Puroresu Show Reviews

This is probably the first NOAH show I watched that wasn't a super-card, if you don't count all the free episodes I've watched on the satellite TV. This was taped on 5/14/2003 during the Navigation With Breeze tour to hype the upcoming 6/6/2003 Budokan show where Kobashi & Honda challenged Akiyama & Saito for the GHC Tag Titles.
Only the last four matches were aired.

Naomichi Marufuji, Takeshi Rikioh & Takeshi Morishima VS Yoshihiro Takayama, Bison Smith & Doug Williams
My first look at Williams, and he looked OK. The main story here was the beatdown WILD II layed down on then IWGP/NWF champion Takayama! Takayama took a heck of a beating here! And Bison was his good old monster gaijin self and Marufuji was great as usual. Really fun match this!
Match Rating: ***1/2

Masao Inoue VS Yuji Nagata
Nagata's first match in a NOAH ring, and he and Inoue put on a real fun little bout here! Though it wasn't as heated as some of big matches Nagata would have later in the tour. Inoue showed some spunk here, and I actually thought maybe the match should have gone just a bit longer as it ended abruptly as things were just heating up. Inoue also got busted open the hard way and was bleeding above his right eye. To his credit, Inoue also escaped the Nagata Lock II and managed to lift up Nagata in his Argentine Backbreaker.
Match Rating: ***1/2

Jun Izumuda & Daisuke Ikeda VS Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa
Scorpio & Bison Smith interupt the opening of the bout. Not really sure why. This was one of those "lazy" Misawa matches. And the fact that Ikeda & Izumuda couldn't get along didn't help all that much either. Nothing really memorable here, though Ikeda did try hard.
Ending was weird too as Bison & Scorpio returned and a huge brawl erupted. But here's something I noticed that just isn't right: Scopio is out brawling Misawa, but Ogawa was outbrawling Bison?!? Can't he put SOMEONE over?!?!?
Match Rating: **

Captain's Fall Elimination Match
Akitoshi Saito (C), Jun Akiyama, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Makoto Hashi VS Tamon Honda (C), Kenta Kobashi, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & KENTA
I was really wondering who was gonna win this match, with the high chance of a Kobashi VS Akiyama final two, but then I found out Saito & Honda are the team captains, meaning the chances of Kobashi or Akiyama getting pinned where just reduced to ZERO. Honda was team captain here cause he was trying to prove his worthiness to Kobashi. The match itself was pretty good though, with lots of brawling into the crowd and big double team spots. Kikuchi's head was wrapped in bandages, so I'm guessing he wasn't 100% which is why they eliminated him just three minutes into the match. Overall, the match went a good 35+ minutes with everyone getting good ring time.
Match Rating: ***1/2

Overall: This was a pretty good house show. Definately fun to check out, though I'd try to look for a full version of the show. Main event was definately fun and added hype to the upcoming Budokan show.

Labels: NOAH