Pro Wrestling Love vol. 8: Best of Pro Wrestling NOAH 2005-2009 (KENTA, Jun Akiyama, Kenta Kobashi)

Hey Yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Ratt was totally bitchin last night! They are such a badass metal band and see Juan Croucier still do all his dancing tricks with his bass brought a big smile to my face. Thumbs up!

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 8:

The Greatest Matches of Pro Wrestling NOAH 2005-2009

Objective:  Break up the Greatest Match Ever Project (hosted at gwe.freeforums.project.net) into more manageable chunks to help me build my Top 100 List for the project.

Motivation: Contribute to the discussion around these matches to enrich my own understanding of pro wrestling and give a fresh perspective for old matches and even hopefully discover great pro wrestling matches that have been hidden by the sands of time.

Contact Info: You can revisit past Pro Wrestling Love Volumes at ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com. You can check out the full version of these match reviews in ProWrestlingOnly.com by going to the forums and finding the folders associated with the date of the match. You can reach me on Twitter and Instagram @superstarsleeze or at ProWrestlingOnly.com as Superstar Sleeze to continue the discussion. 

Subject: This eighth volume of Pro Wrestling Love is the Top 6 countdown of the best matches to take place Pro Wrestling NOAH from 2005-2009. We pick up where left off in 2004 with NOAH. 2005 was still peak NOAH with the Kenta Kobashi reign winding down and their last Tokyo Dome show. The Dome show was headlined by the 90s New Japan vs 90s All Japan dream match of Kenta Kobashi vs Kensuke Sasaki and the return of Toshiaki Kawada as he squares off against archrival Mitsuharu Misawa. Kobashi had dropped the GHC title to Takeshi Rikio the first of the new generation to win the belt, however he proved to be a bust. By 2006, NOAH was in a precipitous freefall with Kobashi out of action due to cancer and now new talent that could lift the business. Eventually, Misawa put the belt back on himself. It was that dire of a situation. We end in 2009 because that is their year of the tragic in-ring death of Mitsuharu Misawa. Rest in Peace, Misawa.

Ratings: As of right now, I would say the top two matches have a shot at making the list, but are probably on the outside looking in.

Now thats what I call a POP!

Honorable Mentions

GHC Heavyweight Champion Takeshi Rikio vs Akira Taue - Budokan 11/05/05

One of the loudest crowd pops in the history of Puroresu when Taue wins the GHC Championship. Remember how badly the Budokan wanted Taue to unseat Kobashi last November, well they are still into Taue. They are over the moon when he wins the championship here.

Kenta Kobashi vs Kensuke Sasaki – Tokyo Dome 7/18/05

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada - Tokyo Dome 7/18/05

The last gasp of NOAH as they are still able to draw a huge crowd on the back of 90s stars as they reprise the Kawada vs Misawa feud (they had not wrestled since 2000) and the 90s dream match of Kobashi vs Sasaki. The problem was that it was now 2005 and their lack of new stars would extremely problematic in the long run. Misawa vs Kawada is a nostalgic Greatest Hits match. I just saw Ratt last night. It is akin to that seeing a great 80s band run through their Greatest Hits. It is fun, but it does not have the same zing as something present. Kobashi vs Sasaki is something I should really revisit. I thought it was a little too excessive in the fighting spirit and macho pride spots, but it is definitely something important enough that it should be mentioned.

Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiozaki vs Jun Akiyama & Genichiro Tenryu - Budokan 4/24/2005

Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiozaki vs Kensuke Sasaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima - NOAH 11/5/05

NOAH in 2005 was the rebirth of tag team wrestling with Kobashi slowing down he was put in more tag matches. These are some of the best tag matches of the decade and there is still one more to come in the Top Six. Tenryu is in NOAH and this is his last run where he can still put on classics, which is pretty amazing since he debuted in the late 70s! This is also the debut of the Boy Wonder and one of my favorite 2000s wrestlers, Katsuhiko Nakajima who is a true gem of junior heavyweight. I got to see him live thanks to Ring Of Honor in Detroit in 2009.

Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Jun Akiyama & KENTA - NOAH 10/03/09

The Misawa tribute match. Wrestling touches on a lot of human emotions. Joy, anger, fear, pride and envy to name a few. The biggest emotion it often misses is sadness and its cousins depression and grief. The early emotions are red, passionate, intense emotions and make for energetic experience. It has trouble with blue emotions and I hope that we see more of this in pro wrestling as it evolves to really progress. This is perhaps the best sad match ever. It is a somber mood. Misawa is dead and Kobashi is so injured he can't pay tribute to his friend. They use that sadness to weave an excellent story.

GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion KENTA vs Kotaro Suzuki - NOAH 1/25/09
The NOAH Match of the Year, 2009. KENTA The Junior Destroyer takes on the cheating, cowardly punk, Kotaro Suzuki in a very entertaining match. I would say this overachieves as Suzuki has never impressed, but he is the straw that stirs the drink in this match. It is his over the top heeling that draws you in. You really wanted to see the hard-hitting, explosive KENTA comeback and when you get it. It is truly glorious. We will see an even better version of this style of match featuring KENTA later in the coutdown.

The Top Six NOAH Matches from 2005-2009

TAKE THAT DREAM!

#6. GHC Heavyweight Champion Takeshi Morishima vs Kensuke Sasaki – Budokan 9/6/08

NOAH Match of the Year, 2008

If you treat your opponent with the respect he deserves, then the match will be respected. Sasaki paints his unlikely masterpiece with young GHC Champion Takeshi Morishima who never quite panned out to the high expectations placed upon him. Kensuke Sasaki is a great wrestler, but one who needs a fellow great wrestler to have a great match. Most of the time, Sasaki is in there with works of greater talent. It is not totally his fault his generation was stacked with Hashimoto, Mutoh, Hase, Tenryu, Kawada, Kobashi and Akiyama. Still, the one thing always missing from his resume was him carrying a match proving he could be a ring general. This was that match.

Sasaki is a power wrestler through and through but he is a little on the short side, very stocky though. Morishima is a big boy. What Sasaki does so well is put over Morishima’s size advantage. He does not wrestle a fighting spirit match where they trade blows in the middle of the ring. This is not a King’s Road match where they trade bombs down the stretch. This is a smart match where Sasaki recognizes Morishima’s biggest asset his size, puts that over so that becomes the hook of the match. Can Sasaki the Legend survive and find a way to defeat the Monster champion or will he succumb to his girth? Like I said before when you have fans asking themselves questions in the match that’s when you got them. Compare this to the Misawa match, Morishima was plugged into Misawa formula and you would think that Morishima was just Kawada 2.0. Except, Morishima looks like a dude who ate Kawada. So when Sasaki began the match with his usual power-oriented strategy he was thwarted by the simple fact that Morishima is fucking huge. Sasaki does a great job selling for this monster both physically and psychologically. Morishima is really overwhelming the veteran. Sasaki has one hope and that is the young Morishima makes mistakes. Those rookie mistakes haunt him as he has a nasty habit of telegraphing his moves allowing the veteran Sasaki to capitalize. But when Sasaki falls back into his routine of power wrestling, Morishima literally squashes him. Morishima is wrestling this match like a monster and really looks like he is going to fulfill his potential. Sasaki has a new strategy go aerial and attack Morishima from the high ground. This strategy pays dividends and allows him to finally hit his Northern Lights Bomb, but Morishima kicks out! Sasaki is exasperated, really great selling from him. He hit the Monster with his best shot and still could not get the job done. Morishima goes high risk and crashes & burns on a moonsault. That is the opening Sasaki needs. He fells the Beast with a lariat which feels like a huge victory. Sasaki dictated the pace so well and he really put Morishima over. Morishima wrestled with conviction. They did a great job created situations where Sasaki could make inroads on Morishima. It is a barrage of Lariats and a Northern Lights Bomb that win the day for Sasaki. TAKE THAT DREAM!

#5. Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama 

Budokan 12/02/07

NOAH Match of the Year, 2007

To me the most emotionally moving match of Puroresu in the 2000s. Kobashi triumphs over cancer (there was no way he was going to job to cancer) and returns to the ring in an amazing tag team match. It was a conquering hero’s welcome for Kobashi. Fans chanting “Ko-Bash-I” and Tamon Honda crying on commentary. I would argue you connect separate the emotion and content of the match. It is so fueled by Kobashi’s return that it propels this match into a 2007 Match of the Year Candidate. Misawa and Akiyama were natural foes for his return match, but his partner on the surface seemed to be an odd choice. It was his rival and eternal heel Yoshihiro Takayama. Takayama did a great job cheerleading and playing to the crowd to get Kobashi involved. Kobashi showed some ring rust early on and was a little sluggish. What makes this match so great is that the Kobashi The Destroyer of the mid-2000s is gone. Misawa caught Kobashi good with an elbow and all of sudden we are teleported back to 1993 and it is sympathetic Kobashi playing face in peril to the two greatest offensive wrestlers of all time. When you add in the cancer factor, the sympathy levels were just off the charts. You were just begging for Kobashi to make that hot tag to Takayama and then rejuvenate himself enough to become Kobashi The Destroyer and win the match. A great moment in the match is that as Kobashi is turning the tide on Akiyama, Misawa  comes in and quashes it with elbows to a chorus of boos! Hot tag to Takayama! It is short-lived but cool to see as Misawa blows him out of the water with an elbow. Takayama vs Akiyama is interesting because we never did get to see them in a high-profile singles match. That would have been a barnburner. Another great moment is Takayama could cover Akiyama, but he knows this match is about Kobashi so he tags out instead. Kobashi runs through his Greatest hits. The crowd is roaring and I am beaming with a smile so big as I watched it too. Takayama tackles Misawa and Kobashi hits a moonsault on Akiyama. Kick out and then they pan to Honda crying. Eventually Misawa & Akiyama overwhelm Kobashi and Misawa hits the Emerald Flowsion. If there was ever a time to break from the time-honored tradition of the returning wrestler doing the job in Japan, now was the time. The fans wanted to see Kobashi win and that was a silly booking decision. This also doubles as Misawa’s last great match of his storied career. I thought he was the second best worker (Kobashi’s face in peril was incredible) he was just a cold, stoic, remorseless badass in this match. The last hurrah of the Misawa vs Kobashi rivalry.

#4. KENTA vs. Bryan Danielson – NOAH 12/02/06

Exactly, one year before KENTA and Bryan Danielson had a tremendous traditional wrestling match. One thing you may have noticed from these countdowns is the dearth of gaijin talent. From Rikidozan through the 90s, gaijin especially from America played a big role in Puroresu. By 2000 they were mostly gone for the landscape and puroresu became very native heavy. This has changed in recent years thanks to the Bullet Club in New Japan but for most of the decade it was Japanese vs Japanese. Danielson is a student of pro wrestling and loves puroresu. I am sure it was a real treat for him to get to wrestle for NOAH and to wrestle one of the best junior heavyweights of the 2000s in KENTA.

If you can reign in KENTA and make him work for his offense, then you can get a great match out of him. KENTA has all the tools to be one of the best of all-time, but he doesn’t use them smartly. Danielson is a great ring general and knows how to make KENTA work for it. This is a great example of a tempo-based psychology match. KENTA wants to work that million mile per hour style and Danielson is trying to stymie him. Early on as KENTA is revving up Danielson gets a simple hiptoss and converts that into a cross armbreaker. That’s excellent wrestling. Quash the early momentum and lay some groundwork for an arm-based attack. Danielson was tremendous in working the arm. Danielson uses this as a setup to hit a diving headbutt and then a monster splash over the guardrail on KENTA but in the process hurts his knee. That’s the spot I always remember from this match. It is such a great turning point. Danielson was doing great on the ground, but felt he needed something extra to beat KENTA. When he goes high risk, he pays for it with a bum wheel. The finish stretch just flows beautifully building on the great ground work they laid in the beginning. Danielson powers through at first and tries the Crossface Chickenwing, but KENTA picks the knee and gets a Texas Cloverleaf and now Danielson is hurting. So when Danielson goes for Cattle Mutilation he cant hold it. Now KENTA can roaring back with his big ass kicks and knees. Danielson try as he might cant withstand this onslaught and loses to Go 2 Sleep. I love strategies and this is a match of strategies. Danielson blows it when he goes high risk after wrestling a great conservative match. I love how it does not immediately lead to Danielson taking heat. He is fighting through the pain and KENTA had taken more punishment up until that point. You see KENTA making in roads, but Danielson is still in the driver’s seat until his leg gives out. Then KENTA finally EXPLODES in great KENTA fashion. Just awesome escalation throughout the match really built to a fever pitch.

#3. GHC Heavyweight Champion Akira Taue vs Jun Akiyama – Budokan 01/22/06

NOAH Match of the Year, 2006

Just as the top match of this countdown is the grand sendoff for the King’s Road Tag Style, this is the sendoff for the King’s Road singles style. Kobashi’s cancer scare, Misawa’s poor health and Kawada’s winding schedule meant these two were the last of the Five Pillars of Heaven. The September tag match is a great lead in to this match as it really makes you want to see singles match between these two. In the feel-good moment of 2005, Akira Taue wins the GHC Championship raising the stakes of this match.

After his loss to Kobashi in the Dome, Akiyama disappears in the last half of the decade. Yes being a part of three of the best matches of the decade seems like disappearing when you do nothing in between. However, in this one match, Akiyama wrestles like it is 2000 fighting with urgency and focus. The focus was the head and neck of Taue where he was throwing knees like Misawa would throw elbows. As I have said before Taue is the King of Efficiency. There are no overwrought sequences. He has one goal win the match. How is he going to do it? Nodowa Akiyama to Hell and retain his title. We begin with a  nice little Taue shine diving to the outside showing how much this championship means to him. Taue worked the match smartly and builds nicely to his first Nodowa attempt but it is still early as Akiyama counters. The spot of the match is Akiyama wiping Taue out with a knee from the apron from behind. This sets up the excellent heat segment on the head and neck of Taue. Akiyama takes a page out of 2001 Mutoh’s playbook using the dropkick to the knee to set up a knee to the head, but that only gets two. Akiyama tries a running knee on the ramp, but Taue nails him with a big boot. NODOWA OFF THE RAMP! Game-changer! I loved that moment as it totally changes the complexion of the match and just like that Taue is back in it. Taue runs through his big offense lots of Nodowas and a Dynamic Bomb cant get it done. The drama is at a fever pitch with Akiyama responding with Exploders. They play off the September tag with Taue hitting a Super Nodowa when Akiyama had been trying a Super Exploder but Taue does not have enough to cover like he did four months ago. Akiyama ends up kneeing him in the head and eventually Taue succumbs to the onslaught. Two of the all-time greats going out having a balls to the wall match where the key is they are always struggling to win the match and put themselves in the best position to win. The entertainment of the fans is a by-product, the true goal is to win the match. I love how they put over the high stakes of the match when Akiyama knees Taue in the head on the first Super Nodowa attempt. Taue knows he needs that home run shot to win, but in order to hit it has to sacrifice the offensive position. It is a really cool moment. They take it home with Akiyama winning the match because of the groundwork he laid with the head/neck work and Taue not being able to overcome it.

GET 'EM JOE!

 

#2. GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion KENTA vs SUWA – Budokan 09/18/05

It is the battle of Caps Lock: KENTA vs SUWA! The best KENTA matches are ones where he has to earn his offense whether it is the cheating heel tactics of a Kotaro Suzuki or the technical wrestling of a Bryan Danielson. You want to see KENTA go through some trial and tribulations before he explodes into his hellacious comeback. No one was better at that than SUWA in this match. SUWA turned in a career performance as he was a heel’s heel in this barnburner. He tore up the scroll that is always read before NOAH title matches. Sacrilege!  He blasts KENTA with a ring bell! The ref is forced to DQ him. SUWA is parading around knowing he beat up the champ. Joe Higuchi, the old dude that reads from the scroll, gets so hot that he takes off his suit to trade hands with him. The crowd goes wild for this! It is one of those moments that transcend time, language and culture. When a old man gets so fired up and is ready to put a punk in his place that always gets over. He throws the turnbuckle pad at the ref. He openly punts KENTA in the nuts. The ring crew and young boys are irate. The match has been restarted because everyone wants KENTA to destroy this prick but he has taken too damage. Now SUWA is openly flouting the rules. What are they going to do? Disqualify him again? This is an amazing heel performance that really needs to be seen to be believed. A man who has no cares in this world is always a dangerous man. SUWA hits that big dropkick that Finn Balor lifted from him and KENTA takes a gnarly bump for it. SUWA looks to finish him off with a Pedigree when KENTA reverses into a GO 2 SLEEP! GO KENTA GO! Loved the closed fist exchange here it works so much better than chops. KENTA OBLITERATES SUWA with kicks to the head and an exploding knee and just like that KENTA vanquishes the prick. It is the easiest story to tell. Asshole bully, SUWA is a total jerk and gets a ton of heat on himself then badass, asskicking babyface, KENTA The Destroyer roars to a satisfying conclusion when he kicks off the asshole’s head. I love this match! And to think this is not even the best match on the card…

#1. Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue vs Genichiro Tenryu & Jun Akiyama – Budokan 9/18/05

NOAH Match of the Year, 2005

What if Tenryu did not leave All Japan in 1990, is this a match we get in 1996 instead of 2005? Perhaps, but that is the dilemma I face. Undoubtedly, this is a great match, even in NOAH’s weakened state in the last half of the first decade of the 21^st century, to be selected as the best match is still high praise. I ranked it #8 overall of all Puroresu matches to take place between 2000-2009. Yet find myself not wanting to include it in my Top 100 because it does not feel consequential. It is four of the greatest of all time (all four I ranked in my top 25 in the Greatest Wrestler Ever poll) but they are all in the twilight of their careers. This would be Tenryu’s last great match. Taue had a couple more gems in 2006 before fading away. Kobashi would have his cancer in 2006 and while he would have great matches afterwards it would never be the same. The youngest of the four, Akiyama, never reached his full potential as a star of a major promotion as he would flounder in NOAH before a resurgence in All Japan, but never a Budokan level draw that was expected of him. So the match feels more like the end of the road than a part of the greater pro wrestling narrative. I would not call it nostalgic. To me Misawa vs Kawada from the Dome in 2005 was nostalgic and so was the Misawa Tribute match. It was on the border of being passé, but the four characters are larger than life and can still suck you in. This and the Taue vs Akiyama match from four months later are a fitting end to the King’s Road.

Regardless, let us rejoice and be glad because these four old timers put on a helluva match and Akira Taue’s resurgence during this time period was excellent. This plays off the earlier Kobashi/Tenryu tag in April, but Kobashi has subbed in Taue for Go Shiozaki in return for excellent results. Clearly indicative of  a larger NOAH problem is that subbing in an old dude clearly improves a match over the young buck. In the April match, Tenryu’s chest ended up looking like a murder scene as Kobashi had chopped him so hard that ripped open his pecs. So Tenryu does a great chickenshit heel routine. I don’t blame him one bit. Frustrated, Kobashi sics Taue on them and he has Tenryu & Akiyama reeling. Then Kobashi tags in and he is now licking his chops (pun fully intended). Tenryu backpedals and tags in Akiyama. Akiyama thinks he will fare better against Taue so he takes a cheapshot at him. Taue DEMANDS to be tagged in to avenge this. Taue goes BEZERK on Akiyama! Crowd goes wild! Kobashi and Tenryu finally square off. Tenryu makes fighting spirit spots work because it actually sells how painful they are. His facial expressions are great. The match was so heated and chippy I loved it. So much trash talking. There was a point where Akiyama/Kobashi were supposed to nose-to-nose but Akiyama accidentally headbutts Kobashi and draws blood. I love it. Kobashi/Taue work a great control segment on Akiyama focusing on the neck. When Tenryu does get in, it he is who is licking his chops. Big melee fracas that is reminiscent of the big King’s Road tags of 90s with tons of bombs. They even do a miscommunication spot which is very rare in Japan where Taue accidentally big boots Kobashi. Taue vs Akiyama absolutely kill it in the final minutes. Akiyama teases a super exploder, but it is Taue with a Super Nodowa that wins the match. You can count to a million, Jess!

Tenryu was the cagey veteran that picked his spots perfectly. Kobashi was a big gun that could turn the tide of the match on a dime, but never overstayed his welcome. He was taken out by his partner he was able to save Taue a couple times, but couldn’t do much late in the game. Akiyama was the best seller of the match, but also the firecracker of his team. What more can be said of this Taue performance? He looked like a superstar and gave an intense performance. A great finale to the King’s Road tag team style!

  

Next time, we close out the first decade of the 2000s by looking at the best matches to take place in Japan from 2005-2009 not from Pro Wrestling NOAH!