2025 Wrestling Matchguide Week 41

 Avisman vs Eragon, 10/4

Mask vs hair baby. They brought it here and that is a nice thing to see for two indy luchadores working in a dingy hall. Avisman has always been a really good worker and Eragon, for someone who I last heard about like 15 years ago working undercard matches in IWRG, looked good. Most notably this was an apuestas match that brought a lot to the table. I mean, I haven't watched too many of these matches lately, but a lot of what has plagued these matches from what I've seen in the 2010s-2020s is absent here. There are no throwaway falls, they made sure to create struggle and drama, and even did callbacks to tie everything. And on top of that you have all the mask ripping and gory sick blood and headbutts you want from your gritty indy apuestas match. Bit odd that they started with llave style mat wrestling and it was good work. Avisman increasing the pressure by hitting a dive and going to town on Eragon tearing him up and bloodying him was also good work. Hey, the dives in this actually feel important which is great and another aspect of classic lucha that is often missing from modern wrestling. Really a nice piece of wrestling all things considered.

Ali Najima & Masanori Watanabe vs Yoichi Shinmei & Yuta Oya, Sportiva 10/22

Sportiva continues to deliver. Shinmei is this guy who has been around a really long time, being the ace of JWA Tokai 20 years ago. At some point he vanished, and now he's back in Sportiva. He was this really athletic old guy who would hit cool stylized elbows. He had good chemistry with both Najima and Watanabe, never looking out of his depth. It was pretty cool to see such an obscure wrestler showing up and doing his thing, and I hope he becomes a regular appearance in Sportiva. We all know how good the other 3 have gotten and this was another night where Najima, Watanabe and Oya proved they might be the most talented trio of young wrestlers on earth right now. Just loads of good wrestling with the matchtime just flying by. Some great limbwork here, and the Watanabe/Oya finishing run is good stuff. After this I really want to see a singles match between Watanabe and Oya.

Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone & Naomichi Marufuji vs Shuji Ishikawa & Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Kotoge, NOAH 8/25/2025

I will be upfront here: the main reason you want to see this is the 2 minutes or so where Ikeda and Shuji Ishikawa try to headbutt each others brains to a molten pulp. That was some pretty good pro wrestling. Other than that, eh parts of this were fun and the crowd was hot. Yone looked good here, hitting people really hard and doing his signature glassy eyed selling which I always love. I could actually see myself enjoying him in a match against some better guys. I don't really care about the other guys here and there was lots of chopping and standing in front of each other... Marufuji was so comically bad and his superkicks were missing by a mile. His little segment with Shuji Ishikawa felt like old man comedy. Kotoge is pretty worthless with his constant thigh slapping and Shiozaki was probably the least impressive as always. Nevermind that, Ikeda hit someone with a really hard lariat too~!

Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara vs Rico Fukunaga & Sakura Mizushima, AWG 10/19

Credible, stiff pro wrestling with a fast pace. Hard to believe but AWG is quietly putting out some really good stuff. Everyone here looked good, sticking to what they were good at. Thought this got really good when Fukunaga and Mizushima started damaging Ueharas legs. Uehara needs a bit of work as a wrestler, but her kicks are pretty fun. Fukunaga definitely knows what she's doing. Her working over Uehara with low kicks, and even goading her into falling for a dragonscrew was quality stuff. Match then went from very good to great with the Saihara vs Fukunaga finishing run. Lots of great exchanges and desperation, and the build to Saiharas German suplex was amazing. Saihara is the AWG champ, and Fukunaga and Mizushima do everything in their power to beat her. It was 100% classic Japanese wrestling stuff, lots of kicks, shootstyle submissions all building to a suplex. This ended up great, and Saihara and Fukunaga looked like two of the best wrestlers in the country.

2025 Matchguide

2025 Matchguide Week 40

 Ushiku "THE CHAMP" Gotaro & Tonikaku Yaritai Akiyama vs Hinjaku Ningen Casshern & Renoir Komeda, AZW 5/5

Again, not entirely sure about these names. Could be Tonikaku Yaritai Akiyama, could be Akiyama Who Just Wants To Do It. To be honest Akiyama Who Just Wants to Do It would be one of the sickest names a wrestler has ever had, but for the sake of brevity I will stick with just Akiyama. This is just straight up another good match from AZW. The action is solid, there are clear roles, a story is being told, and everybody here can bring some neat offense. Starts just fine and solid and quickly gets good when Akiyama and Gotaro start isolating Komeda. They do a really solid job just working him over with body slams and elbows, could be straight out of an SWS or 80s AJPW tag. Akiyama hitting a backbreaker, big splash to the back and then locking in a camel clutch just plain works. Komeda is pretty fun, energetic short underdog type who throws himself at opponents really recklessly. AZW guys are really good at tricked out runs, and we get a really good run between Casshern and Akiyama. Casshern is pretty cool just attacking arms and locking in cool Octopus Holds. I really liked how he kept selling his own leg after it get swatted by a harsh lariat. Akiyama is clearly a guy to watch as he's a really fun big guy. Gotaro is a bit more clumsy, but his ending run with Komeda was also good stuff. Really liked his reckless looking shoulder attacks, pretty fun unique stuff. Last two backbreakers were just downright disgusting. Says a lot when 'amateur' guys have better looking offense than a lot of pros. Pretty cool, well executed, unique stuff, just what you want from your AZW.

Koji Iwamoto vs Ryutaro Ohno, Sportiva 10/8

Iwamoto did a good job the week before tearing up Watanabes leg, and he continues to do a good job here tearing up Ohnos neck. Almost Regal-ish in working him over with neck holds and nasty short kicks. Dare I say, Iwamoto is looking like a pretty fine wrestler these days. Ohno continues to be the least of the Sportiva rookies, and this match does go a bit too long for him, but he also continues to be chunky and spirited and lovable. A few cool things here, such as a great struggle over a boston crab, and an awesome judo throw from Iwamoto which is what you want from him.

Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha & Mio Momono vs Seri Yamaoka & Mayu Iwatani & Utami Hayashishita, NOAH 10/6

Marvelous vs Marigold feud continues to deliver. The interpromotional rivalry adds quite a bit of heat and energy to their exchanges. Still, I thought the match needed a bit more hatred and less cutesy face spots from Momono. In fairness, Momono did crank up the violence later with her double stomps, and Iroha is effective as a bruiser throwing kicks. Screw all that though, because this match is all about Senka vs Seri. The Senka Akatsuki experiment continues to be really interesting in 2025 as she's such a complete polar opposite to what everyone else is doing with her ultra-basic style and raw energy. Her boston crab and pin felt more dangerous than pretty much anything else in the match that came before. Yamaoka is also continueing to get better. This match was a bit spotty and go-go but they settled down in a really nice way when it was just Yamaoka and Akatsuki facing off and struggling over pins and hitting deadlift suplexes. The Akatsuki shoot pin continues to work. It's really such a game changer that her finisher is just a pin and then Yamaoka reverses the pin and it really feels like a holy shit moment that all their interactions throughout the year have been building up to. Really a killer match, breathless action in the first and then completely subverts your expectations by ending with the rookies delivering really no-nonsense simplistic and heated action.

Mari vs Ayano Irie, AWG 7/26

Another wildly good AWG undercard match, is this promotion actually underrated? Basically the story here is that Irie is in the same stable as Mari and much lower ranked, however Irie keeps plugging away and getting the better of Mari, inching closer to an upset. Based on what I've seen from Mari, I am tempted to say she is easily the most underrated wrestler on the planet. Her offense is badass (leg lariats never get old), but her timing and the way she made Irie look killer was great. She went from cocky and overconfident, to upset that Irie was getting the better of her, to making more desperate comebacks and finally being almost knocked out. I also loved how she was constantly going for her finisher. I've never really thought much of the Widows Peak as a finisher but the struggle here made it look great. Irie has some slightly flimsy looking offense, but she also proved that she could wrestle by doing a slick counter into a boston crab for example. Most importantly the match worked because it wasn't predictable and there was always something attention-grabbing going on.

MARU & Great Asako vs Marino Saihara & Rico Fukunaga, AWG 8/2

Excellent MARU performance. This starts out with some really nice, cagey matwork between MARU and Saihara, before MARU goes to brawling and beating on people with a chain. Aside from the brawler act, it's kind of crazy how enjoyable MARU is to watch as a wrestler. Pretty much whenever she was in the ring here it was good stuff with her slick submissions and knack for catching people with odd dropkicks and double stomps. Saihara and Fukunaga also deserve credit, they are energetic and kicking hard as hell. Great Asako is a joke character, and the joke is that she's useless and failing constantly. Admittedly she really doesn't seem to be good at wrestling but the act works and actually produces some entertaining results. Early on we also get Saihara shoot kicking Asako down the stairs of Shin Kiba 1st Ring and that is some mean brawling. Saihara almost submitting Asako also works. It makes MARUs performance the more impressive because she basically works the whole match, even saving her partner with a gritty double stomp. Finishing run was all MARU and it was once again good stuff with some brutal kicks from Saihara and Fukunaga and MARU clocking them with nasty double stomps and a sick headbutt. Safe to say MARU pretty much rules. 

 

2025 Matchguide 

Kentaro Shiga Matches

 

Kentaro Shiga vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, NOAH 8/19/2000

This ruled. Basically a semi shootstyle bout with Shiga trying to get underneath Takayama for a flash submission, and Takayama being a monster crushing him everytime he hit back. This was still early NOAH where Akiyama had choked out Misawa on the debut show so all submissions were hot nearfalls. There were even some savage bare knuckle punch exchanges. Awesome 7 minutes, young and hungry Shiga was great.

Kentaro Shiga vs Takao Ohmori, NOAH 10/7/2000

Another really cool, crafty Shiga performance. He was working this like Regal, spending 5 minutes going after Ohmoris arm in cool ways, with Ohmori doing a nice job that he really doesn’t want to get pulled into Shigas armlocks. Not many have named Takao Ohmori as a great wrestler in 2000 but he does look mighty fine here. I loved how he chucked Shigas annoying ass over the top rope like a piece of shit and his big dropkick and thrust kick looked great. Last couples minutes were really good with Shiga busting out some Kenichiro Arai in Mutoha level stuff like an awesome flying headscissor into an armbar, a cool straight jacket pin and throwing punches. Really cool finish too where Shiga powers out of a full nelson but gets flattened by the Axe Bomba.

Kentaro Shiga vs Daisuke Ikeda, NOAH 10/8/2000

I like this little run of singles matches Shiga was getting in 2000. He continues to try his submission master act, but Ikeda is stubborn and Fujiwara trained so Ikeda keeps reversing him. NOAH Ikeda is always a bit weird to see him engaging in rope running and some of the weird things he tries (he hits a suicide dive in this) but his reversal to Shigas leglock was spectacular, and he hit one absolutely disgusting kick on Shiga. Pretty fun.

 

Kentaro Shiga & Tamon Honda vs Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru, NOAH 3/17/2002

A 13 minute match that felt like a 5 minute sprint. Really good stuff here, you get the usually fun Shiga vs. Akiyama interactions where anytime Shiga gets the upper hand it feels epic, plus an insanely fired up Honda. Honda running in early to save Shiga and bust Akiyama with a huge Dead End in like the first 2 minutes was awesome. I really liked how they set your expectations for Akiyama to end up getting worked over but avert them. Shiga eating a piledriver on the ramp while Honda was unable to help him was also great. I also loved Hondas hot tag tagging Akiyama with hard clotheslines, and how Akiyama and Kanemaru would constantly attack his bad knees to cut him off. We get another cool Olympic Hell spot, and Honda averting another Akiyama assault in cool fashion. Shigas constant submissions were great and his deadly finishing move was completely unexpected. It felt like a big stepping stone for Shiga.

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project #6

 

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Rob Van Dam, ECW 3/20/1998 - GREAT

This was apparently provided by RVDs personal channel, so thanks to Mr. Van Dam for providing the hidden gems. Really athletic match with a lot of heat garnering from Van Dam and Alfonso. RVD has a rep for super choreographed sequences but they largely avoided that here. Opening grappling was really good, with both guys having really good mat movements, Scorpio rips out a really fast Fujiwara Armbar and RVD has a super impressive bridge walkover, wish that section lasted longer. The Zbyszko stalling from RVD mixed with the athletic basic exchanges was really effective. Both guys bust out some impressive counter sequences, with Scorpios kicks looking especially awesome. Finishing run had some great old school junior moves like a huge back suplex off the top and a beastly powerbomb from Scorpio. Scorpio really wrestles with a ton of faith in the basic moves, like he comits to a basic mat return as much as he does to a plancha or twisting splash, and both look awesome and believable. It’s a nice change of pace from todays trained monkey show approach to this kind of wrestling. Some of the floor brawling was a bit listless and the finish was a run in, but a really cool match outside of that.

2 Cold Scorpio vs Paul Orndorff, WCW 5/18/1993 - GREAT

Wonderful TV match which was basic but executed amazingly. I think early 90s WCW is some of the best TV wrestling the US ever had, everything is nice and snug, and everyone is putting in the work. Orndorff really can work a basic wristlock even to perfection, and Scorpio is so good. All of Scorpios stuff really pops, yes he has the fancy high spots, but he makes even somtehing as basic as a crossbody look amazing. I also loved him throwing punches. Orndorff is really good, nothing fancy, but he knows how to be dominant so the crowd will be extra hot for all of Scorpios offense, and he looked mean as hell when he was attacking Scorpios riffs. Really simple classy match that had the crowd the whole time, down to the “Whoop there it is” chant and everyone jumping up and pointing fingers when Orndorff pulled a foreign object. Great stuff.

2 Cold Scorpio & Richard Slinger vs Akitoshi Saito & Makoto Hashi, NOAH 7/10/2004 - GREAT

Fuck yeah Scorpio and Slinger getting to tear it up in the dome for 15 minutes. This was mid paced, but had a ton of good shit in it. Namely from Slinger, who is really working hard in this match, busting out lots of awesome kicks. His pump kick in the corner is probably the best that move has looked, and his spin kicks were really cool. Scorpio was awesome here, he makes everything he does look so good, down to his great heavyweight flying, and uncorking some great strikes. It is telling that in a match with some great strikers in it Scorpio has the best looking strikes. His jumping knee nearly caved Hashis face in, and later he hits a picture perfect jumping face kick. I would’ve liked to see him go head to head with Saito a bit more, instead of having Hashi kick out of a bunch of offense, but Scorp and Saito wailing on each other early on was pretty cool too. In the end it was Slingers night and he made the most of it.

 

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation

2024 MOTYC List #2

 
Kazushi Sakuraba vs Daisuke Sekimoto, NOAH 2/15/2014

Terrific match. Very Fujiwaraish performance from Sakuraba doing lots of really great submission entries and counters on Sekimoto. Sekimoto is really effective as a simpleton powerhouse here, he makes a great foil for Saku as his style is basic enough to make Sakuraba look spectacular, but also because of his freakish strength you buy that Sekimoto could just squeeze Sakuraba to death if he simply gets his arms around him.  A few really smart spots here. Sakuraba dropping a nasty knee on Sekimotos face, as well as deciding to later work him over with knees to the body and low kicks was unexpected. Also, because Sakuraba is so frail whenever Sekimoto actually starts doing damage it looks like he's just killing him.


Kazushi Sakuraba & Ulka Sasaki vs Hikaru Sato & Shuhei Taniguchi, NOAH 5/4

I'm liking this old man shooter division. Sakuraba is 54 years old now, but he is still pretty amazing on the mat. Ulka is an ex UFC guy and he shows promise. I thought Shuhei Taniguchi was pretty great here as outmatched but still dangerous old guy and if he wrestles like this more often I'd like to see more of him. Initially Sakuraba was tooling him by reversing Taniguchis greco roman style with his own unorthodox submissions. Just when Taniguchi seemed to not get anywhere, he threw Saku with a big head and arm throw and locked in a Honda-esque choke hold. He then dropped Sasaki with a nasty STO and tried to smash his head with an out of nowhere soccer kick. Sasaki and Hikaru Sato also had an awesome mat exchange. Taniguchi getting heated with Sakuraba and going for suplexes and more out of nowhere headkicks was pretty great. Finish was sudden but also pretty spectacular.


Outsider Negishi vs Dekai Ichimotsu, Health Pro Wrestling 4/14

Great little match. Negishi is gray and old and kind of gangly and Ichimotsu is rocking the wrestling shoes black t-shirt and slicked back hair like a sleazy Osamu Kido. Almost all on the mat. After some cool opening grappling with both guys displaying cool indian deathlock entries, Negishi starts going for the leg. Negishi has a kind of frail old man vibe but he is fun yanking at Ichimotsus leg. Ichimotsu was pretty great selling the legwork and making comeback attempts by going after the arm. Highlights include some great work around a body slam, and Ichimotsus leg giving out when he attempted his finisher.

Bryan Danielson vs. Blue Panther, CMLL 4/5/24

Thankfully Arena Mexico saved this match from being another boring dream match by booing Danielson and rallying behind Panther. Danielson was clever enough to lean into it and Panther was pretty damn awesome here. Opening grappling wasn't anything mindblowing but it's fun to see Danielson go at it with a genuine maestro. I actually thought they could have done a little more on the mat, tho Bryan going into scarecrow position and twisting Panthers head was cool. Panther then taking all this stiff offense and a big dive and suplex on the floor was pretty sick. Initially I liked Danielson selling his leg being damaged by Panthers Tapatia, but him just popping up to hit a dropkick pissed me off a little. Panther desperately avoiding the submission was great and so much better than the usual reversal fest. He also took another big bump off the top, why is this 63 year old man taking all the huge bumps in the match?? Danielson retaliating to the flubbed submission with head stomps was great and probably the best moment of the match. I'm not sure why Panther was the first one to get up after Danielsons 2nd dive and simply hit a dive on his own. The running knee in the ring was a bit lost on me. I get that Danielson was trying to lean into his arrogant outsider act by smiling and not following up, but it still took me out of it a bit before they followed with the cheap finish. Tho Panthers super fast armbar was awesome. Good to very good match with a very impressive performance by Panther overall.

Kazuhiro Tamura vs Akira Jo, HEAT UP 4/7

Very good big match I thought. Jo has roots tracing to IGF, but he has turned into a complete sleazeball now. He really has the vibe that he is a capable wrestler, as evidenced by him doing some grappling and throwing Tamura with a really nice belly to belly early on, but he would rather rake eyes and be a scumbag than continue on that path. The main reason I liked this was a) the selling throughout was very good, and b) they mixed in a lot of cool stuff to keep my attention. Highlights include Jos amazing Rikishi bump that was really well timed, as well as some choice counters that they mixed in. Tamuras armwork was really good throughout the match, lots of nasty kicks to Jos shoulder, and the selling was good. Both guys end up taking big bumps that are important in the scheme of the match. They also ended the match on just the right note with one of the nastiest finishes I've seen in a while. They lose some points because the early goings were noticably lacking fire and engagement from both guys when it comes to their body language, as well as Kazuhiro Tamuras tendency to do moves like a shitty NJPW main eventer instead of embracing his U-File origins. That said, I was positively surprised by this.

 

2024 MOTY Master List

Tamon Honda Matches

 

GHC Tag Title Match: Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito vs. Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue, NOAH 1/24/2003

Really good match from Honda & Inoue. Akiyama and Saito were pretty much coasting for the first 20 minutes or so. The beginning was fun with Honda and Inoue immediately trying to choke Akiyama out and deal him some damage. We then get a segment where Honda gets his leg worked over which lead to some fantastic selling. Unfortunately Akiyamas selling of the opening beatdown on him was nowhere near as good. Inoue had his working boots on and gave a spirited underdog performance. Saito and Akiyama did nothing special when they were beating on him, but Inoues act kept things interesting. I loved how Akiyama tried to blow off Inoues hits only to get his eyes raked. When Inoues not raking peoples eyes, he has to hit them like a dozen times just to set up a move because he’s so weak, and that rules. The spot where Inoue was able to put Saito in the torture rack for a heated nearfall was really really nice. We also get some cool spots of Honda and Inoue helping each other out, and Honda killing people with Dead Ends. The focus was on Inoue at the end so we didn’t get any cool Honda counters, but his valiant effort was cool and Akiyama and Saito finally came alive to finish him off with some impressive moves. Good stuff which proves guys like Honda and Inoue could bring it even outside of their more heralded matches.

Tamon Honda & Jun Izumida vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Takuma Sano, NOAH 6/8/2003

4 hard dudes in a match. Everyone was cool here, you had Sano obliterating dudes with solebutts and double stomps, plus Ikeda and Honda having some awesome exchanges. Their brief mat exchange where Honda caught Ikeda in some impossible to escape hold was really damn good and damn do I want more of that stuff. Izumida also had his working boots on, being a hard headed bastard dropping people with chokeslams and STOs. I really liked the finish where Izumida was stuck in an achilles hold trying to survive until the time limit only for Sano to turn him around and tap him with a nasty heel hook.

Tamon Honda vs. Naomichi Marufuji, NOAH 6/11/2004

Marufuji was doing a semi comedic act and scuzzy heel tactics here. It was kind of mid but also made me think that he would have made an effective Anjoh-like heel if he had embraced the bailing and cheap tactics more. There was also a brief distraction where Danshoku Dino came out and got chopped by Kobashi. Kobashi gave him about the most hateful glare I’ve ever seen Kobashi give anyone. All that aside, every single thing Honda did here was awesome. It’s not hard to do a bunch of awesome things in a short match but Honda is special. Just the way he cradled Marufujis boot when Maru tried to kick him was outstanding and something only someone with the head of Honda could do. Another highlight was Honda ragdolling Marufuji when he tried going for the legs. Beautiful beautiful finish. That’s about all there is to say.

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project #5

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, NOAH 6/9/2001 - FUN

One of those short matches that was meant to showcase how much stronger Misawa is than the midcarders. For a 3 minute match Scorpio really gave Misawa some hellish chairshots and hit a cool punch combo on the floor. Effective for what it was, but you do wish they had done a bit more.

2 Cold Scorpio & Vader vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Izumida, NOAH 11/20/2002 - GREAT

Routine tag but with every part being extremely well executed, a testament to the skill of these guys. Scorpio vs. Misawa exchanges were brief but really good, I imagine if you edited all their 30 second exchanges they had in various multiman tags together you’d have an excellent singles match. Vader is great as a force that waltzes in and destroys people, and he and Scorp set each other up extremely well. There is a heat section on Izumida where you actually buy Izumida getting pinned before the hot tag, and the ending with Scorpio refusing to be a loss post is all kinds of fun.

2 Cold Scorpio & Vader vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Daisuke Ikeda, NOAH 12/2/2000 – FUN

Slower paced beginning here, which is good because it means we get Scorpio working segments with Ikeda and Misawa. You’re not sure how Scorpio would do with Ikeda but they mesh really well, with Scorp doing smooth movements and Ikeda kicking him really hard. I love how they played with averting the expectations of a heat section, and Vader continues to be awesome in these matches. Everytime he steps in and does something it feels like it could believably turn the match. Ikeda trading blows with Vader was also great. The match was cut short by Ikeda getting pinned early, but it was still a cool 8 minutes where every part was a hit.

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Satoru Asako, NOAH 11/4/2000 - GREAT

Extremely routine singles match, but every part was very well executed. Scorpios basic rope running and matwork looks really really good as always. Asako is one of the least talked about Japanese wrestlers ever, he’s not bad but he doesn’t do a ton to stand out either, that said if Bret Hart did the leg work segment Asako does here, hitting Scorp in the leg with the ring bell and then working him with a bunch of nice stretches, a lot of people would fawn. Scorp coming back with some well timed kicks while selling the leg was great. Good stuff that does as decent of a job of an opening match you can ask for.

 

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project Master List

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project #4

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Taz, ECW 1/10/1998 - GREAT

Cool TV match. Taz has his flaws, but the suplex and submission style is crazy over with me. This had a nice opening with both guys going to the mat and working some cool basic exchanges, with the ECW crowd showing an unusual appreciation for the mat stuff. They get more into ECWisms as they start brawling around the ring and smashing into chairs, but the finishing run was really nice with Taz busting out gnarly suplexes that Scorpio bumps huge for and Scorpio hitting some devastating highspots before a neat finish. A good night of work from Scorpio.

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, NOAH 11/5/2005 - GREAT

This was for NOAHs 'Hardcore Title'. Not a great title, but god damn this was Scorpio with his working boots on, and working boots Scorpio is amazing. He hits some cool punch combos, talks shit and really goes out of his way to make Kanemaru look amazing. I imagine Scorpio called the action because I don't recall many instances where Kanemaru looked as great as he did here, hitting some cool twisting headscissors before connecting with a huge dropkick to the outside and a big knee drop to the back of the head as Scorpio was dangling from the ramp. Scorps selling was pretty much masterful as he sold the fuck out of Kanemarus shitty low blows, to the point where even the crowd started giving a shit and caring for the possibility that Kanemaru might upset Scorpio and take that stupid belt. Even paying attention to the time limit rule in Hardcore title matches! The clothesline Scorp hit during the finishing stretch felt more important than a probably 99.9% of clotheslines ever thrown and Kanemura did something right by taking a hellacious bump for it. Really amazing what you can get when you let a guy like Scorpio do his thing.

 

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Go Shiozaki, NOAH 4/3/2005 - GREAT

Scorp leads Shiozaki through a really nice solid match. Really liked the opening hold exchanges, Scorpio feels so forceful  when he takes a guy down. Shiozaki was just doing basic stuff but that was alright. Loved Scorpio kneeing Shiozaki in the kidney and slapping him in the face to escalate the violence. We get some brutal kicks from Scorpio in this, some great jumping knees and big boots that left Shiozaki bleeding from the nose. Scorpio pin point punching a bleeding Shiozaki in the face was about as good as pro wrestling gets. Finish was somewhat routine, but you have to remember Shiozaki was a rookie at this point. It does make you wonder why they didn't let Scorpio do this kind of match more often because he looks great leading to a guy to a classy 15 minute bout. Certainly, Shiozaki might have turned into a good wrestler if they had let him wrestle Scorpio more often.

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project

2002 MOTY Project #23

 

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

RIP Masashi Aoyagi

 

Masashi Aoyagi & Akitoshi Saito vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Daisuke Ikeda, NOAH 11/16/2000

Very WAR-feeling NOAH match, the kind that the company should have done more. Not many „wrestling“ sequences, just guys awkwardly kicking and punching each other, jumping on each other and refusing to get off. Marufuji looked pretty good here as he knows how to work this kind of match, instead of his junior spots he did double legs, capture suplexes and going for chairs. Aoyagi is nice here kicking ass and matching up with Ikeda. They don‘t square off as much as you‘d like because Saito is the focus, but when they do its good stuff with Ikeda using the gi against Aoyagi, hitting a hard lariat etc. Also really liked the bit where Saito challenged Ikeda to a macho exchange and Ikeda just blindsided him and went for the eyes, something that should have ended all macho exchanges right there.

Masashi Aoyagi vs. Atsushi Onita, FMW 8/28/1994

This was an exploding barbedwire, double hell landmine deathmatch. As a match it was pretty much a tribute to their matches in the 80s, except now occasionally guys would get pushed into an explosion by a kick or takedown. I give Onita a ton of credit here as he sold a ton for Aoyagi. Aoyagi just took him apart with kicks, kicking at his bandaged shoulder, Onita took most of the explosion bomps getting shoved into the mines by Aoyagis kicks. Even Mr. Pogo did a brief run-in to blow a fireball in Onitas face. It really ramped up the drama of the match and the crowd was huge into it. Aoyagi taking of his jacket for a strap drop moment only to end up getting blown up himself was one of those deathmatch moments. Ending was the standard Onita fare but it was good. It was nice for Aoyagi to have this match where he kicks the tar out of Onita on a big, exploding stage.

Assorted NOAH

 

Makoto Hashi vs. Takeshi Rikioh, NOAH 3/3/2001

Really good little match. What made it good was that both guys did some actual neat wrestling and not just stiffing each other and doing shoulderblocks all the time. That would‘ve been good, but we got something more complex here. Hashi is outgunned at the beginning, so he decides to wrestle Rikioh down. Normally the wrestling in these heavyweight matches is insanely simplistic, but Hashi did a neat job working over Rikiohs, hitting neat headbutts and locking in a cool rolling neck crank. Rikioh also had this nasty move where he dragged Hashi over his shoulder. When Rikioh was clearly wobbly from Hashis chokes, he came back by almost shattering Hashis eardrum with a big slap. He then tried ripping Hashi in half with a boston crab that would‘ve ended most rookies. The crowd sensed this and got behind Hashi big time. Some actually neat bearhug work ensues, and Hashi makes a really good comeback gradually working his way back in while selling the back work. Last few minutes were on fire with Rikioh trying to shut down Hashi with brutal sumo rushes and lariats. Also, there were some ungodly slaps throughout.

Takashi Sugiura & Tamon Honda vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Ohmori, NOAH 1/18/2001

Sugiura was less than 10 matches into his career at this point, so he was in his singlet and using a more amaresuish style. And damn you wish he had kept working like that his whole career because he was awesome in this, really taking it to No Fear and twisting them in knots while not backing down. The ending with him throwing Takayama around before getting caught with a nasty kitchen sink was awesome too. Everyone else was kind of doing their thing, but I was surprised that Ohmori looked pretty good. He was working in almost a heel technician way to isolate Sugiura and hit a really nice dropkick and thrust kick. Takayama didn‘t and Honda didn‘t do a ton but they were solid and Sugiura was the real story of the match, anyways.

GWE Watching: Tamon Honda

 Tamon Honda vs. Daisuke Ikeda, NOAH 3/29/2001

Their KBS hall match is more famous and probably better, but this match was beastly in it's own right. There wasn't much matwork, but Ikeda was landing FUTEN level kicks to Hondas face and Honda hit all these beastly throws and counters. Both guys selling was just great, Ikeda would make a random leglock or Honda falling on top of him look deadly, and Honda sold a chokehold as if he was poisoned. Ikeda limping while getting up after a leglock and then rushing over to kick Hondas big head like a football was awe inspiring. I also loved Hondas reversal of the Russian Legsweep and Ikeda hitting the move later in the match was amazing due to the timing and buildup. The crowd for this was at the beginning so quiet you could hear a pin drop but the match won them over and they were popping big at the end so you know it ruled. Also, NAGAI KILLER and some brutal high kicks for the finish.

Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue vs. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito, NOAH 9/2/2001

Honda is set to face Akiyama for the title, so the purpose of this match was to make him look like a beast. And well, that they do. Honda does some fun grappling with Akiyama, then catches him in a nasty guillotine. Akiyama seems to make a comeback but then Honda just snatches him and dumps him hard with the Dead End. Saito tags in and Honda chokes him out in 20 seconds. Badass show, which is made more badass by how useless Inoue was in the match. Afterwards Inoue raises Hondas hand like „that‘s my boy!“. Great shit, short, neat, told its story perfectly.

Yoshinari Ogawa & Tamon Honda vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takashi Sugiura, NOAH 8/24/2002

Really fun story driven tag. Rare instance of a match where not much special happens early on and it adds to it. Ogawa as this unimpressive champion who keeps ratting his way to victory was just great. All his interactions with Takayama were awe inspiring. Ogawa would rake Sugiuras eye and then taunt Takayama („Clean Fight!!“) only to back off, then try to rush Takayama with punches when he tagged in. Then, he would get isolated and tortured by Takayama and Sugiura. Takayama tagging in Sugiura and then sprinting across the ring to have a go at Ogawa was another really amusing moment. Also, all the olympic grappling exchanges involving Honda where great and the finish between him and Sugiura was awesome.

Tamon Honda & Takeshi Morishima vs. KENTA & Akihiko Ito, NOAH 8/23/2009

Really good undercard tag which was a reminder that NOAH was a pretty fun promotion once upon a time. All of Hondas exchanges were so cool here, he rarely works like a beast but he was a slovenly monster here, really establishing that it‘s hard to get him off his feet. His unorthodox grappling exchanges with young Ito were really cool and his brief sections with KENTA really hinted against a great singles match between them. He Dead Ends KENTA hard, and the bit where he snatches Ito and almost strangles him was grizzly. Morishima is really effective in his role of fat dude who tries to ring peoples bell and crushes them with his fatness. Ito is also a really spry fun guy with really good execution, too bad he retired but I guess he dodged a bullet by dropping out of this promotion. Also KENTA bodyslamming fat Morishima onto Honda was such a fun little spot, totally makes a match like this stand out.

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project #2

 2 Cold Scorpio & Vader vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Takashi Sugiura, NOAH 10/16/2001 - GREAT

Scorpio and Vader had a great dynamic as a team. Scorpio the more elegant wrestler, while Vader is just this hulking beast. As partners they act as foils for each other in a really unique way. This went a little under 7 minutes, but it was laid out nearly perfectly. Everything Vader does looks like he‘s just killing dudes, bashing guys heads in with his arms, body checks that look like they run you over. The crowd even buys a basic back suplex from him as a nearfall. Between Scorpio and Vader laying guys you get some fun character moments from both of them. Ikeda and Sugiura are mostly blown away but they get in some good hopespots. I liked the brief Ikeda/Scorpio section a lot. Ikeda was teeing off on Scorpio with stiff lariats until Scorpio was able to get in some beautiful (probably much less painfull but still hurty looking) kicks. Finish was fun too as Vader randomly seemed to hurt his leg. It may have been a shoot but probably not because Vader kept working matches the next couple days, but it gave the illusion that Sugiura might come back against the monster. The match ended early like a few NOAH matches did back in the day, to remind the crowd that things are important. Not the epic you might hope for when you see Ikeda and Vader and Scorpio in a match but it was healthy booking and the match was still really cool without burying Ikeda and young boy Sugiura.

2 Cold Scorpio & Vader vs. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito, NOAH 10/19/2001 - GREAT

Another match with a really great layout. Basically Vader is this ridiculously overpowered, but slightly banged up monster. You buy that he can KO people with a random punch or clothesline, or that a random leglock from him might dislocate someones leg. At the same time he‘s vulnerable and you think a random leg kick from Saito might make him give out. Akiyama and Saito try to zone in on Scorpio, he‘s not really the weak link, he‘s just the only one there that they have a chance in hell against. Scorpio feeds really well into their stuff and also sets up Vaders monster spots extremely well while hitting some graceful offense of his own. But the whole match was basically about Vader being an unstoppable force, while Akiyama and Saito still get close to turning the tide. I imagine it‘s pretty difficult to work a match like this and make it compelling but they succeeded here. Great stuff, early NOAH was the best.

2 Cold Scorpio vs. The Goon, WWF 12/2/1996 - FUN

This was Scorpios WWF debut using the terrible Flash Funk gimmick. Nowadays I imagine a guy with spectacular highspots making his debut would just eat the other guy up busting out all his stuff, but here the Goon controls a bit while Scorpio gradually does his stuff. The Goon who looks like some bush league indy dude in his hockey gear has some fun brawling, a nice bump through the ropes and a really nice posting. And Scorpio was pretty much the most spectacular guy in the world in 1996, really busting out complicated dives and rollups on a different level. And because of the match layout he gets over as more than a highspot machine. Fun match despite the unfortunate gimmick.

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project 

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation #1

 

Fit Finlay vs. Too Cold Scorpio (CWA 11/27/1994) - EPIC

Scorpio is really a phenom. No matter the environment, he rules. This is all about Scorpio unloading his ridiculously high end flying offense and paying for it by clashing with the archaic euro rules. Finlay is at his usual heel game here, but the match is all about Scorp. Even with him rolling out high spots, there are fun bits of simple wrestling such as the spot where they struggle over a backslide as the crowd is roaring. This basically opens as a long Scorpio shine segment before Finlay takes out his leg. Finlay taking out a leg is fun and it sets up the great last round where Scorpio sells the fuck out of that leg. He hits a gorgeos moonsault and basically has Finlay beat but the rules won‘t allow it and he gets carded. Really dramatic and well executed stuff, and a very satisfying dream matchup.

 

Tamon Honda vs. 2 Cold Scorpio, NOAH 3/21/2003 - GREAT

This is a matchup you can‘t really wrap your brain around. Obviously both guys are good, but Honda is very different from Scorpios usual opponents. But they mesh really well. Scorpio is ultrasharp as usual, busting out some great looking strikes. Honda was great in the early minutes, constantly going for chokeholds and suplexes, which Scorpio sells great. You get the sense that Honda makes up for his lack of mobility by just glueing himself to his opponent. We get Scorpio working over Hondas leg, doing some cool sharp legwork and Honda having some great selling. Honda. Honda countering a superkick into the Olympic Hell was really choice, as was the finish. Short but good, and felt like it could end at any time.

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation

2021 MOTY Project Update #2

3. Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Kaito Kiyomiya, NOAH 6/13/2021

This reminded me of a Destroyer carryjob. Ogawa is in his mid 50s now and for some reason he gets a longer match than I can ever remember him in during his prime. Opening battle of side headlocks was just beautiful and felt like a struggle for control. Kiyomiya reminded me a bit of a young Jumbo, as in he did everything right, trading holds and going along for cool things like criss cross spots, but didn't do anything outstanding. I liked how he bridged out of Ogawas headlocks and that about was it. Ogawas ratboy tricks and veteran moves kept the match entertaining. I especially liked the bit where they ended up in a side headlock on the outside, one of those examples of an old wrestler breaking out an exciting new trick. Kiyomiya struggling out of Ogawas stretches was nice, but his dainty offense didn't do anything for me. Thankfully, we get a very good section of Ogawa twisting up Kiyomiyas leg and essentially bullying him. Kiyomiyas tried his hardest to ruin the match by acting like superman, but Ogawa saved the whole thing by busting out some amazing counters. Beautiful, beautiful finish. Best 70s style match since... Nishimura/Tajiri, I think?

 

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST

GWE Watching #6: Tsuyoshi Kikuchi

 

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa, NOAH 11/25/2001

Man, NOAH missed out not giving Kikuchi a big singles run. It would’ve made me care about NOAHs junior title much more than all that shit involving guys like Marufuji and Kanemaru. This was super raw, hard hitting pro wrestling. There was some no selling because Takaiwa is who he is, but they make up for it by trying to kill eachother. At one point Kikuchi was getting into his machoism asking Takaiwa to hit him harder and Takaiwa almost caved his face in with a sick dropkick. Kikuchi repaid him later with an insane headbutt. I enjoyed the leg work Kikuchi did, even if Takaiwa pretty much ignored it. Takaiwa kind of redeemed himself taking a really great corner bump and then almost dying on a spider german suplex. Finishing run had plenty of brutality, including Takaiwa swatting Kikuchi off the ropes and Kikuchi countering the endless Powerbomb in a really cool spot.

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jushin Liger, NOAH 5/21/2004

A match I‘ve never heard of until I decided to YouTube search Kikuchi today. I‘m surprised by that, because this was pretty excellent. I guess it didn‘t fit the kind of nearfall-ladden fast paced junior epic mold that was en vogue with fans at the time. But, this delivers the kind of scrappy, uncooperative exchanges you want from this. Kikuchi looks great here opening with an awesome sliding enzuigiri and big, microphone enhanced headbutts. There‘s some great dueling armwork, with both guys selling fantastically. I really liked Kikuchi playing hard ass shrugging off Ligers basic throws and Liger then gleefully tearing apart his bandaged shoulder. It‘s a great mixture of looking tough as hell and vulnerable which Kikuchi does extremely well. Loved the spot where Kikuchi went in turn to choke Liger with his bandage and Liger headbutting his bad shoulder. The match was full of gritty struggle like that, such as Kikuchi manhandling Liger by the mask, or trying to shrug off his palm strikes. Ref spots were fun and didn‘t hurt the match, and the match ended on two perfect nearfalls. Very refreshing stuff.

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Akitoshi Saito, NOAH 7/27/2001

Kikuchi is ranked way lower than Saito, but he won‘t go down without a fight! This was two guys mauling each other and it was pretty great. Notice how the match never turned into a predictable „I hit you – you hit me“ slog. There were a few smart moments: Kikuchi rolling outside and the grabbing a streetfight leglock was really great. As was him going down from a single slap from Saito and having to go for the leg again. Really dug his leg stretch in the ropes. Saito doesn‘t really sell the legwork and wins pretty easily to show that he is much stronger, which prevents this from being great, but I really loved Kikuchis performance.

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Akira Taue, AJPW 1/21/1992

Kikuchi vs. Taue, in 1992! What a matchup! And this is just wonderful. Taue gets huge heel reactions. He doesn‘t do much out of the ordinary, except try to rip Kikuchi in half with some mean submissions and just generally act like a jerk, but Kikuchi, man! He was at his best here, bumping big, selling, and being so ferocious when attacking Taue. At point Taue does a neck chop and Kikuchi does this pained collapsing sell. He really makes you believe in a neck chop like few other wrestlers. Last couple minutes had some fantastic and were just lovely. Kikuchi wanted that German Suplex like all hell, and YOU believe in it. Just a short little houseshow match, but an example of what makes Kikuchi so special.

GWE Watching #5: Daisuke Ikeda

 Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone vs. Tamon Honda & Kotaru Suzuki, NOAH 3/14/2002

Random undercard match ends up being good thanks to Ikeda having a vendetta against Honda. Ikeda trying to aggress against Honda, almost getting choked out and then taking out his frustration by using Kotaru as a punching bag was pretty great. Yone also decided to lay in his strikes for once, although nothing that comes close to Ikeda brutalizing him with Futen level punts and punches. Hondas hot tag was great but the Yone-centric felt a little underwhelming. Dig Ikeda taking a random loony bump to the outside for the hell of it.

Daisuke Ikeda vs. Jun Izumida, NOAH 4/6/2002

Fun match with two lumpy guys trading hard blows. Izumida kinda looked like he was just figuring out what to do as he was on offense, but Ikeda sold for him as if he was the heaviest hitter on the planet. Ikeda unloaded some really nasty looking kicks to Izus arms and shoulders, which Izu sold in a fun way. Izu has some fun spots, particularily his judo sweep and bicycle kick, but his dumbfoundedness kinda detracted from the match. Really fun finish with Ikeda barely edging out the victory with a surprise sleeper.

Daisuke Ikeda vs. Takashi Sugiura, NOAH 3/18/2001

Sugiura probably had a fun BattlARTS career as a second rate Otsuka in him but instead got the NOAH career as a second rate Kurt Angle. This was clipped down, but looked like a good little match. Sugiura was green and I didn‘t like his spears, but Ikeda just brutalized him with violent kicks. Ikeda had a really neat reversal of the Karelins Lift. I also liked spot where Sugiura dived right into Ikedas knee.

Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yoshinari Ogawa, NOAH 6/6/2003

I‘m not sure why I haven‘t heard of this match before; it delivers exactly what you want. Not an epic main event or something, but more than fun midcard match with both guys doing what they do best. Ikeda comes in with a blunt force approach coming at Ogawa with big lariats and kicks, and Ogawa employs all his scuzzy ratboy tactics that we love him for, including some actually cool water bottle spots. Short, with not a dull moment.

 

Daisuke Ikeda vs. Masashi Aoyagi, NOAH 9/2/2001

 Fun little match. Aoyagi is way over the hill and this is just an opening match, but god you can tell Ikeda respects the hell out of him the way he puts him over here. Ikeda takes every single kick Aoyagi knows in brutal fashion. I liked how Ikeda would initially kick out at 1, to remind people that Aoyagi had been retired to undercard old man tags at this point, but then Aoyagi just kept landing the hits, until he almost KO'd with a kick combo in the corner that harkened back to the days of his Onita feud. Aoyagi does 1 or 2 things you don't expect from him, and Ikeda pulls off a neat finish. This is a showcase for Ikeda, the generous worker selling a beatdown, not something people know him for, but he does it very well.

2002 MOTY Project Update #13

 

6. Elimination Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Naomichi Marufuji & Takuma Sano & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Akitoshi Saito & Jun Akiyama & Makoto Hashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru, NOAH 1/20/2002

Really great elimination tag which was exemplaric of what made 2002 NOAH so good: unique characters, interesting match layouts, and everyone playing their role to perfection. Great start with Sterness trying to rush only for crafty Ogawa to attack Akiyamas injured shoulder. Marufuji is mostly pinballing around here, and doesn‘t do anything stupid. I loved Hashi here, as a low ranked guy who can hit really heavy thanks to being gifted with an indestructible skull, and how he would fly into the ring with random headbutts like a bomb dropping. The crowd reaction to him rushing Misawa with headbutts was awesome. Kanemaru was also surprisingly effective as a scuzzy heel junior. Everything that came after the match turned into a 4 on 1 was damn near perfect and just brilliant pro wrestling. Ogawa rules so hard and this teamwork with Misawa was on par with their peak Untouchables work. Akiyama trying to let his junior partners pin Misawa as a fuck you only for it to backfire was a nice touch. Great selling and they had the crowd going bonkers without any head drops or dangerous bumps at all.

52. Masao Inoue & Tamon Honda vs. Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikioh, NOAH 1/20/2002

Really great Masao Inoue performance. And also a nice reminder that heavyweight wrestling can be smart and not just shoulderblocks and strike exchanges. Double Takeshis try pulling a 2 on 1 on Honda to start only for Inoue to come in and save the day with eye rakes. Some entertaining guardrail shenanigans ensue. Inoue and Honda trying to choke out Morishima was really great, as was the random apron bulldog Honda busted out. Inoue hitting a neckbreaker after the chokehold just makes so much sense. I really liked how Morishima and Rikioh tried avoiding Hondas headbutts. Then, in a great spot, Rikioh grabbed Honda by the head and just flung him across the ring. Rikioh and Morishima punishing Inoue wasn‘t super interesting in terms of what they did, but was made entertaining by Inoues excellent selling. Inoue manages to look pathetic even when he‘s hitting offense as he just kind of awkwardly staggers across the ring and then flops into his opponent. Hondas hot tag was great as he just hit an out of nowhere crowbar lariat and immediately went for the Olympic Hell. Inoue trying to prevent Morishima from making safes was also really entertaining. Crafty Inoue during the finishing stretch trying to upset the big boys and building to his Torture Rack finisher was excellent and I like how Inoue can make smart decisions even when his plans don‘t work out. Morishima doing the axe bomber to piss off Takao Ohmori was a nice touch.

2002 MOTY MASTER LIST

2002 MOTY List Update #10

 Negro Navarro & Shu El Guerrero vs. Solar & Skayde (AULL 11/1/2002)

Nothing better than a lucha match that starts with about 17 minutes of straight matwork that the crowd eats up. This is one of the earlier Navarro/Solar matchups and what they did here was pretty different from what they would do later, altough it was all great. This is also one of the better Skayde showings I've seen as him rolling with Shu is much more interesting than him rolling with one of his skinny trainees. Shu is just so physical, he does this thing where he goes on all fours or tailor seat and dares the other guy to move him. So Skayde puts a nasty toehold on him before going for a rolling stretch. Really really neat stuff that feels competitive. The later portions that had Shu throwing dropkicks and flying clothesines were also pretty great. Shu also hits a really great senton really squishing Skayde underneath, and locks in a nasty arm triangle with the arm trapped. Then Skayde would torture him further by putting all kinds of leglocks on him. The submissions and pins also work as near falls. Finish is between Solar and Navarro and suitably good. This is really a borderline classic, 20+ of high quality technical lucha at it's finest.

Bas Rutten vs. Osamu Nishimura (NJPW 10/14/2002)

One of the more unique matches in wrestling history, it's a kickpadded uncooperative modern day shooter vs. A classy early 70s technician. Rutten was great at pro wrestling no doubt about it, his selling of Nishimuras holds was great (did a better job there than most trained pro wrestlers) and he was basically threatening to KO Nish every single round. Rutten not holding back at all is a big part of why the match worked. Nishimura ruled as usual believably locking Rutten into his old school carny holds or dishing out the european uppercuts. I think this may have been better without the rounds but it had typical european build closer to a german style match (Nishimura spent a lot of time in germany and austria) than british as it had that simmering animosity. Nishimura slowly getting destroyed but getting in Ruttens head was really cool. By the last round they completely ditched the striking and just stubbornly went for the tap out.

Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinob Kanemaru (NOAH 4/7/2002)

NOAH vs. NJ part two. Everyone is on fire! Liger is a no selling douche! Kikuchi is a mad old bugger who will take a chunk out of you without blinking! Clever nutshot spots! Mask ripping! Submissions are important! This match did a great job milking and amplifying the heat of the feud. Lean and strong pace with an emphasis on masks ripped open and nasty elbows from mount, this is the direction japanese wrestling should've kept going. Watch the backstage footage too! 

Shinya Hashimoto & Naoya Ogawa vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Scott Norton (NJPW 5/2/2002)

This is one of those feel good matches you can just back and enjoy every second of it. Basically Hashimoto & Ogawa waltz in and just destroy everything in their path. STOs, nasty kicks and chops and various cool combination moves abound. Norton & Tenzan don‘t stand much of a chance but they try. You get a great little Norton performance as he sells all the nasty chops and kicks he takes to his shoulder in a big way. There is an art to selling in such a way that everyone can emphatize with you even when you‘re a giant muscled up dude like Norton and he had it down. Tenzan also doesn‘t suck! 

 

2002 MOTY MASTER LIST

2002 MOTY List Update #6

Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson (RoH  3/30/2002)

  Not as great as the JAPW match, but still insanely tightly worked, stiff pro wrestling that blows away all the current wannabe shooters (and everyone else too). They mostly struggle over holds while pounding the daylights out of eachother. Kis stiffness was just crazy as he would rough up Danielsons already bruised face with out of nowhere kicks. At one point he just grabbed Bryans head and went loose with Kawada kicks sending him to the outside. Most of this match was both guys fighting over holds or working eachother over with stiff kicks and chops. Ki blocking a Dragon Suplex only to be thrown with a back suplex was like something out of 80s NJPW. I also loved how Ki, after choking the air out of Danielsons lung would immediately follow up with double stomps to the stomach. Unfortunately Danielson made an easy comeback soon after that and the finishing stretch was not as great as the body of the match as they mostly stick to throwing big old bombs back and forth for like 10 minutes. Still, match felt like a classic in large parts. 

Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (NOAH 4/7/2002)

NOAH vs. NJ part two. Everyone is on fire! Liger is a no selling douche! Kikuchi is a mad old bugger who will take a chunk out of you without blinking! Clever nutshot spots! Mask ripping! Submissions are important! This match did a great job milking and amplifying the heat of the feud. Lean and strong pace with an emphasis on masks ripped open and nasty elbows from mount, this is the direction japanese wrestling should've kept going. Watch the backstage footage too! 

Shinya Hashimoto & Naoya Ogawa vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Scott Norton (NJPW 5/2/2002)

  This is one of those feel good matches you can just back and enjoy every second of it. Basically Hashimoto & Ogawa waltz in and just destroy everything in their path. STOs, nasty kicks and chops and various cool combination moves abound. Norton & Tenzan don‘t stand much of a chance but they try. You get a great little Norton performance as he sells all the nasty chops and kicks he takes to his shoulder in a big way. There is an art to selling in such a way that everyone can emphatize with you even when you‘re a giant muscled up dude like Norton and he had it down. Tenzan also doesn‘t suck! 

Antifaz/La Fiera/Safari vs. Averno/Mephisto/Zumbido (CMLL 1/11/2002)

his was given plenty of time. Cool 10 minute opening fall with Safari looking especially slick, nice rudo beatdown with plenty of elaborate double times and some more heated than usual exchanges between Safari and Mephisto, culminating in Safari hitting a sick dive that Mephisto failed to catch properly, which only increased the intensity. The main reason I'm adding this though was La Fieras awesome performance. I didn't know he was even still around by 2002, but he looked like he had aged just right here. Basically acting like Tenryu, working as "I've been doing this for 30 years and I'm hurting in place I didn't even know existed, but I'm still gonna kick the shit out of you". He hits all these graceful kicks and takes some big bumps. Finish was charming and the crowd went wild for it.

 2002 MOTY Project MASTER LIST