(NOAH) The Sekichu Ageo Store event

18th May 2019 
"The sun was shining and the wind was blowing"
Yoshiki Inamura

Background
Noah held a small show (two matches) for their new sponsors, the Sekichu Ageo Store, in a somewhat unusual venue for them; on the roof of the store in Saitama. Naomichi Marufuji (not wrestling due to a hernia in the lower lumbar spine), Kaito Kiyomiya and Takashi Sugiura spoke of "being under the blue skies", while Daisuke Harada said that it was refreshing atmosphere. Harada had also posted on his Instagram, joking that the wrestlers would have to reach the ring on a flat crane similar to what window washers use.
Fortunately the weather kept, although there were some grey clouds blowing in by the end of the two match event.

500 people attended (as did Jun Akiyama, kitted out in a Sekichu Ageo store jacket), but it wasn't a free event as although tickets were not purchased for entry, those who wanted to see the show had to purchase ¥ 1,000 of store products (that's the equivalent of £7 or $9 ). One fan attended on a whim (having only watched New Japan before), and came away saying that they enjoyed Noah and wanted to see more.

Naomichi Marufuji was on autograph duty, and he also got into the ring (with a grimace because of his injury) at the start to make a small speech. He was also on commentary for the event, although I am unsure as to whether this was broadcast via loudspeaker, or whether Noah will release these events on their official YouTube channel (or else Battlemen), his co-commentator was Yoshi Tsuji, who has commentated extensively in wrestling in the past, and is a former TV Asahi Sports announcer).

Card
The Sugiura Army (Hajime Ohara & Takashi Sugiura) vs The Tough (Kongoh) (Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura)
RESULT: I think Sugiura got the win over Inamura via Olympic slam.

Shuhei Taniguchi, Daisuke Harada & Kaito Kiyomiya vs AXIZ (Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakahima) & Hitoshi Kumano.
RESULT: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Tiger Suplex on Hitoshi Kumano.

The Event
~ The wrestlers didn't enter via cherry-picker, they came out at the top of a high staircase and then came to the ring. Someone likened Sugiura to being "a gorilla in the sky"
~ Daisuke Harada did a pose whereby he pointed to the company jacket with both thumbs as Go Shiozaki looked on
~ Shuhei Taniguchi was thrown into a display by Go Shiozaki (and later apologized for it). He then grabbed one of the boxes and hit Shiozaki on the head with it. Go Shiozaki (who had a huge smile on his face for pretty much all of the event) wore a box with the company logo (a smiley computer like face) on his head
~ I'm not sure exactly what he did, but Daisuke Harada pulled out a very rare move either doing a Frankensteiner or a Hurracanrunna (he hasn't done this since the title match against HAYATA in 2018, when Harada, naturally, matched HAYATA'S move set, which is different from his own).
~ Hitoshi Kumano was seen taking pictures (as was senior referee Shu Nishinaga)
~ In the main event Kaito Kiyomiya, Daisuke Harada & Maybach Taniguchi wore company jackets
~ Kinya Okada was at ringside
~ Katsuhiko Nakajima threw Daisuke Harada into some chairs, and then I think used a chair on him. Nakajima, however, didn't try and throw him off the roof (although most likely, Atsushi Kotoge probably would have gone off of it).
~ At the end of the event the roster who took part today posed in the ring. Hitoshi Kumano looked as if he had become the third member of AXIZ, and Harada and Marufuji stayed away from each other. AXIZ also leaned on Kumano (who was kneeling down for the picture) and almost crushed him. Marufuji burst into laughter.
~ Daisuke Harada was voted the events MVP.

After the event the wrestlers posed with fans and mascots, Daisuke Harada with one of them led Ben Basden to say "@IPWUK do you really want this representing your company? Fly him over to England already, he clearly has nothing better to do."

WITH THANKS TO: Ken Ken, Ben Basden, Ritz, Yama
PICTURE CREDIT: Go Shiozaki, Noah GHC, Masa Kitamiya, Daisuke Harada, Noah GHC