2005

[Phil Schneider]

We chose as our first champ

Daisuke Ikeda v. Yuki Ishikawa FUTEN 4/2/05

SC REVIEW

Nominate some contenders, discuss the match, ect. below

[Go2Sleep]

That match is stiff/fun as fuck, but man, that camera work and video editing is some kind of terrible. Kevin Dunn can't hold a candle to those mid-match cuts.

For more ridiculous violence with one guy having no regard for his body, I have to nominate Joe vs. Necro Butcher... Necro has a death wish and he's in there with Joe at his peak, so...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMU5S9VHhJM

And while it's not quite as over the top as these two, somehow WWE even chipped in with a really gritty 05 match that doesn't feel out of place mentioning here. Edge vs. Matt Hardy, fresh off all the Lita drama, generates some real old-school hate you don't feel in WWE that much. Matt takes a sick ring post bump and gets a good amount of blood. Matt was always an underrated striker, but Edge really lets him have it toward the end. I think this feud is what really got Edge over the hump to give him that main event feel he had been lacking. Probably my favorite sub 5-minute match.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4qxmm7_wwe-summerslam-2005-edge-vs-matt-hardy_sport

On the somewhat less violent side of things, I always a big fan of this Kobashi/Go vs. Sasaki/Nakajima tag from NOAH. It's gotta be among the best vet/rookie style tags in history, mainly because the vets are true icons and the rookies are the greenest and most boyish greenboys that could be in a match of this magnitude. So much going on here with each high-ceiling prospect young lion trying desperately to impress and/or survive, surly vets who are in no way interested in letting any kids show them up, the genuine empathy the mentors have for their respective proteges, and oh yeah... Some unfinished business between Kobashi and Sasaki coming off their Dome match. All in front of as hot of a NOAH crowd as you'll ever see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVPwXXJc_bk

Shit, even TNA did something right in 05 with Joe vs. Styles at the end of the year... I mean it's hard to fuck up prime wrecking ball Joe and fighting spirit AJ, but this is pretty easily a top 5 match in the company's history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL3FHvJPpls

I loved 2005 because it was a great year for wrestling in retrospect, but also the first year I had my own computer was free to download at will, thus expanding my wrestling horizons by orders of magnitude.

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

I don't know what this says about what's happened between then and now, but I've completely lost the stomach for the Ishikawa/Ikeda stuff over the years. It's not about the camera angle either- I still have the SamuraiTV cut of the match in my personal collection and it's a lot easier to watch than the DVD cut. I dunno. I just don't look at it the same way. I will concede that the shot of Yuki Ishikawa sitting atop Ikeda, looking deeply contented with having just punched him in the face, is so beautiful I might ask someone to paint it some day.

Anyways, I got two matches I could suggest. In the middle 2000s i posted on the Puro board all the time and participated in the ditch stuff until I couldn't. So my two suggestions are both from Japan.

I wonder if SUWA looked at this match on his calendar and knew "this is as far as I'll ever get to go. This is the big time." It's the only way his performance makes sense to me: for 20 minutes, SUWA is the single greatest heel in the history notoriously angle-anemic NOAH. He may have even been the best heel in Japan, a country not especially known for it's robust face-heel dynamics (aside from that one time everyone wanted Furnas and Kroffat's heads on stakes in '92). SUWA goes after literally everything sacred in the first two minutes that the lights are up. Joe Higashi is barely done reading by the time SUWA is disrespecting tradition and elders, at the same time, in front of each other, and with flourish. When the crowd boos his name, he has an incredibly tight-lipped face. It seems to me that it says "I got 'em." KENTA is good here- he's completely game and is at a physical prime- but make no mistake, when you watch this match you are watching SUWA, This Is Your Life. This is also commonly my answer to the question "what is your favorite match".

This link is a link to Koji Kanemoto Vs. Yoshito Sasaki from Zero One. I just uploaded it so I could talk about it..

I don't think anyone on earth likes this match as much as I do. The Japanese epic form has become so widespread that it's left me feeling like some sort of psychopath for being the dude who misses "rookie gets hillariously outclassed by usually apathetic mainstay." The multiplier here is Koji Kanemoto's pure white hot hatred of any promotion that is not New Japan. They put him in with Yoshito Sasaki, a month before he gets to Stop The Matsunaga and show everyone he's a secret sideshow freak. For ten minutes he just drowns in this match as Koji Kanemoto cuts him off again and again and actively spites fans of Zero One for daring to like anything than (at the time basically unwatchable) NJPW. Sasaki's reaction after kicking out of the moonsault makes the ten minutes worth it all by itself. Again, I don't think anyone likes this match as much as I like it but I also can't stand the idea that it's being forgotten.

I would love to get some perspective on what was happening in Mexico in 2005 because I have complete, shameful ignorance of it.

[The Z]

2005 was an amazing year for wrestling.
My favorite match of all time happened that year, although I'm probably the only person on earth, who ranks it this highly, but I don't care:

Captain's Fall Elimination Match: KENTA, Naomichi Marufuji, Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin vs. Takashi Sugiura, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Makoto Hashi & SUWA (NOAH 04/17).

Unfortunately not on YouTube or any other streaming site as far as I can tell, but if you can find it, watch it. Everyone's on fire in this match.

Other matches from that year I consider strong MOTY candidates:

- (Obviously) Kenta Kobashi vs. Kensuke Sasaki (NOAH 07/18)
- Jun Akiyama vs. Katsuyori Shibata (Wrestle-1 08/04)
- Claudio Castagnoli vs. Mike Quackenbush (Chikara Pro 08/13)
- KENTA vs. Low Ki (ROH 12/17)

and the already mentioned:
- Samoa Joe vs. Necro Butcher (IWA Mid-South 06/11)
- Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiosaki vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima (NOAH 11/05)

[Phil Schneider]

Looks like that captains fall match is on Ditch's site, although he clipped the first part of it

[The Z]

I have the full match on a CD or DVD somewhere. Will check, if I can find it and put it up somewhere, but it's probably supershitty quality by today's standards.

Two of the other matches I mentioned:

Jun Akiyama vs. Katsuyori Shibata

 

[Phil Schneider]

I am an old school tape trading guy, I used to watch JoMosh tapes where half the matches were blue screened. I don't sweat video quality.

[Curt McGirt]

Seconding KENTA/SUWA. Joe's reactions alone are worth the nod. 

I'll have to go back and see if I have the FUTEN match amongst all the other Ikeda/Ishikawa matches; surely it's on the external

[The Z]

6 hours ago, Phil Schneider said:

I am an old school tape trading guy, I used to watch JoMosh tapes where half the matches were blue screened. I don't sweat video quality.

I put up the match in glorious 240p on Dailymotion, doesn't even look half-up.

I hope this match is as good as I remember. I don't want to look like an ass.

One more thing, just in case you don't know what a Captain's Fall Elimination match is. The match is basically like a regular elimination match with the added stipulation that both teams have a team captain. If the captain is eliminated the match is immediately over and the other team has won. If anyone else is eliminated the match continues without that wrestler. KENTA and Takashi Sugiura are the team captains in this match.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4til27

[EricR]

SUWA is one of my favorites, and I love that KENTA match with SUWA bullying Higuchi and going for an early DQ while the NOAH crowd boos (which I had never heard boo up until then). SUWA is a legit all time favorite of mine. And all of those NOAH Captains Fall matches were awesome, though I admittedly loved the ones with a mix of heavys more than the all juniors ones (like Kobahi's squad vs. Misawa's squad).

[NintendoLogic]

Surprised nobody mentioned the Eddy/Rey Smackdown match.

[The Natural]

TNA’s best ever year. Yes, TNA and best in the same sentence. There’s a case for 2005 as Ring of Honor’s best year as well. Samoa Joe, Kenta Kobashi and AJ Styles had a remarkable year.

My top 10 for 2005:

1. Kensuke Sasaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Kenta Kobashi/Go Shiosaki. NOAH, 5th November. *****

2. Kenta Kobashi vs. Samoa Joe. ROH Joe vs. Kobashi. *****

3. Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe. TNA Unbreakable. *****

4. Kenta Kobashi vs. Kensuke Sasaki. NOAH Dome Show, 18th July. *****

5. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe. TNA Turning Point.

6. Samoa Joe vs. Necro Butcher. IWA MS, 11th June.

7. AJ Styles vs. Abyss. TNA Lockdown.

8. Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero. Smackdown, 23rd June.

9. Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong, ROH Vendetta.

10. KENTA vs. Low Ki. ROH Final Battle.

[Go2Sleep]

Can't believe I forgot Joe/Kobashi. The fact that those two ever faced each other is a true blessing as wrestling fan, let alone in fucking 2005 in front of an American audience.

[The Natural]

Just now, Go2Sleep said:

Can't believe I forgot Joe/Kobashi. The fact that those two ever faced each other is a true blessing as wrestling fan, let alone in fucking 2005 in front of an American audience.

The two best wrestlers in the world going at it. Great write up on Sasaki/Nakajima vs. Kobashi/Go and Samoa Joe vs. Butcher, @Go2Sleep.

[The Natural]

Honourable mention to Matt Hardy vs. Edge from Unforgiven just missing out on my top ten.

[Pete]

On 9/22/2016 at 3:31 AM, The Natural said:

The two best wrestlers in the world going at it. Great write up on Sasaki/Nakajima vs. Kobashi/Go and Samoa Joe vs. Butcher, @Go2Sleep.

Live Kobashi/Joe was about as incredible as a match gets where you know one of the participants has 0% chance of winning.