(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: ABEMA presents DEMOLITION STAGE 2023 in FUKUOKA (Fukuoka International Center, Fukuoka, October 28th)

Today's event saw a change in the Noah landscape, as Katsuhiko Nakajima made his "graduation from Noah", (and even if I don't want to admit it, it must be said, he looked a lot happier than he has been for a while, so perhaps there is some truth in Keiji Mutoh saying that people leave when they are unhappy), Seiki Yoshioka left for his break, and there was a major shift in the title front. Event can be viewed on WrestleUniverse, English commentary is available. You must be a subscriber to view. 

Personally, I think the first two matches could be considered dark matches. The second had really no substance, and the crowd didn't really come alive until the third.

MATCH ONE

(DARK MATCH)

Akitoshi Saito, Stallion Rogers & Kai Fujimura vs Mohammed Yone, Taishi Ozawa & Yu Owada

Winner: Kai Fujimura with the Boston Crab on Yu Owada (7 minutes, 49 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Shuji Kondo, Seiki Yoshioka, Ninja Mack, Alejandro & TERRY YAKI vs Atsushi Kotoge, Hi69, Hajime Ohara, Xtreme Tiger & Junta Miyawaki

Somehow this match started in a civilized way i.e. everyone got to the apron and the bell rang without the referee breaking up fights, pushing, shoving, pointing, attacks and melee fights breaking out. There was still the usual Noah Junior chaos however with Xtreme Tiger, a member of the opposite team, trying to get a "TERRY YAKI" chant going. Atsushi Kotoge asked him what he was doing... There was a huge call for Seiki Yoshioka when he got in the ring, but then everyone (except Shuji Kondo) started trying to outdo each other as Alejandro and Xtreme Tiger got into a chop war, and they joined doing aerial maneuvers. As everyone lay on the floor outside, Yoshioka defeated Junta Miyawaki.

Winner: Seiki Yoshioka with the Crash Driver on Junta Miyawaki (10 minutes, 14 seconds)

Yoshioka bade farewell to his team, even Shuji Kondo shook his hand. Daisuke Harada said he was watching and forgot all about what he was making, he too wants to see him back some day. Backstage, Junta Miyawaki came crawling to Shuji Kondo and begged for his help in getting him out of the downward spiral he found himself in. 

MATCH THREE

Good Looking Guys (Anthony Green & LJ Cleary) vs Kaito Kiyomiya & Ryohei Oiwa

 Anthony Green offered Kaito Kiyomiya a handshake, and then pulled back and smoothed his hair. Kiyomiya's polite indignation erupted. Green wasn't finished here though by enraging Kiyomiya, he turned his attention to Oiwa and separating him from his tag partner, even at one time pulling Kiyomiya off of the apron and kicking him in the face out of the ring. However, the tide turned for the Young Lion when Green went for a top turnbuckle move, and Oiwa reversed it into a pin.

WINNER: Ryohei Oiwa with a reversal on Anthony Green (14 minutes, 5 seconds)

This was a big win for Oiwa, especially since he was teaming with Kiyomiya. The two celebrated by roaring loudly, and then Green attacked and got a double dropkick to the face. The evening had not started well for GLG. 

MATCH FOUR

Masa Kitamiya, Manabu Soya & Daiki Inaba vs REAL (Hideki Suzuki, Saxon Huxley & Shuhei Taniguchi)

To Hideki Suzuki's classic "Blue Eyed Soul" theme, Shuhei Taniguchi and Saxon Huxley bounced off the ropes, making this look as if they were competing on an old World of Sports program. Suzuki waited until they had finished before getting in the ring. When their beefy opponents arrived, REAL did their bounce, and Manabu Soya approached them, looked them in the face, and then fights broke out after he had walked away shaking his head. The match was chaos with Tani used as a weapon by his own team (twice) and Soya slamming Saxon. 

Winner: Manabu Soya with the Jumping DDT on Saxon Huxley (14 minutes, 37 seconds)

Huxley, in a sight rarely seen, crawled out of the ring. Hideki Suzuki tried to attack Soya while the winners were celebrating, but got slammed. Backstage, REAL paraded in usual whirlwind fashion past Soya et al, with Masa Kitamiya kicking at them.

MATCH FIVE

HAYATA & Eita vs STINGER (Daga & Yoshinari Ogawa)

(or "HAYAIYATA" according to G-MAN)

Despite the past two days of Daga cheating to win, HAYATA controlled himself and did not attack Daga before the bell, and Daga kept his cheating to a minimum. The fight with HAYATA went to the stairs at the top of the walkway, where Daga gave HAYATA a piledriver, finished up with a punch and then walked back to the ring dusting his hands off. As HAYATA staggered back, Daga was biting Eita much to the boos of the crowd. 

Winner: Match came to a draw between HAYATA and Daga, who both had their shoulders down (13 minutes, 25 seconds)

Although they both complained, the referee didn't want any argument about it. Yoshinari Ogawa looked somewhat incredulous, but didn't get involved. HAYATA and Daga squared up in the ring, and Daga left soon afterwards. 

Fans were somewhat concerned about HAYATA as he seemed to have some kind of issue breathing and had to grab the ropes, but he seemed to be well enough afterwards to talk backstage. Daga said that he had taught HAYATA A, B and C, but in Niigata it was going to be X,Y and Z, "and that means you are done". HAYATA said that the draw didn't matter, as no matter how you looked at it, he had won. 

"Thank you Katsuhiko Nakajima"

MATCH SIX

Katsuhiko Nakajima's last Noah match

AXIZ (Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima) vs Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura

This was an emotional match for everyone; AXIZ (Go Shiozaki looked as if he had been crying), fans and the seniors too. Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura came out side by side, they too as emotional as everyone else. AXIZ made their final entry, and as if to both scare the fans and rouse each other, they did a kick and chop to each other to start. I don't think anyone could believe this was the last time. Katsuhiko Nakajima seemed more back to his old self than he had been for a while, and even offered Marufuji his hand. Marufuji slowly went to take it, but Nakajima walked off. Nakajima savored his last match, with Shiozaki leaving it pretty much to him, and in any case his seniors made sure to keep him out, but naturally he and Marufuji had to have their chop competition, which sent a ripple of laughter through the crowd.

WINNER: Takashi Sugiura with the Olympic Qualifying Slam on Katsuhiko Nakajima (22 minutes)

The message was clear; don't mess with your seniors, and although he was angry, Nakajima bowed to them. Then, it was suddenly time to say goodbye. Marufuji and Nakajima got in each others face, Marufuji managed to get a handshake and embrace, while Sugi was a little more bouncy. AXIZ were alone in the ring after that, and they didn't want to let go of each other. However, they had to and after Nakajima bowed to each corner of the ring, they left with their arms around each other. Nakajima had graduated Noah, and as he himself said, it was a good graduation. 

MATCH SEVEN

GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship

Los Golpeadores (Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf) vs Good Looking Guys (YO-HEY & Tadasuke)

The Lucha Brothers, as Los Golpeadores are sometimes known, managed to run Good Looking Guys ragged. Dragon Bane gave YO-HEY a massive hurricanrunna from the top turnbuckle, but YO-HEY, who doesn't tend to let go when he wants something badly, rallied. Tadasuke, however did not fare so well after being flung off the apron, and the pair of them got flattened when Alpha Wolf did a top rope somersault with an audible thud on landing. 

Winner: Dragon Bane with the Twisterbane on Tadasuke (12 minutes, 39 seconds)

Yesterday in Kumamoto, Ninja Mack said that if/when the Lucha Brothers win, he wanted a rematch for the titles with Alejandro as his partner, but neither of them made a challenge this evening and so no one has come forward yet.

MATCH EIGHT

GHC National Championship

El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr vs Jack Morris

As Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) is drawing near, El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr, debuted a new costume which had a kind of Sugar Skull motif. Despite the rivalry between himself and Jack, who liked posing for the crowd and flirting with the audience, Wagner Jnr showed that a Good Looking Guy doesn't need to show his face, by flirting with Rina Matsui, until the referee told him to get back in the ring. All this aside, they were there to fight a title match, and fight it they did. One of the things that Jack found he had to be very wary of in Wagner Jnr, and this had contributed to his loss last time, was the fact that Wagner Jnr is very good at sudden reversals, which was something Jack capitalized on.

Winner: Jack Morris with the Avalanche Style Tiger Driver (21 minutes, 11 seconds)

Emotionally, Jack Morris became a double champion, and placed the GHC National on one shoulder with the GHC Heavyweight tag on the other. El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr was helped out, it seemed that he didn't have an easy time walking, but as fans put it, Wag-chan is still beloved, champion or not. Kaito Kiyomiya on commentary was glaring at Jack fixatedly as he, Jack, paraded around the ring.

Later, Jack took a picture of the GHC Heavyweight Tag and the GHC National belts, and put a can of Scotland's number one soft drink, Irn-Bru in between them. Jack said that today was the best day of his life. 

MATCH NINE

GHC Heavyweight Championship

Jake Lee vs Kenoh

Jake Lee made a rare solo entrance, without the rest of GLG flanking him. Only Anthony Green and LJ Cleary were at ringside however. The match started slowly, but really kicked off when Kenoh had Jake on the ropes, lowered his arms slowly to his side, backed off and slapped him. After that, Jake was no longer prepared to be gentlemanly and started to visibly enjoy paying Kenoh back for the humiliation , it was like the return of his old un-emphatic persona. He even followed along, making his conducting motions, when Kenoh was outside the ring. It must have been excruciating for Kenoh, smaller and lighter, to have Jake bearing down on him, but he wouldn't quit. I think this must have been one of the most painful title matches for him, but he fought on, furious in onslaught and by the skin of his teeth. In the end, it was Jake who was left with nowhere to run. 

WINNER: Kenoh via submission (Kenoh Special, 29 minutes, 47 seconds) 

Kenoh, now a three time GHC Heavyweight Champion, addressed the crowd;

"I won the GHC Heavyweight belt!!! As you can see, Jake Lee was really strong...he was really cool, wasn't he?! Jake Lee, I said that you should leave Noah, but that was a lie. I want to fight more against the extremely strong Jake Lee, and a match like today is a GHC match, right? Come to think of it, there is a person* who has left Noah in search of a spectacular view, but I want to ask all you mutherfuckers; don't you see a spectacular view in Noah? It's true that there may not be a spectacular view right now, we fight so you assholes don't have to put your lives on the line like we do, but if you support us like that, then we will have a spectacular view. Jake Lee! When I fought with you, I saw hope for a spectacular view. Jake, let's continue to have spectacular views, insanely beautiful scenery, insanely hot fights, and fights that will convince these fuckers that the scenery is spectacular"

*We all know that Kenoh is referring to Katsuhiko Nakajima.

Then Manabu Soya's music rang out. Kenoh had said a few months ago that he wanted to fight Soya in the N-1 finals, however, this didn't happen, but Soya hadn't forgotten. He also had another reason for challenging. Noah is changing again, generations are changing, the seniors are now taking more of a backseat than ever before, more than their own ever did. Soya addressed Kenoh and said;

"Hey, don't forget, I am here too. With belief Kenoh... you are not the only one to start an era, and it won't start unless I crush you. I will create one too. Next, I will challenge for the GHC heavyweight". 

Kenoh responded;

"Soya! I've been waiting for those words for a long time! Let me say this with conviction, for me, the best place to start Pro Wrestling Noah with a spectacular view is the 2nd January Ariake Arena. I'll let you challenge for this belt there!"

Soya then held his fist to his chest, banged it, and stretched out his arm. Kenoh did the same and they had a Kongoh fist bump. Soya then left the ring, and Kenoh carried on;

"The future is bright as hell, isn't it? And! Faintly...faintly...I might have been able to see a spectacular view. From here, Kenoh, the new GHC heavyweight champion who creates a spectacular view! Follow me!"

Backstage, Kenoh elaborated a little more on Jake Lee. Like everyone else on the roster (aside from the freelancers i.e. Hideki Suzuki, Masato Tanaka etc) Jake is on a years contract. Kenoh wasn't sure whether he believed this or not, but seemed pleased that Jake would be sticking around, and said he would accept a challenge from him at any time. He also declared that from here on, Soya was his enemy. As Kenoh said, the title challenge will take place on the 2nd January 2024, but in the midst of all the pre matches before that (and Noah have given this a two month build), On December 2nd at the Yokohama Budokan there will be a master & student tag between Kenoh and Jinsei Shinzaki, and Manabu Soya and Tatsumi Fujinami. Kenoh will also achieve his dream of showing his teacher in a match that he is the GHC Heavyweight champion m. As for Jake, he didn't make any comment at the time, but a few hours later he posted on social media to congratulate Jack on his win, and reflected that although he had lost the belt, he felt kind of refreshed...

Attendance: 1,309 

Noah's next event: DEMOLITION STAGE 2023 in NIIGATA (Saturday November 4th, Niigata City Gymnasium, Niigata) ~ live on WrestleUniverse