly the only ones worth looking up or writing down on a cheat sheet. And I might do just that because there's not a solid logic behind where a move is on the controls or a specific scenario. Like a lot of people's complaints from '08-09, it's not the best control scheme. Unlike those folks, I feel there are plenty of moves...you just need to know how to do them. I honestly feel like each guy has about the same amount of moves as they do in reality. There are some glaring omissions though like Sting's Sharpshooter... Angle doesn't have a true Ankle Lock but there's an Achilles hold that is a fine stand in though. IGN shows AJ's Pele Kick but when I hit the buttons he does a kneecap drop kick. Not sure if that's IGN's fault, it's not in this version or what? I could go on but like I said the move thing is the biggest time vacuum I've participated in recently. I'm getting dangerously close to getting sucked back in. One last point: I think that is the BIG point of this game are the counters/reversals. Very many moves can be reversed. Reversals can even be reversed! I think that is amazing for a PS2 game. Again I think if your thinking about focusing on playing as X Division guys, this feature is really good. Once I got the timing down, this actually felt like a Impact TV match. And I think that is the strength of the game thus far. I do wish countering punches & kicks were easier but I remember them being too easy to counter in the Smackdown games. I like that it's not reversal after reversal. So the last "game thing" I'll mention is the "glitches." There's a couple I've noticed with one being so bad you need to quit the match...that is being on the apron and going'round the post. It makes your guy "fall off" the apron into a plane that isn't in line with the other wrestler and you yourself cannot exit it and get back in the ring. Even if another guy throws you back in you're still off axis...yadda yadda... just don't do it. If you were a PlayStation player back in the day, shit like this would happen... it's part of playing a game. Again there's no tournament mode so no biggie if you have to restart. And that really is the type of game this is. It's a nice looking game that really seems made to be played for 30 minutes to an hour for some TNA wrestling fans. They weren't trying to kill any of the WWE games at the time. It's got faults but again, if you familiarize yourself with the general move layout, maybe jot down a couple favorites then you should have a fun with single player modes. I actually got my wife to play against me. She had a blast with the basic instructions of X is kick, [] is punch, ∆ and a direction does moves, R2 runs. I eventually told her R1 is counter. She's a fighting game player & a proud button masher (MK is her fave) so all of that was easy enough and she was able to do some cool stuff...the best was as AJ Styles she did a running headscissors/frankensteiner (the animation looks pretty cool in this PS2 game). Like Oh Shit! that was cool. So of course she does a few more times (along with some other stuff which I'm not sure what due to her said button mashing)...I bet I can counter that and next time AJ goes up for the headscissors, BAM! Power Bomb! And damn it was cool and looked great This definitely feels like a great 2 player game... like I would recommend this if you have a 2nd player and want to kill 20-30 minutes (or more). This is all I wanted out of buying it used...a diversion. I think what convinced me to buy it now in 2024 was the roster. Although the WWE games might be fuller, richer games, I couldn't care less about that era of WWE. I could care less about the roster too. Sure there's some ECW guys that would be cool to play as or even some other guys of that era but the bulk of the roster sucks to me. But more importantly, I don't have any connection to that era of WWE and buying old wrestling games is about the connection instead of game mechanics, match types and move sets. That ended once I Fire Pro became available in the States (it's the sole reason I bought a PS2 in '07 actually). This TNA Impact is a fantastic time capsule to the golden era of TNA wrestling. It's got big the names you associate with that '05-'09 ('06-'08) period. Petey Williams isn't available on this version unfortunately. Consequences Creed (Xaiver Woods) would have been a great addition though...the Lethal Consequences team was cool! In an alternate universe, they would have included Gail Kim, ODB, Awesome Kong and the Beautiful People if only for a Knockout Division game mode (maybe they were nervous of people doing mixed gender matches?). So, it's a bit of a nostalgia trip playing this in 2024. It's very much a game of its time so I fully agree to anyone who thinks the game stinks compared to their favorite WWE games.. or even the WCW N64 games. But what makes this special is the roster and being able to play as prime era AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Sabin & Shelley, Homicide & Hernandez, Black Machismo Jay Lethal, Chris Daniels, and Abyss...among others. That reversal system along with the pick up and play ability (once you learn the basics) makes this a fun interactive wrestling collectible. I think you might have an even better time with the PS3 & Xbox 360 versions... I'm just a cheap ass Thanks for reading!

Sorry for the delay! Here we are with the fall & winter of 2002 and it is a doozy! KENTA & Kenta Kobashi vs Kotaro Suzuki & Mitsuharu Misawa (09/01): We get our first appearance of KENTA in his true form Gone is the surfer hair, orange trunks & white boots. He's in his dark grey tights with kick pad boots...and he is kicking. I know that sounds weird but up until now KENTA wasn't doing his shoot style kicks. This is a good match that gives us some good Misawa vs Kobashi moments without making it all about them. This is way more about KENTA & Suzuki coming into their own. Unfortunately Suzuki is still green enough where coming into your own means taking a beating well. Therefore the middle of the match is like a store brand saltine...Nice to see Kobashi back! Kobashi, KENTA, Shiga & Kikuchi vs. Akiyama, Saito, Hashi & Kanemaru (09/05/02): This is one I wanted to see but the YouTube video was deactivated. But dummy me, I actually have the clipped version on my 10/19/02 DVD! Holy cow! I've had this for over a decade and not known it. Anyway, like I said this is a clipped version with about 30 minutes shown out of 50 so not bad but there's no clean way to clip this. So we get the start and a few minutes before each elimination and probably the last 10 minutes uninterrupted. I didn't keep track exactly. Anyhow this is Sterness vs Burning and from the get go this feels like the Sharks vs the Jets. Captain Fall elimination match so if Akiyama or Kobashi gets pinned at anytime, it's all over. But of course like I said this goes 50 minutes and other folks get eliminated. This is a blast to watch and legitimately looks like a great match. KENTA & Shiga are a focus with Shiga being the defector from Sterness and KENTA really starting to embrace his new style/gimmick. I think it's also a great showcase for Akitoshi Saito and is a excellent showcase for him. He has the best enzuigiri and spinning heel kick btw. And of course there's Kobashi and Akiyama who are as great as always. Great stuff. ----- Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (09/07): Great match! Takayama tries to annihilate Ogawa. He shouts "Hey champ! C'mon champ" at Ogawa laying on the mat like a pile of dirty laundry. Like talk about adding insult to injury. The champ does find away though and proceeds to target the giant arm like there's no tomorrow... and frankly there might not be if he can't slow the blonde behemoth down. This is all capped off by an excellent closing few minutes that cements this as a great title fight. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. El Samurai/Masayuki Naruse (9/23/02) This match has a fantastic pace and is full of action. This really is how you build a junior feud. The execution was great and the timing was even better. It left you wanting more. Bitchin’ great match. An unlikely NJ team too... Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio vs. Akitoshi Saito & Jun Akiyama (09/23/02): I actually watched this after the match below. I'm funny like that but I am glad I did because I thought this match topped the main event. It was a fucking intense battle from bell to bell. Saito and Rikio were just trying to destroy each other. Morishima comes in and brings it to Saito next. I'm thinking Jun, who's not always super stiff at this time would shy away but no! He was hammering on Morishima. Yeah I loved this thing. The pacing and intensity were just right. It could have been a sprint but Wild II are showing they can hang with the big boys. Saito is really coming into his own here...and that's being more of a bad ass. Some folks didn't like this but I'm not really sure why...I got the vibe that it was a comparison thing. comparing everything to AJPW 90's is only going to set you up for disappointment. I had to learn that lesson for myself. Just try to be in the moment, not analyzing and not comparing. I think if you're not familiar with everything going on in early NOAH, you probably won't give two shits about what anyone other than Akiyama is doing... but that'd be a giant oversight. You're not actually invested in these guys and early NOAH really is about pushing virtual nobodies from AJPW into the lime light. So early NOAH is not about trying to be AJ without Mrs. Baba. It's trying to be something different. It helps if you know this BUT this is such a simple beat-the-shit-outta-each-other match that I'm not sure anyone wouldn't like this...I thought this was a classic. Misawa vs Takayama (09/23/02): This is probably one of most lauded singles matches for NOAH 2002. I have never seen it in full! I have a Misawa comp that has clips (for some reason) but I am really glad I saw this. It's very MMA influenced without trying to be shoot style or even Inoki Strong Style (not to be confused with Inokism which was going on in NJ at this time...shoot matches, more MMA guys in NJ...I do like Don Frye as a worker though as well as Kaz Fujita). So don't think of the match being anything like that. Takayama is more like a giant Kawada in this thing. He's hitting knees, head kicks, going for arm bars. As a result Misawa taps more into that by focusing on his elbow strikes, working holds on the mat and even throwing leg kicks. But...he still is doing his moves off the turnbuckles and dives etc. Honestly this was a near classic match... only held back from both guys being beat up (both bleeding) and I think Takayama ran out of gas at the end...so the more intricate things at the end looked sluggish. But fuck! they were going at it all match so I cannot fault anyone for being a bit sluggish after all of that. Also re-watched Frye vs Takayama which is also 2002. Man I miss Pride... back in the late 2000's on Spike they had a Best of Pride FC show (via UFC) and I had my favorites all DVR'd...I digress! ----- Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. KENTA & Takashi Sugiura (10/12/02): This was a pretty darn good match! It probably didn't need to be 23 minutes long but once they got cooking they didn't let up. Lots of creative offense and if you like stiff elbow strikes then this is a match for you! Never heard anything about this but yeah, this is recommended stuff. Takuma Sano & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Kotaro Suzuki & Mitsuharu Misawa (10/12): Wave vs Wave, interesting...I believe Marufuji was injured at this point otherwise he might have been in Kotaro's place. Half shown but man was this fun stuff! The Ogawa/Sano team was really good... I'll have to keep my eye out for more matches with them together. Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga vs. Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (10/17/02): I'm going to tell you this is the one & only match Kobashi uses his Diamond Head power bomb. It's basically a Dominator like Ron Simmons used to use. It doesn't look that cool though but what you want to see is Shiga vs Akiyama...that's great stuff...the whole match is really good. Burning vs Sterness! I was also able to locate my review for Kobashi/Shiga vs. Akiyama/Saito 10/19/02 which is a match that's gotten praise but if you're only going on hype, it seemingly happened in a vacuum. Like you would think everything else they did prior & after sucked. Matches like this are what inspires me to do these projects. They aren't deep dives but attempts to push against conventional wisdom/old ideas. Kobashi/Shiga vs. Akiyama/Saito (10/19/02): This was a match I’ve sought after for a long time. It lived up to the hype for sure. It was great in showing Shiga’s heart as well as Saito’s evilness. That dude is a beast. Great long finishing run with false finishes and great moments for sure. Epic finish too. Bad Ass! People were psyched on this one throughout! It had to build a little for me but, at the end I was shouting and making noises right along with ‘em. Classic match! Since I have taken so long to get this posted, I took the time and dug this DVD set out of storage. I'm looking for under the radar stuff so there's got to be a couple on this show. Makoto Hashi vs KENTA (10/19): Good match and maybe a very good one if you ignore KENTA blowing off all of Hashi's good leg work. Hashi would have been a great junior talent had he debuted in 1986...and for that I really dug him in this match. KENTA is now the kicky version...but not the bad ass we see in ROH for instance. ----- Donovan Morgan & Michael Modest & Scorpio vs. IZU & Maxx Justice & Richard Slinger (10/19): No doubt I skipped this match when I got the 10/19/02 DVD but not now. I'm all about a match like this. It's a lot of fun too! Scorpio and Richard Slinger do a really good chain wrestling opening and from then on there's a bunch of neat moves, some comedy and quality 6 man wrestling. Morgan and Modest added a lot to the match. Kotaro Suzuki, Mitsuharu Misawa, Takuma Sano & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Akira Taue, Daisuke Ikeda, Masashi Aoyagi & Takashi Sugiura (10/19): Oh man this was a lot of fun! The last few minutes were especially good. Not top tier but there's some really exciting sequences that had me cheering. I liked the early focus on Aoyagi and by the end everyone was going off. I really dug this one. ----- Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Gedo/Jado - (12/7/02) Oh those bastards. Team NO RESPECT!!! Jado & Gedo are some nasty looking dudes. So the match is kinda like NOAH style American wrestling. It was a ton of fun with Gedo and Jado heeling it up in all those fun US ways. This is stuff that we lost later in the 90s AJPW as the brawler was phased out because it resembled garbage wrestling. So, Jado and Gedo are a call back to that good stuff from the 70s-80s and 90-91 AJPW. And god knows Kikuchi is all for that again. Still this is 2002 wrestling so, there’s some nice moves from both teams. It’s a different match especially from this time in wrestling and it’s great! ----- Kenta Kobashi vs Bison Smith (12/07/02): Great under 10 minute match! From watching GAEA, doing these shorter all action matches with the older guys would have been a good idea. Have the younger guys go longer. I would have liked a different outcome as I think it is Misawa playing it safe. Bison could have been NOAH's Dr. Death for the 2000's. He looked like an absolute monster for 3/4th of the match. Plus the Iron Claw work was excellent...it's a low impact move that can escalated into the iron claw slam. They did this here to great effect. Bison being pushed harder was a missed opportunity but it's still a great fight. Yoshinari Ogawa vs Mitsuharu Misawa (12/07/02): I loved the beginning and middle of this match. It was actually wrestled and reminded me of early 80's AJPW. Eventually they brought this into the late 80's and early 90's. Then the final 3rd didn't set my world a fire. There was too many back drops and Tiger drivers...like do another move or even fight out of it. And they do maybe once but, it was kinda dull but then the very end got really good again. And overall the whole thing was very good but was on its way to be great. 2002 was an excellent year and maybe was the last year for the experimental stage of NOAH. Kobashi comes back full time (until 2006) and things change. Perhaps for the better? NOAH seems far less interesting as times goes on. And that is not a criticism... It's really quality stuff as we get into the Kobashi reign but it becomes more predictable than than in 2001 & 2002. Checking out 2001 & 2002 NOAH has been a project that I have been wanting to do for years. Really glad I got to do it! Hope you have enjoyed it too Thanks for reading!

So I found a Japanese YouTube channel that has some more obscure/hard to find stuff for 2002. Most of it is clipped but I'm happy to see at least some of these matches. Looks like this person has a lot of Ogawa/Misawa/Wave stuff...and in turn more Wave vs Sterness so I'm pretty psyched. So we're going to kinda start back at the beginning of 2002 with these videos. Jun Akiyama, Akitoshi Saito & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Mitsuharu Misawa, Yoshinari Ogawa & Naomichi Marufuji (01/16): 7 of 17 minutes shown but man this looked great. Kanemaru was on fire! If you can see this in full, I think you're in for a good time! There's some post match fighting too. Yeah this one is recommended. Oh and I watched the pre match video and it looks like there was dissent with Ogawa & Misawa leading up to this match which plays a big part in the finish here. At first the finish looked weird but it's actually pretty cool. Elimination Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Naomichi Marufuji & Takuma Sano & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Akitoshi Saito & Jun Akiyama & Makoto Hashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (01/20): 1/3 shown with this mainly be a highlight format as opposed to joined in progress. We get to see everyone's elimination so that was cool. Akiyama has his shoulder taped up and braced in this match as well as the previous one. I think this would be neat to see in full. Jun Akiyama & Makoto Hashi vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Yoshinari Ogawa (03/14): 9 of 17 minutes and definitely worth seeing in full. This reminded me of a Hayabusa era FMW tag in the best way possible. Lots of great action, no focus on toughness/fighting spirit, ultra stiff strikes etc. Sterness felt like the baby faces with Ogawa & Marufuji being crafty heels. Badass finish too! great stuff! Mitsuharu Misawa & Naomichi Marufuji & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Takao Omori & Takashi Sugiura & Yoshihiro Takayama (03/17): Oh man, only 8 of 20 minutes shown. This was looking pretty badass! Misawa and Omori were laying into each other like it was a title fight. Ogawa vs Takayama was very entertaining as Ogawa was just too quick for the giant. And Marufuji vs Sugiura was excellent as always... Marufuji's, agility works so well with Sug's suplex & slam offense. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Takuma Sano (03/25): An appetizer for the Akiyama vs Ogawa title fight and it delivers. 8 of 12 minutes shown and pretty much it only seems to cut Sano's face in peril segment. This was really really good stuff if you're not going into this expecting NOAH as AJPW. I've said this before but, early NOAH seemed much more like an indie than I think most Western wanted/saw as the 2000's went on. NOAH as AJPW happens during Kobashi's title reign. But this first quarter of '02 with Ogawa vs Akiyama being the big thing is very fresh. Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Yutaka Yoshie (04/07/02): Here's one I found elsewhere. Reminds me of late 80's AJPW. I started watching it but realized these guys can't do a good match for almost 30 minutes. Who gave them that much time? This should have been 15 minutes. But hey, it's out there if you're interested Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshinari Ogawa (04/07): I'm not sure this was the plan for the Spring of 2002 however Kobashi was sidelined for a few more months and I think they were going to do something with Akiyama & him. So this Akiyama vs Ogawa stuff takes its place. They tease at it in the January matches but really commit to it by March. Anyway, this is the payoff and it's a sweet one. It's only 4+ minutes and wrestled at a quick pace. Since it's short I'm going to spoil it just as a heads up. The finish works because Akiyama has Ogawa's wrist clutched for that exploder variation. So both guys are tied together in essence. So when Ogawa reverses the suplex momentum into a small package, Akiyama's tied up into the hold and it's enough for a 3...like a wrist clutch small package hold. They executed this perfectly and if fumbled a little bit it would have looked hokey and damaged the credibility of the people and the title. The fans in attendance were super pumped for the outcome... maybe just because its something different & unexpected. I can get behind that... I think we can agree that rotating the belt between the same 3-4 guys can get stale. Akira Taue & KENTA vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (05/09): Very joined in progress with only the last 4 of 14 minutes being shown. Nevertheless this was pretty good stuff. Taue and Ogawa works so well because neither are that peak NOAH wrestler. Taue is basically late 70's Baba in terms of mobility and Ogawa is an early 90's AJ junior who wrestles like a he's a mid 80's junior. But it works! And we see that here. KENTA brings the fireworks. while Misawa plays the more than competent #2 to the champ (I know!? Ogawa is champ!). Excellent lead in to their title fight. If you find this in full I'm sure it's a blast! Same with Misawa, Ogawa & Takuma Sano vs Taue, Honda & Mokoto Hashi (05/06). I didn't review it but similar vibes as this 05/09 match. Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. KENTA (05/26): The channel I've been watching for these clipped gems of course had this clipped too but I was digging and found this in full. And really glad that I did! This was great! Perhaps this is the first big KENTA match...he actually did the work the body stuff...as did Kanemaru. It didn't lead to a finish but it certainly wasn't boring. Kanemaru even did a move off the run way to the floor - pretty sick too. I think he did a good job leading this match as well. His cutoffs of KENTA's comebacks were well timed and impactful. It never looked like he was just going through the motions. So when the K-man got an opening with a vicious release German, it felt earned. Again great stuff here... Takao Omori & Mohammed Yone vs Yoshihiro Takayama & Takashi Sugiura (05/26/02): A little bit earlier there's a schism in No Fear. Akiyama calls Omori out saying Takayama is using him...during the match Takayama wants to decimate Akiyama with double team moves (they do) but Omori says enough is enough and hit his partner with the Ax Bomber and splits. That looks to be on the 05/09 show. That sets up this match BUT I have some conflicting info that just shows Omori vs Takayama on this date. So Sherlock Badger checked the crowd and sure enough its the 05/26 from the above match (note the two guys in white shirts wearing ties etc). Anyways...this was some great hateful hard hitting wrestling. It boils down to two parts 1) Takayama getting his ass kicked 2) Omori getting his ass kicked. Yone & Sugiura were very secondary in their roles. Yone was especially stiff with Takayama...I've got to see more of his NOAH work. I would have liked a little bit better of a finishing segment but, we get 20 minutes of potatoes so I can't gripe too much. If you're interested in watching this then, you should! Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Akira Taue (05/26): The lead in matches are so good and before the match, they show a clip from a match the night before. Taue beat Ogawa with a small package hold! He goes down and gets the title belt and throws it on a beat Ogawa and surely says something like, "take good care of this for me. I'll be back for it tomorrow night." Well this was a great match! especially if you've seen some of the lead in. There's call backs to those finishes. I think the layout and timing is really special too. If you're looking for that "once a year Taue is great again" match, I think this might be it! Satoru Asako Retirement Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Satoru Asako vs. Akira Taue & Masao Inoue & Makoto Hashi (07/26): Asako is back in his AJ green and Kobashi is back in the orange - that's awesome! Oh shit he's even doing some of his old AJ moves too! Asako is going all out. Inoue gives no fucks and clothesline'd the man of the hour like there was no tomorrow. Taue gave the soon to retire Asako a few good slams too. Yeah this was a blast at about 10 minutes. The post match stuff is really touching too. There's no good reason to skip this one if you're an 90's AJPW fan. Now a big rant of sorts. If you're just here for match recommendations, we're all done for today If you're interested in a little shop talk about 20 year old wrestling then, read on! I am really liking 2002 NOAH and I'm glad I found a bit more than what I had originally planned. This Ogawa stuff has been excellent and unexpected. He's not what you're looking for in a GHC champ especially if you're more familiar with 2003 to 2010's NOAH. But 2001-2002 NOAH in a different animal. I was looking over 2000 AJPW's matches and man! it's really clear that Misawa had a vision with Pro Wrestling Noah. 2000 AJ's under card booking was the drizzling shits. It's the same people but in matches that looked like they were booked using a lotto ball machine. Like random as hell...and maybe those were fun/good matches but Misawa gave folks a purpose, a place, a direction in early NOAH. This didn't really happen until '01 and I think hit its stride in '02. It is very much "we're not going to be a one match company." From watching mid 80's AJPW last year, I think Misawa really wanted a company where there's something for everyone AND something for everyone to do. The popular opinion is that Misawa lacked a vision and couldn't find someone else who could be on top. I disagree. I think his vision was to lift everyone else up rather than find a top star right away. I think evidence of this was Misawa being able to convince Baba on Ogawa as his tag partner in the very late 90's. In NOAH he continues this as Kentaro Shiga, Kikuchi & Asako get a boost out of under card swamp into high profile matches again. Outside veteran talent is given a chance like Akitoshi Saito, Aoyagi, Sano & Too Cold Scorpio as are "younger" outsiders like Daisuke Ikeda & Yone. Some of these folks were in 2000 AJPW...we can see Misawa wanted to shake things up. Inter-promotional feuds which were a staple of 90's puro/joshi could finally happen in earnest. And the young AJPW talent could get pushed into the lime light...Marufuji, KENTA, Morishima are all names we know if you're a 2000's ROH fan because of Misawa's vision. If you're a NOAH fan too then Rikio, Kanemaru, and Hashi are familiar to you. And Misawa knew to give Takayama the push he needed as well... not just a All Asia tag champ but as a main player in the heavyweight title scene. Now I'm not saying it stayed as fresh and exciting until his death. He definitely went into safety mode due to the economics of running a business for the main events(not that the wrestling was poor but it's not as fresh). The under card always stayed interesting and sometimes outshined the main events. That aside, 2001 & 2002 are the years where I think we might be able to see where NOAH was supposed to be headed. And I don't think fans were comfortable with it and he gave Kobashi a 2 year long title reign.. but I don't think he gave up on the under card but conceded that the casual fan (big money arena filling crowds) wanted AJPW main events. After the Kobashi reign they never went back to this more creative main event scene (we see a nod to it in the lauded on PWO Kobashi vs Ogawa match, and in Marufuji's 2006 reign). Maybe I should have put this at the very end of my 2002 posts (there's one more!) but having seen this much '01 & '02, it's clear that Misawa wanted to redo things. He didn't want NOAH to have these one match shows like AJPW had become. Having watched a good deal of Misawa era NOAH, he succeeded... I have always thought that their shows were very good from top to bottom. They don't always have the classic match main event but definitely are a blast to watch..many times having multiple great matches per show. Thanks for reading! Planning on wrapping up 2002 next week.

I agree this was a really fresh angle that culminated in this match. Seeds of dissent were sown in a 01/16 match where Ogawa seemed like he wanted to break up the Untouchables team with Misawa. There was a moment where it looked like he had turned on his friend and sided with Jun...only to sneak attack the champ and pin him! He gets eliminated in the 01/20 match, does get another pin on Akiyama on 02/10 by reversing an exploder and doesn't get the pin in 03/14 tag with Marufuji vs Jun/Hashi, and straight up gets jacked up by Jun on 03/25 (Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Takuma Sano) although Jun doesn't pin him. So this match is very much anyone's match...which is awesome since Ogawa has some weak looking offense if we're being real It's very technical and crafty but not the hard hitting, bone crushing style we associate with AJPW or NOAH. It's a 4+ minute match though so it's almost like a great WCW Nitro main event. Like it's awesome for what it is...awesome angle, fantastic execution here but not a "great match" in the traditional sense.

I've been watching a good deal of 2002 NOAH and I have to disagree with this sentiment/popular opinion. If we watch early NOAH using the same methods we'd watch 90's AJPW (watch the big 3-4 guys) then it is really easy to misinterpret what was going on there... At least in this time period. Misawa seemed to be very interested in making new stars but you have to look at the matches differently then Misawa vs Akiyama like we all do with 90's AJ. Like the story here has nothing to do with Misawa vs Akiyama but rather Misawa & Ogawa perhaps falling out & Ogawa being able to pin Akiyama again (01/16/02). Misawa booking himself beating everyone was a little much but in the big picture of early 2002, he wasn't really doing anything big. Having a win like this still makes him look like a star/relevant without actually getting a big time win... And to be honest booking an 8 man elimination was/is pretty smart booking meant to showcase the younger & lesser known guys by tying them to Misawa vs Akiyama which most fans at the time want to see...even if that's not what's really going on. Kanemaru is killing it in these matches for instance. And kills it in his matches vs NJPW in '02. Marufuji shines in these too. Yeah early 2000's NOAH booking is actually pretty refreshing although this match isn't the best example.

This has been pretty damn funny iirc Herb didn't really have a booker and the whole thing seemed like he didn't understand even the basics of how to run a promotion. If I was in his cowboy boots, I'd have spent money getting someone with a proven mind for the wrestling business, how to book shows etc. And not so much on in ring talent that was going to leave after a show or two. And to that effect he/I would try to develop some more up and coming guys to base the booking like Cactus. I'm sure other young guys that would make the backbone of ECW were available? Then bring in a big name or two per show for a tag main event. Also not sure California was a good place to start. Seems he did pretty well going out East iirc.

Here we are back in Pro Wrestling NOAH! It's 2002 and the matches this year is known for are the NJ vs NOAH Jr tags. I did some digging and found the reviews - yay! I'll mix those in with this week's new stuff. Per the 2001 posts, this is mainly going to be stuff that is a little under the radar. The exceptions are Akiyama, Yuji Nagata vs Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa (02/17/02) & Misawa vs Takayama rematch from 09/02. I only ever saw highlights and dammit this is the time to finally see the whole matches! Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Jushin Liger/Wataru Inoue (2/17/02) This is full of stiff shots and heat. It’s getting hot in here! Like Nelly! Remember him? The guy with the bandages on his cheek and gold fronts. Yeah, now you remember…unfortunately. Where was I? Oh! Wrestling!! This was a fun fire building match especially when you pick a side. I picked NOAH. I like Liger but, most of the NJPW roster at this point in time is unremarkable. Inoue is a good example of that. Anywho…It was great seeing Kikuchi of yore. I mean this dude stood toe-to-toe with the likes of Jumbo and Kawada in the early 90s. He brings what remains to this match. Kanemaru is fun but certainly needs that surly old goat to help him out against the likes of Liger and Watery Inoue. ----- Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio vs Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori (02/17): Wild Two vs No Fear! A heavyweight super battle. This is the match I knew that they could have. No quarter given and none expected. The strikes were hard enough to crack concrete. Then some if the big moves were so sick looking because the guys are so big...they can't roll through with the momentum like a smaller guy. Rikio's Germans were especially nasty looking. A classic match for sure! Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata vs Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa (02/17/02): Here's one that I have wanted to see for a long while. This is a great match and probably what I'd consider a near classic. This had a lot going for it. I really dug Akiyama as champ not backing down or tagging out too soon. The rest was very good but not exceptional. And maybe that's an expectation thing...It definitely had some really sick moments. As a part of the NJ vs NOAH feud thing, this definitely is very good stuff and feels like the start of something rather than an awesome endgame encounter. I wish there was more to it than this...I think Nagata's NOAH stuff in '03 goes really well with this and probably was supposed to take place in '02. This definitely feels like it in a few ways however I believe Kobashi gets hurt during this or isn't quite 100% recovered (this is his return match from knee surgeries/rehab) and is off until the middle of '02. I've seen a **** rating and I'll agree with that. Akitoshi Saito vs Kentaro Shiga (04/07/02): Oh man the Shiga indie hero dream lives on This is really fun stuff as Shiga looks to have left Sterness and is squaring off against Akiyama's enforcer Saito. He doesn't stand a chance or does he? It's under 10 minutes and is a blast. Shiga has the worst chops ever but makes up for it by throwing stiff ass elbows... Saito is a bull and incapable of not hitting somewhat stiff so yeah this was really good. Jushin Liger/Minoru Tanaka vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Yoshinobu Kanemaru (04/07/02): Liger is he such a jerk-ass heel! Man does he punk the hell out of old Kikuchi and fancy pants Kanemaru. This was pretty good but, the NOAH team was out classed and outmatched. That doesn’t stop them from laying in some shots. I’m a bit of a Minoru fan so, this was a fun one. He was such a dick here! This isn’t so much a puro-style match as a fun American heel-babyface type tag match. ----- Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kodo Fuyuki (04/07/02): Very good match that I appreciated more than many of the fans. I think many of them were like "who's this fat guy making noises?" And that raises a good point, AJPW and NOAH can be pretty dry sometimes. When watching Fuyuki in other promotions, his noises aren't out of place at all. In a NOAH ring, I was taken a back. So this definitely is one I'm glad I got to see as a Fuyuki fan. It's got a little "garbage wrestling " which again fans didn't know what the fuck to do with Like do you people ONLY watch NOAH? You've seen a table get broken, right? It's 2002! Kenta Kobashi & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Masao Inoue & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (07/05/02): A fun match but it looks like a few minutes were chopped out (pun intended). No bother, you're watching this for Kobashi to hit people hard! Kotaro is super young here and looks to occupy the same ecological niche that KENTA did in 2001. Kobashi gets a 2nd comeback match. This one is way less taxing and he thankfully is back for awhile. KENTA & Takuma Sano vs Jun Akiyama & Kotaro Suzuki (07/26): KENTA #1 vs KENTA #2 to start things off and nice junior offense to open up with! I don't know if this is the first instance of surly KENTA vs veterans but it's a damn good one. Akiyama is so good in knowing when to no sell and when to sell here...he's probably the best of the big guys from AJPW in working with younger guys. Sano doesn't make a giant impression here because he knows that's not what the match is about. He does his job well in neutralizing Akiyama and,putting the hurt on he & Suzuki when he needs to. This is a great tag match. We really get to see the KENTA we come to know here both in attitude and move set. Suzuki really shined here as well. These 08/29 matches are in NJPW but I'm including them here: KENTA vs. Wataru Inoue (8/29/02) – This is wrestled like you typical early 2000s junior match. There’s a lot of stiff elbows to no real effect, there’s fun spots but, the match isn’t awesome or anything. It’s a quick small show match with two youngsters. I love me some KENTA and if you’re a fan then you’ll like this one. He bleeds from his mouth…and he wouldn’t want it any other way. It’s pretty good for two rookies. Solid but, unremarkable. By the way the cross-arm bar and the mounted elbows are really big in 2002 it seems. Koji Kanemoto vs. Makoto Hashi (8/29/02)- Hashi goes up against king prick Koji! The thing is that Koji thinks he’s tough shit but, Hashi is from NOAH- the hardest hitting, biggest bomb dropping-est (what?) promotion in the world. That’s good for Hashi since Koji figures he’ll practice his kicks on young Makoto’s lumpy head. Makoto remembers he eats kicks for breakfast…Kid tested mother approved…and chops and head butts the piss out of Kanemoto. I mean Hashi brings his ‘A game’ to take out the then IWGP Jr. champ. I’m always rooting against that smirking bastard! I love to hate him. The Noah Doughboy does me proud. Now that I think about it this match reminds me of the early 90s NJ vs. WAR feud. It’s very good stuff. Fuckin' love Koji... ----- Jushin Liger/Minoru Tanaka vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi - (8/29/02) – Seiji Sakaguchi’s out there. Hey! Why don’t you whisper into the mic some more? I kid! Liger comes out in some red long johns like he’s my grandpa. The costume change must be meaningful because he’s full of the piss and vinegar I keep hearing about. He didn’t count on Kikuchi and Kanemaru drinking jugs & jugs of old apple cider though! They bring the business to the NJ Jr. belt holders. Who’s tough now Liger? Hahaha! It doesn’t stop Minoru from being smug…and I love it. But, the story of this match stems from the man with the Rising Sun on his pants. To address this, I present a series of questions. What words does Kikuchi croak out of that cigarette and sake scarred gullet? Is it ‘Kill me?’ I ask this because if this is his wish, Liger is the genie of the lamp! Your wish is my command! Oh, tag out Kikuchi! We get it! You’re tough!! I love it though. These men deserve a round of applause; this is the match you wanted all along. Near Classic stuff! 2002 is definitely a year that gets overlooked in NOAH history but so far it's pretty darn great stuff! The junior stuff is fantastic as many people have said but what I like about it is that NOAH feels like WAR for the 2000's. It's not getting by on these amazing classic singles matches alone. The company is striving to have more complete cards with the junior matches being as interesting as the heavyweight stuff. I know I have read that Misawa was a big proponent of this and you see that here. I also really dig the evolution of Wild Two Rikio & Morishima. Their match vs Omori & Takayama is a fine example of how they have grown since their 07/2001 bout vs No Fear. More good stuff is on the way for next time as we conclude 2002. Thanks for reading!!