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This is a project that's been in the works for awhile. So long that a handful of matches I had bookmarked on YouTube are no longer available. This early NOAH stuff is hard to come by through the normal "free" channels. I'm guessing a lot of folks didn't pony up and buy the tapes/dvds. And I'm pretty much past that part of my life now...I've got a mountain of stuff that's in need of watching. Still, this along with joshi and supplementing my late 80's AJPW with Riki Choshu content, is all I'm really watching online. I digress. So this post I'm taking a look at Jun Akiyama and the first incarnation of his Sterness stable (his team with Akitoshi Saito especially). This week I'm focusing on 2001 since NOAH's a really interesting promotion at this time. Kobashi is out and they seem to be searching for an identity which doesn't truly seem to come until Kobashi's GHC title reign in 2003. That seems really overlooked to me. I've seen a couple things like Misawa vs Takayama and I'm thinking a Taue vs Misawa match over a decade ago. Relatively recently I did a Zero One vs NOAH in 2001 post and was pleasantly surprised with the results. Not only was the match quality good but NOAH seemed to have a less polished presentation, more adventurous/creative booking...it feels like a high end Indie like WAR or BJW or what later Zero One would be. I think most folks might recognize that with the NOAH vs NJPW feud esp. the junior tag matches of 2002. Or perhaps the 2003 Differ Cup which I also reviewed a little bit ago. Anyhow let's get onto the matches. Akitoshi Saito & Jun Akiyama vs Takao Omori & Takashi Sugiura (06/16/01) - Oh!!!!What a finisher!! 21 minutes of great tag wrestling. Just so well paced and never gets gratuitous. In fact it's rather simple. That keep it simple stupid mentality is what makes great matches when the talent and athleticism is there. Its 2001 so everyone is still in their prime. Sugi is the face-in-peril as a rookie. What's great is that with his frame, Saito and Akiyama can just lay into him. Everyone is on point here, everyone is excited to be doing this new promotion NOAH - its something I'd feel good giving ****1/4. That finish was just the right thing at the right time and gives it that extra 1/4 star and "near classic" designation. Saito, Akiyama, Shiga & Kanemaru vs Ikeda, Misawa, Marufuji & Ogawa (06/20/01) - Great 8 man match. Good kinds of chaos. My only complaints are with the couple commercial breaks and the VQ from the upload of the old footage. It got pixelated a bit and some the guys had white pants so they looked the same on the far away shots. That said, this was a blast to see these guys in one ring. I'm not sure if this was anything beyond a stable fight. Sterness seems like a street gang especially with Saito there as the enforcer. This is a little over 20 minutes (19ish shown) so this was a great appetizer to I'm sure a lot of other stuff at the time. Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio (07/15/01): Fun match and a good showcase for everyone not named Akiyama. Kanemaru displays a good mix of junior offense and sneaky Ogawa tactics to stay competitive with the big men. Rikio is more developed than Morishima in terms of character and moves but you can tell in 2001 that Morishima has better fundamentals. That was a smart pairing. You can tell Akiyama likes working with them. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama (07/27/01): Man, they paced this one beautifully. This was not a match of excess at all. Very economical but still surprising and with just the right amount of razzle dazzle. It wasn't ungodly stiff or unnecessarily dangerous. The choice of moves and spots were so tasteful. It felt like two of the best in the world, former partners/allies going toe to toe. This was a classic match to me. I'm not watching AJPW/NOAH all of the time like I was 15 years ago so I can't tell you how it rates next to their other bouts or any of that stuff. Looking back I did a Akiyama in 90's AJ post in 2019. So I dug their 04/18/98 Champ Carnival bout quite a bit as well. If you liked that one I think you'd like this as well and vice versa ----- Saito, Akiyama, Shiga & Kanemaru vs. Misawa, Marufuji, Sano & Ogawa (08/15/01): Sterness vs Wave again! Another great match! There's a lot to like here. Everyone is involved including Misawa. There's a bit of comedy at the start. We get lots of rope running and simple but effective teamwork for the body of the match. At the end they dial up the team moves, we get the strong offense, saves etc. These guys are just working in a groove... super fun stuff. 26 minutes but it just flew by. Daisuke Ikeda, Morishima & Rikio vs. Akitoshi Saito, Akiyama & Hashi (08/27/01): More Daisuke Ikeda in NOAH? Absolutely yes, please! Ikeda and Akitoshi Saito blasting each other with kicks, hell yes! 12 minutes of a 14 minute match. Rikio and Morishima (Wild 2) were super impressive. Rikio does the big man thing well as he did throughout his career. Morishima even here shows he's more than just a big man. His explosive quickness makes me want to see more of him. Akiyama does what he needs to as the new champ but is actually pretty damn giving as well. This was really good stuff. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Akitoshi Saito & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (09/09/01): I did a Zero-1 vs NOAH in 2001 post back in 2022. I missed this one and am happy to include it here for my Sterness post Unfortunately we only get the last 3 minutes as its from a TV show. What's shown is a blast with Kanemaru & Takaiwa. Kanemaru does one of the best flip bumps on a lariat ever...and I hate flip bumps. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (10/17/01): We only get a third of the match. The full match is out there somewhere but we get the last 7 minutes and it's really good stuff. Untouchables are still a great team. Sterness just act like a couple of bosses. Saito is definitely a great tag partner to have...a great #2 to Akiyama. He and Ogawa work really well together as well... it feels like you are watching WAR or BJW..there's a real charm to it. Vader & Scorpio vs. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito (10/19/01) 11 minute match. This is really all about reminding people how much of a badass Vader is! Sterness have a great opening attack on the Americans. Saito really has one of the best enzuigiris in the game. Fun stuff but not entirely competitive. Michael Modest & Vader vs. Akitoshi Saito & Jun Akiyama (11/25/01): This is from another TV episode so only have is shown and it focuses on Vader vs Akiyama. More real fun stuff. Wish we got to see more as we also didn't see much of Saito until the finish. He puts Modest away with his version of the Steiner Screwdriver. On the outside Vader chokeslams Slogans through a table like a god! Holy cow! Jun Akiyama vs. Takeshi Rikio (11/30/01): Really good 15 minute match. Rikio had some great slaps and power moves which is all you can ask of him. Akiyama provided the little touches to make Rikio look like a contender. That said Akiyama was never really in danger although the big man hit the champ with some fierce bombs. Vader vs. Jun Akiyama (12/09/01) Oh man that felt like a title fight! Stiff and psychology to boot. We get call backs to the above tag matches. We get both guys coming out with a game plan and sticking to them throughout. When people say that Akiyama doesn't employ psychology in his matches, point them to this match. Near classic stuff! Long live Vader too! Just when you think he's over the hill, he busts out a a move or two to remind you just how great he is. Release German suplex anyone? This was a lot of fun. There's a good amount of variety despite focusing on Jun Akiyama/Sterness. You would think every match would be the same but that wasn't the case. The big reason is that everything wasn't trying to be an epic. So while there was only one classic, they seemed interested in putting on entertaining wrestling matches. Everyone seemed excited to be there and to wrestling in these new fresh match ups. Even if it was only one new guy a match like veterans like Saito, Too Cold Scorpio or new blood like Morishima. In fact, I'm digging 2001 so much that I'm going to do a bonus post on it...matches that I ran out of time on for Akiyama but also a couple title fights and high profile tags. After that, I am planning on doing a Akiyama/Sterness 2002-2004 post. Thanks for reading!!

Here's more 2001 NOAH! Along with the Sterness post and my Zero One vs NOAH post, https://forums.prowrestlingonly.com/blogs/entry/862-spotlight-noah-vs-zero-one-2001/ , I feel like I've got a pretty good sense of the company in '01. There's a lot to like with the fresh match ups, up and coming wrestlers and new twists on old rivalries. With the benefit of hindsight we know that NOAH hadn't quite hit its stride yet. Of the big 3 puroresu companies in '01, I think it was the most consistently good. NJ & AJ had some quality but most of it seemed dependent on Kawada, Tenryu and Muto (his '01 stuff is quality stuff). One big match I'm leaving off my watch list is Misawa vs Takayama 04/15/01 which was the deciding match for the inaugural GHC championship. That's a classic match. Below are some others you might have skipped over for one reason or another (hell I even ended up skipping a couple too!). Let's take a look! Takao Omori vs. Jun Akiyama (April 1, 2001): A really good...almost great match. I really like the Omori-Akiyama story. This period is one that I'm not as familiar with so I'm glad to have found this match. There's a strong focus on working a body part here and I think that's what makes it special. Akiyama mercilessly targets his former partner's Ax Bomber Lariat arm where Omori goes after the neck. Jun's attack is more defense minded. Takao is more offense oriented as his big moves also focus on the head and neck - piledriver, powerbomb, dragon suplex, Ax Guillotine driver and the lariat. I think what keeps this from being firmly "great" is the finish felt very uninspired. And I don't mean the final part of the match...no just the last couple moves. Like they didn't play off of the body of match...and they don't have to BUT it probably needed another back and forth sequence THEN the last couple moves to be a great finish and a "great" match. What a picky bastard I am sometimes This is still a very good encounter with the bulk of the match being excellent. And if I'm being fair both moves at the very end were super over at the time so I'm comfortable saying this is like ***3/4 stuff. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue (05/18/01): Great 15 minute title fight. This is the GAEA version fast paced and they hit a load of big moves without emptying the tank completely. That said there's no intra-match story but it definitely plays off their previous encounters. I guess if anything the story is that Taue has to keep the pressure on and keep hitting Misawa with head kicks, slams etc. He can't give Misawa any room to recover. If you've never seen Misawa vs Taue then this is a good way to get your feet wet. ----- Jun Akiyama vs. Takeshi Morishima (05/25/01): Morishima brings the goods early on, clearly besting Akiyama in the strength/power department. Jun uses technique to get the upper hand and stretches the fuck outta Morishima. His work from the head scissors is fantastic. It's sad that people just blow past this move in the tired headlock takeover to head scissor to escape sequence. It's a great move if you know what you can do with it. Anyhow, Morishima finds an opportunity and takes it. Then a match that seems like its going to a "veteran punishing up-and-comer" match goes Budokan. We get a big move off the apron to the floor. This isn't a lost classic or anything but it is great match for sure. Morishima even this early brings the intensity and confidence. I really like the finish as well as it plays off of that early psychology. I was going to watch Juventud Guerrera vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru (06/24) but I just couldn't get into it after the beginning. I skipped ahead because there were some neat spots. From what I saw, it was a little stiff/rough around the edges due to being unfamiliar with one another. If you're interested, seek it out...maybe I'm missing something. Mitsuharu Misawa, Naomichi Marufuji, Takeshi Rikio & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Michael Modest, Scorpio, Superstar Steve & Vader (07/16): Whoa, this is a nice little under the radar 8 man. It's rough around the edges on a spot or two but as the main event of a B-show that's alright. The veteran talent covers for any mistake quite well to where you don't even really care. The reason is that this is a super entertaining match. There's a little comedy, and although things are simple, it is done very well. You don't need to go crazy in order to have a good match. There's good pacing/rhythm, good chemistry, some gaga that keeps you engaged, and good action. I thought this was very good stuff as a result. Scorpio & Superstar Steve vs. KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji (07/27): Wanna see KENTA get a concussion? Too Cold hits him with a standard spin kick but clearly KENTA wasn't ready for and is on dream street. Scorp does a good job taking care of him, stalls for time and gets Marufuji in the ring without too much harm or showing that the K man is seeing stars. Marufuji then proceeds to go off with Scorp and Superstar. Eventually KENTA comes back in and is slightly better and actually hits some high flying offense. Really good finish to boot. Kentaro Shiga & Makoto Hashi vs. Satoru Asako & Takashi Sugiura (07/27): This seemed like a neat matchup. And dang! I was right! Asako & Shiga bring that AJPW trained goodness that really gets the match going. From their the NOAH newbs follow their energy and we get a really fun 6+ minute match. Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Donovan Morgan (07/27): Pretty good match in the end. They confused the audience in the middle and they kinda switched face & heel roles. Part of it is Morgan is part of the Americans and is therefore sorta heel but certainly is when he spits in Kanemaru's face. Sterness is a tweener stable but Kanemaru should firmly be a face if only in this match does some heel shit like ball kicks & choke with his wrist tape (which he does on the regular). Then Morgan asks for the crowd support to break out of the sleeper. At first he gets laughs, which maybe what he wanted but then the fans were actually behind him. Like Kanemaru decided wasn't going to be the baby face dammit It was weird but they went with it. They got me & the crowd back, did some great stuff at the end and had a pretty good match overall. Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio vs. NO FEAR (Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama) (07/27): Badass 13 minute fight...really just beating each other for most of it. We got some really sick moves later but it ended sooner than I wished. Wild Two are still you but damn they brought it to Takayama & Omori. Near **** match. Takeshi Morishima vs. KENTA (08/15/01): Super young KENTA looks like he's got a surfer gimmick. One little flub early on (that damn Tiger Mask corner back flip off the guy) but this was surprisingly good. Morishima was a great base for KENTA's more generic junior offense (remember early Kawada in Footloose for instance?). It funny because he would still keep some of this in his offense like a top rope rana and definitely the springboard dropkick. Morishima and he are just great opponents and that's no difference even here in 2001. Daisuke Ikeda vs. Tamon Honda (09/01/01): A great example of what I was talking about last time. Early NOAH seemed more interested in doing different matches than what we'd see in the mid-late 2000s. This was a 12 minute BattlARTS match essentially: Lots of really good mat wrestling and fighting over holds, striking from Ikeda, some shoot-style suplexes from Honda (ala UWF). This was for a title shot and is something a few years later, I could see them booking a macho strike/bomb fest instead of this. Financially it probably is what people wanted in the end but 2001 NOAH gives us little treats like this very good match. Daisuke Ikeda & Takashi Sugiura vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama (09/09/01): The NTV matches such as this one are clipped in half. This one is 5 min of 10 minutes. Really wish we got all of it. I'm not sure we even see Omori as the legal man??? Anyway what is shown was great! I can't give this a proper rating but if you come across this in full somewhere, check it out! Helluva opening! Shinjiro Otani vs. Kentaro Shiga (October 17, 2001): A few more Zero One vs NOAH matches that missed the cut a year ago in my post. Glad to add them here! Otani was great here making Shiga look like a real threat. He stooged for him and took most of the moves during the match. Still Otani hit some big stuff and also came out looking strong as well. A real pro...good fun match right here! KENTA & Masao Inoue vs. Richard Slinger & Superstar Steve (10/19): Hey I watched this for Richard Slinger and he didn't disappoint. Now I have to back and watch a bunch of his AJPW under card matches that I skipped This was fun...probably could have been 10-12 minutes instead of 15 but I liked it. Simple stuff but best when Slinger was in. Masashi Aoyagi & Takashi Sugiura vs. Kentaro Shiga & Makoto Hashi (10/19): Sterness' C-team again taking on Sugiura and this time karate expert and indie favorite Masashi Aoyagi (although it looks like he was with NOAH for 14 years). This is another fun match and a good one overall as its given almost 15 minutes. If you're into 90's Indie puro like me then it's real easy to pretend this is an upper mid card match in between some death match with the Headhunters and the main event featuring someone who was trained at the AJPW dojo in the 80's But yeah, going with that notion, you'll really dig this. I'm on a Kentaro Shiga kick I guess... his lanky physique, silver shorts and technical skills scream baby face. It's a lot of fun day dreaming he's the star of this pretend Indie Daisuke Ikeda & Shinjiro Otani vs. Satoru Asako & Takao Omori (10/19): No Fear B-team vs Ikeda & Otani!? This is too weird for me to pass up! But I tell you what I thought it was kinda dull. It just seemed like they were told to eat up some time. I gave up on this Akira Taue & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Tatsuhito Takaiwa (11/20): Only 5 minutes shown on a 10 minute match but shoot this was fun. Kikuchi and Takaiwa are trying to kill each other. Taue vs Hoshikawa is a lot of since Taue takes a ton of offense and Hoshikawa is a junior bumps beautifully for Taue's power moves. Mitsuharu Misawa, Naomichi Marufuji & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Richard Slinger, Scorpio & Vader (11/20/01): Want to say this before I forget: Richard Slinger & Marufuji's opening sequence is awesome! And we're off to the races from there...7 minute finishing stretch match. This was a blast!! Fun post match too! An NTV match shown in full ~ yay! Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (11/25): 1/2 shown and maybe that's a good thing. The parts where they were hitting each other was great. The parts where they were slamming each other was great. There's some leg work but that just was just kinda there because they needed something to make this 20 minutes long. Maybe it was clipped in such a way but nothing seemed to follow a logical pattern. So yeah at 10 minutes this was good but I can't think this was any better in full. Scorpio & Vader vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (11/30/01): This is one I actually own. It's been over a decade since I watched this. And yeah, this is really good stuff! It's a good mix of guys since Vader is all power, Misawa & Scorpio are all arounders who can bring anything given the situation and Ogawa is quick & sneaky. There's really sick spots here and let's be honest the spots are what make this match - Vader especially. His mobility is pretty limited here. Still he gets the job done. I dig the Scorp/Vader team. ----- All in all 2001 NOAH is a pretty darn good year. The under card always seems to have a couple good matches per show and the main events deliver. I wouldn't say they delivered in the way AJPW in the '90s did...but in all honesty they were already that way in 99-2000 which I've seen a good deal of (but not reviewed much of on this blog). It's definitely a transitional period but definitely makes it more interesting to go back and see what's been overlooked or underrated. As you can tell I really have a new appreciation for Kentaro Shiga but also appreciate how ready to go Marufuji and Morishima were. NOAH trainees Rikio and Sugiura weren't far behind since they're more one dimensional power wrestlers. Richard Slinger and Scorpio were always fun to watch and dammit even Superstar Steve. KENTA reminds me of Kawada in that he was good early in doing the junior high risk offense but it took a couple years to find himself and be awesome. And I'm not even counting the Zero One stuff or the Sterness stuff...yeah 2001 NOAH was pretty darn good indeed! I am planning on looking at 2002 in a little bit. I probably won't watch as many under the radar matches but heck! its '02 NOAH so anything more than a handful of matches and we're going to be under the radar But I've missed out on two of the bigger matches of 2002 so those are going to be reviewed hopefully! Also I went back to last week's post and the NOAH vs Zero One post and added some pictures in case you want to check those out. Turns out I had some clips of those matches on a Misawa comp. and thought a couple pics would make things more interesting. Thanks for reading!

This is for the vacant CWA Intercontinental title. A fancam from germany where the crowd is hot for Fujinami as the babyface. Really awesome savage massacre. Vader was just obliterating Fujinami, like only Vader can, just trying to bash his skull in for the entire duration of the match, but eventually Vader ends up with a bloody eye and Fujinami gives it back to him, punching and chopping the cut, including a big leaping forearm smash right to Vader's eye. Vader is great as a wounded monster who can come back and crush his opponent anytime, and they work a nice finishing run where Fujinami looks really great, landing a GAEA Girls missile dropkick on Vader and catching him in believable fashion while remaining an underdog. This went 20+ minutes with no rounds and really could have been worked the exact same anywhere else in the world and would have worked. Best 90s Fujinami match I've seen and maybe the best Vader has had in Germany, depending on how much you like Otto Wanz.

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Clipped by about 5 minutes on the conventional TV broadcast, but I'll share a secret: the full version is available via the AJPW Omnibus (give or take, there's still about 2 or so minutes missing of downtime but trust me, that 2 minutes is probably worth not seeing) To say Vader and Hase have history with each other is a understatement: they had a incredible 1995 match in the tag scene while in NJPW which is widely regarded as a highlight of both men's career: but here we get a singles matchup that's more or less designed to get Vader over going into the 1999 Tag League, and, well, I think it's probably one of Vader's best AJPW showings if in general. It's a match that has a insanely loud crowd that immediately kick up for this as soon as the two start throwing meaty chops and big slams. Vader smacking the crap out of him with hammer blows with Hase going like a trooper and throwing himself around like it's no tomorrow with big knee shots and Uranages like Vader doesn't even weigh anything at all is a very surreal visual, but it all works to provide a unique Vader-style match that never dies down or gets especially boring. It's just the two hitting sick stuff to the other while making it make sense in the context of the match. The crowd explodes for him nailing Vader with a perfect Northern Lights Suplex as well, rightfully so because it was a awesome spot. Vader eventually takes over with his usual power moves, but Hase manages to kick out of a big middle rope splash with ease, even managing to walk off a hellacious Vader lariat. Hase's main tricks are submissions on the legs and arms (doing these as counters to try to make the guy tap out namely a great rolling cross armbreaker out of a chokeslam) and jumping knees, namely off the top rope and apron. Both of these are used as clutches that Vader slowly gets better and better at taking, to the point where they simply don't work anymore. You really get the feeling that Hase knows he's inevitably losing, but he still stubbornly takes as much as he can and then some to try to squeak something out. Of course the inevitable comes as Hase runs out of time and gas, with Vader overwhelming him with a big chokeslam and powerbomb. I would've loved to see more of these two because they've clearly got some incredible chemistry, but for a short sprint, this was incredible stuff, especially helped by the insanely hot crowd that were all over Hase's offence, or just kicking out of stuff. The feeling of Kings Road is definitely still here, but condensed into a smart and compact showing rather than a bloated 30+ bomb city match, which was becoming more and more rare as the years went by. I can still feel confident in placing it as high as this is, both men killed it for something that could've easily been as forgettable as other Vader undercard outings.

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Full version is here bar a minute (don't ask how I found this, I genuinely don't remember outside of I think a random AJPW compilation tape on YT) so given this was essentially a sprint, which was pretty interesting given who was involved. Takayama has to run around Vader (which is a funny sight to see) and throws out some great strikes and slams in the process with a ton of urgency. Vader bumps his ass off for the 33 year old as he lands a ton of offence including even a sensational Taue-lite top rope big boot, which looked pretty well done given Taka's size and whatnot. There's some shoot-style stuff as Taka goes for a few leg and arm submissions, all of which Vader has to reach for the ropes for given his lack of experience in that regard. Eventually he gets swatted like a fly with a big body check before Vader lands two hard splashes for a near fall. Taka does his best Kobashi impression with a silly face afterwards as he tries to push though: Vader has no time for dramatics as he quickly lands a Vader Bomb for another near fall before just splashing the guy again regularly for the conclusive finish. This could've easily been a dream match had Taka been older and Vader younger, but this'll do for a fun little change of pace. Lots of moves done with virtually no downtime and despite Vader's inconsistent and rather shaky workrate at this point he delivers with the bombs and stiff shit you'd expect, with a younger and leaner Taka really embracing his role as the agile underdog with some tricks up his sleeve. Their 2001 match is a lot better in terms of conventional workrate that's expected out of the two, but there's a quality to this that I do find charming given how fast Taka was when he was leaner; it's like seeing early WCW Giant do stuff like dropkicks and the like, bit bonkers.

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Vader makes his entrance with the badass elephant helmet that spits smoke. Then Vader proceeds to just kill Fujinami, throwing him around and demolishing him with his patented shots. Pretty good way to introduce how destructive Vader can be. He was just crushing Fujinami at points, including hitting a lariat with his tree trunk sized arm that sent his opponent into spasms. Fujinami gets some of his technical wrestler comebacks - kicking at the leg, body shots, surprise backslide and submission hold etc. - I think Fujinami got a few comebacks too many and it kind of took Vader's badass destroyer vibe away. I also disliked that Fujinami couldn't get proper height for his enzuigiri. Other than that this was a nice big vs. little title match where the slower paced parts added to the match.

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