(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: CROSS OVER 2021 in HIROSHIMA (1st August 2021, Sun Plaza Hiroshima)

Noah have not been to Hiroshima since 2019, thanks to the pandemic which bought everything to a near halt in 2020, and they haven't been to Hiroshima Sun Plaza since 2001. Back then Naomichi Marufuji was junior wrestler of about 22, and Takashi Sugiura had debuted the December before. Neither could probably imagine that they would walk into the arena as champions, (the GHC National was unknown at that time), and Marufuji probably never dreamt he would be entering (and leaving) as GHC Heavyweight Champion. Tonight Hiroshima told another story, as HAYATA was celebrating his 15 years in wrestling, with flowers in the lobby for him. HAYATA is a native of the prefecture (he is actually from a town about half an hour away from the city), with his two teammates, Seiki Yoshioka and Yuya Susumu having trained together with him and debuted in Hiroshima, so they all celebrated together. To an extent this was also a celebration for YO-HEY, who is also connected with Hiroshima, but we will get to that in due course. As you can imagine with the high emotion behind the GHC Junior, and to some extent the GHC Junior Tag, for once the juniors managed to eclipse the heavyweights. 

The event today was broadcast over three channels, ABEMA, FITETV (you can purchase the PPV for $19.99), and WrestleUniverse, to which you must be a subscriber to. English commentary is available on FITE and WrestleUniverse. 

MATCH ONE

Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito vs King Tani & Kinya Okada 

Kinya Okada came fleeing down the ramp, and it is no wonder as to why he did; King Tani was following on behind, dancing and decked out in gold crown, gold jewelry and an unlit cigar which he pretended to smoke. The referee told him frostily, no smoking. So while the grim looking Akitoshi Saito and the ever upbeat Mohammed Yone made their way to the ring, Tani was still wearing his crown and gold chain of office. Yone started protesting that he had to remove his boa and glasses, so why couldn't Tani? Then he was told to take the chain off, Tani somewhat arrogantly told the referee to do it. The referee also found that he had to remove Tani's gold bracelets too. 

The last person who pulled a pose and stood up to Yone when he did his "Disco Fever pose" was a Atsushi Kotoge who was convinced he was a "Revolutionary Cloak Hero", and now it seems it is a man who thinks he is a King (and will no doubt progress to Roman Emperor megalomania at some point), who pulled his own pose. Yone looked incredulous, and the friction that had started to be sown from Tani's behaviour towards the ref, started to grow. 

The two serious people in the match were Kinya Okada, (who was seen to very politely clap Tani's strange strange helicopter crotch grab dance), and Akitoshi Saito, who he managed to knock down and pin early on in the match. You could tell with one of his kicking poses that Okada has received input from Kenoh. But for poor Okada, Mohammed Yone, while genial outside the ring can be ruthless when it towards his opponents, even in the case of Tani they are his teammates. 

WINNER: Mohammed Yone with the Kinniku Buster on Kinya Okada (11 minutes, 3 seconds)

With a dark look on his face, Mohammed Yone pulled his "Disco Fever" pose at King Tani. The loss of the match wasn't the only problem facing Tani, as he got jumped (again) by Kendo Kashin, who started pestering him to "bring a Queen". Tani has told him time and time again that he has no Queen because he has no woman, but Kashin refused to listen, and attacked him with a cutout of Naomichi Marufuji.

MATCH TWO

Kongoh (Kenoh, Tadasuke & Aleja) vs Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Junta Miyawaki

Usual Tadasuke spot as he talked to the ABEMA corner camera, readjusted his aviator shades and then checked his hair. The manic grin snapped on the moment the bell rung. 

This was a kind of filler match as no one really had any reason to be in the ring together, but still it was interesting to see Aleja thrown halfway across the ring by Masa Kitamiya (who has dyed his Mohawk blonde), and how the attempted Hurracanrunna didn't go so well either. Like his teammate Haoh, he had to rely on speed rather than the strength. With Kitamiya down, this was a signal for his partners to rush into the ring, and Kenoh to stamp in slowly and angrily. Kenoh somewhat looked like he was in some kind of rush during the match, but he wasn't going anywhere, although knowing him he will probably take it as an insult against him that the match card flashed up for a moment.

WINNER: Kenoh with the PFS on Junta Miyawaki (8 minutes, 44 seconds)

MATCH THREE

Yoshinari Ogawa & Yasutaka Yano vs Perros De Mal De Japon (Kotaro Suzuki & Ikuto Hidaka) 

Generally agreed to be a Yoshinari Ogawa training class, Noah's most senior man was in a match with his first Noah trainee, Kotaro Suzuki, and his most recent, Yasutaka Yano. Twenty years separates the two. Ogawa, wasn't struck by any nostalgia as the moment he got in the ring, he point of squaring up to Kotaro, before he went to the apron to keep an eye on his trainee, who is the latest inheritor of the Baba & Misawa Kings Road style that Noah have kept alive over the past twenty years. Naturally, Ogawa was seen instructing Yano from the apron and much to Yano's credit he knocked Ikuto Hidaka out of the ring, who wore the same look that Kotaro did when facing Yano the last time (i.e. just who is this young boy who can fight me as someone beyond his experience), which made the matching nothing like Yoshinari Ogawa vs Perros Del Mal with a trainee in tow. Yano even broke the hold that Kotaro had on Ogawa, which was met with a grimace. However good Yano was and is, he is still a young trainee, and Hidaka knew just how to win the match.

WINNER: Ikuto Hidaka with the Sean Capture on Yasutaka Yano (12 minutes, 53 seconds)

No brawl this evening (the further they get from Korakuen, the more they seem to behave themselves, perhaps Tokyo brings out the worst in the juniors), aside from a stand off between Ogawa and Kotaro, Ogawa pointing at Kotaro warningly. 

MATCH FOUR

Kongoh (Katsuhiko Nakajima, Haoh & Nioh) vs The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura, Kazuyuki Fujita & Kendo Kashin)

Katsuhiko Nakajima was unusually considerate of his smaller junior teammates, went first and faced Kazuyuki Fujita. I think this was because Nakajima knew first hand what Fujita was capable of doing to a heavyweight like Go Shiozaki (dislocated jaw, popped eardrums which worsened his hearing problems, and vision problems), so he wanted to try and protect them from him, and he took the brunt of the onslaught from the heavyweight team. For once there was no demonic grin as they both went for an MMA style lock up. With Fujita overpowering Nakajima, Nioh tagged himself in, but Nakajima went berserk on Fujita raking his eyes and barely noticed. Nioh lived to regret the tag.

Nakajima took the brunt of the onslaught from the heavyweight team. The smile came back when he did the Shutter Chance, however, he like everyone else looked confused when Kendo Kashin joined in...doing it on Takashi Sugiura, who is his teammate. There was no thanks from Nakajima however, Kashin got kicked and thrown out of the ring. 

Grumpily, Sugiura tagged Kashin in crossly afterwards. 

Compared to the juggernaut size of Fujita and the one they call "Noah's Killing Machine", Takashi Sugiura, the two juniors rallied again Kashin. There then came a point where Kashin had Haoh in a hold and he asked his teammates to come into the ring and throw a punch, Sugiura and Fujita had a loud discussion about who was going to help Kashin, in the end Sugi did, Haoh moved and Sugi slapped Kashin. Kashin was not finished yet, his mischief inexhaustible, he and Haoh finished the match rolling about the ring in an endless Mui Thai type of roll, which the ref could only watch and not count

WINNER: Kendo Kashin with the move he suggested Sakuraba use to defeat Marufuji on Haoh (12 minutes, 46 seconds)

MATCH FIVE

GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Championship Match

Daisuke Harada & Hajime Ohara vs STINGER (Seiki Yoshioka vs Yuya Susumu)

Seiki Yoshioka has fast become Daisuke Harada's new Hajime Ohara. The exchanges between the two were light speed, even the cameras seemed to have problems picking it up. This contrasted with Hajime Ohara and Yuya Susumu, who tended to be more slow and methodical. Hajime Ohara had promised at the match signing that he would stretch STINGER from one end to the other with a special Mui Bien, and he made good his promise. However, Susumu came in to make the save before Yoshioka could tap, something he would continue doing despite how many times Harada threw him out of the ring and tried to keep him there. 

The match swung between STINGER being on top and then Harada and Ohara, Susumu assisting or Harada assisting, and both teams pulling out everything they had. 

WINNER: Seiki Yoshioka with the Crash Driver on Hajime Ohara (20 minutes and 23 seconds)

MATCH SIX

SPECIAL TAG IN HIROSHIMA

Great Muta & NOSAWA Rongai vs Kaito Kiyomiya & Atsushi Kotoge

Atsushi Kotoge, who wasn't seen much in this match, came to the ring his usual bouncy slightly wild self, with Kaito Kiyomiya anything but. It seems that winning the GHC Heavyweight Tag Championship has done nothing for Kiyomiya's self esteem as he cannot seen to get anywhere in singles. 

NOSAWA Rongai came to the ring, followed by The Great Muta, carrying a large oblong package. Ignoring the referees protests (and the Noah referees this evening were more put upon than usual), he unwrapped the large package he was carrying and folded it out to reveal it to be a stretcher. Personally, I found this kind of tasteless, as I did the tagline of the match "Nightmare in Hiroshima". Hiroshima is not the place for this.

Muta started the match against Kaito Kiyomiya (who said that to beat Muta would be to "break the shell"), and puffed a little bit of green mist into the air twice. Later when the fight went outside of the ring he found a big hook used for putting it up, he would come back to this later. When it was NOSAWA'S turn, he actually went down on one knee to offer a handshake to Kiyomiya, who because he is Noah Born and therefore very polite (usually), actually took it after some refusal. It was a big mistake, and NOSAWA was not so polite either when he gouged the wound that Muta had caused with the big hook, causing Kiyomiya to bleed so heaving that his blonde hair was dyed a deep shade of red. Muta even bit into the wound. This caused Kiyomiya to lose control of his mind, he was already in a wild enough state when NOSAWA bought in a chair, which the ref took from him. Kiyomiya grabbed it, shoved Referee Nishinaga down and then used it against his opponents, which is rare to see. NOSAWA then bought the stretcher out, but it was drop kicked away. In the end the stretcher was constructed by Kotoge and Kiyomiya, and Muta placed on it. Kotoge hit a moonsault, but Muta moved when it was Kiyomiya. The ref came back in then and tried to prevent Muta from hitting Kiyomiya with the chair, but was given the red mist, and Muta was given the bell. 

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya by disqualification due to the the referee given red mist (17 minutes, 59 seconds)

Muta hit Kiyomiya with the chair anyway for good measure, and finished him off with a Shining Wizard. NOSAWA had cheekily counted the pin, when Yoshinari Ogawa appeared at ringside. Getting into the ring Ogawa threw NOSAWA out, and then attempted to pacify Muta. Demons are hard to control or reason with however, and Ogawa got the green mist. 

By the end of the match the ring was stained a combination of blood red and green. Referee Nishinaga posted a picture of his shirt later on Twitter, while Kaito Kiyomiya wailed he didn't understand anything anymore. Great Muta however hinted that the next time he visits the overworld, it will be at "KAWASAKI GO!". The match will be a special tag between HAYATA and Yoshinari Ogawa, who will take on Great Muta and his demonic sidekick, Magical Immortality (Naomichi Marufuji). 

MATCH SEVEN

GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship Match

HAYATA vs YO-HEY

This was a very special match to celebrate HAYATA'S 15th anniversary in wrestling, and in Noah and in Hiroshima, HAYATA could only have one opponent, YO-HEY. YO-HEY might not have the WRESTLEGATE background and Hiroshima debut that HAYATA shares with Yoshioka and Susumu, but he and HAYATA share a common background in Dove, which makes Hiroshima a special place for him and them, to marginal extent both Susumu and Yoshioka share this too. Fan excitement was so intense for this match that it served to eclipse the main event with an outpouring of fan art online and high anticipation about what would happen. 

It was an emotional, but short match and was the shortest of the title matches (and special tag match) that evening. YO-HEY said he had bought out new abilities to combat HAYATA with, but he hadn't reckoned with HAYATA knowing him so well he lured him into desperation where he wrestled using adrenalin and not his head, and the devastating Headache out of nowhere that YO-HEY knows only too well. 

WINNER: HAYATA with the Headache (15 minutes, 27 seconds)

After seeing to YO-HEY, Perros Del Mal left himself and HAYATA alone in the ring. Fans wondered what would happen, but HAYATA bent down and they butted heads, before HAYATA got the belt, bent down and held the belt up to YO-HEY. When YO-HEY had gone, STINGER got into the ring, and the three posed with their belts, Susumu herding HAYATA to the centre of the ring so he couldn't vanish. HAYATA semi hid behind his belt when he did hold it up, later he was not going to pose alone, even if Yoshioka did leave him for a second and look back to see what he was doing. 

Later, the three of them signed autographs and posed for pictures after the show. HAYATA being HAYATA, slowly slinking away to the back, this comes as no surprise as after their last GHC Junior match in 2019, I remember leaving Sumo Hall and seeing YO-HEY happily signing autographs, with HAYATA hiding behind him, practically pinned to the wall. 

MATCH EIGHT

GHC Heavyweight Championship Match

Naomichi Marufuji vs Kazushi Sakuraba 

Kazushi Sakuraba is one of the more safer people to accept a handshake from, and there was no reason for Naomichi Marufuji to have been so hesitant when he offered, but after this it was down to business with the joking, happy-go-lucky, slightly bumbling Sugiura Army Kazushi Sakuraba left at the door. Marufuji said at the match signing that Sakuraba is different to other challengers, and its hard to keep pace with him. It was an MMA style match to begin with as that is Sakuraba's style. Before he got into wrestling, Marufuji wanted to do MMA and while he only really got as far as training at an MMA gym and sparring with Takashi Sugiura and Yoshihiro Takayama, it is this background he loves to delve into from time to time. Sakuraba's strategy was to work on Marufuji's arm with elbow submissions and keep him from doing those dreaded chops. 

Marufuji managed to do something that had eluded Kenoh, and provoked the "Gracie Killer" Sakuraba, as the match grew vicious with kicks and chops, and Marufuji's mouth being busted open. Sakuraba, who said he wears a shirt because of his fragile skin, ripped his shirt off and challenged Marufuji to chop him. He seemed more element like this, and Marufuji did too.

WINNER: Naomichi Marufuji with the Tiger King Zero (21 minutes, 29 seconds)

There was a handshake, and a deep bow of respect and a fist bump. Sakuraba was helped from the ring, and Marufuji spoke to the crowd, 

"It was hard to do, but it was really fun. I want to defend this belt nationwide. How many years have the people who supported me, waited for me? I will show you a face of Noah that everyone will recognize!"

He also apologized to Mitsuharu Misawa. Looking to the heavens he admitted he borrowed both the rolling elbow and the Emerald Flowsion in an attempt to defeat Sakuraba. 

After speaking, Marufuji showed the belt to all four corners of the ring before walking back up the ramp and going backstage. No challenger had come forward, and with the N-1 Victory starting in September it wasn't surprising. Marufuji announced backstage that like Kaito Kiyomiya who set a precedence, (and unlike Go Shiozaki), he wouldn't be entering the league this year. 

Noah's next event: DEPARTURE 2021 Day 1, Thursday August 5th, Korakuen Hall

GIFS taken from WrestleUniverse