[SuperDuperDragon]

Originally Posted by McQueen

The 30 minute draw?

Care to be kind enough to post a link.

Here is the youtube link.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WtuBnf3iWU8
It is pretty good, they were able to pull the
draw off pretty well.
****1/4-1/2

[Derek]

My latest review since I can't sleep.

Takeshi Morishima (champion) vs. Takashi Sugiura GHC Heavywieght Title Match

This is the first title defense of the "Japanese Monster" (apparently thats his nickname now, as they referred to him as that a few times in the match) against Takashi Sugiura, who got the shot because he pinned Morishima on the last day of the Tag League. Sugiura has an amatuer background and likes to use various suplexes.

I felt that these two, in this match, did not mesh well. Sugiura did evrything he could to make his suplexes work, but he's barely at the heavyweight range, while Morishima is a super heavyweight. At one point, Sugiura locks in an ankle lock even though he hadn't worked over the leg at all, and then worked it over for about a minute, got him in the ankle lock again, and when Mrishima got the ropes break, he gave up on the leg.

The match felt nearly emotionless as it seemed that they were just doing moves with no real sense of urgency. There were a couple of times where Sugiura hit his Olympic Yossen Slam (his main finisher) and Morishima kicked out without even an "ooooooh" from the audience, because it just seemed like there was no way it was going to beat Morishima. At least Morishima was consistant in working over the chest of Sugiura.

The finish saw Morishima no sell a big move by Sugiura (might have been an Olympic Slam, I'm a little tired), hit some clubbin' blows to Sugiura, a lariat, a moonsault (which the crowd did react to and looked good, but he barely caught Sugiura) and then a Backdrop Driver for the win.

Rating: ***1/2

I feel I might be a bit generous with this rating, as it really seemed like both men were going through the motions most of the match, rather than it being a higly important title match. As someone who was happy to see Morishima become champion, I hope we don't see any more defenses like this, as with him being champion, the expectations are high, and they aren't met he will be at fault because he's the champ. I really hope his match next month with Rikioh will be better and will add to Morishima's credibility as champion.

Next I'll review Kobashi/KENTA vs. Kensuke Office

[casper-21]

Current list:

1. Austin Aries vs Go Shiozaki - ROH 6th Anniversary Show
2. Masato Tanaka vs Daisuke Sekimoto - Zero-1 Genesis
2 bis. Masato Tanaka vs Daisuke Sekimoto - BJW 28.04.08 (Z-1 World title)
3. CIMA, Ryo Saito & Dragon Kid vs Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino & Genki Horiguchi - ROH SOH3
4. Bryan Danielson vs Tyler Black - ROH Breakout
5. Shingo Takagi & BxB Hulk vs Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino - Dragon Gate 15.01.08 (GHC tag junior)
6. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yoshihito Sasaki vs Takashi Sasaki & Yuko Miyamoto - BJW 02.01.08 (BJW tag title)
7. Takeshi Morishima vs Takashi Sugiura - NOAH 14.06.08 (GHC World title)
8. Austin Aries vs Nigel McGuinness - ROH SOH3 (ROH World title)
9. Nigel McGuinness vs Tyler Black - ROH Take No Prisoners (ROH World title)
10. Bryan Danielson vs Austin Aries - ROH Take No Prisoners
11. Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black vs Briscoes vs Jack Evans & Jigsaw vs Brent Albright & B.J.Whitmer (ultimate endurance) - ROH Proving Ground (ROH tag)
12. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs Shingo Takagi & BxB Hulk - Dragon Gate Gate Of Generation (GHC tag junior)
13. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Taiyo Kea - AJPW 06.04.08 Champion Carnival
14. CIMA, Go Shiozaki & Erick Stevens vs Roderick Strong, Davey Richards & Rocky Romero - ROH DGC2
15. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW WKingdom (IWGP title)
16. Masato Tanaka vs Koji Kanemoto - NJPW 13.04.08 (Z-1 World title)
17. Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley vs vs Ikuto Hidaka & Dick Togo - Zero-1 Genesis (NWA Int Light tag)
18. KENTA vs Naruki Doi - Dragon Gate Dead Or Alive

[vivalabrave]

Where's Nigel vs. Dragon from 6YA?

[Derek]

As promised

Kenta Kobashi & KENTA vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima

Backstory: To understand the Kobashi/Sasaki aspect, you have to go back to the 90's. Kobashi was considred the strongest non-foreigner in ALL Japan, and Sasaki was considered the same for New Japan. Both men finally faced off a few years ago at the last NOAH Tokyo Dome show (They had an amazing match, I highly suggest finding it if you haven't seen it). KENTA and Nakajima are the protoges of their veteran partners. KENTA has had much success in NOAH, and is considered one of the top Junior Heavyweights of the company. Nakajima is a real prodigy, as he became an active wrestler at only age 15, he is now only 19 but is a well polished wrestler and is highly respected by the fans. KENTA and Nakajima had a singles match against each other the night before, with KENTA picking up the win.

Match Thoughts: Before the announcer could even do the intros, KENTA and Nakajima are in each others faces, proving that the match they had the night before solved nothing. KENTA & Nakajima start off the match, exchanging some stiff kicks before Nakajima tags in Kensuke. I really loved how during various points in the match, KENTA would take some cheap shots at whoever was on the apron of the opposing team (usually Kensuke) and it allowed the person on the apron to get fired up, and took it out on KENTA when they got tagged in. It was a nice little tactic that brought some extra intensity to the match and kept the crow lively.

The first interaction between Kobashi and Kensuke was a series of chops, which had me worried that they'd have another chopfest (in their '05 match, Kobashi and Kensuke did nothing but chops for over 4 minutes, it was crazy). Luckily it ended after about 30 seconds, and there wasn't much chopping after that. There wasn't too much interaction between Kobashi and Kensuke, if either man was in the ring, it was with KENTA or Nakajima.

The ending minutes of the match saw KENTA and Nakajima really picked up the pace. When it was announced that there was only a few minutes left, they each made plenty of pin attempts, playing up the urgency to win before the time limit. There was a really sick part where KENTA hit the Go 2 Sleep, only to have Nakajima grab the knee that just smashed his face, and lock in an Ankle Lock! Both guys were hitting some of their biggest moves, only to have the opponent kick out or to have the pin broken up. Kensuke and Kobashi are in the ring, chopping each other on their knees, while KENTA and Nakajima are really trying to beat each other, when the Time Limit bell rings. 30 Minute draw.

Post Match: We see all 4 men finally stop and regain composure. The ref raises both teams hands. We see Kobashi and Kensuke shake hands, affirming that despite the hard hitting match, their respect for each other is still there. KENTA offer Nakajima a hand shake, only to have Nakajima blind side KENTA! Both men had to be pulled apart several times, until Nakajima finally walked to the back, kicking the guard rail on his way out. looks like these two still have a major score to settle, and I hope to see them face each other again.

Rating: ****1/2

Despite the match being a draw, I thought the pace was very consistent and didn't really ever slow down much. No stalling tactics or pointless rest holds here. The one thing that I really didn't like was how Kobashi had worked over Kensukes arm for a couple of minutes, but when Kensuke countered a move and made a comeback, he completely no sold the arm. Other than that, there wasn't much more that I could ask for. It was well paced, lived up to expectations, and most of all, was a lot of fun to watch.

[-Blaskohiro Tenryu-]

I, personally, can't wait for Nakajima vs. KENTA.

[INVINCIBLE]

I only have Kobashi & KENTA vs. Sasaki & Nakajima at ***1/2

[Derek]

Really? Mind letting me know why? Just curious.

Oh and I just saw that Kensuke and Nakajima will be working a few dates on the next NOAH Tour, so I'm thinking KENTA vs. Nakajima at the next Budokan Hall show on July 18th.

[-Blaskohiro Tenryu-]

I hope Kenskay office stays with NOAH. They're too good to pass down.

[Sephiroth]

KENTA vs. Nakajima was on the Kensuke Office show the day after the 30 minute draw. KENTA beat Nakajima in about 27 minutes with the Go 2 Sleep.