(NOAH) EVENT RECAP ~ HIGHER GROUND 2021 (10th January, Korakuen Hall)

It was a chilly day in Tokyo, but with a clear winter blue sky. Noah announced an attendance of 488 people, which contained a mixture of older fans, new fans, and some fans who had not been to see Noah at Korakuen Hall for years. 

Due to the ongoing COVID situation, the show was a very fast paced one. It kind of reminded me of when Noah did a show a few years ago with a typhoon warning bearing down, and they announced there would be no interval (the urgent nature of the event was probably the reason why six Noah juniors left the ring without a fight breaking out). The big excitement for the card tonight was Daisuke Harada vs Hajime Ohara (which did not disappoint), but the card was to contain other excitements. 

The event was streamed live on WRESTLEUNIVERSE, and will be available to view in perpetuity. You must be a subscriber to the service to watch as this was not a free stream. 

MATCH ONE

FULL THROTTLE (YO-HEY & Seiki Yoshioka) vs Yasutaka Yano & Kai Fujimura

The two young boys, Yasutaka Yano and Kai Fujimura, made a quick entry, running to the ring at top speed. The two of them were not going to be completely pushed over by their more experienced opponents, and several times came close to getting the win. especially Yano with the roll up on Seiki Yoshioka. Fans were into this match in a big way, at times you could believe that they were going to get the victory. 

Seiki Yoshioka started the match against the former W-1 trainee, Fujimura. Yano (who has the potential to be just as aerial as YO-HEY), was spared YO-HEY'S crazy lock up. However, although they both came close to the victory, the veterans did no sell them at times, with YO-HEY chopping Yano. 

WINNER: Seiki Yoshioka with the Tornado Strike on Yasutaka Yano (10 minutes, 47 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Mohammed Yone & Shuhei Taniguchi vs Yoshiki Inamura & Kinya Okada

Mohammed Yone was in complete "Disco" form today; disco dancing to the ring, and then pulling posing when the referee checked him (this reminded when of when Skorpio would pull poses too), and then doing a kind of disco dance around the ring at one point. It should also be mentioned here that the referee for this match was the much younger and less experienced one, and so he took an element of teasing from Yone, who was not above stopping the ref from counting than breaking a pin on Shuhei Taniguchi.  

With his growing skills in the use of kicks, it was only natural that Kinya Okada would face off against BattlArts Yone in this form, so their first lock up took this form. Yoshiki Inamura and Shuhei Taniguchi went for shoulder tackles, which Inamura won. On the whole, Inamura did a lot better against Taniguchi than he did Yone (tremendous selling when Yone felled him with a punch), but Inamura was beaten down by his seniors, with Yone pointing to Okada and telling him he was next. 

Because he is a wrestler who prides himself on modelling himself on the Showa era, Okada used a very technical pin, which considering the speed he did it with, it looks like he needs to refine it a little more.

WINNER: Shuhei Taniguchi via Wyvern Catch Submission on Kinya Okada (10 minutes, 57 seconds)

MATCH THREE

Momo No Seishun (Atsushi Kotoge & Junta Miyawaki) & Daiki Inaba vs Kotaro Suzuki, Ikuto Hidaka & NOSAWA Rongai

Ikuto Hidaka, no longer the "Part Time Guy", took his place in the endless Noah Junior war, in a fast paced match against a twitchy hyper Atsushi Kotoge, a Junta Miyawaki who almost had the pin and took him by surprise, and Daiki Inaba. As usual NOSAWA was not above cheating from the outside, but fortunately STINGER stayed away from NOSAWA, and NOSAWA stayed away from STINGER, so we were able to get something done concerning the next two matches without fights and ring intrusions. It was NOSAWA who saved Hidaka from tapping to Junta, Junta was naturally not pleased and with the tables reversed, ended up tapping to Hidaka

WINNER: Ikuto Hidaka with the Sean Capture on Junta Miyawaki (8 minutes, 55 seconds)

After Atsushi Kotoge complained to the ref and the winning team had their arms raised, NOSAWA high-fived Hidaka, but dissed Kotaro who complained about it!

Although they couldn't have a interval like they would have had once, Noah took a short break to make an announcement on the monitor that Jun Akiyama and Naomichi Marufuji would team together at the Nippon Budokan to take on the young team of Yoshiki Inamura and Kaito Kiyomiya. 

MATCH FOUR

STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa, HAYATA & Yuya Susumu) vs The Kongoh Juniors (Haoh, Nioh and Tadasuke)

Yoshinari Ogawa and HAYATA are odd champions, it needs to be said; Ogawa likes being a champion but hates being challenged, HAYATA likes the level of championship matches, doesn't mind being challenged, but doesn't seem to enjoy being champion, especially a singles champion. Ogawa threw down his championship belt at the focused looking Kongoh, as if to say "You want them? Come and take them. The only way you are getting them is if I give them to you." 

Although this didn't get as out of control as many Noah junior matches are apt to be, especially when you have more than two in the ring at the same time, the ref still had trouble keeping control as melee brawls kept breaking out. Tadasuke loved it, especially when he got to take down STINGER with one of his lariats, he also seems to have come up with a nasty move which involved stretching HAYATA'S leg out and then twisting it. STINGER worked well together (without unwanted interruption) with Susumu working very well with Ogawa. 

Haoh discovered that using speed is one thing against Ogawa, but he has something for that i.e. wrenching your arm out of your socket, the abuse of his arm was something that HAYATA continued, but perhaps Nioh should not have been neglected for Haoh, as during the light speed reversals between HAYATA and Nioh, it was Nioh who picked up the second pin on him in a row.

WINNER: Nioh with the reverse of the Cross Fix on HAYATA (13 minutes, 56 seconds)

STINGER started protesting that it was two, but both Nioh and the ref agreed it was three, as did the gesticulating Tadasuke. 

MATCH FIVE

GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship

Daisuke Harada (c) vs Hajime Ohara

Hajime Ohara came to the ring first as the challenger, accompanied by YO-HEY and Seiki Yoshioka. YO-HEY started dancing, and Yoshioka gave him the same look that HAYATA used to. Daisuke Harada was accompanied by Atsushi Kotoge. 

There was a typically technical lock up to start, which ended with the applause of the crowd, and their staring at each other from across the ring. Harada had called Ohara his "rival" and made the statement that no one at all could drain your strength in a match like Ohara could. For good reason too, Harada had to find ways out of Ohara's complicated lock ups, at one time physically pulling his arms apart when he attempted to lock in either the Mui Bien or the Tres Fleur. Harada even repeated the spot where he leapfrogged the ref to dive on Ohara who was outside the ring. Harada had been told repeatedly not to do this, but you know, this is the Noah Juniors. 

As well as submission moves, there were other ways to wear each other down, Harada using those sudden quick attacks which can be so devastating, and Ohara being very good at concealing weakness and counterattacking. Combined what they did at times, seemed to defy description. The match with all these elements entered a phase of desperation, and then it all came down to momentum.

WINNER: Daisuke Harada with the Katayama German Suplex (18 minutes, 39 seconds)

There is no rest for a champion, someone somewhere will always be coming for the belt, and Seiki Yoshioka was not going to miss his chance, and so he made his challenge. Yoshioka challenged Harada saying he was fired up by what he had just seen, Harada accepted his challenge acknowledging how strong "your leader" had been. Match is set for 12th February at The Nippon Budokan.

MATCH SIX

New Year Tokyo Special Match

Noah (Go Shiozaki, Takashi Sugiura, Naomichi Marufuji & Kaito Kiyomiya) vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masa Kitamiya & Manabu Soya)

Noah will be continuing these "New Year Special Matches" with the popular tag of Naomichi Marufuji and Go Shiozaki in Osaka and Yokohama. They don't get much of a chance to team together, but since neither Keiji Mutoh or other members of the M'S Alliance are in Noah at the moment, it seems to work and for Shiozaki who therefore cannot have pre-matches, it gives him something to do of significance. 

Katsuhiko Nakajima made his entry with Kongoh, lifted his hood, stared into the camera and made the "watching you" motion. Once in the ring, the green lights from the fans started waving for Kaito Kiyomiya, who came bouncing to the ring shedding white feathers everywhere. The lights were red for Naomichi Marufuji, who got into the ring and counted how many members of Kongoh there were. Takashi Sugiura appeared in a Sugiura Army\ARISTRIST hoodie, with the hood up. He looked somewhat street considering he was wearing a chrome belt and a chain. Sugi claimed that one of the referees had made him wear the hood up.

Go Shiozaki made the least dramatic entry, but it was noted that he was breathing heavily and favoring his arms as he came out. Former partner, Katsuhiko Nakajima, would attack them during the match.

You would be hard put to decide just who Kenoh hated more out of his opponents, and he himself would probably find it hard to answer, but he started the match with a brief glare off (not a stare down) with Shiozaki, who he hates just as much as the others (except for Kiyomiya who he has a complicated emotional relationship with). When Marufuji's turn came, he was in the ring with Manabu Soya (Kongoh have the powerhouses, Kitamiya and Soya, but Team Noah have two guys who can chop), who he bounced off and back into the ropes in the Kongoh corner. He decided to complain to Kenoh about him, Kenoh was naturally unsympathetic. I have no idea why he chose to go for a test of strength with Soya after that, but it wasn't just Marufuji that Soya dominated, it was all of the opposition, although Marufuji was given a nasty looking neck hold, and Kongoh beat him down. 

While Katsuhiko Nakajima might not have done anything obvious with Masa Kitamiya (although his trouble making ways were complained of by Sugiura), there were subtle signs that something was definitely brewing between them. The most obvious was when he walked to the corner, and casually held out his hand to tag in Kitamiya. Kitamiya then had the traditional shoulder tackle exchange with Sugiura. 

Go Shiozaki had stated that after Katsuhiko Nakajima had betrayed him, it would never be over between them, and in any ring he would get his revenge. Tonight they faced off in a kick and chop war, in which Nakajima kicked Shiozaki in the jaw and made a sound which bounced off probably every corner of the arena. 

No one was going to interrupt Kenoh from beating up on Kaito Kiyomiya, and he even went to use the choke on him that he had used to defend the GHC National title against him. It's a smart move by Kenoh because it takes into account their size difference, all Kenoh needs to do is jump on to Kiyomiya's back and hang on. Fortunately this time he was saved by Shiozaki (who ended up being kicked between Nakajima and Kenoh), but nothing was going to save Kiyomiya from the PFS. 

WINNER: Kenoh with the PFS on Kaito Kiyomiya (32 minutes, 15 seconds)

Nakajima did not stay with Kongoh to celebrate the win, he walked off immediately, and Kaito Kiyomiya found himself in the doghouse with his partners who left looking angry. Kenoh cut a promo, but not about Kazunari Murakami and his challenge, or even his paranoia over various things, but more about the state of emergency that had been issued, and thanking everyone for coming. Despite the threat of COVID that hangs over everything, Kenoh vowed that his dream, and that of all you assholes i.e. The Budokan was also done in an emergency, and if we all banded together, we could beat this horrible infection one by one.

Noah's next event will be on Sunday 16th January 2021 at Yokohama Radiant Halls

With thanks to: Abeshin & Metal-Noah

GIFS taken from WRESTLE UNIVERSE