161. Kenta Kobashi (c) vs Akira Taue (GHC Championship Match, Pro Wrestling NOAH Navigation Over The Date Line 2004)

After being proven wrong with Akira Taue’s impressive performance against Mitsuharu Misawa at AJPW Champion Carnival 1995 (click here for my review), I decided to seek out more of Taue’s singles matches. Misawa, obviously, carried Taue with ease…but would anybody else accomplish a similar thing? What about the great Kenta Kobashi? I assume they fought in singles match during their AJPW days, but what about their Pro Wrestling NOAH days? They fought for the GHC Championship during Kobashi’s legendary title reign, but it’s not a match you hear about when that reign is brought up. Is it one of the lesser bouts of that epic reign, or is it another cracking bout?

160. Jon Moxley vs ‘Hangman’ Adam Page (Texas Death Match, AEW Revolution 2023)

AEW Revolution 2023 must have been some PPV, as two of its matches were rated 5* (and over) by Dave Meltzer. The AEW Championship match, an Iron Man match between title holder MJF and Bryan Danielson, was rated a whopping 5.75*. I’ll get around to that at some point. The match I want to talk about, however, is the Texas Death match between Jon Moxley and Adam Page, rated a lowly 5* by Meltzer. In the PG world of WWE, it’s rare to see a spot of the old ultraviolence. Would this Texas Death match provide that old ultraviolence?

159. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue (AJPW Champion Carnival 1995)

In my eyes, it was pretty clear which wrestler was the weakest out of AJPW’s famed ‘Four Pillars.’ Akira Taue looked like an amateur compared to Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada. I only had two matches to observe Taue, however: two of the famed tag team matches involving all of the ‘Four Pillars.’ Perhaps I needed to see Taue in a singles match. So, after Googling, his 1995 Champion Carnival Match against Misawa stood out as Taue’s best singles match. So, to give poor Taue a chance, I went ahead and watched it. And, to give the man his due, he almost impressed me…

158. Shingo Takagi (c) vs Aaron Henare (‘Ultimate Triad’ Match for the KOPW Championship, NJPW Road to Sakura Genesis 2023)

You know me, I like to keep up with Meltzer’s 5* matches. This year, he’s already given out 5* to TWO WWE matches, if you can believe it! I’ve already reviewed Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens vs The Usos (click here for my review), and will review Sheamus vs Drew McIntyre vs Gunther in the near future, but Meltzer was on the button for those two classics. But then I saw he’d rated a match 5.25…Shingo Takagi vs Aaron Henare reached a level of perfection that broke his (admittedly shaky) rating system. Takagi is a wrestler that often spoils his matches by under-selling, and I’ve never seen Henare in action before (or even heard of him). So could these two put on on instant classic?

157. Kento Miyahara and Takuya Nomura vs Naoya Nomura and Yuma Aoyagi (AJPW New Year Giant Series 2023)

I (kind of) caught up with modern Pro Wrestling NOAH thanks to the interpromotional event that was Keiji Mutoh “Last Love.” It featured NOAH;s GHC Heavyweight Champion Kaito Kiyomiya vs NJPW’s IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada in one of my favourite bouts of the year thus far (click here for my review). Of course, I need to watch a straight NOAH match, and I’ve got my eye on Kiyomiya vs Kenoh from NOAH The New Year 2023, a highly rated bout. Searching for recently acclaimed AJPW bouts, I saw that Kento Miyahara/Takuya Nomura vs Naoya Nomura/Yuma Aoyagi from AJPW Giant Series 2023. Back in the day, AJPW were renowned for their classic tag team matches, usually featuring the Four Pillars. Is AJPW returning to its former glory?

156. Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Kazuchika Okada (Keiji Muto Grand Final Pro-Wrestling “Last” Love, 2/21/23)

After completing the ‘Burning: The Greatness of Kenta Kobashi’ list, I was going to go back and search for other matches from the peak years of AJPW and Pro Wrestling NOAH. But, I wondered…how are those promotions doing now? I didn’t have to look much further than NJPW World, where a cross-promotional event celebrating Keiji Mutoh’s retirement match came up in the ‘Recommended’ section. Apart from Mutoh’s final bout, pitting him against Tetsuo Naito, the section featured a inter-promotional dream match pitting the GHC Heavyweight Champion against the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. In other words, NOAH’s World champion Kaito Kiyoyima against NJPW’s World champion Kazuchika Okada. What better place for me to start looking into modern day NOAH than this bout, presenting me with the familiar face of Okada? And I bloody loved it!

155. Roman Reigns (c) vs Cody Rhodes (Undisputed WWE Championship, WrestleMania 39 Sunday)

WrestleMania 39 Saturday was a fantastic PLE. The onus was on WrestleMania 39 Sunday to be just as good…and, unfortunately, it couldn’t come close to the previous night’s quality. That’s not to say it wasn’t worth watching; three out of six bouts (I’m not including The Miz/Shane McMahon/Snoop Dogg debacle) were more than worth watching. The Triple Threat match for the Intercontinental Championship, the Raw Women’s Championship match, and the Undisputed WWE Championship match were all contenders for Match of the Night. But, of course, there can be only one…

154. The Usos (c) vs Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens (Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship, WrestleMania 39 Saturday)

WrestleMania 39 Saturday (or Night 1) will probably end up as one of the WWE PLEs/events of the year. I only skipped two matches (on my tight schedule, every second counts!) and almost every match I watched entertained me. I may even check out the ones I skipped (the WrestleMania showcase bout and the six woman tag team bout). This made my Match of the Night choice rather difficult. I can rule out Theory/Cena, as that was merely a typical Cena TV match where Cena shouted out moves to Theory. But what about the other matches?

153. Johnny Gargano vs Grayson Weller (Unsanctioned Match, NXT Stand and Deliver 2023)

It’s easy to forget about NXT Stand and Deliver among all the WrestleMania hooplah, isn’t it? Pushed to Saturday afternoon thanks to WrestleMania now being a two part event, Stand and Deliver is forgotten about almost as soon as it ends. I don’t keep up with regular NXT programming, but will watch some select matches at big events. The NXT North American Five Way Match, Johnny Gargano vs Grayson Weller, and the NXT Championship match were the three matches that appealed to me. But which match was my favourite?

152. Kenta Kobashi vs Kensuke Sasaki (Pro Wrestling NOAH Destiny 2005)

Just imagine the dream matches we’d have if you were to transpose peak Kenta Kobashi into the modern era: against Tomohiro Ishii, against AJ Styles, against Kenny Omega, against Gunther. When you think of dream match, you may think of Hogan/Rock, Cena/Styles, Angle/Joe. When it comes to imaginary dream matches, the list is endless. After Kobashi’s epic GHC Heavyweight title reign ended in 2005, he wanted a steady schedule and ‘event’ matches. That included a few dream matches. While some dream matches are worthy of the name, others stink the arena up (I’m thinking of Antonio Inoki vs Sting, for example). But would this Kobashi dream match end up being a sweet dream…or a beautiful nightmare?