BRM Reviews Navigate for Evolution 2003: Day 9 (MISAWA VS. KOBASHI!)

[Big Red Machine]

NOAH Navigate for Evolution 2003: Day 9 (3/1/2003)- Tokyo, Japan


HARUKA EIGIN & KISHIN KAWABATA vs. MITSUO MOMOTA & RUSHER KIMURA- 2/10
This was the old men match, and it felt like it. This was a slog to get through and not very interesting.

AKIRA TAUE, DONOVAN MORGAN, & MICHAEL MODEST vs. KOTARO SUZUKI, TAKUMA SANO, & TSUYOSHI KIKUCHI- 5.5/10
This started off fun but wound up dragging on for WAY too long.

NAOMICHI MARUFUJI & KENTA vs. MAKOTO HASHI & YOSHINOBU KANEMARU- 8/10
This was an awesome twenty minutes of whirlwind action. That’s not to say that there wasn’t a story (KENTA was the babyface in peril and his head and neck got worked over), but the action here was extremely fast-paced. This was my first exposure to Hashi, who, based on this match seemed to be what modern-day Tomoaki Honma would be if he were a real wrestler and not a human cartoon character. He even had the hair right. And speaking of hair…
As awesome as this match was, it was not worth sitting through twenty minutes of having to look at KENTA’s AWFUL haircut. Who let him go out in public like that? MINUS FIVE STARS.

BISON SMITH, IZU, & SUPERSTAR STEVE vs. DAISUKE IKEDA & WILD II (Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio)- 6.25/10

YOSHINARI OGAWA vs. SCORPIO- 4.5/10
I was very confused if this was no DQs or not and it went less than 6:30, but a lot of the offense looked brutal.

MASAO INOUE vs. YOSHIHIRO TAKAYAMA- DUD!
Short and full of eye rakes.

AKITOSHI SAITO & JUN AKIYAMA vs. TAKASHI SUGIURA & TAMON HONDA- 5.75/10
Akiyama came out of the crowd and jumped Honda from behind, giving him a piledriver on the concrete floor to take him out for the first part of this match. This left Suguira alone to get double-teamed. The heels worked his leg over for a while before Honda was able to come back and run wild. Eventually the heels got back in control and worked over Sugiura’s leg more and got the win. This made me really want to see Sugiura vs. Akiyama.

GHC HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Mistuharu Misawa(c) vs. Kenta Kobashi- a PERFECT 10/10!
Yeah, this is the one with the spot off the ramp. It’s f*cking fantastic. The pacing. The selling. The psychology. Everything. Probably the best match Misawa ever had, and possibly for Kobashi, too (I REALLY love his match with Akiyama at Departure 2004, though), and think of how much ground that covers. Nothing I can say here can do it justice, so just go watch it already.


This was a two-match show from NOAH, but it’s easy enough to sit through, and especially if you know what’s coming at the end. Just view the undercard like the vegatables you have to eat before you get the dessert that is Misawa vs. Kobashi.