Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota & Yasuhiro Suzuki vs. Haruka Eigen & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Kishin Kawabata
Donovan Morgan vs. Matt Murphy
Akira Taue & Makoto Hashi vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Naomichi Marufuji
Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Takuma Sano
Mohammad Yone vs. Daisuke Ikeda
Juventud Guerrera vs. Richard Slinger
Michael Modest & Bull Schmitt & Bison Smith vs. Akitoshi Saito & Kentaro Shida & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue & Jun Izumida vs. Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio & Takashi Sugiura
Mitsuharu Misawa & Takuma Sano vs. Akitoshi Saito & Kentaro Shiga 17:04
KENTA vs. Kotaro Suzuki 8:22
Scorpio & Michael Modest & Donovan Morgan vs. Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue & Makoto Hashi 18:05
Akira Taue vs. Jun Izumida 11:07
Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Naomichi Marufuji 14:28
Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru 9:43
Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama & Takashi Sugiura 12:22
3/16/02
KENTA vs. Ray Gordy 3:20 of 8:13
Scorpio & Richard Slinger vs. Juventud Guerrera & Super Star Steve 8:48 of 14:06
Akira Taue & Jun Izumida vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone 10:23 of 11:16
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Takashi Seguira 8:10
Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito vs. Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinobu Kanemaru 18:57. ***
3/23/02
Rusher Kimura & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Haruka Eigen & Kishin Kawabata 6:05 of 11:21
Yoshinari Ogawa & Takuma Sano vs. Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue 14:29 of 17:49
Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio vs. Michael Modest & Donovan Morgan 13:02
Takao Omori vs. Makoto Hashi 10:05
Naomichi Marufuji vs. Yoshihiro Takayama 4:54
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Makoto Hashi 7:55
Michael Modest & Donovan Morgan vs. Akira Taue & Kishin Kawabata 11:53
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru 13:33
Scorpio & Juventud Guerrera vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 15:47
Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio vs. Takao Omori & Takashi Sugiura 10:08
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Takuma Sano vs. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito & Kentaro Shiga 21:21
Kenta Kobashi Return Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata 26:49. Kobashi returned from a 13 month absence due to multipe knee surgeries, reforming his classic team with Misawa. You'd think Misawa might want to handle most of the duties here, if for no other reason than as president he knows he needs to protect Kobashi for the company to have a chance to succeed, but no, Misawa was more than willing to cede almost the entire match to Kobashi. It was an excellent match, and Kobashi was the standout as usual to the point that it was the others who held the match back. They did the expected stiff, intense match, with some measure of ill will. There was more heat for Akiyama vs. Kobashi, but I felt Kobashi vs. Nagata was a bit better, as it had more intensity and their styles seemed to play into each other better (this was striking Kobashi rather than head drop Kobashi). That said, I think Akiyama stepped it up beyond his usual big match level the most, and this was certainly one of his most effective performances of the era. Misawa started, but as soon as Kobashi tagged in, Akiyama looked to test his knees but Kobashi retreated to the ropes. This built to the key early spot where Kobashi proved his knees were okay by popping up after Akiyama's Dragon screw and flooring him with a shoulderblock. Akiyama leg tripped Kobashi and went into an STF and Nagata kicked Kobashi's knee out to set up the Nagata lock, but since they couldn't ignore the knee, they generally tried to avoid abusing the knee too badly. Generally, they'd exchanging stiff shots until someone countered into a big move. Misawa finally made his presence felt when the match picked up at 18:30, and he was certainly working on another level, but on the other hand it helps to know you only have to work a few minutes. The stretch run was loads of fun, and overall the match was one of the highlights of 2002. However, there was a price, as Kobashi's knees ultimately weren't ready yet, and he was shelved for another 5 months. ****
3/14/02
Jun Akiyama & Makoto Hashi vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Naomichi Marufuji 17:12
Scorpio vs. Takeshi Rikio 7:34
Vader vs. Takeshi Morishima 5:15
Akira Taue & Masao Inoue & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama & Takashi Sugiura 14:17
4/14/02
AJPW 5/14/90 Tokyo Taiikukan: Yoshiaki Yatsu & Samson Fuyuki vs. Tiger Mask & Toshiaki Kawada
4/7/02 Tokyo Ariake Coliseum: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kodo Fuyuki
Kodo Fuyuki Retirement Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kodo Fuyuki & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Akira Taue & Masao Inoue & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 16:41
Vader & Scorpio & Michael Modest & Donovan Morgan vs. Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio & Daisuke Ikeda & Takashi Sugiura 9:08
Superstar Steve vs. Kotaro Suzuki 12:21
Richard Slinger & Bison Smith vs. Masashi Aoyagi & Kishin Kawabata 11:44
Kentaro Shiga vs. Mohammed Yone 11:07
Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Makoto Hashi vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & KENTA 14:27
Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Akira Taue & Masao Inoue 11:51
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Tamon Honda 5:36
Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Takuma Sano 11:58
Jun Akiyama vs. Kentaro Shiga 7:42
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Jun Izumida 9:35
Akitoshi Saito & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Takao Omori & Takashi Sugiura 12:36
Akira Taue & Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & KENTA 20:13
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Takuma Sano 6:11
GHC Tag Title Match: Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio vs. Vader & Scorpio 19:34
GHC Heavykyu Senshuken Jiki Chosensha Ketteisen: Akira Taue vs. Takao Omori. Basic hard hitting match. Short and faster paced with Omori being very aggressive. Good back and forth action. Taue did a lariat suicida. ***
GHC Tag Senshukenjiai: Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Yutaka Yoshie. Stiff brawl. Nakanishi was at his most brutal, hitting harder than I can remember him laying in to Tenzan. The whole match was striking though, and there wasn't much technique or diversity to it so it became tedious. Of course, that it went on for like 25 minutes was also played a big part in the monotony. This is the only style Yoshie can do. Well, he's still not any good, but at least his weaknesses aren't too apparent. Morishima got a bloody nose. The NJ team had negative charisma, but the fans were behind Wild II, so in this case it didn't matter much. **1/4
GHC Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshinari Ogawa. Ogawa wrestled with fire and energy that he's never shown before (or at least not in many many years). Exciting fast paced match with all kinds of nice sequences and counters. Opened with a great quick sequence that culminated with Ogawa ducking a lariat and planting Akiyama with a DDT. The problem with this match, I mean beyond giving an "honored" heavyweight title to a career junior heavyweight jobber, is Ogawa was so outclassed that Akiyama nearly took him out in 4 minutes. I realize Ogawa is the underdog that survives on his counters, but I can't imagine many people are going to want to drop $50 or more to see a champion that's lucky to last 5 minutes with the real top heavyweights. Granted Ogawa turned the 2nd exploder that would have put him out into a small package for the startling mega upset win, but how many times is that going to work? Just look at how many wins Ogawa has in his career against the real stars for the answer. There was a huge reaction to the finish this time because everyone was so surprised, but in Ogawa's defense he did get big reactions after the shock wore off. Exciting match, but NOAH big shows are pretty much one long supposedly excellent main event and this went just 4:19. **1/2
Kentaro Shiga vs. Akitoshi Saito. Style clash. Saito wasn't as stiff with the wirey Shiga. Fans weren't into ths at all. Never came together and was barely adequate. *1/2
Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammad Yone vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takashi Sugiura. These guys didn't work that well together. Sugiura had to sell since he's the young one, but that's not exactly his forte. He did throw everyone around early, but that's his only offense right now. Takayama came in after a little while and made short work of the opposition. *3/4
Jushin Thunder Liger & Minoru Tanaka vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Liger vs. Kikuchi with Kikuchi in his prime would have been awesome, but obviously Kikuchi has been far beyond gone for ages. This wasn't the big letdown that it could have been though because Liger is so damn smart. Liger & Tanaka kept Kikuchi away from all the situations that would make him come off as a 50-year-old. Kikuchi's counters are in slow motion, but he can still fight with intensity. Since Kikuchi was the one that got beat up, Kanemaru was able to make the hot tag and carry his team offensively. Match was always heated, but the fans really got into the match at this point. Liger didn't sell that much for Kanemaru, who just isn't on the level and everyone knows it. Since the outsiders Liger & Tanaka were uncharacteristly dickish, the fans were really into it when they did indeed sell. Kanemaru ripped Liger's mask. Liger is so much more intelligent than the any of the NOAH wrestlers these days, and that's how he had the best match even without particularly good opposition. Easily the most heated and intense match of the night. After the match, there was a big brawl between the NJ & NOAH juniors. ***1/4
GHC Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Naomichi Marufuji vs. Makoto Hashi. Marufuji had blown his knee out against Scorpio a few weeks earlier, but he seemed like his usual self for almost the entire match. Hashi did a reverse DDT on the apron. What made this much deadlier than if he did it in the ring is that there was no apron under Marufuji's shoulder and Hashi went down to the floor to "dislocate" it. Hashi followed with a headbutt off the apron to the shoulder, but Marufuji started selling his knee injury. At the time I thought he wanted to change the focus, but perhaps this is where it started bothering him? In any case, Hashi controlled much of the match, which didn't help the quality. He's something like Tenzan minus the size and stiffness. Just after 18 minutes Marufuji's knee just gave out. I mean, it was like his healing potion wore off and he was back to not being able to put any weight on it so he just collapsed. No one seemed to know what to do. Marufuji obviously couldn't continue, but he was supposed to win the match, so in the end Hashi got the win but not the title. **3/4
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kodo Fuyuki. Fuyuki had that much less stamina than normal due to his health problems, so Misawa wringed his arm for a few minutes. After 4-5 incredibly dull minutes it was pretty good with a bunch of "big" moves. Fuyuki used a chair in the ring, setting it up in between the top/middle rope and whipping Misawa into it. He put Misawa on a table outside the ring and Kanemura put Misawa through it with a diving body press. Match had no story or drama and the selling was nothing special. Misawa tried harder since it was about the end of the line for his buddy Fuyuki. **1/2
Takuma Sano & KENTA vs. Michael Modest & Juventud Guerrera 13:34
Takeshi Rikio vs. Mohammed Yone 12:21
Takeshi Morishima vs. Donovan Morgan 7:29
GHC Junior Heavyweight Title Tournament Round 1: Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Ray Gordy 15:34
Akira Taue & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takashi Sugiura 13:09
Vader & Scorpio vs. Takao Omori & Tamon Honda 12:06
Yoshinari Ogawa & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama & Makoto Hashi 5:54
5/6/02 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center, GHC Tag Title Match: Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio vs. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito 22:35
5/26/02 Sapporo Media Park Spica, 5th GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Decision Tournament Final: Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. KENTA 16:01
5/9/02 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama. Digest
5/26/02
Takao Omori vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
GHC Heavyweight Title Match: Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Akira Taue 15:05. The GHC Heavyweight Title never had any real credibility until Kobashi's record setting reign, and it's Ogawa's run of underlong wholly unsatisfying flash pin victories that really robbed any feeling of specialness from what should have been a prestigious new championship. This was a truly feeble heavyweight title match. It was worked as though they were going 30 minutes, and then just ended with a few lame small package reversals in half that time. They never did anything to make this come across as a big match, and Ogawa never did anything I believed would do any real damage to Taue. Taue looked good, but you felt as though he was holding back so as to not break Ogawa in half. He did his standard moves, but either didn't have time to get into his big move offense or figured having Ogawa survive them would kill the credibility of the moves. Ogawa did his standard by the numbers stuff, showing nothing beyond his soft hitting eye gouging 80's WWF offense. As a midcard house show match, this would have been pretty good, but as something that's supposed to be the equivalent of a Triple Crown match, it was, at best, a marginally adequate prequel to the 2nd half of the match that never actually took place. *1/2
Akira Taue & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Haruka Eigen & Jun Izumida & Masashi Aoyagi
Masao Inoue & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Tamon Honda vs. Kishin Kawabata
Takuma Sano vs. Kotaro Suzuki
Takeshi Rikio vs. KENTA
Takeshi Morishima vs. Makoto Hashi
Yoshinari Ogawa & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammad Yone
Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Takao Omori & Takashi Sugiura
Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Scorpio & Richard Slinger 20:36
Vader vs. Bison Smith 4:59
Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takashi Sugiura 16:12
Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Akira Taue & KENTA 18:22
Yoshinari Ogawa & Mitsuharu Misawa & Takuma Sano vs. Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio & Makoto Hashi 28:44
Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & KENTA vs. Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue & Makoto Hashi 25:46
Daisuke Ikeda & Kishin Kawabata vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki 18:33
Vader vs. Mohammed Yone 1:38
Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Akira Taue & Takashi Sugiura 10:55
Mitsuharu Misawa & Takuma Sano vs. Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio 19:48
Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Haruka Eigen & Masashi Aoyagi 7:31
Tamon Honda & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Richard Slinger & Superstar Steve 9:13
Takeshi Morishima & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Bison Smith 15:34
Vader & Scorpio vs. Michael Modest & Donovan Morgan 8:34
Takuma Sano & KENTA vs. Jun Akiyama & Kotaro Suzuki 16:52
Jun Izumida vs. Mohammed Yone 9:10
Satoru Asako Retirement Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Satoru Asako vs. Akira Taue & Masao Inoue & Makoto Hashi 25:42
GHC Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Takashi Sugiura 17:08
GHC Heavyweight Title Match: Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Takeshi Rikio 17:54
4/14/02 Tokyo Differ Ariake
KENTA vs. Kotaro Suzuki
Takuma Sano & Takashi Sugiura vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone
Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Makoto Hashi vs. Takao Omori & Tamon Honda & Jun Izumida
8/2/02 Fairfield, CA
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Doug Williams & Vinny Massaro
Takao Omori & Maxx Justice vs. Michael Modest & Donovan Morgan
8/29/02 Nagano: Kentaro Shiga vs. Osamu Nishimura
GHC Heavyweight Title Match: Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa 23:50
GHC Tag Title Match: Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio vs. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito 22:47
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Title Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. El Samurai & Masayuki Naruse 14:33
Kenta Kobashi vs. Mohammed Yone 11:47
10/19/02 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
GHC Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 16:53
GHC Tag Title Match: Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito vs. Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga 31:11
9/5/02 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Captain's Fall Elimination Match: Jun Akiyama (c) & Akitoshi Saito & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Makoto Hashi vs. Kenta Kobashi (c) & Kentaro Shiga & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & KENTA 50:11
10/12/02 Tokushima Kenritsu Taiikukan, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Title Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. KENTA & Takashi Sugiura 23:15
10/17/02 Hiroshima Sports Center: Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga vs. Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru 16:28
11/14/02
Vader & Scorpio & Bison Smith vs. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito & Makoto Hashi 9:24
Yoshinari Ogawa & Takuma Sano vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Izumida 14:51
Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga vs. Takeshi Rikio & Kishin Kawabata 11:48