NOAH Destiny

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Mitsuo Momota and Katsuhiko Nakajima v Masashi Aoyagi, Takashi Sugiura and Suwa

This was an enjoyable opener, with good moves from both teams. Finish saw Suwa pin Kikuchi with a pedigree, that looked great.

Tamon Honda and Go Shiozaki v Takeshi Morishima and Mohammed Yone

Shiozaki looked good here, and he should do really well in the future. The match itself was decent enough, with Yone pinning Shiozaki after a kinniku buster.

Masao Inoue, Kishin Kawabata, Akitoshi Saito and Shiro Koshinaka v Akira Taue, Takuma Sano, Jun Izumida and Haruka Eigen

Not bad, but kind of just 'there', Inoue pinned Izumida after an ax bomber lariat.

Black Mask v Mushiking Terry

This match had some great high flying moves, but little in the way of transitions or psychology. These were two characters aimed at kids, and to that end it did it's job, as they kids were into it. Terry won with a german suplex.

KENTA v Yoshinobu Kanemaru for the GHC Jr title

This was good stuff, and it included a sick looking spot with Kanemaru coming off the second rope and catching KENTA with a leaping DDT and KENTA coming straight down on his head. The other highlight of the match was KENTA hitting Kanemaru with a flying knee and Kanemaru taking a 360 bump. KENTA picked up the win, and the GHC Jr Title, with another flying knee.

Jun Akiyama and Makoto Hashi v Minoru Suzuki and Naomichi Marafuji for the GHC tag titles

This was a really great match, that went over 20 minutes. Nothing too wild in terms of moves, but the story of the match was Akiyama and Hashi fighting to not only win the tag titles, but to stay a team, as they vowed never to team again if they lost. The crowd really got into this near the end, and there were some great near falls. In the end, Marafuji nailed Hashi with a shiranui off the top rope to get the win.

Hiroshi Tanahashi v Takeshi Rikio for the GHC title

This was above average, but that was all down to Tanahashi who worked his ass off to get something out of Rikio. Rikio just does not have it to be GHC champion, and he absolutely is not main event material. Sad to say that Rikio picked up the win with his muso, and while it's understandable why Rikio retained, they have to get the belt off of him fast, because he's doing less than nothing to make the title mean something.

Genichiro Tenryu v Yoshinari Ogawa

Fun stuff, all due to Tenryu being the greatest 53-year old badass on the planet. Tenryu picked up the win after shotgun lariat.

Kensuke Sasaki v Kenta Kobashi

OUCH!!! These two just beat the piss out of each other, with the highlight being a five-minute portion in the middle of the match where they just stood there, going back and forth with super stiff chops. After that was done, you could see bruises and welts on both their chests, and it even looked like Sasaki's chest was getting scarred. The big spot of the match was Sasaki hitting Kobashi with a Northern lights bomb off the apron. The finish saw Kobashi hit 4 spinning chops, get this weird smile on his face before hitting a fifth one, and then finally hitting a stiff lariat for the pin. Both men got a standing ovation after the match, which was more than deserved. This is one to go out of your way to see.

Toshiaki Kawada v Mitsuharu Misawa

Kawada and Misawa were in a bad position having to follow the previous match, and they couldn't rise to the occasion. The match was ok, with all of their usual spots, but it wasn't ever going to live up to the reputation of their previous matches, and coming right after a MOTY candidate didn't help things. The finish saw Kawada kick out of a some hard elbows, before Misawa hit a final super hard elbow to get the win. Another standing ovation followed, though it was borne more out of nostalgia and respect than the quality of the match.

Overall, I'd give Destiny a solid thumbs up, and it's easily the best major event of the year so far.