Microstatistics' 2019-20 Top 100 matches of all time

[ohtani's jacket]

Kenta Kobashi vs. Naomichi Marufuji ( NOAH, 4/23/2006)

This was really good. I liked the role reversal from the kind of matches Kobashi had against Jumbo in the early 90s. Marufuji hits some sweet moves from the top and catches Kobashi flush. I don't like that finisher of his, but he's a great high flyer. Personally. I thought they should have ended this with the lariat, but I guess they wanted to give Marufuji a little more rub. I can definitely see the appeal of this bout. 

[ohtani's jacket]

The Destroyer vs. The Spirit (AJPW, 7/25/1975)

This was an intriguing pick. It was a decent fight, but they spent a hell of a lot of time hiding foreign objects in their masks or trunks to the bemusement of the Japanese fans. It wasn't much of a showcase for how great Beyer was, either. The Spirit cut a dodgy as fuck promo afterward. Not sure how that slipped under the radar all these years. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Kenta Kobashi vs. Tamon Honda (NOAH, 4/13/2003)

Talk about a match that won me over. At the beginning of this match, I was thinking about how I just don't get Honda and maybe I'm expecting too much from him because he was a legit amateur but his shit doesn't look that good to me, and how I have a new found respect for Kobashi after watching his 00s matches, but this wasn't one of the better ones. Then Honda went after Kobashi's injured arm and the rest of the bout was amazing. Honda as a shoot style brawler in a pro-style promotion worked perfectly, and every move he did on the arm looked insane. Kobashi switched into big match mode, and without sounding like I'm preaching to the choir, he has to be in the upper echelon of big match workers. There might have been a slight miscue with a no sell in the finishing stretch, but I was so happy that he finished it with the lariat. Kobashi's lariat at this stage was the heir apparent to Hansen, and obviously there is history there. I don't know how to rate this as a match, but the hook of Honda going after the arm was something special for me. I know the hook for the audience was supposed to be the earlier ramp spot, but I was hating on the match at that point. I hope there is more shoot-brawl stuff from Honda. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Jun Akiyama vs. Naomichi Marufuji  (NOAH, 9/9/2006)

Is it just me or do Marufuji's hairstyle and ring gear improve the more established he becomes? This was a bit of a slow burner that turned into a pretty good match, but the most notable thing about it was the result. It was a bit of a shock to me since I basically didn't follow Japanese wrestling in the 00s. Didn't see that coming at all. Was it a surprise at the time?

[Robert S]

From what I remember, that title change was somewhat expected, at least it did not a "holy shit, Ogawa got the title of Akiyama in 4:20, is Misawa high?" reaction. After the failed Rikio experiment, they moved the title forward to Marufuji (via Taue and Akiyama) to give the next young guy a chance. Though the way they booked it (giving Marufuji only one successful title defense in Japan, that being the 35 minute match against KENTA that resulted in quite diverse reactions on the internet), it somehow felt like a test balloon to see if junior heavyweights might get accepted on top.

Okay, to check my memory, I went back to the show topic on the German board I was posting back then (which is still alive after over 20 years), and the postings were (translated): "holy fuck", "fuck, what an upset", "OMG", "that's the biggest upset NOAH could have done" (Purolove admin and contributor STRIGGA), "I fell down to the floor reading the result", "NOAH is taking a huge risk, though fitting the NOAH booking of intermingling of the heavyweight and junior heavyweight division" (Purolove admin and contributor Sternness) ... My posting also indicated that I saw this as quite unexpected.

[ohtani's jacket]

AMW vs. Triple X (TNA, 12/5/2004)

I thought this was easily the best of the TNA matches that have been voted for in this project. A tag match inside a steel cage is a recipe for overkill, but this is exceptionally well worked. You can argue that they overdo it towards the end, but on a first watch that nearly-botched, tight rope walk hurricanrana was an insane spot, especially for a dude like me who hates heights. They probably could have ended it better than the 'turnabout is fair play' handcuffing and AMW doing Triple X's own move on them, but you can see the poeticism they were going for. The best thing about this was the blend of violence, blood and the stip. Not the cage match, but the losing team disbanding. That was a great stip.

[ohtani's jacket]

On 9/1/2020 at 5:33 AM, Robert S said:

From what I remember, that title change was somewhat expected, at least it did not a "holy shit, Ogawa got the title of Akiyama in 4:20, is Misawa high?" reaction. After the failed Rikio experiment, they moved the title forward to Marufuji (via Taue and Akiyama) to give the next young guy a chance. Though the way they booked it (giving Marufuji only one successful title defense in Japan, that being the 35 minute match against KENTA that resulted in quite diverse reactions on the internet), it somehow felt like a test balloon to see if junior heavyweights might get accepted on top.

What was the deal with the KENTA match? I have come away from this thread wanting to see more of his stuff. 

[Robert S]

Mind you I have not seen that match in 15 years, but I remember it being very spot-tastic, going into the general direction of how the wrestling style has developed in the last 10 years. I lost interest with both KENTA and to a lesser degree with Marufuji at about that time. Their best stuff to me was their earlier stuff. Their rise to fame on western internet was their tag team run starting in 03. Going from my memory (again, matches I have last seen 15+ years ago, so who knows how that stuff holds up) their top matches were again Kanemaru & Hashi (3/1/03 & 9/12/03) and the match against the Untouchables (Misawa & Ogawa, 4/25/04). For Marufuji, one of my favorite matches of his was against Taue (3/5/06). For KENTA singles match, the classic picks include the matches against Takayama (6/27/04) and Kobashi (10/9/04) from his 7 match series as well as the match against SUWA (9/18/05). I remember people also being high up on his team with Shibata, though honestly I don't remember any of that.

For later stuff, other people will have to provide suggestions. Though the 4 vs. 4 elimination match Kobashi, KENTA, Aoki & Ito vs. Sasaki, Nakajima, Okita & Miyahara (8/17/08) was my favorite match of that year and I remember some people prefering the straight tag team match from 6/14/08 to that.

[kas]

It's a match where they think of as many insane spots as possible and stuff it into a match. 

[NintendoLogic]

KENTA/Marufuji was notable because it was two juniors competing for a major Japanese heavyweight title, which was unprecedented at the time. Unfortunately, the show bombed at the gate (although it should be noted that the undercard was atrocious), so NOAH panicked and put the belt on Misawa at the next Budokan show. As far as KENTA singles matches go, my favorite is the one against Kensuke Sasaki on 7/18/08. It didn't get much attention because it happened during NOAH's death spiral (I only discovered it fairly recently myself), but it's an absolute banger.

By the way, count me among those who doesn't understand the appeal of Akiyama/Inoue. It's the kind of match that makes me wonder what the point was after it's over. Inoue is never a serious threat to win and he's not enough of a weasel that I can take pleasure in seeming him get put in his place, so it ends up just being a depressing exercise in futility.

[ohtani's jacket]

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Antonio Inoki (NJPW, 8/8/1988)

This was a great match. I know there have been folks pushing it as an overlooked classic in recent years. They're not wrong. This was Inoki at his best and Antonio Inoki ain't no joke. He was 45 years-old here and the talk was that he would retire if he couldn't win the title. The crowd was incredibly hot for the first 25 minutes or so. You'll rarely hear a crowd as split as this one. When Inoki was on offense, they wanted him to have one last run as champ. When Fujinami was on offense, they wanted him to finally prove himself as Inoki's successor. The draw was bittersweet, but it was a good bittersweet. Inoki was in tears and had the crowd urging him to continue. Fujinami was disappointed, but Inoki strapping the belt around his waist was a clear sign that the torch had been passed. They went hard in the first 25-30 minutes and barely took a moment's rest. The second half slowed a bit, and some people say they ran out of steam in last 10 minutes, but that's pretty realistic when you consider how hard they fought. Inoki looked like he trained hard for this fight. He may have even shed a bit of weight to increase his stamina. It was a tremendous performance from him. Fujinami was still in his prime right before the back injury. but Inoki was 45. C'mon, how many 45 year-old wrestlers have had a match this good? 

[ohtani's jacket]

Daisuke Ikeda/Takahiro Oba vs. Makoto Hashi/Kengo Mashimo (Futen, 10/24/2010)

I must have seen this before at some point, but I honestly can't remember. Ikeda was so fucking great. The match up here with Hashi was awesome. Great match from bell to bell.

That concludes my walk through of your list. There were a couple of matches I couldn't find online. It may seem like I shat on a few of your picks, but that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy the list. It was eclectic, it was unique, and most importantly, it was never boring. Thanks for sharing it.

I'll be sure to get to the KENTA recs soon. 

 

[ohtani's jacket]

On 9/5/2020 at 9:41 PM, ohtani's jacket said:

I'll be sure to get to the KENTA recs soon. 

The SUWA match turned into a decent fight in the end, but I hate restarts so that soured me on it. Takayama is an absolute beast. I feel like I should be watching more Takayama fights than KENTA matches. Some of the offense KENTA was allowed to get in was unrealistic, but it's Japan. The Kobashi match was decent. I have a new appreciation for 2004 Kobashi. Nothing really grabbed me like the Danielson match. 

[Microstatistics]

Glad you enjoyed the list OJ. I'm not surprised you hated Naito vs. Taichi, that's an extremely polarizing match. 

KENTA vs. Tenryu (10/8/2005) is a neat little match. KENTA also had another match with Kobashi (3/5/2006).

For Takayama, his 2002 is pretty famous and well acclaimed. Matches vs. Nagata (5/2/2002), Sasaki (8/3/2002), Nishimura (8/10/2002), Ogawa (9/7/2002) and Misawa (9/23/2002).

[ohtani's jacket]

I didn't have a problem with Marufuji vs. KENTA up until the suplex duel. After that, the rest of the match felt stupid. Not a match worth hating on, though. Just a really ill-advised sequence.