15 Amazing Pro Wrestling NOAH Matches You Must See Before You Die

6. Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata Vs. Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E52YeiISr8 This was Kobashi€™s major return match, after spending a considerable amount of time recovering from extensive knee surgery and preparing for his imminent return. It was also an extremely personal match for Kobashi, as he and Akiyama continued a bitter rivalry over NOAH€™s top spot that had its roots all the way back in AJPW almost ten years earlier. This match was outstanding. It featured four world champion-caliber wrestlers squaring off, and each one of them demonstrated all the essentials of a great match: excellent technical wrestling, stiff strikes, believable selling, and intense storytelling. But the most exciting moments were when Kobashi entered the ring. The normally quiet Japanese audience was at its loudest whenever he entered the ring, and they loved every single thing that he did. Even when his arch-rival Akiyama targeted his recently-repaired knees, Kobashi kept going no matter how painful the offense was. His storytelling abilities were demonstrated quite clearly in this match, as he and the other participants put on an excellent tag match that showed just how talented NOAH€™s roster was. Of course, it wouldn€™t be fair to put this match€™s success solely on Kobashi€™s shoulders. All four participants put on a great showing, and Akiyama, as the youngest wrestler with the most to prove, demonstrated that he was more than capable of going toe-to-toe with some of the best wrestlers in Japanese wrestling history.