Black Buffalo vs. El Samurai, Osaka Pro 11/2/2002
Boy am I glad we got this in full. And this was damn great. Word was that El Samurai was over the hill in the 2000s, but he was pretty great here roughing up Buffalo with punches and stretching him. It also helps that the Osaka Pro crowd really hates him. Samurai is someone where you buy his basic submissions as really dangerous and the bit of tumbling on the mat to start was really cool. Samurai tearing up Buffalos leg was great, and we get Samurai bumping like crazy for Buffalos lariats, spiking himself hard on his necka nd shoulders, and he even taking some big bumps on the floor that you totally don‘t expect him to take. Buffalo is really effective as a local underdog who can dish out an asskicking, and his comebacks are awesome in completely unexpected ways. HUGE finish. This was absolutely banging.
Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga vs. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito, NOAH 10/19/2002
A great match. They stretched out and had an epic. Shiga hit some fun Tornado DDT variations and then they beat the shit out of him. Those swinging moves into the guardrails were pretty inventive and nasty. He got his nose bloodied and then punched and kicked in the face a bunch. Kobashi and Akiyama were the workhorses in this, it’s amazing the kind of exchanges Kobashi could still have with his knees glued together. I also loved how he straight up went for the Burning Hammer to put Akiyama away, no time killing bullshit. Even though the Kings Road guys have a rep for doing SO MUCH, it was amazing to see the mileage he and Akiyama got out of basic moves like a DDT or vertical suplex. The ending run was good as hell and basically a prelude to what they would do with Honda a year later. Shiga is no Honda but he can lock in some nifty submissions and do a cool pin combo when you don’t expect it and the crowd is absolutely on fire for him. Good shit that felt refreshing as they towned down they big move overkill and focussed on excellently timed cutoffs and making the submissions look dangerous. I can see why some people don’t rank this super high compared to the classics of the genre, but I thought it was a really tremendous match.
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, NOAH 9/23/2002
This was NOAH meets PRIDE and it was awesome. Misawa going for takedowns, mount and leg kicks is awesome. But he ran into a monster in the form of Takayama here who kept catching him with his out of nowhere kicks and superior striking. But Misawa adjusted his game and figured him out. Tons of ridiculously smart spots. Misawa anticipating a Takayama kick to hit his leg is why Misawas such a genius. I also loved how Misawa connected a running elbow, but Takayama didn’t go down, allowing Takayama to catch a surprised Misawa with a kick to the brain. Takayama interrupting Misawas routine with a killer knee strike was also great. Takayama was just a beast and seemed to overwhelm him, but Misawa came back and outboxed the monster. Totally awesome stuff, these two could have gone braindead and just done a bunch of freak violence and hard hitting and kickouts but they gave us something much smarter and cooler. For strike based big matches in pro style it doesn’t get much better if you ask me.
2002 MOTY Master List
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