Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Takeshi Morishima (NOAH, 3/5/06)

I'm back from my honeymoon and back to revisiting Pro Wrestling NOAH, in all its glory. Baby Huey is such a loveable hangry mess here and old man Misawa bumps like crazy for him, making the clobberin’ slop look like absolute barbarism. When Misawa pops him in the schnozz with an elbow, Morishima snaps, lobbing elbows and rocking him with back-to-back-to-back lariats. Look, finesse isn’t a part of Morishima’s repertoire but that’s part of the charm, as he’s vicious with his clubbing forearms in the corner and flattens Misawa with a nasty lariat on the outside, just dominating the legend. Misawa gets a little reprieve with some snug elbows and a big tope suicida through the ropes but the big baby takes over again on offense, powerbombing Misawa. Knowing Misawa’s fate, this is a cringeworthy match for sure, considering the amount of physical abuse both guys endure, and at times, it’s hard to watch Morishima continually fold him up with backdrops and a gnarly uranage. And of course, Misawa tiger driving Morishima’s big ass off the fucking ring apron. Morishima’s nose is a bloody mess but that doesn’t deter Misawa from elbowing the shit out of him in the corner and on the ground, the ref hopelessly trying to intervene only to get shoved back. At one point, Morishima challenges Misawa to fire off more elbows, which isn’t the smartest idea, and after running and rolling and more grounded elbows, Misawa puts him away with one final lunging elbow shot. Brutal warfare.

Katsuyori Shibata & Kota Ibushi vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Takeshi Morishima (BML, 6/18/06)

Katsuyori Shibata & Kota Ibushi vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Takeshi Morishima (BML, 6/18/06)

Well, this was a hot mess. Marufuji and Ibushi weren’t at their bests here, with Ibushi looking especially ungainly. Marufuji just didn’t seem to care much at all. That being said, I loved the shoot interactions between Shibata and Morishima. During the match, Shibata tags in Ibushi but Morishima completely blows off Ibushi’s kicks to continue fighting with Shibata and when Ibushi finally gets his attention, Morishima clobbers him with an elbow and tags out. Team NOAH work on the lower back and legs of Ibushi for a bit, keeping him distant from his partner, but once Shibata gets the tag, he goes completely nuts on Marufuji with strikes in the corner and poor Marufuji doesn’t have a prayer. It’s an awesome moment in an otherwise unawesome match. In the end, Morishima pins Ibushi after a backdrop. 

KENTA & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Takeshi Morishima & Mohammed Yone (NOAH, 11/5/05)

This was like a greatest hits match, with a lot of cool spots and moments, but no real cohesion. Mohammed Yone was the lame duck and the match lost a bit of its steam when he was controlling on offense.  KENTA and Shibata were a fun pairing, and pissed off Baby Huey Morishima was awesome, especially in his interactions with KENTA. After KENTA hits the tag-in springboard dropkick, his shitty little face kicks only aggravate Morishima, which leads to a beat down and Morishima tossing him out of the ring. Shibata/KENTA looked great on offense against the cut off Yone, using plenty of hard strikes and some fun fake-out double teams. But Yone’s selling wasn’t good at all. Morishima’s volatility, however, was the best thing about this match, in my opinion. When KENTA goes to fuck with him on the apron, Morishima yanks him out of the ring and throws him over the barricade! Things slow down when Morishima/Yone are on offense, though I loved the smaller KENTA throwing himself at both guys in an attempt to fight them off. Shibata worked in some good strikes and arm control on Morishima. I loved him coming in and booting Morishima over the ropes to the outside to set up the big springboard Doomsday Device. The final stretch was a mess but the finish between KENTA and Morishima was brutal. Not a great match by any means but plenty of great moments.