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!

KENTA Speeds At Night: #12 KENTA vs Bryan Danielson - Pro Wrestling NOAH 12/02/06

Hey yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Commitment is the key to a successful, happy life. Trying to be everywhere will result in you being nowhere. Trying to do everything will result in nothing getting done. You have to commit to your goals, develop a strategy and execute on that strategy in all aspects of your life. I think a perfect representation of commitment in a wrestling match pits KENTA against Bryan Danielson in a match from Pro Wrestling NOAH that took place on December 2, 2006. In the match, Danielson is committed to the strategy of grounding the ultra-quick KENTA by working the arm, which has the added benefit of setting up his preferred submission hold focused on the arm. However, at a key point in time he has an opportunity to take a big risk by diving over the top rope into the crowd, if he lands he will assuredly win the match, but a bad fall could be his demise. Danielson, a daredevil, abandons his strategy, in doing so jams his knee on the dive giving KENTA an opening. Danielson quickly tries to return to his strategy but the aforementioned submission hold requires bridging which he can no longer do because of his bad knee. As you will see in my post-script, a lot of people would assume KENTA would target the injured leg of Danielson, which he attempted. However, that is not KENTA's forte and actually got KENTA in trouble. KENTA excels at fast-paced, bomb throw, kick your head off style. KENTA stayed true to himself and committed to his strategy. Used the injured leg, to set up his big kicks to the head and won the match. You see from this match one wrestler did not stay committed to his strategy causing himself an injury while the other wrestler took a licking, but kept on ticking and through commitment to what brought him to the dance took the victory home. Stay committed to your goals and strategy (re-evaluation based on new information is of course necessary also) and success will be yours.

 



KENTA vs Bryan Danielson - NOAH 12/02/06

This may shock a lot of people but the amount of matches I have seen Bryan Danielson wrestle as Bryan Danielson is probably only a handful and the vast majority are live. I was just never one to really ask my parents for money to buy wrestling or any item for me. Of course, my Dad would take me to the matches when they came to town and usually one 1-2 PPVs a year, but other than that not much. This mentality would continue into college. I always saw live events as special exceptions and would go to ROH whenever they were in town, but never felt that my limited college money should be spent on indy wrestling. I am hoping to change this in the near future and really hunker down and watch some golden age ROH. This match gives me hope that really is all that it is cracked up to be because Danielson was amazing in this match.

As I said in the SUWA review, the one constant in great KENTA matches is make KENTA work for it. Don't let him work his million mile an hour match, but make him sell and build up to that frenzy. What is interesting is I really feel like 2013 Daniel Bryan and mid-00s KENTA are really similar in working style. Bryan is better at building a match and slowing it down on his own accord. However, he has been prone to blowing off selling to get his shit in and his real selling point in the ring is his million miles an hour pace. Having not seen a lot of Daniel Bryan as Bryan Danielson, I was interested if they were going to try break the moves/minute record or something. I was very pleasantly surprised at how well this turned out.

The one odd thing to get out of the way is that the crowd is dead throughout the majority of the match. Was this one of Danielson's first tours in Japan? Were they just unfamiliar with him? The feeling out process is slower than I expected and very mat based where Danielson seems to have the advantage. KENTA looks to pick up the pace, but Danielson gets a hiptoss and converts that into a cross armbreaker. Excellent wrestling as KENTA is more as home with an uptempo pace so Danielson wisely slows it down and at the same time damages the arm. KENTA freaked out that Danielson almost got a submission victory actually slows down the match with a chinlock in a way to reset the match because he has been outclassed thus far. Once Danielson get back on top he is just working that arm relentlessly with all sorts of crazy submission moves. KENTA hits a snap powerslam and is still selling. Danielson's answer to KENTA is a Robinson backbreaker and a diving headbutt. I get a little worried here because they move quickly into a roll-up barrage when the diving headbutt was such a big spot. Danielson continues to go for home runs as he hits a huge splash to the outside over the guardrail on KENTA, but in the process hurts his knee. 

 

After the big dive, Danielson sells the knee kipping up on one knee after a missile dropkick, but KENTA had taken more punishment up until that point. So Danielson started back on offense with the missile dropkick. The knee messes him up a bit and KENTA hits a guillotine DDT, which he usually does not expect his opponent to sell (ala the Harley Race piledriver) so he looks to follow that up with a springboard move, but Danielson catches him with a German and then goes to lock on the Chickenwing Crossface (having had worked on the arm). There is a great struggle over this hold and here at his first real chance to pick the knee KENTA does. He applies the Texas Cloverleaf, but Danielson makes the ropes and when Danielson does put on Cattle Mutilation he cant hold it because his bad knee. There is an excellent headbutt vs kick war and Danielson was throwing some Garvin like nasty headbutts. Danielson goes for the Crossface Chickenwing again, which would avoid bridging on the bad knee and almost assuredly secure the victory, but KENTA fights like mad to get out of it. The next time KENTA gets on offense he goes back to Texas Cloverleaf, but gets countered into a pinning predicament. After that Danielson is relentless with a barrage of Cattle Mutilation. He attempts to hit a Tiger Suplex/Cattle Mutilation combination, but KENTA is able to bridge one into a pinfall. Awesome spot! At this point, KENTA has solidly got his ass whipped. He gets an Ace Crusher and quite naturally starts bust out his big guns: Exploding Knee and Kicks. Danielson's last stand is a roll-up barrage, but KENTA is stringing together too many kicks at this point. He hits the Go 2 Sleep to secure the victory.

I love this match as a game of strategies. Looking at this from a kayfabe perspective, Danielson is a better all-around wrestler. KENTA thrives in the uptempo game and with his kicks. Danielson stymies him early and never really lets him get going. Danielson is working the arm effectively, but does not have the knock out blows like KENTA so he goes for big gambles like the diving headbutt and the big splash, but this costs him his knee, which messes with one of his best submissions: Cattle Mutilation, which requires bridging. KENTA goes after the knee, but he is not very adept at working over body parts and nearly gets burnt with a cradle counter to a Cloverleaf. So KENTA has a fucked arm, has been getting his ass beaten and cant really take advantage of the knee, but has an opening with an Ace Crusher. So he goes to what brought him to the dance, big fuckin home run swings right at Danielson's head. KENTA always has the puncher's chance and he landed some big ones late. Danielson should have stuck to the arm game plan, but got lured away with big gambles then ended up ruining his chances to apply Cattle Mutilation. If only he was able to get that Crossface Chickenwing. Larry Z would have been proud at this exhibition of the human game of chess. My match of 2006 so far! ****1/2

 

P.S.

 

Discussion between me and a poster at PWO:

 

Poster: Early and mid-match were really good.  Both worked smart and kept it simple.  Then it falls apart for me.  Danielson does a big dive and hurts his knee.  He makes it exceedingly obvious that his knee was hurt during that dive.  KENTA...decides we're going into a suplex nearfall sequence.  Danielson is still selling the knee, and KENTA's one move that targets it is the Texas cloverleaf.  Then we move on to more nearfalls.  Actual finish and the few moves leading directly up to it was pretty god, but once again the need for big suplex nearfalls when the match had another perfectly logical way to go kills me.

 

My Response: I disagree with the finish ruining the match. After the big dive, Danielson sells the knee, but KENTA had taken more punishment up until that point. So Danielson started back on offense with the missile dropkick. The knee messes him up a bit and KENTA hits a guillotine DDT, which he usually does not expect his opponent to sell (ala the Harley Race piledriver) so he looks to follow that up with a springboard move, but Danielson catches him with a German and then goes to lock on the Chickenwing Crossface (having had worked on the arm). There is a great struggle and here at his first real chance to pick the knee KENTA does. He applies the Texas Cloverleaf and when Danielson does put on Cattle Mutilation he cant hold it because his bad knee. The next time KENTA gets on offense he goes back to Texas Cloverleaf, but gets countered into a pinning predicament. After that Danielson is relentless with Cattle Mutilation. KENTA is able to bridge one into a pinfall. At this point, KENTA has solidly got his ass whipped. He gets an Ace Crusher and quite naturally starts bust out his big guns which are the his knee, kicks and G2S. I don't take meticulous notes, but I don't think he ever hit a suplex in the post-dive portion of the match. He was working the Cloverleaf, but almost got bit. If I am KENTA and I got my arm fucked and I don't really work the leg and I am getting my ass kicked, if I have an opening I am hitting my home run shots. My cross-court forehand in tennis is a lot better than my down the line. If I want to access to a righty's backhand, I need to hit a cross-court backhand or create a inside out forehand. There is a lot of time I want to work over someone's backhand, but it is a limitation in my game to work it over. When I start to get down, you best believe, I am hitting the big cross court forehand even if their forehand is pretty decent. I don't fault KENTA for relying on what brought him to dance. He gave it a try to work over the knee, but it almost bit him when Danielson got a two count on a small package.

Rabbit Fighter: Shuji Kondo, Katsuhiko Nakajima, KENTA, Daniel Bryan (Japan Juniors 2007)

Hey yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Adding to accolades such as 2000 Thompson Elementary School Geography Bee Champion, 2012 & 2014 Best Dressed in Cambridge, and 2006 Time Person of the Year, I am the first, undisputed Champion of BRAINBUSTER!. the first ever pro wrestling podcast trivia game show. What did I win? The honor and distinction of being the first, undisputed Champion of BRAINBUSTER!. the first ever pro wrestling podcast trivia game show.

Honey, my list of accolades goes on and on and on and on and on...

A couple men or should I say Ants that do not seem afraid of hard work are Fire & Silver Ant. Wait, Martin ain't this blog about the state of Japanese junior heavyweight scene in 2007. It is and it is, but first I want to discuss my first Beyond Wrestling show in Providence, RI. It was definitely a unique ambiance with a pro wrestling ring set up in the middle of a bar with fans surrounding the ring as if they were lumberjacks. Even me who is a pretty aware person was almost wiped out twice just from wrestlers falling out the ring. It was cool and different, but just speaking for me, I felt like some of the magic was removed by being that close. Walked in on a garbage tag team match that was all filler and no killer. The next two singles matches featured The Ants, who became two of my favorite wrestlers at the end of the night.

Fire & Silver Ant both excelled at the critical details of pro wrestling. Fire Ant literally guided his opponent (struck me as a Ricochet ripoff, adding a back handspring to every move) his chain wrestling sequence and made it look convincing. Silver Ant provided the best strikes in any match before the main event. By using strikes and wrestling, both Ants let their opponents spots breathe and made the spots more meaningful. Also, I witnessed for the first time the current hot indy trend of intergender matches which on paper I am 1000% against, but in practice they may have swayed me just for this one time.

The intergender match was the only match until the main event, I watched that felt like I was watching pro wrestling. Everything before just had too much of a smattering of being too self-aware or a spotfest. Here I was watching a clear pro wrestling showcase. The male heel (Thank God, if the man was not the heel, I don't know what I would do), came out and let me know that his ex-girlfriend (Kimber Lee) sucks a ton of dicks and so does Tom Brady. We all booed. The babyface Kimber Lee came out and kicked his ass. To this dude's credit, he bumped, sold and stooged for this chick. To this chick's credit, she was a great fired up babyface. They were not great at executing the offense, but the layout was pitch perfect. Guess which match stuck with me better a match that told a great story or someone doing a bunch of back handsprings. There were some great spots like the dude (I am sorry, I really don't know his name) going to punch Kimber Lee and whacking his hand hard into the steel post. Also, him flopping around in the streamers was amusing. The heat segment on Kimber Lee with the chops made me wince, but a heel being a heel was refreshing. It was also the only match where the crowd solidly behind the babyface wrestler and did not worry about the quality of the wrestling. I think that is my biggest hang up with current wrestling is forget about the quality so to speak and invest the characters like you do real sports and more often than not the quality will take care of itself. It is also sad that only way it seems to have a conventional wrestling match is to have a man fight a woman because man on man action had become so passe. The guy tapped out clean to Kimber Lee and you have to give everyone credit, she was presented every bit his equal and everyone bought into it. Kimber Lee sticking out her hand to extend an olive branch was stupid. He did not earn her respect and he was a douche to her. So that was bullshit. I know it was to set up the kick to the back of her hand, but he should have extended the hand because she earned his respect and then he is an asshole about it. Anyways, JT Dunn, remember the Savior of Pro Wrestling, comes to her aid. A fan actually did a pretty good commentary job by stating things out loud like "That is his current girlfriend" and "Is this the end of the Juicy Product?". It sounds like we have a love triangle on our hands too bad it involves JT Dunn.

BIFF! BIFF! BIFF! BIFF! BIFF!

Chris Hero ran right by me to break up the fight because he couldn't afford to have his tag partner injured going up against Biff Busick and Drew Gulak. Unfortunately, due to standing,  it getting late and  becoming first, undisputed Champion of BRAINBUSTER!. the first ever pro wrestling podcast trivia game show, I was a little tired and had a hard time focusing on all the details. Much like AJ,  Hero's presence commanded such a respect that the self-awareness was effaced and I felt like I was watching pro wrestling. Overall, I thought the match had a real classic Japanese tag feel to it. Hero set himself much like a Misawa or a Kobashi would as a force of nature that could change the complexion of the match once he entered the ring with his skull-crushing blows to the head. He was also a great cheerleader from the apron and his investment in the match made it all worthwhile. JT Dunn was serviceable first taking heat and then nothing memorable in the finish. I have heard a lot of people talk up Gulak, but I didn't get a good feel for him. I liked the beginning of the match with Hero's cravat versus Gulak's toehold and they worked some great spots around it. Other than that, nothing sticks out. Biff Busick, on the other hand, is just plain awesome. His connection with the crowd for any indy wrestler is incredible, "Biff! Biff! Biff". His timing is impeccable. Everything he does looks like it is motivated by his desire to win. Drew Gulak played face in peril, which sets us up for what we all wanted the Biff Busick hot tag and then in a total shocker he forced Chris Hero to submit to a rear naked choke.

Unlike me, Chris Hero did not come out on top on January 31st, the day I became first, undisputed Champion of BRAINBUSTER!. the first ever pro wrestling podcast trivia game show.

I really don't have much to add to the hodgepodge of junior heavyweight match from 2007 in Japan as there is no real overarching theme. I would like to key in on two points. First, Nakajima vs Kondo was tremendous and a really interesting looking at evolving strategies within the context of a single match. Second, is a comparative analysis of Briscoes vs. Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin against KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs Naomichi Marufuji & Kota Ibushi. Both are prototypical of the 2007 landscape in being athletic junior heavyweight spotfests, but are divergent in quality from my viewpoint. Watching them juxtaposed will show the difference between a fun spotfest and a bad one. 

Match Listing:

GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champions Briscoes vs. Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin - NOAH 1/21/07

Worst Japanese match of the decade and one of the worst matches I have ever seen. 

All Japan Jr. Hvywt Champion Shuji Kondo vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - AJPW 2/17/07 ****1/2

#48 out of 100 - Must Watch

Incredible strategical wrestling. Nakajima attacks arm, but injures his neck. Switches gears to use headshots to stay in the match. Kondo is the best junior powerhouse of the decade.

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Minoru Tanaka vs Ryusuke Taguchi - NJPW 07/06/07 ***1/4

Minoru Tanaka is  a great arrogant heel. The Funky Weapon is pretty bland. They drop arm psychology.

KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs Naomichi Marufuji & Kota Ibushi - Budokan 7/15/07 ****

#91 out of 100

Great juniors spotfest. Better than most Dragon Gate/Toryumon matches. Great eye-candy

Bryan Danielson vs Go Shiozaki - ROH In Tokyo 7/16/07 ***1/2

Exhibition of what makes Danielson great offensively. Shiozaki is bland in this contest.

Great Sasuke vs Ultimo Dragon - M-Pro 8/30/07 ***3/4

Sasuke wrestling at a high level, but Dragon is too spotty in this great junior bout.

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GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champions Briscoes vs. Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin - NOAH 1/21/07

Nothing screamed 2007 more than a double 619 until they busted out the Springboard Shining Wizard Doomsday Device. If I see another dropsault it will be too damn soon. The excessive jumping into moves is incredibly annoying. Was the Briscoe basically doing a moonsault before the back drop driver even finished supposed to be a bad social commentary joke on the state of 2007 wrestling? I could have sworn the ring said NOAH, but why I am watching TNA. These four give clubbering a bad name. They treat every forearm, stomp, kick, slap as a perfunctory device to get them to their next inconsequential highspot. Watch Yoshihiro Takayama or Dragon Gate! Either make every move count or just commit to a spotfest don't try to pretend to be having a wrestling match when you want to have a gymnastics competition. The best spot of this match was when a Briscoe shoved Marvin out of the ring for breaking up a pinfall. It is the only time I thought I was watching an actual contest where someone wanted to win. It actually had heat to it. Instead they needed to get in every shitty move ever invented after 2000 instead of building heat. The match sucked as a spotfest and as a pro wrestling match.

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All Japan Jr. Heavyweight Champion Shuji Kondo vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - AJPW 2/17/07

Boy Wonder!

Strategy in pro wrestling is often reduced to being very one dimensional. You work a body part to set up your finishing move. You attack an opponents' strength to neutralize their finisher. I am not saying all good pro wrestling needs more advanced strategy or this specific strategy. What this match offered was a rare instance of a multi-faceted strategy. Nakajima established early that his intention was to neutralize Kondo's strength advantage and his lariats by knotting up his arm. However, Nakajima did not have a finishing hold to directly translate this strategy into a victory. In addition, Nakajima took a nasty spill onto the guardrail that severely fucked up his neck. In a nice touch, Hokuto checked on Nakajima. It can not be underestimated how much Sasaki and Hokuto added to the match by being on the outside cheering on Nakajima. It felt like parents cheering on their kid.

Nakajima pressed on by kicking the arm to keep Kondo at bay, but Kondo overwhelmed with brute power zeroing in on the injured neck. Nakajima realized that Kondo's arm was too strong and that point of attack would not turn the tide. So he began taking head shots. Finally, Nakajima stymied Kondo's onslaught and with a dive to the outside. He levelled the playing field to finally return to his attack on the arm. He utilized mentor Sasaki's arm drag, but could not get the cross armbreaker as Kondo slammed out on it dropping Nakajima right on the back of his head. As much as this match was about Nakajima, Kondo was amazing at selling the arm the right amount. He was not blowing off Nakajima's work, but at the same time Nakajima really had not done enough to damage the arm so that it was totally useless. Kondo was fighting through the pain in a believable way. Kondo's slams really target Nakajima's neck, who cant seem to get anything started. In a great sequence, Nakajima is deadweighting Kondo on a powerbomb so Kondo blasts him with a elbow. Nakajima's sell would make Kawada proud. Kondo then spikes Nakajima on his head with a piledriver, but Nakajima kicks out. I will say the placement of that move was too early. The big flaw of the match begins here as Nakajima starts selling like Kaz Hayashi meaning he sells after he does a move not as he is doing it, but it is not as egregious.

Nakajima at this point has no hope winning this match via arm work (no real submission game) so he goes for head shots to set up Emerald Flowsion and a flying bodypress. Kondo signals for a lariat and Nakajima kicks the arm reversing into a Human Capture Suplex only for 2. I liked how after all the kicks to the arm that Kondo could use his arm properly on his slam so that the full impact was not delivered. It was good selling. I loved the axe kick on lariat arm. Kondo finally gets lariat, but it is not enough. I totally bit on the Northern Lights Bomb finish with Sasaki right there.  Nakajima wins the match with a German Suplex.

This match had the potential to be a Match of the Decade Contender. The dueling body part psychology, the appropriate arm selling by Kondo, the amazing neck selling of Nakajima, the two-leveled Nakajima strategy all wove together to create a unique, dynamic match. The finish run did depart from this where Nakajima's comeback became a bit incredulous and his selling uneven and the moves excessive. I am not going to penalize the match too much because the base of the match was still there Nakajima defending against the lariat, working through his early match mishap (neck) and using headshots to create big offense. ****1/2

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IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Minoru Tanaka vs Ryusuke Taguchi - NJPW 07/06/07

Five years later and at least the cross armbreaker is still over. I still contend that Minoru Tanaka should have been the biggest junior heavyweight star of the 2000s. I don't think this match is comparable in quality to his incredible 2000-2002 run, but we get to see an entirely different side to him. He was excellent at the cocky heel gimmick. He really gave off that aura that he thinks he is better than you in every shape and way. He was showboating, stalling and cheating better than pretty much every heel in the WWE in the last decade. The best part of this entire match was how red hot the crowd was for bell-bottom-wearing "Funky Weapon" Rysuke Taguchi. Japanese wrestling crowds in native vs. native matches tend to be very similar to tennis crowd insomuch they root for ever is losing to pull them through and continue the match. I don't want to take away anything from Taguchi because my sample size is limited, but to me it was all about Minoru Tanaka. You wanted to see that smug bastard get his ass kicked. People wonder why nobody gets booed nowadays. To me it is because nobody actually tries to get booed when they are wrestling. Sure on the mic they do, but in a match pretty much everybody wrestles it straight down the middle. Minoru Tanaka, once again, proves why he had huge star potential in the way he carried himself in this match and maintaining that heat throughout the match.

Unfortunately, I was not in the Korakuen Hall on July 6, 2007, but instead was in my living room in United States of America, BABY! on August 26, 2014 so crowd heat alone was not make this match an elite level match it was going to take work. The match started off great like I said with Minoru Tanaka showboating like a champion and getting shown up early. He is able to take control with an eye-rake and then out on the floor targets the arm and a pretty girl to impress. This is a clinic on heel wrestling. Of course, everyone knows that Minoru has the cross armbreaker in his back pocket so targeting the arm increases the crowd tension. There is a really nice exchange where Minoru avoids a dropkick and makes a point to let everyone know how smart he is only to eat a dropkick. This is just classic shit. Taguchi goes the "arm for an arm" route, but unlike the Minoru/AKIRA matches I didn't think they really focused enough time on each other's arm to really build the same drama. Unfortunately, the match goes off the rails at this point as they both pretty much drop the arm selling to suplex each other a lot. It was exciting, but not a lot of glue. Minoru, occasionally reminds you of the beginning of the match, by applying a flash cross armbreaker out of a human capture suplex. The crowd heat and Taguchi's selling were really on point making this a very dramatic spot, but before you knew it they were back suplexing each other. The best spot of the whole match was Minoru goes for the flash cross armbreaker and Taguchi converts into La Magistral cradle. The crowd goes wild! That should have been the finish, no doubt! NOOOOOOOOOO! An elbow exchange??? Et tu, Minoru? Taguchi hits what I believe to be The Funky Weapon twice to finally pick up the victory for his first and only IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.

The hook of the match was twofold: Minoru is an arrogant asshole and the credibility of his flash cross-armbreaker. They did not build the double arm psychology and they just sort of dropped it, with each touching on it here and there. Taguchi, for all his "funkiness", was a pretty bland Japanese, 00-style babyface. I hate to base that off one match, but given he only has one title reign to his name, it looks like New Japan feels similarly. At the day, the crowd was hot for Taguchi so he was doing something right even if he didn't set my world afire. The match started off promising and ended pretty well, but the body was a mess. I recommend this match based solely on seeing Minoru Tanaka work as a heel and how he was badass at doing that too. ***1/4

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KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs Naomichi Marufuji & Kota Ibushi - Budokan 7/15/07

Briscoes, Marvin and Suzuki, take notes, bruthas, this is how you do a fucking spotfest, baby! Ishimori and Ibushi are the next generation of Japanese junior heavyweight that care even less about strikes and building a strong match. They only care how they can add an extra rotation to any simple move. Standing elbow drop that is so passe. I can do a back handspring, full back flip elbow drop, BABY! If you going to execute those matches, then commit to them and they were committed to having this elaborate gymnastics competition, which made for a great spectacle. It is good eyecandy like a Michael Bay action movie. I don't want to watch a card full of these, but these exhibitions do serve a purpose because they are fun to watch. To me at least, however, they are not very satisfying in the same way a match where opponents are struggling to win a contest. The nice thing about this match is that they laid everything in. They did not treat strikes as givens like in the Briscoe/Marvin&Suzuki. Their transitions still suck like KENTA blowing off leg work to hit a flying knee drop or Ibushi's lame spinwheel kick to exit his heat segment. There was literally no move to move selling. People would take moves, sell, then fly like nothing happened. Even within these segments, they were flying with great highspots. After Ibushi tagged out, it was spots galore with flips and spins on everything. It was like R-Truth, but on steroids. Ibushi's double moonsault gets me everytime because I go years without seeing him, I always forget he has that. I actually enjoyed Ibushi ducking the KENTA strike, kip up and kick KENTA only for KENTA to be wary of it the second time. KENTA went into crazy Ceasro like beast mode to awkwardly catch Ibushi and hit Go 2 Sleep. The past two NOAH juniors tags were what expected all NOAH's juniors match to be like, but really that has not been case. I am curious if this newfound spotfest style is influenced by the rise of Dragon Gate. I will be curious to see Dragon Gate from 2005-2006 and see how similar it is to this. Usually, when something is mimicked the copiers steal the most glaring obvious traits without the subtle details that make the original so good. Ergo, NOAH guys were like people like flips lets give them flips. Dragon Gate may have done a better job building to the spots. I do not know, but we will see. Overall, I did enjoy this spotfest, but I will be sad if this is the way the NOAH's juniors division goes because it was quite good from 2003-2006. Spotfests have a ceiling in my book because of how much emphasis I put on transitions, selling and struggling. I would say this is one of the better ones I have ever seen though. ****

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Bryan Danielson vs Go Shiozaki - ROH In Tokyo 7/16/07

The poll is Best In Japan in the 00s, thus any match that took place in Japan qualifies not necessarily taking place on a puroresu card. That being said, Ring Of Honor had a very similar style to Pro Wrestling NOAH. Occasionally this happens to me, I acknowledge I am watching an interesting, well-worked match and it just does not hold my attention. Unfortunately for this bout, I felt that way. I loved Danielson's pacing in this match. He was not flying around and blowing off selling. The beginning of the match showcases Danielson at his best making submission holds look innovative and like they hurt. It is something that is bereft in both WWE and Japan in the 00s. They establish they are equal babyfaces even ending a dropkick simultaneously. Shiozaki takes over with chops and general power, but Danielson catches a break when Shiozaki goes flying into the railing. Again, I loved Danielson's arm work, which effectively used strikes and holds to destroy the arm. When Shiozaki starts to mount his comeback and is still selling might be when I realize what is wrong. Shiozaki is just really bland. He is just a generic, cookie-cutter NOAH wrestler. He is not bringing anything to the table. He is doing the right things, but is nothing special or unique.

Danielson goes flying into the crowd on top of Shiozaki and this triggers Danielson's big spots ending with a crossface chickenwing that ends up in the ropes. Shiozaki was able to crotch Danielson on the top rope and hits a weird slam. Here comes the BOOM! Bombs galore. Shiozaki goes for the kill with a moonsault misses and Danielson immediately applies Cattle Mutilation. Shiozaki is able to fight out, but then end is nigh and Shiozaki succumbs to a second Cattle Mutilation.

Danielson was really demonstrating why he was one of the best in the world at the time. He paced himself well. He is an amazing offensive wrestler (ground, working body part, bombs) and this really showcased his talents. Shiozaki just feels so mediocre in this match and I just could not bring myself to care. Thus I felt like I was watching a Danielson exhibition. ***1/2

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Great Sasuke vs Ultimo Dragon - M-Pro 8/30/07

Is it 1994 or 2007?

Sasuke was wrestling like it was 1994 and giving a MOTYC-level performance. Unfortunately, Dragon was wrestling like it was 1996 WCW and indulging everyone of his bad tendencies. Ultimo Dragon is one of the most infuriating wrestlers. He is such a great offensive dynamo, but I can't think of any wrestler pre-2000 that so egregiously blows off selling. It is too point that when he is in that mood that you should almost just let him be on offense because he drags the match so far down when he randomly decides to stop selling. The negative of that was Sasuke was so amazing on offense. He was violent and breath-taking, which is such a rare combination to see in a match. I loved how he attacked Dragon while he held the ropes open for him with headbutts and nasty body shots. Then when he goes for Asai Moonsault, Dragon violently yanks him down only for that to happen to Dragon when he tries. Based on the first two minutes, I really thought I was going to see something special, before Dragon went back in and did a high-speed tumbling pass. i remembered why Dragon annoys me so much. On the other hand, for as badass as Sasuke is on offense, he was selling for all its worth and bumping like a maniac. Sasuke tried a convoluted reversal out of a Dragon hold, but ended spiking himself on his own head and the way he sold it and the way Dragon sold surprise was really cool. It seemed like a real organic moment. So rarely do you seem someone "fuck up" a reversal and sell it. It was cool feature. Sasuke picked his moments and when Dragon missed a plancha out came the dives. Sasuke starts to go work on the arm, but Dragon blows it off to hit an Asai Moonsault and a gnarly suplex on chairs. That is a crazy bump. Sasuke reverses Dragon into the post and hits two beautiful dives from the top rope to the floor. Dragon ended up whiffing on a dropkick when Sasuke went for a quebrada. Sasuke was able to reverse the Dragon DDT twice, but ended up taking it three times to lose.

I missed a juniors match with spectacular dives and Sasuke is so good at incorporating that into his match. I loved his body punches and general roughhouse style. He took crazy bumps and built his offense convincingly. Dragon looked great on offense and took some hellacious bumps himself, but he killed the flow of the match repeatedly. If Dragon was on point and not just focused on his offense, this is a 2007 MOTYC. As is it is a highly entertaining bout and proof that Sasuke could still go. ***3/4