(NOAH) Event recap - Edion Arena, Osaka - 9th September 2018 (Global Junior League, Night 2)

"The excitement in the arena before the start of the event is amazing" 

Typhoon Jebi was a category 5 storm that hit Japan (the worse since 1993), causing significant damage to the Kansai region (including Osaka) a few days ago when it made landfall. It killed 11 people, and caused 600 injuries. Despite this it was commented that there was a "huge upsurge" in attendance, and there where lot of new fans today who have come for the first time, some people had even traveled into Osaka.
Osaka people are tough.
Japanese people are tough.

YO-HEY (and I think Naomichi Marufuji may have too) did the private "Noah's Ark" fan club photo session today, and local nut, Atsushi Kotoge, was on autograph duty at the merchandise stand. Atsushi Kotoge and Junta Miyawaki also took part in Noah's official podcast (Kotoge seems to be the host as he does it each month).

The Chinese athlete from "Eastern Heroes", MA Zhuji, was once again missing, and the card had to be changed. This is the second time now that he has had to miss his Noah debut. Neither Noah (or Eastern Heroes) have ever given any reason for this.

For RATELS, Osaka is a spiritual land. Daisuke Harada is a native (when he moved to Tokyo and came back to the city to visit he was scolded by a friend for "losing his Osaka soul" when he stood on the wrong side of the elevator stairs, as Tokyo and Osaka are different), and all of them have ties with Osaka Pro (which was where YO-HEY and HAYATA met).

"It was a tournament that felt the possibility that it would definitely lead to attracting customers by arranging a clear confrontational structure and cards that did not waste time."

MATCH 1
The Hooligans (Maybach Taniguchi, Mitsuya Nagai & Cody Hall) vs Chang Yu-Feng, Lin Dong-Xuan & Yoshiki Inamura

It is unusual that a rookie begins his in-ring career doing heavyweight matches, but in Inamura's case (compared to the originally skinny beanpoles of Kaito Kiyomiya, Junta Miyawaki and before them Marufuji), he has the build of a heavyweight, so I guess it makes sense for Noah to ease him into that division first of all, although naturally he will work in the ring with Yoshinari Ogawa (and most likely at some point, Hajime Ohara).

There was the usual outside brawling from "The Hooligans". Inamura decided to take them on. It didn't go well.

Match described as "rough".

WINNER: Maybach Taniguchi with the Boston Crab on Yoshiki Inamura (9 minutes and 32 seconds)

MATCH 2
SPECIAL4 (Hi69 & Minoru Tanaka) & Seichi Ikemoto vs Hajime Ohara, Hitoshi Kumano and Junta Miyawaki

Seichi Ikemoto is a former MMA fighter (Shoot, Pride, DEEP), he occasionally pops up in Noah (usually to fight Akitoshi Saito).

Match begins with Hajime Ohara vs Seichi Ikemoto (Hajime Ohara has also done MMA in the past and naturally, being Hajime Ohara, his record is good). Ikemoto mainly fought today against The Backbreakers, and went over well with the crowd.

Was said to be quite an intense match.

WINNER: Hi69 with the Stuka Splash on Junta Miyawaki (11 minutes and 42 seconds)

MATCH 3
Mohammed Yone, Yoshinari Ogawa & Masao Inoue vs Go Shiozaki, Atsushi Kotoge & Takaki Iwasaki 

"Everybody loves the Revolutionary Warrior"

Takaki Iwasaki came to Noah today from Gambare ☆ Wrestling.

Atsushi Kotoge offered Go Shiozaki his cloak.
Unsurprisingly he didn't want it.
So Kotoge offered it to Ally (the ring announcer).
Unsurprisingly he didn't want it either.

The Revolutionary Hero and Disco Fever (Mohammed Yone, sadly without the disco ball today as he wasn't teaming with Quiet Storm) did their usual pose off. A fan commented that "surely there has to be a singles match between these two some day". On that day we shall see who is more dominant, the man who is determined to bring back Disco (which was considered revolutionary in its day) or the man who thinks he is leading a revolution...of which no one seems to know quite what that is.
Anyhow, both Kotoge and Yone are very popular with the children, and this is important for the future of Noah. The future lies ultimately with them, and the crowd (both old and young) loved it when Yone forced Kotoge to do the "Disco Fever" pose in the audience...and then putting on his cloak, Kotoge forced Yone to do the "Revolutionary" pose.
Go Shiozaki found the interaction between Yone and Kotoge so funny, he absolutely lost it and started laughing.

WINNER: Go Shiozaki with the lariat on Masao Inoue (10 minutes and 21 seconds)

MATCH 4
Takashi Sugiura & Quiet Storm vs The Aggression (Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Saito)

Naturally, being the smirking evil bastard he is, Katsuhiko Nakajima came out with a huge evil grin on his face.

While Osaka might be special to RATELS and to Atsushi Kotoge, it is also special to Quiet Storm, who having trained here, calls the city his "second home".

The match was in two parts.
First of all Masa Kitamiya decided to go to the back and say he wanted to challenge Takashi Sugiura again, and so was counted out. The match was restarted, but went 5 minutes and 16 seconds when Quiet Storm took him out with the 50cm arm.

I don't think Masa Kitamiya is going to get his rematch.

WINNER: Quiet Storm with the lariat on Masa Kitamiya (5 minutes and 16 seconds)

MATCH 5
GLOBAL JUNIOR LEAGUE
YO-HEY vs HAYATA

YO-HEY offered his hand to HAYATA.
HAYATA naturally refused as YO-HEY is his opponent (and HAYATA doesn't shake hands, or even let YO-HEY shake hands). A match that many fans have been anxious about (as they don't want one to win over the other or them fall out with each other), came to a draw as they both knocked each other out and were counted out.
Row over, they hugged.

Understandably, this was an emotional match

WINNER: Neither (12 minutes and 36 seconds)

MATCH 6
GLOBAL JUNIOR LEAGUE
Daisuke Harada vs Tadasuke

Tadasuke, (ever the crafty villain), decided today that he would ambush Daisuke Harada to get the upper hand, so he sneaked out of the exit and when Harada entered, he attacked him from behind. He was said to be insanely strong and super humanly focused today.
In other words, he was manic, and stood there with a big grin afterwards.
Very fierce match.

WINNER: Tadasuke with the Outkast (15 minutes and 31 seconds)

MATCH 7
GHC HEAVYWEIGHT TAG CHAMPIONSHIP
Naomichi Marufuji & Akitoshi Saito vs Kenoh & Kaito Kiyomiya

Kaito Kiyomiya looked on as Kenoh and Naomichi Marufuji squared up to each other prior to the match, when Kenoh's name was announced he went up to Marufuji and stuck his fist in his face, and unsurprisingly they started off the match.
Go Shiozaki came out to second them.

Despite being fifty-three, and with a heavy body, Akitoshi Saito moved like a junior heavyweight today, and did the holding brainbuster on Kaito Kiyomiya. It says a lot for Saito that he is able to lift someone who is 5 ft 11 and weighs 220lb at his age (even Marufuji admitted that Saito belonged to the generation above him, i.e. with Misawa, Kobashi etc).
Intense fighting between Kenoh and Naomichi Marufuji.

Akitoshi Saito got on the microphone afterwards and said that they would still aim "for the high walls" (he means to be difficult to overcome). Then the Hooligans appeared, Cody Hall and Maybach Taniguchi have been nominated by Mitsuya Nagai to challenge for the GHC Heavyweight titles. Marufuji told Nagai to get lost, he would only accept the challenge if "the Octopus* grew his hair to his shoulders", and so the matter was left undecided.

The Super New Generation Army have a lot to overcome when it comes to their seniors, who still hold all the heavyweight belts.

WINNER: Akitoshi Saito with the Deathblade on Kenoh (24 minutes and 25 seconds)

ATTENDANCE: 920 people (a record for Noah in this arena and the highest since 2015)

WITH THANKS TO: Iwasborn19xx, Puroresu Today, Dai, RealNGreen, Neyagawa, Shinya Yamasaki, PEN D.AF, Yoichi Yoshida, T. Ogawa, Noah GHC, Mukai_ai

*Calling someone an "Octopus" in Japan is not an easy thing to translate into English, on one hand it can be likened to calling someone a "cheeky monkey", but on the other hand it also has connotations that mean the subject is a pervert with many hands over many women. 
It seems to be a favorite insult of Naomichi Marufuji (he called Takashi Sugiura it while they were feuding over the GHC Heavyweight belt, and Sugiura responded by telling him he had hair like a little girl, short and worn in a ponytail).