Best of Japan 2000-2009 vote

[Ditch]

Kobashi, Honda, KENTA & Marufuji vs Akiyama, Saito, Kanemaru & Hashi, NOAH August 23rd

 

Background: Kobashi's Burning stable and Akiyama's Sternness stable had been at war for the past year, producing quality multi-man tag matches one after another. Marufuji is involved by virtue of his team with KENTA, which means that Kobashi's side includes both sets of tag champions *and* the GHC heavyweight champion. Quite the unit.

 

Why I think it's underrated: As a smaller-show tag designed to build towards Marufuji/KENTA vs Kanemaru/Hashi at the end of the tour, this wouldn't grab headlines. However, it's possibly the best multi-man tag of the decade. We're treated to one good pairing after another, hot nearfalls even in the middle of the match, strong pace given the length, and a finish that feels a lot bigger than you would have expected going in.

 

What it deserves: Top 50. I realize some people will always place title matches ahead of tags, but I think on the merits this deserves to place high.

[Ditch]

4-way trios match, Toryumon August 30th 2003

 

Background: So they did the 3-way trios in 2001 and 2002. Where do you go from there? Why, a 4-way of course.

 

Why I think it's underrated: This blows the 2001/2002 iterations out of the water, but it happened at a smaller show and didn't get much notice. The mix of athletic sequences, fast-paced action and comedy all leads to a momentous finish. Dragon Gate fans, you must see this. Dragon Gate skeptics, give this a shot, because it avoids many flaws of the current DG style.

 

What it deserves: Top 25 consideration. I rate this as the best match from Toryumon and possibly the whole Toryumon/Dragon Gate universe.

 

 

Takaiwa & Hoshikawa vs Togo & Hidaka, Zero-One December 26th 2003

 

Background: Zero-One's top juniors (Takaiwa/Hoshikawa) face off against long-time stablemates Togo and Hidaka in a match to determine the promotion's first junior tag champions.

 

Why I think it's underrated: I saw no discussion of this match whatsoever prior to watching it last year. It's easy to miss; the card is instantly forgettable overall. That's unfortunate, because these four go the extra mile to deliver something special. They build off elements established in a series of Hoshikawa vs Hidaka matches in years past, as kick-based Hoshikawa has to survive the anti-leg offense of Hidaka. Good tag structure in the body of the match followed by a big-time finish, including a semi-accidental bump you'll never forget.

 

What it deserves: Top 50 consideration. If they had a hotter crowd and went about 5 minutes shorter it would probably be a MOTYC. As it stands this is a hidden gem.

[Alan4L]

Sekimoto/Sasaki/Hi69 vs. Tanaka/Kanemura/Kuroda 4/28/2006

 

And here we have the biggest pleasant surprise of the project so far. THIS WAS INCREDIBLE!!! One of my favourite matches I've watched so far and one of the biggest reasons was fucking W*NG KANEMURA! He looks terrible, he's sleazy as all hell and he doesn't appear to give too many fucks about anything but man alive can he ever put on a great performance in a wrestling ring. Daisuke's team are all young here. Yoshihito hadn't even found steroids yet! They are big time underdogs but they fight hard and get the crowd behind them. Hi69 gets isolated by the vets and they absolutely rape and pillage his existence until he finally gets the hot tag to Daisuke who runs WIIIILD like a maniac. Daisuke and Tanaka have what I'd assume was one of their first big interactions and the chemistry is there right away. Fantastic final stretch.

 

Where I'll have it - Maaaaybe top 15.

 

Kaz Hayashi vs. Shuji Kondo 2006

 

I remembered this as being great, and one of the better matches of 2006. But I wasn't sure how it would hold up 7 years later. The answer is that it holds up great. Better than I remembered if anything. It's definitely a match built around big spots but it's paced really well and is never boring. Feels like a real big match. Definitely a case to be made that it's the best singles match of both guy's careers.

 

Where I'll have it - top 25

[Ditch]

Kobashi, Rikio & Hashi vs Akiyama, Morishima & Kikuchi, NOAH January 10th 2004

 

Background: For some reason, NOAH decided to headline a Nippon Budokan event with three tags, and put champion Kobashi in a third-from-the-top 6-man. Worked out reasonably well. This was done to continue the Kobashi/Akiyama feud en route to July's show at the Tokyo Dome.

 

Why I think it's underrated: Insert my previous comments about 6-man tags being overlooked. The teams are 'parejas increibles', since Rikio/Morishima, Akiyama/Hashi, and Kobashi/Kikuchi are all long-term stablemates. This ends up becoming a showcase for Hashi as he tries to prove himself against his mentor and friend. Good exchanges, plenty of fire, and a receptive crowd all add up to something special.

 

What it deserves: Top 100. Too many spectacular matches from 2004 for this to hit the top tier, but it's got enough quality to merit inclusion.

[Ditch]

Tamura vs Kohsaka, U-Style February 4th 2004

 

Background: Two of the best shoot-style workers of the '90s were eventually forced to do shoots, with some interesting results. U-Style was a worked promotion started in 2003 so that Tamura could return to worked bouts.

 

Why I think it's underrated: Shoot-style in general isn't as popular as other styles, for reasons that probably don't need explaining. Tamura and Kohsaka go at it with such speed and fluidity that I think most people will be able to appreciate this.

 

What it deserves: Top 100, and top 50 consideration for shoot-style fans.

[Alan4L]

Morishima & Yone vs Akiyama & Rikio, NOAH April 1st 2007

 

This is BY FAR the match of the set so far when it comes to be way better than I originally thought. I remember this happening and thinking it was pretty good but not great. Well I was wrong. It's fucking GREAT. Korakuen is super hot and all four guys bring some serious intensity. I think my favourite part of this is how well they sell the fatigue (which may have been legit considering the pace these four big guys were moving at), it just adds a whole load of drama down the stretch because you feel like any move could end it. You know who was in a lot of good matches but never gets any credit? Takeshi Rikio!

 

Where I'll have it: Comfortably in my top 20 at this juncture. May very well stay there

 

Vader vs. Kawada, AJPW Feb 17th 2000

 

Awesome cat and mouse stuff which built to a brutal and emphatic finish. Loved Kawada stealing Vader's punches and using them against him. Unfortunately we only get three Vader appearances on the set but if the other two are as good as this one I'll be happy.

 

Where I'll have it: Feels like it could be around the 65-70 range.

[Alan4L]

C'mon lads, it's just been me and Ditch trading posts for the last while. Let's get some more talk going! I know August seems like ages away but it'll creep up on us soon enough.

 

From the viewing people have done so far, I'm curious if anyone is starting to develop a feel for wrestler of the set? I'm thinking Jun Akiyama. His stuff holds up really well as alot of his strengths are kinda timeless. So far the big matches of his that I've watched all deliver what they advertise, and the smaller matches (such as the one I mentioned above) surprisingly over-deliver.

[tim]

I'd been watching for this quite a bit, probably will be taking a break for a couple months now. Might try to get a top 100 together, but for now this was my tentative top 50 as of when I'd finished my initial spree of watching:

 

1. Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda vs. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito, NOAH 06/06/2003

2. Kenta Kobashi vs. Tamon Honda, NOAH 04/23/2003

3. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama, AJPW 02/27/2000

4. Yuki Ishikawa, Munenori Sawa & Alexander Otsuka vs. Daisuke Ikeda, Super Tiger II and Katsumi Usuda, BattlARTS 07/26/2008

5. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kensuke Sasaki, NJPW 10/28/2000

6. Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuichi, NJPW 12/14/2000

7. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Osamu Nishimura, MUGA 09/25/2006

8. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Shinya Hashimoto, AJPW 02/22/2004

9. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, NOAH 09/23/2002

10. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Naoya Ogawa, Zero-One 12/14/2003

11. Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa, FUTEN 04/24/2005

12. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Jun Akiyama, Wrestle-1 04/08/2005

13. Jun Akiyama vs. Masao Inoue, NOAH 04/23/2006

14. Kenta Kobashi vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, NOAH 04/25/2004

15. Tamon Honda vs. Daisuke Ikeda, NOAH 09/01/2001

16. Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Hiroyuki Ito, U-Style 08/18/2004

17. Fujita Hayato vs. Koji Kanemoto, NJPW 12/22/2009

18. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Kazunari Murakami, BattlARTS 11/26/2000

19. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Genichiro Tenryu, AJPW 10/28/2000

20. Tiger Mask IV & Alexander Otsula vs. Carl Malenko & Ikuto Hidaka, BattlARTS 02/13/2001

21. Kenta Kobashi vs. Yoshinari Ogawa, NOAH 11/01/2003

22. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Carl Greco, BattlARTS 06/01/2008

23. Jushin Liger & Wataru Inoue vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, NOAH 02/17/2002

24. Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya vs. Taiyo Kea & Kiyoshi Miyamoto, AJPW 04/27/2002

25. Stan Hansen & Taiyo Kea v Toshiaki Kawada & Genichiro Tenryu, AJPW 07/23/2000

26. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, NOAH 03/15/2001

27. Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masato Tanaka, Zero-One 11/07/2003

28. Tamon Honda vs. Akitoshi Saito, NOAH 03/30/2003

29. Genichiro Tenryu & Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiozaki, NOAH 04/24/2005

30. Jushin Liger & Takehiro Murahama vs. Naomichi Marufuji & KENTA, NOAH 7/16/2003

31. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Takeshi Morishima, NOAH 03/02/2008

32. Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masato Tanaka, Zero-One 03/02/2002

33. Kenta Kobashi vs. Kensuke Sasaki, NOAH 07/18/2005

34. Yuji Nagata vs. Akira Taue, NOAH 06/06/2003

35. Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura, GAEA 12/15/2001

36. Dick Togo vs. Tiger Mask IV, Michinoku Pro 08/25/2002

37. Shinya Hashimoto & Takashi IIzuka vs. Kazunari Murakami & Naoya Ogawa, NJPW 01/04/2000

38. Yuji Nagata vs. Kazunari Murakami, NJPW 12/12/2002

39. Akira Taue vs. Naomichi Marufuji, NOAH 03/05/2006

40. Jun Akiyama vs. Hiroshi Tenzan, NJPW 08/17/2003

41. Osamu Nishimura vs. Hiro Saito, MUGA 08/02/2006

42. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Alexander Otsuka, Big Mouth Loud 09/11/2005

43. Jun Akiyama, Akitoshi Saito & Juji Izumida vs. Takeshi Rikio, Takeshi Morishima & Daisuke Ikeda, NOAH 03/16/2003

44. Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs. Manabu Suruga & Takahiro Oba, FUTEN 04/09/2009

45. Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, 04/07/2002

46. Shinya Hashimoto & Yuji Nagata v. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama, Zero-One 03/02/2001

47. Osamu Nishimura vs. Koji Kanemoto, NJPW 08/08/2004

48. Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue, NOAH 09/10/2004

49. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue, NOAH 09/10/2004

50. Yuji Nagata vs. Giant Bernard, NJPW 04/30/2006

[Superstar Sleeze]

Im so slow.

 

Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori - 2000 Champions Carnival Final

 

I understand why this match has a big rep as you get well-executed leg work from Omori and then a gangbusters finish stretch from Kobashi with Kobashi finally winning the Champions Carnival, but I did feel everything connected and that this was a true classic match. I liked where they went with Omori hitting basement dropkick on the knee as a last ditch effort to avoid the match becoming a rout. He gave a great performance in destroying the leg, but rather than the constant callbacks and battling through the pain in the Takayama match we get the Kobashi fireworks show at the end. Dont get me wrong, I dig some high end offense, but it felt arbitrary and capricious. It was like Kobashi said ok no more leg work time to give the folks the grand finale. Judging by the reaction of the two good-looking ladies in the front row thats what they wanted. It just killed the drama of the match. The hook went from being Kobashi overcoming a knee injury to Kobashi's badass offense.

 

Omori starts off with the weakest slap in history when he backed Kobashi into the ropes. I just shake my head. Kobashi overwhelms Omori with chops and kicks his ass on the outside. Omori takes a pretty wicked Bret-style bump into the railing. For all my criticism, Omori left it all in the ring for this match. I liked Kobashi's short knee lifts into an ab stretch thats really sound psychology and I like that he uses that as a routine spot. Omori tries a fishhook to get out and I loved that. There is an epic suplex struggle (common All Japan spot at this point, this one was the best so far) and Omori bails on it to hit a dropkick to knee. Immediately, the entire complexion of the match changes from Kobashi's domination to Omori consolidating an advantage. On the outside he basically throws Kobashi onto the announce table in a sweet spot. Omori does a great job working over the knee with an assortment of submissions (half-crab, figure-4, and Scorp Deathlock). Kobashi just chops him in the head to build his comeback. Omori cuts him off and hits a missile dropkick for 2. Kobashi misses a spinning back hand chop and Omori hits rolling dragon suplexes for 2. It is about here when I know we are just going for a bomb throwing finish. Kobashi starts throwing suplexes, but Omori actually cuts off the moonsault attempt by attacking the knee. He hits a monster knee drop. If you are an offense mark, you will love this shit. After Omori only get a 2 after a lariat, Kobashi just takes this muthafucker to the woodshed. At first Omori struggles, but Kobashi hits a sleeper suplex. Omori is struggling as Kobashi goes for a powerbomb, so Kobashi smites him with a Burning Lariat. Kobashi hoists Omori up and you can tell he is going for the turnbuckle powerbomb but misses. So he powerbombs him again onto the turnbuckle, but Omori's legs were under the rope. Omori's eyes tell the story: the lights are on, but no one is home. Kobashi hits a half-nelson suplex, crowd erupts for the Burning Lariat and then Kobashi hits THE MOTHER OF ALL BURNING LARIATS to win!

 

Look, I don't think it is a transcendent match because of disjointed it is and that it felt like an exhibition of Kobashi's Godly Offense rather than a real struggle. However, as far as fireworks spectacles go this pretty fuckin awesome. Omori is totally game and plays his part well. Omori hit a monster top rope knee drop and did some great leg work. Kobashi is an offense god and if you love offense this is your match. ****

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Toshiaki Kawada vs Satoshi Kojima - All Japan 06/06/01

 

The last time I saw a Kojima match was about 6 years ago. I didn't like him then and I don't really care for him now. I will get the Devil his due in these upcoming matches he was over like rover. I would say he was more popular than Kawada and Tenryu with the audiences. From my understanding, he is even a spottier version of Mutoh and the number one Mutoh disciple following him from New Japan to All Japan and using a lot of 21st century Mutoh tactics. Also he fuckin loves the Ace Crusher.

 

The beginning of this match was by far the best part. You have Kawada shaking off a tie-up and going into hamstring stretches. Basically, saying this kid is his light work before the big 06/08 Budokan card. Kojima, feeling disrespected, gives him some fuck up flip splashes and then mocks him and does his own hamstring stretches. I really liked that tit for tat interaction. The crowd hot for Kojima loved that he showed up Kawada there. Kojima catches one of Kawada's kick with a drag leg screw and then does his best Mutoh impression with dropkicks to the knee and a figure-4. So far, so good, so what because Kawada decides to basically drop the entire match and restart. One of my favorite things in wrestling is Kawada selling the knee and I was bummed that once he went back on offense he just no-sold it. We are talking running big boot and a knee drop. It also kinda made Kojima look like a chump. Of course, when Kojima dropkicks Kawada in the face Kawada sells it like he has really been hurt. So it is all the more frustrating because he is game in some points of the match and others he will just get his shit in. After this, it loses structure and basically becomes your standard 21st century bomb throwing match, but without the high-end NOAH offense. Kawada hits a pretty wicked back drop driver. Kojima follows up with a desperation Ace Crusher and then one off the middle rope that looked like shit. The lariat exchange was pretty decent. Kawada kicked Kojima's lariat arm -> Kawada could not take him down with lariats -> Kojima lariats Kawada's lariat arm and murders him with a lariat. This gets the biggest pop of the match. If I am the booker, I don't care Kojima can't work because he is over. Push this man. Kawada kicks lariat arm again. Kojima eats a wicked back drop driver, powerbomb and an enziguiri to lose.

 

I thought Kawada's defensive performance (bumping and selling) in this was woeful. I am very disappointed by his work in this match. Kojima was ok. He could be carried to a great match, but this would not be the match. This match was pretty much a mess and lost its way after the knee work. **3/4

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Genichiro Tenryu vs Satoshi Kojima - Budokan 02/24/02

 

Kojima is still wicked over with the fans. I actually listen to wrestling podcasts while listening to these puro matches, but still have the volume up high enough on the match to hear sound effects. The only chants loud to hear are the Kojima ones. I have no problem tuning out Japanese commentary completely so that undercurrent does not affect my ability to listen to the podcasts.

 

Tenryu is more game than Kawada it seems to carry Kojima to a great match, but still it does not reach MOTYC levels for me. Again, I thought the beginning of the match was the best part. Tenryu was so good at looking down at Kojima. The way he brushes aside one of Kojima's chops is awesome. Then he backs Kojima against the ropes and lets Kojima cover up waiting for the chop only to look like a tool when it never comes. Then the next times he chops the bejeezus out of him in the corner. Basically, Tenryu is awesome, but we already knew that. Kojima "proves" his mettle sending Tenryu tumbling to outside with some forearms and a diving forearm. He does his somersault splash. After a chinlock, Tenryu hits his own somersault splash on Kojima. In a weird moment, Kojima heads for the hilsl, but seems to be spooked by the specter of Giant Baba at the end of the ramp. It is weird because Kojima seems like a babyface to the crowd and because puroresu does not usually that device. Tenryu wrangles him back in and just punches and chops the shit out of him. Kojima resorts to his base instincts: Ace Crusher, Ace Crusher, Ace Crusher! Ok, it was only two, but one was a shitty one off the apron. In a really cool spot, Tenryu tries to enter the ring and Kojima lariats his knee. That spot should be cribbed. Once again, the knee work does not follow to a neat conclusion. Kojima really is a shitty version of Mutoh. Tenryu regains the advantage and hits his wicked sweet spider German/back elbow combo. Tenryu goes back to head games with some playful slaps and Kojima reacts with a scoop piledriver. I love how Kojima hits this weird neckbreaker and afterwards Tenryu just punches him to get the advantage. Tenryu brainbuster leads to a double KO. Tenryu wins a chopfest to get a powerbomb, but only gets 2. Kojima lets out a roar, but then Flair Flops. Huge Kojima chants! Tenryu polishes him off with a brainbuster.

 

This was a big improvement over the Kawada match because of Tenryu's consistency. The whole match he was playing head games with Kojima about his inexperience and his inferiority. Kojima would power up, but he would never be able to sustain momentum because he lacked the experience. Why hit a weird move when you can just punch someone in the face? Kojima is a bit all over the place on offense, but is good at puro fighting spirit selling. He is a more expressive, but spottier version of Mutoh. I actually really dug the finish where he looks like he is going to do the fighting spirit hulk-up, but just collapses. It shows Kojima has a lot of heart, but does not have the brains yet. ***1/2

[Superstar Sleeze]

Yoshihiro Takayama vs Osamu Nishimura - G-1 Climax '02 Semi-finals

 

I wanted to like this, but it came off feeling too much like exhibition to me. There was no real sense of struggle or urgency until the latter stages of the match. There is no doubt that Nishimura was over like rover with the crowd, but I did not get the sense he really cared about winning the match. He seemed kind of like a hot dog showboat. I love Takayama, but he sort of just let Nishimura do stuff to him to pop the crowd. Nishimura has some neat little mat stuff, but it is way too cute for my taste. What bugged me the most about Nishimura' performance is how he totally no sold the cross armbreaker while in the hold. Talking about killing the drama. Even though, the crowd loved Nishimura, there seemed to be something so detestable about him. He just seemed so smug to me. Towards the end when Nishimura did a knee drop on Takayama's knee and then the figure-4, Takayama's selling finally drew me in. It finally felt like two people trying to win a match. Of course, I am going to call a spade a spade and Takayama just dropped the knee selling after that, which bothered me because Takayama working from underneath was an interesting dynamic. I have never seen Nishimura before but something about him did irk me so I did take personal pleasure when Takayama said enough with this bitchy little kicks and chopped the fuck out of his chest. Then he just chucks him across the ring twice. God Bless Takayama! That was pretty much the end of Nishimura. Nishimura get an ab stretch pin for a false finish that crowd bites on. Takayama, undeterred, hits him with an Everest German to pick up the victory.

 

Having only watched one match of Nishimura, I will continue to have an open mind about him that withstanding I was very underwhelmed by this match. It was a refreshing change of pace to see long stretches of matwork and no lariats, but I have seen better versions of this match and it really could have been so much more. There was plenty of good wrestling, but once again it felt like a Nishimura matwork exhibition. I thought Takayama supplied all the best parts and was the only one interested in selling during the majority of the match. It would have been cool to see Takayama work underneath if it was against a less self-indulgent opponent. It is a hard match to rate, but I will say ***1/4.

[drokk]

Tamura vs Kohsaka, U-Style February 4th 2004

 

Background: Two of the best shoot-style workers of the '90s were eventually forced to do shoots, with some interesting results. U-Style was a worked promotion started in 2003 so that Tamura could return to worked bouts.

 

Why I think it's underrated: Shoot-style in general isn't as popular as other styles, for reasons that probably don't need explaining. Tamura and Kohsaka go at it with such speed and fluidity that I think most people will be able to appreciate this.

 

What it deserves: Top 100, and top 50 consideration for shoot-style fans.

Hey guys. Long time lurker, decided to sign up because I watched this match. Don't know if I'll end up with a 50 match ballot but I'm gonna try to at least watch 100 matches and join in on the discussion.

 

Kiyoshi Tamura Vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, U-Style 2/4/2004

 

I remember having a DVD set of early UWF and being impressed by the pace at which Tamura worked the mat. Didn't know TK did worked matches. Before this I only knew him as a middling MMA fighter and the dude who gave Fedor Emelianenko his first loss.

 

That said, this wasn't really a context heavy match. Shoot style is one of my favorite styles of wrestling to watch and this delivered a lot of what I look for. The opening matwork was awesome. Tamura and TK create really nice, fluid sequences that are made even better by their shoot wrestling skills. As an MMA fan, it's sometimes hard for me buy in to people's mat work and strikes when they don't look like there's any real struggle. That's not to say I don't love a good worked punch, but Tamura and TK's mat work looks like two guys who have spent years in the gym on the mat finding counters and holds from every position. The pace in the first few minutes was awesome and does a really good job of setting up the eventual break down from feeling out process to "Yeah I'm just gonna try to murder this dude."

 

Around the 5:00 mark Tamura gets full mount and pulls out one of the swankest stand ups from mount I've seen. Made almost no sense as the mount is one of the most dominant positions on the mat... but whatever. TK gets a nasty headlock that looks all strength, no technique and forces a rope break. When Tamura gets up, he scores a knock down with a disgustingly sick high kick and I feel as if the stand up from mount is justified - no point in possibly giving up your back for an early arm bar when you can just drill TK in the temple. They keep building towards the end and every sequence feels more intense than the last. You can really see the difference in how holds are applied in the first few minutes and how they're just grinding each other in to dust near the end. Tamura's punches to the gut to escape a heel hook were awesome and were a good example of how simple stuff can convey a huge sense of urgency.

 

Really liked this match. Everything about it felt organic, which to me is what makes matches good - particularly shoot style matches. Everything escalated very well from the opening feeling out process to Tamura having to rip TK's hands apart to get the armbar for the finish.

 

Where I'll have it - In the 75 range.

[Alan4L]

Nice review man, I definitely need to get that one watched.

[drokk]

Thanks Alan.

 

Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka Vs. Jushin Thunder Liger and Togi Makabe, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles, NJPW 9/12/2000

 

I think I'm just gonna go through all of Ditch's weekly pimped matches instead of revisiting "All heart, no knees" Kobashi like I want to.

 

Could not possibly tell you anything I've seen from these guys except, of course, a ton of Liger. I've seen maybe 10 or so Makabe matches but they were all after he had already made the full transition to the heavyweight ranks.

 

Right from the start Makabe is put to a real test with an early double team and Kanemoto really laying in the kicks and cranking on the holds. I dig the chemistry between Liger and Makabe. Looks a lot like Liger is content to let the young lion shine and only really steps in to help Makabe out of something or to set something up. Liger's piledriver at around 10:00 of the file is nasty looking and makes you wish it was more than a transition. Spot on observation by Ditch in noticing Makabe doesn't really have much in his arsenal. His offense really consists of taking advantage of opportunities with simple throws and strikes instead of taking a risk on a more complicated move.

 

You have to love Kanemoto's dick move of coming in and stomping Liger and SIMULTANEOUSLY telling the ref to keep Makabe on the apron. The match as a whole would have worked perfectly fine with Makabe taking a king sized beating in order to feed a hot tag, but instead we see Liger getting worked over pretty good and Makabe having to make a few saves of his own. Thought that was really cool and makes me want to see more of Makabe from around this time. Tanaka hits a damned flying heel hook on the floor and I smile. Makabe gets a near fall off a German suplex on Kanemoto that starts the finishing sequence off with a bang. Liger playing cheerleader for the last few minutes is awesome and really gets over the idea that it's Makabe's match and if he gets the win it's not going to be because Liger served it to him on a platter.

 

I dug this for what it was and feel I would probably be way more in to it if I saw a bit more of Makabe's 2000. Worth checking out.

 

Where I'll have it - Near the bottom if all I watch is ~100 matches. Probably won't make it if I watch much more.

 

Forgive my disjointed review style but I'm still trying to find my voice

[Alan4L]

I just watched the other day. Enjoyed it alot, particularly the final third.

[drokk]

I just watched the other day. Enjoyed it alot, particularly the final third.

Yeah the last few minutes were awesome. Makabe just killing dudes with spears and Korakuen losing its mind added to the atmosphere.

 

Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka Vs. Dr. Wagner Jr and Silver King, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles, NJPW 2/3/2001

 

Hey! More Kanemoto and Tanaka! Let's hope Kanemoto gets a bit more of the spotlight here.

 

...He didn't.

 

This was all about Wagner and King. They got to show off a ton of cool offense and seemed to get over with the crowd. I wish I could write a bit more but nothing really stood out to me. Felt a lot like Kanemoto and Tanaka were content to let the luchadores get their stuff in and just wait for the finish. Not a bad match at all but if they would have taken three minutes of Wagner/King control and let Kanemoto and Tanaka get a little more in, it would have been better.

 

I do like Wagner in New Japan though. He looks so much beefier than they NJ juniors and it serves a great double purpose: it gets over his strength advantage and it looks even crazier when he hooks an arm or leg, starts twisting around, and ends up in a pinning predicament.

 

Still looking for some good Kanemoto...

 

Where I'll have it: Off the list. There would have to be a lot of outright bad stuff (and there isn't going to be) for me to move this in to a top 100, let alone a top 50.

[Alan4L]

I just watched the other day. Enjoyed it alot, particularly the final third.

Yeah the last few minutes were awesome. Makabe just killing dudes with spears and Korakuen losing its mind added to the atmosphere.

 

Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka Vs. Dr. Wagner Jr and Silver King, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles, NJPW 2/3/2001

 

Hey! More Kanemoto and Tanaka! Let's hope Kanemoto gets a bit more of the spotlight here.

 

...He didn't.

 

This was all about Wagner and King. They got to show off a ton of cool offense and seemed to get over with the crowd. I wish I could write a bit more but nothing really stood out to me. Felt a lot like Kanemoto and Tanaka were content to let the luchadores get their stuff in and just wait for the finish. Not a bad match at all but if they would have taken three minutes of Wagner/King control and let Kanemoto and Tanaka get a little more in, it would have been better.

 

I do like Wagner in New Japan though. He looks so much beefier than they NJ juniors and it serves a great double purpose: it gets over his strength advantage and it looks even crazier when he hooks an arm or leg, starts twisting around, and ends up in a pinning predicament.

 

Still looking for some good Kanemoto...

 

Where I'll have it: Off the list. There would have to be a lot of outright bad stuff (and there isn't going to be) for me to move this in to a top 100, let alone a top 50.

 

Fast forward to 2009 for Kanemoto vs Hayato. That's your Kanemoto money match.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Genichiro Tenryu vs Satoshi Kojima - 07/17/02

 

The two trends I have noticed from my limited Kojima watching is to expect one shitty modified Ace Crusher and that the beginning of the match is always better than the end. I will say this match the the goodness lasted well into the match thus making it is his best match yet. After being dissed and dismissed by Tenryu in the February match, Kojima came out with something to prove and right off the bat gives Tenryu a taste of his own medicine: punches and chops in the corner. Tenryu gives him a Fuck You Chop that may have been a little high as Kojima gasps for breath powdering to the outside. The high chop to the throat was Tenryu's ace in the hole throughout the match when the going got rough. It is quite a trump card to have. Tenryu, who is pissed that Kojima is being a little baby about him trying to crush Kojima's larynx, throws a water bottle at him. Got to love, Mr. Puroresu!

 

Kojima's new strategy is just to kick him in the knee. Tenryu retaliates by kicking him in the head when he tries to go for a toehold following up with a high chop and kappo kick. Tenryu punches him in the face and Kojima goes back to the knee. A dragon leg screw causes Tenryu to powder. Kojima pounces on the knee, but Tenryu just overwhelms him. Tenryu hits a pretty explosive follow up chop into corner with some more punches. Tenryu lariats Kojima out and dives onto Kojima. Judging by this crowd, the chicks dig this lumpy old bastard. Tenryu has been taking Kojima to the woodshed and it seems at this point they are going to make the Fighting Spirit play to get Kojima over here.

 

Kojima takes out Tenryu's knee with a lariat on the apron. I love that spot! Here comes Kojima: plancha, somersault off the apron, dragon leg screw, figure-4, scorpion deathlock. He goes back to give Tenryu some more of his own medicine with punch/chop combination in the corner. Kojima is feeling it, but his top rope elbow only gets 2. What does Tenryu do to stymie Kojima? Chop to the throat, duh. Tenryu hit him with two sick deadwight Germans, really showed off Tenryu's power. At this point, I actually wrote "Wow 20 minutes in and no Ace Crushers yet!" in my notes. Literally a second later, Kojima floats over on a suplex attempt and hits an Ace Crusher. It was inevitable. He hits his stupid looking neckbreaker and his scoop piledriver. The best part is on the pin, Tenryu's foot looks for the rope and when he realizes he is too far he kicks out. Thats excellent ring awareness in bot a kayfabe and non-kayfabe sense! Tenryu punches Kojima and hits a brainbuster to regain advantage. He hits the Spider German, but misses back elbow. Thus Kojima hits his stupid fuckin middle rope Ace Crusher. What does Tenryu do, everybody? Chop to throat. Kojima has FIGHTING SPIRIT~! He lariats Tenryu with no padding only there is a bandage there.

 

We hit the home stretch with a chopfest. It is too bad they descended into trite 00s puro hell because they were doing so well. Tenryu hits tow brainbusters for an excellent false finish. Kojima gets his pop for a lariat false finish. Instead of just finishing it there, they dragged it out. Tenryu blocks a lariat hits two brainbusters, but Kojima does a dazed lariat that left me shakin' my head. They do a chopfest were both men sell their fatigue. Tenryu wins with a brainbuster and powerbomb combo to a lesser pop than the false finishes.

 

The finish issues is the same ones that plague the WWE today with so many false finishes that the crowd does not pop as hot for the actual finish. Plus they just dragged it out way too much at that point. Before that, the match was really good and Kojima gave his best performance yet. He had a chip on his shoulder he was going to prove hos mettle to Tenryu and used his moves against him, took out the knee and then threw the bombs. Plus he did take one helluva a beating. Tenryu was his usual steady eddy self making everything awesome around him throwing water bottles in disgust, chops to throat, deadweight Germans. It is a disjointed match, but I am a positive dude. Lets go ***3/4

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada vs Stan Hansen & Taiyo Kea - Budokan 7/23/00

 

This is the first main event at the Budokan in post-split All Japan and it is bitchin' as all hell. It is clearly not a sustainable given 3/4 of the participants' age (it is also 3/4 of the participants from that amazing 1988 Real World Tag League match) and the fact Kea never really made a mark otherwise. However, as a one-off this was really spectacular. Up front, I had never seen a Kea match, but have heard of him and of course I have the other three all in my top 20 greatest of all time.

 

Honestly, at first given how Kea moved, his posture and moves he struck me as a bigger version of Low-Ki. At first, there was something insincere about him. It felt like he was going through the motions whereas Hansen who could barely move just felt like a crazed bear that wanted murder his old rival Tenryu and Tenryu was just as incensed having seen Hansen for the first time since about 1990. Their sections together just seemed so much grittier than Kea's kick exchange with Kawada. Tenryu gets the tag and first thing he does make a beeline for Hansen, who is not even legal. Later on in the match, on the outside, Hansen is beating the pissed out of Tenryu up against the post and Hanse whacks his hand on the post. Not to be deterred, he keeps throwing hands and hits his hand again on the post and sells better than anyone else in the match. Stan Hansen is just so good. As good as Hansen was, he was so limited it was hard for him to make an impression. Tenryu on the other hand just came off as so explosive in all his exchanges with everyone. That is not usually a word I used to describe Tenryu.

 

It looks like Kawada and Tenryu are going to make short work of the injured Hansen, but Hansen is able to knee Kawada in the head. Kea hits a DDT and boots Kawada over the railing. It is time for Kawada and Kea to shine. Kawada played a great face in peril especially since it seemed like he was about to be showed up by Tenryu. Kawada works hard in this segment to make Hansen/Kea team earn it. When he gets into a slugfest with Hansen, he does his great sell of an elbow where he kinda staggers back and looks like he is about to fall on his ass. That is Kawada I know and love. Kea and Kawada have a great mat exchange over a cross armbreaker. It was really gritty and I dug Kea's slaps. Kea really proved himself to me in that sequence. For this match, he was on their level. Kea gets a TKO stunner (the Hawaii Five-O?) for 2, but Kawada hits his spinning heel kick to tag in Tenryu.

 

Tenryu punches Kea, enziguiri and a wicked lariat follow. O Hell Yeah! It starts to break down and Kea hits a monster German on Tenryu who was trying to hold onto the ropes to save himself. Kawada saves Tenryu from that Hawaii Five-O thingy. Melee ensues. Hansen lariats Tenryu -> Kawada jumping kick to Hansen. Kawada goes back to apron just break up Kea's pin, which was a little awkward. Kawada hits a wicked back drop driver to no pop for 2. Tenryu heads off Hansen and they brawl to outisde. Kawada goes for a running corner powerbomb, but then just decides to plant him right there. It was nasty.

 

I dug this match a lot. The fact that Tenryu had not been in All Japan since 1990 his interactions with Hansen really added to the beginning. Then Kawada/Kea kicked some ass in the middle. The finish was chaotic and entertaining. They used the headdrops to set up or be the finish of the match. I don't if there is any other Kea worth watching, but on this night he hung with best of them. ****

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka - New Japan PPV 12/14/00

 

New Japan vs All Japan delivers another classic in this tag match pitting the 2000 G-1 Tag League Winners against the All Japan stalwarts. Nagata & Iizuka come out with Sasaki and Liger immediately this match has a big fight feel. At first, Fuchi cowers away from the younger, Iizuka using the ropes to his advantage. I have never seen Iizuka match and just know him as the dude that the Steiners took liberties with at Wrestlewar '92. He has a predilection for the sleeper. Nagata tags in and brings the fight to Fuchi, who tags out to Kawada. Kawada and Nagata duke it out on the mat in a very gritty exchange. Kawada, cocky as ever, goes for hamstring stretches so Nagata kicks him in the face. The ref admonishes Nagata allowing Kawada to retaliate with a kick to the face of his own. We leave this exchange feeling both are equals. Fuchi mans up and hits a kneecrusher on Iizuka and transformed into the cockiest bastard ever. He lays Iizuka on the middle turnbuckles where he stands on Iizuka's neck and legs. Kawada puts him in a half-crab, which in typical Kawada fashion involves him stepping in his head and nearly breaking him in half. Fuchi gets in on the action by standing on Iizuka's head with the look that says "What the fuck are you going to do about it, Nagata?" Fuchi puts Iizuka in the half-crab so Nagata lights him up. This gives Kawada the chance to floor him with a jumping kick.

 

So now Kawada and Fuchi take turns beating the shit out of Nagata on the floor while the other keeps Iizuka at bay. That's fuckin bitchin' tag wrestling. The crowd is behind Iizuka and I love how you see Sasaki urging Nagata on while he is fallen in the corner. Nagata tries to interfere, but just collapses. You really get the feeling what is one the line here. It is New Japan versus All Japan and New Japan lost the first battle when Kawada beat their champion. Iizuka is able to hit a suplex on Fuchi and he grabs a sleeper on him. Kawada breaks it up, but Fuchi falls outside the ring. While Kawada is checking on Fuchi, Iizuka tags Nagata. I loved that sequence so much. Kawada knows he is in enemy territory and cant afford to lose Fuchi.

 

Nagata tells Kawada to bring it, don't sing it. Kawada hits a big boot and lariat for two. Kawada goes for the back drop driver, but Nagata gets some jumping high kicks to rock him. Kawada is just masterful at selling these. Nagata gets a German, but Kawada hits his spinning heel kick. Kawada hits the back drop driver, but only gets two. Liger cheers the kick out. This is such a cool atmosphere. Kawada applies the stretch plum and the crowd seems very nervous that All Japan will go over again. Kawada with a boot to Iizuka and goes for the powerbomb, but Nagata blocks and kicks Kawada's knee, an eye for an eye. Nagata applies the Nagatalock. Fuchi, remember that badass mutha, staggers in and breaks it up. However, both the All Japan boys end up in leg submissions. Kawada punches Iizuka in the head to make the ropes. When Fuchi is released, he collapses in the corner looking for a tag even though his not legal and Kawada is not there. I need to watch more Fuchi because after being the cockiest bastard ever he is selling like a million bucks. Not to be outdone, Kawada keeps collapsing on German suplex attempts before doing a jumping kick out of it.

 

Kawada tags the limping Fuchi. Fuchi dropkicks Iizuka's knee hoping to regain that advantage. He hits two back drop drivers on Iizuka. Fuchi grabs his own sleeper on Iizuka to give him a taste of his own medicine. Kawada stretch plum on Nagata and Fuchi switches to stretch plum. I love mirror spots! I don't know Japanese, but it sounds like the time calls are getting closer together. Iizuka and Fuchi knock heads on a criss cross exchange. One last Kawada/Nagata exchange and they rip into each other with vicious face slaps. Nagata ends up gets the better of it and applies a cross-armbreaker. Fuchi stands on Nagata's head to break it up as the time limit expires. WHAT A WAR!

 

First, my new dream team is Masa Fuchi and Tony Atlas. Whenever, Atlas played FIP they could have had Fuchi walk on him to revitalize him. Seriously, this was a fantastic that used everybody to their best potential. They highlighted the Kawada/Nagata showdowns in such a way they came off as a big deal, but without feeling like we did not see any action. Fuchi's work in this was excellent and I really need to watch more of his stuff. I loved the Iizuka FIP, which actually became a double FIP where both Iizuka and Nagata were in peril. That was some really ingenious booking. It is the type of stuff you only get to see in puro tags. The finish was great with Kawada and Nagata trading stuff in a logical, violent fashion. I loved Fuchi's and Kawada's selling at the end. It really took the match to whole new level. The ending with Nagata and Kawada slapping teh fuck each other in a race against the clock was so dramatic. It just had to end as a draw. ****1/2

[Superstar Sleeze]

SUWA vs Dragon Kid - Toryumon 08/24/00 Hair Vs Mask

 

This was different thats for sure. It was like someone took ECW/Lucha/Japanese Juniors put in a blender and out came this oddly fun match. There was a lot leaving me scratching my head. Was it 2 out of 3 Falls or did Ultimo Dragon just restart the match? Maybe if I spoke Japanese that confusion could have been avoided but that was 2000 WCW at its worst there. Still maybe it is because I grew up in the late 90s, but there is something about gratuitous interference that does not bother me as much as other wrestling fans. It is entertaining its own way. Actually most of my problem with this match was with Dragon Kid. His offense was so Indy-riffic and pointless. I thought Kojima was bad with Ace Crusher variations, Dragon Kid was killing me with all these setup spots for his stunners. Then add that he will get his ass kicked and just pop up. You are the tiniest dude on the roster you can butter your bread selling. Like for instance SUWA makes a big deal that he is going to elbow Dragon Kid in the balls and he does. Immediately Dragon Kid avoids his next move and does a somersault off the top rope onto the floor. It was a ball shot, dude. Given the two other reviews I read for this match I agree that SUWA was very good and could have been something more if he ended up in a different promotion. Though my disagreement with the previous reviewers is I liked the first/fake fall (?) more. Dragon Kid leaping out onto SUWA during his entrance. Then SUWA as his only defense chucked a chair at Dragon Kid when he tried coming off the apron. I loved SUWA throwing him into the chair and punching young boys. Even though he is bigger than Dragon Kid he still rakes the eyes as a cut off and then goes and rips the mask. At that point, I was just thinking this maybe a fun lucha brawl. I was not buying Dragon Kid's hope spots at all. I was glad SUWA pinned him with a powerbomb, but I think Ultimo Dragon restarted the match because his feet were on the ropes. Dragon Kid tries the only strategy he seems to know and that is bullrushing, but SUWA just uses his momentum against him. I actually dug the dropkick spot where SUWA dropkicked him and Dragon Kid went halfway across the ring. It is worth checking out. Kid hits a rana off a splash mountain attempt. Ref bump. Melee ensues with what seems like the entire roster in the ring. I was digging the chaotic feel of this. I thought the ending was the weakest part, but others seemed to like it. Dragon Kid should stick with hurricanranas because he hits those a lot more wickedly than those awful Stunner variations in his comeback. They hit this convoluted powerbomb that looked like it should be an gymnastics routine where basically does a 360 front flip. I will say the Dragonrana was pretty fuckin bitchin'. Evil Dragon Kid beats up Dragon Kid, but Dragon kid still has the wherewithal to shave SUWA's head. SUWA extends the hand in respect. The audience applauds and then SUWA kicks a field goal right through the uprights. He fuckin destroys a chair around this young boy's head. SUWA is pretty awesome. I didn't hate this. I actually found it a breezy, entertaining 25 minutes. I would not want all wrestling like this but SUWA gave a pretty good heel performance and Dragon Kid was not too cumbersome a piece of luggage. ***1/4

[dawho5]

Superstar Sleaze's review of Kawada/Fuchi vs. Nagata/Iizuka was spot on for my viewing. Seriously need to find a lot more Fuchi at some point. I'll do a review of the 2007 Sasuke vs. Ultimo Dragon match.

 

Dragon high fives the entire front row all the way around the ring on the way in. Really not kidding here. Ultimo is gentlemanly enough to sit on the middle rope and allow Sasuke easy acces into the ring. Sasuke, despite this, ambushes Ultimo to open the match and there's some dive teasing followed by a lot of brawling. Ultimo finally starts getting some offense in and goes to the lucha-y convoluted submissions, mostly focusing on the leg. They try some kind of weird front flip spot that goes pretty badly and Ultimo ends up just covering for 2. Ultimo sends Sasuke to the floor, but Sasuke sees the plancha coming. Dragon lands on his feet and Sasuke goes into sweet dive sequence number one of the match. Sasuke hits his front flip neckbreaker off the top that actually looks pretty badass. Ultimo flips out of a backdrop and hits the three kick combo with Sasuke overselling like a madman (and he is, or so I think.) Ultimo capitalizes with a kick to the face off the apron and a moonsault with his name on it to the outside. Some brawling floor stuff leads to a batshit crazy Sasuke dive. How he still walks after all the complete and total disregard for his own safety that is his wrestling career is beyond me. The dive sequences in this match are major highlights. One annoying part of all this is how the ref continually stops his countouts to the point where they no longer matter. Sasuke's senton bomb (where he rolls forward into the splits) is pretty sweet. His roundhouse kicks have always looked like crap though, and do not fail to do so here. Occasionally one will hit enough to look good, but not often. New brawler-y Sasuke is weird, but his punches look far better than his kicks a lot of the time. Rollup sequence, Ultimo hits a leg slap kick to Sasuke's chest and locks on that weird lucha-style leglock where the attacker is behind the opponent cranking down on their neck with the shoulders while pulling the leg up. Ultimo blatantly releases the hold and rolls himself up for a Sasuke near-fall. Seriously, somebody explain to me why he did that. Was there some other submission or roll-up he was trying there? Ultimo counters the Sasuke second rope moonsault thing with a dropkick to the knee. Nice spinning side kick by Dragon. Dragon eats a German after telegraphing a lariat, then tries to counter another German with a stunner or that backflip DDT thingy, but gets neither as Sasuke just falls sideways. And after all the spotty goodness and badness, we make our way to the really not great finish.

 

I've only watched I think 3 others on this list, but I can't imagine this making the top 150, much less any top 100 list. The dive sequences, aborted ref outside counts aside, were freaking awesome. Some of the back-and-forth stuff in the ring was pretty good, as was Ultimo's first control segment. There were some really huge botched spots in there that detract a lot from the match though.

 

I still love both of these guys for what it's worth. Just a bad showingon a few key spots.

[Ditch]

I never got the love for that match other than a couple moments.

[Alan4L]

yeah me neither. Was it a case of people wanting it to be more than it actually was?

[dawho5]

I would guess so. So many things wrong with it that it gets hard to watch at points.

[dawho5]

Hit 3 more today.

 

Kawada vs. Vader in 2000 seemed kinda rushed, but I'm used to Kawada going quite a bit longer than 15 minutes. Good match, though. Kawada using the Vader hammers to beat Vader down early was awesome. Vader, of course, gets his revenge before we're done. Kawada's backdrop got way flatter on Vader, but I understand. Vader isn't moving great here, and he seems like he gets tired really fast. Brutal match nonetheless. Vader's powerbomb was lackluster, but the following backdrop made up for it. I liked the finish, good way to cap a match like that.

 

The two Takayama vs. Kobashi matches were an interesting watch. The first one Takayama was either not as sharp as the second or he just wasn't as good, don't know which having only seen those matches he's been in. I did like the strategy he took in both, going after Kobashi's right arm to slow down his striking game and take away the lariat's effectiveness. I was really hoping that Takayama would have some kind of countermove or just deadweight himself or grab the railing or SOMETHING on the floor DDT in the second. Some way of building off of the fact that Kobashi was using the same spot at a pretty similar time in the match would have been really nice there. The crowd was clearly a lot more worried about Takayama beating Kobashi the second time around, which I did like a lot. Takayama's Irish whips seemed kinda lazy to me, like Kobashi had to visibly speed himself up to get any kind of momentum going into the ropes or the guard rail. I also thought that the second time around Kobashi could have taken a page from Takayama's book and worked over the right leg early. Would have made for an interesting duel of who could neutralize the other's big offensive weapons better. Still, I did enjoy the match a lot, even if I am not a huge fan of the way the wrestling style evolved in NOAH.

[drokk]

So it turns out I'm super slow at watching wrestling. Still, the 10 matches I've watched since I started on this project is more than I've watched in the last six months, so there's that. Now that I'm absolutely sure of what I plan to watch I can hopefully get a bit of momentum going. Also - write ups take forever when you're trying to make sense, so I think I'll just do quick snippets for a while, especially considering a 20 minute match takes me about an hour to watch and write a "quick" paragraph about.

 

/excuses

Hashimoto/Iizuka Vs. Ogawa/Murakami, 1/4/2000

-CRAZY brawl. Everything in this was awesome and the rear naked choke finish was the most painful hold in a worked match I've seen in a while. Absolutely worth going out of your way to see.

 

Where I'll have it: I may just go nuts and have this near top 15. Everything up to the re-start was good enough to have it top 30 and everything else just gets better from then on.

Tenryu Vs. Sasaki, 1/4/2000

-This is just kind of there. Tenryu and Sasaki beat each other up for 15 minutes, and aside from a few cool highspots (like the powerbomb from the second rope), nothing drew my attention.

 

Where I'll have it: Way down low. Probably off the list.

Misawa Vs. Akiyama, 2/27/2000

-I was so caught up in explaining my HATRED of the apron Exploder that I crossed the line from disliking it to liking it. It makes sense in the context of the match - Akiyama needs to bust up Misawa ASAP because he sure as hell isn't going to win any kind of wrestling exchange. From there on out it's all Akiyama wearing Misawa down and taking advantage of every opportunity he gets. Misawa gives Akiyama a lot without making it look like a total squash. This had a very simple but very hot finishing stretch that got the crowd really riled up.

 

Where I'll have it: Bottom half of 100.

Kobashi Vs. Omori, 4/15/2000

-This was way more fun than it was technically good, and that is in no way a bad thing. The only thing I really did not like was that Omori spends so much of the match shredding Kobashi's knee and by the finish the only sign of it is a subtle limp. Aside from that, this was pretty cool.

 

Where I'll have it: Holding hands with Misawa/Akiyama from February.

Kobashi Vs. Takayama, 5/26/2000

-Takayama is an awesome heel foil to Kobashi's charismatic babyface. The chops to the head are worked as being deadly but it's hard to buy them. Takayama's arm work does a good job of slowing things down, weakening Kobashi's chops and lariats, and laying the groundwork for the finishing stretch. Kobashi having to box Takayama with only his left hand was an awesome visual. I feel like if they had gone a minute or two longer the finish could have been more heated, but it's okay as is.

 

Where I'll have it: Bottom half.

Ohtani/Takaiwa Vs. Kanemoto/Tanaka, 6/25/2000

-Kanemoto trying to out-heel Ohtani and Takaiwa is awesome. Am I wrong in saying the match was just a constant escalation in a contest of who can be the bigger prick? It felt like that. I REALLY liked the sequence of suplexes that bridged everything in to the last third. A lot of the transitions and counters were really simple and effective, which I love compared to when guys do a backflip out of a powerbomb in to a DDT countered by a Northern Lights (or whatever). Really quick pace throughout and just enough MOVES~ to impress athletically but not be an overly contrived mess.

 

Where I'll have it: In the 40-60 range.

 

I did a write up for Kobashi/Honda too and put in my blog here on the forums. This was before I decided to focus on watching and not writing, heh.

 

Kenta Kobashi Vs. Tamon Honda, GHC Heavyweight Championship, Pro Wrestling NOAH 4/13/2003

 

Underdog matches are great and all, but I particularly like the "Every dog has his day" type of underdog match. This match pulled that idea off very well and Kobashi being so selfless to Honda was cool to see.

 

The early mat work in this was killer. Honda goes for amateur throws and old-school submissions and Kobashi does a really good job of keeping up with him in terms of tricked-out mat wrestling. The headlock section around the 9:00 minute mark works so well after all the counters and submissions. Kobashi grinds Honda down a bit more before Honda manages to pull out THAT GERMAN SUPLEX on the ramp. That one suplex I felt was really important in setting the tone for the rest of the match. Kobashi was in control for much of the match, so every big suplex/throw/hold Honda was actually able to pull off carried a lot of weight. I don't know if that makes sense...

 

Very smooth escalation throughout the match that was helped by the selling. Honda very much looked like an old man who had been dropped on his head (which I'm sure wasn't hard to pull off). Kobashi's facial expressions were awesome as always. The finishing stretch is all kinds of painful looking and features one of my favorite near falls ever when Honda counters a lariat with a shoulder throw in to a pin. That was so awesome to see. Kobashi of course finally puts down Honda with a lariat and all is well.

 

All the important stuff about this match has already been written, so I'll just add myself to the people who dig it.

 

Where I'll have it: Top 30.

Rankings after watching TEN WHOLE MATCHES:

 

Kobashi Vs. Honda 4/13/2003

Hashimoto/Iizuka Vs. Ogawa/Murakami, 1/4/2000

Tamura Vs. Kohsaka 2/4/2004

Kanemoto/Tanaka Vs. Liger/Makabe 9/12/2000

Kobashi Vs. Takayama, 5/26/2000

Misawa Vs. Akiyama, 2/27/2000

Ohtani/Takaiwa Vs. Kanemoto/Tanaka, 6/25/2000

Kobashi Vs. Omori, 4/15/2000

Tenryu Vs. Sasaki, 1/4/2000

Kanemoto/Tanaka Vs. Wagner Jr./Silver King 2/3/2001

[dawho5]

Three more down.

 

Hashimoto/Iizuka vs. Ogawa/Murakami was a fucking barnburner! The booking was spot on, as was the work. Hashimoto got a MASSIVE reaction coming out and didn't disappoint at all. Not gonna say too much on this one for those who haven't seen it, but it is well worth a watch. I rank this one pretty high, probably top 20 by the end.

 

KENTA/Ishimori vs. Hulk/Shingo was a fun juniors tag. KENTA and Ishimori work over Hulk for quite a while after the opening sequence, with Hulk's lip busted open when he finally gets the tag. Shingo seems like a good powerhouse junior and has a sweet lariat. Ishimori seems hit and miss, he can be really slick, but some of his late match offense is really contrived. Hulk didn't do a whole lot besides bump around for the middle of the match, but I have a suspicion that may be his actual job description within that tag team. Hulk and Ishimori hit some awesome dives in this. One of my favorite spots early involves Shingo taking a swing at KENTA (who is rope-running over a downed Hulk) and KENTA giving Shingo the business end of his boot on the return trip. Shingo repaying KENTA later on the outside is pretty nice. The finishing run is mostly good, can't say I liked a few of Ishimori's big moves and his counter sequence with Hulk was way overdone. KENTA takes a bit too much of a beating to kick out of a few things to me, but overall a fun match.

 

Kobashi vs. Taue. Yeah, that's my number one for right now. The bad: Kobashi needs to lose that stupid hood he can't see out of prematch. That's about it for me. Taue's chest has these sick welts by 10-15 minutes in that hurt me watching. Kobashi is pretty damn good at chaining holds together on the mat. Taue having to try multiple times to escape the abdominal stretch was nice, especially when he finally did and revisited old times with Kobashi for a while. Both blew me away with their dives. Taue was awesome here. Kobashi was almost as good. The head drops that were there were well-placed. Not one was wasted, even if I found it more than a little amusing and sad that the half nelson got a decent pop but nobody was counting along or surprised at all on the kickout. I guess that would be the other bad part, even if it isn't really a fault in this particular match. Finish was great, can't believe these two are still working at this level in 2004.