Outside The Box with The Crazyboxman Issue#1

With the death of its founder still fresh in their minds,  Pro Wrestling NOAH soldiers on with the style of pro wrestling Mitsuharu Misawa helped to pioneer,  NOAH Boss Akira Taue continues in the NOAH Tradition as they celebrate their 10th Anniversary from Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo Japan. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Pro Wrestling NOAH.

Pro Wrestling NOAH New Navigation in Tokyo (10th Anniversary Show) 8-22-2010

Match # 1 : Akira Taue & Kentaro Shiga (Freelance) vs. Satoshi Kajiwara (Kensuke Office) & Takashi Okita (Kensuke Office) ~ Good Opener. Return match of sorts for Shiga who recently has gone freelance to work more dates outside of NOAH, Shiga gets Kajiwara with an abdominal stretch that he then rolls into a pin for the 1-2-3.

Match # 2 : Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Genba Hirayanagi vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima (Kensuke Office) & Kento Miyahara (Kensuke Office) ~ Really Good Jr. Tag Match here, Kanemaru & Genba facing off against the pride of the Kensuke Office Katsuhiko Nakajima and stable mate Kento Miyahara. NOAH has a solid stable of Juniors and they are on display here in this match, lots of great action. Genba gets the pin after hitting Miyahara with the SHORYU-GENBA.

Match # 3 : Akitoshi Saito, Takeshi Morishima & Yutaka Yoshie (DRADITION) vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (Freelance), Takuma Sano &  Masao Inoue. ~ Really odd groups here we see first the team of Veteran Shoot/MMA fighters turned wrestlers Takayama & Sano paired with the former Dark Agents # 2 guy, Masao Inoue. They meet a huge (pun intended) team of Saito (former Dark Agent Boss), Morishima & the visiting Yutaka Yoshie, who’s popularity has risen lately since taken to freelancing on the side while still working out of DRADITION. Basically Inoue is the whipping boy all match long for team big. Morishima gets the win for his team of husky cohorts after hitting Inoue with the Backdrop Driver. Inoue afterwards looks to find Takayama & Sano bailed on him post match, poor Inoue, gets no love even from his own tag partners. Team Big makes it way to the pay window. (And then to the buffet line.) Good match with a little bit of comedy.

Match # 4 : KENTA vs. Atsushi Aoki ~ Both men stare each other down for a long minute or so to start this match, very stiff and tight match with some brutal shots, Aoki gets KENTA in a mean armbar making you believe he will legit shatter his arm at any moment. KENTA gets the win the Go 2 Sleep after a brutal battle, GREAT MATCHUP, well paced, a bit of a passing the torch moment for Aoki, as clearly one can see Aoki becoming the future of NOAH’s Junior Division. Afterwards KENTA extends his hand in respect to Aoki for a well fought match but Aoki refuses and walks away, KENTA talking trash post match, and Kotaro Suzuki comes into the ring and attacks KENTA and there is a bit of back forth till KENTA leaves the ring, Kotaro talks some trash himself now that he showed up KENTA. Methinks this is the beginning of a great feud.

Match # 5 :  Kensuke Sasaki (Kensuke Office)  vs. Shuhei Taniguchi ~ Shuei Tanguchi is a replacement for the Injured Yoshinari Ogawa. Taniguchi showing growth lately, and is starting to get it. Taniguchi is really impressive hitting multiple suplexs from every which way here. Sasaki gets the win with the Northern Lights Bomb. Sasaki looked winded most of this match as he literally put in a move here and there at key times as Taniguchi carried the match, this could be a way of seeing if Taniguchi is ready to carry a match and go the distance with the big boys or (dare I say) Sasaki is slowing down and father time is finally starting to get to the Power Warrior. (or he is doing too many marathons with Akira Hokuto) which in itself is not necessarily a bad thing but makes for a tired Kensuke. Taniguchi showed strength and skill here, this young man has great potential to be huge star for years to come.
 
Match # 6 : GHC Jr. Tag Team Title Match : Taiji Ishimori & Ricky Marvin © vs. Koji Kanemoto (NJPW) & Tiger Mask IV (NJPW) ~ VIOLENT & VICIOUS Tag match here, Kanemoto & TM come into Ariake Coliseum getting booed out of the building, this is a Pro NOAH crowd and they let the NJPW Juniors know it! Back and forth carnage between these teams as Koji and TM heel it up, Ishimori shows Kanemoto no respect through out the match, Ricky Marvin was just on another level entirely this evening. Literally every time someone tagged in they went and pushed the other team’s tag partner out of his corner and off the mat, lots of battling outside of the ring as well, Kanemoto at one point taking Ishimori up near the entrance ramp beating the living hell out of Ishimori, as well as destroying a stage light. Kanemoto gets the pin after TM hits Marvin with a Release Tiger Suplex from the top, Koji Kanemoto & Tiger Mask IV win GHC Jr. Tag Team titles to become the 12th Champions to have held those titles. A Tough & Vicious back and forth match, all four men where hitting all cylinders this evening. Afterwards we see Marvin limping to the back in agony as Ishimori comes over and helps his tag partner to the back as Koji takes the his new GHC Jr. Tag title and throws it down in a sign of disrespect. As he then gets on the mic basically asking if this was all NOAH had to offer? Then NOAH has to be filled with losers, with no one left to challenge him as then Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Genba Hirayangi hit the ring to a big pop from the crowd as they challenge Kanemoto & Tiger Mask for the GHC Jr. Tag Team Titles! We see both teams leave. Kanemoto to the last as he is leaving shows yet one more show of disrespect to NOAH by stepping on the GHC Jr. Tag Title, really pissing the crowd off as he makes final exit. GREAT MATCH.

Match # 7 : Satoshi Kojima (Freelance) vs. Mohammed Yone ~ Yone who as of late has gotten somewhat of an upper mid card push. Yone though, couldn’t have worse luck this night. He faces off against Satoshi Kojima, now working freelance after departing ways with AJPW. Kojima is riding a wave of momentum after winning the G1 Climax and faces Togi Makabe for the IWGP Title later this same month, Yone gets some offense in, but after awhile a very frustrated Kojima gets the win with a very STIFF Lariat. Nothing more to see here, Kojima moves on to bigger and better things.

Match # 8 : G1 Climax Grudge Match :  GO Shiozaki vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (NJPW) ~ This is the match to settle the score between these two young stars, NJPW’s G1 Climax final day saw these to men square off in heated battle that went to a time limit draw, thus denying either of them entry into the G1 Finals. Lots of back and forth action, solid ring work from both men here in this heated bout,  but it is Shiozaki who pulls the upset win with a modified GO Flasher. Great match, crowd was hot, lots of stiff shots, both men brought their A Game and represented their respected promotions in great fashion.
 
MAIN EVENT : GHC Heavyweight Title Match : Takashi Sugiura © vs. Jun Akiyama ~ Takashi Sugiura making his 4th Defense of the GHC Heavyweight Title on NOAH’s 10th Anniversary show in grand fashion and rightfully so against long time NOAH stalwart and veteran, Mr. Sterness himself, Jun Akiyama.  The Tough Sugiura facing off against Akiyama in a solid performance by both men, Akiyama has a good showing here, hits his Wrist Clutch Exploder Suplex, but only a two count. Sugiura retains with a HUGE Avalanche Olympic Slam. After celebrating the win Sugiura shakes Akiyama’s hand after a hard fought win, showing respect to the battle tested veteran. GO Shiozaki after a huge win over the visiting Shinsuke Nakamura, challenges Sugiura to a title match, and Sugiura accepts his offer.

Final Word : Overall this was a pretty good show for Pro Wrestling NOAH, decent card, they claimed 5500 paid (a little more then half filled the coliseum), some would blame MMA earlier in the day at Ryogoku, despite this NOAH showed they are moving in the right direction and I look forward to future NOAH shows.