My intro to NOAH - Rate the Tape

[Cactus]

This past weekend at the 3PW show in Philly (Funk vs. Lawler) I bought a tape from the mayfieldmayhem.com guy titled:

The "Very" Best of NOAH (12/23/00 - 3/1/03)

To be honest, I bought the tape because it had the Misawa vs. Kobashi GHC match from last month that everybody puts over, and I recognized a bunch of other names that looked good.

These are the matches on the tape. What to those knowledgable of NOAH think of this as a "Best of" tape (matches not in order they are on tape)?:



12/23/00
*Mitsuharu Misawa def. Vader (14:28)
*Kenta Kobashi def. Jun Akiyama (35:58)

10/12/01
*Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa def. Takao Omori & Shinjiro Ohtani (19:58) (GHC Tag Titles Tourny Round 2)

10/19/01

*Tatsuhito Takaiwa def. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (17:35)(GHC Jr. Title)
*Vader & Scorpio def. Akitoshi Saito & Jun Akiyama (11:39) (GHC Tag Titles Tourny Final)

2/17/02

*Naomichi Marufuji def. Juventud Guerrera (24:57)(GHC Jr. Title)
*Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata def. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi (26:49)

9/23/02
*Mitsuharu Misawa def. Yoshihiro Takayama (23:50) (GHC Title)

3/1/03

*Kenta Kobashi def. Mitsuharu Misawa (33:28) (GHC Title) -

Personally I loved the tape. Nice long matches with plenty of drama and hard hitting.

Vader and Scorpio were great, especially in their tag win. Vader was hitting hard, I forgot in Japan how brutal the drops on your head are. One release German suplex had Misawa land high on his forehead!

The Kobashi vs. Akiyama was awesome! I thought guys trying to no-sell Misawa's elbows was funny. But watching Jun try to no-sell Kobashi's vicious chops in the begining was great.

The Juvi match was good. I've seen him live numerous time and he's either on or off. When he's on he's as good as any, and he was on in this match. He also seems to be quite popular with the ladies. (loved the biting the fingers in the armbar bit)

I was surprised Misawa and Kobashi lost their tag match. Even more surprised it was Kobashi who was pinned.

Misawa vs. Takayama was also very good. Takayama is a big bloke ain't he? I think the secret to bringing out the old Misawa is to knock him around a bit, and Takayama started early. At one point Misawa tries to kick box with the big guy. Takayama gives a look to the ref like "What?" And then precedes to kick Misawa numerous times until he's fallen into the corner. Later he did it again in the other corner with some rough knee shots and a dropkick.

And after a vicious chinlock, Misawa gets some revenge with some brutal kicks and hard knee to the face. The crowd seemed mostly behind Misawa.

Takaiwa vs. Kanemaru. I'm not familiar with these two at all, and they played a few clips of the lead up matches to this one. And these two beat the heck out of each other and told a great story.

And your main event - Misawa vs. Kobashi...

A great match for sure. Though better for those more familiar with these two wrestlers history no doubt. As I felt the Akiyama vs. Kobashi match was just as good(though being 15 minutes longer increases the stuggle, imo). No doubt the history between these two puts this one over a little more.

Misawa's bump jaw first into the railing was fierce!

The crowd was electric for this one, and it comes through. The "Kobashi! Kobashi!" and "Misawa! Misawa!" chants step on each other much like the "Rock/Hogan" chants around last years WRESTLEMANIA 18.

The Tiger Suplex off the ramp was nice, and got the crowd out of their seats. ECW fans won't be that impressed, and the camera angle isn't great, but it would've gone over in Philly just as well. Same with the simultaneous crawl in at the 19 count.

And if that got them out of their seats, Kobashi kicking out of the Emerald Fusion riveted them right back in.

One thing was sure to me after watching this tape, is that Kobashi might be the best wrestler overall out there right now, imo. He steals the show on this tape for sure. He has that great was of communicating with the crowd. It doesn't matter what country you're from or what language you speak, you can smell what Kobashi's cooking.

To be honest, I felt Misawa was out wrestled by both Kobashi AND Takayama in their singles matches against each other on this tape. I'm more familiar with classic Kobashi (orange trunks) from japanese tapes I own and have seen, man he's HUGE now. Muscle packed on muscle. Juiced up right?

Anyway, I felt I got my money's worth. 4 hours of great action.

But is it really the "Very Best of NOAH?"

Your thoughts?

[GlobalHonored]

12/23/00:Mitsuharu Misawa def. Vader & Kenta Kobashi def. Jun Akiyama-These are terrific matches on what was NOAH's first really successful show. Kobashi was in amazing form putting Jun away in his last match for over a year. He couldn't walk to get a ride to his doctors in the days following his match but one would think he was in his prime from seeing this epic confrontation. This was IMO "The NOAH match" atleast until...well I'll get to that later.
10/12/01:Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa def. Takao Omori & Shinjiro Ohtani-Maybe it's just me, but I hate this match and feel it doesn't do justice to the NOAH Tag Tourney. Ogawa is just awful and even Otani isn't on top of his game.
10/19/01:Tatsuhito Takaiwa def. Yoshinobu Kanemaru: Kanemura is a personal fave of mine and he has put on many matches that could qualify as best of NOAH. Is this one? Well, it was important from a title standpoint, so I suppose that's why its in there, but check out his work with Kikuchi, KENTA & Marafuji to see some great work, and tag confrontations with the NJ guys.
Vader & Scorpio def. Akitoshi Saito & Jun Akiyama-Brutal, and brutally short. Vader kills Jun here. I really liked the Vader/Scorpio tag and wish the Big Bull was still in NOAH. He never really got to show his stuff before it was too late. His tag run was quality though.
2/17/02:Naomichi Marufuji def. Juventud Guerrera-surprisingly good, as I'm not a big Juvi Juice fan. Some high flying action and if you're a stranger to Marafuji, don't be. The NOAH Juniors are young and talented. They are the future.
Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata def. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi: Kobashi's long awaited return, well temporarily. Excellent match up that I thought at the time was "The Other Great NOAH match." Kobashi and Jun are awesome as they go at it in the same ring that saw Kobashi's last match. I though Nagata seemed a bit out of place, but the result was well played and surprising.
Mitsuharu Misawa def. Yoshihiro Takayama-Again this must be for a Title standpoint, throwing in some GHC matches on the tape. Nothing special here but it definately beats any of Ogawa's joke roll up Title defenses. These guys are brutal, but this was not the "epic" that these two should one day have in a NOAH ring, hopefully.
Kenta Kobashi def. Mitsuharu Misawa - Oh yeah. "THE NEW NOAH MATCH" THis is the one that will always be included on a best of tape. Match of Promotion so far. No complaints at all. These guys put on a classic.

Is it the definitive NOAH compilation? Well, no. It's close. I would have included the 1/10 tag match between Misawa & Chono vs. Kobashi & Taue. Taue is a big part of the promotion and should be included. Also some interpromotional stuff that NOAH has excelled in like the Otani/Tanaka vs Akiyama/Saito match was good and Liger & his multiple partners invading the NOAH Junior division is some marvelous stuff. A personal fave of mine, despite it's clipped form on my copy is last year's Captain's Fall Elimination Match between Team Burning and Team Sterness. Also their first big matches aren't included. It was a historic 2 nights, breaking from All Japan on their own. They made Akiyama the ace initially going over Misawa in a tag, then Kobashi in singles on back to back nights. It looks like a quality tape but if you want to see what is essentially NOAH, then there is more out there.

[Jason]

I've seen and enjoyed most of the matches on there and that's a nice looking tape. To be fair to Misawa, the guy is getting up there in years and it's amazing how well he still he moves considering all of the abuse he's taken.

NOAH's a very good promotion and there's plenty more out there for you if you liked this tape.

[Cactus]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by GlobalHonored
"Kenta Kobashi def. Jun Akiyama-These are terrific matches on what was NOAH's first really successful show. Kobashi was in amazing form putting Jun away in his last match for over a year. He couldn't walk to get a ride to his doctors in the days following his match but one would think he was in his prime from seeing this epic confrontation. This was IMO "The NOAH match" atleast until...well I'll get to that later."

This is my favorite match on the tape.

"10/12/01:Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa def. Takao Omori & Shinjiro Ohtani-Maybe it's just me, but I hate this match and feel it doesn't do justice to the NOAH Tag Tourney. Ogawa is just awful and even Otani isn't on top of his game."

Arguably the weakest match on the tape, imo.

"Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata def. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi: Kobashi's long awaited return, well temporarily. Excellent match up that I thought at the time was "The Other Great NOAH match." Kobashi and Jun are awesome as they go at it in the same ring that saw Kobashi's last match. I though Nagata seemed a bit out of place, but the result was well played and surprising."

So it was Kobashi's return match then? Let me guess, a knee operation?

Remember I was saying how great Kobashi's psychology was. During one part of this match, Jun gives him a dragon screw and he pops right up and slaps his knee and motions "come on." I understood imediately he was saying, "This isn't the weak spot you think it is!"

Another great moments that sold me on Kobashi was against Misawa match right at the begining of their match. He backed Misawa into the ropes, and then goes for a brutal spinning chop that Misawa deftly avoids. The way that Kobashi looks out of the corner of his eyes at Misawa, and then look the other way at the crowd...fantastic.

Mitsuharu Misawa def. Yoshihiro Takayama-Again this must be for a Title standpoint, throwing in some GHC matches on the tape. Nothing special here but it definately beats any of Ogawa's joke roll up Title defenses. These guys are brutal, but this was not the "epic" that these two should one day have in a NOAH ring, hopefully.

I liked this match. Probably #3 after Akiyama vs. Kobashi and the GHC Title match from March.

Kenta Kobashi def. Mitsuharu Misawa - Oh yeah. "THE NEW NOAH MATCH" THis is the one that will always be included on a best of tape. Match of Promotion so far. No complaints at all. These guys put on a classic.

Yes.

Also some interpromotional stuff that NOAH has excelled in like the Otani/Tanaka vs Akiyama/Saito match was good and Liger & his multiple partners invading the NOAH Junior division is some marvelous stuff.

Tanaka and Liger would've made it for sure. Big fan of both.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[GlobalHonored]

No problem Cactus. I'm a big NOAH fan. Hisa's site is fantastic and you are sure to find tons of Puro info here. And yes, that's a nice tape, but there is still plenty of NOAH stuff missing. I guess Mayfield is holding out for Best of NOAH Volume 2.