[2004-10-24-NOAH-Navigation Against The Current Line] KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji vs Ricky Marvin & SUWA

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[supersonic]

Marufuji & KENTA vs. SUWA & Marvin - October 24, 2004

After watching this classic, and getting to see the conniving greatness that was SUWA, I'm saddened we never got to see him lock it up with Ric Flair and Eddie Guerrero. He was an absolutely masterful jabroni in this one, the Kevin Steen (another guy who I wish had been booked against SUWA) of his team, with Marvin somewhat playing the El Generico-esque good cop. In particular, I loved the channeling of the Dudleyz with the blatant lowblow spot in the first act of the match on KENTA, this one though being a simple stop instead of headbutt from SUWA and minus the crowd-teasing of course.

KENTA was tremendous once again in getting his hope transitions in for a hot tag, capitalizing on the challengers the second he got that chance. He had some fantastic exchanges with SUWA, and I could see he really landed those kicks; there was no slapping of the thigh for the audio effect. Marufuji was great again in his chemistry with Marvin, the two of them having some dazzling flashy transitions. Marvin near the end of the match also laid in a gorgeous Shiranui on Marufuji, showing that he had learned from all those previous title shots and put in the work to utilized the arsenal of his greatest opponents.

The finishing stretch in this was phenomenal too, ending with KENTA laying in the G2S on Marvin, who took a spectacular bump to put it over and give this match the exclamation mark it deserved. I hope a decade later though that the bump was worth it for him though. SUWA, still the absolute cunt he was during his career, attempted to ambush the successful champs post-match. ****1/2