It’s September 2003 and Kenta Kobashi is already 6 months into his now legendary GHC title run. So far, the title defences have been solid matches - but not solid opponents: Tamon Honda, his former tag partner is first, then it was a severely depleted Masahiro Chono, and then most recently Bison Smith, a lower mid card gaijin. But with New Japan having a working relationship with NOAH at the time, that meant talent exchanges…but that also meant dream matches. Enter Blue Justice Yuji Nagata. No l

As tonight is Takayamania IV, time to pay tribute to The Emperor. It’s 2003 and we’re in the beginnings of Inokism. Yoshihiro Takayama is the reigning NWF Heavyweight Champion; the National Wrestling Federations top belt that Inoki had revived as part of a storyline angle he was running with New Japan (guess who the final champion had been before the revival…?). As the burgeoning popularity of MMA began to take full effect, Inoki turned to the likes of Takayama, Minoru Suzuki and Kaz Fujita to