Pro Wrestling NOAH "Misawa In Our Hearts" report

Pro Wrestling NOAH "Misawa In Our Hearts" report 9-27 Budokan Hall: The last hurrah

By Alan Counihan

NOAH "GREAT VOYAGE 2009 IN TOKYO ~MITSUHARU MISAWA, ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS~", 27.09.2009



Noah's first Budokan show since the passing of Mitsuharu Misawa was, top to bottom, a very enjoyable three hours. There were no match of the years, or really anything four stars or above, but nothing was bad and it was an extremely easy show to watch.


Akihiko Ito vs. Genba Hirayanagi

Decent enough match from the two generational rivals. They worked hard, although the crowd wasn�t with them the whole way. Genba was fun with his heelishness and Ito has great comebacks. His duck under heel kick is one of the coolest spots going. It always gets a great reaction. Genba won after a low blow and his power up clothesline.

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Atsushi Aoki vs. NOSAWA Rongai

This was originally supposed to be Aoki vs. Kento Miyahara, but Miya fell ill the day before the show and if there�s one man in Japan who you can call at the last minute and KNOW he will get his butt to your show it�s NOSAWA. Very weird seeing him in a NOAH ring though. He immediately tried to get the crowd involved and it worked. This turned into a very fun little match and NOSAWA put Aoki over like a champ, selling all his strikes like death and tapping the second he was put in Aoki�s armbar which made the move look like one of the hottest finishers in wrestling. Very enjoyable little match.

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Taiji Ishimori & Ricky Marvin vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Nothing drops your jaw more that Ricky Marvin when he�s �on�. This was one of his �on� nights. He busted out loads of cool stuff and actually far outshined Taiji who�s� been far more impressive in the last 18 months.� This may have been Kikuchi�s last match in NOAH and he added a nice dynamic to it, being completely confused by the crazy moves and just attempting to get in a forearm strike or a headbutt whenever he could. Taiji went over Kikuchi with a 450 and a Touch Out (to taunt Kanemaru).

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Bison Smith vs. Shuhei Taniguchi

Bison Smith has cracked the Taniguchi code. The recipe to having a good match with him is to just kill him with spectacular power moves, beat the tar out of him and then let him make a comeback with suplexes and most importantly NO STRIKES (because Shuhei, God bless him, has the most horrible looking strikes I�ve seen in ages). So congrats to Bison. Now everybody else follow the recipe. Some of Smith�s offense included a running powerbomb from the ramp into the ring, a gorilla press to the outside, a run down the ramp diving shoulder tackle (over the ropes), and a dive from the top to the floor (yup by Bison). When Taniguchi came back with Germans and other throws, the crowd rallied behind him. He was eventually put down by a Bisontennial. Real fun stuff.

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Minoru Suzuki, Jun Akiyama & Takashi Sugiura vs. KENTA, Muhommad Yone & Takeshi Rikio

This match made little sense as far as pairings go but it definitely delivered a fun outing. Suzuki was making his first appearance on the green mat in years and he and KENTA really got into it big. They teased some conflict between partners, Suzuki and Akiyama too. Sugiura looked great throughout although he was not given a major role until the finish. At one point Yone squished Suzuki�s face with a legdrop and boy did he PAY for it, just getting brutalised by the former Pancrase star (and Paul Lazenby tormentor). No real extended heat segment as they just kinda went back and forth giving the fans as many different pairings in the ring as possible. It came down to Rikio and Sug, reminiscent of a bigtime Budokan tag in 2007, only this time the smaller Sugiura came out on top, hooking in a tight ankle lock for the tap (a rarity in NOAH).

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Kensuke Sasaki, Takeshi Morishima & Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Genichiro Tenryu, Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki

This was basically Kensuke Office vs. �Team Misawa�.� Tenryu worked far harder than he had too, which is a credit to him. The highlight was a big chop duel �between he and Kensuke. The Nakajima/Kotaro sections brought the top class junior action, and the Morishima sections brought the top class flying fatboy action (he was really moving on this night). Ogawa was typically solid. Lots of good action towards the finish. They built to Kotaro and Morishima being left alone in the ring, with Kotaro using Misawa elbows to try to topple the big man. It was to no avail, as he was eventually downed by numerous lariats and Backdrop Drivers.

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Akira Taue & Keiji Muto vs. Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama

First time ever meeting of Muto and Kobashi in this one, and it had the crowd going crazy. The entrances were all pretty goosebump inducing and you had the feel that perhaps your were about to see a hell of a spectacle (in spite of the obvious physical limitations). Takayama and Taue started and got a good reaction, but when they both tagged out the roof came off for their partners. Kobashi started to get the better of the All Japan president with chops, so Muto bolted outside, hopped the rail and grabbed a chair. Taue talked him out of it and cooler heads prevailed. �They match was basically a collection of cool moments that the crowd ate up and it was all strung together very nicely. We�re dealing with smart wrestlers here folks. They ain�t no rookies. Taue busted out a shining wizard towards the finish and that was probably the spot of the match, although Kobashi doing a hurracanrana came close. Both Muto and Kobashi teased moonsaults but they were stopped in their tracks. Finish was Kobashi downing Taue with a lariat. Memorable match for sure.

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Go Shiozaki vs. Akitoshi Saito

Didn�t know what to expect from this going in. I�m not a huge fan of Saito�s work by any means, but he was obviously going to try to give the performance of a lifetime here. He pretty much did, as I know I�ve never seen him look any better. They were times when it wasn�t getting the biggest of responses but all their big moves got the desired reactions, and for the finishing stretch the place was making a lot of noise. A lot of great striking exchanges throughout with Go�s elbows, superkicks and chops looking so so good. Saito hung with him and threw out plenty of heavy duty stuff himself. Finish saw Go survive the backdrop driver (which had obvious connotations) hit a rolling elbow, a perfect Emerald Frosion and a Go Flasher (he busted out his super high moonsault earlier) to get the win and retain the GHC title. Good match.