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2003


Phil Schneider

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I hate to say this, but Angle/Benoit from I think the Rumble (whichever one was on the Benoit DVD) was simply amazing. On the other hand, definitely not their cage match from Raw that I think was also on that DVD (yeah, let's start the match with a cage moonsault, that'll make this one super logical!)

EDIT: If you can stomach watching Benoit. Video won't embed. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTH9U_0MsRk

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And the proper NOAH match that should be winner

Kanemoto/Liger vs. Kanemaru/Kikuchi - 1/26/03

EDIT

Dean's Review

Quote

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Jushin Thunder Lyger/Koji Kanemoto - NOAH (1/26/03 - IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Title) 
(by DEAN RASMUSSEN) 
The continuation of the NOAH Jr vs New Japan Jrs feud with tag match between Kanamaru/Kikuchi vs Kanemoto/Lyger was about at the pinnacle of wrestling. It starts with the Lyger suit avec a mask and the Koji Kanemoto-does-Jimmy Snuka-sounding interview stylings with the Lyger trademark table overturning and the hate and the kicking and calling of each other a batch of bush league cocksucking sucker MC motherfuckers. The match itself was all about Kikuchi perfecting the babyface persona he has created to be the backbone of this whole feud. Koji Kanemoto steps up to the plate big and is such a complete cock (though less of a complete cock than the completely on fire Minoru Tanaka) by matching Kikuchi's physicality and stiffness to set up the beef of the story. Koji comes in as the ace to finally go in and beat the belts out of the motherfuckers from NOAH whom none of his compadres can seem to beat. He is really great in the role of New Japan junior saviour because he is so contemptous of the other New Japan guys that Kikuchi and Kanemaru have plowed through - as if New Japan had sent the enhancement talent before and was now ready to send Kanemoto because it's time to bring back the belts to New Japan. Kanemoto beats the dogpiss out of Kikuchi and Kikuchi responds with the most audible hardway-causing headbutt in the history of videotape. That should have been enough to satisfy my lust for blood and stiffness, but Kikuchi uses that as a segueway to his story of his own career, his new promotion and his need to sacrifice his own life so that NOAH can live. KIKUCHI IS LORD JIM and New Japan is the Dutch. Kanemaru is the chieftain's son - in that though he has followed Kikuchi into battle and been taken to heights of glory in combat never dreamed of before - his fate is tied directly to Kikuchi's ability to lead him and keep him alive. When the Dutch reinforcements show up in the form of Koji Kanemoto, Kikuchi is responsible when Koji takes Kanemaru outside and completely kills him. Kikuchi looks into the collective face of NOAH and does his duty - he steps into the spinning razors of the Lyger buzzsaw and takes his assbeating like a man, succumbing to the final stage of this ritual to complete his cycle of life - from childhood to impertinent youth to days lost in adulthood struggling for a reason for existence to finally finding direction as the saviour of NOAH junior heavyweight wrestling to THIS - his final martyrdom. Kikuchi dies so that NOAH Juniors may live. Best motherfucking feud ever.

 

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Oh fuck me running, totally that tag match and the other NOAH NJ Invasion tag with Liger (I think both were on a Phil comp). Eric's review of the former from Segunda: 

Quote
3. Jushin Liger/Koji Kanemoto vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Yoshinobu Kanemaru:
 
Liger is wearing his all red outfit and it looks totally badass. Kikuchi looks like he just got jumped into (or out of) a gang, then had to jog to the arena for his title match. This match is pretty darn terrific, and has the rep of being maybe the best NOAH juniors tag ever. I'll have to watch the others before I go that high, but this was a damn good time, and one of the greatest Kikuchi performances ever (them Liger and Kanemoto fellas ain't bad either). Kikuchi starts this thing off as fiery asskicker, but this match pretty quickly went right where you and I and everybody else knew it would go, and wanted it to go: Kanemoto and Liger taking all of the frustrations and anger out on Kikuchi's poor, poor scarred and battered body. Kikuchi makes the greatest "Fuck my life" facials in the biz, and Kanemoto just throws all sorts of brutal kicks at him. Kikuchi's little comebacks were all awesome, really coming off like a pro-style Yuki Ishikawa a lot of the time. He'd take a bunch of kicks, occasionally catch a leg, and then attempt to cave in Liger or Kanemoto's skull with a headbutt. Fans were way behind his fighting spirit and it really was impossible not to get behind him in this. Just a classic performance from a great wrestler. Liger looked insanely great throughout as well, busting out a nasty piledriver and an endless supply of great palm strikes. Kanemoto looked hungry and vicious, too. All three guys looked like top 20 in the world guys. This had the build, it had big moves, it had great nearfalls, just a super fun match. Yoshinobu Kanemaru also participated.

EDIT: The other match must've had Tanaka and was '02 so that doesn't count here

EDIT II: There was also one with Wataru Inoue from this feud in '02. You can find both matches on Dailymotion and Veoh if you wanna watch 'em. 

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For WWE, Rock/Austin at Mania 19 is nearly as good as 17, and shares a lot of narrative similarities with Misawa/Kobashi 3/1, which is also worth mentioning. Then there's Lesnar/Benoit 12/4 and Lesnar/Rey 12/11 SD matches.

On the NJ vs. NOAH front, there's Taue/Nagata 6/6, which should definitely be watched.

 

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I wrote that up last month.

Kobashi vs Ogawa, GHC title, 11/1/03.

 

Is it too late to start giving matches star ratings? Because if I could, I'd give this one five. It's probably as stereotypical as possible for me to love this one, but boy, did I ever.

 

After one watch this feels like maybe my favorite match between Japanese natives. It had everything I tend to love about the 90s AJPW style: the attention to detail in both big and little moments, the continuity within a match (and presumably between them), the sense of struggle for each and every move, the roles and hierarchy (even if I don't always understand it fully). Due to the structure of the match, however, every move within the match mattered, and there was a clear sense of escalation. Nothing early on blurred the lines for what came later. The bombs were almost all kept to the end. I understand that, by its nature, body part driven matches can have a lower "level of difficulty" than bomb throwing main events when it comes to coherence and consistency and appropriate selling, but here, it was a strength, not a weakness, because Ogawa, by his nature, is a lower creature. It wasn't a case of them taking some sort of easy way out instead of doing a hundred headdrops but instead a hugely appropriate way to tackling the challenge of how to manage a 25 minute match between 2003 Kobashi and Ogawa. I'm probably going to just lay out the narrative here because the joy is in the details.

 

How does Ogawa, who is opportunistic and desperate, who basically wrestles like the proverbial (Owen Hart-ian) "nugget," dirty, malodorous, and completely unflushable, survive against 2003 Kobashi? That's the question of the match. He manages not just to survive, but thrive, and it's by going to one of the most basic psychological templates. He goes after the leg like a man possessed. It's established early that he needs an equalizer. Right from the get go, he tries for an advantage, spitting at Kobashi and getting him down, splitting at his face, working his eyes. No meaningful effect but garnering anger and chops. They wrestle a bit after this, Ogawa just tricky enough to avoid early doom. He tries to contain Kobashi with a headlock, but Kobashi's able to just power him this way and that. Ogawa doesn't let go though and instead of getting shoved off, hangs on as he dives through the ropes to rake the eyes in a really novel little spot. He follows it up with a cravat, with a jumping sleeper, persistent and earnest, wrestling with a gumption that almost no one else could manage. None of it works though. Kobashi is just too much. To prove just how in control he is, Kobashi ends this sequence by forcing Ogawa around in a rolling cradle. Why? Just because he could. The punctuation? A nasty chop to the back of the neck that looks to put out Ogawa.

 

That's the opening sequence. I wouldn't rightfully call it a shine. It certainly established the players, though. Ogawa is plucky, crafty. Kobashi is brutal, unstoppable, firmly in control, but with a cruel god's whimsy. Ogawa badly needs an equalizer, and he gets it here, playing dead as the ref tries to hold Kobashi back, and then leaping forward, having quite literally played possum in the face of a beast far above him upon the circle of life, to take out Kobashi's leg from behind. He pointed at his head after the fact, bless him. The match doesn't look back from there. The legwork's awesome and varied. Ogawa starts by working the leg against the post on the outside, and, hugely important, getting Kobashi's knee brace down to expose the tape underneath. Ogawa's unrelenting once that is done, twisting, kicking, kneeing, elbowing, contorting the leg. Whenever he's close enough for Kobashi to get his hands upon him, he cuts that off with rapid punches to the knee. He gets in little shots and big, visual ones like slamming it against the apron (and the crowd responds in kind, chanting for Kobashi). Kobashi is his usual double-tough self in this, but when he does get a chop in, he can't capitalize because he's selling the leg. There are some really strong sequences and hope spots too. For instance, at one point Ogawa goes for a knee-breaker, but Kobashi elbows him on the head, about to get out and get some distance. Ogawa, however, turns immediately and turns it into a dragon whip, something so in character for him, opportunistic and desperate, a hyena refusing to release its grip on its larger prey. Even when he makes the mistake of putting on the half-crab (so Kobashi can push-up out of it and hulk up), it's only a few mean chops in the corner before Ogawa unloads on the knee once again and takes back over.

 

There's a sense, throughout this legwork, of escalation on both sides. Kobashi had started to fight back, so Ogawa takes him to the corner again and locks in a modified Hartlock around the post. He can't help himself though. His character always feels jarring to me in the hyperserious AJPW (and Noah) main event scene. Earlier on he had to point to his head. Here, he gets cocky, having taken the leg out of the king, and starts to mock Kobashi. Obviously, that doesn't go well for him, but Kobashi's ever move is earned, having to work through another kick to the knee (and missing a clothesline) to even get his jumping hangman's clothesline in. He can't fully capitalize with a suplex due to the leg, but Ogawa, once again sees the writing on the wall. He pushes him off desperately, causing a ref bump. It was not what I was expecting in a match like this, and what followed was even more jarring. With the ref down, Ogawa goes for the ring bell and starts to unload upon Kobashi's knee with it, both inside and outside the ring. Again, it's that escalation, the knowledge that it will take a superhuman effort upon Kobashi's current Achilles' heel to keep him down and maybe win this day. 

 

Again, though, due to his (to be quite honest) craven nature and his toad-like pride, Ogawa loses focus on the outside, if just a little, and it costs him dearly. He tries to whip Kobashi into the rail only to get reversed. Kobashi can't capitalize but it doesn't matter, because Ogawa closes the distance to slam his head into the post only to get it reversed, followed by Kobashi's killer spinning back chop to the neck against the pole, the most horrific of all chops. That drops Ogawa and allows for those at ringside to finally reconstruct Kobashi's legbrace. That's the beginning of the end for Ogawa. The major selling from Kobashi in the match happened after Ogawa got the brace down. The major selling ends once the brace is back up. That doesn't mean there aren't moments of weakness and opportunity before and after, but the damage is thusly minimized. With the brace, reconstructed, Kobashi pulls Ogawa up and the crowd gasps when they realize he's been opened up.

 

Kobashi targets the wound immediately with punches and chops. It's wonderfully brutal. Ogawa tries to roll out to the ramp, and when Kobashi follows him, to catch him with a kick to the leg, but it's too little, too late with the brace back on and Kobashi drops him with his first real move of the match, a ddt on to the ramp. They make it back into the ring, with Kobashi keeping the chops up. Ogawa still has something of a physical advantage, and can reverse a whip into the corner, but misses a charge, allowing Kobashi to hit a long delayed (and very earned) belly to back for what I think is the first two count of the match. Kobashi slowly and deliberately follows it with a power bomb with a jackknife pin. It means so much, here at the twenty minute mark, because there hasn't been a match full of bombs. This power bomb feels like it means far more than any single move in the Akiyama vs Kobashi match and that goes back to economy. It's the moment where it's not just Kobashi fighting back or reversing a move, or buying some space. He's now reestablished his dominance. It lets him work over the wound again, allows for the ref to try to stop him, and colors the Ogawa low blow that follows, a last ditch attempt to stay in the match.

 

It's too late, though, as Ogawa is back to his weaselly but unfocused desperation attempts and Kobashi is able to power right through the low blow and the enziguri that followed, concluding with the hyperchops in the corner and a superplex. They could have done a few ducked moves here, a few suplexes, one last hope attempt from Ogawa and gone home, but that's not what this match is. Instead, they lean hard on the details and make everything worth so much. The finishing stretch is amazing. Kobashi finally goes for his half nelson suplex. Ogawa slams his foot back against the knee and gets behind him for a belly to back. Kobashi makes it back up and goes for it again. This time Ogawa grabs the leg and rolls him up. Kobashi runs into the corner and Ogawa ducks out of the way for another roll up, using the ropes for two. Kobashi goes for one last half nelson suplex. Ogawa grabs for the leg again, but this time Kobashi catches him, and gives him a wrist clutch exploder, which is maybe the fourth or fifth actual move Kobashi hits the entire match, but it's one with so much meaning and build and payoff behind it. Basically, the rat finally got caught and if the knee-brace being reconstructed was the beginning of the end, this was the end of the end. Ogawa gets one last desperate gasp, trying to avoid the clothesline with a crucifix but Kobashi, the angry god at the end of his patience, shoves him off, and hits two clotheslines (the second purely gratuitous) to finish him off. 

 

It was everything I could want from a Kobashi match at this point. Ogawa earned everything he got in this match, and none of it was enough to really put Kobashi away. Maybe he could have stayed on the leg forever, but his strength, the cunning underhandedness, the dogged desperation, is also his weakness. He spits upon his betters, needs to show them up, to show that he's smarter than them, better than them, despite what society thinks, what the hierarchy says, despite the crowd chanting for Kobashi. So he acts in hubris, goes big, shows arrogance (because that, even more than a pinfall, might have been his true victory; to do that and get away with it) and it leads to his downfall. This was a greek tragedy of a wrestling match. At no point was Kobashi more or less giving than he should have been. They saved all of the big bombs for the end and by doing so, everything mattered. 

 

In general, I really feel like they could have worked this style of match more, not even with limbwork to drive it. In some ways, it's easier with someone credible (maybe it reminded me of the dynamic of a Hansen vs Kobashi a little, actually, but with a more earnest underdog fighting from underneath instead of the craven underdog deseprately attacking its wounded better). It says a lot about me, I think, that I'm so much more comfortable with Japanese matches when they're one-sided, or at least when they fit into more of a shine(or feeling out)/heat/comeback dynamic. I get the argument that I'm just too ignorant to understand the meaning of some of the more nuanced transitions in the back and forth, even big matches that build and build and build, but this was just so damn primal and perfect. 

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Ogawa as shitbag twerp with the big belt was sooooo the best. He was such a sneaky weenie and it was so much fun. I got to see him and Misawa wrestle in the states while he was GHC champ. My favorite moment is when I bumped into him exiting the bathroom at the same time, and he was wearing the title belt around his waist, and then he tripped and fell walking up the stairs. 

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