Osamu Nishimura & Blue Wolf vs. Toru Yano & Togi Makabe
Makabe isn't the bad ass that he is today. Either way, this was abysmal. Neither team really pull out anything besides mindless brawling and pointless restholds. Yano kills it off mercifully with the Nightcap. *

Minoru Suzuki vs. Alexander Otsuka
This got even less time than the last match did (four and a half minutes), and in that short amount of time, these two pulled off a much better match. Suzuki holds back until Otsuka rubs his head mockingly. Well, it's over at that point. Suzuki unloads, and blasts Otsuka with several various strikes. Otsuka tries to start a Slap War, and loses miserably. He fires back, and manages to land two Deadlift German Suplexes. Suzuki takes Otsuka down with a Drop Toe Hold, and locks in a Bow and Arrow. After a few seconds, he tosses Otsuka up and catches him in the Choke Sleeper. Otsuka battles to his feet, and Suzuki's had enough, and drops him with the Gotch-style Piledriver for the victory. **3/4

CTU vs. Koji Kanemoto & Wataru Inoue
The little things in the finishing stretch really helped this along. CTU is represented by Hirooki Goto and MINORU. Goto insists on him and Kanemoto starting things out, which doesn't work out so well. Kanemoto fuckin' kills him with various strikes, eventually tagging out to Inoue to allow him to have some fun at Goto's expense, stretching the hell out of him with a Half Crab. Camel Clutch by Inoue allows Kanemoto to kick Goto completely unprotected for quite some time. Kanemoto comes back in, and MINORU has seen enough, as he trips Koji, and works him over on the floor. MINORU makes the tag, and puts the hurt on Kanemoto with a Half Crab of his own, and his now famous Field Goal Kick to the groin. Kanemoto buys some time and tags Inoue in, and Goto re-enters as well. Again, Goto has a lot of trouble. The Triangle Lancer is hooked on, and MINORU breaks it up simply by entering the ring. He goes for it again, but Goto is ready, and nails a Backdrop Suplex, allowing him and Wataru to make the tag. Things get fun here. Kanemoto goes nuts on Goto on the floor, and then allows Inoue to work him over while he tends to MINORU, the legal man. Moonsault misses, and MINORU hooks on the MINORU Special, which Inoue is able to break up. The Moonsault eventually lands, but Goto makes the save, and plants Wataru with a German Suplex, and drills Kanemoto with the Go 2 Heaven, but can't pin since he's not the legal man. He gets the tag, and MINORU goes to focus on Inoue on the ramp. Falcon Arrow by Kanemoto gets the two count, and MINORU spikes Inoue with the Brainbuster on the ramp!!! Goto is hooked in the Grounded Ankle Hold, and MINORU saves him just in time. It's now two on one, and Kanemoto is too worn out to put up much of a fight. He gets caught with Goto's Go 2 Hell, and it's over. ***1/4

Black Tiger IV vs. Tiger Mask IV
This really could have benefited from having some more time, as the story really got going just as the match ended. BT IV looked quite a bit better than TM IV did. He came out swinging right from the bell, landing a British Fall and the Flying Back Elbow relatively early in the match. TM goes for a German, but BT runs through the ropes, and takes them both out to the floor, where BT plants TM with a cringe-inducing Tombstone Piledriver on the ramp!! Back inside, TM is still fighting an uphill battle, as he's planted with a Gotch-style Tombstone Piledriver and a Flying Kneedrop connects with his head. He finds an opening, and lands a Backflip Giri to buy some time. They eventually end up on the floor again, and tease a double countout finish. They make it back in, and things get a bit fast, with TM landing a Tilt-a-Whirl Backbreaker and the Moonsault Knee Drop. He gets incredibly lucky in the way he wins, as he catches BT off the ropes with a Tombstone, and lands the Tiger Suplex Hold for the win. **3/4

Yuji Nagata vs. Tsuyoshi Kosaka
This one was odd. Nagata was acting incredibly heelish, and I understand he may have been heel, which would explain it. They worked this seemingly work-shoot style, which helped the match and times, and also hindered it as well. Nagata strikes first with a Belly to Belly Suplex followed by a stiff Kick to the chest. Here's where things went weird. Kosaka gained the advantage, and punished Nagata on the ground, all the while giving the vibe of Nagata being the pitied face getting killed by a merciless heel. Nagata endures several submissions before firing off a STIFF Step up Wizard in the corner. Kosaka goes for another submission, and Nagata kills him with a Wrist Clutch Exploder for the nearfall(the crowd goes apeshit). Nagata lands a Release Dragon Suplex for another nearfall, and takes it home with a Backdrop Suplex Hold to take the victory. **

Keiji Mutoh vs. Ron Waterman
Eh, this really didn't click so well. Waterman dominated early, working over Mutoh's upper body with a Gorilla Press Slam and a Canadian Backbreaker. Mutoh goes after the big man's knee, which is smart, but Waterman never really sells it, as he goes right to landing a Powerbomb(after which Mutoh opened a cut on Waterman's face with a Shining Wizard) and a Tiger Driver. Mutoh lands three straight Shining Wizards, and finishes with the Moonsault. *1/2

Manabu Nakanishi & Kendo Kashin vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Shinsuke Nakamura
This was slow going and first, but did manage to get going toward the end, and turned into a fairly fun match. The champs take an absolute beating here, first focusing on Nakamura. Some miscommunications give the champs some time to recover, but the challengers pull it back together, with Nakanishi of all people using the MINORU Special, while Kendo used the Argentine Backbreaker at the same time. Tanahashi eventually gets the tag, but his offense isn't a match for Nakanishi's size, either. Dual Lariats from the challengers, and the champs are in a bad way. Nakamura hooks on a Triangle Choke, and when Nakanishi pulls him up, Tanahashi Dropkicks him back down. However, he soon lands a Powerbomb, and Kashin comes back in. Dragon Sleeper by Nakamura, and Tanahashi makes it a Double. Double Inverted Implant DDT rocks Kashin. Nakanishi goes for the Hercules Cutter, but sends Tanahashi's feet into Kashin's face. That allows the champs to land stereo Dragon and Tiger Suplexes, and Nakamura rolls through the Tiger Suplex into the MINORU Special, and Kashin is tapping. **3/4

Tatsumi Fujinami & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Masahiro Chono & Jushin "Thunder" Lyger
Eh, can't say a whole lot about the match, but it wasn't abysmal by any stretch of the word, either. Chono and Lyger take charge early after playing fair. Chono lands the Yakuza Kick and the Shining Black on Misawa. He tags Lyger in, and Lyger drills the NOAH chairman with a spectacular Running Lygerbomb. However, he tries to duke it out with Misawa, and Misawa is going to win that battle every single time. However, from there on, it's pretty much all over the place, although it's worth nothing that all four men at some point landed Planchas of various type. Fujinami rolls Lyger up with the Grounded Cobra Twist, and that gets the three. **

Satoshi Kojima vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
This really could have, and should have been much more. These two have a long history together, and this really didn't deliver based on that history. Literally seconds into the match, Kojima fires off two(that's right, two) Koji Cutters. So much for that being a finisher. Kojima airballs a Plancha, and both men exchanged Chops before returning to the ring. Back inside, things slow WAY down, like the match hadn't even started before that point. Kojima lands Tenzan's own Mountain Bomb, but takes one himself moments later. Tenzan takes the advantage from then on, landing many of his moves, such as the Diving Headbutt and multiple Mongolian Chops. Kojima fires up to land an Avalanche Koji Cutter, but Tenzan hooks on the Anaconda Vice. Kojima escapes, but takes a Tenzan Tombstone Driver, and is back in the Vice soon after. He gets out of it, and fires off an Enzu Lariat. Tenzan gets back up, and takes another Lariat for a two count. Kojima busts out the CCD(which is supposed to be his MDK finisher), but Tenzan kicks out at two. So much for that move. Flying Elbow also gets two, and Tenzan starts to fire up a bit. Another TTD is landed, as is another CCD. Tenzan busts out the Moonsault for another two count. Finally, Tenzan has enough, and brings out the biggest bomb he's got. He spikes Kojima like a javelin with the Original TTD, and Tenzan is your winner. ***

Overall: Really, it's a tough call. On one side, you've got three solid title matches, with one standing out above the rest. On the other hand, you've also got some matches that really weren't much at all. Ratings wise, the good outweigh the bland/mediocre/bad by 5-4.

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