(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: Go on to the DEMOLITION STAGE 2021 - Kumamoto Castle Hall Civic Hall (Thursday October 28th)

Noah returned to Kumamoto (which is in Southern Japan, not Eastern Japan according to Atsushi Kotoge's geography), for the first time in more than a year and a half. Sadly, Go Shiozaki did not appear in his hometown either as a guest commentator or to announce his return to Noah, but there were other plenty of surprises in store. 

Kumamoto Castle Hall is a new venue, and Noah have certainly made a lot of memories here. Fans too have long wanted to visit the venue, and Noah announced an attendance of 356 people. Not a sold out crowd, but one that is very good for a Thursday night. 

Noah streamed the match (with English commentary), through WrestleUniverse. The first two matches were streamed through the official YouTube channel, and you can enjoy the junior chaos that all but eclipsed Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Masato Tanaka in the semi main event through Noah's official Twitter. You must be a subscriber to view the WrestleUniverse feed. 

MATCH ONE

Ikuto Hidaka vs Kinya Okada

The opener harked back to the early years of Noah in which Mitsuharu Misawa used to put his old veterans and his younger roster. Ikuto Hidaka, like any true veteran (then and now) assessed that Kinya Okada's greatest attack lies in his legs and took them out. Okada was seen shaking them out to get the circulation back, but the damage done by the veteran technician was too great and eventually he had no choice but to tap out.

WINNER: Ikuto Hidaka with the knee cross consolidation (6 minutes, 33 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Masa Kitamiya & Kai Fujimura vs Kongoh (Manabu Soya & Aleja)

Aleja came to the ring not wearing the usual Kongoh shade of red, but a darker purple color which was more akin to Katsuhiko Nakajima's. Aleja started the match against Kai Fujimura, and was too quick for the inexperienced Fujimura, who did nonetheless manage to catch him off guard with a dropkick. When Fujimura tagged in Masa Kitamiya, Aleja wisely tagged in Manabu Soya and the two had what probably can be described as a bear fight which culminated in the famous Masa Kitamiya shoulder tackle challenge and then a test of strength, and the boards in the ring being shifted. While Aleja was lucky enough to have the speed and experience to take out Kitamiya as well as he did (dropkicked his knee), Fujimura wasn't lucky enough to escape Soya completely and given the size and experience differences between them, his break came when he knocked him down via a dropkick from the top rope. Soya's shoulder tackle on him earlier had looked like a freight train meeting a leaf. Despite this, Fujimura had fight in him and wasn't going to be pinned so easily, but pinned he eventually was. 

WINNER: Aleja with the Sky Bullet on Kai Fujimura (13 minutes, 43 seconds)

Once again, it was another member of Kongoh who got the win, and not Soya. Soya was once again grumpy, snatching his arm away from the ref and walking off. 

MATCH THREE

Kaito Kiyomiya & Daiki Inaba vs Funky Express (King Tany & Mohammed Yone)

Kaito Kiyomiya came to the ring and on the way gave Funky Express a scowl that Kenoh has probably patented. It should be noted that he and King Tany (who did a lot of dancing and made the ref duck) are former partners. There was never any break between them that was in the form of a betrayal or anything, they just drifted apart as the eternal Noah question of "What to do with Taniguchi" rolled on and Kiyomiya started gravitating to his own generation. I think Taniguchi is in the best place however. 

Disco dancing and funky they might be, Funky Express can show their merciless side, Tany's grin was evil when he knocked Inaba to the floor after goading him to knocking him down, but once again, luck was not on their side. 

WINNER: Daiki Inaba with the Tiger Suplex Hold on King Tany (11 minutes, 53 seconds)

MATCH FOUR

STINGER (HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa & Seiki Yoshioka) & Yasutaka Yano vs El Perros Del Mal De Japon (NOSAWA Rongai, Eita, YO-HEY & Kotaro Suzuki)

Yasutaka Yano, the youngest on the roster and Noah's newest debut, celebrated his one year anniversary in wrestling in a big way today. Not only was he in a match with seniors who he once again fitted in well with, he was in the fourth match on the card, and as we will see, was going to get an even bigger prize. There is a reason why Noah fans say he is Ogawa's favorite pupil. 

El Perros Del Mal De Japon made their way to the ring in the usual thug mode; faces covered in some kind of way. Everyone except for Eita, who grinned at the camera. This seems to be something that Seiki Yoshioka has picked up on as he did the same slightly. Eita true to form immediately started causing trouble in the ring, even before STINGER appeared, by being difficult when the ref went to check him. 

The match started civilly enough; Ogawa managed to refrain from attacking Kotaro Suzuki, the very sight of whom drives him into a fury. HAYATA made a beeline for NOSAWA, and held the belt up to him. NOSAWA tried a handshake as they started off, but HAYATA (who has now used up his speaking and handshake quota for at least the next six months) waved him away. Their first skirmish in their last pre match before Sunday's title match ended with NOSAWA squaring up to HAYATA after Seiki Yoshioka was tagged in. As Yoshioka was wound up by YO-HEY and later Yasutaka Yano who tagged in to fight his hero, Kotaro, (who older brother Marufuji said to punch in the face if Kotaro objects to Yano stealing his moves) NOSAWA as ever was causing problems on the apron by arguing with the ref and trying to get in the ring. 

Then Eita decided to light a very short fuse which led to Yoshinari Ogawa exploding and even Yano joined in with his teacher on beating up on him. Ogawa pushed Yano back into the ring so he could tag him in against him. Ogawa furious, ripped off Eita's t-shirt and choked him with it and then the usual junior chaos exploded. In the melee the ref was taken out by catching a blow to the face, and everyone started brawling. The referee somehow managed to restore order, and even managed to hold back three of Perros, Hidaka was at ringside too complaining about Ogawa. This naturally played into Ogawa's hands, but no matter how humiliating this was for Eita, it was NOSAWA who was going to taste the bitterest medicine as during the melee he and Yasutaka Yano were the legal men, and Yano, who wasn't even born when NOSAWA made his debut, pinned him. 

WINNER: Yasutaka Yano with the forward pin (16 minutes, 11 seconds)

STINGER were delighted. Not only had they won, but the youngest and most junior of their team had pinned NOSAWA, and this was humiliating for him. NOSAWA threw a tantrum on leaving the ring, knocking over a table and throwing one of the steel barriers at the camera. As someone with experience of Daisuke Harada throwing chairs when in a rage, YO-HEY was the most sage about NOSAWA'S outburst. Backstage, a ragged and angry Perros assembled. NOSAWA (who said in Twitter that losing was part of what happens as a wrestler, but today's loss was hell), said that in Hakata there would be no more Mr Nice Guy, with Eita calling Ogawa "Old man Ogawa" and complaining about him low blowing him. YO-HEY says that Hakata will be their counterattack. 

NOSAWA apparently broke the camera

A far happier person was Yasutaka Yano. Yano said he was delighted with today's win and vowed to go even further. Noah and Noah fans have high hopes for this boy, who seems to have now officially entered the Noah Junior warzone. 

MATCH FIVE

Kongoh (Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kenoh, Tadasuke, Haoh & Nioh) vs The M's alliance (Naomichi Marufuji & Masato Tanaka) & The Noah Junior Regulars (Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara)

This match was somehow even more chaotic than the last, forget the last GHC Heavyweight pre match, the juniors stole the show leaving it to Katsuhiko Nakajima and Masato Tanaka to have the last scene. Nakajima and Tanaka started off, with Nakajima winding Tanaka up (he was in full smug mode) by using the Mitsuharu Misawa "flash tag" (for those not familiar with this, it was when Misawa would grow suddenly bored with fighting an opponent and suddenly tag his partner in, usually much to their surprise). 

Kenoh had been convinced that Haoh (Kumamoto hometown boy) would make his "triumphal return". Haoh's "triumphal return" included getting chopped, dog eared and Kawada kicked (which Kenoh refused to accept as ever when it was his turn) by Naomichi Marufuji, getting trapped in a nasty submission by Hajime Ohara (he was saved by a manic Tadasuke), and participating in the usual Noah Junior war which dictates that no Noah Junior can stay out of the ring if other Noah Juniors are in it as the division is generally out of control. 

While the Noah Juniors fought each other, and the referee waved his arms in a protest no one heard, Nakajima's ego ran wild with a highly exaggerated "Shutter Chance" and if more proof was needed, telling Masato Tanaka to hit him. Tanaka did and knocked him down. Later he found himself kicked between Tanaka and Kenoh. Nakajima's ego could afford to delay today and play up to the cameras, which he did before pinning Tanaka. 

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the vertical spike (21 minutes, 16 seconds)

Savoring his first victory ever over Masato Tanaka, (albeit he later acknowledged this was not the title match), Nakajima bent over him and slowly licked his lips and wiped his mouth.

MATCH SIX

GHC NATIONAL TITLE MATCH

Takashi Sugiura vs Masaaki Mochizuki

Takashi Sugiura came out with only the GHC National title, he didn't have his "Sugi belt" or the ZERO-1 championship. Masaaki Mochizuki began by winding Sugiura up with punches and kicks, I think this had more of an effect on Sugiura due to the fact that he was not dealing with a "brat" (as he labels the younger generation when angry with them), but someone of the same age and with a career longer than him. There was no real bitterness in the match though as M's alliance and Sugiura Army usually have a healthy rivalry and generally get along, but it was grueling, especially for Mochizuki who refused to quit. In general, Sugiura would use a lot of submissions in the match, it wasn't his usual brawl and Mochizuki got hammered by them.

If Mochizuki was going to work on Sugiura's arms, then Sugiura was going to deprive Mochizuki of his weapons, his feet, and he even applied his ankle lock when dragging him outside of the ring and driving his knee into the floor. For a time after this, and due to further damage to his foot and his knee, Mochizuki's kicks had very little effect. Later, caught in an ankle lock, his foot being twisted out of the socket almost and Sugiura dragging him back from the ropes and with a well aimed kick to the face and then into a suplex on the turnbuckles, punches, slams and then a knee, Mochizuki was still not out. This was his dream to have a singles match with Sugiura and to win a first singles title in Noah, he had to hang in there. Sugiura then went for the Olympic Slam, Mochizuki resisted and his knees were attacked to make him pliable, but again he kicked out. Both were becoming worn down after flurries of elbows, punches and kicks, and Mochizuki decided then he'd trade on this and went for well aimed kick to the face.

WINNER: Masaaki Mochizuki with the low kick (25 minutes, 1 seconds)

Masaaki Mochizuki had achieved an ambition on two levels; he had finally won a singles belt in Noah and he had done it by defeating Takashi Sugiura, but another challenger appeared almost immediately.

Kenoh. 

There was a score to settle between both, Kenoh had robbed Mochizuki of the N-1 Victory semi finals, and to Kenoh Mochizuki had no right to wear that belt. In usual angry fashion, Kenoh told Mochizuki that;

"Masaaki Mochizuki and Takashi Sugiura are both fifty years old...the match between the old men was really intense, wasn't it? But I'm bored of it. From now on its up to me to show the future of pro wrestling. The next challenger is me, Kenoh!"

Mochizuki replied sarcastically something along the lines of that praise from Kenoh, was like praise from Caesar, and very well, he would have his title match. But, he asked, did Kenoh know why "old men" such as himself and Takashi Sugiura who are both in their fifties were in the main event? It was because Kenoh's generation lacked discipline. You can imagine how Kenoh took that.

Title match has been set for 13th November at the Yokohama Budokan.

Backstage Kenoh repeated that he was sick of these old men and their matches, and "would end the era of the old men". 

With thanks to: Flame286 & Metal-Noah

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse

Noah's next event: Sunday 30th October (LEC Cleanup! presents DEMOLITION STAGE 2021 in FUKUOKA)