(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: THE OVATION 2021 Day 2 (3rd May 2021 ~ Korakuen Hall, Tokyo)

Noah's second night at Korakuen Hall was broadcast via WrestleUniverse, if you are a subscriber please click the link to view the show. There was a volatile atmosphere thanks to the all out war between the Noah juniors yesterday, which could be felt from the first match. With the bonfire that was lit yesterday, just what was going to happen today? 

MATCH ONE

Kotaro Suzuki, YO-HEY & NOSAWA Rongai vs Kinya Okada, Kai Fujimura & Yasutaka Yano

YO-HEY made his first appearance with new friends today, but this was a YO-HEY that was not as bouncy or as happy as usual and seemed somewhat sad. This was, as we will see later, also a nastier more angry YO-HEY. The presence of this team in the opener gave the feeling of a prelude. 

This match was a big one for Yasutaka Yano, as he got to wrestle his hero, Kotaro Suzuki and he performed an amazing somersault during the opening stages which illustrates his potential as the Lucha the division needs. Kotaro is Noah's first born (Misawa gave him his name to reflect this), and interestingly Yano is double Noah born, as not only did he graduate the Noah dojo, he was also born on Noah's birthday, so the oldest today fought the youngest. Despite the fact that Kotaro had been taught too well by Ogawa to fall for any rookie tricks, Yano is often hard to pin and the boy kicked out of much of what was given out to him, but the Facial G proved too much. 

WINNER: YO-HEY with the Facial G on Yasutaka Yano (9 minutes, 29 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Kendo Kashin vs Masao Inoue

Kendo Kashin came out to the match. Got in the ring, and then went to the broadcast table as Inoue waved him back in the ring. The commentators told Kashin that he wasn't on guest commentary today, and a piece of paper confirmed this. Kashin could not even stay out of trouble when the ref checked him for weapons, and found something (that looked like a bottlecap) hidden in his mask. The bell rang and Inoue offered a handshake. Kashin, of all people suspected Inoue (of all people) of being up to something, and refused. Kashin then himself offered a handshake which Inoue took, and I have no idea what that was. 

The match continued in its random fashion, with Kashin going under the ring for a weapon and finding a birch broom, which he went to beat Inoue with. Inoue was saved by the referee, who made Kashin put it back. Then the fight went backstage, with Kashin stopping by the interview area where Murakami took a few shots at Inoue. When it came back out to the main hall, Inoue got squished behind the plastic perspex sheet, which was followed in true Inoue style by getting into a tussle with the iron gate. Back in the ring, after stamping on Inoue's toes and feigning being dazed when Inoue went to do his wind up punch, Kashin got the win with a submission. 

WINNER: Kendo Kashin with the arm-bar (9 minutes, 57 seconds)

Kashin was like a terrier, and wouldn't let go and when he did the weary looking referee had to remove the AED Box he threw into the ring from under it. Kashin then spoke on the microphone, and said something about "Masao" watching WrestleUniverse. Backstage he wasn't finished with him either, attacking Inoue in the interview area. 

MATCH THREE

KONGOH (Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masa Kitamiya & Nioh) vs Funky Express (Mohammed Yone, Shuhei Taniguchi & Akitoshi Saito)

Katsuhiko Nakajima was at his most demonic today, so much so fans said they were scared of him. Throughout the whole match Nakajima wore a huge Joker like grin as he choked out Akitoshi Saito (who looked unhappy compared to Mohammed Yone and Shuhei Taniguchi) with his feather boa and dusted his hands afterwards, and most especially demonic at the end of the match when his face seemed to be lit by some strange otherworldly light as he grabbed Taniguchi's hair and laughed in his face. He looked as if he was about to sink his teeth into his neck. 

Saito in particular seemed to draw the most ire from Kongoh, even from the junior Nioh, who seemed to despise him even more than the others. I think this is probably because they know he doesn't want to do it, and still does it, not following his "belief". Kenoh, who was watching from the balcony, was no doubt pleased with how Kongoh handed the situation.  

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the Vertical Spike on Shuhei Taniguchi (12 minutes, 41 seconds)

Nakajima standing with his foot planted on Taniguchi's chest called for the microphone, telling the camera to zoom in on him, he spoke directly into the lens. 

"Tell me! How is it fun to support you half-assed guys? What is good? In a short while you will be shut down. I am looking forward to it."

Then he booted Taniguchi out of the ring, and left with the others in Kongoh, turning back at the top of the stairs with an evil grin. As for Funky Express, there had been nothing that anyone could do aside from Yone sitting and staring at the floor. 

MATCH FOUR

Kaito Kiyomiya vs Ikuto Hidaka

Both Kaito Kiyomiya and Yoshiki Inamura where to have veteran matches tonight, with Kiyomiya's being against a junior veteran. While Kiyomiya utilized submission holds, Hidaka utilized tricks. It was a good technical match and a good classroom for Kiyomiya, who is still searching for that something he lost when he lost against Keiji Mutoh. 

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Stretch Plum Type Face Lock (12 minutes, 18 seconds)

As Kiyomiya was speaking on the microphone about the CyberFight Festival on June 6th, DDT'S Takeshita, and one half of his rivals at the event to come, walked in. Takeshita reminded him of what was coming up and asked him if he was truly ready for it. He and his partner where, but he had hardly seen intensity from Kiyomiya recently. Backstage Takeshita said that his whole purpose of coming here today was to tell Kiyomiya that if he wants new scenery, then he needs to stop sulking, and show an intense fight, which he hadn't seen for a while. 

MATCH FIVE

Momo No Seishun (Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara & Junta Miyawaki) vs STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa, HAYATA, Yuya Susumu & Seiki Yoshioka)

Not that they had any business being in the ring, but NOSAWA, Kotaro Suzuki, Ikuto Hidaka and YO-HEY decided to wait in the ring before the match started for their rivals to arrive. The referee tried to keep order as tensions started to rise and fights threatened to break out, which he somehow prevented. STINGER told them to get lost, as did Momo No Seishun, as Daisuke Harada waved his hand from the top of the ramp. Ohara looked a mixture of anger and sadness. Junta Miyawaki was too polite to tell NOSAWA and co to push off. Finally, the invaders left, YO-HEY lingering until the ref removed him, 

and so they reluctantly went backstage. For now. Then a mass brawl broke out when Ohara attacked Yoshioka. After this, things were as civil as they could be for a while, with amazing Daisuke Harada and Seiki Yoshioka interactions, but no matter who was fighting - the now more intense Yoshioka, or the angry Ohara torturing him - there was a feeling of anger in all three teams which had not been there before, not just annoyance. This period of civility ended with a mass brawl, and Susumu pointing at Kotoge and pinning Junta.

WINNER: Yuya Susumu with the Front Crash on Junta Miyawaki (23 minutes, 4 seconds)

Like the bad penny he is, NOSAWA turned up again with his group in tow, and a brawl broke out as YO-HEY attacked Yoshioka, and Ogawa and Kotaro fought. The brawl between YO-HEY and Yoshioka was eventually broken up, and when it broke out again they only did it to stir things up and walked off leaving STINGER and Momo No Seishun simmering with rage. 

Susumu then took the chance to challenge Atsushi Kotoge for the GHC Junior Heavyweight. Kotoge told him his challenge had terms; he was welcome to challenge him and he would grant it, but only on one condition, STINGER put the GHC Junior Heavyweight tag belts up against Harada and Ohara. Ogawa of course made a fuss when he found out, but Kotoge thought the idea quite brilliant. STINGER have had no choice but to agree, and the tag belts will be defended on 30th May, as will the GHC Junior Heavyweight, at the Mitsuharu Misawa memorial show. 

MATCH SIX

Masato Tanaka vs Yoshiki Inamura

Kaito Kiyomiya sat on commentary as he watched his tag partner take on Masato Tanaka. For Inamura, like Kiyomiya, this was a learning curve, but in a different way as Inamura is not looking for inspiration or a spark to reignite his feelings. While Tanaka was dominant for much of the match, Inamura did at times gain the upper hand, and this led to praise from Tanaka afterwards who said that you could tell what Inamura did to train during the match, and it makes him stand out from the crowd.  Fans have labelled the battles against Tanaka (and there are more to come), "The wall for Noah's future".

WINNER: Masato Tanaka with the Superfly (13 minutes, 54 seconds)

MATCH SEVEN

The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura & Kazunari Murakami) vs The M's alliance (Naomichi Marufuji & Masaaki Mochizuki)

Naomichi Marufuji will have his pre-match with Keiji Mutoh at the end of the month, before then he had a loose end to tie up in Noah, which he had been waiting to do since 2007 when he was beaten and bloodied in five minutes and fifty seconds by Kazunari Murakami. They squared up today at the start of the match, but Murakami tagged in Sugiura and rattled, Marufuji tagged in Mochizuki. When they did clash it was just like 2007, Murakami kicking Marufuji around just like he had done then, and no selling his attacks and then just like old times, blood flowed, but this time from Murakami. Murakami was not the easiest to knock down, but Marufuji managed it and with the help of his new and increasingly powerful move. 

WINNER: Naomichi Marufuji with the Tiger King Zero (20 minutes, 24 seconds)

After the match, Marufuji closed out the show with a speech to the audience watching at home;

"We can hear the voice and the feelings of everyone in front of the screen. On the 6th June in Saitama, the challenge to Keiji Mutoh for the GHC has been decided, which means that I will keep protecting this ring all the time. The strength of your thoughts will be overwhelmingly powerful. Lets meet again at the venue."

With thanks to: Metal Noah, Abeshin

Noah's next show: Saturday May 15th, Korakuen Hall

GIFS taken from WrestleUniverse.