NOAH knows best
Pro Wrestling NOAH ran it's Tokyo Dome show, it's most important show of the year, this past Monday. This was without a doubt a success in every single way, from match quality to crowd draw. With the blunder made the very same day by NJPW, it is now clear which company is the strongest and it isn't the strong style. Drawing a massive number of nearly 55,000 fans at the Tokyo Dome, much better than any recent New Japan show, let's us see clearly that NOAH just has it going on. Epic matches were all over the card from the middle to the top.
At the very top we were treated to Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada for the first time in years. These two haven't been able to lock up since the exodus from AJPW in 2001. Now that they have again they both proved they can still go and they can still draw. This match was blistering, both fired up from the get go. They elbowed and kicked each other into mush. Monster moves were hit on both men as two of the deadliest moves ever made their returns, the Ganso Bomb and the Tiger Driver '91. These two still sacrafice their bodies, and that is great because you rarely see anyone of the same experience doing anything NEAR what they were doing at their peak over here. Maybe Naich in '01. Anyway I hope Kawada stays in NOAH so we get a Holy Demon Army reunion. Kawada & Taue vs Misawa & Kobashi? Oh please!
KENTA vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru was quite good. KENTA was really fired up and you could tell he was putting his soul out there to shine in his first major singles victory. After being a brilliant tag team wrestler for years, he really deserved to see what he could do as a singles guy. He even had me marking for that dreadful Busaiku Knee Kick by the end of this match.
The GHC Tag Title match of Marufuji & MiSuzuki vs Akiyama & Hashi was decent as well. Though it was outshined by some true classics on this card, it showed that Marufuji could hang with the heavyweights and that Akiyama was by no means done as he managed to lose in style.
Tenryu vs Ogawa sucked, this was no dream match it didn't need to be so high on the card. I don't know what Misawa's deal with Ogawa is. Thankfully short.
Takeshi Rikio defended his GHC Heavyweight Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi, craftfully playing the heel by wearing a NJPW flag to the ring. This match was ok, but it didn't display the full potential of Tanahashi who I think is the best young heavyweight in Japan today. The future of New Japan is Tanahashi, and CHInoki bom-ba-ye needs to realize that. However, Rikio is NOT the future of NOAH, Misawa needs to realize that. I would've liked a surprise title change here, but that would've been a very poor move.
Then we get to the true match of the night. A match that came as the second main event, the first ever singles meeting of Kenta Kobashi and Kensuke Sasaki. This match was simply epic in every sense of the word. Those that question whether Kobashi still has it need to look at this masterpiece. This match started off in style as the two pounded each other and hit big moves, then fought their way outside. Once back inside they began a 5 minute chop battle where they proceeded to chop the ever loving SHIT out of each other. I started feeling the pain as every single chop, EVERY SINGLE, hit with the same bone shattering force. They didn't hold back in any sense, they stiffed the hell out of each other! Don't tell them this shit is fake. Massive bruises started to form by the end of the match. After the chop battle they started murdering each other with power moves. This match was back and forth, neither man would go down and neither would give up. They worked each other perfectly, they drew me in. I didn't know what would happen, I just went along with it as they danced their dance of battle. In the end a massive series of Burning Lariats ended Sasaki and orange crush Kenta Kobashi walked out with the victory as his classic Grand Sword Second music played.
NOAH did everything perfectly and they seem to be set for the near future, as long as they get a new champion soon they don't have much to worry about.
New Japan on the other hand... well I've heard all but the most diehard, WWE-like fans denounce their decisions. And you'd have to be foolishly grasping on to this dying company to approve of their decision to destroy Tenzan by taking the belt off him AGAIN. This Black New Japan vs Team JAPAN vs Regular Army bullshit is trite and way overdone. We've seen it before, blah blah. Kazayuki Fujita is a two time failure as champion, and with this reign he's sealed the title belt. Fujita is taking the role that the late Shinya Hashimoto was supposed to play, the defender against the new generation. But with new generation leader Tanahashi seemingly out of the G1 and old generation leader Hashimoto dead, where does this leave the plan to move to the next generation? They were going to do something similar with Bob Sapp last year, have the monster gaijin be unbeatable until a solid next generation worker could beat him and become loved by the people, but then Bob Sapp ran away and ruined it. New Japan can't get a break, they can't draw.
Out with New Japan, in with NOAH.
Rant over.
At the very top we were treated to Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada for the first time in years. These two haven't been able to lock up since the exodus from AJPW in 2001. Now that they have again they both proved they can still go and they can still draw. This match was blistering, both fired up from the get go. They elbowed and kicked each other into mush. Monster moves were hit on both men as two of the deadliest moves ever made their returns, the Ganso Bomb and the Tiger Driver '91. These two still sacrafice their bodies, and that is great because you rarely see anyone of the same experience doing anything NEAR what they were doing at their peak over here. Maybe Naich in '01. Anyway I hope Kawada stays in NOAH so we get a Holy Demon Army reunion. Kawada & Taue vs Misawa & Kobashi? Oh please!
KENTA vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru was quite good. KENTA was really fired up and you could tell he was putting his soul out there to shine in his first major singles victory. After being a brilliant tag team wrestler for years, he really deserved to see what he could do as a singles guy. He even had me marking for that dreadful Busaiku Knee Kick by the end of this match.
The GHC Tag Title match of Marufuji & MiSuzuki vs Akiyama & Hashi was decent as well. Though it was outshined by some true classics on this card, it showed that Marufuji could hang with the heavyweights and that Akiyama was by no means done as he managed to lose in style.
Tenryu vs Ogawa sucked, this was no dream match it didn't need to be so high on the card. I don't know what Misawa's deal with Ogawa is. Thankfully short.
Takeshi Rikio defended his GHC Heavyweight Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi, craftfully playing the heel by wearing a NJPW flag to the ring. This match was ok, but it didn't display the full potential of Tanahashi who I think is the best young heavyweight in Japan today. The future of New Japan is Tanahashi, and CHInoki bom-ba-ye needs to realize that. However, Rikio is NOT the future of NOAH, Misawa needs to realize that. I would've liked a surprise title change here, but that would've been a very poor move.
Then we get to the true match of the night. A match that came as the second main event, the first ever singles meeting of Kenta Kobashi and Kensuke Sasaki. This match was simply epic in every sense of the word. Those that question whether Kobashi still has it need to look at this masterpiece. This match started off in style as the two pounded each other and hit big moves, then fought their way outside. Once back inside they began a 5 minute chop battle where they proceeded to chop the ever loving SHIT out of each other. I started feeling the pain as every single chop, EVERY SINGLE, hit with the same bone shattering force. They didn't hold back in any sense, they stiffed the hell out of each other! Don't tell them this shit is fake. Massive bruises started to form by the end of the match. After the chop battle they started murdering each other with power moves. This match was back and forth, neither man would go down and neither would give up. They worked each other perfectly, they drew me in. I didn't know what would happen, I just went along with it as they danced their dance of battle. In the end a massive series of Burning Lariats ended Sasaki and orange crush Kenta Kobashi walked out with the victory as his classic Grand Sword Second music played.
NOAH did everything perfectly and they seem to be set for the near future, as long as they get a new champion soon they don't have much to worry about.
New Japan on the other hand... well I've heard all but the most diehard, WWE-like fans denounce their decisions. And you'd have to be foolishly grasping on to this dying company to approve of their decision to destroy Tenzan by taking the belt off him AGAIN. This Black New Japan vs Team JAPAN vs Regular Army bullshit is trite and way overdone. We've seen it before, blah blah. Kazayuki Fujita is a two time failure as champion, and with this reign he's sealed the title belt. Fujita is taking the role that the late Shinya Hashimoto was supposed to play, the defender against the new generation. But with new generation leader Tanahashi seemingly out of the G1 and old generation leader Hashimoto dead, where does this leave the plan to move to the next generation? They were going to do something similar with Bob Sapp last year, have the monster gaijin be unbeatable until a solid next generation worker could beat him and become loved by the people, but then Bob Sapp ran away and ruined it. New Japan can't get a break, they can't draw.
Out with New Japan, in with NOAH.
Rant over.
