On Star Ratings

"I should talk about Star Ratings.[...]I'm one guy, giving my opinion on a match.[...]I give stars cause it's a fun little thing. you read the thing, you look at the star ratings, if a bunch of them are high, you go 'Wow, Bryan really liked this show. I should go see it.'[...]"
-Bryan Alvarez, The Bryan and Vinny Show


So I felt like I needed to make this small aside to post to all of my reviews that involve me giving matches a star rating. Just because I wanna dissolve any idea that I have a high opinion of my taste in wrestling, one that would usually come with thinking people care what I rate a wrestling match.

At the end of the day, I do the Star Ratings on my blog posts for myself. I use the star ratings to track how I felt about certain matches for the benefit of my own memory. So I can compare how I felt about certain matches with other matches, and to see what I subconsciously think about certain wrestlers, teams, or companies. I in no way feel like my word should be taken with any grave seriousness by a wide audience. My Taste is my taste.

Okay this is really short, but maybe I'll come back and revise it some day.

NOAH Kohai 2: The Road to New Sunrise 2020

This review article is part of a series where I Chronicle my attempts to watch all of Pro Wrestling NOAH's 2020 catalogue. The previous article can be found here and the next one chronologically, if I haven't fallen off the reviewing wagon, can be found here. Give them all a read if you want the full context of what I'm talking about.

If you have issues with the fact I use Star Ratings for some of the matches I review here, kindly follow this link for my explanation.

Alright, the biggest show of the year is over with. There's a new singles championship that the entire roster can gun for with the National title, RATELS have control over both of NOAH's Junior titles, and Kongo went 0-2 in their attempt to take over the Heavyweight Division. The next significant show in the timeline, to me, is the New Year's show on January 4th of the cursed year 2020. But that doesn't mean we have nothing to do until then. We have four title matches over the course of three regular shows. On top of that, we have a trio of "Produce" shows run by three of NOAH's factions; RATELS' Showtime, Kongo's DIAMOND, and Sugiura-Gun's All Dogs Gather! (That Exclamation is part of the show name, not reflective of my excitement for the show). 

If I tried to attentively give every match on all of these shows a full blown review I'll probably burn myself out, almost definitely not finish by the time Budokan show gets here. So there's select matches I'll definitely give the full treatment, title matches or important singles matches mostly, but the best I'm probably going to do in between the big shows on my timeline is to glance over and give general feels on the smaller build up shows. I guess, at this point I'm trying to figure out if I can even FINISH before Budokan, I thought the show was on the 21st of February and not the 12th. But the success is in the effort, not the results for this one. Let's get started.

Pro Wrestling NOAH Starting Over, Night 5 November 16th 2019

This was the first show I watched after Aesthetic and I honestly wasn't expecting much, barring the crown jewel match I knew was coming. But, after the first two matches, all three of the 6-man tag matches on the show ended up being really good/ The RATELs/Stinger War was a break neck match which somehow surprised me, Kongo vs Kaito, Marafuji, and Hi69 was a good bounce back performance for Kenoh's unit, and the main event was a great prelude to the National title match coming up between Sugiura and Taniguchi. But the obvious reason anyone would watch this show was-

IPW UK Junior Heavyweight Title [1st Defense]

Atsushi Kotoge (c) (STINGER) vs Daisuke Harada (RATELS)

The Peach Twisters EXPLODE for the...Jesus Christ Daisuke Harada and Atsushi Kotoge have wrestled 34 times. I'm not joking, it's all right here. 

 

Anyway, THIS MATCH RULED. Oh my God this match was so good. It started with Daisuke outmatching Atsushi in the grappling department and keeping on the offense for the opening stretch of the match. Any time Atsushi gained the advantage, it was due to a high risk maneuver or from brawling outside the ring and into the crowd. You can see throughout the whole match that these two men know each other so well; each man at one point went for a splash that was countered with the same knee raising and quick pin, while later in the match each was able to easily avoid or endure the other's sugnature maneuvers. Technical exchanges turned to crowd brawling, which itself turned into an exchange of strikes in the ring. First  Elbows, then slaps, until both men were brought to the ground while the crowd rose to their feet. Finally, Atsushi gained control and almost had Daisuke with a top rope Spanish Fly. This is his one shot and I think he knew it as well. He landed a vicious headbutt on his old friend and a Killswitch for the two count. Desperation set in with some amazing and baffling roll ups from both men. Kotoge's luck ran out, as all luck does against the Young Master, who railed the champion with a knee and rolling elbow, a Katayama German, and finally the infamous top rope Katayama German Suplex for the Three Count. What a Goddamn War.

****

NOAH Kohai: Best of the Best, Battle of Aesthetics

 Happy New Year!

With 2021 coming around the corner, there's a lot of change in my life. I turned 27 a few days ago, just got my MBA from the University at Buffalo, and I'm about to finish buying a condo. With all the shake up in my life, I'm hoping I'll have a lot more time to work on my blog (maybe finally find a good name for it) and watch a lot more wrestling.

I've always called Pro Wrestling NOAH my Soul Mate promotion. Since I started watching it on and off in 2016, I've always felt a connection to it somehow. Maybe I appreciated the story behind it's founding, maybe it's because I like a good underdog story, or maybe (definitely) it's because I followed Katsuhiko Nakajima here from his performance in the 2016 G1 Climax and he immediately won the Heavyweight title at NOAH's next show right after that tournament finished. On the 21st of February, NOAH returns to Budokan hall and I wanna be there...in a metaphorical sense. So I'm planning to take the next month and a half to power through the end of 2019 and all of 2020's shows to get myself ready for the company's return to Budokan. We're starting with their biggest show from 2019 that also had the best name of the year; Battle of Aesthetic.

 

KAZMA SAKAMOTO, El Hijo del Dr. Wager, Jr., and Kinya Okada (Sugiura-Gun) vs Hitoshi Kumano, Mohammed Yone, and Quiet Storm

I wish I could say I payed attention to this match at all, but I used the time this match was on to set up the bones of the review...so Hijo del Dr. Wagner won the match with a Moonsault press that got a lot of hangtime and I miss Hitoshi Kumano.

Akitoshi Saito and Masao Inoue vs Mitsuo Momota and Tamon Honda

This was a comedy match, mostly between Masao Inoue, Momota, and Honda. The moments that Akitoshi came in resembled more of a match than when Inoue was in, but that's about the best I can say about it. No disrespect meant to the four men, but it just wasn't for me. The best part of the match was watching the 71 year old Mitsuo get a pretty complicated roll-up on Masao.

Hi69, Junta Miyawaki, and Osamu Nishimura vs. Hajime Ohara, NOSAWA Rongai, and Kazushi Sakuraba (Sugiura-Gun)

Miyawaki has a shirt here that says ORANGE RIOT and if I can get my hands on it I would like one. A good, fast paced match that mostly got me excited to be watching more Kazushi Sakuraba in the next few months. Actually, this match had more than a few of my low key favorite NOAH roster members in it, including Junta with his creamsicle gear and Hajime Ohara. Definitely can't wait to watch a whole bunch of Junior Heavyweights having respectful, peaceful matches.

Kazushi won the match for Sugiura-Gun with a heel hook into a Figure Four on Nio Hi69.

Masaaki Mochizuki, Minoru Tanaka, and Super Crazy vs. Atsushi Kotoge, Chris Ridgeway (Stinger), and Eddie Edwards

Another good exhibition of the NOAH Junior Heavyweights, mixed in with some outside talent. I was reminded how much I liked Chris Ridgeway and I'm sorry that I wont be seeing much of him in the next month of my watching. Good finishing scramble that left Super Crazy and Eddie Edwards in the ring together. Eddie used the Tiger Driver and a Shining Wizard to put away Crazy...so mixed message there.

Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Shuhei Taniguchi

Alright, the show really starts now; Kenta Mother Loving and Respecting Kobashi is in the commentary booth. 

 

This match was brutal but in an amazing way. To give a really short and probably bastardized rundown, Fujita was an Antonio Inoki prospect and three time IWGP Heavyweight Champion. MMA trained and 1st degree Inokism, I wouldn't want to fuck with Fujita. But Taniguchi, it seems, wants to fuck around with Fujita, taking him down early in the match and punting him in the head. The whole match is characterized by long bouts of Taniguchi having control but occasionally losing it to a much stronger and harder hitting Fujita. Shuhei showed amazing spirit here, more than I have ever seen out of him, and while ultimately coming up short got me to think differently of him. If you prefer your wrestling to be hard hitting, I would go out of your way to watch this short but brutal contest.

 

***3/4 This is a weird case. The high rating is for the intense heat from the crowd moreso than the the actual wrestling. If you watch this match on silent the rating drops hard. But as it is, everyone likes a good outsider dick story.

GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles [6th defense]

Kotaro Suzuki and Yoshinari Ogawa (Stinger) (c) vs. Daisuke Harada and Tadasuke (RATELS)

Oh my God RATELs feels so long ago. The story of this match was an easy one. "AYY! Tadasuke! you can't step up to the plate." At least that's the feeling I got from it. It was otherwise a basic tag team match. Daisuke is NOAH's best Junior Heavyweight in my opinion. I'm torn between wanting him to step up and fight heavyweights and maybe go after the National title or be the Ace for NOAH's junior heavyweights. Match ends with a Lariat/German Suplex combo and a...well, it looks like an Eight Second Ride, James Storm's old finisher, so we'll go with that. Tadasuke gets the pin.

**3/4, but the audio got desync'd on my video towards the end so it might be better.

GHC Junior Heavyweight Title[2nd Defense]

HAYATA (RATELS) (c) vs. YO-HEY (RATELS)

I know I just gushed about Daisuke in the last match, but I would like to take a hot second to gush about my boy HAYATA. I sincerely believe that if they wanted to, NOAH could build the Junior Heavyweights around HAYATA like they could around Daisuke. Maybe he's a little more flashy than the Young Master, but he's got the look and the crowd behind him and the handsome face...yeah, I think HAYATA is handsome, fight me. Early on in the match, HAYATA hit The Headache as YO-HEY was hanging between the ropes and it was terrifying. Both men bring out some serious high flying offense and high impact good shit in pursuit of the blue and silver belt. I was waiting the whole time for the match to slow down but it never really did. It was a great exchange of two men who each knew the other's moves and thought processes. HAYATA eventually planted YO-HEY with a Thrust Kick, a Headache in the middle of the ring (for a 2 count) before going for a moonsault but getting caught with YO-HEY's knees for another 2 count. YO-HEY kept fighting for kickouts, but after another Headache the match was over.

***3/4

GHC Tag Team Title 

Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Masa Kitamiya and Yoshiki Inamura (KONGO)

 First RATELS and now AXIZ. Leave the memories alone, damnit! This is an awesome match up; Brute power from THE TOUGH against the focused technique of AXIZ. The young determination of Yoshiki, the sadism of Nakajima. This match fucking ruled. AXIZ isolating Inamura early for punishment, Nakajima taking joy in humiliating his opponent as he took him apart. Shiozaki got in on the action himself, showing a brutal side we don't often see today (I know it's only been a year but this still holds). The hot tag was eventually made to Masa who came in a house of fighting spirit, vinegar, and fire. He would stay in the rest of the match and get several close falls on both men. The Kongo pair did their best to put AXIZ away, but their raw power and determination couldn't match the skill and focus of their opposition. The match ended the way one would hope, with Nakajima in the ring with his old tag partner and friend, knocking him out with a high roundhouse kick and a Vertical Spike Brainbuster. I can't do this match justice, this is the first match on this show I would highly recommend anyone who's a fan of pro wrestling watch. THIS is NOAH.

****1/2

 

Great Muta vs. Naomichi Marufuji

Alright, I guess we have to cool down from that awesome tag title match we just watched, right?

God bless both these men and bell their knees. They tried but the result of this match was a plodding, gimmick filled match. I love both men (not enough to want Mutoh to win the GHC title at Budokan in a few months( but this wasn't a good match. Quite frankly I don't know how good it could have been. Out of respect to how I feel about Mutoh and how great I know Marufuji's matches normally are, plus what I feel for sure is a match that wasn't structured to be conventionally good, I'll pass on rating this one.Don't watch this one.

GHC National Title Match (vacant)

Takashi Sugiura (Sugiura-Gun) vs. Michael Elgin 

Some one call Big E, cause we're about to have two meat men slapping meat for a Meaty, red strapped title. Great touch in the opening package to show why both men were chosen to be in this crowning match; Sugiura was the losing finalist in the N1 League (missing out on the Main Event tonight) and Michael Elgin killed Marufuji with a Burning Goddamn Hammer at Impact Wrestling's Bound For Glory event the month before. It's rare to see Takashi "Murder Uncle Mk II" Sugiura being the sympathetic wrestler in the match, but for the first part of the match Michael Elgin was able to take it to him hard. When Sugiura got his feet back under him with a big ol' Spear the match became the hard hitting contest I was excited for it to be. In the vein of New Japan's NEVER Title, Big Japan's Strong Divion title, or seemingly any ZERO1 Heavyweight title match, these two men set the pace and the taste that the National Title seemingly promised to give. As the year goes on, we'll see that advertised style be refined and evolve. If you don't like the strike heavy, fighting spirit focused matches of Japanese pro wrestling, this match won't be for you, and that's okay. but if you're all for this kind of wrestling I can't recommend this match enough, An accidentally hilarious exchange saw Elgin his Sugiura with two rolling German Suplexes, shortly before Sugiura got an Ankle Lock. That'd be incidental at best, but Elgin transitioned into a Crossface from being in the Ankle Lock. Which just makes me want to watch Angle/Benoit after this. Not to mention Sugiura going for the Olympic Qualifying Slam a minute later. After failing to put Takashi away with a rocking Lariat and a Post-Bucklebomb Powerbomb, Big Mike went for the Burning Hammer, which you can't do in Misawa's house. His hubris cost him as Sugiura locked in a Guillotine that almost ended that match. The strike exchange at the end of the match lead to two Olympic Qualifying Slams to crown Sugiura the first National Champion.

****1/4 A Hell for Leather (is that how it's said? I dunno) contest that set up the new title extremely well

GHC Heavyweight Title [6th Defense]

Kaito Kiyomiya (c) vs. Kenoh

Okay it was a hell of a struggle to watch this match. I went to go watch this match on Youtube and about ten minutes into the video the audio desyncd. I went onto Dailymotion and found a different version of the match and...okay no Dailymotion's version is way too pixelated on my bigger screen so that one ended up being out, too. Last resort, my hard drive that has this full show on it. Finally, I had a great looking and properly sounded version.

I could watch Kenoh and Kaito feud for the next decade and, hopefully, that seems to be the actual plan. The opening moments of this match were arguably some of the best, with Kenoh belittling Kaito on a rope break that lead to an opening exchange of strikes. The contest was pretty even until Kenoh caught the champion with a rocking DDT on the apron, followed by a scary Double Foot Stomp to the back of Kaito's neck. For the next stretch of the match, Kenoh kept the champion down with submissions and beat downs, letting Kaito only come back with one or two strikes before being smothered once more. Kaito made a proper comeback started with an AMAZING dive from the ring to the floor over the turnbuckle pole onto Kenoh, followed by one of his beautiful top rope dropkicks to the back of Kenoh's head. Shit's on. Both men start going for Tiger Suplexes and Double Foot Stomps, but most miss and the other takes the opportunity to swing the match into their favor off of it. I thought it was over once Kenoh nailed a Dragon Suplex on the apron (Baba help me that was terrifying) but somehow, somehow Kaito managed to kick out. Finally, Kenoh was caught by a trio of dropkicks strait to the face and a par of Tiger Suplexes for the successful defense by Kaito in what was an awesome match that did good by the name of GHC.

****1/4

Was every match on this show a homerun? Not exactly, but every match I expected to be great at the very least met my expectations.I'm really looking forward to watching more of the shows as I carve my way through 2020. I'm really hoping you join me, and that I've convinced at least SOMEONE to watch Pro Wrestling NOAH off this review. Next time, before I watch the New Sunrise show that kicked off NOAH's 2020, I'm going to be taking a look at the handful of shows the company ran in 2019 and give selected recommendations from those shows. Keep a lookout for those!

Thanks for reading! I'm glad that I can turn my passion for wrestling into something that so many people enjoy. If you want to get regular updates on when I release more reviews, you can follow me at Twitter at @LSWayne21. Big shoutout to Hisame, the one woman workhorse translating NOAH news and interviews. You can catch her updates, translations, and overall charm at her Twitter here.
See you down the Road.