GREAT VOYAGE

September 23, 2002

Mitsuharu Misawa . . . takes a man-sized beating from Takayama, and shows why he’s still The Man.

Masayuki Naruse . . . lets out his inner rudo in what has to be one of the better performances of his career.

Kenta Kobashi . . . channels the grumpy spirit of Jumbo Tsuruta and puts the hurt on a young punk.

YOSHIHIRO TAKAYAMA © vs. MITSUHARU MISAWA (GHC Heavyweight Title)

It’s a bit disappointing that this doesn’t hit the same level as Takayama’s title win over Ogawa, but it’s not much of a surprise since this doesn’t allow for the same sort of story to play out. Misawa is the company ace, so nobody buys him as being an underdog, and it’s hard to sell Takayama as one when he’s got the title around his waist. Sure, they have some history with each other; Misawa holds two singles wins over Takayama, including the tournament final that made him the inaugural GHC Champion, but both of those matches were when Takayama was considered a tag team guy and not a main event player.

So, with them not having much to do to play off their history and without much of a story to the match, Misawa and Takayama just go out there and work. That worked out just fine for a while, Misawa was never one to shy away from taking abuse and it was good to see him get fed up and hand it back, with Takayama reciprocating with some good selling of his own. A good example of this is a relatively simple exchange, Misawa and Takayama do a knuckle lock and Misawa takes him over and cranks on a headlock. But Misawa cranks like he’s trying to decapitate him and Takayama’s reaction fits it perfectly. Takayama’s bumps on Misawa’s elbow suicida and the diving elbow off the apron are two other highlights, and Takayama’s slingshot stomp to Misawa looks like a battle over which of them is crazier: Takayama for doing it, or Misawa for taking it.

Unfortunately, the match pretty much falls apart when Takayama hits a dropkick and injures his shoulder. It’s impressive that he managed to keep going and do as much as he did, especially the Everest German near fall, but that’s pretty much where the bottom drops out. Takayama stands there and lets Misawa slug away and he tries a few different things that don’t exactly work in the context of the match, like blocking an elbow and trying to take Misawa down into an armbar. Takayama escapes the Emerald Frozion and tries to counter into a tombstone, but he’s too hurt to pull off the spot, and Misawa finally starts throwing elbows until Takayama doesn’t get up.

This has enough structure and good work and selling before the injury to make this a good match, but it doesn’t get too far beyond that. The really disappointing thing is that Takayama’s GHC run lasted so little, not that NOAH was brimming with credible challengers to throw at him, but it’d have been cool to maybe see him put in a NJPW appearance and defend it against Chono or Nishimura in a G-1 rematch in the Dome or something. ***1/4

TAKESHIA MORISHIMA/TAKESHI RIKIO © vs. JUN AKIYAMA/AKITOSHI SAITO (GHC Tag Team Titles)

This is far and away the best match in the short history of the GHC Tag Titles, and it’s fitting that the previous match to hold that distinction was the first match between these teams. That said, this still isn’t exactly a good match. Maybe if the opening six minutes were used to lay groundwork for a theme or story, rather than a slap-fest, this might have hit the mark. The best thing here to see by a good margin is the segment of Rikio and Morishima busting up Saito’s midsection. Their work isn’t anything too complex, it’s a lot of body slams and elbow drops, along with a big splash from Rikio, but Saito’s selling is pretty great. And if anything, they cut things off before they needed to. They could have easily stuck with it for another five or so minutes and let Morishima and Rikio ramp up the offense a bit more before Akiyama’s hot tag.

Akiyama’s hot run doesn’t last very long either, but that somewhat makes sense with him being on his own since Saito is still selling the rib attacks. Jun gets planted with an Amaze Impact from Morishima and then they hit the Double Impact in quick succession. Morishima calls for the backdrop but Akiyama counters him into his front neck lock. Saito tags back in and works the finishing stretch with Rikio, and he forgets all about selling his midsection, including hitting a big release German suplex. Saito gets the pin on Rikio after hitting his Sickle of Death enzuigiri three times; first as a desperation shot when he sidesteps a lariat, his next one is after a slap exchange to fully take over the match, and then a running knee and one more enzuigiri finishes off Rikio. It’s disappointing, and a little surprising, that Akiyama didn’t have much of a presence here, but it was nice to see Saito step up and play a major role in an important match.

YOSHINOBU KANEMARU/TSUYOSHI KIKUCHI © vs. EL SAMURAI/MASAYUKI NARUSE (IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles)

Much like the other matches that Kanemaru and Kikuchi had with NJPW teams, this is more heated than it is good. It’s hard to fathom Naruse being the standout performer, but that’s what happened. There wasn’t a whole lot to see from Kikuchi or Samurai; and Kanemaru was his usual self, more worried about spots than story. Naruse embraced his shootstyle roots for some good submission teases with Kikuchi and he lets out his inner rudo, which was a lot of fun to watch (and the main reason that this was so heated).

Considering that Naruse and Samurai weren’t very high on the New Japan pecking order at this time, and that Kikuchi (his selling notwithstanding) was pretty much regulated to being Naruse’s punching bag, this was a golden chance for Kanemaru to step up, even more so as GHC Jr. Champion, but that didn’t happen. He uses his speed to flash a good spot or two, and his lone double team with Kikuchi was nice as well, but once he catches Naruse with the foul, he just starts running through his finishers. It didn’t matter than Naruse had gotten a near fall with the Crazy Cyclone just a minute before, or that Samurai had been busting him up on the floor. The veterans holding back and letting the young guys shine sounds great in theory, but someone needed to reign in Kanemaru, and while Naruse certainly stepped up, El Samurai could have added so much more to make this memorable.

KENTA KOBASHI vs. MOHAMMED YONE

Although this isn’t anything amazing, Kobashi’s performance looks like something of a hidden gem. He’s not on the level of a 1990’s Jumbo, but he’s a mite grumpier than usual, and his work fits that. He doesn’t mind letting Yone tee off on him with his kicks and show that he can take the fight to Kobashi, but Kobashi also shows how easily he can put a stop to things, even with basic and low end offense like a jumping shoulder tackle. Yone throws everything he has at Kobashi, including his Muscle Buster finisher, and when Kobashi kicks out Yone looks devastated. It’s a perfect contrast to Kobashi’s reaction a few moments later when he uses a jackknife cradle for a near fall and curses himself.

Once Yone gets his big offensive run and fails to win, Kobashi takes over and does what’s necessary to win and nothing more. Yone surprises him with a head kick, and Kobashi responds with a big half nelson suplex. Even as Kobashi is holding him in place for the kill, Yone is trying to fight back with leg kicks, and Kobashi isn’t to be denied and pastes him with the lariat for the win. The match itself isn’t very deep, but what’s done is done very well. ***

Conclusion: The Kobashi and the GHC matches are the big reasons to get this, the only real letdown is the juniors tag and that’s not even so much ‘bad’ as it is ‘disappointing.”