NOAH - The First Navigation 2017 (1/7/2017)

3. Daisuke Harada vs. Kaito Kiyomiya

Fucking love these Kaito matches. They're concise, packed with action and the crowd is always hot for them.

****

4. Akitoshi Saito & Mohammed Yone vs. Kenou & Masa Kitamiya

I sometimes forget Kenou is supposed to be a heavy now. He's so small, esp. when he's in there with mammoths like Yone. This match was good. It had good energy. Everyone seemed motivated. Kenou shattered Saito's balls with his diving stomp, that looked fucking nasty.

***1/2

5. GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship (vacant): Hajime Ohara vs. Taiji Ishimori

Ohara worked over Ishimori's back, but that didn't stop Ishimori from taking flight. This motherfucker was doing some wild stuff, including a flipping bodyslam from the top rope. I thought this was good. It got the crowd hot.

***1/4

6. GHC Tag Team Championship: Go Shiozaki & Maybach Taniguchi (c) vs. Atsushi Kotoge & Naomichi Marufuji

The violence between Shiozaki and Kotoge increased every time they interacted and in the third act, Kotoge hits this grisly headbutt and they're both bleeding all over. Shiozaki's comeback was amazing. The crowd was going nuts. Marufuji was like a sniper with those kicks and knees; I dug his performance here as well.

****

7. GHC Heavyweight Championship: Katsuhiko Nakajima (c) vs. Takashi Sugiura

This was a spectacular slugfest. They were going back and forth with strikes while managing to keep action felt fresh. Sugiura has never been a wrestler I particularly care for, but he's always a good bully, and Nakajima worked well as the underdog; he had to dig deep and hit harder to put the brute away.

****1/2

NOAH - Navigation with Breeze 2017 (5/27/2017)

1. Rionne Fujiwara vs. Takashi Sugiura

49-second Sugiura squash. This is how you book Rionne Fujiwara.

***

2. Hi69, Hitoshi Kumano, Mohammed Yone & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. RATEL'S (Tadasuke & YO-HEY), Akitoshi Saito & Masa Kitamiya

**

3. Atsushi Kotoge vs. Kaito Kiyomiya

I'm not feeling Kotoge's new tights, the early 2000s CZW trainee gear was better. Decent showcase for both of these guys.

***

4. Kenou vs. Taiji Ishimori

Kenou does a crazy diving stomp off of the 'entrance gate' and wins via countout before things get going.

*

5. Daisuke Harada vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima

 Harada was a little prick here, getting the sucker punch as Nakajima is making his entrance and using the Heavyweight Champion's own signature turnbuckle punt against him. This was a great, fast-paced clash with some heat thrown in.

***1/2

6. Maybach Taniguchi vs. Randy Reign

This was an entertaining big man match, they did some stuff on the apron and had a chaotic brawl on the outside. This card has a lot of singles matches and this one did a good job standing out.

**1/2

7. Cody Hall vs. Naomichi Marufuji

It's hard to take Cody Hall seriously as threat when he was the recipient of a thousand Rainmakers during his New Japan run. There wasn't much to this, but Cody does an amazing sell job of Marufuji's kicks and jumping knee strikes, perhaps too amazing for a 6'9 monster.

**

8. Brian Cage vs. Go Shiozaki

This match did its job in establishing who the debuting Brian Cage is as a wrestler, and he showed a range of moves that set him apart from the other gaijin brutes on this card. Shiozaki put on a decent showing, but you could sense that his heart wasn't in it. Probably isn't happy doing the job to gaijin of the month.

***1/2

9. GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship: Hajime Ohara (c) vs. HAYATA

HAYATA was over in front of this Osaka crowd since he's an ex-Osaka Pro guy, and they were into his comebacks, but I couldn't help but feel that there was something missing. Ohara was playing the spoiler, aggressively working the back. This was fine; it never reached that next level.

***1/4

NOAH - Global Tag League 2017 (5/4/2017)

1. Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Takuya Nomura

Really awesome rookie opener. Bushiroad needs to get Takuya before he becomes another chest-chopping strong BJ zombie.

***3/4

2. Hajime Ohara & Rionne Fujiwara vs. RATEL'S (HAYATA & YO-HEY)

I thought Rionne Fujiwara fucked off for good when WRESTLE-1 got rid of him, but here he is in NOAH, ughh... Ohara was doing gnarly backwork, crushing these skinny pricks across his knee. HAYATA & YO-HEY are a pretty fun indie-riffic duo. 

***

5. Kenou & Takashi Sugiura vs. XX (Hi69 & Taiji Ishimori)

This was an awesome sprint, and these guys were hurling nukes. Kenou is supposed to be a big bad heavyweight bullying the crafty little guys alongside Sugiura, but he's still junior-sized himself. NOAH the Reborn, ya'll.

***1/2

6. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya vs. Akitoshi Saito & Mohammed Yone

Yone has this weird disco gimmick that he doesn't really commit to. He catches Katsuhiko with a big high kick and knocks him straight out! What an ending!

**1/4

7. Global Tag League 2017 Final: Atsushi Kotoge & Go Shiozaki vs. Maybach Taniguchi & Naomichi Marufuji

What a goddamn match! There was so much action I don't even know where to start. Maybach's new look is awesome and menacing, and he looks like a star. Marufuji and Shiozaki went back and forth with surly chop exchanges, Kotoge connected with his awesome kicks and counters -- everyone looked great and had their moment to shine, and the crowd was hot. This blew me away.

****1/2