Pink Pleather PLNCO Power

Atsushi Kotoge VS Kota Ibushi - NOAH 7/22/2012

CJD: I'll tell you what. If you were to watch a round of lightning fast paced matches, this one would fit the bill very nicely. As this built and built in its economical run time you could feel this match mattered to both guys. There was a little extra snap crackle and pop to even minor things like pinning attempts and kick outs. Two creative, unique talents, but they kept things fairly dialed in with a couple of key moments to wow you. And this match caught me at the right time because it really wowed me. A nice show of respect and admiration between the two post match as corny as that is to care about. But I'm a cornball and I do. I don't know JJZ, is this just a lesser version of a million great Ibushi 10 minute matches and I'm in pro wrestling withdrawal with how little I'm watching right now? Or were you also highly satisfied??

JJZ: Man, so this built so much more than I expected. And for it only being like 10 minutes. You nailed it with this match having some wow. I loved the little fake out from Kotoge for the big hip toss off the guard rail but then just a dropkick instead. Ibushi sold the fuck out of it with bumping on the chairs. This era of Kota is by far my favorite. He was great in the main event stuff with NJPW but this shit he was doing was so fire. Kotoge is someone I think was on track to do big things but wandered off the path for whatever reason. Seeing his chemistry with Ibushi cements that to me. When you look back at the talent NOAH had and brought in at this time it blows my mind that they weren't bigger. This was fantastic brother.

Portrait Of A Young Master Piece

Daisuke Harada/Atsushi Kotoge VS Taiji Ishimori/ACH - NOAH Junior Tag League Finals 7/30/2016

JJZ: So I've had this match in my book of matches. Matches that I sometimes share with you during a night that we only watch wrestling. At one point I thought this match could be the Ace match of the night. I rewatched it a few times back when I first found it to try to decide if it was on that level. Watching it now, I just find the match very good. It covers everything I loved about Harada's NOAH career. His relationship with Kotoge. His feud with Ishimori. And his ability to work with foreign talent so well. This was the finals of the 2016 NOAH Jr tag league. At the time I followed this league as well as I could. I was pleasantly surprised that ACH and Ishimori made the finals. No matter how good or great I thought this was, you can't deny the amazing spots and smooth transitions these four wrestlers did in that ring on July 30th 2016. Enjoy baby!

CJD: I watched this match on my first week of the graveyard rotation while keeping my daughter home sick during the day two days in a row. So it took about three sleep deprived sittings and I wish I had time to watch it back straight through because the flow seemed like one of the strongest aspects of the match. Maybe I'll come back to it down the line. I agree that this match lands in the "very good" camp and sometimes good is good enough! This hit the right notes and the fans loved it, although they seemed a bit surprised at the finish. Curious if this lead to a rematch?? I really liked the pairings here, ACH and Kotoge had a natural chemistry with their big bodacious offense back and forth. Harada and Ishimori were smooth as silk. And I love what a big moment this was for ACH and how swept up in it he seemed. And I will say this, despite having to break up my viewing, the match was so good I never felt like I missed a beat. So glad you had the opportunity to cross this one off and share it with me.