(NOAH) Global League Uproar: Marufuji loses to Nakajima's heavy knee

31st October 2018
Yahoo Japan\Tokyo Sports Web

Noah's "Global League" was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on the 30th October. In A Block, Naomichi Marufuji (39), the leading candidate, was completely defeated by Katsuhiko Nakajima (30). Although the winner of All Japan's "Champion Carnival" aimed at victory, a loss in the first match, bought a dark cloud.

Although it was Marufuji who took the pace at the beginning, "Dark Katsuhiko" was slippery, and after five minutes performed a dangerous piledriver on the apron, a knee to the back of the head and two Tiger King strikes after ten minutes. Moreover, while he aimed again for the Tiger King by removing his knee brace, Nakajima opened his eyes. An intense high right kick to the face caused Marufuji to half faint, he performed the vertical spike, took the three counts and then disappeared into the backstage area silently.

The year of the 20th anniversary of the debut, has been a year of "success" in single matches. In his old home of All Japan, he dominated the Carnival, which he had participated in when younger.
In the official match, he defeated his former senior, Jun Akiyama (49) in a reunion match. In his 20th anniversary event, he defeated KENTA (37) in a single battle which finished after 34 minutes and 12 seconds. The only thing left for the frenzied activity of Noah's genius is the GHC Heavyweight title at home. He lost the current champion, Takashi Sugiura, in his sixth defense in May, which is why he has a strong desire to finish the turbulent year with the achievement of winning both the Global League and the Champion Carnival.
Before the match he said, "although I have gotten results for single matches with other promotions, I am thinking if my own dilemma, that it would be the best way to finish the year by challenging."
It was an ironic conclusion.

The advance to the deciding match (Korakuen Hall on November 25th) on the thorny road seems to be a sequel.

Link to original article from Yahoo Japan\Tokyo Web (in Japanese)