(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: NOAH NEW HOPE (Saturday November 28th 2020, Club Citta, Kawasaki)

"It's the most suitable card for the name of "NEW HOPE."

There was little singing and dancing today at Club Citta as prior to the show Pro Wrestling Noah held an open audition to recruit new trainees; out of the sixteen people that attended three where chosen. You can read about that here. The three boys got to watch the show, and were seen sitting near ringside. 

There was a special feeling at the venue today as it is the first time that Noah have held an audience attended event for NEW HOPE as they used the premises for it during the spring when Corona locked down live events. Kaito Kiyomiya in particular was very excited by it, and spoke about it in his promo at the end of the show. Noah have been here since with a live audience, but NEW HOPE is special to Kiyomiya. 

As this was not strictly a Noah show, more a Kaito Kiyomiya produce, things were a little different as like with SEM the production was changed slightly (and this kind of has become Noah's new SEM with its main showcasing of younger & rookie talent), with a different song playing at the start, but no matter how things change some stay the same, with TEENS HEAVEN opening the show. NOSAWA was also in attendance, sighted watching from the second floor, although he himself was not on the card.    

As the venue is built for the purpose of being a club, the sound was amazing, and the ring was lit in the colorful lighting which gave it a special ambiance. 

MATCH ONE

Yoshiki Inamura & Kinya Okada vs Junta Miyawaki & Yasutaka Yano 

Twenty-three year old Junta Miyawaki is the most senior man in this match, but that didn't stop Yasutaka Yano from saying he would start. Miyawaki, with a worried look, was seen (and heard) giving instructions to him. Later they worked together in the ring, most memorably with a double dropkick

The opening match worked well despite the differing levels of skills, age and experience with Yano managing to keep the increasingly bigger looking Yoshiki Inamura down. Yano is growing and growing.

WINNER: Kinya Okada with the Blockbuster Hold on Yasutaka Yano (15 minutes, 53 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Atsushi Kotoge vs Kai Fujimura

Seiki Yoshioka looked on from the balcony as former W-1 trainee, Kai Fujimura met Atsushi Kotoge, who was talking to himself in the ring and making twitchy movements. 

Naturally as Fujimura only debuted in July 2019, his moveset was more basic than the more experienced Kotoge, but he was able to throw some stiff elbows. Kotoge was the winner, and he finished the match in a rare technique for him. 

WINNER: Atsushi Kotoge with the Texas Cloverhold (11 minutes, 18 seconds)

In the post match promo afterwards, Fujimura said that he wanted to do more in Noah, and hinted that his participation with the promotion might not be over. 

MATCH THREE

Daiki Inaba vs Manabu Soya

No pose for Manabu Soya, he was all business; hulking physique and angry scowl at Daiki Inaba, which did not change. Soya demonstrated the difference in power, no selling Inaba and chopping him back to the ropes, and both of them screaming each others names as they threw elbows. According to the official Noah site, Soya is a contracted member of Noah, which is why the match I think worked so well and appealed to the fans, rather than it being a fight between two freelancers who used to belong to the same promotion. Noah tried that once before, and it wasn't too much of a success. 

WINNER: Daiki Inaba with the DDD (16 minutes, 38 seconds)

MATCH FOUR

FULL THROTTLE (Hajime Ohara, YO-HEY & Seiki Yoshioka) vs Kongoh (Haoh, Nioh and Tadasuke) 

The more staid Kongoh juniors (although Tadasuke has a manic tendency) watched FULL THROTTLE do their crazy admission (i.e. one is sane, the one in the middle is pretty sane but has his moments, and the third person is most definitely insane) complete with YO-HEY pose. By the end of the match and after a few more by YO-HEY one fan commented that, YO-HEY has a lot of strange poses". 

YO-HEY has also decided that since he is the leader of FULL THROTTLE, then he was going to start the match. 

I don't have much information on this match, but from what I can tell it was your typical Noah juniors; fast paced, and at times out of control. 

WINNER: Tadasuke with the Outcast on YO-HEY (12 minutes, 18 seconds)

MATCH FIVE

Kaito Kiyomiya vs Daisuke Harada

Daisuke Harada has a contradictory relationship with the heavyweight division; first of all he doesn't like them as he feels that they push the Noah juniors aside, but secondly he has also hinted that one day he will become one of them, last year pointing to the GHC Heavyweight and saying, "That is my final goal in Noah". Whatever the reason, Harada refused to shake hands with Kaito Kiyomiya when he offered. 

Fiercely fought match, neither wanted to give up or give in (Harada would kick out of the Tiger Suplex), and at times it was technical, with the much smaller but more experienced Daisuke Harada able to out wrestle Kaito Kiyomiya at times, former GHC Heavyweight Kiyomiya may be, but Harada is still his senior and had a hand in training him. Kiyomiya also displayed a tendency to showboat to the crowd, which allowed Harada to get a sneak pin from behind. Hopefully, like Nakajima's being cocky or Tadasuke's being crazy, this won't start costing him in the future. 

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with a German Suplex Hold (18 minutes, 44 seconds)

Harada was seen to at ringside by Okada and Kotoge, as Kiyomiya spoke on the microphone. His first words were to thank him. Kiyomiya then recalled how Club Citta had started with no spectators, and here he was now at NEW HOPE, speaking in front of them. He may not have gotten a belt, but he would continue to press forward without it in his quest for his "new view". 

WITH THANKS TO: Fujiwara Armbar, Abeshin, Kei, Pekehoko

PICTURE CREDIT: Noah GHC, Pro Wrestling DX

NOAH'S NEXT SHOW: Tuesday December 1st, Korakuen Hall