Pro Wrestling NOAH: European Navigation 2008

Introduction:
In recent months, MyReviewer.com's wide selection of professional wrestling reviews has become even broader, with the addition of titles from the fantastic Ring of Honor promotion. Now, in front of your naked, steaming eyes (thank you David Lee Roth) is our first look at Pro Wrestling NOAH, a Japanese promotion which grew out from under the dying All-Japan Pro Wrestling group, that featured some of the greatest matches of all-time between 1992 and 1999.

"European Navigation 2008" was the first ever Pro Wrestling NOAH card ever held in the UK, taking place on 21st June 2008, from the Coventry Skydome. The main event was a battle of the legends, as Kenta Kobashi teamed with Go Shiozaki to face Mitsuharu Misawa and Naomichi Marufuji. Kobashi and Misawa, along with Toshiaki Kawada, were perhaps the three greatest pro wrestlers of the 1990s, with more stunning matches in their catalogue than perhaps any other in-ring performer.

Elsewhere on the card, KENTA and Taiji Ishimori defended the GHC (Global Honour Crown) Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles against Bryan Danielson and Eddie Edwards. Britain's Nigel McGuinness and Doug Williams also competed on the card, against Kotaru Suzuki and Takeshi Suguira.

Video:
Video is presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen, and is good for a DVD of this genre.

The event appears to have been filmed with one steady camera and at least two handhelds, taking the viewer inside the ring on many occasions. For some reason, one wide-shot camera view is often of noticeably poorer quality than the others, but thankfully, it isn't a shot that is used particularly often.

As regards the transfer to DVD, there are some digital artefacts throughout, but they are only noticeable if you go looking for them.





Audio:
Audio is, surprisingly, presented in PCM stereo, and is quite good for a DVD of this genre.

It appears that the audio was recorded with mics around the arena, but unlike the Ring of Honor promotion which does much the same, there's virtually no distortion here when things get too loud. Incredibly, there's even some subwoofer output here, which is a rarity, to say the least.

Commentary is provided by veterans of the British wrestling scene Dean Ayass and Mo Chatra. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much structure to their partnership, and at times, especially in the final matches of the card, it feels like they are reading the various competitors' Wikipedia page as a means of describing their accomplishments.

Bring back Kent Walton, I say.





Overall:
NOAH's "European Navigation 2008" began with in almost a World of Sport manner, as Atsushi Aoki and Joel Redman exchanged holds in the first bout, which was technically fine, but lacked in psychology. That said, the final four minutes of the bout were a major improvement, and this was a reasonable way to open the show.

Jun Izumida and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi's bout with Martin Stone and Wade Fitzgerald began as a comedy bout - which NOAH is no stranger to - but ended with a more serious sequence, though that wasn't enough to save the bout from the communication, flow, and in-ring technical issues that made it by far the worst match of the evening. It was so poor, embarrassing at times, that I'm surprised that it wasn't edited from this DVD release.

Things took a proverbial long jump up in quality next, as Nigel McGuinness and Doug Williams teamed together to face Takeshi Suguira and Kotari Suzuki, in a great bout which featured several huge suplexes, and high-impact manoeuvres. This was proceeded by what was a good mid-card match, as Mohammed Yone and Takeshi Morishima faced Jun Akiyama and Bison Smith, in a match highlighted by the latter's out-to-in top rope tope.

The contest which turned out to be the best of the evening followed, as in yet another tag team match (again, a staple of the NOAH promotion) KENTA and Taiji Ishimori defended their Jnr tag team titles against Bryan Danielson and Eddie Edwards. This bout was fought at a classic NOAH pace, which is tried and tested, but consistently fantastic. Danielson was the MVP of the contest, remarkably fluid, and his in-ring battles with KENTA were tremendous here. There were some terrific near-falls here, and the bout culminated with two incredible moves, to round off what was a spectacular bout, even if it didn't quite hit Match of the Year standards.

After a stunningly high-impact bout between Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Jay Briscoe, which was let down by a lack of ring psychology, it was time for the main event, as Kenta Kobashi and protégé Go Shiozaki faced Naomichi Marufuji and Mitsuharu Misawa. This was another very good bout, even if Kobashi and Misawa are at least ten years past their prime. They sensibly left most of the work to their partners Shiozaki and Marufuji, who showed here that they are capable of filling the boots of the stars that they partnered.





Overall, European Navigation 2008 was a very good event, which contained some superb modern wrestling, from the company which specialises in that in the Orient. All wrestling fans simply must check out the KENTA/Ishimori vs Danielson/Edwards bout, as it is highly unlikely that a better bout will be held in the UK this year.

With a DVD presentation that is of a good independent-level standard, this three-hour long show is certainly a keeper.

NB. "Pro Wrestling NOAH: European Navigation 2008" is only available from http://www.a-merchandise.co.uk