[2001-01-06-NOAH] Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Takeshi Morishima & Kentaro Shiga

[soup23]

Sterness explodes. Its bizarre to see Akiyama now be the complete ring general with the three young upstarts. Every exchange Akiyama is involved in here, he gets the better of his opponent.  Shiga was a logical whipping post for the Kanemaru/Akiyama team to target and they do just that.  Kanemaru strikes me as a good underneath partner for Jun showing flash and some aspects of cheating to mix in with the aggressiveness of Akiyama overall.  I didn’t care for the finish here as it felt like Akiyama’s team really dominated and I thought the finish coming against Kanemaru with Shiga getting the arm submission came a bit too easy.  I guess overall at NOAH at this moment in time though, Shiga was #2 in this match even though historically he will end up as #4 within this match.  Akiyama shakes hands with Morishima and Shiga afterwards and they go about their business as staying a stable. *** (6)

[AstroBoy]

This was serviceable.  Akiyama does a good job punishing Shiga on the mat, grounding Morishima when he gets going, and generally helping out Kanemaru when he needs the tide turned.  The ending did feel a bit abrupt but this was mostly good.