(NOAH) EVENT RECAP - DEPARTURE 2021 Day 2 (Friday 6th August, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo)

Noah announced before the event began that YO-HEY had fallen ill with a fever the night of the 5th August, and had taken a PCR test which was positive, therefore not only would YO-HEY miss the event, the people who had been around him in the last match - NOSAWA Rongai, Eita, Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge, Junta Miyawaki and referee Shu Nishinaga would all have to self isolate. Maybe it is a blessing that there was no mass junior brawl at Korakuen on the 5th August. With a chunk of their junior roster missing Noah naturally had to change the card, and they asked for support and understanding at the start of the show. Naturally there was a sense of worry among the junior wrestlers in particular, even Tadasuke seemed a little down when doing his camera moment. The four trainees were back at ringside (fans are wondering when they will debut), and the green lights from the penlights pierced the darkness as the show went on. 

Today's event was broadcast on ABEMA. You will not be able to watch any replays unless you are a subscriber, which I do not recommend unless you are in Japan or have a VPN you know works with ABEMA, but it should be placed on WrestleUniverse in a few days. 

MATCH ONE

Hajime Ohara vs Kai Fujimura

Young Kai Fujimura has learned a lot at the Noah dojo, and from Hajime Ohara's tag partner, Daisuke Harada who taught him what it means to fight as a Noah Junior. But today it was not enough to overcome Ohara although he did at times best him, one time this was met with a huge slap and the rare sight of Ohara giving someone a withering look.  

Winner: Hajime Ohara with the Tres Fleur (7 minutes, 21 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Kinya Okada & Kotaro Suzuki vs Yasutaka Yano & Yoshinari Ogawa

Yoshinari Ogawa continued his classroom today, this time teaming with Yasutaka Yano and not fighting against him. The original card called for Ogawa to team with STINGER against Perros De Mal Del Japon, but naturally this did not happen. As more boys debut, and more come to the dojo, Ogawa is going to need to go back to teaching, so perhaps his gradual shift away from STINGER, towards Keiji Mutoh, and perhaps back to Kotaro Suzuki is for the best, even though currently the sight of Kotaro enrages him.

It's becoming hard to actually believe that Yasutaka Yano is still a rookie, as he managed to take down Kotaro (his hero) and in tandem with Ogawa he worked on Kinya Okada's arm, the both of them exchanging the classic quick tags. Ogawa watched from the apron keenly, and was seen to be giving advice. Yano also has his fans in the crowd, and blue lights were seen for him from the penlights (plus one fan with a custom made sign). But ultimately, this was just a training match as Ogawa did not seem at all bothered about breaking the pin. 

WINNER: Kotaro Suzuki with the Tiger Driver on Yasutaka Yano (13 minutes, 2 seconds)

Before the main show got going, Noah announced this years participants in the N-1 VICTORY. The league this year will include sixteen wrestlers and be divided into four blocks for the first time. The winner of Block A will meet the winner of Block B, with the winner of Block C meeting the winner of Block D, the two men who win the semi finals will meet to fight to be league champion with the winner from that going to fight Naomichi Marufuji for the GHC Heavyweight Championship on the 10th October in Osaka. Marufuji will not be participating, Go Shiozaki and Yoshiki Inamura will not be taking part due to injury, and due to COVID there are no gaijin or anyone from another promotion who has not regularly competed in Noah. 

Block A

Takashi Sugiura

Kaito Kiyomiya

Manabu Soya

Keiji Mutoh

Block B

Kenoh

Daiki Inaba

Masaaki Mochizuki

Kazunari Murakami

Block C

Katsuhiko Nakajima

Kazushi Sakuraba

Kotaro Suzuki

Masato Tanaka

Block D

Masa Kitamiya

Akitoshi Saito

Masakatsu Funaki

Kazuyuki Fujita

Interestingly, Kotaro Suzuki, a junior heavyweight is entering. Kotaro is not turning heavyweight (as we will see), so I think probably what has happened is that with Yoshiki Inamura becoming injured, and it doesn't look like Noah when he will be back, the problems with COVID and getting a replacement at short notice Noah decided to mix it up by putting a junior heavyweight in there. Kotaro can hold his own against heavyweights to some extent and he has always said he wants to face older brother in a singles title match, this is his best chance. 

MATCH THREE

Masa Kitamiya, Kaito Kiyomiya & Daiki Inaba vs Funky Express (King Tani, Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito)

Funky Express entered in usual fashion, King Tani with his unlit cigar, Mohammed Yone looking funky and Akitoshi Saito looking as if he had been forced to exchange metal for disco. 

Masa Kitamiya was more unimpressed than anyone else ever when Mohammed Yone did his Disco rope break. Normally people are irritated, but in Kitamiya it seemed to provoke both irritancy, disdain and hatred as he grimaced for a few seconds, looked enraged and then attacked Yone. Keeping in the Funky theme, King Tani seems to have dropped doing the crotch grab dance. 

Kaito Kiyomiya has taken to wrestling with wild abandon and frenetic energy recently, and this match was no different. If you want to provoke him, then make him bleed, it always seems to have an effect for the next few matches. 

As genial as he is outside of the ring, Yone can be a terror in it especially today when he was smirking at Daiki Inaba trying to pin him. He wasn't when Inaba made him tap, which I guess isn't the way that Yone likes it.

WINNER: Daiki Inaba with the Extreme Warp on Mohammed Yone (14 minutes, 31 seconds)

MATCH FOUR

STINGER (HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa, Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu) vs Kongoh Juniors (Tadasuke, Haoh & Aleja)

STINGER stalked out from the perpetual shadows they live in, with Seiki Yoshioka looking darkly angry to start the match against the one who pinned him last time, Aleja. The match very much focused on this rivalry, with HAYATA working to keep out the others and Tadasuke (winding up by manically headbanging in the corner) making out that he doesn't know the difference between Yoshioka and Susumu, his jets were cooled by Yoshioka however. STINGER were not the only one to be out for revenge, Haoh also got his revenge for being bullied yesterday. 

WINNER: Seiki Yoshioka with the Crash Driver on Tadasuke (13 minutes, 24 seconds)

As this is the Noah Juniors there had to be a situation where six people in the ring squared up to each other, the tag champions held their belts up to Kongoh with Aleja and Yoshioka getting in each others faces, a fight threatened to break out when Yoshioka shoved his belt at him. HAYATA remained pretty much in the background, wandering around nervously. He didn't have to remain aimless for too long as Kotaro Suzuki showed up to challenge him for the belt, and kept his statement short

"Hey, HAYATA. I need the belt as a junior to appear in the N-1. Accept my challenge"

HAYATA took the mic, but didn't speak as expected but simply tapped it and threw it aside. He gave his consent by holding up the belt to Kotaro (and hiding behind it). The title match has been set for 3rd September at Yokohama Radiant Halls. 

MATCH FIVE

The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura & Kazushi Sakuraba) vs The M's alliance (Masato Tanaka & Masaaki Mochizuki)

The one and only pre-match for the double title match on the 15th August in Kawasaki took place today in a raw and gritty match. The match started with both of them holding their belts up to each other in friendly rivalry, but ended with a feeling of bitterness. The pair had a vicious elbow war, which Tanaka halted by taking out Sugiura's knee, which Masaaki Mochizuki joined in with later. 

Masaaki Mochizuki and Kazushi Sakuraba really gelled when they fought, with Sakuraba showing some very clever ring psychology, playing dead at one point, and setting it up so Mochi and Tanaka had to pull him up from a fainting position, and when they attacked Sugi got rid of Tanaka, and he trapped Mochi in a submission. It would have been so perfect if Mochi didn't get to the ropes.

WINNER: Takashi Sugiura via referee stop due to Front Neck Lock on Masaaki Mochizuki (15 minutes, 34 seconds)

An intense stand off took place at the end of the match, with Sugiura glaring and Tanaka screaming as they held their belts in each others faces.  

MATCH SIX

The M's alliance (Naomichi Marufuji, Keiji Mutoh & Masakatsu Funaki) vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya)

Kenoh said on Twitter that for a long time he has been thinking of beating up each one of his opponents, and he would get that chance today. Starting with Keiji Mutoh (Kenoh was irritated with him later in the match for seemingly not getting in the ring, but who can blame him as he later found himself in the middle of the "Endless Love" kicks between Kenoh and Katsuhiko Nakajima), Mutoh then tagged in Masakatsu Funaki, and Kenoh tagged in Katsuhiko Nakajima and they had an MMA style exchange. Finally, the GHC Heavyweight Champion was tagged in. Naomichi Marufuji is a marked man, he has now sixteen potential challengers and five of them are in the match with him. Nakajima backed off into his corner after ducking Marufuji's attack and held up his hands for whoever wanted to tag in, a smirk on his face. For Marufuji this was a chance to scope out his opponents. For Manabu Soya and Keiji Mutoh, it was a chance to fight each other before the league. 

Nakajima still hasn't realized that the referees are not going to pin a cocky pin, but he pushes his luck. Kenoh also tried it on Marufuji, but the ref said no. Kenoh, being Kenoh, will probably cry that it's a conspiracy against Kongoh, and speaking of Kenoh he should be glad that this isn't 1994 or 1995, and that's not Toshiaki Kawada he's no selling the Kawada kicks to like that...

Winner: Keiji Mutoh with the Shining Wizard on Manbu Soya (19 minutes, 17 seconds)

Mutoh posed with the president of LEC and the winners prize (which looks a little folded since Sugi got hold of it yesterday), and Naomichi Marufuji in a very nice touch put the belt on the President's shoulder. On his way out he climbed up into the seats to give a fist bump to a VIP who was sitting there, a Japanese boxer named Kōki Kameda. There was no talk this evening, but backstage Marufuji praised the competitors who had entered the N-1, but it was in the back of his mind that both Mutoh and Funaki, who were on his team and sitting with him, would be snapping at his heels from now on. 

With thanks to: Abeshin and Metal Noah

Picture credit: Pro Wrestling Noah

GIFS taken from Official Noah GHC Twitter