(NOAH CHRONOLOGY) GHC NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: KENOH

"The Red Champion"

Won: "NOAH Departure Day 1" 4th August 2020 (Korakuen Hall, Tokyo)
Number of title reigns: 0
Number of defenses: 6
Lost: "NOAH THE INFINITY 2021", 21st March 2021, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
Total number of days held:  230

Challengers
1.Go Shiozaki (GHC National vs GHC Heavyweight) 
2. Kaito Kiyomiya
3. Kazushi Sakuraba
4. Kazunari Murakami
5. Masakatsu Funaki
6. Kendo Kashin
7. Kazuyuki Fujita


VS Go Shiozaki

The day after winning the GHC National Championship, Kenoh came stalking to the ring after Go Shiozaki defeated Naomichi Marufuji to retain the GHC Heavyweight, and congratulated him on his win. However, Kenoh had not come out to the ring just to exchange pleasantries from one champion to another, he had a different purpose in mind. Wanting to prove that there could only be one strong champion in Noah, he challenged Shiozaki to put the GHC Heavyweight on the line at Yokohama, he would put the GHC National up too, and whoever won would be not only Noah's strongest man, but also the first ever double champion, holding both the GHC National and the GHC Heavyweight for the first time. For these belts, it is going to be the first time that they have ever been defended like this. 
Although he later said that he didn't like belt vs belt matches, Go Shiozaki agreed to Kenoh's challenge, and set it for the 10th August in Yokohama. 


The time limit for the match was set at 60 minutes. Usually title matches go twenty-five or even forty, this went the whole hour. Noah have done one other title vs title match before, which was KENTA (GHC Junior) vs Naomichi Marufuji (All Japan Junior Heavyweight Championship), and even Shiozaki's rival and the subject of many of Kenoh's suspicious delusions, had to admit that this knocked it out of the park and into space. What KENTA thought is not known. 
What happened in the match is too numerous to recount here, but as Shiozaki said in the traditional championship defence interview the next morning, it did as they promised, it went beyond the GHC. He also said that he went into the match not really wanting the GHC National, but as time went on he found himself wanting it more and more. 
Shiozaki and Kenoh (who had two black eyes and a swollen face thanks to the GHC National title match with Katsuhiko Nakajima) bought out everything they could and everything they had; Shiozaki seemed to take multiple PFS (even one when he was lying outside the ring and Kenoh was on the top turnbuckle), the machine gun chops were met by Kenoh's machine gun kicks, a brainbuster by Kenoh on Shiozaki off the ramp, and Shiozaki even resorted to pulling out moves that he did when he was a junior. Time ticked down and down, nothing seemed to work, everything one did to the other they kicked out of sometimes even just before the referees hand hit the mat. The match went the full sixty minutes, and to a time out draw. 
Both sat glaring at each other; Shiozaki was probably more the winner though, he had gone into the match saying he didn't want the GHC National, he just wanted to defend the GHC. True, Kenoh still had the GHC National, but he was going to have to wait to carry out his ambition of being a double champion. 


VS Kaito Kiyomiya

The GHC National lay dormant during the N-1 VICTORY, with the juniors more interested in (eternally) fighting amongst themselves, and the heavyweights concentrating on the league, and it wasn't until the 28th October at Korakuen Hall, that a belt challenge was made by Kaito Kiyomiya who was flush both after beating Kenoh in a six man tag, and the defection of Yoshiki Inamura, who had left Kongoh and joined with his unofficially named "New Hope" unit. 

Kenoh was sitting on the mat with an ice pack held to his neck. He looked up blankly and somewhat sadly at Kiyomiya as Kiyomiya got on the mic and asked him how it felt to have someone talk down to him, and that he was making a challenge for the belt for his "amazing view" of the "new Noah". 


Kenoh remained (and will probably forever remain) unconvinced by what Kiyomiya was saying. As he has always believed, and nothing Kiyomiya does can shake him from this belief, is that dirty money and underhand men are putting words into the young and naive Kiyomiya's mouth, and that he is a mindless tool of the company (CyberFight). Kenoh is angry at Kiyomiya for being used, and even more angry at the company for using him. Kenoh's strange mercurial mixture of complicated jealousy and concern for Kiyomiya is his way of protecting him, and no doubt he believes that once freed from the evil underhand money splashing men, he will see the light, come to Kongoh, and allow Kenoh to make all his decisions for him, as Kenoh knows what is best for him. Despite his deep suspicions as to what Kiyomiya and the company were up to, Kenoh has accepted Kiyomiya's challenge, which has been set for the 22nd November at the Yokohama Budokan. Perhaps not the Budokan that Kenoh was hoping for, but it's a Budokan nonetheless. Their pre-matches usually started with them shoving each other when each of them first got into the ring, to be separated by the referee. Shock horror was that Kiyomiya pinned Kenoh via Tiger Suplex on October 28th, in front of a Korakuen Hall crowd. However, this wasn't want enraged Kenoh.   

Kenoh's anger worsened after Kaito Kiyomiya appeared on a dating show, and hit it off with a ring announcer. Ranting that everything Kiyomiya did was superficial, Kenoh launched into a long spiel about love and relationships to Kiyomiya who was lying outside the ring on the 8th November at Korakuen Hall, saying how you couldn't force these things. Backstage he started screaming about it, yelling "To make people like you, to make people love you, you can't do it artificially. You don't know this. so I am telling you. Loving someone, liking someone, it comes naturally. HEY, KIYOMIYA! ASSHOLE! YOU STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING."
Kiyomiya struck back via Twitter telling Kenoh (and his suspicions that were bordering on delusion) that he wasn't paid to do these things, and since Kenoh knew so much, was a foul mouth the way to lose a woman? 
Kenoh did not respond. 


Their final pre-match came on November 14th in Hamamatsu. The two tore into each other as per usual, but neither would get the pin on each other during the match. Afterwards, it was Kiyomiya's turn to speak. 

"Hey! Kenoh! Was this "amazing view" created by shady people...or was it created by the company? What you have been saying, you should check at the Yokohama Budokan to see if I meant what I said, or if that phrase was created by the company. BUT! It's not Kenoh who will be putting on that belt, it's Kaito Kiyomiya"

Kenoh made no answer. 

Whatever Kenoh and Kaito Kiyomiya do together, whether they fight (usual) or whether they tag (has happened), it is always emotional. Kenoh's fight is full of anger towards what he sees as Kiyomiya's blindness and naivete, but his is more a fight against the powers that he perceives to be using him, Kiyomiya's fight is to prove to Kenoh that this is not the case. 

The match started slow, but sooned gained momentum, both of them pulling out either new moves or demonstrating some very clever and very inventive wrestling as they know each other so well. Kiyomiya pulled new moves such as using an over the turnbuckle somersault to the outside of the ring, with Kenoh countering a dropkick and turning it into a footstomp. 
As the match wore on, both entered that desperation period where they kicked out of each others moves. With the crowd clapping furiously (I could hear some squeals), and Kongoh pounding on the apron and yelling, Kenoh used something that he had done earlier in the match, but now he capitalized on it, and again, this is new for him. Using the fact that Kiyomiya is taller than he is to his advantage, Kenoh bought him down with a chokehold by clinging on to Kiyomiya's back and wearing him down to the mat. 

WINNER: Kenoh with the rear naked choke sleeper hold (19 minutes, 30 seconds)


Kenoh pushed the ref away who was raising his arm, and then bent over Kiyomiya silently, and left the ring. 
Kiyomiya remained in his back staring at the ceiling before Inamura rolled him out of the ring.


VS Kazushi Sakuraba

Kenoh had been on commentary when Katsuhiko Nakajima failed to take the GHC Heavyweight from Go Shiozaki on the 22nd November at "NOAH The Chronicle Vol.4", and he came to the ring at the end of the match to see how Nakajima was (not something Nakajima has ever done for him however). 
Kenoh's mood was made worse when he saw Takashi Sugiura and Kazushi Sakuraba come to the ring. Kenoh (after he and Sugi had yelled at each other, with Kenoh basically asking "What the fuck do you want?"), came stamping over and Sakuraba stood between them. Kenoh immediately took this as a sign that Sakuraba was going to challenge him for the National Title (Kenoh is good at deciding what other people want, whether they know or appreciate it or not), and therefore made it a fact by doing it in a way by using language that Sakuraba wouldn't. Then he stormed off.
Match has been set for 6th December at "NOAH the BEST: THE FINAL CHRONICLE 2020" at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium (No. 2 Gymnasium)

If there is one thing that Kenoh seems to be irritated about, it's his opponents having any kind of fun. While Kiyomiya came under Kenoh's obsession with protecting him because he dared go on a dating show, Kazushi Sakuraba was classed as "an old man who gets drunk in an Izakaya", after a YouTube video was posted showing himself and Takashi Sugiura enjoying a few drinks. 

Their one and only pre match happened on the 1st December at Noah's last Korakuen Hall show before the big Yoyogi event. Kenoh has a background in Nippon Kempo, which is very similar to the MMA which Kazushi Sakuraba does. For Kenoh this is a chance to use that against someone of similar skills, which is why I think was part of the reason he was so obsessed with fighting Kiyoshi Tamura. The title match is going to be interesting, and probably something very different from what we have seen from Kenoh so far, as they both assumed stances of kicks and jabs more common in MMA than in pro wrestling. The match ended with Kazushi Sakuraba making Nioh submit, but Kenoh wasn't finished yet. The fighting might have stopped, but the verbal war as about to begin. Kenoh got on the microphone, and started screaming at Sakuraba, first asking about his using Nippon Kempo (there were some techniques he used that Kenoh, who teaches it and is one of the directors of an academy, had never seen before) and then accusing Sakuraba of not taking the match seriously, and then he touched on the PRIDE era asking where all the intensity that Sakuraba had felt then had gone? 


Sakuraba, listened patiently and then made the "Time Out" motion, before picking up the mic himself, however, it wasn't on. He screamed like Kenoh, and then left the ring. Kenoh was not impressed and they had a row on the apron, Kenoh worked up and Sakuraba winding him up. NOSAWA thought it was very funny. On leaving the ring, Kenoh looked like he was going to storm to his room and slam some doors.

Kenoh remained in a foul mood over Sakuraba and the microphone incident, believing in his usual way that Sakuraba had done it deliberately. Kenoh turned up at the match signing on the 4th December, his temper boiling over the incident. Growling into the microphone that he would draw out the Sakuraba from the 1990s, who they called "The Gracie Hunter" in their match and bring him back to his "bloodlust" of The PRIDE era. Sakuraba gently wound Kenoh up by telling him not to get too angry, but he just wanted to enjoy the match. Kenoh lost his temper in a big way when Sakuraba ignored him, slammed his hands down on the desk, and started scuffling with him which ended with Kenoh hitting him with the GHC National before climbing up on the table and giving him the footstomp. Sakuraba later showed the bruising on his stomach caused by Kenoh's leather shoes. 


In retaliation for Kenoh's attack on him during the match signing in Tokyo, and to prove that the "bloodthirsty" Sakuraba was always present under his somewhat affable outward appearance, "The Gracie Killer" of the 1990s, immediately felled Kenoh with a strong MMA attack. If Kenoh had wanted to see this Sakuraba from the PRIDE era he had so loudly shrieked about, he had gotten him. For Kenoh, this was a very different style of match as rather than wrestle in his usual style, it was somewhat MMA and he was forced to grapple. There were also many more submissions than usual, with Kenoh over the screaming of the commentators, the applause of the crowd and Kongoh pounding the apron, making it to the ropes a couple of times, the final time he reversed the move and turned it into a pin which got him the win. I think the kick war was more to his liking, as he came away from the match looking very thoughtful as if he was reflecting that this wasn't as easy as he thought it was going to be. It was almost the same look he had after facing Kiyomiya. 


VS Kazunari Murakami

Kazunari Murakami seemingly has had instant problems with Kenoh the moment he walked into Korakuen Hall, when NOSAWA Rongai introduced him at the Kongoh produce. Murakami's target at that time may have been the "young boys" he remembered from Kensuke Office\Diamond Ring, Katsuhiko Nakajima and Masa Kitamiya. Kenoh of course started screaming about him, saying in his produce backstage promo that included a strange fantasy about Kazunari Murakami "drinking in a shady Izakaya under railway tracks". They met for the first time in the elimination match at The Sugiura Army produce in late December 2021, when after a vicious exchange of MMA style strikes, Kenoh eliminated Murakami. Murakami had his revenge when Kongoh and The Sugiura Army clashed on the 4th January 2021 at Korakuen Hall. The match ended with Murakami choking Kenoh out as Referee Shu Nishana, Takashi Sugiura and Kazunari Sakuraba trying to pull him off. Backstage, seeing that Sakuraba and Sugiura had belts, and hearing that he himself had choked out the GHC National Champion, Murakami made a title match. Kenoh said it was frustrating because he was choked out, and the title match was made without his knowledge, but he had no choice but to do it and defend the title. 
Title match has been set for 23rd January 2021 in Osaka.


Throughout the one and only pre-match on the 16th January at Yokohama Radiant Halls, Murakami was told time and time again by the referee to not punch with a closed fist. The recipient of these punches was usually Kenoh, who he wrestled down to the mat at the beginning of the match, but it wasn't Kenoh who got choked out this time. The match ended when Tadasuke was being hammered by punches by Murakami, and Kenoh (after Murakami had thrown the ref off of him), ran in to help. Murakami dealt Kenoh a punch which knocked him sideways, and dragged Tadasuke to his feet, and put the sleeper hold on him. The referee then stopped the match. 

Afterwards, Kenoh and Murakami (with a worried NOSAWA Rongai looking on), stared at each other, until Kenoh left the ring. Backstage, Kenoh said that although he "hated Murakami from the bottom of my heart", he wondered if he too could throw punches while wearing open fingered gloves, but the "serious Kenoh" which he would show him, would be ready for it.

Kazunari Murakami, looking every inch the thug that Tokyo Sports describe him to be, used the usual wind up tactics by strolling round outside the ring (also talking to himself, and tucking the shirt of his sinister looking suit in), after Kenoh had knocked him outside of it. The match itself was almost MMA style in its initial stages, quick jabs and kicks. This kind of ended when Murakami became enraged after a slap by Kenoh on the ropes, and took him to the floor. After this, Kenoh challenged him to a kick war. Not quite "The Kick War From Hell" with Katsuhiko Nakajima, but Kenoh countered Murakami's by using his background in Nippon Kempo to block. So with Murakami worn down, Kenoh knocked him to the mat with a brutal closed fist punch which got him told off by the referee. 
Now, if you have ever seen a movie where a monster pretends to be either dead or asleep and opens one eye, this is kind of what happened next when Murakami unleashed a volley of kicks and punches on Kenoh. Kenoh (after a brief loss of temper) realized then that his greatest weapon was ironically, his size, and so he managed to leap on to Murakami's back and lock in the sleeper. Refusing to let go and with Murakami sinking down, the referee called a halt to the match. Even then, Kenoh had to be pried off of him. 

WINNER: Kenoh via referee stop (9 minutes, 40 seconds)

This was not your usual Noah style title match, but the GHC National has a history that needs to be made. It's kind of like The Fool card in a tarot deck, as its the most powerful and goes where it wants, and for some reason matches of this sort (MMA style, shoot style) have always worked in Noah and gone over well with the crowd. The match was no longer that it needed to be, and as it was streamed on Periscope attracted a whole range of wrestlers, from Hideki Suzuki to "brother" YASSHI, who all tuned in to watch. 


VS Masakatsu Funaki

Fans could breathe easily now that the match with Murakami was out of the way and Kenoh was going to the Budokan as a champion, but he was given no breathing space, as his next challenger appeared almost right away. It was M'S Alliance member, Masakatsu Funaki, who said "Your next title match, have it against me". 
Kenoh, calling him the "strongest challenger", accepted his challenge and has set it for the 12th February at the Nippon Budokan. Their one and only pre-match will be on the 31st January.


Kenoh quickly discovered that Masakatsu Funaki was a very different challenger from the affable Kazushi Sakuraba and the thuggish Kazunari Murakami. In a way, he was kind of like the final boss, overcome him, and Kenoh would win the game. Like most final bosses, you come across them once, and they defeat you first time, and this is exactly what happened to Kenoh. 
The match started in usual style, Kenoh using his Nippon Kempo against Funaki's MMA, but then Funaki took Kenoh down to the mat and locked in a hold that was new to Kenoh. Kenoh knew then that things were going to be very different, but he wasn't given time to work Funaki out as if Funaki wasn't holding him in a lock, he was knocking him to the mat. Kenoh was dazed, swearing under his breath he staggered to his feet, and Funaki caught him a choke. Kenoh's face turned purple, but he would not quit and so the referee called a stop to the match after eighteen minutes and one second. 
The next match, will be the title match. 

Kenoh knew from being choked until he turned purple in the pre-match, that he was going to have to find a way to overcome Masakatsu Funaki, or else his Budokan dream was going to turn into a humiliating nightmare. The match, combining both Funaki's skill and Kenoh's background in Nippon Kempo, was very MMA style, lots of holds, lots of chokes, especially the lock up. Funaki was not give up with chokes, and he remained very much dominant, grinding Kenoh down. Kenoh took a slightly different tactic to his other opponents, by not choking him out, but taking him by surprise. It was a swift match with a surprise victory, but not one that could have gone on for very long.  

WINNER: Kenoh with the Dragon Suplex Hold (10 minutes, 10 seconds)


VS Kendo Kashin

Backstage, Kenoh found that he had another challenger, hot on the tails of the first. No one from The M's Alliance this time, it was a Sugiura Army member, Kendo Kashin. Kashin (with his ability to upend reality...something common among Noah juniors), said that he had wanted to challenge for the GHC National belt since he entered wrestling. It should be noted that Kashin entered wrestling in 1993. The GHC National belt was created in 2019. The title match will take place on 14th March at "Great Voyage 2021 in Fukuoka".


Kendo Kashin may have promised "a clean match" and with "no seconds interfering", this was hardly the case when after Kenoh's match against his tag partner from the junior years, a strange masked man, dressed as one fan put it "like a cheap pirate", stormed the ring afterwards wearing a hockey mask over what was later revealed to be a Lion mask. The intruder attacked Kenoh with the crutch he was holding, and left the ring. Backstage, he claimed his name was "Sugiura" and he was doing this for "Kashin". 
No one was fooled into thinking this was Takashi Sugiura, for a start the body size and height was different, and in any case, Sugiura would probably have dressed as a gorilla or worn a dog mask. Suspicions were further aroused when a picture of Kendo Kashin wearing the same hockey mask and "Ghost Pirate" outfit which he had worn in 2017, came to light. 
Takashi Sugiura said he wasn't an old man who played jokes, it was Kashin who was being the prankster. Besides, he didn't have time to mess around. Kenoh himself wondered who it was, and swore no mercy on the culprit.


Kenoh came out to the match in Maebashi, Gunma, on the 23rd February looking around the arena to see who or what was going to jump him today. He spied a very familiar person sitting at the ring announcers table, who was wearing a very familiar mask...enraged, Kenoh went over and grabbed the figure. However, it turned out to be the terrified looking (and much smaller) Mr Orange, who drives Noah's bus. Another clue was that Orange is also bald. Kenoh stalked back to the ring where at the end of the match, his fears came true when he was attacked by a mysterious masked figure again. This time Kongoh were in the ring with Kenoh (all except Katsuhiko Nakajima, who left when the fighting broke out and walked off not bothering to even look back), and the figure was shoved out of the ring by Masa Kitamiya. Backstage Kashin (and we all know it was him) said that he was Kazushi Sakuraba. 

There where no masked men dressed as pirates or swathed in a white mask to jump Kenoh at Korakuen on the 24th February. Kashin did try to sneak attack Kenoh though, and en route to the ring, he apparently tripped over the barrier in his haste to get into the ring. Kenoh wasn't fooled, and very very rarely for him, he brawled in his ring robe, and then used it to choke Kashin. 

During the tag match, Kashin cheated (maybe he means the title match will be a "clean fight"?), and kicked Kenoh in the groin after distracting the referee. After being provoked to levels beyond the rage that Kaito Kiyomiya usually provokes in him, Kenoh fought Kendo Kashin after the match (a tag, which neither of them won, when Kazushi Sakuraba made Katsuhiko Nakajima tap out), at ringside with the brawl going backstage, and into one of the Korakuen lifts.  


Kenoh was not immune from Kendo Kashin's mind games at the press conference\match signing which took place on the 4th March 2021 in Tokyo. Kashin did not attend, but sent a rambling message in which he apologised for being absent, and calling Kenoh by his real name, (Daisuke), he said he loved him and had a gift for him. As Kenoh glowered and Ally looked on, a giant present was wheeled out, which had a card on it which read "Present For You". 
Kenoh approached the box, and commanded Ally to open it.
Not surprisingly, he refused. 


Kenoh took his jacket off, and handed it to Ally, and approached the box. Kenoh opened the lid and then jumped back in surprise (non Kayfabe smiling) as a masked man popped out and fired a party popper, Kenoh grabbed the figure to have a look, but didn't see another figure that was ominously familiar, creeping up behind him. A fight broke out as Kenoh was battered by the figure (Kashin) who was clutching a crutch, as the other figure (the much put upon Mr Orange, the Noah bus driver), fought out of the box and fled the scene. Eventually, the familiar masked figure with the clutch left, leaving Kenoh in the wreckage of his "present". 

The constant vigilance was beginning to take a toll on Kenoh as he stepped out for the last match before the title match on the 7th March at "Great Voyage in Yokohama". Although he managed to defeat Kinya Okada in seven minutes, Kenoh was always on the lookout for any strange masked figures. After the match he got on the microphone and said that he knew Kashin was out there, and indeed he was, when Kenoh put the microphone down he sensed someone standing behind him and turned around very slowly. 
As the event was the FULL THROTTLE produce, and they had taken on their LEAVE MASK personas beforehand, Kendo Kashin had also joined in, and attacked Kenoh in the guise of "THE LEAVE MASK 4". 
Kashin later claimed he was Hajime Ohara, but no one believed him. First of all and primarily of all, Ohara is too sensible to jump someone.  

I don't think in thirteen years of wrestling, Kenoh has ever had a match quite like this one. While the real Kendo Kashin did turn up, and there were no masked men in various disguises lying in wait to jump Kenoh, Kashin had certainly got into Kenoh's head like no one else ever had done before. Kenoh entered the ring looking tearful and anxious like he was scared as to what he would find in the ring. There was no time for his usual entry, because halfway to the ring he stopped, shouted and then threw his jacket at Kashin, and the fight was on. 


And what a fight it was. Aside from the usual groin shots and underhand tactics, Kashin at one point even went so far as to steal some perspex from the commentary table and hold it over Kenoh's face, but there was method to his madness. At one point he seemingly got out of the ring for no reason, and all he did was fight with the Kongoh seconds, and the loosen his bootlace, but it turned out the reason for this was to get out of the ankle hold when Kenoh later applied it. It didn't work though, because although he escaped when it happened (and Kenoh threw the boot into the crowd). But no amount of sly tactics, perspex sheets or sneak shots was going to save Kashin or win him the belt, and Kenoh ended the match (and his nightmare) by two angry massive PFS.


VS Kazuyuki Fujita

Kenoh stood with his foot placed heavily on Kendo Kashin's chest and growled on the microphone about his next challenger. Looking at the entrance to the ring, more in anticipation this time and not in fear, he turned back to scan ringside and then came across Kazuyuki Fujita. 
Now, anyone who watches wrestling will tell you that when a wrestler who has no business being at ringside (Fujita has no interest in Kashin), usually means a title challenge. Fujita didn't have to come forward, Kenoh, looking for a strong challenger (and not one who was going to constantly be jumping him), nominated him. Kenoh's reasons were sound, he wanted a strong challenger, the strongest challenger, and Fujita would do quite nicely. 
Fujita got into the ring, and also placed his foot on Kashin's chest. Kenoh yelled something at him (probably an expletive), and the two of them got into a tussle, which was quickly broken up by their seconds. No one actually came to rescue Kashin. 
The match has been set for the 21st March at Korakuen Hall.


Due to time constraints and show numbers due to the Coronavirus, Kenoh and Kazuyuki Fujita were only able to have one pre-match, which took place at "Great Voyage in Fukuoka" on the 14th March. They might not have trodden on Kendo Kashin this time, but they did have a moment of comedy, when they parodied the famous stare off of 24th March 2020, when Kazuyuki Fujita and Go Shiozaki had a half an hour stare down. Kenoh and Fujita's did not take anything like that long, partly because they had a live audience and a time schedule to keep to, and even if they didn't I don't think Kenoh has that type of patience, and so it came to an end when Kenoh moved and Fujita took this as the excuse to attack. Fujita may have been the strongest challenger that Kenoh was craving for, but overall it looked like he was wrestling a bear. 

Kendo Kashin cannot stay out of trouble, and when Fujita tagged him in, Kenoh (who is sick of the sight and the subject of him), tagged in Nioh. Kashin grabbed a chair during one of the many melee fights that broke out, and then Kashin being Kashin, fought Nioh oh the ramp, vanished backstage and came back with a folding chair to choke him with, wrapping one part around his neck and twisting his leg into the back of it. A triple submission went on at the entry way, and the match ended in a draw because Kashin got everyone counted out. Kendo Kashin cannot stay out of trouble, and when Fujita tagged him in, Kenoh (who is sick of the sight and the subject of him), tagged in Nioh. Kashin grabbed a chair during one of the many melee fights that broke out, and then Kashin being Kashin, fought Nioh oh the ramp, vanished backstage and came back with a folding chair to choke him with, wrapping one part around his neck and twisting his leg into the back of it. A triple submission went on at the entry way, and the match ended in a draw because Kashin got everyone counted out.

WINNER: Draw (8 minutes, 16 seconds)

Kenoh was furious and had a screaming tantrum on the microphone. For a few moments I seriously thought that Kashin was going to be kicked out of The Sugiura Army as NOSAWA was yelling at him, and it took Fujita to be the levelheaded one and calm them both down. However, Kenoh's tantrum did the trick, and the referee thought it was best to restart the match, even then Kashin couldn't resist getting involved with Kenoh vs Fujita, and the ref had to prevent him. This would not be the end of Kashin causing trouble, he repeated the perspex glass spot with Kenoh, and NOSAWA even stole a video camera and filmed it. 

Kenoh has done his homework against Fujita, being agile enough to get out of the Fujita Bomb, but the choke turned him purple, and he had a very hard time getting to the ropes. In a three man tag he is lucky, someone is around to break the hold, in a singles match it is going to be very different.  Like he did once with the GHC Heavyweight Tag Belts, Kazuyuki Fujita after the match stole the GHC National, and rather than make off with it backstage, he put it over his shoulder. Kenoh got in the ring and snatched it back angrily, a verbal exchange happening between the two. 

On the 21st March 2021 at Korakuen Hall, led by the challenger, Kazuyuki Fujita, The Sugiura Army filed out in an orderly but somehow still chaotic line (Takashi Sugiura, Kazushi Sakuraba, who by the way had forgotten his "SAKU" belt which made Sugiura laugh, NOSAWA Rongai, Kendo Kashin and Kazunari Murakami) filed out for the title match. Katsuhiko Nakajima for some reason joined Kongoh, which is something he normally wouldn't do. 

Kazuyuki Fujita added the last moment of comedy, which we had seen in the pre-matches and when Kenoh had nominated Fujita as challenger, by standing in the way of Kenoh when Kongoh did their pose, and seeing who would move first. 


Had it just been Kenoh on his own, he probably would have stayed as still as he could for as long as he could, but as he was aware that all of Kongoh was waiting, he got up and was immediately irritated. The ref had to separate them. 
This was not going to be the last stare off, which have now become a staple of Fujita title matches, the second occurred when the ref checked them for weapons and Kenoh broke it with kicks. The third happened afterwards, although their seconds urged them to do something but no one moved. They slowly started to move towards each other, and then the match was on. Kenoh had come to the ring looking as if he realized that in Fujita, he had bitten off more than he could possibly ever chew, let along swallow, and he faced the painful reality of no matter what he did it was having very little effect -his normally devastating kicks met with Fujita telling him to "Come On!", and after being shoved to the mat by Fujita, Kenoh made the mistake of rolling off into The Sugiura Army corner which naturally caused the juniors on both teams to start fighting with the heavyweights breaking it up. 

Back in the ring, Fujita destroyed Kenoh, he was just too powerful, nothing Kenoh did made any difference

WINNER: Kazuyuki Fujita with the Facekick (19 minutes, 14 seconds)

NEXT CHAMPION: Kazuyuki Fujita

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