(NOAH) EVENT RECAP ~ Global Junior Tag League 2019, NIGHT SIX (8th June, Yokohama Radiant Halls, Yokohama)

The Japanese wrestling world was devastated on June 3rd, when it was announced that All Japan wrestler, Atsushi Aoki, had been killed in a motorcycle accident in Tokyo while travelling through the expressway of Kitanomaru Park, when his motorcycle hit a side wall.
Aoki had been part of the roster who had walked out of Noah in protest in 2013 over the firing of Kenta Kobashi, he returned to Noah one last time in September 2018 for Naomichi Marufuji's "Flight". At the time of his death he had been All Japan's Junior Heavyweight Champion. Despite the problems with Noah in the past, and his affiliation with (former bitter) enemies All Japan, Aoki was Noah born.

Noah held a ten bell salute for Aoki today in Yokohama. His theme music played (I am afraid I don't know which of his three themes), as the roster stood around the ring, and the crowd rose to their feet. Shuhei Taniguchi (in visible tears) did the honors of holding the picture. Aoki and Taniguchi had both come through the Noah dojo together, and debuted on the same day, December 24th 2005.
As Taniguchi left the ring, Mohammed Yone (with usual kindness) put his hand on his back to comfort him.

MATCH ONE 
Mitsuya Nagai & Kouki Iwasaki vs Junta Miyawaki & Seiya Morohashi

This match was changed as old veteran from the Misawa generation (and by that I mean the same generation as Misawa, not Marufuji et al), Shiro Koshinaka was injured. I don't know the extent of his injury, but he wasn't at the event either and so the "Noah's Ark" Fanclub pictures were done only by Akitoshi Saito & Kaito Kiyomiya.

WINNER: Mitsuya Nagai with the ROD on Seiya Morohashi (9 minutes and 24 seconds)

Later, a delighted Junta Miyawaki said he was "so happy" with the autographs he had been asked for at the interval when he came out to sign autographs.

MATCH TWO
Global Junior Tag League 2019
Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke vs The Sugiura Army (Hajime Ohara & NOSAWA Rongai)

Fans noticed that Hajime Ohara has put on a lot of muscle tone, and really looks to be bulking up.

WINNER: Hajime Ohara with the MuiBien on Tadasuke (10 minutes and 32 seconds) 

However, this is not the end for either team (despite Tadasuke throwing a tantrum on losing, and Harada looking murderous), and if Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke win tomorrow, they go to the finals.

MATCH THREE
Global Junior Tag League 2019
HAYATA & YO-HEY vs Hitoshi Kumano & Chris Ridgeway

Lots of streamers for HAYATA & YO-HEY today as this match for both teams was make or break.

HAYATA is well known for his low tolerance when it comes to submission moves (but not hardcore matches, which he has done in the past), and Kumano and Ridgeway quickly singled him out for this. HAYATA, however, refused to quit today.

YO-HEY did his "Getz" move\taunt on Ridgeway. Ridgeway gave the correct answer, which is to look slightly confused. This is YO-HEY after all.

This was a match with very close falls, and where Hitoshi Kumano used Atsushi Aoki's "Assault Point" in tribute to him.

WINNER: HAYATA with the Crossfix on Hitoshi Kumano (15 minutes and 27 seconds)

The last block now for HAYATA & YO-HEY is to beat Hi69 & Minoru Tanaka at the Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial show, and then to the finals, which means they could possibly face Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke, for a huge RATELS showdown....

MATCH FOUR
The Return of The Dark Agents (Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue) & 50 Funky Powers (Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm) vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Masa Kitamiya, Atsushi Kotoge & Yoshiki Inamura)

MASAO WORLD was on top form today with his usual bumbling old vet antics.
KONGOH were also on top form, so much so that senior referee, Shu Nishinaga, had to herd them back to their corner as they were so tightly wound facing the veterans, even before the bell went (Kenoh is now free of the taping, but Yoshiki Inamura was noticed to have his arm taped).
Atsushi Kotoge continued with his somewhat graver and more somber demeanor.
Said to be a fun match.

WINNER: Masa Kitamiya with the Prison Lock on Masao Inoue (16 minutes, 18 seconds)

MATCH FIVE
Global Junior Tag League 2019 
Stinger (Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki) vs Minoru Tanaka & Hi69

WINNER: Minoru Tanaka with the Heat Clutch on Kotaro Suzuki (12 minutes, 18 seconds)

After the match, Tanaka and Hi69 made the "challenging for the belt" motions to Stinger.

MATCH SIX
"Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial Pre-Match"
Kaito Kiyomiya & AXIZ (Katsuhiko Nakajima & Go Shiozaki) vs Takashi Sugiura, Naomichi Marufuji & Shuhei Taniguchi.

Despite the fact that this is a match between rival generations, there was tension in the veteran team between Naomichi Marufuji (who had earlier gotten hold of some kind of multicolored toy chicken and announced that he was going to the hairdressers to get his hair dyed red), and Shuhei Taniguchi when Marufuji got into the ring, and they briefly squared up, with their issues resurfacing again. There, was, however said to be a distance between all three vets. However, it never came to blows between them, and the match in particular belonged to Taniguchi, who was said to be on fire today, who threw stiff elbows at Go Shiozaki during the match lock up.
Shiozaki and Marufuji (who will clash tomorrow in a singles match, which Shiozaki has never beaten Marufuji in), had a chop war which sounded like someone was firing pistols, and the sound echoed all over the arena. Shiozaki also managed to bust Marufuji's chest open, which is rare that anyone does that. Marufuji worked on Shiozaki's damaged shoulder and arm in true fashion.
Shiozaki later said that even with one arm he will still stand in the ring at Korakuen.

As for Takashi Sugiura and Kaito Kiyomiya, tomorrow is the title match and so tensions were running high between them. There was a brutal fight in the ring, and a brutal one outside of it too. After the match, Takashi Sugiura got on the microphone and told Kiyomiya (who was limping off being helped by Junta Miyawaki and referee Ben), that he was looking forward to tomorrow at the "new view" at Korakuen Hall.

WINNER: Takashi Sugiura with the Olympic Slam on Kaito Kiyomiya (29 minutes and 55 seconds)

Attendance: 360 (full house)
With thanks to: Metal Noah, Abeshin, Neirero, Iwasborn, Shin-G, Ribasuto 
Picture credit: Boku Pro, Noah GHC, PKDK, YO-HEY