5-Star Match Reviews: Naomichi Marufuji vs. KENTA for the GHC World Title – 20th Anniversary Review

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of one of the most groundbreaking and revolutionary wrestling matches in modern times. It changed the course of wrestling history by inspiring an entire generation of smaller wrestlers to copy what took place. For better or worse, the plethora of high-flying risk-takers, superkick spammers, and smaller juniors throwing themselves around with suicidal abandon, can trace their origin to this match. It was patient zero for what we see today, and given how much wrestling has changed since, let’s see how the OG wild juniors spotfest between Naomichi Marufuji and KENTA holds up.

The Story

The second half of 2006 was rough for NOAH. After Takeshi Rikio bombed as champion, the GHC Heavyweight title shifted to Akira Taue, then Jun Akiyama, and then Marufuji. The latter was a questionable choice of champion: despite his impeccable in-ring skill, he was still tiny by comparison and hardly qualified to carry the belt designated for full-fledged heavyweights. Yes, you could argue that Mitsuharu Misawa was the same in AJPW to a certain extent, being several inches shorter and quite a bit lighter than bigger dudes like Jumbo Tsuruta, Stan Hansen, and Terry Gordy.

But Marufuji was so much smaller that the idea of him being anything but a junior seemed ludicrous to many people, especially the traditional AJPW audience who followed Misawa to NOAH hoping for more of the same King’s Road style. Still, NOAH needed to shift the title onto someone younger and after Rikio failed Marufuji was the next best thing. Yet in his win over heavyweight Akiyama Marufuji won with the Perfect Inside Cradle, a tricky move that conjured similar imagery as his loss to Yoshinari Ogawa four years earlier. Marufuji lacked the decisive and emphatic impacts in his arsenal, especially since he used many different techniques to win which led to an arm’s race of finishers that quickly depreciated in the eyes of fans.

But a win was a win and for his first defense he was booked against his perennial rival KENTA. Again, this was a good idea on paper: put two younger stars in position to succeed by giving them opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t have been afforded. Plus they were already proven somewhat successful draws, particularly with women who, according to Misawa’s business partner Ryu Nakata, got to see handsome men and became fans of the wrestling style. In practice, though, they weren’t the biggest ticket movers: though the event was announced as having 15,000 fans in attendance but real numbers revealed only 11,500 attended, of which only 7,000 were paid. A major contributing factor to this downturn wasn’t these two men, but the sudden departure of NOAH’s biggest star Kenta Kobashi who was diagnosed with kidney cancer.

Faced with these heavy burdens, both Marfuji and KENTA decided to go all out in this match. Though they’d faced off many times before in junior heavyweight bouts, this was special. Both men felt the sting of mockery from nonbelieving fans: in his 2022 autobiography KENTA recalled getting angry when people would mock him drunkenly by saying things like “HAH! You’re not a pro wrestler! I’m bigger than you!” while Marufuji wrote in his that he was trying to figure out how to overcome the generation stereotype that “pro wrestler = big” that left him struggling as champion.

The Match

This took place on October 29, 2006. It was rated ****3/4 by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer and came in second in the WON’s Match of the Year votes.

This is for Marufuji’s GHC Heavyweight Championship. They chain wrestle until KENTA dropkicks Marufuji out of the air on a leapfrog. Technical matwork follows until KENTA gets a ropebreak. They trade slaps until Marufuji lands a spinkick that sends KENTA to the mat, looking like he’s about to vomit. Marufuji counters a corner Yakuza kick and hits a sliding lariat. KENTA rolls to the apron but Maruufji hits him with a slingshot DDT onto the apron. Marufuji works the neck in the ring and outside it, hitting a dropkick to KENTA as he’s placed against the barricade. KENTA nearly escapes a cobra clutch but Marufuji wrestles into a chickenwing hold, always moving and stopping KENTA right when he’s closest to getting a ropebreak. Marufuji lands some stiff shots in a corner which fire KENTA up. He hits back with one exceptionally stiff roundhouse that Marufuji no-sells for a second and then keels over. Marufuji makes retching sounds to sell the impact of KENTA’s kick so KENTA takes that as a signal to further attack Marufuji’s midsection. KENTA gourdbusters Marufuji onto the barricade and then hits his springboard dropkick to a rope-hung opponent for a near-fall. He follows with an extensive bodyscissor and traps the arms anytime Marufuji reaches for the ropes. Both guys fire up again but another kick drops Marufuji, interrupting whatever KENTA had planned next. Instead, he waits a moment, roundhouse kicks the gut some more, and lands a diving double stomp, all for two. Marufuji counters a suplex onto the apron and lands a rope-assisted dropkick that sends KENTA to the floor. He misses a dive to the floor but lands on his feet. He dodges a third roundhouse kick and superkicks KENTA over the barricade. Then he does springboards with a quebrada but misjudges the distance as he hits his throat on the barricade and his boot busts KENTA open the hard way.

Despite almost crushing his own windpipe, Marufuji makes it in before KENTA, attempts a powerbomb, and counters a reversal with a capture suplex for two. He hits a corner splash but takes too long setting up a dive, leading to a corner struggle. Marufuji blocks a superplex and KENTA blocks a powerbomb. Marufuji adapts and springboards to the floor, smashing KENTA’s face into the post on the way down. That’s followed by another lightning-fast exchange concluding with KENTA kicking Marufuji’s spine. Marufuji blocks a corner charge and jumps for a crossbody but KENTA catches him in midair with an Ace Crusher. KENTA lands more kicks and a springboard lariat for two, followed by a yakuza kick/fisherman suplex combo for another two-count. He lands his trademark martial arts rush but Marufuji surprises him with his misdirection rebound clothesline. Marufuji follows with a corner elbow splash and a one-shoulder powerbomb for two. He lands another thrust kick and attempts the Shiranui but KENTA launches him to the floor. KENTA attempts to throw Marufuji from the elevated entrance ramp to the floor but Marufuji lands relatively safely. He fails an apron-assisted Shiranui and then teases a German Suplex off the apron to the floor. KENTA blocks another Shiranui attempt, wins a struggle on the apron, and lands a Falcon Arrow off it to the floor. Not satisfied, KENTA shoves the referee out of his way and lands a springboard double stomp to Marufuji’s midsection below.

Marufuji narrowly re-enters the ring before twenty, at which point KENTA sends him careening across the ring with a springboard dropkick to the back of the head. KENTA hits another corner kick followed by a butterfly suplex into the corner that has Marufuji fall on his head. A bridging Tiger Suplex gets KENTA a two-count so he hits another strike combo and the Busaiku Knee for two. Marufuji blocks a GTS and hits the Shiranui. He ascends the top rope and kicks KENTA away as he climbs. He dives and KENTA fails to properly catch him on his shoulders. Undeterred, KENTA picks him back up but Marufuji counters with a Backdrop. Then the no-sell sequence begins. They trade high-angle Backdrops and Germans, KENTA lands a discus lariat, and Marufuji lands a thrust kick, sending both men down. Marufuji gets up first, lands another big kick, and hits a cut-throat Shiranui for another near-fall. He attempts the Super Shiranui but KENTA blocks. A struggle ensues and ends with KENTA hitting an Avalanche Tiger Suplex from the top rope for two. What madness. KENTA lands roundhouses to the head for yet another near-fall. Marufuji blocks one attempts at a GTS but not the second, yet that second sends him close enough to the ropes to get his foot on them to avoid getting pinned. KENTA charges for a full-power Busaiku Knee. He dodges the misdirection lariat this time but runs into a superkick, only to still land his running knee strike. Another stiff strike exchange ensues. Marufuji out-kicks KENTA for two and lands a diving Spanish Fly but KENTA kicks out. Marufuji follows with his Pole Shift Fisherman Piledriver for the three-count! So ends one of the craziest bouts in decades.

Winner and STILL GHC Heavyweight Champion after 35:34: Naomichi Marufuji

Post-match, Marufuji makes victorious boasts about proving doubters wrong: “Do you have any complaints about us two headlining in the heavyweight division? Size doesn’t matter. If this revitalizes the heavyweight division, then that’s all that matters! Bring it on!” Of course, this would lead to a bout with Misawa in a student-versus-master encounter that would see Misawa regain the title and hold onto it for over a year.

You can watch the full match here.

Review

If there was ever a match that encapsulated the divide between a match’s critical and commercial success, it’s this one. As I mentioned earlier, the bout was a short-term financial flop for a company in desperate need of more money and attention amidst growing pressure. But for those who attended in person, paid or otherwise, this was worth significantly more than whatever the ticket price was. It’s one of the most game-changing bouts in decades that combined heavyweight drama with junior heavyweight speed and fluidity. It was an experiment that wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. It also wasn’t 100% foolproof given a few notable botches. Still, these wrestlers put on something truly exceptional that lived up to one of Giant Baba’s foundational ideas: wrestlers can do things ordinary people cannot. Despite being smaller they achieved this, so much so that a generation of wrestlers would copy or steal from them. CM Punk famously and unabashedly admitted he stole his finisher from KENTA. Many wrestlers in WWE and AEW have likewise done the same with Marufuji’s rebound lariat, Shiranui, drive-by kick, and the many other crazy techniques he developed over the decades. Jon Moxley openly confirmed this same mindset in a 2021 interview with NJPW, admitting that “everyone my age stole their shit from KENTA.” Then there’s the wider impact: this match started a trend that eventually encapsulated the entire business outside of WWE’s top-tier heavyweight division: junior wrestlers combining anything and everything into a single match while throwing caution to the wind and sacrificing realism for raw shock and athletic output. I’ve seen countless indy matches, particularly from PWG, TNA, later ROH, and other matches on lesser indies to surface here and there, that carry the spirit of what these men did here.

That said, this match still had a few key details that prevent it from becoming a full jump-the-shark moment. For starters, there were still attempts at keeping things real here, as seen with the early selling of kicks and strikes that led to sequencing or “the next planned move” being broken or interrupted to give things a more realistic feel. Their selling of early moves likewise looked realistic and underscored how serious their struggle was towards the end when they mustered the resolve to briefly-no-sell everything. Was it a bit excessive that they’d both get up from so many heavy bombs that would’ve kept the heavyweights above them down for the count? Yes, but at the end of the day this match was about superhuman resolve and the ability to keep going no matter what.

Final Rating: *****

When I first saw this match years ago I rated it ****3/4 but after several rewatches and deep dives I think it has earned the full monty, albeit on the lower end of the spectrum of five-star matches. Even with some tiny flaws here and there this is one of those matches that commands you drop whatever you’re doing and watch it. Even after significant change in the wrestling industry whereby the elements contained herein have been applied and built upon, there remains something special about this one nonetheless. It still carried a sense of competition and combat that underpinned it whereas many of its successors shifted focus onto spectacle and ever-decreasing attention given to logic or believability. What we’ve all seen across the independent scene, in AEW, and to some degree with certain stars in WWE, have channeled elements of this match and repurposes them for their own ends.

Beyond its industry influence, this was 36 minutes of bombastic wrestling action combined with hard-hitting martial arts striking and forward-thinking innovation. It’s an undeniable classic that’s fun to watch regardless of whether you’re a first-time viewer or a longtime fan. Highest recommendation possible for this one.

Thanks for reading.