Akitoshi Saito vs. Kinya Okada
This is how you kick off a proper NOAH Budokan card. A feisty youngster with a lightning bolt on his butt aggressively bringing the fight to a hardened war veteran. Saito let the kid run all over him early but eventually showed him the true power of old age. Motherfuckin’ TENRYU and your biological father Akira Taue are on commentary for this show along with the legendary voice of Dragon Gate Katsuya Ichikawa. Loving the vibe already. **1/2
Atsushi Kotoge, Daiki Inaba & Yasutaka Yano vs. Hajime Ohara, YO-HEY & Kai Fujimura
Total blast. Everyone was fired up by the NOAH Wrestlemania energy and worked a fast-paced burner of the highest midcard quality. The two rookies looked like a million bucks and little Yano somehow already won Spot of the Night with that TOP-ROPE YOUNG BOY PLANCHA. YO-HEY brought the flips and Kotoge worked a sweet, skull-crushing finish with former WRESTLE-1 lad Fujimura. Yes sir. ***
Mohammed Yone & Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Masato Tanaka
Is Mochi/Tanaka the most powerful tag team on Earth? M’s Alliance are not fucking around in 2021. This thing obviously couldn’t live up to the hype of such a team but it totally worked as an efficient piece of midcard wrestling. Taniguchi seems to be increasingly leaning into his inner Manabu Nakanishi goofy caveman energy and it makes him more likeable than just being Generic Hoss Guy #36. **1/2
Takashi Sugiura, Kazushi Sakuraba, Kazuyuki Fujita, Kazunari Murakami, Kendo Kashin & NOSAWA Rongai vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masa Kitamiya, Manabu Soya, Haoh, Nioh & Tadasuke
Katsu scrapping with Team Inoki-ISM Twitter was supposed to be the big hook here, but it didn’t amount to much. Turns out he has a lot more chemistry with Saku than with Midlife Crisis Murakami. Beside a hot opening between Fujita/Soya and the usual fire between Sugiura/Masa, most of this felt like a regular house show multiman. Not bad, but Nakajima and Big Daddy Sugi deserved a bigger Budokan showcase than this. **1/4
Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA © vs. Kotaro Suzuki & Ikuto Hidaka – GHC Jr. Tag Team Titles
Predictably solid match from these four gentlemen. I can’t overstate how much of a great addition Hidaka is to the NOAH junior crew. The fluffy-haired Capturer of the Shawn’s smooth as silk craftiness fits right in with the Ogawa’s and Kotaro’s of the world. Everyone stayed away from the usual go-to limb work storyline and instead went for a concise back and forth. No wheel reinvention but very pleasant nonetheless. I need to mention that Uncle Ogawa’s recent obsession with the Destroyer-style flying headscissors brings a tear to my eye. Perfectly integrated in the clever ending stretch too. ***
Daisuke Harada © vs. Seiki Yoshioka – GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title
Yoshioka’s best NOAH performance yet and one hell of a fun match. Both guys packed a ton of cool stuff in 10 minutes and finally got Seiki over as a top-level junior. They kept a wild pace for most of this, blasting forward with a clever mix of cutting-edge GIF wrestling spots and hard-nosed NOAH physicality.
I quite enjoyed Seiki taking the time to kick the shit out of Harada for like 3 straight minutes in the midst of all the high spots. It helped make him look like champion material and not just a movez guy. The movez were tremendous though and these two made me mark out for stuff that would normally have me rolling my eyes if it was done by lesser wrestlers. ***1/2
Naomichi Marufuji & Jun Akiyama vs. Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura
Gritty generational war featuring Uncle Jun at his most dickish. There’s no one better at firing up young guys. Both Kaito and Inamura stepped up as the fired up young guys of the day and came out of the entire ordeal looking better than ever. The layout was air-tight and saw everyone fall in natural roles: Akiyama and Maru as the heelish vets taking apart Kaito’s arm, Kaito as babyface in peril and Big Yoshiki cutting loose as the hot tag monster.
Also, lots of nifty double teams from both sides. The MARUKIYAMA Exploder/hook kick of white-hot death and the POUNCED GERMAN SUPLEX from the youngins’ were both awesome. Kaito was on the verge of derailing the entire ending stretch with his nonsensical facials but the match thankfully came to a close before irreparable damage was done. A real good time! ***3/4
Kenoh © vs. Masakatsu Funaki – GHC National Title
Compelling little shoot-flavored dust-up. Like with most defenses from Kenoh’s current title reign, they kept the match refreshingly short and leaned into MMA-esque realism for a lot of it. Funaki just playing with Kenoh on the mat early on felt more dangerous than anything in the last defense against Murakami. They also did a good job integrating Kenoh’s pro-style offense into the more legit-looking sections. Obviously, the striking was right on the money and I popped big time for the sudden Dragon suplex finish. Your move, KENDO KASHIN. ***1/4
Go Shiozaki © vs. Keiji Muto – GHC Heavyweight Title
Not a massive fan of the result, but like the Muto/Kaito match from last year, this exceeded my expectations as far as Long 2021 Keiji Muto matches go. Go’s an absolute master at working big title match epics and Grandpa Keiji tagged along for the ride as best as he could. The dueling limb work structure (neck work vs. leg work) was solid enough, but the real stroke of genius here was how they were able to babyface Muto and warm up the crowd for the big upset.
Parts of their babyfication design were accidental (the turnbuckle suplex death-botch) and others clearly orchestrated (Muto unable to hit the Moonsault). In any case, all of it played a major role in turning broken-down Muto into a sympathetic figure, with the Budokan fans stomping like crazy for his kickouts and geriatric resilience. I’d still take most 2020 Shiozaki title defenses over this, but it was hard not to get swept up in the story and crowd reactions here. ***3/4
