1) Takuma Sano & Akira Taue vs. Eddie Edwards & Scorpio – 4 – This was a brief three minute encounter which was full of stiffness and energy. Scorpio looked to have taken Edwards under his wing and they looked like they worked pretty well together. On the opposite end, Taue hit some nice chokeslams and showed that he can still work despite his age.
2) Kenta Kobashi vs. Naomichi Marufuji – 7 – This was a match that looked like a solid nine on paper. Although a bit underwelming, this was a solid contest nonetheless. Kobashi worked very stiff and Marufuji hit a sick dropkick that left everyone who was watching this in disbelief! This was a very acceptable match and recommended viewing if you’re a fan of Kobashi’s work.
3) Taiji Ishimora vs. KENTA – 8 – The hell with American cruiserweights! This is how a junior heavyweight match should be! Aside from the fact that Ishimora looked like a Japanese rock star, he flew around the ring with flips and dives that were incredible. KENTA (and yes, it’s supposed to be all caps) worked his traditional style which included stiff kicks, high flying of the highest magnitude, and his trademark “Go To Sleep” maneuver. Seek this match out now, you will not be disappointed.
4) Jun Akiyama vs. Masao Inoue – 5 – Not quite as spectacular as the other uncut matches, but still it was a worthwhile encounter. It seemed like they just didn’t gel together quite well. I would only recommend this match if you’re a fan of either man, otherwise pass it up.
There were quite a few other matches presented on this DVD which were so clipped up, it was impossible to rate them. From what was shown, they looked like formidable encounters but the clip jobs rendered them totally unwatchable. In case you’re wondering, here are the matches from the DVD that were edited:
- Akihito Ito & Misuo Momota vs. Ricky Marvin & Yoshinora Ota
- Atsushi Aoki, Kentaro Shiga, & Junji Izumida vs. Shuhei Taniguchi, Takashi Sugiura, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Tamon Honda vs. Kishin Kawabata & Akitoshi Saito
- Takeshi Morishima, Muhammad Yone, & Takeshi Rikioh vs. Keith Walker, Nigel McGuinness, & Doug Williams
- Yoshinari Ogawa & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Minoru Suzuki & Suwa
In the future, I think it would be a good idea to leave everything unedited for these DVDs. I would’ve like to have seen the McGuinness match in full but no dice I guess. I would recommend this DVD as a good introduction to Japanese wrestling and NOAH in particular but not for the avid collector like myself.
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