NOAH has mixed in some different guys getting big wins and the style of the matches so far but this is the first match on paper that more than likely would have zero chance of getting booked for AJPW. Shiga was still doing essentially young boy duty and Ikeda was buried in multi man matches when he would drift from BattlARTS. The only way this match would have happened would have been in the RWTL and it would have been an 8 minute win for Ogawa/Misawa. Instead, this is worked in a brilliant way of giving Shiga and Ikeda enough highlights by still establishing Ogawa and Misawa as main event level within the promotion. The double armbreaker on Ogawa was fun to see and I liked how stoic Misawa gets a bit annoyed and just pastes Shiga with a flurry of elbows when he creeps one to many times to the apron. From there, Ikeda and Shiga get brutalized in the final moments and just have to hope to hang on as best as they can. Overall, a really good semi-main that made everyone competing in it look strong. I know Ikeda has a rep of not clicking in NOAH, but I enjoyed his performance here. ***1/4 (6.4)

This was pretty enjoyable. Misawa played his role perfectly, bothered just enough to respond with some viciousness, while Ogawa did most of the leg work in a satisfactory manner. Ikeda felt mostly "there" but the subplot of Shiga trying to man up to Misawa helped this along a good deal. Side note from an otherwise fine underdog effort from Shiga -- he threw some of the absolutely most laughably light dropkicks and strikes in this. Aside from that lightness it was fun to see him take cheapshots at the boss and ultimately get smacked down. Great simple finish too.

 

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