(NOAH) EVENT RECAP ~ "GREAT VOYAGE 2021 in YOKOHAMA" (Sunday 7th March, Yokohama Budokan)

Noah held their second show in Yokohama today, heading from Yokohama Radiant Halls to the Yokohama Budokan, with the sad specter of the old Yokohama Buntai Gym in the vicinity, now in a state of being pulled down. Inside the arena, Noah was playing an eclectic mix of songs ranging from anime (The End Of Evangelion - "Komm Süsser Tod"), Gothic (Cradle of Filth's "Nymphetamine Fix") to Black Sabbath and Alexi Laiho. 

FULL THROTTLE, fresh off their own produce, had a video posted with Hajime Ohara explaining what merchandise was on sale, Seiki Yoshioka holding the sign, and YO-HEY waving a Noah color changing light around, which at one point Hajime Ohara took off of him and handed to Yoshioka, who handed it back to YO-HEY. YO-HEY even bought the light out to the ring with him. 

TEENS HEAVEN opened the show, explaining to the crowd the rules on safety (i.e. no drunk Tadasuke's, no loud cheering, and take your rubbish home with you etc), and as the show began, Noah ran an amazing video package which was done in Edo style with Kongoh & The Sugiura Army being portrayed as Samurai, and later in a kind of Nishiki-e style.

The event was broadcast on three platforms: FITETV ($19.99 for the PPV, English language but not available in Japan), WrestleUniverse (English language) and ABEMA (Japanese language, free to view for seven days). If you do want to view the event I recommend you either watch ABEMA or subscribe to WrestleUniverse. 

MATCH ONE

FULL THROTTLE (Seiki Yoshioka, Hajime Ohara, YO-HEY) vs Kinya Okada, Kai Fujimura & Yasutaka Yano

The two young boys came flying like birds into the ring, followed closely by Kinya Okada. Yasutaka Yano decided he was going to be the one who started the match, and he did so against Seiki Yoshioka, who he fought against like a mini cyclone. His attack was so much beyond someone of his age and experience, that Yoshioka was taken aback by it. YO-HEY, however, waved him away, and he tagged in Kinya Okada. Okada dealt with the eccentric YO-HEY lock up by kicking him. He then proceeded to throw him around. 

Hajime Ohara finished the match by pulling Yasutaka Yano so tight, that Yano's foot was almost pulled right to his head. 

WINNER: Hajime Ohara with the Tres Fleur on Yasutaka Yano (11 minutes, 14 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Funky Express (Mohammed Yone & Shuhei Taniguchi) vs The Anti Wrestlers Alliance (Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue)

Mohammed Yone had promised us all a new look for Shuhei Taniguchi. Yesterday he had acted as his stylist and got him a new haircut, today it was the debut of a new costume and Taniguchi came dancing out with a yellow feather boa type thing, new pants to co-ordinate with Yone's, and funky glasses. Taniguchi (despite his music taste which seems to be Punk), was happy to go along with this, and despite the disapproval of Kenta Kobashi, Naomichi Marufuji seems to be pleased with Taniguchi's change saying he looks happier and he has hopes that he may pull himself together. Sadly, today was not to be that day. 

The Anti Wrestlers Alliance (Masao Inoue returns to Noah proper today, with a nice red birthday present chest from Go Shiozaki), were not impressed by what they saw, but Taniguchi showed his stuff in the ring. 

WINNER: Akitoshi Saito with the Sukurudesu on Mohammed Yone (10 minutes, 11 seconds)

MATCH THREE

Kotaro Suzuki, Ikuto Hidaka & NOSAWA Rongai vs The Kongoh Juniors (Haoh, Nioh & Tadasuke)

Kongoh came to the ring looking all business, and while they waited for their enemies to appear (NOSAWA was actually caught on camera walking to the ring, not materializing out of thin air as he is apt to do), Tadasuke took the opportunity for the obligatory ABEMA camera moment where he uses the corner post camera lens as a mirror. Naturally, no one waited for the bell when they did arrive. 

This was a fast paced chaotic Noah junior match, with a third element hanging over it, as FULL THROTTLE yesterday declared war on The Kongoh Juniors, but FULL THROTTLE kept out of it. 

Noah had said in the match preview that this wasn't a match that could be resolved by just one, and it wasn't, NOSAWA Rongai (who worked very well with Kotaro Suzuki), went for the desperation pins on Haoh, and like his nemesis Tadasuke, was capable of getting a win by cheating. 

WINNER: NOSAWA Rongai with a low blow on Tadasuke (8 minutes, 8 seconds)

MATCH FOUR

HOSS FIGHT

Kazuyuki Fujita & Manabu Soya

The hoss fight that the fans had been waiting for. It wasn't a long match (these type of matches usually aren't) and consisted of giant shoulder tackles (which Fujita won), lariat competitions (which Fujita also won), and then slams and kicks. 

WINNER: Kazuyuki Fujita with the Power Bomb (6 minutes, 42 seconds)

Kazuyuki Fujita was not finished with Manabu Soya, as after the match, and despite the referees protests, he went to do another Fujita Bomb. However, he found that Soya's weight was too great, and so fell over backwards making them both land in the corner. He went do it again before leaving the ring. Fujita would appear once again in the evening. 

MATCH FIVE

STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa, HAYATA & Susumu) vs Momo No Seishun (Atsushi Kotoge, Daisuke Harada & Junta Miyawaki)

Young Junta Miyawaki came to the ring looking determined, Daisuke Harada looked suitably grim for Momo No Seishun, and the only person who seemed to be happy was Atsushi Kotoge (a bandage on his head from headbutting Seiki Yoshioka yesterday), who trailed behind - but this was probably because he wasn't near Harada. 

Yoshinari Ogawa came to the ring with a certain look on his face which is hard to describe, but it's usually an indication that he's up to something. Nothing was apparent today, but this is Ogawa. He's pulling a string somewhere. 

Junta Miyawaki started the match, but Ogawa decided that he wasn't interested in fighting him, he told Harada to tag himself in. Harada naturally took pleasure in not giving Ogawa his own way, and Ogawa had no choice but to put up with it, and Miyawaki clearing the ring. On the whole, he did good work in keeping STINGER out. Sadly, it didn't last as he was made to pay for it by Ogawa and HAYATA, who worked in a kind of conveyor belt on him, doing swift tags, but much to his credit Miayawaki was able to fight back against Ogawa, and tag HAYATA in. Later he would lock in a submission on HAYATA, and had Ogawa not broke the hold, Miyawaki probably would have made him submit. 

As for Susumu, the only person in the match without a direct story involving Momo No Seishun (aside from the tag title challenge between the two teams), a singles match with either Daisuke Harada or Atsushi Kotoge looks very interesting. Roll on Global Junior League. 

WINNER: HAYATA with the 403 Impact on Junta Miyawaki (19 minutes, 30 seconds)

Yoshinari Ogawa shouted at Daisuke Harada after the match, pointing to Junta Miyawaki who was lying flat on the mat, and asking if he really thought that he could defeat them? The traditional junior fight threatened to break out in a volatile division, when HAYATA held up the belt to Harada and Ogawa kicked him, but it took the calmer Susumu and the ref combined to keep order. 

MATCH SIX

GHC NATIONAL

Kenoh (c) vs Kendo Kashin 

*MOTY*

The real Kendo Kashin came to the ring today, but if you were to ask him about what had happened in Sendai, Maebashi and Yokohama, he would have told you it was Takashi Sugiura, Kazushi Sakuraba and Hajime Ohara. No other masked men intruded into the match though, and NOSAWA Rongai materialized at ringside along with Kazuyuki Fujita, who had no reason to be there as he has no interest in Kendo Kashin, (but as we all know in wrestling, it means something when this happens), and Nioh and Haoh, all of whom probably got there by walking to the ring like the non supernatural beings they are. 

Kenoh came out looking half nervous, half angry, somewhat tired and he almost looked as if he had been crying. Unusually, he yelled at Kashin from the ramp, and there was no usual entry as he flung his jacket at him and the fight started. 

I don't think Kenoh has ever had a fight like this before, especially as it involved Kendo Kashin grabbing a sheet of perspex plastic from the commentary table and pressing it around his face. 

Kenoh found himself wrestling on emotion and anger, and wasn't his usual calculated self, probably because he didn't know what to expect from Kashin, and this made him dangerous. There was method to Kashin's madness, however, especially when he got out of the ring, attacked one of the seconds, and then stopped to undo a lace on his boot, before getting back in the ring. Later when Kenoh went to do the ankle lock on him, Kashin was able to escape as the boot came off. In fury, Kenoh threw it into the crowd. 

Kenoh was not the only person having problems with Kashin, the ref also had problems with him, being drawn into Kashin's chaos when he wouldn't let go of Kenoh during a submission, even though Kenoh was on the ropes, and the usual referee spots when he was knocked down.

Kashin might have gotten under Kenoh's skin and into his mind, but it was Kenoh who ultimately won the match with two huge P.F.S. One to the back and one to the front to retain the title. 

WINNER: Kenoh with the P.F.S (11 minutes, 13 seconds)

Standing with his boot on Kashin's chest, Kenoh growled on the microphone that he was aiming to be the strongest, and then looking at ringside he nominated a new challenger. 

A challenger more serious than Kendo Kashin, a challenger who was not going to stalk him around the country and jump him in a variety of masks, a challenger who would give him the fight he was craving.

Kazuyuki Fujita. 

Fujita got in the ring, and put his foot on Kendo Kashin. None of the referees attempted to remove him or Kenoh, and when they started scuffling, the seconds ran into separate them, not remove them from Kashin, and even though they are in the same unit, Fujita had no qualms stepping on Kashin. 

Title match has been set for Korakuen Hall on the 21st March. 

MATCH SEVEN

The M's alliance (Keiji Mutoh, Naomichi Marufuji & Masato Tanaka) vs Kaito Kiyomiya, Go Shiozaki & Yoshiki Inamura 

Keiji Mutoh wrestled the match today suffering enteritis, which perhaps explained why looked frail, and had to use the shoulder of one of the refs to get up on to the ladder and into the ring. He said he has also lost 5kgs due to the illness. His challenger, Kaito Kiyomiya, stood and watched him enter looking serious, but in a non Kenoh scowling way. This would happen after the match.

Despite his illness, Mutoh played mind games with Kiyomiya, playing at being the poor old man, using the tactics he used with Go Shiozaki and even requesting a time out. At one time when Kiyomiya had kind of chased him out of the ring, he went to shake hands with Kuniko Yamada who was outside the ring, Kunoko laughed and told him to get back in it. Kiyomiya might have found out how to avoid any potential Mutoh Figure Four Leglock, but Mutoh can still strike back with devastating force when he wants to. He is not always so much the feeble old man he can make himself out to be, even if his somersault cartwheel has seen better days. 

As ever when you get Go Shiozaki and Naomichi Marufuji in the same ring, the chop challenge breaks out. These are no longer the days when Marufuji could beat Shiozaki easily, and much to his dismay Shiozaki no sold his and had him on the floor, seemingly winning the battle, Marufuji eventually resorted to a hook kick to the face. 

Yoshiki Inamura and Masato Tanaka were like two bullets when they fought, and it wound up being Inamura, not Mutoh's challenger, who was targeted by The M's alliance, who attacked his knee. Inamura may have gotten out of one Figure Four, but he wasn't going to get out of another. 

WINNER: Keiji Mutoh with the Figure Four on Yoshiki Inamura (22 minutes, 26 seconds)

Once again, a pre match between Mutoh and Kiyomiya had ended in frustration for Kiyomiya as he hadn't been able to pin Mutoh in either of the pre matches. Mutoh dusted down the belt and showed it to Kiyomiya, and after glaring at him demonically, Kiyomiya left the ring. 

There is nothing left now, but the title match.

MATCH EIGHT

GHC TAG CHAMPIONSHIP 

The Sugiura Army (c) (Takashi Sugiura & Kazushi Sakuraba) vs THE AGGRESSION (Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya)

Fans are used to seeing Katsuhiko Nakajima come to the ring with a sinister smile on his face, today he looked solemn. Takashi Sugiura, however, seems to have a special expression that he saves for the younger generation of Noah, which is half weary and half angry. Tonight, the old men were certainly not going to be playful. 

Sugiura and Kitamiya started with shoulder tackles, which Sugiura then changed to a test of strength, they tussled back and forth, and Kitamiya won that round. Noah have given this moment a very long build, with Kitamiya slowly rising to this point where he became more powerful that Sugiura. 

Together, both Takashi Sugiura and Kazushi Sakuraba worked on Katsuhiko Nakajima's knee, which had suffered Sakuraba's "calf kick" and was still in a tender state. Nakajima was enraged by this, although his smile did come back on when he did The Shutter chance. Throughout the match Nakajima also seemed to have the ability to somehow be near the ropes whenever his opponents did a submission on him, except for one moment when Nakajima was enjoying kicking Sakuraba around, but as ever, he became too cocky and Sakuraba did the calf kick. Kitamiya desperately wiggled into the ring, but Sugiura had hold of him, eventually he managed to break free and break the hold.

The final moments came down to Kitamiya and Sugiura, something as I have said, Noah have been building for absolutely months. Kitamiya locked in a tight Prison Lock, which looked tighter than any he had ever done before. Sakuraba broke the lock, and was dealt with by Nakajima, who screamed at Kitamiya to finish the match. The Saito Slam didn't work and after a couple of brutal strikes between them, Kitamiya felled Sugiura with a punch. Kitamiya then locked on the Prison Lock again after slamming Sugi down and aiming on to his knee. Then he went for a brutal finish; the headbutt, which caused blood to stream down his face. 

WINNER: Masa Kitamiya with the Prison Lock\Headbutt (33 minutes, 3 seconds)

Masa Kitamiya was unsurprisingly not able to stand well after the match, but he managed to stagger over and get the microphone, and said, "Yokohama Budokan! It is us, THE AGGRESSION, who defeated those fun loving old men and took the belts!"

Katsuhiko Nakajima also took a shot at The Sugiura Army, saying, "Please pay attention to the future of THE AGGRESSION. It will be exciting, right? I just want to say this...Wrestling is "fun" after all!"

WITH THANKS TO: rembrandt_kbs, Metal-Noah, Abeshin

GIF'S taken from WrestleUniverse

Noah's next event: March 14th, "Great Voyage in Fukuoka".