Marufuji & KENTA in NYC (2006/03/25 ROH)

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

I went to the ROH card at Basketball City New York. Being a busy person and not much interested in WWE events, it was my first live card since the MLW show at Manhattan Center that took place back in September 2002. When Kobashi came to NY last year, I had another appointment I couldn't miss....

Since it wasn't a big arena or anything, you could basically see the ring close enough from just about everywhere. I was in the 6th row, very close to the aisle.

I had seen some of ROH cards on the DVDs, but I didn't realize how entertaining their product was until I actually saw it live. We often had to stand up just because they were doing mat wrestling (actual "wrestling" and submission moves), and the audience was getting into it.

I'm not gonna go into the detail of all the matches since they are probably available on other sites anyway.

Surprisingly, the girls' four-corner match was very impressive. Nothing like what WWE Diva matches. Those girls showed actual wrestling more than most of the guys on the same card.

Of course, main reason I want to go see the card was Marufuji and KENTA from NOAH. While I'm not a big fan of those two, whenever I watch NOAH tapes, they are entertaining. They teamed to face Brian Danielson & Samoa Joe. I'm not sure what role AmeDra has in ROH besides being their world heavyweight champion, but he did great as a tweaner. OTOH, Samoa Joe was, of course, getting the loudest pop as usual. They chased break-up few times, but they were actually a good team. The heat between Joe and KENTA was great. KENTA defeated AmerDra to win the match.

After the match, KENTA grabbed a mic and said, "what's up, New York! I promise you. I will be back very soon", which got a loud pop. After that, Joe grabbed the mic and cussed to KENTA, who replied by saying (with smile), "oh, I can't understand English"...., which got another good pop.

I said to KENTA, while he was walking through the isle, "Thanks. Come again. (in Japanese of course, but rather in a casual/informal manner)". He nodded and tapped my shoulder. I don't usually markout for wrestlers, but it was kinda nice.

Overall, a good card. I'm willing to go back to see ROH cards in the future when they come close enough.

[Luds]

Glad you had a good time Hisa! I wish I lived close enough to drive to some of those good looking cards!

[Pheonix_Chi25]

Good story Hisa. Sounds like you had fun.
I've been trying to put together a list of Japanese wrestlers (puro and Joshi) who speaks english. Can anyone help?

[Nadareshiki Shiranui]

It's been quite some time since I posted on these forums and
that's a great story, Story and I wish I was lucky like you to be able to see it live.
Anyway, I can't wait to see the match which will be available soon on DVD and I hope you had a great time there.
Oh and one more thing, what music did MaruKENTA come out to? I hope it wasn't anything other than
their Hysteric and Art & Life entrance theme mix.

[NOAHMark]

it sounded to me like a sample from Rey Mysterio Jr's WCW music right before he lost his mask @ SuperBrawl IX in 1999. Because i believe somebody starts rapping in that track.