Best of Japan 2000-2009 vote

[tim]

Watched a number of great matches for this today and was too lazy to write anything up, but man Nagata/Murakami from 2002 is awesome. Great dramatic spectacle and Murakami is nuts in that match, punching the referee and licking Nagata's blood off his arm. Watch it people.

[Ditch]

Updated two links in the excel.

[Smack2k]

Kobashi & Akiyama vs Misawa & Taue, NOAH August 5, 2000

 

Main event of NOAH’s first show since the guys split from AJPW. Two out of three falls though it feels like only a one fall match with the quick submission and it going two straight falls. The finish after the first fall with Misawa is disturbing to watch. The shots are stiff and can easily be heard over the quiet crowd. The Jun show continues as he picks up both falls in match. Plus he takes a shot at his tag partner Kobashi after the match! Hard one to rate right now on whether it will make my top 100. The striking was good. I like Jun’s continued strong rise but the two out of three falls stipulation didn’t satisfy.

Having issues getting to this and the other rapidshare files unless I sign-up for Rapidshare service..

 

Am I doing something wrong for these files?

 

Really wanna see this match!

[Grimmas]

I watched the bolded, plus select, matches from 2000 and here is my top 5:

 

1. Kawada & Fuchi vs Nagata & Iizuka, New Japan December 14th

2. Sasaki vs Kawada, New Japan October 9th

3. Kobashi vs Takayama, All Japan May 26th

4. Kawada vs Tenryu, All Japan October 28th

5. Ishikawa vs Murakami, Battlarts November 26th

 

That tag match is amazing and is an all-time classic. I hadn't seen it since it happened, so it was a real treat to rediscover.

[Ditch]

I'll fix the Rapidshare thing.

 

grrrrr...

[Smack2k]

I'll fix the Rapidshare thing.

 

grrrrr...

In the words of Lawrence in Office Space..."Fuckin A Man..."

[Ditch]

I've got like 10 files on Rapidshare but they're pretty historic (those two, 6/9/95, Jumbo vs Misawa 2, Misawa vs Williams July '94...) and so I might as well move everything.

[Smack2k]

Thanks so much!!!

[Ditch]

File updated with three changed links.

 

 

Tenryu & Hirai vs Kojima & Hayashi, All Japan October 6th 2002

 

Background: Tenryu is SO ANGRY with Kaz Hayashi. That punk! Just look at him. And Kojima! Grrrrr!

 

Why I think it's underrated: As with so much of what I'll be highlighting, it's a tag on a smaller show. Nothing is on the line but pride. By now you should be familiar with Tenryu's eternally foul mood, and if you aren't then go back and start watching the Y2K matches. Hirai doesn't have many good performances to his credit but definitely brings it as much as he can. Kojima and Hayashi have the youth and spunk to be perfect foils for Tenryu.

 

What it deserves: Top 100 consideration / on the bubble. Fun, energetic, and ends when it should.

[Smack2k]

Kawada vs, Hashimoto - AJPW - 2-22-2004

 

Is their their first meeting or did they have some others that just didnt make the list?

 

My two favorite's from Puro so far...so curious if they have any other clashes...loved this one..but I am biased!

[Childs]

Kawada vs, Hashimoto - AJPW - 2-22-2004

 

Is their their first meeting or did they have some others that just didnt make the list?

 

My two favorite's from Puro so far...so curious if they have any other clashes...loved this one..but I am biased!

This was it for their singles matches, and it is a treat, even though both were past their primes.

[TravJ1979]

DITCH,

 

Two links in 2002 are bad (including latest excel sheet)

 

 

Takayama vs Sasaki, New Japan August 3rd

 

This is a dead link. It seems DNS can't find ditch.biz at all.

 

Akiyama & Saito vs Kobashi & Shiga, NOAH October 19th

 

This is a mediashare download, but it is linked to the 11/1/03 KENTAFuji v. Guerrera/Marvin NOAH match instead of 10/19/02

[Ditch]

The first one is weird; needed to remove the www. from it.

 

Fixed both, file updated. Thanks!

[Ditch]

Akiyama, Saito & Izumida vs Rikio, Morishima & Ikeda, NOAH March 16th

 

Background: Morishima and Marufuji have a tag title shot against Akiyama and Saito at the end of the tour, so this is designed to build towards it. Oddly enough two lead-ins made the cut but not the title match, which had a weak first half due to its length.

 

Why I think it's underrated: For those of us brought up with US wrestling there's no inherent appeal to a 6-man, especially before the Shield win streak. In Japan it's an integral part of booking and on occasion produces standout matches. Unlike most 6-man tags, this starts hot and sustains a lot of intensity throughout. Ikeda, who tends to take it easy in NOAH, brings his A-game for a change. Even the problematic Izumida contributes.

 

What it deserves: Top 100. They do a great job of making the action unpredictable, and when you add in the pace and stiffness it's all the better.

[Ditch]

Kanemoto vs AKIRA, IWGP junior title, New Japan March 23rd 2003

 

Background: Akira Nogami didn't do much of note in the '90s, including a forgettable run as junior champion. A re-invention in 2000 as part of Chono's stable led to a number of really good technical matches. This is the best of those, as the two of them show remarkable inventiveness and attention to detail.

 

Why I think it's underrated: It's not a highlight-reel spotfest, but more of a chess match. This got some initial praise from show-to-show New Japan viewers but didn't catch the eye of Meltzer et al. I can understand preferring something a bit more spectacular, but this is really tricked-out and stands apart from the usual "tons of nearfalls" Japanese title match cliche.

 

What it deserves: Top 50 consideration. It doesn't hit the dramatic pitch of the very top tier, but creativity and execution make it solid mid-ballot material.

[RyanClingman]

I started with these in chronological order from 2000 and have really been enjoying everything so far. Obviouslly a lot of these matches I have seen, but from the things I haven't (keep in mind I am only about a third of the way through 2000) is the Akiyama/Misawa match, that exploder spot was so great, and Kobashi/Vader, which was a fantastic, I am attempted to say "big man little man", match. I also liked the Hashimoto/Ogawa tag from the Dome, but I really think that it would have been better with context, although the crowd heat and emotion was certainly intense. I only left out Sasaki/Tenryu from the Dome, but that was simply because my download was corrupted.

[Superstar Sleeze]

I like to do triplet comparisions in relatively the same timeframe of three wrestlers. A vs B, B vs C and A vs C. The current triplet that will be in this post will be Misawa, Kobashi, and Akiyama in 2000.

 

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi - Champions Carnival 4/11/00

 

The point of interest in this bout is how Misawa works on top for most of the match. For a wrestler with as much offense as Misawa, you would expect him to work on top more often, but I have seen mostly work from underneath. Though I have found the wrestler who works underneath in Japan most likely wins thus since he won a lot it may have necessitated him working underneath. Reinforcing that conjecture is of course, Kobashi did win over arch-nemesis, Misawa in this bout. I thought Misawa was going through the motions in this match, which let's be honest is better than 95% wrestlers ever, but at the same time a pity. He has so much offense that the match is never boring, but he just is not wrestling with a panache. It is harder to discern with stoic Misawa if he is trying, but I feel like he was just there. He opened the match with a great array of aerial attacks that found their mark on Kobashi. In a HOLY SHIT~! transition spot, Kobashi hotshots Misawa off the apron onto the railing. He just lays in a beating on the outside to Misawa. Kobashi was definitely the more fired up of the two for this match, but that makes sense as he is younger and still hungry. Misawa starts coming back with a flying head scissors to counter the Kobashi powerbomb. It was nice to see struggle over a suplex on the apron as some of the match felt like they would use a facelock reset to move onto the next spot. Kobashi's selling and histrionics are the highlight in this match as he begin to take Misawa's best offense. Misawa may be peaking too soon and could the Emerald of All Japan be peaking too early in this match? I like the sequence of Kobashi hitting the 3/4 nelson suplex to level the playing field as he does not just pop up and do it, but rather earns it. I am a total mark for powerbombs onto the top turnbuckle and Misawa takes a wicked one. Misawa counters the Burning Hammer and begins to use his elbows to set up his finish stretch. Kobashi blocks Emerald Flowsion and only the ropes can hold him up. Kobashi hits a sleeper suplex for two and immediately follows up with an Axe Bomber and a Burning Lariat to get the duke. It is 2000 All Japan. You get a ton of high-end offense with a couple head drops with some Kobashi Fighting Spirit. It is good, but there is really nothing here to separate it from the pack. Misawa seemed uninspired even though it was refreshing to see him work on top. The only spot that really stood out to me was the Hotshot onto the Railing, which needs to be cribbed. It should have been a late transition spot for more impact in the match. This is a match that blends into All Japan portfolio, but still an entertaining watch.

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Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - NOAH 12/23/00

 

NOAH sure is different than All Japan. They actually ran a fucking angle on their first show where Akiyama pinned Misawa & Taue clean in a two out of three falls match and then dropped his partner, Kenta Kobashi. I watched the last two minutes of that and never before have I seen Akiyama as such a big star. It felt red-hot in a way All Japan could often feel like a flood of molasses. I believe this was supposed to be the big blowoff match from the first show angle. It does not quite hit the level of visceral hatred that Kawada/Taue '91 or a Hansen match could achieve. It was a very good tit for tat match with Akiyama showing Kobashi anything he could do, he could do better. As in most puro matches those with upper hand in the beginning falter down the stretch. I thought the early part with Kobashi taking offense to an early slap and chopping the shit out of Akiyama was good. However, they got on the ramp and match went into "epic" mode with Akiyama challening Muto hitting running forearm down the ramp. They tease the Explodere off the ramp, but settle for a nasty DDT onto the ramp. Kobashi may have the best facelock ever the way clasps his hands on teh bridge of the nose that looked nasty. I fuckin love how Akiyama sold off Kobashi pushing him off during his knee to the corner. The way he sold his neck made it seem like such a big spot and then Kobashi zeroed in on the neck further enhancing the storyline. Akiyama was looking to turn the tide -> Kobashi desperately swats him -> huge boon for Kobashi. It feels like an organic struggle as opposed to the ramp bs. I like the tit for tat sequence with each catching the other in their signature strike with their signature suplex. Akiyama finds his own weak point by going after Kobashi arm with a particular fury. Between this and the neck work in the Misawa match, Akiyama is like a more athletic Taue in how he has such a focused attack in his matches. Akiyama's arm work is by far and away the best part of this match. It such good arm work as he using every part of his body and the surrounding area to knot up that arm it sucks that it does not play into the finish. Kobashi hits the out of nowhere sleeper suplex to level the playing field. While it is great he is still selling, I wanted some more struggle. Kobashi hits a 3/4 nelson suplex on ramp and Akiyama does a tremendous dead weight sell. At this point, the match has entered Kobashi mode and there is disconnect with the previous angle hurts the match. Akiyama hits his exploder on concrete and Kobashi is dead weight to mirror the preceding ramp spot. Akiyama climaxes with the wrist-cluthc exploder for 2 and he is fucked. Akiyama takes a nasty spill off the top which is a blown spot that enhances the match because it looks a wicked transition. Kobashi cannot negotiate the pin with Burning Lariats. We get a close up of his face and his left-eye is swollen shut. When the hell did that happen. So he busts out his WMD: Burning Hammer~! Hand shake.

 

After reading about and seeing the angle that set this up, I wanted to see an 80s style All Japan grudge match. I would be remiss to say that this is a bad match. It is a very good spectacle match worked to a great cresencendo Kobashi neded the Burning Hammer to put away Akiyama. With the ending hand shake, both men respect each other as warriors. I hate to judge a match based on what I think it should be, but if there is a disconnect between an angle and a match than I am calling it out. The match drifts in out of Kobashi Mode where he feels compelled to get his shit in. I mean the suplex Ace Crusher was cool, but I don't know how it really fit into the match. There was some good psychology in the middle before Kobashi just sort of decided it was his turn. Transitions are really important to me and this is a match that lacked in transitions. There was some good mirror spots sprinkled in especially the mirror dead weight sells off the signature suplexes. It was just too disjointed for me to rate this as an all-time great match.

 

I watched Misawa/Akiyama 02/00 a while ago so I need to rewatch to do a proper write up. I will say that so far I have it as my number one match of what I have seen. That was fuckin' classic. I wanted to end on a more positive note. I will edit in the review hopefully tonight.

[TravJ1979]

Okay, so I've watched everything through the end of 2002. As I was sorting my rankings into locks and rewatches, I noticed the following 5 matches that are bolded, but aren't even on my radar of making Top 100 for the decade (or Top 10 for the year it occured). Just wondering, am I missing something [context] with these?

 

Liger, Tanaka & Makabe vs Delfin, Murahama & Tsubasa, New Japan December 14th, 2000

Tenryu & Fuchi vs Kawada & Araya, All Japan June 30th, 2001

Tenzan & Kojima vs Barton & Steele, New Japan December 11th, 2001

Kikuchi & Kanemaru vs Liger & Inoue, NOAH February 17th, 2002

Liger & Tanaka vs Kikuchi & Kanemaru, New Japan August 29th, 2002 - I have the April NOAH match making the first cut, but not this one

[Ditch]

A lot of times, a match did really well in a vote based on consensus of it being good rather than it being any sort of MOTDC.

 

As for those matches, they're much more in the "well-worked/good layout/good story" vein than "big five-star epic". I can totally see someone shrugging off all of them based on preference.

[Ditch]

Do Fixer vs M2K, trios titles, Toryumon June 29th 2003

 

Background: Genki Horiguchi and his super-effective backslide made waves in the spring. Can such trickery get it done against a tough M2K unit at the biggest show of the year?

 

Why I think it's underrated: The match was well-received at the time but was somewhat forgotten as time passed. Whereas Toryumon is associated with flash and style, this match thrives on old-school tag structure to properly set up the exciting finish.

 

What it deserves: Top 100. This has something for everyone.

[smitlick]

Dont know if I'm retarded or not but cant get this one to work

 

Kobashi & Akiyama vs Misawa & Taue, NOAH August 5th 2000

 

It was originally a rapidshare file and I tried downloading it from the updated excel and it wouldnt work for me. It brings up an error message saying unable to download.

[Ditch]

Not sure what the heck happened there. I even re-uploaded it and the same error happens. Put it on Youtube and re-uploaded the excel file.

[Superstar Sleeze]

When you get a chance, Takayama/Nishimura G-1 Climax '02 & Hashimoto & Nagata vs Misawa & Akiyama from Zero-1, I download the files and it is just the audio. Takayama/Chono G-1 Climax '02 does not download at all.

 

Thanks.

[Ditch]

The media players I use are VLC and Media Player Classic. VLC works 99.9% of the time. If you can't get it to work and try both, let me know.

 

Chono/Takayama didn't work when I first tried it, then worked 30 seconds later. Very confusing.

[Alan4L]

KENTA & Ishimori vs. Takagi & Hulk - Dragon Gate 2008

 

Man I think I forgot just how much I loved peak KENTA and Shingo. They were incredible here and really highlighted how both guys are missing some spark in 2013. This thing is all action. Takagi and KENTA set the tone by immediately tearing into each other at the start, and it really never lets up. I love the finish just for how definitive it is. Really high quality stuff.

 

Where I'll have it. Should sneak into the top 40.