Gary Albright vs. Tamon Honda (AJPW, 12/9/95)

Two dudes with amateur backgrounds chasing armbars and throwing suplexes -- yup, sounds fun. They tease Albright's German suplex throughout the match, up to the finish, and while he tosses Honda around early on with a couple of belly-to-belly suplexes, Honda got in quite a bit of offense against the bigger Albright. He hits his own front suplex, countering out of the German attempt. He snaps Albright over with back-to-back suplexes and tries to put him to sleep, hanging on to the hold as Gary tries to counter out of it. He gets a two count off of a double wristsault hold and the fans are rallying behind Honda. He's able to get to the ropes when Albright tries for the dragon suplex so Albright palm thrusts him in the face, slams him down and goes back tot he armbar, which results in a little dosey-doe of armbar attempts until Albright punches him in the face. He hits a cool front suplex, a German suplex, and Honda tries rolling away from Albright toward the ropes but Albright scoops him up and hits the German suplex hold for the pin. Sounds fun and WAS FUN!

Kenta Kobashi vs. Tamon Honda (NOAH, 4/13/03)

Oh boy, this is one of my favorite Pro-Wrestling NOAH matches ever and I love the shit out of Tamon Honda. When you look at Honda, the gross pawn shop ponytail and facial hair, the loose singlet, the scraggy arms…well, he doesn’t look like much. The way he moves around is awkward at best but when he’s on the mat or transitioning into a hold, Honda’s a bona fide killer elite.  He’s the ultimate best-est underdog against Kenta Kobashi, and almost immediately gets dominated by the alpha…you know, until he delivers a third rope German suplex onto the rampway. This time, Kobashi’s bandaged limb is the arm and Honda zeroes in on it, locking in a jujigatame off a legdrop and refusing to let go on the rope break, the desperation to beat Kobashi stinking off. Loved Honda’s rolling counter to the half nelson suplex attempt, re-establishing in the armlock.  Honda doesn’t let up until Kobashi pops off spinning backchops and dumps Honda with gnarly half nelson suplexes. Honda drops some bombs of his own too, including a top rope German suplex. When he applies the STF, he uses his heads to trap Kobashi’s arm and then transitions into the anaconda vise. Kobashi looks dead in that hold and it’s such a terrific visual. His facials in general are pretty great, including when he’s getting yanked off the ropes by Honda’s German suplex. Incredible finishing stretch as Honda counters the short-range lariat with a cradle for an awesome nearfall and then proceeds take Kobashi’s brutal sleeper suplex like a champ-e-on, finally succumbing to the Burning Lariat. Love this match.

Jun Akiyama vs. Tamon Honda (NOAH, 9/5/01)

Another great Tamon Honda underdog tale. I’d previously only seen the last seven minutes of this match before but seeing it in its entirety really fleshes it out.  Here, Honda’s the dopey but mat dangerous Deputy Dawg. They work the opening few minutes to a stalemate, before Akiyama DDTs Honda on the rampway and continues working the neck, using his knees, legscissors, and at one point, slapping on a rear headlock and cranking Honda around into a modified front facelock. Akiyama is able to keep cutting off Honda's momentum – hitting an Exploder in response to Honda’s backdrop and then putting him in a crossface hold – but eventually, Honda breaks out, delivering a couple of awesome slow German suplexes, yanking Akiyama off the ropes, then he goes to the ground with the STF and anaconda vise. Alas, Akiyama’s the man, and he goes back to that neckwork he established so well, utilizing the front necklock, dropping Honda with Exploders to break him down even further before finishing him off with that necklock.