Kenta Kobashi & Junji Izumida vs Akebono & Takeshi Rikio-NOAH 22.1.2006.

A very good 20 minute match that could've been a great 10-15 minute match. Akebono is the focal point of the match-whenever he's in the ring the match is on track. The crowd is livid at the idea of him facing off with Kobashi, and the early sequences clash Kobashi's tenacity with Akebono's sheer size, and it ends up with Akebono running over Kobashi. Unfortunately the Akebono-less pairings deliver nothing for most of the match, you'd think Kobashi was Go Shiozaki by the reactions his offence was getting and his insistance on doing shitty downward chops. The action picks up once Rikio fires up, no-sells Kobashi's pedestrian offence and corners him with sumo palm strikes. From there on Akebono stops playing the invicible monster and embodies a more vulnerable, Vader-esque monster, peaking with Kobashi relentlessly chopping him down in the corner and getting both his payback and moral victory in the clash of the titans. Akebono's slaps and slams are brutal enough that he doesn't lose credibiltiy even if Izumida was beating him up moments beforehand, and him and Rikio come up with neat ways to sandwich their opponents and put their weight to use. A neat glimpse into an alternative universe where a  more mobile and better booked Akebono was a great wrestler. ***1/4

Kenta Kobashi vs Kensuke Sasaki-NOAH 18.7.2005.

Such an amazing spectacle, kinda like Hogan vs Warrior if they were both great wrestlers. I was surprised by how much I liked this, it left a much stronger impression on me than the first time I saw it. They're absolutely phenomenal at commanding the crowd, and everything from the lock-ups, the staredowns to them getting back in the ring feels like an iconic event. The chop battle is kinda like Maradona's goal vs England at the world cup, there have probably been many better, but the combination of time and place realy makes it more iconic than any other. The match is really held together by their selling that never allows the match to go from a battle of stupid male determination into sheer stupidity. Kensuke getting up from a Superplex got a huge reaction, but if he suplexed Kobashi outside the ring instead of eating a Half Nelson one straight away the quality of the match would've been much different. The chop battle perfectly encapsulates how they kept the crowd involve-they didn't just stand there and throws two hundred chops in a row, even if that's how you might remember it. They fired up, got in each other's face, pushed each other into the corner, channged the pace of the chop throwing and so on. In a way the pop-ups eliminate the nearfalls-there are a couple near the end, but nothing near the amount you might expect. Any match that captivates me so much is going to get a high rating, and I'm really struggling to come up with any valid criticisms of it. ****1/2