Makoto Hashi vs. Takeshi Morishima

[5.0] "The match didn't get going until like the 10 minute mark but when it did Morishima pretty much ended it. Hashi loves those brain damaging headbutts and Morishima wins with his version of the burning hammer while showing some power moves that would later define him as a threat."

[6.0] "I didn't knew Makoto Hashi, but great to see a very young version of Morishima, he's involved in the first NOAH match ever. A very décent opener between two young guys."

[5.0] "A solid rookie match to open things up. Hashi is wearing a very bad leotard though. They basically run through their moves, adding a little explosiveness as they go, progressing steadily. This is definitely not just a "trial the basics" kind of match. Both guys have some decent of presence and persona, and you can see Morishima's native ability here pretty well. On the other hand, it has no real depth, no psychology, no incredibly high moments, and it runs about five minutes too long which is a bit torturous. Nevertheless, it's solid and a decent opener. 2.5/5"

[4.0] "Match was not "bad" by any means, but there's a lot left to be desired here. It feels like Makoto Hashi already understood at this point what kind of wrestler he wanted to be, but he doesn't have all the tools yet that he did later on in his career. It also doesn't help that Takeshi Morishima was far from being a complete wrestler at this point in his career, so Hashi's style has a hard time meshing with that of Morishima. There also an obvious flow (or lack thereof) problem, but that's expected given where these guys are at this point in their careers. Still a cool novelty to watch though for historical reasons."

[5.0] "These two have awful looks, bad hair, and poor gear, especially the singlet of Makoto Hashi, the back even has his stupid face on the back of it, I know a bit of the appeal for the wrestlers was being able to change their appearance, and be more out there, but the Babas were right in their case. The in-ring work was fine, the most interesting bits were when Morishima used his strength and size, which he showed he knew how to do even early on, but also kept to the basics, which is understandable given their experience. I found the headbutt sloppy, and somewhat co-operative, which hurt the match for me. This went on too long at (14:05), Morishima won which works given him being the much bigger wrestler, this could have been shorter. **"

[6.0] "I thought this was a fun opener. This was my first time seeing either of these guys and I'd be comfortable in watching more in both of their work. This match had some fun brawling outside the ring, some good technical work inside the ring; a little of everything. Hashi was throwing down some good looking diving headbutts; including one to the floor which was wild to see in the first match. Morishima won the match with a nice finish. This was the first match in Pro Wrestling NOAH history and it was a pretty decent affair."

[6.0] "Fun opener with two young wrestlers performing a lot of exciting moves. Hashi hitting his famous diving headbutts, including one to the floor of the ring and Morishima hitting his power offence including a cool looking finish. This isn't a special match but it's easy to watch and shows two promising wrestlers. 3.25 stars"

[6.0] "A fun opening match, they give the young lads plenty of time & they do maybe a bit too much with it (diving headbutt to the floor in the opening match) but isn't any opening match."

[3.0] "That this is the first match Pro Wrestling NOAH ever held is the most notable thing about it. Morishima is a far cry in both build and talent from who he would become, and Hashi has a long way to go. The latter is established early on as the heel here. This is extremely ropey, and having it go fourteen minutes was a huge mistake. Perhaps I'm being unfair since I haven't seen much in the way of "young wrestler matches", and it would definitely be unfair to hold this against, say, rookie year Akiyama, but yeesh, this is some rough shit. Morishima ends our misery with a lariat (which, to be fair, looks pretty good). *1/2"