I Called Him Yoshinibu Kanemura For Years

Disobey (Kotaro Suzuki/Yoshinobu Kanemaru) (c) VS Gedo/Jado - NOAH GHC Jr Tag Championship 10/3/2009

JJZ: Every time a NOAH match from the this era is in front of me I assume I've seen it. But I'm pretty damn sure I've never seen this before. I've always love the NJPW VS NOAH stuff. The crowd is always extra energized and you can feel the heat through the screen. The bloodshed in this match is the vein of the story. It's a basic storyline line played to perfection. The heels slowed the match down and drained the babyfaces' will. While the home team brought spirit and excitement with everything they did. The comeback from Kanemaru was edge of your seat viewing. Jedo and Gado really made me hate them. I honestly wanted Suzuki to spike the fuck out of either one of them. I really liked the finishing stretch and hope you do as well.

CJD: This match took place 4 months after Misawa died and in some ways the shadow of that tragedy feels more important to the match than anything else that happens in it. I guess that's how NOAH was in general for a long time afterward, but something about this match with the combo of Suzuki and Kanemaru, a dream team of their junior division, Kotaro one of Misawa's top students, going up against the evil invading heat machines in a bloody proving ground type match. This felt like a catharsis for the crowd in a time they badly needed any sort of diversion. And I think Gedo and Jado milked every last drop out of that situation. To the point that watching it now and expecting something more in the vein of the early 2000s NJPW VS NOAH feud, I did feel like this was a little too deliberate. But for the crowd that night, on a tour called Misawa Always In Our Hearts, it was probably just right. Suzuki was a great hot tag here bringing that fire. Kanemaru probably loved the chance to play face in peril after watching Kikuchi make an art out of it for years and years on the apron. And man did he get some color. I bit on a few nearfalls too, this match definitely took me on a ride. It didn't blow me away but not every match needs to. Fun watch.

Godspeed You! Blue Tiger Emperor

Kotaro Suzuki/Yoshinari Ogawa VS Dick Togo/Yasu Urano - NOAH Jr Heavyweight Tag League 10/15/2010

JJZ: Dick Togo for life homie. I'm extremely familiar with 3 out of 4 of the guys in this match but have no clue who Urano is. He caught me off guard with that front roll at the sound of the bell. He looks like a Japanese Homicide clone. I thought this would make for a nice match up especially with Ogawa and Togo having some fun interactions. Suzuki has one of my favorites movesets in NOAH during this time. His strike combos and efficient offense come across so smart to me. Also for my money he has one of the best tiger drivers in the game. Loved the finish of this match. Enjoy baybay.

CJD: You asked me last week what other ROH talent was on that 2007 tour my match took place during, and ironically enough most of them were there for the first inaugural Junior Tag League, which this match is a part of three years later. Here we have the underdog invading Team DDT against the NOAH stalwarts. This is the stuff that tournaments are made of. So many fun interactions like you said, with surprisingly smooth or physical sequences. You know me and you know this is the type of match I can watch all day. Not to sell Suzuki short, but is Yoshinari Ogawa PIF's spirit animal? Because I think he just may be.

1, 2, 3, 4, Who's Punk? What's The Score?

Nigel McGuinness VS Kotaro Suzuki - NOAH 7/1/2007

CJD: I've brought up my binder full of matches before, and this is one of those matches that once upon a time I had written down to share with you in person. It's on page 12 out of the 32 pages that are in there currently, and I'd honestly crossed it off a while back just because there's so much else I need to get to. We watched so much NOAH and ROH around this time period, and plenty of both Nigel and Suzuki, that it didn't seem essential after a while. Well I'm happy to have had a reason to revisit it because this match played much better than I remembered. Especially the first half. Nigel works so big, Suzuki builds some nice comebacks, and more than anything this is one of those gems that you never knew you needed to see but damn are you glad it exists.

JJZ: Goddammit! You're so far up my alley I'm about to charge you rent! Nigel was so great, it's a crime that his career ended so early. He was the final chapter in the golden era of ROH. His title run was maybe top ten all-time but that's another conversation for another day. Suzuki plays a fantastic babyface to Nigel's subtle heel. For a foreigner he's getting a really good reaction from the Japanese crowd. I've seen plenty of NOAH matches where the work is excellent but the crowd are mostly silent for the gaijin talent that aren't regulars. Suzuki has a great moveset that pops the crowd for his hopespots. His strength was a nice surprise also. It seems like he had no problem getting the much bigger Nigel up. Good shit CD.