KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa

[9.0] "From the get this is a really cool match, the entrances have the crowd chanting for Misawa, and Marufuji & KENTA are also crazy over here (no shade to Ogawa who gets handed flowers on his entrance). That energy is carried throughout, this is an excellent matchup between four of the best to ever do it. Ogawa has perfected the sneaky bastard schtick, KENTA and Marufuji are just boundlessly athletic and cool in their offence, and Misawa is well Misawa is Misawa, an absolute icon and legend live in action. KENTAfuji are the major underdogs in this encounter and are clearly on a back foot for the majority, but they just do not give in. There are so many awesome spots in this matchup, from Marufuji hitting a crazy Shiranui on the ramp to KENTA landing some classic Misawa offence onto Misawa himself. Misawa finally gets the win with an Emerald Flowsion Kai but KENTAfuji take him and Ogawa to their true limit. Not a perfect matchup but an incredibly fun one you simply have to watch."

[9.0] "As I love this type of match coming from this era of NOAH, this clash really gives the feeling of seeing Misawa "playing" with the children who spill everything on the living legend and he imposes himself and demonstrates superiority, great nearfalls, spots very well done, young Marufuji is one of the coolest wrestlers I've ever seen (****3/4)"

[9.0] "This is some real slow burn shit, but my god is the pay off worth it, as this match has one of the most electric final 2 minutes you'll ever see. A majority of this match is just Misawa and Ogawa beating up the two juniors, but mainly Kenta, and being massive dickheads about it. Especially Ogawa, I don't think I've ever seen someone ooze more dickhead energy than he does in this match. After about 10 mins of getting his ass whooped, Kenta finally tags in Marufuji, who tries to mount a comeback by hitting a tope on Misawa and attempting to hit a Sliced Bread on Ogawa, but the veterans shut it down pretty quickly. They remain in control for a while, until they end up on the ramp and Marufuji finally mounts a comeback, superkicking Misawa and hitting a Sliced Bread on him. After this, is when the match becomes absolutely fucking nuts, as Kenta and Marufuji just go all out and hit the veteran team with almost every single move in their arsenal in an attempt to put them away, and this leads to some really great nearfalls, that the crowd get super into. Kenta even goes as far as hitting Misawa with Kawada's kicks which Misawa completely no sold in one of the greatest moments of the match. In the end though, despite throwing everything they had at the veterans, including an insane top rope Spanish fly from Marufuji on Misawa, Kenta and Marufuji end up coming up short as Misawa hits brutal ass modified Emerald Flowsion on Marufuji to get the win. Despite it's long runtime and slow burn structure, I still think that when this match got going it was nothing short of incredible. Very good match, especially in final 3rd. ****1/2"

[10.0] "One of the greatest tag matches I've ever seen. Seriously underrated. The beginning of the match was tremendous with KENTAfuji immediately kicking the shit out of the veterans, trying to get an easy advantage. Not long after that the veterans take control for almost the entire first 20 minutes which are made up of two heat segments on KENTA and Marufuji. The KENTA FIP segment was is one of my favorite FIP segments. Misawa used his size advantage and gave a brutal beating to KENTA, which KENTA sold exceptionally well. Ogawa was extremely clever and heelish and i just loved the attitude he had, even taunting Marufuji on the apron. Once KENTA finally makes a quick and stiff comeback, Marufuji gets the hot tag and showcases some of his world class athleticism. Hitting a Tope Con Hilo and some other flashy moves. The veterans take control again and the Marufuji FIP segment is also great. Marufuji's comeback on the ramp might be my favorite spot of the match. He hits some nasty Superkicks and a Shirainui to Misawa. This is when the match kicks into all-time great territory. KENTA and Marufuji begin going all out hitting their big bombs and trying to put the vets away. The crowd was red hot buying into every nearfall. Marufuji hits a spectacular Coast to Coat on Ogawa and attempts another Shirainui but Misawa catches him in midair. That was an amazing spot. KENTA using Kawada's kicks and the Stretch Plum on Misawa was also fantastic and got a great reaction from Misawa and the crowd. Marufuji hits a stunning Spanish Fly for one final nearfall and just as it looks like the Juniors might do it, Misawa comes in with a brutal looking Emerald Flowison. This was a masterclass of storytelling, character, psychology and tag team wrestling. *****"

[9.0] "Loved watching this classic back recently. Kenta took an absolute ass kicking from both Misawa and Ogawa in the opening stages in a great example of cutting the ring in half, as the match builds to a Marufuji tag. Everything Misawa and Ogawa do means something and they had the crowd in the palm of their hands. Marufuji's athletic ability never fails to disappoint and I liked them taking advantage of the raised entrance ramp to run the spot on outside of the ropes. Some good action in the closing stages, loved the last ten minutes. 4 legends of the industry."

"This is one of my favorite ever matches. If someone was new to NOAH this is what I would show them to represent the company. I love how even though it's a match for a heavyweight title, three out of four people in it are juniors. In the end, Misawa's size helps him get the win, but it comes down more to teamwork and experience, with Misawa and Ogawa cutting off Marufuji and KENTA from each other and making many more tags than them throughout the match. But that's not to say MaruKEN don't shine as well! The spot on the apron where Marufuji does the shiranui on Misawa off Ogawa's back is just so neat. I'm new to cagematch so I can't put up a rating yet, but I give it a ten!"

[6.0] "I thought this was decent but nothing more personally. Felt too long for me, and poor Misawa looked like he was in terrible pain before the bell even rang."

[9.0] "This is easily a top 15, perhaps top 10 NOAH match of all time, and I personally think it's quite a bit better than the legendary (and overrated) Kobashi-vs-Takayama main-event. Everything here was fantastic. The tone was set right from the start, with the fiery young juniors jumping the veteran heavyweight champs. Kenta was great as the first underdog in peril. He sold the champs' offence well, and he showed great endurance as he desperately struggled as best as he could to stage some sort of a comeback. The story of Kenta's heavy isolation was great not just for Kenta, but for how Misawa and Ogawa worked their control period, as Ogawa was often quite cheeky with his heel spots to outsmart him, while Misawa would just brush Kenta's work off and smack the hell out of him with his signature elbow strikes. Kenta eventually realised he'd have to tag out to give his team a chance, leading to Marufuji getting a great but very brief hot tag which then turned into Marufuji's own extended face-in-peril segment. Misawa and Ogawa did more of their great work there, and Marufuji sold and fought back just as well as Kenta had. The match became fantastic once Marufuji and Kenta *finally* got the opening for their comeback, hitting some amazing tandem offence that rocked the champs. From there, the junior challengers continued to show tremendous heart and amazing individual and tandem offence as they finally got to take revenge for their previous 20 minutes of immense suffering, which was INCREDIBLY cathartic to see. From that point on, Kenta and Marufuji were hard-hitting and running on adrenaline. Kenta was rejuvenated and going all out against Misawa, who was firing back in turn. Marufuji's acrobatic ability was mesmerising as always, even hitting a stunning Spanish Fly with Misawa of all people for a near fall. Kenta using Kawada's various signature moves was fantastic, insulting Misawa by using some of his greatest rival's moves against him. Everything leading up to and including the finish was amazing. The balance of power was constantly changing throughout those final 10 minutes, with both teams displaying near-perfect chemistry as their various spots and exchanges almost all flowed seamlessly into one another in the most visually enjoyable way possible. Kenta and Marufuji had many convincing hope spots and even a few convincing near falls, but Misawa eventually tanked it all and delivered a deadly, beautiful high-angle Emerald Flowsion for the win. There were a few moments of awkward chemistry, and a few botches too (ffs that botched Emerald Flowsion counter would have been godly...), but the remainder was so amazingly creative and expertly timed/paced that those were ultimately minor issues. All 4 men deserve a massive congratulations for making that heat segment last so long yet still be so incredibly compelling, and of course they deserve unending praise for how amazing the final 1/3rd was. ****1/4"

[9.0] "An absolutely thrilling clash of generations and weight classes. It starts with an explosive barrage by KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji, but Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa quickly gain control and dominate their less experienced opponents for an extended period of time. KENTA and Marufuji sell their asses off and tease a comeback, but to no avail. And then the greatness escalates as these teams pull out absolute magic. The Matrix level Shiranui on the ramp. The stealing of moves that help KENTA finally overwhelm Misawa. And the kick out that sends the crowd into a frenzy. Compounded by the fact that the crowd absolutely ate up everything Misawa did, this was spectacular. And Ogawa was the consummate heel. 4.5 stars, 9 out of 10."

[9.0] "Before I get into the match, I want to talk about Ogawa. He is the man. So smart, so clever, so subtle. He is really excellent and adds that certain level needed to make a match special. One spot where KENTA had a submission on Misawa, Marufuji cam in to try and push Ogawa off the apron and normally it would be successful but Ogawa jumped off and that right there was the spot of the match for me and it's really not noticeable unless you look for it. I can talk about Ogawa for the rest of this review but I better get on to the rest of it. The story in the match was great as well. The old guard in Ogawa and Misawa dominating the youngsters through force (Misawa) and sheer slimness and being clever (Ogawa). At first the crowd didn't really by into KENTA/Maru beating Misawa but as they continued to target Misawa, not Ogawa surprisingly for the most part, the crowd started to get more and more into it until they were in a frenzy for every near fall. It was just excellent storytelling and work by all four to get to that point. They used there quickness to out manoeuvre Misawa and target it weakness and it was a joy to see. ****1/2"

[9.0] "Very good match. Ogawa is terrific with his sliminess. Even during his entrance spitting water at Kentafuji! What a heel. Misawa really hasn't lost all too many steps either and can really still go at this point. The beginning of this is Kentafuji being absolutely dominated by Misawa & Ogawa, particularly KENTA. There is then this weird moment in the match where a female fan screams KENTA's name for so long that the crowd pop for it and start clapping. Her screaming genuinely distracted me for this section of the match (and I've watched hundreds of Japanese matches so I'm fully aware of the "etiquette"). Anywho, Kentafuji get back into the match and we get a few cool spots; I loved the shiranui on the outside and the Spanish Fly. What brings this match down just slightly are the botches towards the end, particularly Marufuji kicking out of the Emerald Flosion which to me looked as though it was supposed to be broken up, judging from Ogawa repeating the pin and KENTA then interrupting it with a rope assisted missile dropkick. We also miss out on what would have been an insanely cool transition when Misawa attempts to reverse Marufuji's Shiranui into an Emerald Flosion, but ends up dropping him before then applying the hold correctly. **** 1/4 stars for me, just shy of **** 1/2. Don't understand Dave's rating but likewise don't understand people dropping ***** on this."

[9.0] "An awesome tag match. Surprising how Dave only got 3. 5 stars on this, I don't even know. This was a classic young stars vs veterans dynamic here and it worked very well. Match was slowly built for the drama in the second half. Misawa and ogawa played the veteran roles as they showed their aggressiveness. Kenta and Maru were hungry to prove themselves. They tried hard at every opportunity to gain some advantage. But the veterans know how to control the state. I love the build and the crowd got more and more into the match. They reacted big to some of the near falls towards the end. This is a match that should have got more attention. Great stuff."

[10.0] "One of the best tag matches ever and for my money the second best match NOAH has ever put on behind the Misawa vs Kobashi 2003 match. The first 20 minutes of this are two heat segments on the jrs with flashes of hope spots quickly cut off through sheer brutality from misawa or slyness from Ogawa. First they work over KENTA destroying his back and once he gets a hot tag to Maru the jrs take over for a minute or so before Maru gets his head worked over. These are both great heat segments but the KENTA one is all time level brilliant and brutal. The last 10 or so minutes feature finally some sustained offence from the jrs as they surprisingly attack Misawa with everything they have got and Ogawa has to save the GOAT a couple of times. KENTA using Kawada moves is incredible as is the crowd and Misawa's reaction as he plays pissed off elder to perfection throughout but it peaks in the finish where he has enough of their shit and lays into Maru until finishing him off with a great emerald Flowsion Kai. It is both an emphatic win as they dominated so much but there was still a scare and for a short while you could believe the jrs might do it. All time great tag very few tags *****"

[8.0] "This has an awesome dynamic of two young juniors going against two established heavyweights. It plays out exactly how one would imagine w/ Misawa & Ogawa doing the work on the offense for most of the match, and then KENTAFuji busting out some really good, high energy, scrappy comebacks. KENTA using a couple of Kawada's signature moves to piss Misawa off is so AWESOME! ***3/4"

[9.0] "The old guard vs the new wave story never fails to be exciting. Loved the beginning where Marufuji and KENTA get some cheap shots on Misawa right at the bell like a couple of blood hungry punks. Eventually Misawa and Ogawa pretty much controlled most of the match by beating the shit out of KENTA for the first half, and then Marufuji the second half. Loved the part when KENTA makes a comeback, and actually dominated Misawa for a little bit using a few of the Four Corners moves. The ending is poetry with Misawa finishing off Marufuji with Maru's version of the Emerald Flowsion. The younger guys got their shit kicked in, but they definitely proved they could hang with the best, ****1/2."

[10.0] "Fantastic tag action here, a tremendous story told as the heavies were trying to teach the juniors a lesson here. Loved how Misawa/Ogawa dominated KENTA during the first portion of the match, only for KENTA to escape and tag Marufuji in, who makes a brilliant quick paced comeback. Loved the dick heel Ogawa played here, and Misawa looking like an absolute boss here. This match also had some breathtaking spots such as the shiranui from Marufuji to Misawa on the ramp, and that awesome flip from Marufuji to Misawa on the top turnbuckle. Seriously a brilliant match, and underrated. (*****)"

[10.0] "I wasn't expecting much coming into this matchup but I was just completely taken aback by how freaking GREAT this was. Misawa was a beast in this match and Ogawa was tremendous in his role in just provoking Marufuji while working over KENTA and using his nefarious tactics to maintain control of the contest for he & Misawa. Though once KENTA made the tag to Marufuji things really picked up and from there on it reached another level and just kept building as well.. Misawa was just super aggressive and just out to destroy KENTAFuji and that's what he did but KENTA & Marufuji put up one helluva fight in return and the story told along with the tremendous usage of tag psychology makes this a legit classic along with the hot Budokan crowd. Definitely worth checking this one out. *****"

[9.0] "3. 5 has to be a misprint. Either that or this is the best 3. 5 star match there has ever been. Great story told between the young buck juniors and the wily veterans. Beginning was slow but by the end it was great. ****1/2"

[8.0] "Though always on point, the match has been criticized for the lack of shine two of the more important gems NOAH would be building its future upon. The staunch veterans dominate the juniors even to the point where the referee was actively helping the highly skilled, complementary young'un team. It's not a squash but it conforms to a match construct in which supposedly a little Kentafuji offense goes a long way. Misawa continues to exhibit difficulties for handling slight modifications from Marafuji's shira-nui (see 3-3-01 from youku;) here, as well, a brilliant EVO spot is mishandled. But the Spanish Fly moment works! Overall the match leaves one excited from the last few minutes if the feeling is a bit hollow because both Kenta and Marafuji, by mid-2004, were entering their primes."