Every Match Dave Meltzer Gave 5+ Stars To (2000-2006) Review

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Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Masanobu Fuchi
NJPW December 14, 2000.

Had it not been for the slightly deflating – although totally logical in the framework of the AJPW vs. NJPW feud – finish, I would be shouting from the highest rooftop in Oklahoma about how much I loved this match. This was so good that I’m genuinely surprised (and slightly offended) that it isn’t as lauded as the old All Japan or NOAH tags of the same ilk. I do recognize that this era of New Japan and All Japan is muddy for a lot of fans and may go under the radar, but this blew me away in every way imaginable.

This is one of those matches that exists with a purpose. All four men’s actions had clear and justifiable reasons to happen, and the framework those actions created organically evolved into one of the most chaotic and exciting tags you’re likely to ever see at this period of time. I just adored the unnecessarily brutal tone that Kawada and Fuchi took to their younger New Japan foes, because it established a plot-line that not many Japanese tag matches would have at this point; a clear face/heel divide. But they didn’t ham that divide up and make it too Westernized for the crowd to relate to. Fuchi and Kawada kept their brutish, hard-nosed styles and rather than work like cheap heels, they took the fight to their opponents and brutalized them.

Iizuka’s prolonged beating during the heat segment was delightfully methodical, but was made all the more impactful by the intermittent beatings either Fuchi or Kawada gave his waiting partner at the same time. It made it a lot more difficult for Nagata to come in as a house of fire, and made it even easier for the two veterans to pummel their way to victory. It was Nagata’s fire that even carried these men to a draw, because his big explosions of kicks and strikes to Kawada seemed to be the only thing that could stun him. Iizuka was hurt and worn down, so it was up to Nagata to work overtime and bring the fight to his dastardly opponents. And some of those Nagata/Kawada sequences? Beautiful. It undoubtedly did a bang-up job of setting up future singles matches between the two, all the while adding to an already incredible match-up in the present.

The psychology and pacing here runs so deep that it hurts my head to even try to explain it all. Just know that this was a clinic of effective tag wrestling and should be applauded as one of the great matches in New Japan’s history. ****3/4

GHC Heavyweight Title: Mitsuharu Misawa (c) vs. Kenta Kobashi
Pro Wrestling NOAH March 1, 2003.

I like to think my ratings usually don’t differ too much from public opinion; probably a reason why I largely type these gargantuan columns to negative fanfare. People click and comment more when they have something to complain about. Half the comments for this series are people complaining about Dave Meltzer for instance. It’s just going to happen. That’s not an insult to readers at all; there are plenty of articles on this website that make me want to pull my hair out, but I restrain myself in the name of phony diplomacy. Commenters have no reason to have that thought process, so of course they have the right to voice displeasure. And while I’ve gotten over worrying what people think about my opinions on wrestling, I don’t imagine this match and its snowflake rating are going to win me many supporters, even if that is a silly way to look at it.

Every once in a while, I’ll watch a match that everyone is so unbelievably over the moon about that just doesn’t cut it for me to that level. For the longest time, Kota Ibushi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura from the Tokyo Dome was that match. That changed when I watched the match without Matt Striker on commentary, but it was still an opinion I held for a long time. But my opinion changed drastically after seeing it in a different light. This match – while an epic heavyweight brawl to anyone with eyes and a sense of gravity – just isn’t on that top level for me and just hasn’t been, no matter how many times I watch it.

I just can’t envision watching this side-by-side with their January 1997 match (where they were admittedly much less worn down) and finding it to be of a similar quality. It just doesn’t compute to me. And make no mistake about it, this isn’t a case of the match passing me by, and time degrading it in the face of an evolved style. I just think it’s an inferior greatest hits collection of their All Japan rivalry. In those battles, everything about their skillsets came together perfectly. There was airtight psychology, incredible false finishes, and a sense that you were watching two of the best to ever put on a pair of boots work their magnum opus. Here, it felt like they were playing the hits, but with a Burning Hammer at the end. I’ll even get a little snarky and say that I think some people see that nutty Tiger Suplex from the ramp, and automatically equate the entire match to that sort of insanity. Factually, that’s simply untrue, and speaking subjectively, I didn’t think there was anything psychologically or excitement-wise that can trump even their weaker All Japan face-offs, aside from the admittedly awesome coronation of Kobashi finally beating Misawa in a singles capacity. And those All Japan matches didn’t need a ridiculous ramp bump (not that All Japan even HAD a ramp, to be fair) to be as good as they were.

Hopefully that overly-defensive soliloquy at least gives you a peek into why I don’t find this match to even be a Match of the Year contender for 2003, let alone Best Match Ever like I’ve seen bandied about in some circles. I totally see why some hold that opinion though, it’s just not quite there to me. And in my defense, to say this is a Greatest Hits collection is not me trying to tell you that this is a bad match. All cards on the table, this is actually outstanding. If you’re such a damn good worker that even in your degraded state, you can pull out something like this based on your regular repertoire, that deserves commendation all around.

Kobashi’s performance in this match was inhuman considering the amount of damage he’d subjected his body to at this point. His knees were both contorted burnt hamburgers at this point and if you read Observers and listen to radio shows around the time, most were quite confident Kobashi was done because of it. It actually makes that 2000 match with Jun Akiyama all the more impressive when you realize the shape he was in. I can’t imagine his arms were in much better shape considering that’s essentially what killed his career as a top flight worker after cancer severely hampered it. But still, he pulled himself up by his boot straps and put on one of the most memorable performances in NOAH history.

No mere mortal takes that bump from the apron and lives to tell about it, but Kobashi did. Frankly, I think this match’s best qualities had much more to do with Kenta Kobashi than Misawa. Everyone loves Misawa – and believe me, I do too – but he was just finished at this point. He pulled off a great performance in his own right when you scale it down to his abilities at the time, but he was so beaten down by his years of chainsmoking, untreated injuries, stress I probably couldn’t fathom, and 20 years of the hard All Japan style. I don’t mean to demean Misawa’s performance here because it’s undeniably impressive to watch him considering his aforementioned deteriorating shape, but Kobashi was just a man possessed. Frankly, it’s a miracle that Kobashi who worked a similar schedule was able to perform at this level for over TWO YEARS after this as champion. Hell, Kobashi’s first defense was against Tamon Honda and I thought that match was even better than this one.

But if you look at this match as the last true great Misawa singles match, this does take on a certain aura of significance in the years since, added to by Kobashi’s first win over Misawa in singles competition. That means something. It’s the culmination of one of the great rivalries in wrestling and I accept and appreciate that. And it was the start of one of the best title reigns in the history of wrestling and for that, they’ve got to be commended. ****1/4

GHC Heavyweight Title: Kenta Kobashi (c) vs. Jun Akiyama
Pro Wrestling NOAH July 7, 2004.

This match really encapsulates everything that makes this era of Kenta Kobashi such a gem. He hobbled around on Kurt Angle-esque bent knees and most of the hard-nosed athleticism that permeated through his All Japan work looked to be almost completely absent… but he was such an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime worker that he adjusted and worked a style that didn’t need as much speed and finesse, but retained the brutality and excitement that made him a legend in the previous decade. While I won’t sit here and say this was as cerebral and psychologically dense as matches past, it makes up for that with an unbridled intensity and aura that is too palpable to not be immediately attracted to.

That’s not to tell you we weren’t treated to great storytelling or a proper build, but this bout is much more outwardly crazy than a previous AJPW battle. They threw bombs at each other almost immediately and forwent a prolonged heat segment, which worked wonderfully in its favor. This was about two warriors fighting until one could simply not get up, the simplest story you can tell and in this case, the most effective. It was a war of attrition with escalating consequences, and despite Akiyama’s strong will and perseverance, no one survives the Burning Hammer.

But in a way, it’s a compliment to Akiyama’s unwillingness to die that Kobashi even had to use the Burning Hammer to begin with. Kobashi threw out lariats like they were candy, suplexed Akiyama on his head more times than is medically safe, and even had to pull out a Moonsault… but he still got a shoulder up. None of Kobashi’s big moves could put Akiyama away, so he went to the most reliable weapon he had, and that’s what finally kept his opponent down. That’s the beauty of that finish; while it’s an iron-clad, clean win for the winner, it still protects the loser and makes him look like a monster. Akiyama loses nothing in the long run, because he survived so much and kept fighting to such a degree that Kobashi had no choice but to pull out the biggest trick in the bag. And that’s not even the first time Kobashi’s had to do that to Akiyama either, if you can believe it.

This match is just a brutality at its finest, with the stereotypical fighting spirit and head drops working to maximum effect, and brilliant booking at the end to put a bow on it all. It’s how a big time title match should be worked with both men fighting for their lives, for the most prized possession in their career. It was wrestled like that, and came off as an incredible epic because of it. ****3/4

ROH World Title: Samoa Joe (c) vs. CM Punk
ROH Joe vs. Punk II.

Were it not for the slight lack of organic excitement in the closing stretch, I’d be screaming from the rooftops about how this was the best 60 minute match I’ve ever seen… and I go back and forth on if it is even so. It’s undoubtedly one of Ring of Honor’s crowning achievements in all realms of pro wrestling, either way. Any way you want to look at this bout, you cannot deny what it accomplished. Even athletically, despite the fact that CM Punk has never been the most graceful dancer on the planet. It combines all that makes an epic pro wrestling match… well, epic.

The obvious credit to this match goes to its psychology. The match’s depth, cerebral nature, and narrative pacing are all absolutely incredible in the way they were laid out from the first bell, but also the manner in which they were naturally expanded upon by the wrestlers, who then added their own character-laden touches in the “script” as it were. It gave the match a sense of identity beyond its story’s existence, because that story was approached by two wrestlers who told it as themselves rather than following things by the book. It’s a classic mark of a great worker, as if this match needed any more reason to tell you how good these two men were.

None of that is to say they wouldn’t have been just fine following the story by the book, though. This was absolutely one of the most compelling narrative-driven wrestling matches I’ve ever had the pleasure of viewing. The intelligence and attention to detail these men displayed is quite nearly unrivaled by even some of the most revered wrestlers in history if you look at this match (and the rivalry, obviously) in a vacuum. That’s even more impressive because of the conundrum these men walked into the match with.

It has to be an arduous task to go into a match with the crowd having an idea of where it’s going. Especially as the match wore on, you can sense that the audience figured this was going the time limit, and that presents a problem that inherently clashes with a fundamental aim of wrestling; suspense. When the paying fans know what they’re getting, the stakes that feed upon their beliefs and hopes decline in a way that can be harmful. So instead of working with cheap swerves and obvious shortcuts, these men delved into the heart of what made their June 2004 match such a treat, and turned it on its head. They forced the fans to invest in the journey, and made them forget about the conclusion for a moment, meaning that journey was able to reinforce what they already knew. That’s an incredible thing, and both Joe and Punk should be commended heavily for working the crowd in such a unique way.

It featured both men making adjustments that made sense and clearly mirrored their prior meeting, but the adjustments were made organically and in a different vein to the ideas that preceded them. The best example here is Punk fine-tuning his strategy from the cliched “rope-a-dope” tactics from World Title Classic, and instead tweak it to strictly using slower-paced offense to wear down Joe instead of hurting himself for the greater good. Not only did it make sense in expending Joe’s gas tank and endurance as a fighter, but it made the eventual evolution into a war of attrition all that much more gratifying. Joe had to fight through a completely new strategy to drag Punk into his world, and he didn’t have a waiting Punk at the end when he blew up. The match went that way because Joe made it so, not because Punk let it happen. And so because of that, this match – albeit, mostly in the second half – felt like Joe was in the driver’s seat for more of it.

With that, Joe himself made the requisite adjustments to adapt to what Punk might try to do to extend the bout. He was clearly in much better condition, as he was able to harness his explosiveness and ruggedness until it was the right time to show it off. Whether he did it to shuck Punk off of him or just inflict punishment, Joe felt much more in control here, making the match feel much more even despite the draw still dragging Joe out of his comfort zone. Punk was ultra-prepared, but Joe was right there with him and with maybe another 30 seconds, would have had the match won.

The match stands on its own for a variety of reasons, but in my eyes, the best reason was because Samoa Joe was literally seconds away from definitively thwarting CM Punk’s big strategy. It was the necessary evolution to the story, but also an incredibly compelling one. And had they really given the match some intensity near the end, I’d probably be even giddier about it. But make no mistake, this is one of the great matches of the 21st Century. I’ve never seen a North American match with this level of intelligence or depth mapped out so expertly. I’ve seen more immediately gratifying bouts, sure. But even the most ambitious of those matches cannot say they justified their goal as gracefully as Joe vs. Punk II. *****

TNA X-Division Title: Christopher Daniels (c) vs. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe
TNA Unbreakable.

In some ways, I don’t think time has been as kind to this match as it has been with other matches featuring these three. It’s actually really interesting, because I don’t ever recall a match like this losing steam like this. The first 12 or so minutes of this match consisted of some of the best-timed, most exciting wrestling of the decade to that point, and watching that intensity slowly trickle away was one of the weirder sensations I’ve had watching wrestling in a while. It’s like they blew through their best ideas immediately and all of a sudden found out they had to go ten minutes longer, and it trailed off. I’m so used to watching matches build to a fever pitch at the end, only to watch this one pretty much do the opposite in every single way. I get it on a realism front as of course they’re all going to be fatigued and worn out after such a pace, but it made for such an awkward last 5 minutes that it didn’t help the match in any way. The finish was so weirdly timed and anticlimactic that it only hammered that point home more.

So I can’t really award this match the rating I want to, but boy were those opening 10-12 minutes something else. The crispness, timing, and pacing were all top-of-the-line and absolutely set them up for an all-time great match. The sequences of dives, how they moved in and out of in-ring exchanges so nicely. It was all buttery smooth to add onto the ever-growing excitement of their athleticism and it’s not a wonder why this match gets the accolades it does nearly 15 years later. Don’t let my weird nitpicks hamper your enjoyment because for the first half, this was one of the best and most well-executed three way matches in the history of wrestling. Even with the low-key finish, I’m still in awe of these three because of it. ****1/4

Kenta Kobashi vs. Samoa Joe
ROH Joe vs. Kobashi.

It’s almost impossible for me to consider any other rating for this, one of the most legendary matches in the history of independent wrestling. It’s one of the rare dream matches that not only lives up to the hype on paper, but exceeds it and becomes a standard bearer by which all Japanese import matches were held to for years. Was it Kobashi’s most insane, death defying match ever? No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t an All Japan classic, but that’s not where Kobashi was at this point in his career. And if we’re being honest, this would have been a fantastic Budokan main event even without the novelty of the overbearing love of the Manhattan crowd. But in front of this Manhattan crowd, against this opponent, and at this point in ROH’s existence? This match was everything it needed to be and quite possibly more.

Kenta Kobashi could have easily come in and played the hits in a 10 minute match that would have probably sent the fans home happy, but he didn’t. He came in and earned every cent of his paycheck, wrestling one of the most iconic heavyweight hoss battles of the 21st century. He took everything Joe had to offer, sold like a boss for him, and treated him like an equal. That was paramount to this match coming off the way it did, and Kobashi’s selflessness should be revered by any veteran of the wrestling business in any era. Joe was a bigger star for having wrestled this match, and Kenta Kobashi only added to his incredible legacy by stepping out of his Japan comfort zone and having this almost-as-incredible brawl.

If you’ve somehow not managed to seek this match out, it’s about as obvious a recommendation as I can give. It’s borderline essential viewing for any fan of independent/Japanese wrestling and holds up almost 15 years later as a legendary battle. *****

Genki Horiguchi, Dragon Kid, & Ryo Saito vs. CIMA, Masato Yoshino, & Naruki Doi
ROH Supercard of Honor.

This match is one of the surprisingly few times that I knew, for a fact, what rating I’d give going into it, and that was only solidified by the end. I know the drawback to this by some fans is that you could see this on any Dragon Gate show at the time, and maybe that’s true. Maybe this is small potatoes compared to the actual promotion’s output and whatnot. But every time I’ve watched this match, even 13 years later, it never ceases to blow me away. I’ve seen some of the most absurdly fast, exciting matches in the history of pro wrestling. I reviewed PWG for 7 years. I was a diehard ROH fan for even longer. This is still the spotfest that every crazy trios or tag match is held to. When you say the words “Dragon Gate Six Man”, this is the match you’re brought back to. In the annals of independent wrestling, this is as legendary as it gets.

In some ways, this is to the smaller/flippier wrestlers what Joe vs. Kobashi was to heavyweights. Us Americans were just fine with our awesome Scramble Cages and whatnot, but once these Dragon Gate guys stepped into ROH, it was a whole new world. We were exposed to a level of dynamic, fast, smooth wrestling we’d never seen before. Not all of the indie fans had followed Michinoku Pro or Toryumon or Dragon Gate. This was our exposure. And once the newsletters started picking it up, the legend only continued to grow until the Dragon Gate Six Man became a Wrestlemania Weekend tradition for years. If this match didn’t exist, there would have been no Dragon Gate USA and probably no EVOLVE.

Sure, there were the Dragon Gate Invasion and Challenge shows, but they could not touch this. The “Please Don’t Stop” chant is one of my all-time favorite wrestling moments because it really symbolized what these six men did in front of this Chicago audience as legendary. And make no mistake about it, in ROH and independent wrestling, this is a legendary match. It’s essential viewing in my opinion, and it’s truly one of the great matches of 21st century. *****

10.0

The final score: review Virtually Perfect

The 411

While I felt that many matches in the 1990s were a little too generously graded by Big Dave, I felt that the 2000s to this point are sorely under-represented. While the matches listed here justify their inclusion, it's quite interesting to know that my list would be quite a bit longer if that was what I was reviewing. Matches like Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA from ROH Glory By Honor V, or Shawn vs. Taker at WM 25 would absolutely find themselves lauded to the high heavens if I had a hand in this, but it wasn't to be. As it stands, what ends up here is incredible. There's a hidden gem in the Fuchi/Kawada vs. Iizuka/Nagata match and some obvious inclusions like Kobashi vs. Misawa, all very important and essential viewing despite where my opinions land on them. Seek it all out at your leisure.