Superstar Sleeze

WAIT! Ricky Marvin is good? I distinctly him being my least favorite in the junior tags when I watched in like 2008. Then I watched Briscoes vs Marvin/Suzuki and thought it was one of the worst matches of the decade so I just wrote him off. Is he actually good? Can you drop some matches to be watched?

IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion Koji Kanemoto vs Makoto Hashi - NJPW 8/29/02 Is Hashi the junior version of Tenzan? Kanemoto was in Team 2000??? He has pretty similar hair to Kojima. TENKOJI EXPLODES~! This match is much better I would presume than that series in 2005. The most of the transitions in this match are dogshit, but the overall story is well executed. Hashi is tough underdog from NOAH going up against New Japan's junior heavyweight champion. Kanemoto overwhelms him with kicks early and I love how Hashi tries to use any little opening like the ref pulling Kanemoto off to take it to Kanemoto. Kanemoto is in general control, but misses his flip splash (a good transition) and Hashi capitalizes. Hashi hits the Slop Drop on the apron and diving headbutt from apron. Kanemoto just comes in and hits an Owen Hart style belly to belly. Lame. Hashi blows a suplex and then does it again. They runs through a bunch of spots foregoing anything resembling a transition. The endgame is the heel hook with Hashi desperately trying to get out of it and restoring to biting, but not as cool as AKIRA. He misses a diving headbutt from top rope. Of course, Kanemoto kips up and finishes with a kick. It was a fitting end to a match that had no transitions. It had some good heat and Kanemoto is a great prick, but ranks far below the other NOAH vs New Japan matches of 2002. ***

Go Shiozaki & KENTA vs Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima - NOAH 6/22/09 I may getting burnt out on the NOAH wrestling style because I found myself constantly zoning out through this match. Up until this four match stretch (two tags against KO and two matches against Nakajima), I thought the hate towards KENTA was overblown, but he is just insufferable now. He is like a mini version of Kenta Kobashi, but a million times worst. He has gone from plucky underdog that runs a million miles an hour to world beater and I don't sell for nobody, brutha. Whereas, Sasaki versus Shiozaki rocked it in 2005 the magic just was not there with Shiozaki as the newly crown GHC Heavyweight Champion. Don't get me wrong, Shiozaki has come a long way, but he was not there yet. Nakajima just could not manage to carry three people all at once into telling a cogent story. The match felt like one big finish run. Everybody was just running around hitting moves with seemingly little to no consequence. I enjoyed how contested the Shiozaki/Sasaki matchup was. Sasaki was making him earn it and Shiozaki was slowly overcoming him, This shows how much Shiozaki has grown since 2005, but other than that I did not find many threads. They teased a Nakajima FIP segment by dropping him on the railing, but instead we got a KENTA face in peril segment. KENTA just let himself be ragdolled, but was not selling that hard. It was not a particularly brutal beating. It was a perfect microcosm of the match: well-worked, but nothing memorable. It was just a lot of action strung together with no hook. If you are an action or MOVEZ~! mark you'd love this, but there is very little weight. KENTA surprisingly sells a seemingly random kick as a knockout shot and I thought we had out hook, but two minutes later he was running around again trading suplexes with Nakajima. The finish stretch was really well-done in giving Nakajima a little love before Shiozaki crushed with lariats a suplex. It is a match I will not remember tomorrow because nothing stands out, but from a pure action point there was at least never a dull moment. ***1/4

There should be a thread dedicated to this in the forum Part of what's interesting with efforts like this is that people define GOAT differently. I don't know that you'd want everyone using the same rubric. I agree that's what makes it interesting, but I think there has to be some understanding of intent. I maybe interpreting Matt's post wrong, but to me the question is this a "Hogan" List or a "Flair" List. By that I mean a list that looks at greatest from drawing and starpower would historically most likely have Hogan finish number one. Whereas one focused on more subjective criteria like being entertaining and ring work would historically most likely have Flair finish number one. I presume this GOAT list is a "Flair" list rather than a "Hogan" list, which would be more about numbers and is generally less fun in my opinion.

GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima vs KENTA - Budokan 3/1/2009 Fuck you, KENTA! This is not a very apt comparison for everybody (ok, nobody, but me), but this match reminded me of Hogan/Savage Nitro match from 1998. As a child, I was a huge Macho Man fan and begged my parents to buy Spring Stampede 1998 because he would be challenging Sting for the Championship, which was my first PPV. Savage wins albeit with interference, but I don't care because he is the World Champion, BABY! Next night, he has to defend the title against Hogan. I can still remember Tony exclaiming "Savage can only get flurries of offense in". It was so damn frustrating. How come Savage could not string together any offense? He never made a comeback. He just friggin' lost. Flash forward 18 years, I still watch wrestling and my main man Katsuhiko Nakajima has won the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Championship and has to defend against KENTA. Fucking KENTA just absolutely blows off any of Nakajima's offense constantly cutting him off and not letting him tell his story. It was so damn frustrating. Again, the fuckhead won the championship instead of the better wrestler. This match is up there for one of the most bizarre matches I have ever seen. They were even reading the same book nevermind being on the same page. It was almost like KENTA was saying we did it YOUR way on the Kensuke Office, this is NOAH we are doing it MY way now. Nakajima was just stubbornly pressing on while KENTA was ignoring him. KENTA starts the match off hot and uptempo to set up his usual chinlocks early. It is a solid strategy to kick ass and then sap the energy of the opponent. Nakajima looks pretty overwhelmed to start, but needs to weather the storm. Nakajima catches a kick and dragon leg screw. Immediately, I am thinking this is risky business. I hope Nakajima talked to KENTA before building an entire match around KENTA selling the knee. What followed was just fucking bizarre. Nakajima would work the leg and KENTA would just fly around like nothing happened and this was the entirety of the first 15 minutes. Neither was responding to the other. It was a huge clusterfuck. Even once Nakajima drops the knee work and starts spiking KENTA on his head with tombstones and brainbusters. KENTA is like FUCK YOU! He just starts cutting him off again. Nakajima's response seemed to be I don't playing that game and I am going to kick your ass, but that only made it worse. Nakajima was going to lose so you would think KENTA would want to make the final comeback, but he seemed pretty intent on squashing Nakajima, but Nakajima would not let him. Good for him! Way to stand up for yourself! This is all predicated that I believe Japanese matches are still called in the ring. If this was planned out WWE style, this is fucking awful. As bad as the first 95% of match was, the finish was incredibly awesome and played off the first match so well. So KENTA goes for Go 2 Sleep, but Nakajima rana'd out last time so KENTA is prepared and Powerbombs his ass, but for two. He goes for G2S again, but this time Nakajima pulls out a victory roll counter. The surprise of this allows him to his rainbow spinwheel kick that I don't like, but did win him the title for two. KENTA G2S gets two and then kicks to head for two. Nakajima roars back and tags him with some great superkicks. KENTA catches one kick in from a wicked awkward position hoists him up for G2S for the victory. The finish is really good, but fuck what a clusterfuck. What is funny is when I watched these in 2009, I absolutely loved them. Thats why I became a Nakajima fan. I went to ROH in Detroit specifically to see Nakajima and I loved it. Watching these Nakajima matches I had not seen, I felt totally validated in my fandom. Between memory and what I have seen from Nakajima, I projected at least one KENTA/Nakajima match making the top ten. Instead, there was fabulously infuriating match and a giant clusterfuck. Memories ruined.

That's exactly what I was going to say. KENTA can work a great match, but you have to impose your will. Nakajima did that in the first match, but lost his way. The rematch was one of the most bizarre matches ever. Nakajima was trying to work his style and KENTA just did not give one single fuck. After that match, I fucking hate KENTA. I would totally shit a brick if 2001 Minoru Tanaka wrestled 2009 Katsuhiko Nakajima. I believe it could be the greatest juniors match of all time. They really had it in them. Did they ever wrestle at any point?

That first KENTA/Nakajima match is one of the most infuriating matches I have ever seen. The first 30 minutes were fantastic. I wold argue match of the decade contender based on the trajectory. So many interesting match storylines, great work and pacing. Then the last 15 minutes is just typical 00s finish garbage. Fuck, so disappointing.

GHC Jr Heavyweight Champion KENTA vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - Kensuke Office 02/11/09 Disappointing. For about 30 minutes, they had something truly special. I would say with ease they were on pace to have the best junior heavyweight in Japan of the 00s and a strong match of the decade contender. Then they pissed it all the way in the last 15 minutes. Nakajima matches are so well-layered. You had the obvious ribs versus neck psychology. You had the conservative, counterwrestling of Nakajima against the offensive dynamo of KENTA. You had the veteran, established presence of KENTA against the rising star Nakajima trying to prove himself. Then on top of all that they interwine a one upmanship dynamic to establish Nakajima as his equal. These layers were 90s All Japan-esque. Then POOF we get faceless strike exchanges, barrage of pop-up suplexes, senseless spots and an overkill finish.God I hate the 00s. KENTA tries to rev the match up early at the tempo he loves, but Nakajima counters with a Go 2 Sleep that hits the ribs, which shakes up KENTA who has to retreat to the outside. Nakajima presses with knees to the ribs and great headlock work. He knows that KENTA loves that uptempo pace and he just content to grind on the headlock. However, KENTA suckers him into a game of one upmanship with kicks and that is a game KENTA will win. KENTA goes for his usual guillotine DDT, springboard combo, but Nakajima has it scouted and counters. He suffocates KENTA with strikes and once KENTA powders. Nakajima takes a breather then goes back to work where he hits a DDT on the floor that causes KENTA to bleed from the mouth hardway and make KENTA's neck an issue. Nakajima has successfully implemented a counterwrestling strategy using KENTA's offense against him and hurt his neck. This time when KENTA makes ropes on a headscissors Nakajima can control with elbows to the neck showing he has made headway. However, Nakajima knows he will have to start to escalate his offense. Nakajima is not the only one who can counterwrestle as KENTA picks him out of the sky with a kick. KENTA takes a breather follows him to outside and consolidates his advantage with a drop toehold to railing and then Go 2 Sleep on railing. Now Nakajima's ribs are badly hurt and Nakajima shows KENTA how to sell as he really milks it. KENTA is great working over the ribs especially a double stomp from the apron to floor and then from top rope to the floor!!!! That's the kind of high spot that is awesome. Now you get the sense the veteran has one upped the upstart, but Nakajima has some fight and is able to counter into a Tombstone that spikes KENTA on his bad neck. EXCELLENT!!!!! KENTA getting desperate tries to speed up, but Nakajima traps in heel hook. KENTA makes ropes and speeds up again with more success gets STF. Nakajima gets heel hook then KENTA gets STF continuing trend of one upmanship. You get the sense KENTA underestimated Nakajima is getting a bit desperate after Nakajima did not go away from the ribwork. NAKAJIMA BRAINBUSTER~! KENTA has to escape to the floor and the neck is now really in a bad way. Nakajima tries plancha, but ribs eat a kick and he sells like a million bucks. More one upmanship. I am loving this symmetry. KENTA goes all 2013 Daniel Bryan, but in 2009 with high speed dropkicks and a powerbomb. KENTA is relying more on bombs. They tease a superplex to the floor, but settle for a KENTA driver off apron to floor. They milk it. Nakajima prevents KENTA from getting back in with a wicked German on the floor. The match ends in a double countout. If KENTA sold a bit better, this is 5 stars, but I am going ****3/4. This was like the Tenryu/Mutoh of the juniors or a better version of Nakajima/Kondo....wait the match did not end. They got back in the ring. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Kick exchanges that anyone could have. Pop-up suplexes. Nakajima setting up KENTA on the top rope to do a spinwheel kick. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! KENTA kicks out of the German Suplex! Nakajima kicks out of the Go 2 Sleep! KENTA kicks Nakajima in the head brutally, but picks him up. Nakajima counters second Go 2 Sleep. A shitty spinwheel kick wins the GHC Junior Heavyweight Title for my boy, Nakajima. The finish was just overkill. There was just no believeable way that could win that match after all that punishment. It does not make him look resilient it makes KENTA look weak or just plain takes you out of the match. This is so damn hard. I absolutely love the beginning, but the finish sucks. Yes, the spots looked fine, but they just were such a departure from the match. I'll give it **** and hope that the real classic is the rematch.

Genichiro Tenryu & Nobukazu Hirai vs. Satoshi Kojima & Kaza Hayashi - AJPW 10/06/02 Hirai looks like the nicest wrestler in the world. He just has a very pleasant aura about him, which is very peculiar in wrestling. I did not think match was nearly as good as the earlier Tenryu AJPW 2002 tag, which had the great work from Miyamoto. This match had great energy, but it was almost too much energy. Everybody was running around, but there was not much purpose or consequence to the action. I will say the Tenryu/Kojima interactions make me think I underrated their 2002 series because it was easily the best work in the match. Kojima coming in with tunnel vision to attack Tenryu leaving him prone to the double team was really well executed with Kojima showing some of his best fire of all time. The problem was transitions in and out. Kojima gets his ass kicked outside and then casually takes over on Hirai and tags in Hayashi. I hate inconsequential sequences. Tenryu was out of fucking control in this match. Tenryu lines up to hit Kojima with a chair, but instead decides to whip it into the audience and attack Kojima. Anybody care to explain what the hell that was about? Then Hayashi cheap shots Tenryu on the apron. So Tenryu gets another chair and flings it at him when he is in the corner. It goes flying off the ring post into the crowd. He could have really hurt Hayashi or somebody. It reminded me of the recent cinder block throw that almost hurt Lawler and you could see how displeases Lawler was at the segment. It adds to the chaotic nature, but is almost too dangerous. Tenryu killing Hayashi is fun, but I have seen better. Just like before the transition out sucked as it was just Hayashi doing a backspring elbow on Hirai. For as bad as the transitions were, Kojima looked great and the Kojima/Tenryu work was electric. It felt much bigger than Tenryu/Kea because how over Kojima is and how much effort he was putting forth. Kojima is able to hit the lariat, but has to tag out. By contrast, Hirai/Hayashi just seems so unimportant like RAW 10:30 segment unimportant. Kojima back in hits a lariat to win the match. What is weird about this match is that it feels like it is building to a major Tenryu/Kojima singles match except Kojima/Tenryu already happened twice. Kojima/Tenryu is great and I will go back and watch their singles series. Hayashi/Hirai is not. Tenryu is crazy dangerous in this match. In about a month from now, I guarantee the only thing I will remember is Tenryu throwing chairs in the audience. It is a good match with plenty of energy, but not great. ***

Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya vs Taiyo Kea & Kazushi Miyamoto - AJPW 4/27/02 Tenryu excels in these environments with three career midcarders and making a special and memorable match. Araya goes from taking a beat from Tenryu to joining him in dishing one out on poor rookie, Miyamoto. Cant beat him, join him. Kea is a potential next big star in the shallow All Japan roster and wrestles at an urgent pace to prove himself to Tenryu. Without a doubt, the star of the show is plucky underdog, Miyamoto, who takes a licking, but keeps on ticking. Miyamoto actually shows up Araya early for a hot second, before Tenryu comes in and chops him. Araya busts Miyamaoto's nose open with a wicked reverse elbow. The story just tells itself. Tenryu comes in immediately and kicks Miyamoto right in the nose to a big reaction. What a prick! To Miyamoto's credit, he is not just selling magnificently, he is putting one of the best underneath fights. Bringing it right to Tenryu. After all, sometimes you just got to punch the bully in the mouth or dropkick him in the knee. If that does not work, jump on the announce table and elbow smash him. The constant struggle between the hope spots and cutoffs builds great drama and add the bully/underdog dynamic you have molten heat that I just love. When Kea does come in, he works with a great sense of urgency and Tenryu is very giving. Unfortunately, it seems Kea cares more about proving that he is Tenryu's equal rather than winning the match or Miyamoto's health. Kea does get to hit the TKO on Tenryu, but Araya saves. To Miyamoto's credit, he does not just fold up shop when he gets tagged back in twice. Tenryu goes for a punch to the face and Miyamoto traps him in a Triangle in an awesome spot, but Araya saves. Tenryu slaps the fuck outta Miyamoto and he is just humiliating him. Finally Kea saves him in a Texas Cloverleaf, but God he should not being throwing kicks. Miyamoto looks like he is about to get the best of Araya, but Tenryu punches Kea right in the face and throws a chair at him ruining Miyamoto's chance of tagging out. Araya goes for the moonsault, but Miyamoto hits a wicked GERMAN!!! PIN HIM, KID! 1-2-NO!!!!! Araya drills him with a brainbuster to end the Cinderella story. Kea was supposed to look great against Tenryu, but Miyamoto stole the show with one of the greatest single match underdog performances. This performance was only enhanced by one of the best, mean-spirited bullies of all time, Genichiro Tenryu. It all combines for an easy top 100 match of the 2000s in Japan lock. ****

Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio vs Kensuke Sasaki & Katushiko Nakajima - Budokan 4/27/08 The year 2008 much like 2005 seems very tag team focused from Pro Wrestling NOAH especially featuring Kensuke Office (Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima). This was a part of a round robin tournament for the GHC Tag Titles with Sasaki & Nakajima in the role of spoiler as Akiyama & Rikio have a chance to win the titles otherwise the winner of Bison Smith & Saito vs. Misawa/Ogawa would be the new champions. I am a huge Nakajima fan and am excited to continue him get featured in this project. However, Sasaki has started to show in these recent matches I have watched and much like Kobashi is devolving rapidly into a self-parody. Nakajima has not seemed to figure a way to overcome this anchor in these matches to deliver a real classic. I was excited actually for the Rikio/Sasaki showdowns because Rikio seems like the younger, slightly taller version of Sasaki. I preferred the Rikio/Takayama showdowns however as those seemed like heated clashes of a couple bulls. Akiyama also seemed to have this one in cruise control. The match was rock solid, just a bit uninspiring. The opening was the best part with the bullrush and Akiyama hitting two Exploders early to try to win the match because a victory would be pretty much secure the tag titles, but it almost backfired as Sasaki recovered and blasted him with a lariat to almost win. The rest of the opening before the Nakajima heat segment was pretty tame with the only highlight being the nostalgia surfboard spot. Nakajima came in looking to pick apart Akiyama's arm. Akiyama sensed that and pulverized him with knee lifts. Akiyama & Rikio did a really good job pummeling Nakajima (the curb stomps in front of Sasaki were an especially nice touch), who sold like a million bucks (rolling into the wrong corner after a guillotine choke), but it needed some more hope spots peppered in to make the hot tag that much more heated. Sasaki came in and right off the bat seemed like he was a step off botching his armdrag and he would later dangerously botch a couple Germans. Sasaki is a actually a red herring as Rikio is able to slow him down enough that Sasaki has to tag Nakajima back in. Nakajima is awesome trying to get revenge on Rikio swatting his lariat out of the air with a kick then delivering some badass suplexes. The German looked pitch perfect, but Akiyama toppled him on the bridge. Now Akiyama & Rikio take advantage of Nakajima's smaller stature to double team him and look close to winning the tag titles. Sasaki says enough is enough is enough and he wants Rikio out, he wants Rikio out. The dangerous Germans follow. Nakajima tags out and this time it is the real hot tag. A Northern Lights Bomb spoils Akiyama & Rikio and Bison Smith & Saito would win the tag titles. It is just a standard tag team match, but an added wrinkle of having a standard heat segment on Nakajima followed by a false finishing run on Nakajima before Sasaki cleaned house. Sasaki looked pretty bad for an execution standpoint in this match and really did off much. Akiyama, Rikio and Nakajima did enough to entertain me and sustain my interest, but not enough for me to say this is great. ***1/4

I don't know the context of what you're talking about, but I find WWE hard to dvr because they always run over and I miss the last five minutes of the show. And on the WWE app they do a lot of "two screen experience" stuff where you didn't get to see the ending of a match unless you were using the app (implying you had to watch the app live, the tv show live, and not dvring it). So I'm just speaking to WWE's claim of being dvr proof, they do at least try to make it so the viewer gets more out of it if they watch the show live. I dvr it myself and couldn't sit through a 3 hour Raw live. I have just set my DVR to run 20 minutes over. I agree it is an extra step in the advanced settings. It is hardly insurmountable hurdle, but Lord knows there are people who won't do it. I have never ever seen them miss the finish of a match and just play it on the app and I have missed one RAW in like the last 2-3 years. I can see your point about how the App "enhances" the live experience. To take it further, if you want to be apart of the Twitter conversation or vote for whether you see a "No Holds Barred, No Dq or Falls Count Anywhere" stip then yes you have to watch it live. These are all things they can point to. They don't hold water with me as a fan, but with others maybe they do.

I was reading about a mark (I mean shareholder) lawsuit about how WWE worked (I mean made claims) him into investing in their company. Anyways, apparently one of the claims was that their programming "DVR-Proof" BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHA!!!! Thats the biggest joke ever! Their programming is perfect for DVR. Who the hell can actually sit through 3 hours straight of that! With all the commericals and video packages, you can get it done in a tidy 1-1.5 hours with the magic of fast forward. RAW is unwatchable in its current state. You NEED the DVR. That may be the funniest claim I think a wrestling company has ever made.

I have said it before and I will say it again. Cena is a great wrestler in the ring. The way they book him is so incredibly counterproductive and about 75% of his promos are absolute garbage. In some ways, Cena should take some personal responsibility and say "Hey this is fuckin stupid", but that being said WWE still has to take a lot of the blame. Kris, I think it was you, who actually said it on the Summerslam recap show is their a top star that has been such a Yes Man. He does not help out his buddies. He does not really seem to balk at anything. I guess he may have gotten a couple guys fired (Kennedy comes to mind, but wasnt that mostly Orton). You listen to his interview with Austin and he can sound like a WWE programmed robot. It is scary. I can't tell if this is his personal reaction to Hogan, Austin and the Kliq and consciously not trying to emulate them or if that is really who he is. I think it is the latter. It is just so infuriating because I think a lot of Cena's qualities are admirable both on and off camera and I hate seeing him get booed, but God is his character just so fucking annoying sometimes that I really can't blame anyone booing the John Cena who is portrayed on TV for the most part.

Nagata/Murakami '02 watch it and love it!!!! Murakami is a cocky, mean, out of control maniac and that Nagata finish run is the pitch perfect ending. I got to get up for work in 4 hours, but instead of that match bringing me down to go to bed. Im fuckin WIRED!!!! Loved that brawl!

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata vs Kazunari Murakami - NJPW 12/12/02 This, my friends, is why you watch all the matches. On paper this looks innocuous with boring Nagata against the wild card Murakami, but they produce an absolutely crazy, hate-filled brawl. Have this right neck and neck with Takayama/Ogawa for 2002 MOTY and with the 2007 Togi Makabe as Yuji Nagata's best match of his career. The best match to compare this to is Kawada/Naoya Ogawa, but Murakami brings an even crazier energy to this match. Murkami just has that face that looks like he is a total mean asshole. He wrestles like an out of control shoot fighter. I have only seen three of his matches, but much like Naoya Ogawa he just has this undeniable presence. Right from the get go he makes Nagata wrestle a totally different style match. Murakami brullrushes him and just starts stepping and stomping on him like a maniac. Nagata to his credit never looked out of place and really did well with a sprint shoot-style beginning. The matches goes from interesting to great once Murakami won't let go of a cross armbreaker when Nagata is in the ropes. Nagata powders, but is pummeled outside by Murakami's entourage and is left battered and bloodied trying to respond to ref's count. Murakami is perfect mixture of cocky and mean that is so instantly unlikeable. Murakami focuses on the arm applying a cross armbreaker and crippler's crossface with the blood really oozing. Murakami licks Nagata's blood off his forearm. I think to forgot to say he is BATSHIT INSANE~! Nagata kicks Murakami's lariat arm and knees to the head and the crowd is rocking. I liked Nagata going for the "arm for an arm" route it i just he sat in the armbar a bit too long to call this a match of the decade contender. Nagat gets distracted by Murakami sleezy manager and Murakami gets a rear naked choke, which was a great last gasp for Murakami. Nagata turn Murakami's STO into a crazy suplex and then rains down knees. He does not hit one, not two, but three wrist clutch exploders!!! Crazy hot start, badass hook, Murakami excellent heel heat, Nagata's comeback, last Murakami gasp and then a finish run that showcased Nagata did not just want to win a match he wanted to punish and destroy Murakami. No lazy strike exchanges, no nearfalls, just hot, non-stop action. Everybody needs to watch this! ****1/2

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata vs Kensuke Sasaki - NJPW 6/7/02 I am more glad this exists then I am about how it was executed. The two biggest NJPW stars of the early 00s clash for supremacy. I am partial to Sasaki, but I understand given Inoki's preferences why he choose Yuji Nagata: Super Counterwrestler Extraordinaire. Besides the fact that Nagata has the charisma of a potted plant, what bothers me is Nagata tends to do all this counterwrestling early, but then always ends up finishing with suplexes and kicks. Contrast that to Minoru Tanaka, who uses his other offense to set up his counterwrestling and look how much more invested the crowd is in his submission wrestling. Not to mention that Minoru Tanaka is just a more entertaining and charismatic wrestler. Nagata matches tend to be very disjointed and this is not much different. I like Sasaki, but he is someone who is more of a follower than leader. So when Nagata or Kobashi is leading, then his matches tends not go too well. Early on, they spend a lot of time on the mat, which is a nice change of pace from NOAH. Sasaki does admirably holding his own, but overall I would say Nagata wins the early portion with a stepover toehold. Nagata gets a bit cocky and starts kicking Sasaki repeatedly so Sasaki responds with a slap and Northern Lights Bomb. Nagata powders. I love that about Japan. It is an excellent way to hit a big move, but protect it. Sasaki starts using power wrestling to set up for lariat, but Nagata kicks the lariat arm. Nagata is not really building to anything just hitting some signature moves. Sasaki is able to lariat his knee while he is on the apron. Sasaki does well to use this as an opening to hit a power move, work holds on the knee like the Scorpion Deathlock, but Nagata just won't sell it. Nagata kicks lariat arm. Nagata runs through suplexes and head kicks to polish him off. I enjoyed the change of pace in the beginning compared to NOAH, but they did not follow through in any interesting way and ended in a similar fashion. Oh well.

Jushin Liger & Koji Kamemoto vs Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru - NOAH 1/26/03 The key for me regarding this match was to throw out any preconceived notions about the match and just take the match for what it is. You would expect Liger & Kanemoto to be the working heels in the match, but they wrestle as the working faces with Kanemoto taking a beatdown only for Liger to clean house and win the match with an exciting finish run. I modify with the term "working" because while the match is worked that way there is no doubt that the crowd is behind Kikuchi and Kanemaru. even they are dastardly and Liger & Kanemoto are mounting a comeback. This is a pretty easy switch in my head because I am a way bigger fan of the New Japan guys so it is easy to make the switch for me to get behind my man, Liger. This match also has me second-guessing how I ranked the previous 2002 matches in the series because I liked this a lot and I feel those were in a similar vein. So more rewatching is necessary. The one consistent thread through all the New Japan vs. NOAH matches is that they are red-hot with hatred and anger. I am always a sucker for a blood feud and Liger vs. Kikuchi was definitely one of the best of the 00s in Japan. Kikuchi running at Liger and eating palm strike after palm strike was a great opening. Kanemoto is too emotionally compromised though as he is attacked from behind while jawing with Kikuchi, Kanemaru dropping a leg on him while he hanging over the guardrail gets a big pop of the crowd as they beating down Kanemoto. Kanemoto tries to rally, but a nasty, nasty Kikuchi headbutt fucks him up. The selling from this headbutt is just amazing and should be watch to be fully appreciated. During a series of rolling suplexes, Liger says enough of this shit. He sets Kikuchi up in the Tree of Woe, but Kikuchi avoids a dropkick by doing a sit up leaving Liger probe to be crotched on the ringpost. The other consistent thread has been the excellent testicular psychology! After this, they do lose me for a bit as Kanemoto remains in the ring rather than tagging out and it just does not have as much heat. I would contribute a lot of that to Kanemaru being in the ring instead of Kikuchi. Kanemaru whiffs on his moonsault and Kanemoto goes after the knee. Kanemoto and Kikuchi have this weird exchange where Kanemoto wants to throws Kikuchi out the ring, but Kikuchi takes it like his head is slammed into the ropes and then just stands there. Kanemoto sends him out the other side. I found it amusing. Now Kanemoto whiffs on his moonsault. It is not matter because Kanemoto applies his famous heel hook with Liger detaining Kikuchi. Sometimes these detainments come off as perfunctory in Japan, but I thought this one was especially dramatic. Kanemoto and Kanemaru trade some suplexes and finally Liger and Kikuchi are tagged in and KATIE BAR THE DOOR! Kikuchi hits Protobomb that won him the match in August of 2002, but cant get the job done. Here comes Liger BABY!!! Palm strikes and sweet Ligerbombs abound! I thought the youtube video made Kikuchi's defiant stand hilarious. So the youtube video is not the best quality and sometime it can be a little shaky and tilted. Of course, there is Japanese symbols on the screen. So all this makes for hilarity because when Kikuchi gets angry it looks straight out of 90s Japanese video game you have the close up of him enraged with Japanese symbols and a shaking camera. Liger puts him down with a super Brainbuster and palm strike to win and I guess finish off the series with Kikuchi at least, as I know he competed against KENTAFuji. Like I said, I enjoyed this match the stretch in between the Kanemoto in Peril and the finish run did lose me because they sort of went into generic 00s puroresu mode, but still overall fun. Given that, in my memory, the '02 matches were better yet about give this the same rating as I did two of those because I was still figuring out my scale. So rewatching that series soon, but this was some good stuff. ***1/2

In PWO's constant search for the GOAT, the GOAT Limerick was born here.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Koji Kanemoto vs AKIRA - NJPW 03/23/03 Watch the first ten minutes and you won't understand why it is nominated, but the last 8 minutes are fantastic. So many 00s Japanese matches start off great and but misfire on the finish. Give me a tepid, aimless start with a hot finish over the inverse any day of the week. They jockey for position early with Kanemoto using knees to head and kicks to establish himself early. AKIRA uses dropkicks as cutoffs is able to hit a big dive to the outside, but belly flops on his top rope splash. OUCH! Kanemoto avoids it again, but this time AKIRA just comes down. It really puts over the Splash. The match picks up once AKIRA calls for the STF. HEY! Bryan Danielson, ringside, pretty cool! Kanemoto sells the STF really well with good vocal selling, but kinda ruins it with a quick kip up so AKIRA blasts his knee with a dropkick. Kanemoto takes a knee for a knee with a heel hook that has AKIRA clawing at the ref to avoid submission, which he does, but ref doesnt see it. AKIRA suplexes Kanemoto, the selling is a bit uneven here. Kanemoto back to the heel hook and AKIRA bites Kanemoto's knee, now that's badass. Kanemoto stays on him with kicks to knee and goes for the kill with a moonsault, but his knees come down on AKIRA's knee. O CALAMITY! AKIRA comes up the better with a Big Splash, but no 3 count love. So he flips Kanemoto over and a Big Splash to the knees and right into the ankle lock while smashing knee into the mat, great stuff. Kanemoto makes the ropes and a kick combo has them both laying. Kanemoto applies a cool figure-4 on the knee to secure the victory. The last 8 minutes make it worth with it given the great knee selling, but with so much disjointed selling I don't have this in the top tier. Kanemoto also gives a kind of flat performance with his heel hook calling card being the only thing that adds heat while AKIRA's splash and his selling of the heel hook (grabbing ref and biting knee) and his work on Kanemoto's knee are the real highlights of the match. The best AKIRA match in my opinion is the 2001 Minoru Tanaka match, but this is still worth a watch. ***1/2

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Minoru Tanaka vs Ryusuke Taguchi - NJPW 07/06/07 Five years later and at least the cross armbreaker is still over. I still contend that Minoru Tanaka should have been the biggest junior heavyweight star of the 2000s. I don't think this match is comparable in quality to his incredible 2000-2002 run, but we get to see an entirely different side to him. He was excellent at the cocky heel gimmick. He really gave off that aura that he thinks he is better than you in every shape and way. He was showboating, stalling and cheating better than pretty much every heel in the WWE in the last decade. The best part of this entire match was how red hot the crowd was for bell-bottom-wearing "Funky Weapon" Rysuke Taguchi. Japanese wrestling crowds in native vs. native matches tend to be very similar to tennis crowd insomuch they root for ever is losing to pull them through and continue the match. I don't want to take away anything from Taguchi because my sample size is limited, but to me it was all about Minoru Tanaka. You wanted to see that smug bastard get his ass kicked. People wonder why nobody gets booed nowadays. To me it is because nobody actually tries to get booed when they are wrestling. Sure on the mic they do, but in a match pretty much everybody wrestles it straight down the middle. Minoru Tanaka, once again, proves why he had huge star potential in the way he carried himself in this match and maintaining that heat throughout the match. Unfortunately, I was not in the Korakuen Hall on July 6, 2007, but instead was in my living room in United States of America, BABY! on August 26, 2014 so crowd heat alone was not make this match an elite level match it was going to take work. The match started off great like I said with Minoru Tanaka showboating like a champion and getting shown up early. He is able to take control with an eye-rake and then out on the floor targets the arm and a pretty girl to impress. This is a clinic on heel wrestling. Of course, everyone knows that Minoru has the cross armbreaker in his back pocket so targeting the arm increases the crowd tension. There is a really nice exchange where Minoru avoids a dropkick and makes a point to let everyone know how smart he is only to eat a dropkick. This is just classic shit. Taguchi goes the "arm for an arm" route, but unlike the Minoru/AKIRA matches I didn't think they really focused enough time on each other's arm to really build the same drama. Unfortunately, the match goes off the rails at this point as they both pretty much drop the arm selling to suplex each other a lot. It was exciting, but not a lot of glue. Minoru, occasionally reminds you of the beginning of the match, by applying a flash cross armbreaker out of a human capture suplex. The crowd heat and Taguchi's selling were really on point making this a very dramatic spot, but before you knew it they were back suplexing each other. The best spot of the whole match was Minoru goes for the flash cross armbreaker and Taguchi converts into La Magistral cradle. The crowd goes wild! That should have been the finish, no doubt! NOOOOOOOOOO! An elbow exchange??? Et tu, Minoru? Taguchi hits what I believe to be The Funky Weapon twice to finally pick up the victory for his first and only IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. The hook of the match was twofold: Minoru is an arrogant asshole and the credibility of his flash cross-armbreaker. They did not build the double arm psychology and they just sort of dropped it, with each touching on it here and there. Taguchi, for all his "funkiness", was a pretty bland Japanese, 00-style babyface. I hate to base that off one match, but given he only has one title reign to his name, it looks like New Japan feels similarly. At the day, the crowd was hot for Taguchi so he was doing something right even if he didn't set my world afire. The match started off promising and ended pretty well, but the body was a mess. I recommend this match based solely on seeing Minoru Tanaka work as a heel and how he was badass at doing that too. ***1/4

NO. FUCKIN. WAY. Skipping all shows and going right to this!

I knew as soon as finished this match I would be in the minority regarding this one. The match was built around selling, which I love, but they were still trading moves with little rhyme or reason towards the end and there a lack of struggle after the early part of the match. I honestly thought Honda was overselling. Besides the cross armbreaker, Ikeda really did not get much in the way of offense and yet Honda was selling like it was an even match. It disguised the match as competitive when Honda was actually crushing him. I thought it was quite good and very different than the usual main event NOAH fare, but nothing as special as others have mentioned. Tamon Honda vs Daisuke Ikeda - NOAH 09/01/01 NOAH was running in a small building with stained glass, a very interesting setting for a very interesting match. There was nothing about this bout that said NOAH. It would have felt more at home in New Japan or even in BattlArts. This is not surprising as Ikeda cut his teeth at Fujiwara's Gym and the original BattlArts. Ikeda likes to kick people hard. Honda is an Olympic wrestler and looks to neutralize Ikeda with takedowns. Honda does not have his facial hair so he does not look like the world's ugliest pro wrestler. It feels like early UFC where the wrestler takes down a striker, but does not how to finish him off down there and just smothers him. Ikeda proves why Honda has taken this strategy with flurries of kicks, but finally evens the match with a cross armbreaker. If you respect the cross armbreaker, I respect you. Honda definitely respected the cross armbreaker with his selling. This match is totally built around selling, which is a great contrast the big bomb nature of most NOAH matches. However, there was still a distinct lack of struggle and not much in the way of a story once the wrestler vs. grappler story ended. Good example was Honda powerbomb -> Ikeda triangle -> Honda leg lace with not signs of struggle. I loved Ikeda using the ropes to counterweight a Honda throw, but soon they just throwing each other around. It makes sense for Honda to go for throws, but I would have liked to seen Ikeda use his striking ability to counteract Honda. Honda is eventually able to pick up a submission victory over Ikeda. I see why a lot people like this match. It is minimalist match centered around selling. Personally, I thought Honda was overselling. I understood selling the arm, but he was selling general fatigue and pain like Ikeda was having a competitive match with him. Ikeda did not get much in the way of offense. Even before Ikeda's back drop driver, Honda was selling like he had been through a war and all Ikeda had done was a cross armbreaker. Honda's selling effectively disguised this as more competitive as it was. I enjoyed it as something very different than the NOAH's main event scene. They could have used this diversity more as the decade progressed. ***1/2

Minoru Tanaka vs AKIRA - NJPW BOSJ 05/28/01 Minoru Tanaka, King of Flash Submissions, is neck and neck with Yoshinari Ogawa as my favorite thing about 00s puroresu. This is not quite at the level of his other elite performances, but it is just a notch below. I am so glad we get this match in almost complete form (missing a minute or so of 23 minute match) given as it is basically the extended, more deliberate version of the 2000 match I loved. We still get the double leg psychology that made the first match so interesting, but we also get the complete build. Also, it is less of a sprint so there is less blowing off selling. Minoru is so incredible in holds with his selling really drawing you when AKIRA has him in leg holds. In this match, Minoru does not destroy AKIRA's leg as much and thus when AKIRA does go for his big dives it is not as irksome. I love AKIRA's psychology to whenever Minoru gets one up on him. It is always to retaliate immediately with something big. Like when Minoru first goes after his knees, he goes for a palm strike to the head, but whiffs this opens him up to a dropkick sending him to the outside and a Minoru plancha. They spend a bit too much time in the rolling heel hook, without much selling, which is the worst part of the match. For the rest of the match, AKIRA's retaliation policy is to go after the knee to cut off Minoru, which reaps great benefits being to hit a huge dive to outside or his preferred finish sequence of German suplex and top rope splash. Minoru switches gears to an arm based attack after catching AKIRA off the top coming to the floor with an armbar. AKIRA tries to bring a chair into the ring, but ref is having none of it. AKIRA hits a wicked low blow, but it is not enough. His big splash hurts his arm and Minoru looks to win with a flash cross armbreaker, but AKIRA gets the ropes. I would be remiss not to mention that AKIRA was rover like over and not even in the underdog permission. They work a similar submission reversal sequence, but ending with AKIRA winning with an STF to cap off a great match. It is nice I left these junior matches to mix in with the later decade stuff because I just appreciate this style so much. AKIRA is a bit offense heavy, but still lets his spots breathe. Minoru is so amazing with his selling and his ability to work underneath, but always has a puncher's chance with his flash submissions. ****

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Minoru Tanaka vs AKIRA - NJPW 12/10/00 AKIRA in full regalia coming out to The Doors is why Japan is so friggin' bitchin'. Unfortunately, this match is joined in progress (using the final match time we lost about 6 minutes of 17 minute match) so I will not be ranking it even though I enjoyed it. It is a great high-octane, energetic spectacle. Unlike 2007 juniors matches, they are actually bothered to sell during this match. Yes, it is often selling after the fact especially AKIRA, but at least it felt like the moves had consequence, there was a flow and they were trying to win the match. We open with AKIRA taking out Minoru's leg and Minoru trying to escape by powdering, but AKIRA follows him out with a wicked dive. AKIRA is relentless on the knee with everything including ring bell and applying a figure-4. Minoru in 2000-2001 was just so fucking locked in. He sells so well in this hold. Minoru wipes AKIRA out with a basement dropkick and applies a heel hook so the playing field is levelled. The simultaneous dropkicks and strikes on knees were the lamest part of the match. AKIRA blows off selling to hit a bridging German and a pair of big splashes. They struggle over a German and AKIRA hits the mother of all back kick nutshots, sweeps the leg and applies Figure-4. Minoru makes the ropes and FLASH TRIANGLE! I am such a Minoru Tanaka mark. They do some quick submission reversals before Minoru fights through elbows to the knee to apply a heel hook for the win. Minoru Tanaka was just on fire in this match making AKIRA look great and then scoring big with flash submissions. AKIRA blew off selling, but did have some great offense. I recommend watching the match at 11 minutes of airtime this is super fun. If we got the full thing, I would say it is probably ***3/4-****.