[2004-03-06-NOAH-Navigate For Evolution] Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa

[Ma Stump Puller]

This was solid as anything. Misawa coming out with sunglasses on like some struggling uncle battling through a midlife crisis, Ikeda being the usual goofy killer that he is, Ogawa running a trial by fire to keep the titles retained, just so much great moments to watch. The start was the typical Ogawa/Misawa dynamics, Ogawa has to be bailed out a good few times by his typically far more impressive counterpart in Misawa, some double teaming, etc.

Yone comes in and starts throwing forearms, and any casual viewer of Misawa matches (even someone who's just watched a couple bits of his best work) will tell you that this is the moment when Yone should get wrecked for even trying to outscrap Misawa, especially with elbows; it's just a universal truth at this point that no one has sharper elbows than Misawa, even with a pad on. Yet....that's not the case. Yone knocks Misawa hard to the outside with a rather stiff forearm shot, and while Misawa gets his shots in later on, this is definitely here to showcase that he's not going to be able to carry this solely by himself. this is further showcased by Misawa being beat up by the two shooty lads for a good while with a pretty confident control segment. Even when Ogawa gets in and tries for his signature scrappy Japanese Memphis punches he's flattened by Ikeda and nullified as well. It's really great how Ogawa sells basic stuff in the context of the match at hand, like how he clings onto the ropes for dear life when Yone tries for a backdrop or a tight headlock: he's terrified of these two because they completely outgun him. He knows IMMEDIATELY that simple fact just by how he's seen his mentor take some beatings. Ogawa is, try as he might, not a man with much to give in this matchup: strong strikers simply run over him, so Bati-Bati guys are, essentially, his Kryptonite. That's shown excellently by Misawa needing to get involved to stop the control segment by beating up Ikeda on the outside and abusing double team moves to get the advantage alongside a face crank, pulling out all of the stops just to balance this out. Despite this and a dirty punch to the back of the head by Ogawa afterwards Ikeda still has his number and so he quickly tags out again, completely defeated. 

The Misawa/Yone interactions are probably some of the best of Yone I've ever seen barring probably his Battlarts stint, even if it's mostly him trying to beat Misawa's ass and getting elbowed to death and back for his antics. He has so much fire that you'd almost be fooled into thinking he doesn't turn out to be a massive disappointment so it pairs well with Misawa really pushing him here on a big stage with his domineering bombs setting the pace well. Ogawa gets back in and Yone seems toast after a backdrop, but then Ogawa takes a stiff kick to the head and again has to tag out quick to Misawa: he's still the weak link here, not pulling his weight. Misawa takes a rough backdrop on the ramp, a Axe Bomber, and a whole assortment of good double team stuff from Ikeda and co as he just gets chopped down. This leaves him out of most of the third half in terms of substantial plays, forcing his partner to finally somehow conquer the two by himself. 

The last 10 minutes in particular were just a lot of smart work, Ogawa in particular with a ton of nifty little moments where he's trying to push though these two with everything, eye pokes, fun ref involvement spots, you name it. Even Yone looks like a big threat here with Ogawa hurling himself around here. Stuff like the top rope double Kinniku Buster or the top rope Flowsion were bonkers spots to see in action. A bit too long? Sure, definitely; this was nearly 30 minutes long, just way too much for something like this. The crowd still loved it though, especially the desperation near the end as Ogawa struggles to survive against the bombs/strikes but eventually wins the match out of a wacky Small Package, just barely pushing through the finish line for the duo. Cut five minutes off this and it could've been great: the four had a pretty solid grove on what they wanted the match to be outside of huge spots. It was designed to be this big showing of Ikeda/Yone as a threatening duo and in that aspect it conclusively works to show that in action. You can tell also that this was a match paced around Ogawa basically proving himself as a valuable act all of his own, starting from being knocked around the place and basically having to crawl and sneak every big advantage back with all of the dirty tricks he knows so far. It's a good look at how his role in the team isn't just the guy who gets knocked around for the big comeback, he's a tangible threat that every now and often reminds you why he has that reputation in the first place.

Too long, sure. It makes the point well enough to make up for that.