(NOAH) CARD: NOAH the SPIRIT 2021 Masa Kitamiya 10th Anniversary Tournament (Saturday, August 28th - Takaoka Ecourt, Toyama)

As Masa Kitamiya's anniversary in September (25th) falls in the middle of the N-1 and it is hard to incorporate it as a result, his ten years in wrestling will be celebrated today as Noah take a trip to his home prefecture, Toyama. Naomichi Marufuji is also celebrating a debut anniversary (23 years in wrestling) and his big celebration apparently is in beating up King Tani. 

YO-HEY makes his return from having COVID, while Nioh still remains absent due to still having a cough (I'm sure cigarettes don't help). 

Today's event starts at 17:00 JST, for those lucky enough to go to the venue the doors open at 16:15. Event will not be broadcast live, but will be put on WrestleUniverse on Tuesday 31st August. You must be a subscriber to view this. 

MATCH ONE

Akitoshi Saito vs Kinya Okada

A feud is developing stemming from young Kinya Okada rising to his feet and screaming at Akitoshi Saito when he tried to beat him down at "Kawasaki, Go!". I don't think there is going to be too much disco dancing in this match.

MATCH TWO

YO-HEY vs Kai Fujimura

YO-HEY makes his return to the ring following illness and faces young rookie Kai Fujimura. YO-HEY'S big match will come tomorrow. 

MATCH THREE

Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura vs Funky Express (King Tani & Mohammed Yone)

Naomichi Marufuji said on Twitter to Takashi Sugiura that since they were the ones with all the belts, then they were the true funky people. Takashi Sugiura, with his hatred of disco (and yes he is quoted in an interview saying he doesn't like it), remarked that there is nothing "funky" about him. 

MATCH FOUR

Kotaro Suzuki vs Aleja

Interesting match in which someone whose attack these days is very much ground based (it's Yasutaka Yano who does Kotaro's corner post flip these days) against someone whose attack is Lucha. 

MATCH FIVE

STINGER (HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa & Seiki Yoshioka) vs Hajime Ohara, Junta Miyawaki & Yasutaka Yano

Hajime Ohara chaperones young rookie (and I get the impression probably Ogawa's star pupil) Yasutaka Yano and Junta Miyawaki who is riding high since winning his first round in ZERO1'S junior league. Their opponents are STINGER, who given Ogawa's distance from HAYATA at Noah's last event, makes you wonder how he is going to be teaming with both HAYATA (GHC Junior Heavyweight champion) and Seiki Yoshioka (one half of the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag champions). Today's match may give a clue as to what may happen tomorrow. 

MATCH SIX

Masa Kitamiya debut 10th anniversary match

Masa Kitamiya, Kaito Kiyomiya, Daiki Inaba, Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Manabu Soya, Haoh & Tadasuke)

Masa Kitamiya celebrates his debut by teaming for the first time with his tag partner, Kaito Kiyomiya, since they won the GHC Heavyweight tag titles, two Noah Juniors and Daiki Inaba to take on his old stable Kongoh, which features older brother, Katsuhiko Nakajima. Nakajima, who has claimed to have known Kitamiya "since you were born", will probably no doubt have a special present for him in the form of a few kicks, as will Kenoh. No doubt his anniversary will be spent having Nakajima pose for The Shutter Chance. Speaking of Kenoh, both he and Kaito Kiyomiya are both of one mind, it may be Kitamiya's anniversary, but the N-1 Victory is also very close. No friends, no allies, only rivals. 

Picture credit: Noah.co.jp