[Invincible]

Originally Posted by Derek

Really? Mind letting me know why? Just curious.

Sure. I think they overdid almost everything. I'm generally not a huge fan of long tag team matches. Kobashi didn't really click at all for me in this match. Nakajima and Sasaki had an awesome dynamic going on though. The stuff on the outside, like I said earlier was kind of overdone

Great match and ***1/2 is a great rating

[Derek]

That's cool. They did overdue some things like you said. Kobashi seemed a little tentative to do too much, but I think KENTA handled himself well in that situation.

Glad to hear what you thought.

[volcanic]

Originally Posted by 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.

this I gotta see.

[starttheinfeKKtion]

ROH Tag Wars 2008 - Shelly/Sabin vs. Jacobs/Black ****1/2

[Benjo™]

Going to rewatch them when the DVD is released but after watching them live.

NOAH European Navigation 2008

KENTA and Tajiri Ishimori vs. Bryan Danielson and Eddie Edwards ****1/4

Kenta Kobashi and Go Shiozaki vs. Mitsuharu Misawa and Naomichi Marufuji ****1/4

[GP_Punk]

Yeah, can't give ratings because i was marking the hell out over them, but those two are definite MOTYCs.

[TheUnholyDragon]

Originally Posted by Benjo™

Kenta Kobashi and Go Shiozaki vs. Mitsuharu Misawa and Naomichi Marufuji ****1/4

This.

This I HAVE to see.

[TheUnholyDragon]

Completely seperate thought justifies a completely seperate post.

GHC Title: Mitsuharu Misawa (c) vs. Takeshi Morishima - ****1/4

What a fun match. It's the basic NOAH main event style, with both guys just pounding away at each other and gradually raising the bar until the finish, but they work it much smarter than usual with a lot of respect being shown to the respective finishers. They find inventive ways to beat the hell out of each other in the middle including pulling out a few spots I didn't think they'd be able to do like Morishima's dive and the Emerald Fusion off the apron.

The one other story driving this match forward was the way Morishima utterly overwhelmed Misawa. It's exceedingly rare that Misawa runs into someone who can outfight him and go hit for hit with him the way Morishima can and the challenge forces him to dig deep to try and outwresle him rather than outfight him, almost like he did to Stan Hansen and Dr. Death 15 years ago. Unfortunately for him, he's not the wrestler he was 15 years ago and Morishima's at his peak, leading to the crowning of a new GHC Champion.

As a small aside, the finishing sequence to this is just awesome, showing that you don't need to have a bunch of finishers to create a dramatic finale, just use the ones you have properly and it'll all work out. Great big match to usher in the age of Morishima in NOAH.

[volcanic]

I loved when Shima went screaming at him with a lariat and nearly took his head off.

[- Styles -]

NOAH - 6-14-08
Kenta Kobashi & KENTA vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima - ****

Saw this is the MM section so I checked it out. Great stuff especially from KENTA and Nakajima. They had some really good interaction and the final furious minutes between the 2 are great.

Not a fan of Time Limit draws though. That's really the only setback I can see besides Kobashi not really doing much.