2/4/03 Iwate Chomin Taiikukan
Josh Barnett vs. Makai Club #2
Yoshihiro Takayama & Perry Saturn vs. Ryushi Yanigasawa & Makai #1
Tadao Yasuda & Kazunari Murakami & Makai #4 & Makai #5 vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Manabu Nakanishi & Takashi Iizuka
2/7/03 Yamagata Sogo Sports Center: Koji Kanemoto & Jushin Thunder Liger & Minoru Fujita vs. Heat & Masahito Kakihara & Curry Man
2/12/03 Okayama-ken Taiikukan: Masahiro Chono & Manabu Nakanishi & Heat vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Shinya Makabe & Minoru Fujita
2/15/03 Sanjo Wellfare Hall
Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka & Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Kazunari Murakami & Makai #1 & Makai #4 & Makai #5
Yoshihiro Takayama & Shinya Makabe vs. Tadao Yasuda & Ryushi Yanigisawa
2/7/03: Mike Barton & Jim Steele vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Toru Yano
2/4/03
IWGP Tag Title Challenger Decision Tournament Round 1: Takashi Iizuka & Masahito Kakihara vs. Makai #4 & Makai #5
Yuji Nagata & Blue Wolf vs. Mike Barton & Jim Steele
2/7/03: Josh Barnett vs. Tatsutoshi Goto
Masahiro Chono & Yuji Nagata & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Takashi Iizuka vs. Kazunari Murakami & Makai #1 & Makai #4 & Makai #5
2/12/03
Koji Kanemoto & Jushin Thunder Liger & Jado & Gedo vs. AKIRA & Tiger Mask & Super Crazy & Curry Man
Mike Barton & Jim Steele vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Osamu Nishimura
2/15/03: Masahiro Chono & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Mike Barton & Perry Saturn
5/25/03 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. X League Match: Minoru Fujita vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. X League Match: AKIRA vs. Takashi Sugiura
BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. X League Match: Koji Kanemoto vs. El Samurai
5/30/03 Takamatsu Shi Sogo Taiikukan
BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. X League Match: Gedo vs. Ebessan
BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. X League Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Takashi Sugiura
BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. X League Match: Koji Kanemoto vs. Tiger Mask
6/11/03 Kyoto Shi Taiikukan
BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. X Semifinal: AKIRA vs. Masahito Kakihara
BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. X Semifinal: Koji Kanemoto vs. Takashi Sugiura
BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. X Final: Masahito Kakihara vs. Koji Kanemoto. No cut
6/13/03 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Minoru Suzuki vs. Masayuki Naruse No cut
6/10/03 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, IWGP Junior Tag Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Kotaro Suzuki
6/10/03, IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
5/25/03: Yuji Nagata & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazunari Murakami & Katsuyori Shibata
6/10/03: Enson Inoue vs. Kazunari Murakami No cut
6/13/03: Enson Inoue vs. Tadao Yasuda No cut
6/13/03: Yuji Nagata vs. Katsuyori Shibata No cut
6/13/03, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Takehiro Murahama
6/13/03, IWGP Tag Title Match: Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Yutaka Yoshie & Hiroshi Tanahashi
6/13/03, NWF Heavyweight Title Match: Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
G1 Climax Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Katsuyori Shibata 7:06 of 10:14
G1 Climax Block B: Yutaka Yoshie vs. Yuji Nagata 7:57 of 12:51
G1 Climax Block A: Manabu Nakanishi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 5:42 of 14:04
G1 Climax Block A: Osamu Nishimura vs. Masa Chono 7:28 of 24:08
G1 Climax Block B: Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Tadao Yasuda 11:16
G1 Climax Block A: Jun Akiyama vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan 19:43
8/11 G1 Climax Block B: Yutaka Yoshie vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 8:26 of 12:31
G1 Climax Block B: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tadao Yasuda 1:14
G1 Climax Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan 7:32 of 15:14
G1 Climax Block A: Jun Akiyama vs. Osamu Nishimura 15:33 of 27:17
G1 Climax Block A: Masa Chono vs. Manabu Nakanishi 6:39 of 11:39
G1 Climax Block B: Yuji Nagata vs. Yoshihrio Takayama 12:21 of 14:05
8/10/03 Kobe World Kinen Hall
G1 CLIMAX B Block: Shinsuke Nakamura [2] vs. Katsuyori Shibata [0] 10:14
G1 CLIMAX B Block: Yuji Nagata [2] vs. Yutaka Yoshie [0] 12:51. Yoshie started out slow, getting sucked into Nagata's match, but he came on big in the second half. I wasn't too impressed with Yoshie kicking out of an avalanche style exploder at 1, but they were able to make it seem like Yoshie pushed Nagata, and the crowd definitely got behind him. Yoshie, of course, has no athleticism and didn't look particular good, basically just able to stand around throwing backhand blows and toss in a few suplexes. Nagata did a good job of working around him, and it was always competent, if nothing special. **
G1 CLIMAX A Block: Manabu Nakanishi [2] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi [0] 14:04
G1 CLIMAX A Block: Masahiro Chono [2] vs. Osamu Nishimura [0] 24:08. Chono doesn't get much more disappointing than this. I mean, sure it's been years since I expected him to deliver more than a handful of times per year, and a midcard match on the 1st G1 show would never be one of them, but considering he's against a master technician who will work hard and is only doing technical wrestling and brawling/striking, I at least expected a more competent performance. Chono just lumbered around seeming hardly able to bend at the waist. Nishimura showed up, of course, and certainly had his moments, but there was only so much he could do as Chono didn't really want to counter him on the mat, and hardly seemed to have the flexibility to be capable of doing so. Nishimura did a fairly good, although not nearly his most consistent, job of working Chono's left knee, including a diving kneedrop when Chono was on one knee. After nearly 25 minutes, they went home in the most unconvincing fashion with Chono clumsily turning Nishimura's spinning toe hold into a small package. *1/2
G1 CLIMAX B Block: Tadao Yasuda [2] vs. Yoshihiro Takayama [0] 11:16
G1 CLIMAX A Block: Jun Akiyama [2] vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan [0] 19:43
8/11/03 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
G1 CLIMAX B Block: Yutaka Yoshie [2] vs. Shinsuke Nakamura [2] 12:31
G1 CLIMAX B Block: Katsuyori Shibata [2] vs. Tadao Yasuda [2] 1:14
G1 CLIMAX A Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi [2] vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan [0] 15:14
G1 CLIMAX A Block: Osamu Nishimura [2] vs. Jun Akiyama [2] 27:17
G1 CLIMAX A Block: Manabu Nakanishi [4] vs. Masahiro Chono [2] 11:39
G1 CLIMAX B Block: Yoshihiro Takayama [2] vs. Yuji Nagata [2] 14:05. The effort was mostly there and they delivered some brutal shots, but the match was really inconsistent, even from an intensity standpoint. Nothing looks smooth with Takayama, and he's just so awkward it's hard to feel like the match has any sense of rhythm or flow. Nagata's technique was impressive as always, but Takayama was all over the place. His arm strikes and knees were generally good, but it's like it's too much effort for him to lift his leg and torque his hip for a kick, so they're either slow and/or off target. The funniest part was this guillotine choke Takayama was supposed to be doing, except he never had control of Nagata's neck once he dropped to the mat. They had a short but exceptionally nasty exchange just before the finish, and I think this is where Takayama's eye was cut hardway. The upper lid was already swollen pretty badly during the post match interview. **
8/15/03 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Josh Barnett & Koji Kanemoto vs. Minoru Suzuki & Masayuki Naruse 11:29
8/12/03 Gran Ship Shizuoka
G1 CLIMAX B Block: Katsuyori Shibata [4] vs. Yutaka Yoshie [2] 9:17
G1 CLIMAX A Block: Masahiro Chono [4] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi [2] 13:11
G1 CLIMAX B Block: Yoshihiro Takayama [4] vs. Shinsuke Nakamura [2]
G1 CLIMAX A Block: Hiroyoshi Tenzan [2] vs. Osamu Nishimura [2] 25:56
G1 CLIMAX B Block: Tadao Yasuda [4] vs. Yuji Nagata [2] 12:21
G1 CLIMAX A Block: Jun Akiyama [4] vs. Manabu Nakanishi [4] 16:35
8/14/03 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center
G1 CLIMAX B Block: Shinsuke Nakamura [4] vs. Tadao Yasuda [4] 7:38
G1 CLIMAX A Block: Osamu Nishimura [4] vs. Manabu Nakanishi [4] 13:45
G1 CLIMAX B Block: Yoshihiro Takayama [6] vs. Yutaka Yoshie [2] 12:31
G1 CLIMAX B Block: Yuji Nagata [3] vs. Katsuyori Shibata [5] 13:17
G1 CLIMAX A Block: Jun Akiyama [6] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi [2] 16:08
G1 CLIMAX A Block: Hiroyoshi Tenzan [4] vs. Masahiro Chono [4] 21:21
8/12/03: El Samurai vs. Josh Barnett 1:38
8/16/03 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Manabu Nakanishi & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Ensen Inoue & Michiyoshi Ohara 12:00
8/15/03 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
G1 CLIMAX B Block: Yutaka Yoshie [4] vs. Tadao Yasuda [4] 13:01
G1 CLIMAX A Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi [4] vs. Osamu Nishimura [4] 14:03
G1 CLIMAX B Block: Yuji Nagata [5] vs. Shinsuke Nakamura [4] 11:32
G1 CLIMAX A Block: Hiroyoshi Tenzan [6] vs. Manabu Nakanishi [4] 14:50
G1 CLIMAX B Block: Yoshihiro Takayama [8] vs. Katsuyori Shibata [5] 6:38
G1 CLIMAX A Block: Masahiro Chono [5] vs. Jun Akiyama [7] 30:00
8/16/03 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
G1 CLIMAX Semifinal: Jun Akiyama vs. Yuji Nagata 16:11
G1 CLIMAX Semifinal: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Yoshihiro Takayama 21:13
8/17/03 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, G1 CLIMAX Final: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Jun Akiyama 31:43
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hirooki Goto
Yutaka Yoshie vs. Blue Wolf
Masahito Kakihara & Heat & Tiger Mask IV vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Wataru Inoue & Koji Kanemoto
Osamu Nishimura vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
U-30 Title Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Makai #2
Manabu Nakanishi vs. Kazunari Murakami
Tadao Yasuda & Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Enson Inoue & Yuji Nagata
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Shinya Makabe
IWGP Heavyweight Title, Cage Death Match: Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Masa Chono
Wataru Inoue vs. Toru Yano. 6:37
Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Fujita vs. Heat & Ryosuke Taguchi. 12:42
Ryushi Yanagisawa & Makai #5 vs. Masahito Kakihara & Masayuki Naruse. 6:30
Tatsutoshi Goto & Hiro Saito vs. Ryota Chikuzen & Makai #1. 8:48
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Tiger Mask vs. Katsushi Takemura. 4:49
Manabu Nakanishi vs. Perry Saturn. 7:31
Tadao Yasuda vs. Katsuyori Shibata. 1:30
Scott Norton & Rick Steiner & Jimmy Ambriz vs. Yuji Nagata & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yutaka Yoshie. 13:59
Yoshihiro Takayama & Shinya Makabe vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Jushin Thunder Liger. 16:00
Ryosuke Taguchi vs. Akiya Anzawa. 5:29
Heat & Masahito Kakihara vs. Tiger Mask & Masayuki Naruse. 9:02
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Koji Kanemoto & Wataru Inoue. 15:27
Masahiro Chono & Tatsutoshi Goto & Hiro Saito vs. Tadao Yasuda & Makai #1 & Ryota Chikuzen. 10:22
Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Yutaka Yoshie & Toru Yano. 16:59
Kazunari Murakami vs. Shinya Makabe. 5:46
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Osamu Nishimura vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Blue Wolf. 18:32
NWF World Heavyweight Title Match: Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Minoru Suzuki. 6:43
Super Junior New Japan Rumble IWGP Junior Heavykyu Shin Oza Ketteisen. Entrants are Liger, Kanemoto, Samurai, Tiger Mask, Heat, Naruse, Kakihara, Jado, Gedo, Takemura, & Togo. 22:47
U-30 Musabetsukyu Oza Jiki Chosensha Ketteisen: Blue Wolf vs. Yutaka Yoshie. 10:01
TOA vs. Shinya Makabe. 5:40
Tadao Yasuda vs. Osamu Nishimura. 4:45
Ultimate Crush 1: Osami Shibuya vs. Khaliun Boldbaatar. 9:46
Ultimate Crush II: Tsuyoshi Kosaka vs. Ricardon (Ricardo Morias). 3R
King of Pancrase: Josh Barnett vs. Yoshiki Takahashi. 2R 2:52
Kazunari Murakami vs. Katsuyori Shibata. 4:58
Super Dream Match: Masahiro Chono vs. Hulk Hogan. 19:46
Ultime Pro-Wrestling Shin Nihongun vs. Shin Inokigun Elimination Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Bob Sapp & Yoshihiro Takayama & Kazuyuki Fujita & Minoru Suzuki & Shunsuke Nakamura. 39:54
Ryosuke Taguchi vs. Naofumi Yamamoto. 9:11
Koji Kanemoto & El Samurai vs. Heat & Super Crazy. 10:29
Mike Barton & Jim Steele & Shinya Makabe vs. Tatsutoshi Goto & Hiro Saito & Toru Yano. 14:30
3 vs. 1: Jado & Gedo & Katsushi Takemura vs. Tiger Mask. 13:48
Tadao Yasuda & Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Osamu Nishimura & Enson Inoue. 4:40
Minoru Suzuki vs. Katsuyori Shibata. 7:53
Kazunari Murakami vs. Yutaka Yoshie. 4:52
Manabu Nakanishi vs. Blue Wolf. 10:42
Yuji Nagata vs. Shinsuke Nakamura. 4:39
Osamu Nishimura & Jinsei Shinzaki & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Tadao Yasuda & Makai #1& Ryota Chikuzen. 14:01
Kazunari Murakami vs. Koji Kanemoto. 5:41
Montanha Silva vs. Yutaka Yoshie. 4:06
U-30 Musabetsukyu Senshukenjiai: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. TOA. 8:33
K-1 Rule: TOMO vs. Jadamba Narantongaragu. R2 1:58
K-1 Rule: Jan "The Giant" Nortje vs. Ivan Rudan. 0:19
K-1 Rule: Hiromi Amada vs. Katsuyori Shibata. R2 2:08
Bob Sapp & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Osamu Nishimura. 16:33
Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki. 13:30
IWGP Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan. 27:26. An ordinary heavyweight title match by puroresu standards, but one of the beter singles matches of Takayama's career. Tenzan carried the match with Takayama more than content to look on from the passengers seat. He kept it incredibly simple, but that helped Takayama because he didn't have much chance to screw up. The structuring was as basic as could be, keeping the transitions to a minimum and not doing anything with them that would require the least bit of ability. Tenzan dominated the match, but Takayama had a couple of good runs where he was able to distinguish himself with the impact of his kicks and knees. One of the big problems with the match is the knee provided the only semblance of a storyline, but once Takayama came back with a running knee after Tenzan had worked it over for a while, he sold a little but was able to maintain the offensive, and that was pretty much it. Another problem was the match was simply too long. They tried to build anticipation, or more accurately stalled to fill time early. I could live with that, but what really hurt is there was never any sense that the match could last less than 20 minutes. They worked deliberately, at a measured pace, and there wasn't really any sense of urgency or any attempt to finish until Tenzan hit his TTD around the 20 minute mark, which got the crowd reacting. From there it was serious, but if they could have instilled some intensity into their high impact wrestling about 10 minutes earlier, it would have come off as a much more important match. What they did looked fine, and I could live with the match not being the least bit dynamic because it's Takayama after all, but you need to do some things to give it depth, dimension, atmosphere, aura, something to make it memorable. It just seemed as though they felt going long and hitting each other hard was all it took to make it a big title match. They succeeded in what they tried, and admittedly trying little is probably the way to go with clumsy Takayama, but I never got the sense they were aiming high, and just felt as though it was a lazy match mentally, even if a competent match physically. **3/4
Akira Anzawa vs. Naofumi Yamamoto. 5:09
Wataru Inoue vs. Toru Yano. 6:19
Blue Wolf vs. The Shadow. 7:04
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Hirooki Goto & Ryosuke Taguchi. 11:40
Takashi Iizuka & Tatsutoshi Goto & Masayuki Naruse vs. Mitsuya Nagai & Makai #1 & Ryushi Yanagisawa. 10:41
Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask vs. Scott Norton & American Dragon. 13:36
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Shinya Makabe. 8:24
Shinsuke Nakamura & Minoru Suzuki vs. Yuji Nagata & Josh Barnett. 12:21
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Heat vs. Jado. 7:45
IWGP Tag Senshukenjiai: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Osamu Nishimura vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yutaka Yoshie. 38:08
Gedo vs. Akiya Anzawa
Wataru Inoue vs. Naofumi Yamamoto
El Samurai vs. Hirooki Goto
Heat vs. Ryosuke Taguchi
Takashi Iizuka & Hiro Saito vs. Tatsutoshi Goto & Toru Yano
Shinya Makabe & Blue Wolf vs. Mitsuya Nagai & Ryushi Yanagisawa
Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask vs. Yutaka Yoshie & Jushin Thunder Liger
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Osamu Nishimura vs. Yuji Nagata & Hiroshi Tanahashi