Jun Akiyama vs. Masao Inoue (NOAH, 4/23/06)

A polarizing match but one of my favorites for sure, as Masao Inoue truly excels at making the most of his in-ring limitations, putting in the underdog heel performance of the year – yeah, he’s a blatantly classic heel but the crowd favorite against Akiyama. Before the streamers can even fly, Inoue lariats Akiyama and immediately dumps his ass with a cobra clutch suplex! Of course, Akiyama quickly gets the situation under control, wearing Inoue down with a front necklock for an Exploder but Inoue bails before Akiyama can hit what would be the first of…well, many, many knees. When Jun rolls him back in, Inoue promptly rolls back out to avoid him, remaining patient on the outside until he finds an opening to attack and he does so in the shittiest (I say that with love) way possible, scouring Jun’s face with taped wrists and forearms, running it along the ropes, then along the apron. This pisses off Akiyama, who in turn, dirty rubs his forearms across Inoue’s face…and gets booed for it! Loved how sloppy Inoue’s figure-four on the rampway is but the purpose behind it more than makes up for the execution, as he’s trying to get Jun counted out.

When Akiyama finally puts Inoue in his place, calf branding him from the apron into the guardrail and piledriving him onto the floor, the fans continue to shit on him, which is awesome, as Inoue’s clearly the sympathetic dirty dog here. Inoue tries to build a little momentum, trying a couple of flash pin attempts, but when he goes up top, Jun cuts him off with a super Exploder…and the look on Inoue’s face is incredible. Inoue manages a few last gasps, including the torture rack and a powerbomb, but Akiyama slips out of the backslide and hits the first successful running knee. After an Exploder, the knee party really kicks off, but Masao’s not going down, not rolling over, stiff-legged. After ten knees (the number of completion), Akiyama delivers another Exploder for a big nearfall but the wrist-clutch variant is the final nail in the coffin for Inoue.