(NOAH) Event recap ~ "NOAH THE SPIRIT" (Noah TV Arena, 19th April 2020)
MATCH ONE
Atsushi Kotoge vs Tadasuke
Somehow Atsushi Kotoge came off as the saner person in this match, as Tadasuke started headbanging to music only he could hear, when he had Kotoge in an abdominal stretch. Kotoge, however, was noticeably showing Ogawa's influence from the first lock up.
It was a fast paced match and a good opener, which had some incredible moments, especially Kotoge's amazing spin through the ropes to catch Tadasuke.
Match ended in 15 minute draw
Takashi Sugiura vs Rocky Kawamura
It had been a while since Takashi Sugiura has done any other sport than wrestling, although this could no way be called a boxing match. Sugiura last did MMA, and not boxing, so Rocky decided to knock him to the mat. NOSAWA Rongai (who was at ringside and playing the boxing manager) was ready to throw in the towel, but Sugiura wouldn't let him. Eventually Sugiura had enough, and took off the gloves, and the match turned into something you wouldn't see in a boxing ring as Sugiura proceeded to destroy Rocky, who he left screaming "ADRIAN!!"
Winner: Takashi Sugiura having beat up Rocky Kawamura out outside the ring, match ended via count out (8 minutes, 51 seconds)
MATCH THREE
GHC JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH
RATELS (YO-HEY & HAYATA) vs The Sugiura Army (Hajime Ohara & Seiki Yoshioka)
YO-HEY came out exuberantly, waving to the cameras, and then kissing the belt before handing it to the ref. This was pretty ironic as all the camera men and photographers at ringside were wearing protective clothing.
Seiki Yoshioka is an old friend of HAYATA'S, and the two started the match off today. Yoshioka knows HAYATA very well. When it was YO-HEY'S turn to get into the ring it turned into a kind of crazy ballet dance until Yoshioka tired of this and bought him down to the mat. However, YO-HEY was not finished with him as he taunted him when Ohara was tagged in. Ohara and Yoshioka compliment each, Ohara has the technicality which Seiki does not have (and that is not to say that he lacks it, its just not on the same level), and Yoshioka has the speed and lucha style that Ohara does not have.
Very close three counts in the match with Ohara working on grounding RATELS, and Yoshioka countering their highflying moves. By the end of the match HAYATA had his "I've had enough" face on, but it was YO-HEY who got the win.
WINNER: YO-HEY with the Super Face G on Seiki Yoshioka (21 minutes, 14 seconds)
AXIZ (Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima), Mohammed Yone, Shuhei Taniguchui, Daisuke Harada & Kinya Okada vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Masa Kitamita, Yoshiki Inamura, Hao, Nio &.....)
It turned out that Kongoh didn't really have a new member. They had a new monster. W-1'S Manabu Soya. He and Kenoh shook hands, and Kongoh did the new pose which involves Kenoh raising his fist to the ceiling and everyone staring up at it.
As this wasn't an AXIZ match, Go Shiozaki came out in his Noah green, he was attacked by Kenoh when Kongoh attacked on mass, and brawls started happening all over the arena. In the ring Inamura took on Nakajima, with the two monsters, Shuhei Taniguchi and Manabu Soya tagged in later.
Okada and Inamura, the Noah born rivals, both fought. This was a very different Okada to the one Inamura normally faced, and he found himself being knocked down by and then driven back by the kicks that Katsuhiko Nakajima had taught him.
The juniors among the heavyweights went at it, with Daisuke Harada (whom I amazed that the Abema rankings are not all 10) and Hao being something that potential, and should be done again, but then Harada tagged in Taniguchi and Taniguchi got in the ring and manhandled everyone - Hao and Nio were thrown about, and even Inamura (Noah's Tank), was picked up as if he weighed nothing. Kongoh were enraged by the ganging up by the opposition on Hao, and this culminated in a big six man slam by Kongoh.
However, it wasn't Hao but Daisuke Harada who got the worst of the match, especially when Kongoh did elbow drops on him which they did in turn after bouncing off the ropes. They certainly cemented their place as heels in this match, a live audience would have booed the roof off. Harada was kept in the ring and beat up on (Kenoh who hates him was loving it), but he eventually managed to tag in despite being kept away from his team, and tag in Go Shiozaki.
Go Shiozaki was not impressed with the bullying of Harada, and no sold Kenoh's kicks.
Elsewhere in the match, the former tag partners, Katsuhiko Nakajima and Masa Kitamiya faced off, Mohammed Yone no sold Manabu Soya, Okada almost got the win, and Soya got the "Endless Love."
WINNER: Manabu Soya with the Lariat on Kinya Okada (26 minutes, 28 seconds)
Kenoh got into the ring after the win, and waved his opponents out of it. Kongoh then did their two poses together. I did think that after the Kenoh\Shiozaki interactions, Kenoh might challenge for the GHC Heavyweight, but I think Noah want to save that for when the live shows resume.
MATCH FIVE
Keiji Mutoh, Kaito Kiyomiya & Minoru Tanaka vs The Sugiura Army (Kazushi Sakuraba, Sekine "Shrek" Hideki, Hideki Suzuki)
Kaito Kiyomiya (who entered shedding white feathers everywhere) wanted to prove today to Keiji Mutoh as to how much he had grown since the last time they were in the ring together as the last time Mutoh was not too complimentary about Kiyomiya, saying that he was trying too hard.
This match was mainly technical mat wrestling, which I think that Kiyomiya felt a little frustrated with as its not something that he has too much experience with.
WINNER: Keiji Mutoh with The Shining Wizard on Hideki "Shrek" Sekine (15 minutes, 46 seconds.)
MATCH SIX
GHC JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT
Yoshinari Ogawa vs Kotaro Suzuki
Oh, sinner man, where you gonna run to?
Oh, sinner man, where you gonna run to?
Oh, sinner man, where you gonna run to all on that day?
Everywhere Kotaro Suzuki ran, Yoshinari Ogawa was waiting; every corner, every bend, every crossroads, every path. This match was a technical masterpiece, which highlighted just how much Ogawa a man in his fifties, and Kotaro, a man in his forties, could endure in a match that was not a short one.
There isn't really much I can say about this match aside from the above. Kotaro had made the comment that Ogawa's mind was like a universe, and he discovered that today, but no matter how relentless Ogawa was, Kotaro was not going to give up, and it took Ogawa talking three of the "Endless Waltz" before he could pin him for the title.
Winner: Kotaro Suzuki with a Javelin (25 minutes, 32 seconds)
After the match Kotaro was presented with the title, and while Ogawa sat slumped in a corner, Kotaro laid the belt on the floor, and then spoke on the microphone. He said he knew how cheeky he sounded, but would Ogawa help him realize his dream for being a double crown champion? Would he team with him to challenge for the GHC Junior Heavyweight titles?
Then YO-HEY & HAYATA came to the ring. It took YO-HEY (who is used to squabbles with fellow unit members, although because of STINGER, RATELS had one of their worse and serious squabbles), to get them back together by asking them how they were going to work as a team if they didn't trust each other? They saw the wisdom in what YO-HEY was saying, and shook hands and got back together. RATELS accepted the title challenge, with HAYATA actually saying more than one or two words in response, although this was probably because it was an empty arena and he wasn't being stared at, and said "Yoshinari Ogawa, Kotaro Suzuki, next".
MATCH SEVEN
GHC HEAVYWEIGHT TAG CHAMPIONSHIP
MochiMaru (Naomichi Marufuji & Masaaki Mochizuki) vs The Sugiura Army International (Rene Dupree & El Hijo De Dr Wagner Jnr).
Naomichi Marufuji got into the ring, squared up to Rene Dupree and did the "I'm watching you" gesture, so Dupree went to tweak his nose. Marufuji managed to move just in time, but during the match he tweaked his nose before chopping him!
Dupree again used his height to good advantage in the lock up by holding his arm in the air and making Masaaki Mochizuki jump for it (and Mochi is 5'9), in the end Mochi bought him down by kicking him.
Mochimaru worked again on El Hijo de Dr Wagner Jnr's knee that he had injured during Global Tag League, El Hijo De Dr Wagner Jnr found that when he couldn't use anything else, he used his head. His head also came into use in the early stages of the match, when he clamped his teeth down on Marufuji's fingers.
The champion team worked hard to keep Dupree and Wagner apart, Dupree outside the ring and Wagner having his knee attacked in it (or outside on the barrier at one point, another barrier moment was when Marufuji went for a dive and ended up upside down on it).
However, the night ultimately belonged to the team of the Mexican and the Canadian wrestlers, who as El Hijo De Dr Wagner Jnr put it, "had the balls to win Global Tag League" and would bring a "tornado to Noah".
WINNER: El Hijo De Dr Wagner Jnr with the moonsault on Masaaki Mochizuki (23 minutes, 22 seconds)
WITH THANKS TO: Metal-Noah, Cop Kasai and others too numerous to name who posted gifs and small clips.
Picture Credit: Pro-Wrestling DX, Noah GHC
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