Kentaro Shiga & Kishin Kawabata vs. Junji Izumida & Genba Hirayanagi
Tamon Honda & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Takuma Sano & Akihiko Ito
Doug Williams & Nigel McGuinness vs. Akira Taue & Masao Inoue
Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki vs. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori
Akitoshi Saito & Bison Smith vs. Jun Akiyama & Shuhei Taniguchi
Atsushi Aoki Flash 10 Match Series #2: Atsushi Aoki vs. Davey Richards
GHC Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Rocky Romero
Takeshi Morishima & Naomichi Marufuji & Mohammed Yone vs. Mitsuhawa Misawa & Go Shiozaki & Ippei Ota
Mohammed Yone & Ippei Ota vs. Taiji Ishimori & Akihiko Ito
Kishin Kawabata & Kentaro Shiga vs. Junji Izumida & Mitsuo Momota
Takuma Sano & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Tamon Honda & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Doug Williams & Yoshinari Ogawa & Masao Inoue vs. Bison Smith & Rocky Romero & Davey Richards
KENTA & Akitoshi Saito vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Atsushi Aoki
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Shuhei Taniguchi
ROH World Title Match: Nigel McGuinness vs. Go Shiozaki
Akira Taue Debut 20th Anniversary Commemorative Match: Akira Taue & Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Morishima vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kotaro Suzuki & Naomichi Marufuji
AAA 12/15/06 La Plaza de Toros de Chilpancingo: El Oriental & Naomichi Marufuji & Taiji Ishimori vs. Crazy Boy & Joe Lider & Juventud Guerrera 12:12
AAA 12/17/06 La Plaza de Toros Palacio del Arte in Morelia: Naomichi Marufuji & Taiji Ishimori vs. El Angel & El Oriental
AAA 2/1/08 La Plaza de Toros El Relicario Joselito Huerta: Charly Manson & Chessman & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Abismo Negro & Kenzo Suzuki & Takeshi Morishima 16:38
AAA 2/3/08 Toluca Salon Vikingos: Naomichi Marufuji & Tinieblas Jr. & El Brazo vs. Takeshi Morishima & Abismo Negro & Mr. Niebla
Seiya Sanada vs. Kento Miyahara
Takeshi Minaminno vs. Takashi Okita
Boso Boy Raito & Magnitude Kishiwada & Kikutaru vs. Catfish Man 1-3
Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Ryuji Yamagata
Kensuke Sasaki & Genichiro Tenryu & Yoshihiro Takayama & Minoru Suzuki vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Shinjiro Otani & Akitoshi Saito & Yutaka Yoshie 30:08
Mohammed Yone & Taiji Ishimori vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Junji Izumida
Akira Taue & Tamon Honda & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue & Akihiko Ito
Global Hardcore Crown: Kishin Kawabata vs. Mitsuo Momota
Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Suguira & Go Shiozaki vs. Takuma Sano & Yoshihiro Takayama & Ippei Ota
Atsushi Aoki Flash 10 Match Series #3: KENTA vs. Atsushi Aoki
Shuhei Taniguchi Push Forward 10 Match Series #2: Takeshi Morishima vs. Shuhei Taniguchi
Jun Akiyama & Kentaro Shiga vs. Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli
Mark Briscoe & Jay Briscoe & Doug Williams vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki
Kishin Kawabata & Gemba Hirayanagi vs. Kotaro Suzuki & Ippei Ota
Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kentaro Shiga vs. Mohammed Yone & Akihiko Ito
Takuma Sano & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Masao Inoue & Mitsuo Momota
Doug Williams & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Akira Taue & Junji Izumida
Mark Briscoe & Jay Briscoe & Chris Hero vs. KENTA & Akitoshi Saito & Taiji Ishimori
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Jun Akiyama & Atsushi Aoki
Naomichi Marufuji & Takeshi Morishima & Takashi Suguira vs. Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda & Shuhei Taniguchi 34:52. If there's one wrestler in Japan who commands the respect and EFFORT of all the fellow wrestlers, it's Kobashi. The man has endured everything, hell he's practically come back from the dead. If anyone has the right to be a zombie wrestler, it's him, but he's returned with one thing intact, his work ethic. And it's that undying thirst to have great matches that makes it impossible for anyone to justify dogging it when Kobashi is out there busting it. Kobashi set the tone right away, laying into Sugiura, and the effort never wavered despite the considerable length of the match. NOAH has to give Kobashi a partner who can at least bump to allow the opposition to run an offense and chew up some time though. Kobashi never wants to stay on the apron, especially if he has stiff like Honda & Taniguchi behind him. And since no one cares about these guys, the match was entirely about Kobashi. Even when Honda & Taniguchi were in, the opposition was staring Kobashi down, having words with him. Marufuji did the KENTA ignore your actual opponent to charge the corner and give the guy you are interested in a cheap shot, and Morishima took time out to maul Kobashi on the outside. Not surprisingly, the match was best when it was Kobashi vs. Sugiura, as these two brutes just ripped into each other, leaving their chests a glowing red. Sugiura was really in his comfort zone in these exchanges, but some of the stuff against Honda was pretty bad, especially Honda countering Sugiura's charge with the worlds lamest "spear", or rather ducking down and letting Sugi run into his shoulder. The match was mostly chops, of course, but Marufuji did an interesting powerbomb off the top to set up his pole shift finisher. What was different is he stopped Taniguchi from doing a flying move, so Taniguchi had his back to the crowd and Marufuji jumped backwards off the middle rope. Kobashi wasn't awesome and has even chopped a lot better in the past, but everyone was thrilled to see him, to work with him, to have him back. What Kobashi has that the others don't is passion and desire, and these are things that always translate. Someone who knows nothing about wrestling probably can't even come up with a rudimentary explanation of why something is good or bad, but they can always sense when someone really cares. ***1/2
Gemba Hirayanagi vs. Akihiko Ito
Kishin Kawabata & Kentaro Shiga vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Mitsuo Momota
Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Mohammed Yone & Ippei Ota
Akira Taue & Junji Izumida vs. Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli
Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Doug Williams & Taiji Ishimori
Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio vs. Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue
Kenta Kobashi & KENTA & Tamon Honda vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano & Atsushi Aoki 29:36. Another quality Kobashi chopfest, though not as good as the 2/23/08 main event. The good news is Kobashi had a partner in KENTA who could pick up the slack. The bad news is instead of 3 high quality opponents there were none. I have to say that Takayama was as good as he ever gets here though, he was somehow even seeming kind of mobile and flexible, and the dynamic of Kobashi & KENTA gunning for him rather than everyone gunning for Kobashi made for a more balanced match. They did a nice job of utilizing Takayama for brief segments, which kept the heat and anticipation on these pairings, both of which were good. When Kobashi finally was able to keep Takayama in long enough to soften him up with chops, he tagged KENTA right away to give the little guy a chance, but KENTA was mainly manhandled by Takayama today. All this was good stuff, the problem is the only other good pairing was KENTA vs. Aoki. Aoki ran around a lot, usually to no avail as he had to do all the selling for his side. Honda was pretty useless, and Sano tried but was too erratic. Kobashi & Takayama went at it on the ramp well after Aoki went to sleep, finally being restrained by seemingly the rest of the NOAH roster. ***
GHC Tag Title Match: Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Suguira vs. Mark Briscoe & Jay Briscoe 29:47
GHC Heavyweight Title Match: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Takeshi Morishima 20:22
Yoshikawa to Saitama, Tobidase All Country!! ~The 1st Hakata Compilation~: Catfish Man & Catfish Man vs. Kikutaro & Mt. Aso
Hard Times!! Hakata Yamakasa Soul Pouring: Kento Miyahara vs. Ryota Chikuzen
Young Volcano Explosion: Ryuji Yamaguchi & Takashi Okita vs. Takeshi Minamino & Yuto Aijima
Dash The Volcano Road Vol. 1: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Magnitude Kishiwada
Kensuke Sasaki & Jun Akiyama vs. Minoru Suzuki & Yoshihiro Takayama
Ryuji Yamaguchi vs.Akihiko Ito
Akira Taue & Ricky Marvin & Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Masao Inoue & Junji Izumida & Ippei Ota
Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Bryan Danielson & Atsushi Aoki vs. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori & Genba Hirayanagi
Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura vs. Kishin Kawabata & Kentaro Shiga
Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano vs. Tamon Honda & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito & Bobby Fish
Global Tag League '08: Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. D-Lo Brown & Buchanan 22:23
Global Tag League '08: Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio vs. Takeshi Morishima & Mohammed Yone 19:55
Mushiking Terry vs. Ryuji Yamaguchi
Kishin Kawabata & Kentaro Shiga & Masashi Aoyagi vs. Masao Inoue & Mitsuo Momota & Ippei Ota
Mohammed Yone & Taiji Ishimori & Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Akitoshi Saito & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yuto Aijima
Takeshi Morishima & Atsushi Aoki & Akihiko Ito vs. Bison Smith & Bryan Danielson & Ricky Marvin
Kenta Kobashi & KENTA & Tamon Honda vs. D-Lo Brown & Buchanan & Bobby Fish
Global Tag League: Akira Taue & Go Shiosaki vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano 21:43
Global Tag League: Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa 18:46
Global Tag League: Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura vs. Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio 23:06
Akihiko Ito & Genba Hirayanagi vs. Okita Takashi & Kento Miyahara
Kishin Kawabata & Kentaro Shiga & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Masao Inoue & Junji Izumida & Mitsuo Momota
Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taiji Ishimori vs. Bryan Danielson & Atsushi Aoki
Akira Taue & Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin vs. D-Lo Brown & Buchanan & Bobby Fish
Kenta Kobashi & KENTA & Tamon Honda vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano & Go Shiosaki 22:13
Global Tag League: Takeshi Morishima & Mohammed Yone vs. Naomichi Marufuji &
Takashi Sugiura 24:47
Global Tag League: Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio 22:17
Global Tag League: Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito 17:16
Daichi Kakimoto vs. Kento Miyahara
Manabu Hara vs. Gemba Hirayanagi
Kazushi Miyamoto vs. Ippei Ota
KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs. Bear Fukuda & Takeshi Minaminno
Katsuhiko Nakajima & Takeshi Okita vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Aoki 19:58
Junji Izumida vs. Mitsuo Momota
Magnitude Kishiwada & Raptor vs. Yoshinobu Kanemura & Ippei Ota
Kotaro Suzuki vs. Taiji Ishimori
Takeshi Morishima & Mohammed Yone vs. Takumo Sano & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Mitsuharu Misawa, Yoshinari Ogawa & Ricky Marvin vs. Akira Taue, Masao Inoue & Kishin Kawabata
Bison Smith, Akitoshi Saito & Gemba Hirayanagi vs. Naomichi Marufuji, Takashi Suguira & Akihito Ito
Atsushi Aoki Flash 10 Match Series #4: Bryan Danielson vs. Atsushi Aoki 18:10
ROH World Title 3 Way Match: Nigel McGuinness vs. KENTA vs. BJ Whitmer 13:09
Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio & Kentaro Shiga vs. Kenta Kobashi & Shuhei Taniguchi & Tamon Honda 27:07
Kentaro Shiga & Masaji Aoyagi vs. Tamon Honda & Mitsuo Momota
Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin vs. Yoshinobu Kanemura & Gemba Hirayanagi
Nigel McGuinness vs. Junji Izumida
Takeshi Morishima & Mohammed Yone vs. Takashi Suguira & Ippei Ota
Mitsuharu Misawa, & Yoshinoari Ogawa & Taiji Ishimori vs. Bryan Danielson & Raptor & BJ Whitmer
Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito vs. Akira Taue & Masao Inoue
Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio & Atsushi Aoki vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano & Akihito Ito 25:57
Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi Debut 20th Anniversary Special Commemorative Match #3: KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 28:07
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Genba Hirayanagi
Kentaro Shiga & Masashi Aoyagi & Junji Izumida vs. Masao Inoue & Mitsuo Momota & Ippei Ota
Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Atsushi Aoki vs. Brain Danielson & Raptor
Mitsuharu Misawa & Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Bison Smith & BJ Whitmer & Nigel McGuinness
Yoshihiro Takayama & Takashi Sugiura & Takuma Sano vs. Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda & Akihiko Ito
Jun Akiyama vs. Naomichi Marufuji
Takeshi Rikio vs. Akitoshi Saito
Takeshi Morishima vs. Mohammed Yone
Saitama Yoshikawa Object, Tobidase All Country!! ~Osaka Compilation~: TAKA Michinoku & Kikutaro vs. Catfish Man #1 & Catfish Man #2
SAVE THE OFFICE CRISIS: Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara vs. Takeshi Minamino & Takashi Okita
Kento Decisive Trial Match: Minoru Suzuki vs. Kento Miyahara
Dash The Volcano Road: KENTA vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
Take The Dream in OSAKA: Kensuke Sasaki vs. Naomichi Marufuji
Junji Izumida & Taiji Ishimori vs. Takashi Okita & Kento Miyahara
Kishin Kawabata & Kentaro Shiga & Masao Inoue vs. Tamon Honda & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Mitsuo Momota
Akira Taue & Mohammed Yone vs. Akitoshi Saito & Kazuyuki Miyamoto
Naomichi Marufuji & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Ippei Ota
Atsushi Aoki Flash 10 Match Series #5: Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Atsushi Aoki
Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano & Genba Hirayanagi
Kenta Kobashi & KENTA vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima 30:00
GHC Heavyweight Title Match: Takeshi Morishima vs. Takashi Sugiura 25:01
Atsushi Aoki vs. Joel Redman 15:00
Junji Izumida & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Martin Stone & Wade Fitzgerald 13:05
Doug Williams & Nigel McGuinness vs. Kotaro Suzuki & Takashi Sugiura 17:06
Bison Smith & Jun Akiyama vs. Mohammed Yone & Takeshi Morishima 13:23
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Title Match: KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs. Bryan Danielson & Eddie Edwards 29:49
GHC Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Jay Briscoe 13:23
Mitsuharu Misawa & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Go Shiozaki & Kenta Kobashi 25:35
wXw vs. NOAH Series: Bernd Fohr vs. Eddie Edwards
wXw vs. NOAH Series: Takashi Sugiura vs. Chris Hero 14:44
wXw Tag Team Title: Chris Hero & Marc Roudin vs, Absolute Andy & Steve Douglas 16:46
wXw vs. NOAH Series: KENTA vs. Claudio Castagnoli 16:32
wXw vs. NOAH Series Relaxed Rules: Thumbtack Jack vs. Jay Briscoe 12:05
wXw World Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership: Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness 24:22
wXw vs. NOAH Series Tag Team: Go Shiozaki & Kenta Kobashi vs. Bad Bones & Big Van Walter 21:12
Mark Sloan & Wade Fitzgerald vs. Atsushi Aoki & Taiji Ishimori 12:52
Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Zack Sabre Jr. 20:00
Naomichi Marufuji vs. Joel Redman 15:39
Lucha Bubblegum & El Ligero & Mohammed Yone vs. Jun Akiyama & Junji Izumida & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 15:12
Takeshi Morishima vs. Dave Moralez 7:54
Kotaro Suzuki & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Bison Smith & Mark Haskins 17:24
Mohammed Yone vs. Ippei Ota
Takuma Sano & Mitsuo Momota vs. Junji Izumida & Kentaro Shiga
Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura vs. Buchanan & Keith Walker
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Akira Taue & Kishin Kawabata
Akitoshi Saito & Bison Smith & Masao Inoue vs. Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 25:54
Takeshi Morishima & Akihiko Ito vs. Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio
2/3 Falls Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Davey Richards & Atsushi Aoki & Genba Hirayanagi vs. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori & Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin 17:24, 4:07, 10:56
7/13/08 Hakata Starlanes, GHC Junior Tag Title Match: KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki 31:13
7/18/08 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Special Singles Match: Kensuke Sasaki vs. KENTA 22:23
GHC Heavyweight Title Match: Takeshi Morishima vs. Takeshi Rikio 13:24
Junji Izumida & Genba Hirayanagi vs. Masao Inoue & Mitsuo Momota
Kishin Kawabata & Kentaro Shiga vs. Takuma Sano & Ippei Ota
Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Tamon Honda & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Akihiko Ito
Akitoshi Saito & Mohammed Yone & Ricky Marvin vs. Jun Akiyama & Atsushi Aoki & Davey Richards
Mitsuharu Misawa & Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura vs. Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama & Katsuhiko Nakajima 17:46
Special Singles Match: Kensuke Sasaki vs. KENTA 22:23. KENTA took a heavyweight beating in this ultra stiff match against the many time champion. Sasaki totally dominated early, press slamming KENTA to the floor and repeatedly smashing him into the guard rail. Kensuke was really tossing KENTA around, and seemed determined to make short work of him. KENTA will never back down from anyone, and made a big push with his wicked kicks to get his teeth into the match. This early portion was tremendous, but the match flagged as they weren't able to maintain the intensity once they deviated from the obvious pattern of just blasting away at each other without holding anything back. It picked up late when they returned to sheer brutality with a series of wicked lariats from KENTA until he finally knocked Kensuke off his feet. Although the fans were into the match throughout, they never really bought that KENTA had a chance to win, so his go 2 sleep and even using Sasaki's own Northern Lights bomb on him didn't get awesome reactions. All in all, the match was competitive enough though, and another successful attempt from KENTA at mixing it up with the big boys. ***3/4
GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Taiji Ishimori 15:33
GHC Heavyweight Title Match: Takeshi Morishima vs. Takeshi Rikio 13:24
SEMex Opening Match: KAGETORA vs.Genba Hirayanagi 9:40
Saitama Yoshikawa Object ~Kuishinbo Banzai~: Kuishinbo Kamen & Catfish Man vs. Akira Taue & Kikutaro 8:49
Lucha Mania in KORAKUEN: Naomichi Marufuji & Taiji Ishimori & Ippei Ota vs. Ultimo Dragon & Takeshi Minamino & Amigo Suzuki 17:40
Kensuke Office vs. NOAH 4 vs. 4 Survival Tag Match: Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima & Takashi Okita & Kento Miyahara vs. Kenta Kobashi & KENTA & Atsushi Aoki & Akihiko Ito 55:30
NTV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League Match: Atsushi Aoki & Akihiko Ito vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Kento Miyahara 14:28
NTV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League Match: Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kota Ibushi vs. Ricky Marvin & Eddie Edwards 14:09
NTV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League Match: KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs. Bryan Danielson & Davey Richards 12:31
NTV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe 30:00
Akira Taue & Kishin Kawabata vs. Takuma Sano & Makoto Hashi 13:38
Akitoshi Saito & Takashi Sugiura & Masao Inoue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Junji Izumida 21:50
Takeshi Morishima & Mohammed Yone vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Takashi Okita 8:31
Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio & Kentaro Shiga vs. Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 18:51
Ricky Marvin & Eddie Edwards vs. Akihiko Ito & Ippei Ota 8:08
Junji Izumida & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Makoto Hashi vs. Kishin Kawabata & Kentaro Shiga & Genba Hirayanagi 7:47
NTV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League Match: Bryan Danielson & Davey Richards vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Kento Miyahara 9:40
Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda vs. Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue 13:38
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Takashi Sugiura vs. Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio & Atsushi Aoki 12:44
Akira Taue & Mohammed Yone vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano 10:32
NTV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League Match: Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe vs.Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kota Ibushi 16:01
NTV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League Match: KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki 19:59
NTV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League Deciding Match: KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki 12:32
GHC Heavyweight Title Match: Takeshi Morishima vs. Kensuke Sasaki 22:02. ***1/2
Ricky Marvin & Eddie Edwards vs. Akihiko Ito & Ippei Ota 8:08
Junji Izumida & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Makoto Hashi vs. Kishin Kawabata & Kentaro Shiga & Genba Hirayanagi 7:47
NTV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League Match: Bryan Danielson & Davey Richards vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Kento Miyahara 9:40
Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda vs. Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue 13:38
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Takashi Sugiura vs. Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio & Atsushi Aoki 12:44
Akira Taue & Mohammed Yone vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano 10:32
NTV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League Match: Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe vs.Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kota Ibushi 16:01
NTV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League Match: KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki 19:59
NTV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League Deciding Match: KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki 12:32
GHC Heavyweight Title Match: Takeshi Morishima vs. Kensuke Sasaki 22:02. They did Morishima's all action sprint, which was much better for Morishima than Sasaki. Morishima did all his junior style moves - suicida, handspring body attack, missile kick, moonsault, etc. - and generally looked quite impressive. Sasaki also gave a big effort, but with striking stripped from the match to keep the pace up, he was out of his element. Sasaki has improved his arsenal of moves quite a bit from what he did when he was dominating NJPW in the late '90's, but they are best used in moderation as he's relying way more on effort than coordination. He couldn't do that here because he was left with nothing else but an endless stream of lariats. The match had no real direction or build, it was pretty much just two big men wrestling like little men, exchanging holds as they sprinted from start to finish. It started really well with both coming at each other fast and hard until simultaneous lariats resulted in a double knockdown. Apart from that double sell spot, they rarely slowed down. Morishima got his Hashimoto bloody nose, I think from the way Sasaki held and released his face doing a reverse neckbreaker on the outside. They teased Sasaki powerbombing Morishima off the apron, but Morishima sat on his chest instead and hit a DDT on the outside. The fans were really into it, and you wanted to see Morishima win because he was pretty clearly outwrestling Sasaki, and logically Sasaki has no business beating him at his own game. But, of course, it's NOAH so Kensuke finally got the title run he should have had around 3 years earlier. ***1/2
Akihiko Ito & Atsushi Aoki vs. Daisuke Sasaki & Tomomitsu Matsunaga 13:15
Danshoku Dino vs. Ippei Ota 6:05
Kento Miyahara & Takashi Okita vs. Shigehiro Irie & Shuji Ishikawa 16:08
Taiji Ishimori vs. Masa Takanashi 13:58
Antonio Honda & HARASHIMA vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kota Ibushi 20:00 + 3:14
Tyler Black vs. Austin Aries
Kazushi Miyamoto vs. Eddie Edwards
El Generico vs. Taiji Ishimori
The Briscoes vs. Davey Richards & Takeshi Morishima
GHC Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Bryan Danielson 4:01 of 20:40. Danielson is exactly the sort of wrestle you can't boil down to the highspots. Considering they obviously worked really well together and it was spectacular with Kanemaru breaking out most of his best offense, I'd guess it was an excellent match that was one of Kanemaru's best, but the editing also didn't give any indication of there being the type of quality Danielson delivers beyond the spots, so who knows?
Dream Tag Match: Kota Ibushi & KENTA vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Naomichi Marufuji 30:00 + 5:00. I had really high hopes for this one, and it didn't come close to meeting them. It was so obvious they were going long because they simply weren't that into the first 20 minutes, not trying much or showing a lot of intensity beyond the striking exchanges. Due to this, the crowd never got that into it. The match sort of took off after 20, but even then it was kind of reserved and tame, lacking explosion and inspiration. They did parity early with Marufuji & Ibushi making each other miss, but it was a bit slow and the timing wasn't quite there. KENTA & Nakajima were blasting away with kicks, and later Ibushi showed he could kick with Nakajima, but there should also have been a lot of quality in the first 20 minutes beyond the striking. Nakajima is very consistent. KENTA gave a good but by no means outstanding performance. Ibushi is easily the most spectacular wrestler in the match, but most of his stuff seemed choreographed rather than spontaneous. Marufuji dramatically underachieved. He wasn't really off, but his heart didn't seem into it and he really wasn't adding anything to the match. ***1/4
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Roderick Strong 12:20. Strong never presented any threat to Kensuke. Sasaki just mauled him, and although Strong obviously couldn't strike with him, he didn't change it up or offer any real alternative. Thus, Strong spent most of the match flailing his arms everytime Sasaki chopped him, and making other such corny overdone reactions. Sasaki tried, but it was just an enhancement match. *3/4
ROH World Title Match: Nigel McGuinness vs. Jimmy Jacobs 21:02. Jacobs showed he could hang with McGuinness technically then chose to heel it up. He refused to follow McGuinness into the corner for his headstand, and wound up landing a low blow at the end of that sequence that led to him controlling the majority of the match. Jacobs showed some nice diverse offense, and seemed too good to be resorting to pulling a chain out of his tights. McGuinness sold well, but ultimately didn't do much before scoring a rather unconvincing victory. **1/2
Akihiko Ito vs. Takashi Okita 7:27
Masao Inoue & Genba Hirayanagi vs. Mitsuo Momota & Masashi Aoyagi 12:33
Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano & Takashi Sugiura vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Atsushi Aoki 16:20
Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio vs. Akira Taue & Akitoshi Saito 11:55
Takeshi Morishima vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima 9:05
Special 2/3 Falls Match: KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Ricky Marvin 9:53, 9:16, 13:27
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Title Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito 21:18
GHC Heavyweight Title Match: Kensuke Sasaki vs. Mohammed Yone 16:58
Takuma Sano & Kishin Kawabata & Kentaro Shiga vs. Tamon Honda & Junji Izumida & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 11:43
Akira Taue & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Doug Williams & Bryan Danielson & Superstar Steve 14:59
Nigel McGuinness vs. Masao Inoue 15:24
KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Ippei Ota 13:43
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Ricky Marvin vs. Mohammed Yone & Takashi Sugiura & Genba Hirayanagi 18:17
Atsushi Aoki Flash 10 Match Series #6: Kaz Hayashi vs. Atsushi Aoki 18:03
Akitoshi Saito & Bison Smith vs. Takeshi Morishima & Makoto Hashi 11:35
Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio & Akihiko Ito vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima & Takashi Okita 25:21
10/13/08 Hiroshima Green Arena, GHC Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Brian Danielson vs. KENTA 23:48 of 33:21. Dramatic, well structured title match with KENTA dominating forever, just blasting Danielson with his kicks and stomping a mudhole in him until Danielson's ribs were injured and he was busted open hardway. They mostly did KENTA's match, especially in the first half, with Danielson instilling some story points and placing more emphasis on focused attacks and selling. Danielson finally hit a swandive plancha, but it hurt his bad ribs too much, and KENTA quickly regained the offensive dropping him on the guard rail and following with a diving footstomp to the floor. For the longest time, it appeared Danielson was going to get punted back to America empty handed. Finally, he stopped an avalanche style brainbuster and pushed KENTA, causing him to slip off and injure his knee getting it tied up in the ropes. When KENTA's injury proved the equalizer, allowing Danielson to finally sustain an offensive, you thought it was going to be the traditional, champ gets the worst of it but winds up escaping with the belt. KENTA weathered the knee moves though, and scooped Danielson up after for the go 2 sleep after countering the cattle mutilation, leading to a big double sell spot. From here, it was anyone's match, and they did a good job of keeping the pace under control to show both were physically ready to lose, but simply not willing to quit. Their 12/2/06 match was a little better, a far more thoughtful match, and one that was out of the ordinary, but this was also very strong match with both men near the top of their game. ****
10/25/08 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, GHC & PWF Junior Heavyweight Double Title Match: KENTA vs. Naomichi Marufuji 60:00. Great match.
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Genba Hirayanagi 6:17
Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue Junji Izumida vs. Kentaro Shiga & Kishin Kawabata & Ippei Ota 10:00
Mohammed Yone & Akihiko Ito vs. Takashi Okita & Kento Miyahara 4:44
Yoshinari Ogawa & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Doug Williams & Bryan Danielson & Atsushi Aoki 4:36
Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano vs. Akira Taue & Makoto Hashi 10:30
Takeshi Morishima & Takashi Sugiura vs. Nigel McGuinness & Superstar Steve 6:56
Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kota Ibushi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Taiji Ishimori & Ricky Marvin 16:13. A really nice showcase for the outsiders NOAH doesn't use as well as they could with Nakajima totally stealing the show and Ibushi having his moments. They pretty much stuck to three pairings. Sasaki vs. Misawa didn't happen much and didn't look good when it did since Misawa seemed to only be able to throw elbows and couldn't really bend at the waste. Nakajima vs. Marvin was the best pairing as they really developed the counters in all aspects, standing, running, striking, etc. Their sequences were by far the most difficult, so I could live with two uncharacteristic mistimings. Ibushi vs. Ishimori was the spectacular pairing, though that mostly came from Kota, including missing a moonsault but following with a standing shooting star press then a moonsault off the 2nd. My favorite spot was Nakajima turning the superstar elbow into a German suplex. I also liked the spot where Ishimori held Ibushi as if he were going to do apply a camel clutch and Marvin windsprinted the ramp and dropkicked him through the ropes. The match wasn't long or developed enough to be the standout it might have been, but it was generally good fun. ***1/4
GHC Tag Title Match: Akitoshi Saito & Bison Smith vs. Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio 13:39
GHC & PWF Junior Heavyweight Double Title Match: KENTA vs. Naomichi Marufuji 60:00. The ultimate heavyweight & junior heavyweight title match mixing heavyweight impact with junior speed & explosiveness. It's more a heavyweight match in terms of pacing, but the quick twitch muscles are on display when they need to be to avoid or counter something major. Marufuji has such great sense of ring positioning, which allows him to be so opportunistic inserting so many spectacular moves out of the matches striking base. He was even more the maestro here than in their other matches because the longer the match goes, the more KENTA's lack of dimension should show up. Still, the storytelling was far from the best you'll see in an AJ/NOAH Budokan main, but the chemistry these two have is off the charts, and they find so many great ways to make great things happen. For me, the craziest spot is Marufuji body slamming KENTA off the top to the floor. ****1/2
Kikutaro vs. Antonio Honda
HARASHIMA & Madoka vs. Taiji Ishimori & Akihiko Ito
Kotaro Suzuki & Genba Hirayanagi vs. Takashi Okita & Kento Miyahara
KENTA vs. Takeshi Minamino
Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Atsushi Aoki
Mauritius Cup: Kento Miyahara vs. Takashi Okita
Kentaro Shiga & Kishin Kawabata vs. Mohammed Yone & Genba Hirayanagi
Makoto Hashi & Junji Izumida vs. Doug Williams & Ippei Ota
KENTA & Taiji Ishimori & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Kotaro Suzuki & Eddie Edwards
Takuma Sano & Takashi Sugiura vs. Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Ricky Marvin vs. Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio & Akihiko Ito
Atsushi Aoki Shining Magic 10 Match Series 7th: Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Atsushi Aoki
Akira Taue & Takeshi Morishima vs. Buchanan & Keith Walker
Akitoshi Saito & Bison Smith vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima
11/14/08 Tokyo, Mauritius Cup: Kento Miyahara vs. Takashi Okita
11/27/08 Sendai, PWF Junior Title Match: Naomichi Marufuji vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
11/28/08 Niigata
GHC Junior Heavyweight Title Match: KENTA vs. Eddie Edwards
GHC Tag Title Match: Akitoshi Saito & Bison Smith vs. Akira Taue & Takeshi Morishima
Atsushi Aoki vs. Akihiko Ito 14:08
Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Tamon Honda & Takashi Sugiura 11:54
Takeshi Rikio & Naomichi Marufuji & Mohammed Yone vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano & Ricky Marvin 16:01
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima 9:15. Misawa wasn't very generous to juniors in his prime despite arguably being as successful a conversion as there ever was, so one would expect lazy fat old Misawa to do a boring little squash, but it must have been Christmas for Nakajima. For a 9 minute match, this was about as giving as Misawa could possibly be. Sure, it's likely that it was simply a whole lot easier for Misawa to stand there and take Nakajima's powerful strikes than to be bothered charging at him with a running elbow, but this was a hell of a lot more competitive and motivated than Misawa's abortion of a title defense against Marufuji on 9/29/07, even if it was only 1/3 of the length, and was actually successful at elevating Nakajima. Nakajima took full control early when he stopped Misawa's rolling senton off the apron with a stiff kick to the throat, and proceeded to blast away for the majority of the match, throwing in some suplexes. Nakajima's offense was sharp as ever, and Misawa certainly had the bulk to withstand the big blows. There wasn't much of a transition to the finish, as Misawa pretty much just went right to the big emerald flowsion to get it over with, but you can't have everything. Obviously it wasn't the match they could have done if Misawa was a few years younger and they wanted to go all out like Sasaki vs. KENTA 7/18/08, but this was one of Misawa's last really positive singles performances. **3/4
GHC Heavyweight Title Next Challenger Decision Match: Jun Akiyama vs. Takeshi Morishima 8:37
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Title Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki vs. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori 31:54
GHC Heavyweight Title Match: Kensuke Sasaki vs. Akitoshi Saito 25:27
Takeshi Minamino vs. Kikutaro
VolcanoxSEM Tag Tournament 2008 Semifinal: Naomichi Marufuji & Kento Miyahara vs. Atsushi Aoki & Akihiko Ito
VolcanoxSEM Tag Tournament 2008 Semifinal: Kotaro Suzuki & Genba Hirayanagi vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Takashi Okita
Shinjitsu Nohashi & Amigo Suzuki vs. Taiji Ishimori & Ippei Ota
VolcanoxSEM Tag Tournament 2008 Final: Katsuhiko Nakajima & Takashi Okita vs. Atsushi Aoki & Akihiko Ito
THE TOURNAMENT Round 1
Takeshi Rikio vs. Atsushi Aoki
Taiji Ishimori vs. Kishin Kawabata
Jun Akiyama vs. Tamon Honda
Takuma Sano vs. Shuhei Taniguchi
Takashi Suguira vs. Mitsuharu Misawa
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Makoto Hashi
Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
Masao Inoue vs. Kentaro Shiga
Akitoshi Saito vs. Kotaro Suzuki
KENTA vs. Akira Taue
Ricky Marvin vs. Mitsuo Momota
Mohammed Yone vs. Akihiko Ito
Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Naomichi Marufuji
Go Shiozaki vs. Takeshi Morishima
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Junji Izumida vs. Kikutaro
Round 2
Takeshi Rikio vs. Taiji Ishimori
Takuma Sano vs. Jun Akiyama
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Takashi Suguira
Masao Inoue vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Akitoshi Saito vs. KENTA
Mohammed Yone vs. Ricky Marvin
Go Shiozaki vs. Yoshinari Ogawa
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Junji Izumida
The Tournament Round 3: Takuma Sano vs. Takeshi Rikio
The Tournament Round 3: Masao Inoue vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
The Tournament Round 3: Akitoshi Saito vs. Mohammed Yone
The Tournament Round 3: Kensuke Sasaki vs. Go Shiozaki
The Tournament Semifinal: Masao Inoue vs. Takuma Sano
The Tournament Semifinal: Akitoshi Saito vs. Kensuke Sasaki
Age Handicap Battle Royal: Ippei Ota & Katsuhiko Nakajima & Takashi Okita & Kento Miyahara & Yoshinari Ogawa & Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Morishima & Junji Izumida & Kishin Kawabata & Tamon Honda & Takeshi Sugiura & Atsushi Aoki & Akihiko Ito & Shuhei Taniguchi & Kikutaro & Akira Taue & Mitsuharu Misawa & Genba Hirayanagi & Makoto Hashi & Kentaro Shiga & Ricky Marvin & Taiji Ishimori & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & KENTA & Kotaro Suzuki & Mitsuo Momota & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Naomichi Marufuji
The Tournament Final: Akitoshi Saito vs. Masao Inoue
12/26/08
Takeshi Morishima vs. Go Shiozaki
Naomichi Marufuji vs. Austin Aries
1/11/09 Tokyo
Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Mitsuo Momota & Kotaro Suzuki & Genba Hirayanagi vs. Taiji Ishimori & Ricky Marvin & Akihiko Ito & Ippei Ota
KENTA & Takashi Suguira vs. Akira Taue & Yoshihiro Takayama
Jun Akiyama & Go Shiozaki & Mohammed Yone vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima & Yoshinari Ogawa
PWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Naomichi Marufuji vs. NOSAWA
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Kenny Omega
Four Corner Survival: The Necro Butcher vs. Chris Hero vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Rhett Titus
World Tag Title Match: Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Delirious
New York City Street Fight: Brent Albright & Roderick Strong & Erick Stevens vs. Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards & & Go Shiozaki
International Dream Tag Match: Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe
#1 Contender Match: Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black
ROH World Title Match: Nigel McGuinness vs. Naomichi Marufuji
Streetfight: Takeshi Morishima vs. Bryan Danielson