Superstar Sleeze

Burning (Kenta Kobashi, Tamon Honda, KENTA) & Naomichi Marufuji vs Sterness (Jun Akiyama, Akitoshi Saito, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Makoto Hashi) - Korakuen 08/23/03 I was watching a spotfest when I wrote this. Forgive me if it goes astray. I have actually been looking forward to seeing KENTA & Marufuji's big run as it is something I missed that is highly polarizing. I am always interested in wrestling acts that are highly polarizing. I really liked the KENTA/Nakajima series from 2009 and in general enjoyed him. I always thought Marufuji would have been better off on the Japanese gymnastics team or the Japanese version of Jackass/Stupid Human Tricks. This is NOT a Kobashi/Akiyama match at all. It is actually quite jarring watching Kobashi & Akiyama take part in such a 00s spotfest. I am not trying to say they are beneath it. It is just not how they work that makes this strange to watch. This is definitely a KENTAFuji showcase and their new en vogue style. This match affirms everything I remember: KENTA is pretty good and Marufuji is just atrocious. There are just so many lame gymnastics exchanges from Marufuji that look especially bad when Kobashi comes in and just chops the fuck out of Kanemaru. KENTA is athletic, but remembers to actually hit you. I thought this was a very quiet performance from Honda, which disappointed me after his monster performance in the GHC Tag Title match. I could watch Kobashi chop the fuck out of Hashi & Kanemaru all day. Once Marufuji starts getting his ass kicked I start to enjoy the match a lot more. Nothing makes me want someone to get their ass kicked more than after they hit Sliced Bread No. 2. When you hit that move, I just want you to take closed fists to the head and piledrivers to eternity. Unfortunately all good things come to an end and Marufuji takes out Akiyama's knee and tags in the big man, Kobashi. Kobashi crushes Akiyama. Saito throwing KENTA down with an urnage was the best thing he has ever done. If this review seems disjointed, it is because they are just throwing out a ton of shit. Saito powerbombs KENTA and Kanemaru frogsplash, but triple save. Burning quadruple teams Kanemaru. Ballshot Kanemaru! Use the Ballshot!!! In the spot of the match Kobashi puts Kanemaru on Honda and winds him up to hit an Inverted Alabama Slamma. That was pretty cool. KENTA runs through some offense, but gets pinned from behind on a rollup. What the fuck?!?!?! KENTAFuji are taking over. Ok? Get used to it. Spotfest in every sense of the word. It is a really fun match with some cool stuff in it. I thought the finish was pretty lame as they should have gone out like they came in a blaze of glory. I dig spotfests, but they can only get so high for me. ***1/2

I think you make some good points defending the first half of the match. It is more logical than I initially gave it credit for. However, it reminded me a lot of the Demolition or Hart Foundation matches of the 80s. Those matches when you write down what is happening on paper it sounds fantastic. In practice, it feels like they are just going through the motions. I totally agree that the finish run is too sweet. Honda is a total boss in that last 5 minutes or so. The pop for his victory just really tells you how well they built that ending. The back end really makes the match for me. It is like I always say that when you are picking the absolute best matches of the decade, the nitpicking is necessary because you are trying to choose between the elite of the elite. GHC Tag Team Champions Sterness (Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito) vs Burning (Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda) - Budokan 6/6/03 During the home stretch of this match is when I got Honda, which is why I need to rewatch that GHC title defense again towards the end of the project. The GHC Title defense established Honda as a solid junior partner (not in the weight sense) for Kobashi to go up against Kobashi's arch-nemesis and his junior partner. The finish run of this match stands as one of the best finishes I have ever seen, but I thought the first half of the match was really just there. If you JIP to Kobashi's hot tag and then extrapolate out I could imagine someone dropping the full monty on this match, but the outset and Honda's FIP were really lukewarm. It is not as bad as a disjointed match to grade. It is just they sort of go from the ground floor to the top floor in two blinks of an eye instead of a gradual build. The match follows the usual Japanese formula the heels isolate the junior partner, but cant handle big gun. I love this formula; I just did not think it was executed with as much panache as usual. At the beginning, Akiyama pokes Kobashi in the eye, which fires up Kobashi to chop the fuck outta him. When Saito and Honda tango, Saito gets an upper hand so Kobashi comes in and puts him in his place. When Honda is back in, Saito wins a suplex struggle and Akiyama hits a high knee. Thus the basic strategy is established isolate Honda because Kobashi is too much man to handle. What I love about Japan is not everything so black and white even though Honda is the junior in the pecking order, he is still a world class athlete so he can defend himself and throw Akiyama down. However, everything has been fine to this point, but not super badass then you had some meaningless bomb throwing: Akiyama hits Kobashi with a DDT on the ramp and the next move is a Kobashi superplex. Sterness gets the match back on track with a sweet spike piledriver on the floor to Honda. The face in peril sequence after that just kinda meandered as they were just going through the motions. Honda spear and hot tag to Kobashi ignites the crowd and takes a good match and turns it into a classic. It is spinning back chops for everyone and Akiyama is out on his feet. Sleeper suplex, but finally Saito does something worthwhile and hits a HUGE German suplex. Saito had not ruined this match for me, but he was definitely not making it better. C'mon Saito you are still going to do a lot more than just that to take Kobashi down. Spinning back chop and a half-nelson suplex on ramp and Kobashi was back on top. At this point, Honda takes over the match for 5 or so minutes is the best wrestler in the world. No written word recap will do this finish justice. It is one of the more dramatic finishes to a Japanese tag or any match ever. It is filled with saves, Honda Germans, Olympic Hell out of Exploders and high drama. The pop for Honda's victory over Akiyama is one of the loudest I have heard from a Budokan Hall. This match is why you can never project where a match is going to go. What started as a ho-hum match turned into a classic finish with a great underdog babyface victory. It is hard to rate, but I will need to re-watch. I am going conservatively and saying ****.

I am going to the Smackdown taping in Boston tonight. Does Main Event start at 8? Or is it live to tape and I need to get there by 7? Thanks in advance.

GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Budokan 04/25/04 Going into this project, this was my pick for the best match of the decade in Japan of the 00s, granted I had only seen something like 20 matches from the decade. While it is just as excellent as I remembered, it did not quite have enough to dislodge Misawa/Akiyama and Misawa/Kobashi from the top two spots. From the first time I watched this in 2007 until now, I have been impressed with the hellacious beating Takayama dishes out on the champion. For the first time in the title reign, it feels like Kobashi could actually drop the title. These two have insane chemistry together. I loved their outing in 2000 and this match has enough differences to make this a unique great match. Instead of the hook being that Takayama is a outright heel, here it is can Kobashi surmount Takayama's strength advantage when in all the previous major title defenses he has been the larger competitor. Takayama is a big man, but he absolutely wrestles huge ensuring his stature being the crux of most of his matches. Early on they put over his size that Kobashi has to wear him down before he can hit big bombs like the half nelson suplex or delayed vertical. Kobashi pays for treating Takayama like any another opponent when Takayama reverses a delayed vertical into a guillotine choke. Takayama establishes control with a nice running knee/butterfly suplex combo. At first, it looks like Takayama was going to target leg, but when Kobashi keeps chopping him he takes his arm and hyperextends it over his shoulder. I loved this showcase of adaptability. He came in looking to take a limb and when Kobashi presented one to him he took it. Kobashi's verbal selling really put over the double wristlock. Outside the ring, Kobashi hits a rebound lariat off the railing, but his ailing arm prevents him from getting in the ring and Takayama hits a monster German off the apron. They milk this for all its worth with a double countout tease. Reminiscent of their 2000 match, Kobashi's right arm has been rendered useless he has to find ways to circumvent it. Takayama picks off Kobashi with a butterfly suplex and transitions immediately into a cross-armbreaker, but Kobashi makes the ropes. Takayama continues to try to hyperextend the arm. Kobashi grabs desperation sleeper, but cant leverage due to height disadvantage and bad arm. Takayama hits a wicked half-nelson suplex and a big German to get a two. The "Ko-Bash-I" chants ring out in the Budokan. He goes for the Human Capture German suplex, but here comes Kobashi. Kobashi throws Takayama down on his knee attempt, spinning back chop and a half-nelson level the playing field even though Kobashi is still favoring the arm. Takayama takes advantage of this to hit a dragon suplex and running knee, but the ropes save Kobashi. Takayama makes his last stand just landing nasty punches and kicks really smothering Kobashi and pushing the ref aside. This was really the first time Takayama was heelish and it puts over the desperation. Kobashi gets behind to hit the half-nelson and then a brainbuster for two. Burning Hammer, but his arm cant handle it. Takayama throws a wild kick BURNING LARIAT~! still only gets two. Kobashi with a bloody lip and a crazed look in his eyes signals for the Moonsault and the crowd loses shit for this. Moonsault right on Takayama's face wins the match! This match was wrestler more like an intense title match with a David vs Goliath dynamic rather than 2000 match where Takayama heeled it up. It shows how far Takayama had come as a credible challenger to any major Japanese title. The match showcases Kobashi at his best working from underneath. Using his histrionics to full effect to get the crowd cheering for his eventual comeback and who better to dish out punishment than the Bleach Blond Badass. Takayama gave as good as he got as his chest looked like raw meat after this match. The right arm was why Kobashi could never string together a combination of offense until Takayama had finally punched himself out and also why Kobashi had to bust out the moonsault (on the face) because he could not physically hit the Burning Hammer. Also for the first time, Kobashi was pushed to the limit as he was forced to dig deep in his bag of tricks to beat this giant. It was an excellent payoff to many different levels of storytelling before the biggest match in NOAH history against Akiyama in the Dome. *****

If Tony is not totally bitter about his wrestling career, I think he would be a great guest on the Steve Austin Show. At the very least, I would think he would like to talk Crockett, the Horsemen, Midnights/RockNRolls etc...

Orton/Bryan really do have insane chemistry together. I have loved all their RAW matches dating back to the street fight last year, but have not seen their PPV matches. I feel like Orton has really improved since last Wrestlemania in interacting with crowd and being more vicious. I'd have to go back and watch the Christian series, but I have to say Bryan must be his best opponent.

GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Tamon Honda - NOAH 4/13/03 This is my first Tamon Honda match and I don't think I got him until the tag title match after this so I will need to rewatch this match down the line. I thought it was a great match, but not an elite match. It is a perfect first title defense for Kobashi against a solid midcarder, who had some solid victories in 2002 and a very good Olympic record in freestyle wrestling. Plus established Honda as Kobashi's #2 and a reputable tag partner. This has to be Honda's career performance with a great array of throws and submissions to try put down Kobashi. Kobashi just has too much game for Honda, who is outgunned by the new champion. The beginning match establishes just that: Kobashi is the champion and he is going to control the beginning because he is the better wrestler. Now, Honda is the game from the beginning going for cradles and being able to throw Kobashi on a headlock, but cant turn the tide early against the offensive juggernaut that is Kobashi. Kobashi DDTs him on the ramp and it looks like nothing can stop him. Until in a badass spot, Honda German suplexes Kobashi over the ropes onto the ramp. Now thats creatively badass. As is a staple of Kobashi matches, his opponent goes to work on the arm to take away the Lariat and the chop. Kobashi is such a master seller of this every time out and sells the cross-armbreaker very well. Honda goes back to the top wristlock to quash any Kobashi resistance. Honda freaking headbutts Kobashi's arm. Kobashi nails the back drop driver and sells the arm well, but you know it is coming, the Orange Tsunami is going to overwhelm Honda, a DDT and 2 half-nelson suplexes confirm it. Honda gamely tries to hold on by grabbing his Olympic Hell (did not realize this was a finish just thought it was a chinlock until after I did some reading.). Honda starts throwing Kobashi around climaxing with a top rope German suplex and again goes back to Olympic Hell. He can't put him away and goes for the powerbomb. Kobashi-rana and LARIAT!!! The end is nigh as they show the GHC title. Out of nowhere, spear by Honda. Honda force Kobashi over on the German, but eats a LARIAT. Everybody is out. Honda one last pin attempt before sleepr suplex and BURNING LARIAT continue Kobashi's title reign. Kobashi worked the match much more underneath relying on his selling to get match over and in turn helping to make Honda look like a credible threat. Honda impressed me with throws and his work on the arm. Once I realized Olympic Hell was more than a intensely held chinlock I think I would like this match even more. I could see why some detractors of Kobashi who go after his offensive-laden matches may choose this as a shining example of a great Kobashi match. I thought it was perfect way to start a title reign, but at the same time allows to be even greater matches down the road rather than blowing your wad all at once. ****1/4

GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi - Budokan 3/01/03 This is how you seize the torch. Finally, Kobashi takes the mantle from Misawa as the full-fledged ace and embarks on a magnificent heavyweight title reign. Very rarely in wrestling and sports is a there a "torch passing" moment so when it does happen it truly feels like a special match. So when you take an extraordinary match add this touch of gravitas you have the makings of a Match of the Decade candidate. I would argue that this is the most famous match of the era and thus will come under extra scrutiny. After watching the match for either the fourth or fifth time, I believe it warrants inclusion among the best matches produced in Japan in the 00s. The story of this match was Kobashi would not be denied on this night. After years and years of proving his mettle, he was ready to defeat Misawa definitively. For Misawa, it was his last stand as The Man of Japan. It was a fitting climax to the story of two great, competitive rivals. The beginning of the match is Misawa establishing control and setting the pace with his elbow. After scoring the first bomb (a backdrop driver), Misawa stymies Kobashi at every turn with the elbow while focusing on Kobashi's arm removing the lariat and chop from the arsenal. Kobashi sells the arm like a champ as he cant apply the sleeper due to the arm work. When Misawa has the opportunity to hit his customary diving elbow, he was not expecting to crash and burn into the railing chin-first coming up with a nasty gash. Much like the chin-first drop toehold in the amazing '00 Akiyama match, Kobashi sees his opening and pounces. Everything is focused on debilitating the neck of Misawa. If you have control of the head & neck, you have control of the body. Kobashi paces his work a little better than Akiyama reserving his bombs for later content for using cravats and DDTs. The best spot of the segment is when Misawa goes for the monkey flip and Kobashi just falls back and eats turnbuckle. Kobashi starts to chop the fuck out of Misawa's neck, but Misawa ain't having any of it. We were one muscle flex away from Misawa doing his best Luger impression. It does not matter if it is Greensboro Coliseum or Budokan Hall, that spot is over like rover. The playing field is levelled after a trading a spinning back chop and a Roaring Elbow, Misawa is first up, but Kobashi still has fight left in him and Misawa elbows him back in the head. He rattles off his finishing sequence that has culminated in so many victories. He goes for Emerald Flowsion, but Kobashi desperately shoves him into the turnbuckles to save himself and hits a half nelson suplex. Kobashi will not be denied as he fights through elbows to hit a LARIATOOOOOO! The struggle over a suplex and MIsawa suplexes him on the ramp then dives through the ropes to elbow Kobashi on the ramp. After 25 minutes, they are both out on the ramp and I just wondering what is going through their minds knowing what the next spot will be. In the spot of the match, Misawa Tiger Suplexes Kobashi off the ramp onto floor. I still lose my shit when it happens. "KO-BASH-I" chants ring out in the Budokan and they tease the double countout finish to really put over that spot. Misawa only gets a two. To steal a phrase from DDP, this crowd is JAAAAAAAAACCCKED!!! Both men selling the fatigue and battle wear like champs. Kobashi throws wild chops, but Misawa catches him with nasty back elbows. Kobashi is falling over himself on jelly legs and finally Misawa hits it. The end all be all: Emerald Flowsion. 1-2-KICK OUT CROWD LOSES THEIR SHIT~! Delayed brainbuster triggers the MI-SA-WA chant. This crowd does not want it to end. Burning Hammer brings the match and the rivalry to a fitting conclusion. Kobashi grabs the reins from the Misawa in a classic barnburner. *****

After watching Kobashi's title defense against Ogawa (absolutely badass match), it is actually a bit disappointing they did not switch the style up a little more often in All Japan and NOAH because Kobashi had one helluva working punch and he would have been so damn good at brawls.

GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshinari Ogawa – Budokan 11/01/03 I did not know until I watched this match that I have a spirit wrestler and his name is Yoshinari Ogawa. If I stepped into the ring, I would look pretty much same right down to the bitchin’ zebra print tights. I’m an inch taller than his billed height. We have a similar build and the same hair color/hair style. I would be the most obnoxious, cheating prick you ever did see. Needless to say, it took all of 30 seconds for Ogawa to become one of my favorite wrestlers ever. I can’t wait to see his dynamic with the Golden Boy, Misawa. I am feeling the Sting/Luger ’96 dynamic on steroids. Liberal cheating, blood and closed fist punches sound like something out of Memphis, but remarkably it happened in the Budokan in 2003 during a Kobashi match. You can only have so many “epic” matches and this served as a great change of pace. Instead of Kobashi trying to best a warrior on his level in a struggle for the prestige of the GHC Championship, we just wanted to see Kobashi murder this little douche and we got it. Very rarely, do you see Kobashi filled with hate. He fires up and gets angry, but he has respect for his opponent. For Ogawa, he holds him in contempt and is going to punish him. However, this can only be conveyed if Ogawa does his part to live up to the name, “Rat Boy”. This is one of the better heel performances I have ever seen as Ogawa just lays it on thick trying every trick in the book to prove lightning could strike twice and pull off a major upset to become the GHC Champion again. He sets the tone of the match right off the bat by spewing water in Kobashi’s face at the bell and beating down Kobashi with a big ‘ol shit-eating grin. Of course, Kobashi fires up and just lays in some wicked chops, which Ogawa’s due to his character can really sell well because he does not have to protect his image. Ogawa next trick is play dead off Kobashi’s chops. Kobashi argues with the ref and Ogawa chop blocks Kobashi’s knee. Kobashi’s knees are why he was out for all of 2001 and a good chunk of 2002 and they are heavily braced. Ogawa is just relentless on the knees including trying to take the braces off. Two spots, I loved during this segment were Kobashi blocking the kneecrusher and Ogawa turning it into a Dragon Leg Screw and Kobashi doing push-ups out of a half-crab and chopping the fuck out of Ogawa. In a moment of hubris, Ogawa thinks he has effectively weakened Kobashi starts to toy with him by poking him in the forehead. This leads to some suplex reversals and Kobashi being thrown into the ref. Ogawa actually gets a visual pinfall off of the enziguiri and back suplex. Ogawa realizing the ref was out gets the friggin’ ring bell and goes to town on Kobashi’s knee. You know it is coming now that big blowoff to all the heat they were building. They struggle on the outside and Kobashi sends him head first into the post. It looked wicked. He sends into post again head first and a spinning back chop puts him out. The ref are trying to restrain Kobashi and I don’t speak Japanese, but I am pretty sure he said “Fuck that little prick”. Ogawa comes up bloody and Kobashi unloads with closed fists on the cut. It is such a shame All Japan/NOAH is worked so straight because Kobashi has a badass worked punch. When Ogawa tries to cut off Kobashi at the knee literally, Kobashi rocks with a huge punch and then DDTs him on the ramp. Kobashi hits the mother of all powerbombs, but only gets two. Kobashi only gets two off the sleeper and punches Ogawa again in the head. The ref has enough and tries to restrain him and Ogawa low blows Kobashi! Kobashi right back on top with chops and a superplex. Ogawa’s last ditch effort was quick pinfall attempts with the feet on the ropes just like how he beat Akiyama and pinned Kobashi in a tag match. Ogawa refused to take the half-nelson suplex (proving he was smarter than everyone else in the promotion) and eats a Burning Lariat for the mercy killing. These two played their roles to a tee. On paper, Ogawa is totally overmatched by the awesome Kobashi. He cheats and needles Kobashi and then he has the audacity to go after his knees. Throughout the whole heat segment, I was just so pumped for the forthcoming destruction. I am just thinking I am going to get some suplexes, throws and Lariats. Then on top of that, I get BLOOD and CLOSED PUNCHES! That’s some sweet icing on the cake. I have some minor quibbles, no reason for Ogawa to get the visual fall and the ending stretch could have been tighter (low blow-> leads to pinfall attempts ->Kobash BURNINATES). Overall, a match that totally caught me unawares and is just a bitchin’ curveball out of NOAH. ****1/2

Come for the Dirty White Boy and his awesomeness and stay for the most badass, hilarious story in Titans history: Halloween Havoc 2012!!!!! I have not laughed so hard in a long, long time. I am glad to be apart of the team. Just throw up the Sleeze signal and Im there.

GHC Tag Team Champions Sterness (Jun Akiyama & Atikoshi Saito) vs Burning (Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga) - NOAH 10/19/02 The undisputed and unlikely star (at least from my perspective) was Kentaro Shiga. I had never seen Shiga, but with that frame he looked like as if I stepped into the ring. He is not a shorty like Saito, but a tall-ish, lanky fellow. So when Akiyama waves him off dismissively at the very beginning as if to say "Listen chump, it is time for the big boys to play" and then promptly cheapshots him off the apron Shiga comes in and tries to retaliate, but this is not Akiyama's first rodeo and he backs off the apron and gives him a wag of the finger. , I was like "Fuck Yeah!" Shiga then proceeded to prove me wrong the rest of the match that he did belong. Shiga just screamed "Face In Peril", but lo and behold he was one helluva hot tag. Shiga gets a hold of Akiyama and slaps him in the corner. You can imagine what happens next as Akiyama just brutalizes Shiga with a barrage of slaps. Akiyama goes to finish the job on the ramp, but Shiga gets a tornado DDT off the ramp that almost decapitates Akiyama on the railing. HOLY SHIT! He does it two more times off the apron onto the railing and I think Akiyama is dead. Akiyama can only get a foot on the ropes and collapses on the Irish Whip attempt. Kobashi is in and get hits his delayed vertical suplex, but Saito saves drawing boos. One other thing I love about this is match is that there is actual heel heat for Sterness. When Saito saves Akiyama he actually draws boos. Interference is pretty liberal in puroresu tags, but rarely draws boos. The facts the crowd was in unison for Kobashi & Shiga and there was an actual build to a finish improved this match tenfold over the previous Sterness tag. Saito draws more boos by breaking up a sweet ab stretch with crossface. Kobashi tags Shiga, but outside of his on bomb he just does not have the offense to take it to Akiyama, who wrangles Shiga into a vicious crossface while Saito restrains Kobashi. This has been a perfect use of Saito so far. smile.gif Now the real fun begins as Akiyama busts open Shiga's nose with a high knee and they just brutalize his face during the heat segment. Saito, who throws a pretty good kick, kicks him in the face and steps on his face. Akiyama slaps Shiga in the face while Saito holds him as the ref is admonishing him Saito stands on Shiga's face. This is friggin' awesome. Shiga gets a lariat to tag in Kobashi. I have to say I was bit underwhelmed by Kobashi. It was a pretty tepid hot tag when I was expecting molten fire. He chops the fuck out of Akiyama, but they go into finisher tease. Saito hits a real sweet axe kick on Kobashi and a German. Kobashi lariats Saito and tags Shiga, who is a fuckin house of fire. He is out for blood and just crushing anything that moves. A Saito jumping enziguiri stymies his run. Now it is Kobashi's turn to rattle off offense: he throws Akiyama down on the knee to corner and half-nelson suplexes follow, but Saito saves. They tease the Burning Hammer, but Saito the Personification of Buzzkill breaks it up with a jumping enziguiri. Don't worry Kobashi, Shiga has this on lock. He applies an STF on Akiyama while Kobashi detains Saito and the crowd is rocking for Shiga. Shiga does for his big bomb: the tornado DDT, but Akiyama hits a brainbuster out of it. Akiyama goes to choke a bitch, but Kobashi saves. Shiga gets one more hope spot with a roll-up outta of an exploder, but Akiyama proves too much for him hitting a brainbuster, exploder and a fisherman buster to polish him off for a successful defense of the tag titles. The match does run pretty long and can be a bit excessive at times would be my quibbles. I would imagine this is Shiga's match of a lifetime. Everyone loves an underdog and this is a story anyone can get. The underdog punking out the bully, getting his ass beat, taking it right to the bullies, but coming up short. Kobashi, who lets face it can be a bit of a glory hog, really let Shiga shine in this. Akiyama played a great heel prick in this much better than any other match I have seen from him. ****

GHC Tag Team Champions Wild II (Takeshi Rikio & Takeshi Morishima) vs Jun Akiyama & Atikoshi Saito - Budokan NOAH 9/23/02 You know all those touring 80s metal bands with only one original member (looking at you, Quiet Riot) that's what this match felt like. It was a wicked bad All Japan tribute match that had one of the original members of the band performing. You know what this match is good for, though. You see why Akiyama is a cut above the rest. The way he throws himself into every bump and into every move makes you believe. Don't get me wrong, Rikio and Morishima had potential, but they were so tentative. Not tentative in a I am selling that match as a big deal let me be cautious, but tentative more like I don't want to hurt myself or my opponent and still pretty green. Atikoshi Saito is a lost cause and just a pretty atrocious wrestler. I have no idea how Akiyama got saddled with such a chump. He was apart of some of the slap exchanges and double clothesline spots ever. Jesus, in Japan, it is not like work their slaps just friggin' shoot slap him. Rikio and Morishima were not much above him in terms of laying it in, but they did try a bit harder with Akiyama. The Morishima side slam on Saito to transition out of his heat segment was pathetic and Saito visibly hopping into Rikio's arms for a bearhug was sad. I'll give credit where it is do, Wild II was effective in working Saito's ribs with lots of double stomps and Saito actually sold pretty well, but that part was merely decent. The best parts of the match were of course when Akiyama was in. The way he just bumped for Morishima and Rikio made them seemed so much more credible. When he slapped them, it definitely woke them up. Morishima finally started hitting some big clotheslines and because Akiyama is a total nut he took a wicked Doomsday Device. Akiyama gave as good as he got because he messed Morishima's face with his jumping high knee. The finish run features Saito and Rikio and it is about as anti-climatic as one can imagine. Saito wins after a bunch of jumping enziguiris. Easily the worst match I have seen so far in my 00s puroresu watching. It is full of trite slap exchanges and poor offense. How far has the once mighty All Japan has fallen! I am not even going bother rating it.

GHC Heaveyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Mitsuharu Misawa - Budokan 09/23/02 The most in-demand puroresu star of 2002 continues his run of excellent matches against NOAH ace, Mitsuharu Misawa. Takayama won the GHC Title from Yoshinari Ogawa and was used as a high-profile transitional champion to Misawa to set up the famous 03/01/03 Misawa vs Kobashi encounter. In their match from 2001 to decide the first GHC Champion, I found the first half of the match to be sluggish before the dramatic home stretch seeing Misawa crowned as the GHC Champion with Emerald Flowsion. In this match, they cut a quick pace from the outset of this match and never really let up even though towards the end they did seem fatigued. This featured a great Takayama heel performance, which makes Misawa's famed extended comeback all the better. It all boils down to Misawa's elbow versus Takayama's size. Takayama started off dominating Misawa with an assortment of kicks that sent him out of the ring and reeling into the corner at different moments. Takayama boots him off the top turnbuckle. He sends him crashing into the railings before clobbering him with the big boot over the railing. Early on, it seems the size and power of Takayama will be too much for Misawa to handle. Takayama, cocky as ever, covers Misawa with one foot in the ring. They go back to a test of strength something Takayama had won early, but this time Misawa executes a fireman's carry out. During a Misawa chinlock, Takayama feigns choking so as to get the ref to break it. Takayama is fuckin awesome. Takayama dumps Msiawa out onto the apron only to be hit by a short-arm elbow and a running elbow over the top rope. A dropkick to the outside sets up Misawa's diving elbow, which looks particularly brutal given how Takayama lands and Misawa follows this up with another elbow from the apron sending Takayama through the railing. Misawa effectively began to use his elbow as his equalizer against Takayama. Takayama as devastating weapon of his own: the kneelift. He catches Misawa coming off the top with a wicked kneelift triggering big Misawa chants. Takayama hits a bridging butterfly suplex, never seen that one before, for two. There is a lame sequence of kicks that just kinda ends with a Misawa single-leg takedown. Here comes the Misawa offensive onslaught: roaring elbow, German, Tiger Driver, Frogsplash and facelock. Takayama throws him off on Tiger Suplex attempt. A roundhouse kick to the head ends a elbow versus boot exchange and gets two. Takayama just fucking unlodas with knees driving Misawa into the corner. He hits a dropkick to Misawa's face and another knee only to get two triggering more Misawa chants and causing a bloody lip. Takayama has proven he has bombs of his own that can counteract Misawa, but has not yet put him away. He signals for the German suplex; he hits it, but rolls through to hit another one and Misawa gets his foot on the rope. He goes for a capture German suplex, but Misawa turns that into a double underhook overhead belly to belly suplex (is there a shorter name for that. It feels like one of the IUPAC names for an organic molecule). You know they do a reverse tombstone piledriver spot in WCW. Well the try to do the same thing but with the Emerald Flowsion version of that and fuck it up resulting in a bloody nose for Takayama. They run through a sequence, but they seem blown up at this point. Misawa takes home with elbows and after a barrage of them wins his second GHC title. ***3/4 They lose a bit down the stretch, but it was a dramatic thrill ride as Misawa was able to vanquish the Bleach Blond Giant of Japan with his trusty elbow. Takayama laid a pretty damn good beating on Misawa. Those Takayama kneelifts were bitchin' as all hell. It is too bad they botched the Emerald Flowsion shot as it seemed to mess up their finish, but it was a very well built match.

Yoshihiro Takayama vs Osamu Nishimura - G-1 Climax '02 Semi-finals I wanted to like this, but it came off feeling too much like exhibition to me. There was no real sense of struggle or urgency until the latter stages of the match. There is no doubt that Nishimura was over like rover with the crowd, but I did not get the sense he really cared about winning the match. He seemed kind of like a hot dog showboat. I love Takayama, but he sort of just let Nishimura do stuff to him to pop the crowd. Nishimura has some neat little mat stuff, but it is way too cute for my taste. What bugged me the most about Nishimura' performance is how he totally no sold the cross armbreaker while in the hold. Talking about killing the drama. Even though, the crowd loved Nishimura, there seemed to be something so detestable about him. He just seemed so smug to me. Towards the end when Nishimura did a knee drop on Takayama's knee and then the figure-4, Takayama's selling finally drew me in. It finally felt like two people trying to win a match. Of course, I am going to call a spade a spade and Takayama just dropped the knee selling after that, which bothered me because Takayama working from underneath was an interesting dynamic. I have never seen Nishimura before but something about him did irk me so I did take personal pleasure when Takayama said enough with this bitchy little kicks and chopped the fuck out of his chest. Then he just chucks him across the ring twice. God Bless Takayama! That was pretty much the end of Nishimura. Nishimura get an ab stretch pin for a false finish that crowd bites on. Takayama, undeterred, hits him with an Everest German to pick up the victory. Having only watched one match of Nishimura, I will continue to have an open mind about him that withstanding I was very underwhelmed by this match. It was a refreshing change of pace to see long stretches of matwork and no lariats, but I have seen better versions of this match and it really could have been so much more. There was plenty of good wrestling, but once again it felt like a Nishimura matwork exhibition. I thought Takayama supplied all the best parts and was the only one interested in selling during the majority of the match. It would have been cool to see Takayama work underneath if it was against a less self-indulgent opponent. It is a hard match to rate, but I will say ***1/4.

Yoshihiro Takayama vs Kensuke Sasaki - G-1 Climax '02 Sasaki is wearing a doo-rag because he has cut the most bitchin' mullet of all time off. Mullet > Doo-rag. However, I cannot deny he is rover like over like this crowd and they may have been able to get a little bit more out of him before transitioning into the Nagata era. Sasaki looks to power straight through the monster early with lots of stiff shots to the mid-section and head. This flurry overwhelms the Bleach Blond Giant enough to hit a powerslam on the ramp and a brainbuster before a HUGE knee lift puts on a stop to that. The crowd even gasped for that kneelift. For all the love the lariat gets, the knee lift is just as badass. Takayama is his usual dickish self putting just one foot on Sasaki counting along. He hits a nice jumping knee on the ramp and then his jumping knee/butterfly suplex combo. A cocky Takayama lets Sasaki take a standing count only to eat a lariat, big mistake. Sasaki is able to apply the scorpion deathlock, but Takayama is too close to the ropes. They start trading wild forearms and this turns into a battle of the big boot versus the lariat. Some of those lariats by Sasaki were vicious and Takayama ate them like a champ. Takayama goes for the German. Sasaki blocks it and then throws Takayama to the ground on his jumping knee attempt. This time the lariat fells the giant. He signals for the Northern Lights Bomb and the crowd pops huge. It is academic as Sasaki picks up the points in this match. ***1/4 It felt like a really high-end TV match, just simple, but exciting spots strung together in a cogent fashion to advance the tournament. Takayama came off as a bigger prick in this match and someone you will root against from now. The big take home was just how over Sasaki was in this match. The home stretch is how they should have ended the Nagata match. Sasaki basically used Takayama's size against him when he threw him down and then hit his big finish to a nice pop.

Dick Togo vs Tiger Mask IV - 08/25/02 Inaugural Tokugun Jr. Heavyweight Champion I didn't really care for this one at all I thought this was a badly executed 2002 US Indy match that focused way more spots (that didn't even look good) than trying to tell a compelling story. They piqued my interest from the outset when Togo started the mask ripping, chair throwing and dragging Tiger Mask around by the neck with a cord, but once Tiger Mask was able to crack Togo in the skull with the chair things went downhill fast. Tiger Mask's offense looked awful, his sweep the leg was shit and he just looked like he could beat himself out of a wet paper bag. I know Togo is revered and I have not seen much so I will keep an open mind, but those Pedigrees have got to go. He makes me long for Kojima's Ace Crusher. The top rope Pedigree was particularly bad. At least the senton he used decent. So I lost my notes for this match and only the negatives stick out, but I do remember thinking it was at least entertaining in regards to the early brawling and Togo's heel work. **3/4

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions New Japan (Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka) vs. NOAH (Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) - New Japan 8/29/02 A big brawl erupts and looks like NOAH has smartened up to New Japan's tactics and meets them at the pass. A really good early spot sees Kikuchi having a figure-4 on Minoru's head so Liger bodyslams Kanemaru on Kikuchi three times before he releases the hold. NOAH beats the piss out of Minoru early as Kanemaru drops a boot on Minoru as he hands over the edge of the apron. Kanemaru is even puts his feet on the ropes during a pin. NOAH heeling it up that's what I like to see. Minoru is selling all the suplexes and splashes so well. How did this guy not become a junior's superstar on the level of Liger, but KENTA and Marufuji got all this press? Kikuchi taunts Liger by holding out Minoru's hand to have him tag in and when Liger gets chippy he boots him off the apron. This is some good stuff so far. Minoru grabs his flash cross armbreaker. WAHOO~! Kikuchi gets thrown to the outside and eats a Ligerbomb on exposed concrete. He is just deadweight now. I love the puro deadweight sell on the outside. Liger applies camel clutch on Kikcuhi and Minoru puts his foot on Kikuchi's face for more leverage and the crowd pops. So do I! Minoru covers Kikuchi with one foot. This is glorious! Kikuchi catches the Liger palm strike and tags in Kanemaru. Kanemaru does some flippy shit so Liger kappo kicks him. Sit down, bitch! Minoru and Kanemaru trade ballshots in a funny exchange, which is sold for comedy. Liger and Kikuchi in and guess who wins that strike exchange. Ligerbomb is broken up by Kanemaru. Liger goes to town on Kikuchi with palm strikes and brainbusters, but Kanemaru keeps saving. Kikuchi is sucking air, dude. Somehow he catches the Liger palm strike and reverses into a German for two. He keeps hitting Germans, but Minoru saves. Kanemaru hits a brainbuster on Minoru and tells Kikuchi to finish him. Kikuchi with a modified Protobomb wins the match. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! This match was more heated than the Osaka match and was about at the level of the earlier NOAH/NJ match. I liked Wataru's performance for the stiffness and Minoru's for the cockiness. I did not think either NOAH/NJ matches transcended into all-time classic status mostly because I did not think the NOAH guys were on the same level as the NJ wrestlers in offense, selling or bumping. NOAH was pretty good at heeling it up early, but then lost that feel towards the end. It is a very good match, but not a classic. ***1/2

Genichiro Tenryu vs Satoshi Kojima - 07/17/02 The two trends I have noticed from my limited Kojima watching is to expect one shitty modified Ace Crusher and that the beginning of the match is always better than the end. I will say this match the the goodness lasted well into the match thus making it is his best match yet. After being dissed and dismissed by Tenryu in the February match, Kojima came out with something to prove and right off the bat gives Tenryu a taste of his own medicine: punches and chops in the corner. Tenryu gives him a Fuck You Chop that may have been a little high as Kojima gasps for breath powdering to the outside. The high chop to the throat was Tenryu's ace in the hole throughout the match when the going got rough. It is quite a trump card to have. Tenryu, who is pissed that Kojima is being a little baby about him trying to crush Kojima's larynx, throws a water bottle at him. Got to love, Mr. Puroresu! Kojima's new strategy is just to kick him in the knee. Tenryu retaliates by kicking him in the head when he tries to go for a toehold following up with a high chop and kappo kick. Tenryu punches him in the face and Kojima goes back to the knee. A dragon leg screw causes Tenryu to powder. Kojima pounces on the knee, but Tenryu just overwhelms him. Tenryu hits a pretty explosive follow up chop into corner with some more punches. Tenryu lariats Kojima out and dives onto Kojima. Judging by this crowd, the chicks dig this lumpy old bastard. Tenryu has been taking Kojima to the woodshed and it seems at this point they are going to make the Fighting Spirit play to get Kojima over here. Kojima takes out Tenryu's knee with a lariat on the apron. I love that spot! Here comes Kojima: plancha, somersault off the apron, dragon leg screw, figure-4, scorpion deathlock. He goes back to give Tenryu some more of his own medicine with punch/chop combination in the corner. Kojima is feeling it, but his top rope elbow only gets 2. What does Tenryu do to stymie Kojima? Chop to the throat, duh. Tenryu hit him with two sick deadwight Germans, really showed off Tenryu's power. At this point, I actually wrote "Wow 20 minutes in and no Ace Crushers yet!" in my notes. Literally a second later, Kojima floats over on a suplex attempt and hits an Ace Crusher. It was inevitable. He hits his stupid looking neckbreaker and his scoop piledriver. The best part is on the pin, Tenryu's foot looks for the rope and when he realizes he is too far he kicks out. Thats excellent ring awareness in bot a kayfabe and non-kayfabe sense! Tenryu punches Kojima and hits a brainbuster to regain advantage. He hits the Spider German, but misses back elbow. Thus Kojima hits his stupid fuckin middle rope Ace Crusher. What does Tenryu do, everybody? Chop to throat. Kojima has FIGHTING SPIRIT~! He lariats Tenryu with no padding only there is a bandage there. We hit the home stretch with a chopfest. It is too bad they descended into trite 00s puro hell because they were doing so well. Tenryu hits tow brainbusters for an excellent false finish. Kojima gets his pop for a lariat false finish. Instead of just finishing it there, they dragged it out. Tenryu blocks a lariat hits two brainbusters, but Kojima does a dazed lariat that left me shakin' my head. They do a chopfest were both men sell their fatigue. Tenryu wins with a brainbuster and powerbomb combo to a lesser pop than the false finishes. The finish issues is the same ones that plague the WWE today with so many false finishes that the crowd does not pop as hot for the actual finish. Plus they just dragged it out way too much at that point. Before that, the match was really good and Kojima gave his best performance yet. He had a chip on his shoulder he was going to prove his mettle to Tenryu and used his moves against him, took out the knee and then threw the bombs. Plus he did take one helluva a beating. Tenryu was his usual steady eddy self making everything awesome around him throwing water bottles in disgust, chops to throat, deadweight Germans. It is a disjointed match, but I am a positive dude. Lets go ***3/4

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Tokyo Dome 05/02 From winning the 2001 G-1 Climax to main eventing the 01/04 Dome against Akiyama, now Nagata defends the IWGP title against the shoot-style giant, Yoshihiro Takayama. Takayama just carries himself so differently from a typical Japanese pro wrestler and at 6' 5'' he looks and wrestles like a giant in his match. He does not outright heel it up, but just his demeanor and his methodical pacing seems to mock the IWGP Champion and the crowd. He is a giant playing with his prey, before he breaks it into submission. Nagata looks a lot better in this match than Mutoh match as he is bringing it to the Bleach Blond Giant rather than reacting. It is not as good as Tenryu/Sasaki in terms of cementing a new champion, but Nagata earned a lot in terms of credibility by taking a lickin' and kept on tickin'. There is an gritty struggle to start on the mat that is how much the IWGP Championship means to these two combatants. Nagata gets a couple early slams (overhead belly to belly and back drop driver), but neither phases the monster, who shrugs them off. Nagata goes for the back drop driver again only to eat a German suplex and a roundhose kick to the head that knocks him out. Nagata's only option is to roll out of the ring. He does an excellent sell where he collapses on an irish whip. Takayama works an effective heat segment, just punishing Nagata with kicks. Nagata gets a hope spot in like a rolling heel hook out of a German suplex attempt, but Takayama cuts him off with a wicked kneelift. Then he starts to hulk-up, he kicks Takayama's base foot out from under him and roundhouse kicks him in the head to level the playing field. He slaps on his variation of the figure-4, but Takayama makes it to the ropes. Takayama hits a knee to the head and a slugfest breaks out. The punches are awfully weak and they punch each other at the same time. They get back up and slugfest ensues. Takayama whiffs on a roundhouse kick and Nagata hits two kicks to the head to win. ***3/4 They built the match up well with Nagata bringing the big moves early and Takayama established as this imposing tour de force he has to overcome. However, once they hit the Nagata Hulk-Up they lost me. The slugfests were a pretty lame to payoff the build. The build was David vs. Goliath and they paid it off with a toe to toe slugfest. It seemed too disjointed. Still, I like seeing Nagata as the champion bringing the offense to his opponent, which is a step-up from the Mutoh match.

New Japan (Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka) vs. NOAH (Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) - NOAH 4/7/02 In my opinion, this is the best match of the trilogy with great intensity and payoffs. As always the match starts with a melee as Liger greets Kikuchi on the ramp with a PALM STRIKE~! In a great early spot, Liger shoots Kikuchi into the ropes on the ramp so he just walks right through into the ring. Crowd pops! I love it! Kikuchi grabs a double wristlock on Minoru is going for the early submission and is relentless on the arm. The NOAH ref actually has to pull him off, which affords Minoru the opportunity to tag Liger and for Liger to palm strike Kikuchi. Looks like the fix may be in and the ref has some Yakuza bookies to pay off. Liger applies a cross armbreaker to Kikuchi, who sells it well, but it was not sold like in other Minoru matches the urgency to get out it. They went for more of a dramatic, long-term sell. Jushin "Nature Boy" Liger and NOAH Official Tommy Young get into a heated argument. Then Minoru comes in hits a dropkick, kips up and flips off Kanemaru on the apron. Minoru does the one foot pinfall attempt. This is great heel work from the New Japan boys and everything is focused on the arm throwing it into the post and kneedropping it. Kikuchi back drops out of a Ligerbomb attempt to tag Kanemaru, which was a bit of unsatisfying transition. What happens next is some of my favorite stuff to ever happen in a wrestling ring. I have come to realize that Kanemaru' has a penchant to low blow with his leg when he being attacked from behind. You have to get up pretty early in the morning to get one over on Liger, who avoids Kanemaru's natural defense mechanism and then kicks Kanemaru in the balls. Kanemaru sells it like death. The NOAH young boys are red hot and take to the apron to protest. Liger taunts them and palm strikes one off the apron. LIGER RULES~! Minoru sets up Kanemaru in the corner for Shattered Dreams, but first he hits two dropkicks and then casually walks over and kicks him in the balls. Minoru hops around in the ring grabbing himself taunting the crowd. I love it! Minoru kneedrop and does the one foot cover again to no avail. Kanemaru hits a dropkick to tag Kikuchi, again kinda lame transition. Kikuchi is red hot and is just tackling everyone and forearming anyone he can get his hands on. He tags Kanemaru in and then in the payoffs to end all payoffs: Kanemaru knocks Minoru on the ground and drop toeholds Liger so that he headbutts Minoru in the nuts. TREMENDOUS!!!!! In turn out after having his manhood abused Kanemaru grew a fucking set because he rips Liger's mask and goes after Liger's eyes. Liger kicks out of his moonsault at one and just lets out what can only be described as a roar! Now you gone and done it, boy! Liger absorbs a palm strike and lets loose with one of his own for two. They trade brainbusters to level the playing field. Minoru flies all around Kikuchi making him look foolish. Minoru heel hook does not do it and Kikuchi rattles off a German, but on the second attempt Liger palm strikes him in the head. Liger tells Minoru to take care of his light work. Liger piledrives Kanemaru on exposed concrete. Minoru gets a two with a head kick and the immediate cross armbreaker gives New Japan the victory. I thought the first 3/4 of this match would give the Midnights/RnRs a run for their money in combining drama and comedy in a match. The New Japan heel work was awesome and the testicle psychology was off the charts great. Kanemaru taking it to Liger was awesome and really should have figured into the finish. Instead, the finish was the usual stuff with Minoru winning with the cross-armbreaker. There was definitely a lot more to explore in terms of Kanemaru going to town on Liger. In addition, the babyface transitions were not the strongest, but still overall a super fun and excellent match. ****

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Masato Tanaka - Zero-One 3/02/02 I did not understand the appeal of this match as a MOTYC. It was a really great extended squash that saw Hashimoto pretty much fuck up Tanaka's day, but outside of that this match really did not offer much. It was just a follow-up to the Zero-One inaugural tag that established Hashimoto as an unstoppable, invulnerable force of nature. I will say Masato Tanaka's screeching in Japanese was really disconcerting and I would almost say disturbing. I felt really bad for him as he was just getting wrecked by the emotionless Hashimoto. At the beginning of the match Tanaka kicks the NWA belt away and Hashimoto will not stand for such disrespect and sends Tanaka running for the hill after beating him up in the corner. Tanaka's new strategy is to try to get toe to toe with Hash, but that works about as well as you think it would. The story of the match is that Tanaka would occasionally find an opening (lariat, forearms, attacking the knee), but could never string together any offense because well he is facing Hashimoto. The most entertaining moment of the match for me was when Hashimoto wiped out from a double stomp from the apron to the floor. Thankfully, he was able to catch the railing so he did not take a header into it. It is only funny because he did not get hurt. Boy, did he take out his embarrassment on poor Masato Tanaka with those kicks. It finally looks like Tanaka make actually make a run at Hashimoto by getting to his knee, but he just cant resist slapping Hashimoto, who responds with a punch that floors Tanaka. Tanaka tries to take down Hashimoto, but eats knee lifts before taking a DDT for 2. One last gasp for Tanaka who hits a roaring elbow and applies a choke, but as soon as Hashimoto stands up he just melts into a pool of defeated humanity. Brainbuster is the mercy killing for Masato Tanaka. The transitions for all the offense shifts were pretty bad. It felt like Hashimoto would let Tanaka do things and then he would just swat him from the sky. There was no heat. When you have a guy like Hashimoto it is always semi-entertaining to watch him just squash someone, but not a MOTYC in any way. ***

Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi - Budokan 2/17/02 The two combatants in New Japan's 01/04/02 Dome show team together to face Misawa & Kobashi in Kobashi's return match from knee injuries to draw a sell out at the Budokan. Not only is it Kobashi's return match, but was this the first time he had teamed with Misawa since 1995. NOAH played two pretty big drawing cards there to ensure a sell-out. There are big Kobashi chants to start and you know Akiyama's days as champion are numbered with such a big time reaction. Misawa and Nagata start with some decent chain wrestling. Nagata seems to get the best of Misawa on the mat and fights through Misawa's trademark elbows. They both tag out and there is a big pop for the Kobashi vs. Akiyama showdown. Kobashi looks pissed and is ready to light up some muthafuckas. That is the theme of the beginning of the match, the people want to see Kobashi kick some ass so he delivers. He chops the shit out of Akiyama and hits a delayed vertical suplex then brutalizes Nagata with high chops and then does his short knee lifts/ab stretch combo on him. Nagata kicks Kobashi knee during a struggle over a suplex to buy his team some time and Akiyama capitalizes with a jumping high knee. That is the risk Misawa and Kobashi took with having Kobashi take a bulk of the offense early. Akiyama applies a Boston Crab, but Kobashi makes it to the ropes. Kobashi starts to hulk-up and throws down Akiyama in the corner, but a drop toehold stymies him and Nagata applies the crossface. Nagata get back to the legs and drops down for his version of the figure-4 and Akiyama cuts off Misawa this time. Kobashi's selling including verbal selling has made this heat segment one of the better ones so far in my 00s puroresu watching. Kobashi is able to fire off a suplex to finally tag Misawa. Misawa will not be denied and his elbow find its mark on Akiyama and Nagata. However after repeated attempts for the Tiger Driver, Akiyama nails him with an Exploder. Akiyama wisely tags out to Nagata who hits a Northern Lights Suplex and applies a crossface, but now Kobashi saves. Here comes the Misawa comeback with the Roaring Elbow and Tiger Driver, but only gets 2. Kobashi comes in to the joy of the crowd and delivers his string of crowd-pleasers: Spinning Back Chop, Half-Nelson Suplex, but powerbomb gets countered into a triangle choke by Nagata. Nagata aint holding down Kobashi, who gives him a sleeper suplex for his troubles. Nagata is able to kick Kobashi's leg one last time to give his team the advantage. Akiyama and Nagata are able to do a double submission spot with Nagata applying the STF and Akiyama his choke. Huge Kobashi Chants. Kobashi is still struggling, but to my surprise a wrist-clutch exploder does him in while Misawa is detained by Nagata. I am so used to American psychology, I often forget it is customary for wrestlers to lose their return match to put over ring rust and build their comeback to a more satisfactory climax. This is a fun popcorn match. The beginning is just giving the fan what they want Kobashi killing bitches dead. Then they add the drama with Akiyama and Nagata targeting the injured knee. After that it just becomes a bomb fest with everyone hitting their best hits before Nagata gets one last ditch kick to knee and you see Kobashi putting over the new champion Akiyama. While this is yet another big win for Akiyama, soon after he would be shunted to the tag division and the process was begun to get the strap to Kobashi by getting it to Misawa first to set up a big money gate at the Budokan. ***1/2

Genichiro Tenryu vs Satoshi Kojima - Budokan 02/24/02 Kojima is still wicked over with the fans. I actually listen to wrestling podcasts while listening to these puro matches, but still have the volume up high enough on the match to hear sound effects. The only chants loud to hear are the Kojima ones. I have no problem tuning out Japanese commentary completely so that undercurrent does not affect my ability to listen to the podcasts. Tenryu is more game than Kawada it seems to carry Kojima to a great match, but still it does not reach MOTYC levels for me. Again, I thought the beginning of the match was the best part. Tenryu was so good at looking down at Kojima. The way he brushes aside one of Kojima's chops is awesome. Then he backs Kojima against the ropes and lets Kojima cover up waiting for the chop only to look like a tool when it never comes. Then the next times he chops the bejeezus out of him in the corner. Basically, Tenryu is awesome, but we already knew that. Kojima "proves" his mettle sending Tenryu tumbling to outside with some forearms and a diving forearm. He does his somersault splash. After a chinlock, Tenryu hits his own somersault splash on Kojima. In a weird moment, Kojima heads for the hilsl, but seems to be spooked by the specter of Giant Baba at the end of the ramp. It is weird because Kojima seems like a babyface to the crowd and because puroresu does not usually that device. Tenryu wrangles him back in and just punches and chops the shit out of him. Kojima resorts to his base instincts: Ace Crusher, Ace Crusher, Ace Crusher! Ok, it was only two, but one was a shitty one off the apron. In a really cool spot, Tenryu tries to enter the ring and Kojima lariats his knee. That spot should be cribbed. Once again, the knee work does not follow to a neat conclusion. Kojima really is a shitty version of Mutoh. Tenryu regains the advantage and hits his wicked sweet spider German/back elbow combo. Tenryu goes back to head games with some playful slaps and Kojima reacts with a scoop piledriver. I love how Kojima hits this weird neckbreaker and afterwards Tenryu just punches him to get the advantage. Tenryu brainbuster leads to a double KO. Tenryu wins a chopfest to get a powerbomb, but only gets 2. Kojima lets out a roar, but then Flair Flops. Huge Kojima chants! Tenryu polishes him off with a brainbuster. This was a big improvement over the Kawada match because of Tenryu's consistency. The whole match he was playing head games with Kojima about his inexperience and his inferiority. Kojima would power up, but he would never be able to sustain momentum because he lacked the experience. Why hit a weird move when you can just punch someone in the face? Kojima is a bit all over the place on offense, but is good at puro fighting spirit selling. He is a more expressive, but spottier version of Mutoh. I actually really dug the finish where he looks like he is going to do the fighting spirit hulk-up, but just collapses. It shows Kojima has a lot of heart, but does not have the brains yet. ***1/2

New Japan (Jushin Liger & Wataru Inoue) vs NOAH (Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) - NOAH 2/17/02 It is one thing to lose your notes in a match you dont like (Togo vs Tiger Mask), but it annoys me that I don't have my notes for this match because I thought this was pretty good, not MOTDC, but solid resume padding for the greatest Junior of all time, Liger and a HUGE performance from Wataru Inoue. Inoue knows how to light up a muthafucka with an elbow. NJPW bullrushes early and isolate Kikuchi. At one point the Budokan is rocking like it is 1992 and chanting for Kikuchi. I always think of Liger as one of the best babyfaces of all time, but he has not trouble heeling it up here as he shoves his boot in Kikuchi's face before dropkicking him in the face and then doing a one foot pin cover. Kanemaru tags in and he does not have much in the way in offense. At first, he is content with letting the heels run into each other and stuff of that nature, but occasionally he will slip into indy-riffic spots, but he is not horrible. Liger gives him an absolute shit kicking I remember at least three Ligerbombs and a fisherman buster. Liger was on point in this match. Kanemaru to escape the wrath of Liger floats over on a suplex attempt and back kicks him in the balls. Kikuchi is pretty good at selling, but has almost nothing in the way of offense. The New Japan heels are really carrying this by delivering an ass kicking. Inoue and Kanemaru are the final two with Inoue initially gaining the advantage because he is ALL MAN~! However, the number games catches up to him and Kanemaru is able to hit a frogsplash, moonsault and a brianbuster to win. Melee ensues. New Japan and NOAH brawls to the back, which was awesome and pumped me for the rematch. It is not a super classic tag match, but the effective, powerful offense of the New Japan contingent and a pretty good finish. ***1/2