[2000-09-16-NOAH-Exceeding Our Dreams] Kenta Kobayashi vs Naomichi Marufuji

[soup23]

I just wish NJPW had this much faith in their young lions. I can’t think of the last time they let them bust out this much and this successful of a polished match at this young an age. The work early on looked tight and the reversals were excellent. Then the match goes into a 5-6 minute extended stretch with Marufuji busting out all sorts of great stuff and Kenta kicking out until Marufuji is finally able to put him away. A strong opening match and really easy to see that these two were worthy of being blue chip prospects in the eyes of the promotion. ***1/4 (6.7)

[AstroBoy]

This got good despite Marufuji being a really disinterested seller and also having some wonky offense right after he took over. The weird standing bronco buster in the corner comes to mind. You can tell they are deliberately and cautiously taking their time to execute a match like this but it does come together nicely with Marufuji honing his attack toward the ribs. I actually really liked the methodical pace leading to the nice couple false finishes.

 

**3/4