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GHC Junior Heavyweight Title Match: AMAKUSA (c) vs. Junta Miyawaki
Decent enough effort from the Junior Heavyweights. I haven’t watched Junta Miyawaki wrestle since he had the orange trunks so it was interesting to see his change. He looked alright. He’s clearly progressed and does more things. The NOAH Junior style (or any) is more about flash and I’d say AMASUKA, aka Hao out did him in regards to that. It was good to take a peek beneath the typical select wrestlers that I usually see when I watch NOAH as it allowed me to see AMAKUSA hit an awesome twisting moonsault dive through the ropes. He retains the Junior title. **3/4
GHC Tag Team Title Match: Satoshi Kojima & Takashi Sugiura (c) vs. KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji
This was very enjoyable for the most part, but like the match before it, it was a little too long. But there were the good moments where KENTA and Sugiura were smacking each other like the good old times. Plus KENTA and Marufuji teaming together once more is worth taking a look at. The match then petered into that lane where the match just feels like it’s stewing without anything actually interesting taking place. Everyone rotates doing their moves before the closing stretch forces a faster pace and more of an urgent flow to everything. Marufuji did some of his great knee/kick combinations before Kojima put him out with a lariat to conclude the match. ***1/4
GHC Heavyweight Title Match: Kaito Kiyomiya (c) vs. Kenoh
While not the main event, this is one of the legacy matches NOAH can do for this current generation. Obviously, this wasn’t the draw but I feel like a smarter promotion would take advantage and headline with this match and push that to make Kiyomiya that guy in the eyes of the fans that came just for Muta’s last match in Budokan Hall. It’s a talking point that warrants addressing. However, they wrestle like a GHC Heavyweight title match so the match should be assessed as such. The match didn’t really capture me that much though, until some of the biggest spots of the match, such as Kiyomiya diving over the corner post onto Kenoh. Some of the work on the outside and Kenoh’s work on the ribs didn’t hook me into this match. The thing that grabbed me the most were the dangerous bumps on the apron and then the faster paced reversals and false finishers. The closing stretch provided some really good sequences and gave the match a really good ending befitting the occasion. The rest was too dull to consider it a MOTYC. ***1/2
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Great Muta
One of the final Great Muta matches (we’ll see, give it a few years) and it’s a big one. Most NOAH fans dislike the idea of giving two New Japan wrestlers the main event but it is the draw of the biggest Budokan Hall show for a while now, so there is that. This is basically a retirement match and was wrestled as such. It was safe, limited in terms of athleticism but creative in some ways, such as the finish with Nakamura kissing the mist out of Muta’s mouth. A rare spot in wrestling and it’s a memorable one. It’s Muta in 2023 (almost typed 2022), so expect the obvious. I didn’t expect anything else so I’m satisfied by the output of the match. **
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