With this corner of my Championship History series, I’m trying a little experiment. In 2017, Japanese company Cyber Agent purchased DDT Pro Wrestling. They clearly got something out of the wrestling company because in 2020 they purchased Pro Wrestling NOAH as well. The two companies became separate brands of an entity known as CyberFight. CyberFight would presumably hold supershows that featured the wrestlers and championships of both brands, as well as DDT’s women’s brand Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, but to date hasn’t done that because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, I’m going to review the history of the DDT KO-D Openweight Championship, the NOAH GHC Heavyweight Championship, and the Tokyo Joshi Pro Princess of Princesses Championship contemporaneously. I don’t think it’s going to inform anything extra about this title, and I assume it won’t be all that noticeable to the reader (so why am I mentioning it here?). But NOAH has always seemed so serious to me and DDT so goofy, so I feel like this will at least help break up the tone. DDT’s title came into being a year before NOAH’s, but footage of title changes from the first three years are hard to come by. Anyway, here we go.
Back in 2000, Mitsuharu Misawa led a massive walkout of AJPW because of professional differences with AJPW founder Giant Baba’s widow Motoko. He also took a chunk of the AJPW office staff and their TV timeslot. It was quite the coup, from which AJPW has never fully recovered. NOAH was structured like AJPW, with long tours (now with nautically-themed names) culminating in big shows, and a focus on homegrown talent. Unlike AJPW, they held a marquee event series (a la WrestleMania, Wrestle Kingdom, or the Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival) and allowed some outside wrestlers to work in the company. They operated for about eight months before crowning their first GHC (Global Honored Crown) Champion at the end of a 16-man single elimination tournament.
April 15, 2001 – Tokyo, Japan
Mitsuharu Misawa def. Yoshihiro Takayama {GHC Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Navigation for the Victory. This one is hard to watch now that Misawa died because of a NOAH match and Takayama is paralyzed because of a DDT match. This match was insane, and very different from what I expected. Misawa got his ass thoroughly handed to him for the first fifteen minutes. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a match so one-sided against him. But then he started bleeding from the neck. I’m not sure what caused it, but it was pretty scary. Luckily, it wasn’t a dangerous amount of blood and it seemed to stop after just a minute. But that was enough for him to get crazy fired up and bring the fight back to Takayama. The Tiger Driver and various elbows couldn’t get it done, so Misawa hit the Emerald Frosion at 21:12 for the win. Surprisingly, despite the entire color scheme of the company being based on Misawa’s classic green gear, he only held the title for a few months before it was time to make a new star. ****¼
July 27, 2001 – Tokyo, Japan
Jun Akiyama def. Mitsuharu Misawa {GHC Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Accomplish Our First Navigation. Akiyama had Yuji Nagata in his corner, telegraphing that he’d bring the title to defend in New Japan. This was another awesome outing for Misawa. Akiyama was a full on heel here, trying to take Misawa down with his own style of forearms to embarrass the veteran. Misawa was having none of it and just embarrassed Akiyama each time he did it. Akiyama started coming back when he changed his strategy to use his own moveset and to brutalize Misawa on the floor. He tried to choke out Misawa the way he had Kobashi months earlier, but Misawa was too close to the ropes. But the writing was on the wall, and Akiyama hit the Wrist Clutch Exploder for the win at 24:11. ****
April 7, 2002 – Tokyo, Japan
Yoshinari Ogawa def. Jun Akiyama {GHC Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Encountering Navigation: Come and Watch in Ariake. Ogawa pinned Akiyama with a roll up in six man tag matches in January and February. Akiyama responded by beating the shit out of Ogawa after a tag match between them in March. It was cool to see Akiyama cheating here in a way that was absent from ‘90s era AJPW champions. Ogawa came out firing on all cylinders, but seemed spent early when Akiyama took control. But then, at 4:20, he countered an exploder to a roll up for the win. I did not see that coming! The match didn’t have time to do a lot, but it told a nice little story in the time it had. **¾
September 7, 2002 – Osaka, Osaka
Yoshihiro Takayama def. Yoshinari Ogawa {GHC Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Navigation Over the Date Line. Ogawa defended the title successfully twice. Given how he won and that his career had been mostly in the junior division, that’s more than I’d have expected him to get. The first half of this match was kind of a snooze, but the second half was kind of brilliant. Working the arm helped Misawa to beat Takayama, so Ogawa gave that a try and was successful in keeping Takayama from regaining control. Takayama eventually decided enough was enough and hit a big knee to take over. He hit his German suplex but Ogawa kicked out. Desperate, Ogawa went back to what brought him to the main event and desperately tried catch Takayama with any kind of roll up. But Takayama was too much for him, and a knee to the face and another German suplex put Ogawa down at 16:46. If this had been a ten-minute match it would have been an incredible one. Unfortunately, the first eight minutes of this match exist so it’s just pretty good. ***½
September 23, 2002 – Tokyo, Japan
Mitsuharu Misawa def. Yoshihiro Takayama {GHC Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Great Voyage. It might not have been as good of a match, but I think it would have been more interesting to see Misawa fight his buddy Ogawa for the title here. I think if you haven’t seen their 2001 match, the most you’ll get out of this is two grumpy dudes giving each other bloody lips. But I have seen the 2001 match and this builds off of that really well. Misawa sees Takayama’s kicks coming, so he evades and blocks them. Because of that he doesn’t get rolled for fifteen minutes this time. Takayama gets frustrated multiple times and kicks Misawa down or into the corner. But he’s rarely able to follow up with anything consistent. In the end they go blow for blow, and Misawa comes out on top with a running elbow at 23:50. ****
March 1, 2003 – Tokyo Japan
Kenta Kobashi def. Mitsuharu Misawa {GHC Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Navigate for Evolution. Misawa did defend the title against Ogawa, but then he ran into this challenge. Kobashi had defeated Misawa in a series of tag matches in the build to this. Misawa’s lip got busted open again pretty early on here. And then both guys were pissed and went ahead and did a greatest match of all time. Probably not THE greatest match of all time, but it’s A greatest match of all time.
A quick story that I was going to get to later in this review but feels very appropriate to tell now. A few years later, it was said that Misawa was torn between a desperate desire to retire and the need to keep wrestling because he was NOAH’s only draw during a down period (Kobashi was out of action with an injury to both arms). Misawa felt he had to stay and personally get Go Shiozaki over as a main eventer before taking a rest. He said in an interview a few days before he died that he also felt that he couldn’t take on a light schedule because, “if he rested just once, he would be unable to return.” He said he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep up the pace for another year, but he had to keep going to keep the company alive.
It’s morbid to compare the words of a man lamenting the state of his body just days before his tragic death to his performance in a match, but I can’t help but make a connection here. Misawa is outmatched by Kobashi. His spirit was beaten in the lead up to the match because of the tag losses and he was bloodied early in the bout. And while he’s able to hit his signature moves without much trouble, Kobashi is kicking out of them with relative ease. Meanwhile, Kobashi is spry, having been able to take a year off to fix both his knees and then another year to build himself up to take down Misawa. Misawa knows he’s in trouble, and he also knows that if he lets up for even a second here he’s finished. So when Kobashi starts dropping him on his head, he gets up as quickly as he can to retaliate even as he sells the trauma he’s just endured.
There’s an amazing moment when Misawa suplexes Kobashi on the ramp and rolls back in, hoping to win by count out. The look on his face when he sees over his shoulder that Kobashi is getting up says everything. But rather than sit in his fear he has to get right back up and dive through the ropes with an elbow. Then he hits a tiger suplex from the ramp to the floor. A tiger suplex… from the ramp… to the floor. But Kobashi still beats the count back inside AND kicks out at two. Kobashi’s selling at this point is incredible. He barely has his legs, but he knows that Misawa’s spirit is fading. So he hits his chops and uses the ropes to steady himself. He kicks out of the Emerald Frosion and blocks a Tiger Driver. Misawa is screwed. Even though he’s exhausted and dazed, Kobashi is still stronger than Misawa and takes him down when they hit lariats at the same time. One brainbuster and one Burning Hammer later and Misawa stays down at 33:28. I take it back, this probably is the greatest match of all time. *****
Kobashi held the title for two years (over one million minutes!) and defended it successfully 13 times. That coincides roughly with the first DDT KO-D Openweight Championship change that Wrestling Universe has up. Let’s hop over there and see how things are going real quick.
March 5, 2005 – Tokyo, Japan
Takeshi Rikio def. Kenta Kobashi {GHC Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Navigate for Evolution. At Great Voyage in January, Rikio & Misawa won a big tag team match. Rikio followed that with a couple of tag wins over teams Kobashi was on. And here we are. To this day Rikio seems an odd choice to dethrone Kobashi, but you have to give NOAH credit for pushing new guys when it was risky to do so. This match is pretty solid, but it was clear that Rikio wasn’t taking off. The crowd didn’t chant for him when Kobashi had him in a hold, and they didn’t cheer very loudly when he’d get near falls. It actually felt like Kobashi was rolling through him until the last few minutes. The finish felt weird too, as Rikio just gets the advantage kind of out of nowhere and quickly hits Kobashi with a few slams, culminating in the Muso for the win at 27:11. I found this all pretty weird, but definitely not boring. ***½
November 5, 2005 – Tokyo, Japan
Akira Taue def. Takeshi Rikio {GHC Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the 3rd Great Voyage (of the year, not of all time). The crowd was very hot for Taue before the match even began. Rikio had defeated Misawa during his reign, so Taue was the last of the Four Pillars (minus Toshiaki Kawada of course, as he stayed in All Japan rather than coming to NOAH) for Rikio to put down. There wasn’t a ton to this, but the action was consistent and the fans were wild for Taue. He hit the Ore Ga Taue for the win at 20:43. A perfectly find match, but I’m definitely still coming down from Kobashi vs. Misawa and the Rikio matches are leaving me flat in its wake. ***½
January 22, 2006 – Tokyo, Japan
Jun Akiyama def. Akira Taue {GHC Heavyweight Championship Match}
From First Navigation. When I first heard the term the Four Pillars, I assumed they were Misawa, Kobashi, Kawada, and Akiyama. I thought this because I really didn’t become well acquainted with Japanese wrestling until Akiyama was on his way up and Taue was on his way down. It’s a little silly that I assume Akiyama replaced Taue when it was Kawada who had been separated from the rest of them .So this was interesting to me from that perspective. And it was satisfying to see Taue hit the chokeslam off the ramp here in a way that he failed to do in the match against Rikio. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot that was interesting or satisfying in this match. The first half of it was uneven, and the exciting home stretch was rather brief. Akiyama got the win with a running knee to the back of the head at 20:31. ***¼
September 9, 2006 – Tokyo, Japan
Naomichi Marufuji def. Jun Akiyama {GHC Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Shiny Navigation. I wrote this review back in 2007 as part of a larger piece on Marufuji’s first title reign. That’s why there’s so much play-by-play. Marufuji powers Akiyama to the ropes and gives a clean break to start. Akiyama grabs a headlock but gets knocked down after three lariats. He comes back with a knee kick but Marufuji hits a dragon screw and a pair of dropkicks to the knee. He stomps on Akiyama’s thighs and puts on a figure 4 leglock. Akiyama gets to the ropes. Marufuji wraps rams his leg against the post and dragon screws it into the post. He dropkicks the knee and then puts on a modified half crab. Akiyama gets to the ropes and backdrops Marufuji onto the ramp. He follows Marufuji out and bodyslams him from the ramp to the floor. Back in the ring he gets 2. He hits another bodyslam and puts on a bow and arrow lock. KENTA is shown watching from the back of the building as Akiyama slams Marufuji down. Marufuji dropkicks the knee, sending Akiyama to the floor. He follows him out and hits a superkick. He hits the Shiranui from one side of the guardrail to the other, ramming Akiyama’s back down onto it. Back in the ring Marufuji hits a German suplex for 2. He hits a chimera suplex for 2. He climbs the ropes and slugs Akiyama down when he tries to cut him off. He hits a superkick and a clothesline. He dropkicks the knee but walks into a dropkick from Akiyama. Akiyama hits a top rope hurricanrana for 2. He hits a powerbomb for 2 and goes right into the Samoan crab. Marufuji gets to the ropes. Marufuji hits a clothesline and dropkicks Akiyama from the apron to the floor. He catches him with the springboard dropkick as he’s climbing back into the ring. He hits a powerbomb for 2. He hits a superkick and a roundhouse kick. He hits another superkick for 2. He hits the Shiranui for 2. He sets Akiyama up top and goes for the super Shiranui but has to settle for a superkick when Akiyama tosses him away. Akiyama hits an exploder into the turnbuckle and a knee kick, knocking Marufuji to the ramp. He runs from the top of the ramp to hit a running knee. Marufuji gets back into the ring at 19. Akiyama hits a running knee to the back for 2. He puts on a guillotine and hits an exploder for 2. He hits Sternness Dust Gamma for 2. He sets Marufuji up top but gets caught with the super Shiranui. Marufuji hits a superkick and blocks an exploder to get the Perfect Inside Cradle for the win and the title. Marufuji fought harder throughout the match, so he really earned the win here. Akiyama only pulled out one of his big guns and eventually Marufuji’s neckbreakers and superkicks caught up to him. Most of the match was very good but somewhat repetitive and nothing to go insane over. Marufuji’s defenses of the title were better than his title win. ***¾
December 10, 2006 – Tokyo, Japan
Mitsuharu Misawa def. Naomichi Marufuji {GHC Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Great Voyage. Also from the 2007 review. My memory isn’t what it used to be, but this may very well be the first Misawa match I’ve ever reviewed. They go through a fairly typical opening match chain wrestling exchange to start. They trade strikes and Marufuji hits a clothesline for 1. He puts on a chinlock and pins Misawa for 2. Misawa comes back with a spinning back elbow but Marufuji catches him with a dragon screw through the ropes. He stays on the leg by ramming it against the post and hitting it with a running dropkick on the apron. He unloads with leg kicks, keeping Misawa on his back. He hits a shinbreaker and stomps the knee against the mat. He puts on the STF and then shoves Misawa to the floor. There he wraps Misawa’s leg around the guardrail and hits it with a dropkick. Back in the ring he puts on the Sharpshooter. Misawa gets to the ropes. Marufuji ties the leg up in the corner and hits a back heel kick. He dropkicks the leg and hits another dragon screw. Misawa comes back with a monkey flip and a tiger driver for 2. He hits a back elbow and Marufuji bails. Misawa follows him out with a suicide dive. He gets up on the apron and hits Marufuji with a somersault dive. Back on the apron Misawa goes for a tiger driver but Marufuji counters to a superkick. Misawa goes for it again so Marufuji counters to a modified hurricanrana to the floor, but using his trapped arms for leverage instead of his legs. Misawa gets back into the ring at 16. Marufuji hits a pair of elbows in the corner but can’t get Misawa up for a powerbomb. He dropkicks the knee and the head. Misawa rolls out to the ramp where Marufuji catches him with a superkick and the Shiranui to the floor. Misawa gets back into the ring at 16 but Marufuji is ready for him with a dropkick from the top. He gets Misawa up and hits the powerbomb for 2. He hits a superkick but Misawa counters the Shiranui to a German suplex for 2. Marufuji counters the Emerald Frosion to a German suplex but Misawa blocks the Shiranui again. Marufuji rams Misawa’s head into the top of the post and climbs the ropes. Misawa cuts him off with a tiger superplex ’85 for 2. He climbs the ropes but Marufuji catches him with a superkick. He hits the Shiranui Kai for 2. He hits two superkicks but Misawa counters the Pole Shift to the Emerald Frosion for 2. The crowd is completely behind Misawa now. He hits the tiger driver ’91 for 2. Marufuji hits two superkicks but Misawa counters the Shiranui to the Avalanche Emerald Frosion for the win and the title at 25:32. The early legwork was actually pretty dull but led to nice shortcuts for Marufuji later on in the match whenever he was in trouble. I can deal with things being a bit boring if they have a point. Misawa is no spring chicken and it shows, but he still busted his ass for the big win here. Marufuji looked like he was fighting from behind the whole time and eventually he lost his ability to keep up. Performance-wise this was all Marufuji, as he busted his ass like crazy leaving Misawa having to do nothing but keep from looking silly. ****
March 2, 2008 – Tokyo, Japan
Takeshi Morishima def. Mitsuharu Misawa {GHC Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Second Navigation. Back to 2020 reviews from here on out. Morishima was fresh off of a rather successful run as Ring of Honor Champion. Misawa had been champion for over a year, but hadn’t defended the title since his win over KENTA in ROH in November. It took a while to get going, but once it did it was a lot of fun to watch these two trade elbows and lariats. I wouldn’t have minded a bit more of a struggle on Morishima’s part, but they were clearly trying to put him over strong. He hit a backdrop driver for the win at 20:22. ***¾
September 6, 2008 – Tokyo, Japan
Kensuke Sasaki def. Takeshi Morishima {GHC Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Shiny Navigation. With this win, Sasaki became the first person to have held the IWGP Heavyweight, Triple Crown Heavyweight, and GHC Heavyweight Championship. A triple crown including the Triple Crown! This was the war I was looking for. Sasaki was the tough old bastard who needed to chop down the angry giant. Morishima was having none of it, and he gave as good as he got. If you want to see two guys do nothing but throw bombs at each other for twenty minutes, peep this match. There’s little nuance beyond Sasaki’s gradual wearing down of the champ, but it’s a hell of a good time. He hit the Northern Lights Bomb at 22:02 for the win. ****
March 1, 2009 – Tokyo, Japan
Jun Akiyama def. Kensuke Sasaki {GHC Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the Second Navigation. During this match, Go Shiozaki is seen watching from a far off corner of the building. It reminded me a lot of a moment in All Japan when Misawa was shown watching a Terry Gordy vs. Jumbo Tsuruta match. Between that and Misawa’s admitted desire to get Shiozaki over as the future of the company, it feels very imminent that he’ll step up. I think this match gets slept on a little bit. It’s a good, forceful bout between two evenly matched guys. Akiyama is firmly and comfortably at the top here, showing that Sasaki, while no slouch, wasn’t some insurmountable challenge. He won at 22:46 with the Sternness Dust α. ***¾
Unfortunately for Akiyama, he was back at the top just as injuries were starting to take their toll on him. In June, he was forced to vacate the title because of herniated discs in his back. Much more tragically, Misawa died because of an injury he sustained in the ring just the day before. I’ll take a look at how NOAH responded to all this next time.
From Diamond Ring Kensuke Office Changes. They emphasize that Nakajima beat Dragon Gate wrestler Kenichiro Arai 
From Dynamite 131. This is a qualifying match for the Owen Hart Foundation tournament. Joe debuted at ROH Supercard of Honor, saving Jonathan Gresham from Jay Lethal (whose soul searching apparently led him to turn heel) & Sonjay Dutt after the main event. And now that ROH and AEW are the same thing, that seems worth mentioning. Caster’s pre-match rap was cute. This was real squashy, with Joe needing only two minutes to put Caster down with the Muscle Buster at 2:52. Lethal & Dutt pop up on the big screens and Lethal says he’d been trying to get a hold of Joe during his difficult soul searching time, and Joe never picked up. They have a present for Joe next week. N/A
From Dynamite 132. Jay Lethal & Sonjay Dutt were in the front row cheering on Joe. Sarcastically, probably, as they brawled with Joe at ROH Supercard of Honor XV. 
From Rampage 39. 
From Dynamite 137. 
From Dynamite 138. This is a 
From Double or Nothing. 
From PWF York Cougar Football Fundraiser. I didn't know that this match happened until over a month after the fact. This started out as a non-title match, but we'll get to why I've listed it as a title match in a moment. FTR have Mick Foley in their corner while their opponents have Bill Behrens. I’ve never actually seen Behrens do an on-camera gig before. He's holding a tennis racket, presumably as an Umaga to Jim Cornette. But it's confusing because there was actually a tennis player named Bill Behrens. They announce this match as having a 20-minute time limit. Only 11 minutes in, they say there are three minutes remaining. Until then, this was as run-of-the-mill as a modern FTR match gets. But the announcement snapped everyone out of their heat-on-Wheeler funk and forced them to go for desperate pins. They announce ten seconds remaining a couple of times, but no one can get the roll up pin they're looking for. The 20-minute time limit expires at 1
From NXT UK 183. McGuinness started by essentially saying that Fraser is going to pee or poo himself during the match. Unnecessary. Had Shawn Michaels been game to have a good match against Vader, this is what it would have looked like. Actually, a more appropriate and modern analogue is Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins from SummerSlam. Much like that match, Frazer used quick strikes and avoided his larger opponent’s signature big move to stay alive. Here it was the powerbomb whereas there it was suplexes. Here, Frazer also successfully damaged WALTER’s knee, which slowed the big man down and made it hard for WALTER to hit the powerbomb. Unfortunately for Frazer, WALTER was able to bide his time and clothesline Frazer’s legs out from under him. An inevitable powerbomb followed and won the match for WALTER at 14:02. I hate to say this because I’m happy that he’s healthier, but the way WALTER has slimmed down has taken some of the magic away from his aura. At least for me it has. That said, dude can clearly still go as well as ever in the ring. ****
From NXT 659. Strong was feeling it here, which is thanks in large part to the crowd being maniacally loud from the get go I’m sure. His whole game was fast and devastating stick and move attacks. That worked pretty well, as WALTER was dazed from time to time. But as with all good WALTER matches (which is pretty much all WALTER matches), everything WALTER does is devastating here so it takes very little for him to take back control. And eventually he did just that and hit the powerbomb for the win at 9:46 (shown of 12:18). After the match, WALTER gets on the microphone and says that his name is Gunther now. I did not think WALTER would be a victim of the renaming curse this far into his run. What will they rename Strong?! ***¾
From NXT UK 185. Andy Shepherd helpfully announces from inside the ring that the reason for the stipulation is that the feud has gotten so violent that it wouldn’t be safe to have fans around. Devlin says during the match that it’s because he thinks Dragunov could only muster the energy to win if he had the crowd behind him. I like that explanation a lot more. The only real reason I could think of to do this without fans is that there was a scheduling conflict with one of the wrestlers for the regular TV taping date and they needed to get this thing filmed. We just had such a long stretch of empty arena NXT UK episodes that I can’t imagine anyone was dying to get another taste of it. This aired the day after Adam Cole vs. Orange Cassidy in a match that was also no disqualification and falls count anywhere, and this served up everything I felt was missing from that match. Now you might say, “Brad, Cassidy is not the same kind of character as Devlin or Dragunov, how could you expect the same level of violence or intensity?” To that I say, when Cassidy started his match by breaking his own sunglasses and rapidly punching Cole, he was indicating that level of violence and/or intensity. And instead the match was mostly wacky. Anyway, this was not wacky. It was stiff and intense and featured weapons that made sense and spots the didn’t take forever to set up. Dragunov got in trouble when his eye injury acted up. Devlin took control and beat the crap out of him. I wasn’t wild about how meek Dragunov was when Devlin was zip tying his hands, but I did like that in the end it turned out to be an error on Devlin’s part anyway because Dragunov’s finisher requires no hands. And indeed, a bound Dragunov jumped off the steel steps (which had been brought into the ring) and hit the Torpedo Moskau on Devlin for the win at 21:43. NXT UK is still sneaking in these dope matches that no one is watching. Y’all should watch them. ****¼ 
From AAA Triplemania Regia. FTR come out with Vickie Guerrero. This was supposed to be explained at an earlier AAA taping but FTR and Guerrero all missed them. AAA is notorious for having this kind of luck/being incompetent lately. FTR is also wearing Eddie Guerrero tribute tights, with American flags on one side and flames on the other, I suppose to pay homage to his Gringos Locos and Latino Heat gimmicks. This match mostly sucked, but one cool spot saw FTR tie Pentagon’s mask to the ropes and force him to unmask with his hands over his face to stop them from climbing the ladder. That would have been a very meaningful moment to lead up to the Lucha Brothers winning the titles back, but unfortunately instead it led into nothing. He just got his mask back and the match continued on in its lame, derivative way. At one point, Pentagon was the only man standing, but instead of climbing the ladder he grabbed a table from the floor. So the titles mean enough to him that he’d unmask to stop his opponents from winning, but not enough for him to get the titles when he had a clear path to do it? Vickie powered Pentagon, causing him to voluntarily jump through the table and Harwood grabbed the belts at 12:12. This was abysmal. *
From AEW Full Gear. Silver was hamming it up a lot more here than he was the year before in New York. That said, this had stronger just-a-match vibes than the aforementioned match. After Silver ripped out Cassidy’s pockets, Cassidy turned up the heat and these guys put on a middle of the row undercard match. Not bad by any means, but nothing memorable either. Cassidy hit the Beach Break rather out of nowhere for the win at 9:42. **¾ 
From the second Honor Reigns Supreme. The commentators sold this as Gresham getting a big shot against a top ROH guy after being an also-ran in the Television Championship division for a while. This was terrific. Both guys did a fantastic job selling their respective targeted limbs, and Gresham in particular played the role of the tenacious underdog perfectly. He didn’t just watch to see where Lethal would have trouble executing his finisher because of the damage he’d done to the former ROH Champion’s arm, he pressed the assault whenever he could, taking out the arm to make sure the Lethal Injection would never come. But what he couldn’t do was stop Lethal from battering his knee and ultimately winning with a Figure 4 Leglock at 17:54. ****¼ 
From the second Masters of the Craft. Columbus has way more Gresham fans than Concord did. That’s a neat little advancement to the plot, innit? They both went after the same limbs that earned them dividends in their previous match. And then they went ahead and built an incredible match out of that story. At first it seemed as though Lethal wasn’t going to be able to get Gresham’s leg to give out. But about halfway through the match, Gresham’s knee was in trouble. Gresham was able to escape the leglock this time by using the momentum of Lethal pulling him away from the ropes to shift to an armbar. But Gresham’s focus on the arm bit him in the ass. Lethal went for the Lethal Injection and collapsed again, but when Gresham went for a roll up after that Lethal cut back on it for the win at 18:27. This is one of the best American examples that I've seen of a match building on the match that came before. Rather than try to outdo the maneuvers from their first meeting for the sake of a big crowd reaction, they adjust their game plans in logical ways that, to me, were just as exciting. I think this match is slept on, by virtue of the fact that I’ve never heard anything about it before watching it. ****½ 
From ROH Wrestling 364. In real life, 
From Death Before Dishonor XVII. Gresham and Lethal had been teaming, but Gresham grew frustrated and started heeling. Ultimately, he turned on Lethal. It took them a little while to get there, but once they got into a groove this was exactly what I wanted from this match. It was back to their old tricks, with Lethal targeting the leg to set up for the Figure 4 Leglock and Gresham targeting the arm to block the Lethal Injection and set up for his Octopus. In the end, Lethal tried the cutback trick that worked for him in Columbus, but Gresham countered to a pin and then put on the gnarliest Octopus for his first win over Lethal at 17:20. This is the best kind of wrestling series. And none of it felt stale because it was a year after they’d wrestled last and because they found ways to energize the old tropes. And that’s not to mention Gresham busting out what I can only describe as a sumo-style assault. Gresham and Lethal make up after the match. ****
From ROH Wrestling 500. During the pandemic, ROH made the most of their empty arena shows by kicking them off with a tournament to crown a champion for the revived Pure Championship. Gresham won the tournament, and this was his fourth defense of the title. Lethal and Gresham were still allies here. In an interesting move, the other match on this milestone episode was two other partners fighting in Jay and Mark Briscoe. They cut to a commercial break about six minutes in, though the action didn’t get beyond (admittedly fast-moving) mat wrestling until the 10-minute mark. That had me thinking this was going to go long, but things took a different turn. Both guys had abused the other’s shoulders, and Lethal used that to his advantage best. He forced Gresham to use his first rope break to stop a pin, and his second to escape a crab. Then, he used the failed Lethal Injection to bait Gresham into a crossface, forcing the champ to use his final rope break. But he made the mistake of giving Gresham a breather and was quickly caught in a head scissor takedown giving Gresham the winning pin at 14:06 (shown of 16:40). For an empty arena match, this held my attention. It was totally different than their previous matches while still using a couple elements from the rivalry to elevate it just a bit. Not essential viewing, but if you’re working your way through their series you shouldn’t skip it. ***¼ 
