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

Noah travelled five hours outside of Tokyo to bring Masa Kitamiya's 10th anniversary to his home prefecture, Toyama. Kitamiya's actual anniversary is on September 25th, but as the heavyweights (and Noah) will be engaged with the N-1 Victory league then, it makes more sense to hold it beforehand. One person whose debut anniversary is today, is Naomichi Marufuji who celebrates 23 years in pro wrestling. Aside from a cake presented by Atsushi Kotoge (who must be standing in for Go Shiozaki), the focus was very much on Kitamiya who received flowers in the lobby (GLEAT had sent some), his family came, he posed for pictures with fans and autographed merchandise, local fans bought signs for him and THE LEAVE supplied fans with commemorative masks. 

Today's event will be broadcast on WrestleUniverse on the 31st August. You will need to be a subscriber to view the whole stream. However, you can view the semi final and the final for free as Noah streamed this live via their official Twitter.

As ever with shows in the countryside, I sometimes have more information on some matches and less on others, but these days it doesn't really matter as Noah now have a streaming service. Once upon a time, and not too long ago, we couldn't have viewed both a stream of the semi main and the main and then a few days later get to see the show in full. 

MATCH ONE

Akitoshi Saito vs Kinya Okada

Kinya Okada drove Akitoshi Saito mad, refusing to give in to him and kicking out and getting up, and Saito took to repeatedly slamming him, his face flushed with rage. Saito was merciless and later said that although Okada is not an opponent in the N-1, the match was significant for him, and he had to defeat the opponent who was before him. I think Saito is distancing himself from Funky Express (and their dismal win/loss record) for the league. 

WINNER: Akitoshi Saito with the Suikurudesu (10 minutes, 26 seconds)

Saito, who is probably the most funky person in Funky Express, did the beloved cat dance after the match (like many people in Noah, Saito is a big animal lover, especially cats)

MATCH TWO

YO-HEY vs Kai Fujimura

YO-HEY made his return to Noah after having Coronavirus, but it has to be said that he looked thin, pale and tired. He wasn't as energetic as usual and even fighting someone as novice as Kai Fujimura seemed to have tired him out by the end of the match which was only a short one. 

WINNER: YO-HEY with the Facial G (7 minutes, 27 seconds)

Backstage, YO-HEY spoke on the importance of staying healthy and how Coronavirus is no joke. He also seemed to be trying to catch his breath somewhat. When asked about the match with Seiki Yoshioka on the 29th (which I imagine will be tough for him), he said he was going to fight as he was and in the condition he was in deliberately. 

MATCH THREE

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

Today's agenda for Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura (or "Gisu" as Marufuji calls him), was to beat up on The King after posing with their belts and there were four in total - the GHC, the GHC National, The ZERO1 World Heavyweight and Sugi's "Sugi" belt. Marufuji had said earlier that as they held a lot of belts between them they were more "funky" than their opponents. Sugi said there was nothing "funky" about him and he proved this when Tany's dancing was met by a big boot from a very unimpressed looking Sugiura, who then hammered him in the corner. 

Tany had pretty much the same luck against Marufuji, who dodged his soccerball kick twice and then lured him to the turnbuckle for the knee.

The match was like that July night in Chicago when a crate of disco records were blown up on the Chicago White Sox pitch.

WINNER: Naomichi Marufuji with the Shiranui on King Tany (14 minutes, 35 seconds)

Backstage, Marufuji commented that his only problem with the match was that there was no "young guy", who had intruded into the match on the 15th August in Kawasaki (Kiyomiya) and who had eclipsed Magical Immortality.

MATCH FOUR

Kotaro Suzuki vs Aleja

WINNER: Kotaro Suzuki with the Tiger Driver (11 minutes, 32 seconds)

The next two matches were broadcast live on Noah's official Twitter, and Naomichi Marufuji hosted his own live viewing party on Instagram. 

MATCH FIVE

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

In true STINGER style, Yasutaka Yano had his neck worked on, HAYATA with the usual sadistic smile. STINGER utilized the quick tags in and out, Yano managed to get the upper hand against Ogawa, but it did not last long. People don't usually get upper hands against Ogawa, especially not rookies.  Yano was kicked around by Yoshioka, I think this may be his first experience of being kicked not having come up against Kenoh or Katsuhiko Nakajima yet. But much to his credit, Yano refused to be cowed, and worked on Yoshioka's knee. Ogawa has taught him well.

WINNER: Seiki Yoshioka with Trigger on Yasutaka Yano (17 minutes, 33 seconds)

Then a mass brawl broke out as Perros De Mal Del Japon burst into the ring. One fan expressed surprise that a ring intrusion could happen in the rural areas, but this is the Noah Juniors, more than two of their own kind in the ring is usually a red light. Perros Del Mal attacked with Kotaro attacking HAYATA, YO-HEY attacking Yoshioka and NOSAWA (who isn't even meant to be here today) attacking Ogawa. 

Kotaro then posed with the belt, and one foot on HAYATA'S chest. Then the fight went backstage as HAYATA ran from the ring after them and brawled with Kotaro. YO-HEY, however, did not look well and his body language said he was exhausted. 

Backstage, Kotaro said he knows HAYATA from teaming with him, but he needed the belt as he was entering the N-1. He knew he was up against wrestlers (heavyweights), whose strength was more than his but junior pride was on the line, he wanted to show them how strong the juniors were. 

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)

Tadasuke did the usual camera spot, even though it was on the apron and not the ring post. This did not stop him from posing in front of it. Tadasuke was his usual manic self, headbanging on the apron, when he wasn't even going to be tagging in and then doing it when standing by the ring. 

There was a sense of tension between the heavyweights today (and not just Kenoh yelling at Kiyomiya, who was in fury wrestling mode today). The N-1 is looming and all were aware that no matter the alliance in normal times, for the next month or so, everyone was going to be a rival. This aside, the heavyweights on both teams were united when Masa Kitamiya was presented with flowers by Kaito Kiyomiya (he was handed a bouquet at the entryway too), and Kongoh all turned their backs on him and his team posing for the commemorative picture. Except for perhaps Tadasuke, who was standing on the ring apron and not in the ring. The niceties over, Kongoh attacked with Kitamiya getting Nakajima's feet in his face for the Shutter Chance. As it's his anniversary, Nakajima stuck them in extra hard. Later he almost kicked Kotoge to the ceiling. 

The interactions between Haoh and Harada were red hot, leading fans to say they want to see a singles match. For one second there was almost a RATELS moment when Harada used Tadasuke for a move, and they almost looked as if they were working in tandem. 

WINNER: Masa Kitamiya with the Saito Suplex on Haoh (17 minutes, 27 seconds)

There was friction after the match between the Noah Juniors, particularly Tadasuke and Harada (no surprise there), while further down the line, Kenoh was seen squaring up to and yelling at Daiki Inaba. Once Kongoh had stamped off to be angry about losing, the winning team got back in the ring and applauded Kitamiya for his anniversary. Kotoge had a kind of exaggerated "this guy...this fucking guy" motion, when everyone had calmed down, Kitamiya spoke on the microphone, which one fan likened to the style of Kensuke Sasaki, thanking everyone for coming out to the event in the current circumstances and thanking the locals who came out to warmly support his homecoming today. 

Picture credit: Noah GHC

GIF'S taken from Noah GHC Twitter livestream 

With thanks to: Metal Noah, Naopapa, GAGAGA3, Kosen_Wrestling

Noah's next event: PREMIUM SUMMER DREAM 2021, Sunday 29th August 2021 (16:00 JST)