(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: LEC Cleanup! presents DEMOLITION STAGE 2021 in FUKUOKA (Fukuoka International Center, Saturday, October 30th)

Leaving Go Shiozaki's Kumamoto behind, Noah headed a couple of hours drive up to the coast, to what has been called "the hub of Japan", Katsuhiko Nakajima's hometown, Fukuoka. 

With Halloween fast approaching, Noah put on pre show events in the lobby which echoed the days before the pandemic, with now about 70% of Japan vaccinated, fans were able to have fun with the "Halloween Pillar" which Noah decorated with spiders webs, pumpkins and pictures of the roster at Halloween events in the past, the return of the lottery for the first time in a year and seven months, Atsushi Kotoge in a bright yellow Happi coat (fans want official pictures) at the LEC (Noah's sponsors) booth demonstrating cleaning products with usual frenetic zeal, and Naomichi Marufuji on autographs and pictures. Prior to the event starting, Funky Express (Mohammed Yone and Shuhei Taniguchi), gave a preview of the merchandise on offer. Takashi Sugiura was meant to join them, but his contribution (probably because he was embarrassed to be seen with them), was to pose as a cardboard cut out of himself doing Keiji Mutoh's pose with the other cardboard cut outs. 

The event was streamed live on WrestleUniverse (you must be a subscriber to view) with English commentary available. You can view the first two matches on Noah's official YouTube, but these do not have English commentary. 

MATCH ONE

Hajime Ohara, Kinya Okada & Kai Fujimura vs Kongoh Juniors (Tadasuke, Haoh and Nioh)

This match was the only time Tadasuke took off his aviator shades this evening, and naturally he walked out to the ring, as if he was walking out on to stage. There was the usual Tadasuke corner shot, with the usual photobombing by Haoh and Nioh, but unfortunately the lights dimmed so it wasn't the same effect. 

Tadasuke was loving this whole match, the hair over his face and the big grin hardly left, especially when Kai Fujimura tried to attack him. Fujimura did manage to get one over him though after Tadasuke had ducked his dropkicks, by finally landing one on him. I am not sure why Tadasuke felt he had to swipe at Kinya Okada though. If Tadasuke was a whirlwind, then Hajime Ohara was almost a literal one in his submissions when taking out Kongoh, but for Kongoh overall tonight's match was just the start of a very good evening. 

WINNER: Nioh with the Stuka Splash on Kai Fujimura (11 minutes, 41 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Ikuto Hidaka vs Aleja

The the second match, the veteran technician met a high flying member of the next generation of wrestling. Hidaka found he could not match Aleja's speed, and when he was knocked outside the ring he took a few seconds to calculate how best to deal with this situation. So found that in order to take Aleja down, it had to take be at a moment he was down, and did this by luring Aleja outside the ring, sliding back in before him and then literally almost kicking him when he was down. Aleja however proved time and time again to be slippery and Hidaka found often he was back to square one.

WINNER: Aleja with the Sky Bullet (9 minutes, 48 seconds)

MATCH THREE

Kongoh (Kenoh & Manabu Soya) vs Funky Express (King Tany and Mohammed Yone)

If Manabu Soya looked grumpy, then Kenoh wore a mixture of grumpiness and disgust when faced with their fun loving opponents. King Tany had an answer to this, an even bigger grin which he stuck in Soya's face when he failed to knock him down on shoulder tackles. However, after screaming at each other, Soya did. 

The match picked up a fast tempo at the end with it going back and forth between the two teams, Battlarts Mohammed Yone was kicked around by Kenoh, who unusually he met with lariats instead of kicks, and again, it was to be a good night for Kongoh. 

WINNER: Kenoh with the PFS on Mohammed Yone (11 minutes, 2 seconds)

Funky Express were once again failing to pick up wins against any team other than rookies. Over in Kongoh, Manabu Soya for once didn't seem to mind being on the winning team but not getting the win. He still snatched his hand away, but he did not stride off. I guess as his team had won and he contributed to that was good enough. Kenoh was seen holding his jaw, but it didn't seem to leave any lasting damage as he was still able to rant against Masaaki Mochizuki by saying that he would return to Noah with the DRAGONGATE tag titles and then take the GHC National. 

MATCH FOUR

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

With the humiliation dealt out to Perros Del Mal in Kumamoto on the 28th October, there was no way they were going to risk a second one. Yoshinari Ogawa knew there would be repercussions, stopping on the ramp to think. Eita shoved the trainee holding the ropes away, and sarcastically held them open himself. When Ogawa moved, he made a lurching forward move. In the end the long suffering referee removed Eita. Yano started the match, but Eita was not interested in him, he wanted Ogawa. Yano, (like the stubborn Noah Born he is) refused. So Eita tagged in Kotaro, Yano tagged in Ogawa, Kotaro tagged Eita back in and Ogawa tagged Yano back in. Eita refused to fight Yano, despite Yano shoving him, and so YO-HEY took over. YO-HEY'S "fun not fun" lock up was met with a kick from Seiki Yoshioka, which YO-HEY caught. The green tongue leering at him was not appreciated, and a stiff kick to the head was dealt. Ogawa tagged in while the advantage was STINGERS, and enjoyed keeping YO-HEY just marginally far away from Eita so he could not tag in. If Yano wanted Eita, then he was going to get Eita, four fingers to the eyes Eita. Eita treated Yano as if he was a cardboard box or something, kicking him out of the way as he walked across the ring to make the tag. What followed was Yano having his arm tortured, and Eita taking delight in dragging him over to STINGERS corner and daring one of them to tag him in. Yano eventually tagged in Ogawa in against Kotaro, Ogawa before he saw red completely (which is what Kotaro does to him), knocked YO-HEY and Eita off the apron, and then when PERROS stormed the ring, took everybody out. 

WINNER: YO-HEY with the Face G on Yasutaka Yano (14 minutes, 55 seconds)

Perros had won, but this wasn't over. Not by anyone's imaginations. In the melee following the match, Eita was menacing Ogawa from the ring apron (Ogawa had his thoughtful look on, which usually means he's up to something), while YO-HEY was seen to hook kick Yoshioka from the apron. With Yano too young to help and Yoshioka eliminated, Ogawa was throw into the ring where Perros beat up on him. Eita made the humiliation worse by rubbing the sole of his boot before he kicked him, then he went for the water spot, parading the bottle (much bigger than last time and Eita says next time it will be a 12L bottle), around the ring before he poured it on Ogawa. 

While YO-HEY made drinking motions, Kotaro was seen to be looking away as if was unable to watch.

Soaking wet, Ogawa lay in the ring as Eita beat him with the empty water bottle, and then posed with Perros as he had his foot on his throat. A few further blows, and Eita was done. Backstage he said he put ice on Ogawa, and said if he was going to come at him then he was going to beat him in five minutes.

MATCH FIVE

The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura & Kazushi Sakuraba) vs Momo no Seishun (Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge)

Momo no Seishun immediately went on the attack, Daisuke Harada knocking Takashi Sugiura outside the ring, as both worked on Kazushi Sakuraba. When everything settled down into a singles, Kotoge's sparring with Sakuraba at his training centre was seen to be bearing definite fruit, especially as Kotoge's background is not in MMA. Sakuraba however, is still a little unclear of some of the rules of pro wrestling, as the referee told him that using fists to twist Kotoge's ears was not allowed. Despite his occasional bumbles, Sakuraba can be like a viper, he let Kotoge think he had him and then coiled around him in the recoil from the moonsault.

Takashi Sugiura was a different matter, but Kotoge (even though now a junior) was able to manage him. Harada too was able (to some extent) to stand up to some shoulder tackles, elbows and do a hip toss, but the juniors both soon tasted Sugi's big boot. 

For Daisuke Harada, Takashi Sugiura is his own personal wall. Harada loves to fight Sugiura and longs to beat him, when Sugiura was GHC Heavyweight and Harada GHC Junior, Sugiura paid tribute to Harada by saying he was proud he was his equivalent in the Noah Juniors. Sugiura also sometimes calls himself a "Gorilla", and NOSAWA once hit the mark by calling Harada "Mini Gorilla", so in their own way they kind of mirror each other. 

Sakuraba didn't get the chance to do "Deep Impact" when teaming with Keiji Mutoh as Mutoh is physically unable now to jump from the top turnbuckle, but Takashi Sugiura is a different story and Atsushi Kotoge was hoisted on to Sugi's shoulders. Later they would hint that perhaps this would become their tandem move. 

WINNER: Kazushi Sakuraba via arm cross submission on Atsushi Kotoge (16 minutes, 26 seconds)

MATCH SIX

GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship Match

HAYATA vs NOSAWA Rongai

"Hakata will finish in 59 minutes, 59 seconds. I will wrestle a match that every hated Noah fan will hate"

NOSAWA Rongai

It wasn't quite 59 minutes and 59 seconds, and not all Noah fans hated it, but it was certainly a deviation from the norm as far as GHC Junior Heavyweight title matches go, the last time there was a junior heavyweight title match that went hardcore (or was in that case hardcore) it was when Daisuke Harada took on Hi69 in 2018, but lets start at the beginning. 

Perros came out in a pack as they accompanied NOSAWA to ringside. NOSAWA had broken a camera in Kumamoto by throwing a steel barrier at it, and today he felt he had to attempt to trash another by kicking at one from the ramp and then another from the ring. Despite the use of muscle at ringside, everyone kept to the title defense rules of Noah (Baba) which prohibits outside interference. HAYATA knew this full well when he waded into their midst, and even kicked out at YO-HEY.  While outside the ring, NOSAWA hit HAYATA with the ring bell and then he went for a chair, which HAYATA caught and threw back and then used on him. NOSAWA bled from this, and later HAYATA would also bleed, staining the ring a rusty red color. Naturally, NOSAWA gouged the wound. 

NOSAWA said that he had found HAYATA'S weakness, and HAYATA had said that before each match he took time to assess his opponent and get to know their personality and weaknesses. Whatever it was that NOSAWA had discovered about HAYATA, it seemed to be in the form of playing suspiciously dead, HAYATA was not convinced and was cautious. He was right to be as NOSAWA recovered and struck back with some submissions, once upon a time it might have been easy to defeat HAYATA this way but instead, NOSAWA found he was growing frustrated and went for quick pins, even once blocking The Headache and dragging the ref into his schemes. It didn't matter however, as HAYATA'S win was going to be the highlight in a dismal evening for STINGER. 

WINNER: HAYATA with the Moonsault Press (22 minutes) 

With Perros now out (unless you are Ogawa), it was time for Tadasuke (complete with aviator shades) to come to the ring with Aleja. Aleja is much the same as HAYATA, but whereas HAYATA may occasionally speak, Aleja does not even do that, and so Tadasuke made the challenge on his behalf, saying that he didn't know or care who won, but Aleja (or "Aleja Aleja Aleja" as Tadasuke called him), would be challenging for the title next. 

Backstage, Tadasuke said Aleja who he calls their “Ultimate Weapon, Lethal Weapon, Nuclear Warhead” and what roughly translates as “Pride of heaven and earth” (very Zen of Tadasuke), will take the belt in one shot. One shot or not, title match has been set for 13th November at the Yokohama Budokan. 

MATCH SEVEN

Kaito Kiyomiya, Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba vs The M's alliance (Keiji Mutoh, Naomichi Marufuji & Masaaki Mochizuki)

This was a story of generations versus generations, and the separate stories which link Daiki Inaba, Kaito Kiyomiya, Masa Kitamiya and Naomichi Marufuji to Keiji Mutoh in particular. The most enduring story was Kaito Kiyomiya and Keiji Mutoh, and so they started the match with Mutoh taking the young man down to the mat. More than anyone else perhaps, Kiyomiya was more eager than anyone to fight his seniors. He took almost an elemental delight in locking Mutoh in the Figure 4. By the end of their bout, Mutoh looked as if he didn't quite recognize this young man as the idealistic boy he had known. Kiyomiya even went as far in mocking The Shining Wizard, which is a definite break from the polite boy he was when it came to his seniors, and the darker more jaded person he was now. This was too much for Mutoh, and he showed him exactly how it was done, and afterwards what he was going to do. 

WINNER: Keiji Mutoh with the Shining Wizard on Daiki Inaba (21 minutes, 7 seconds)

Mutoh then called for the microphone and addressed the three who were staggering off, supporting Inaba;

"You two seem to be the GHC Tag Team Champions!? Can Marufuji and I come to take the belts?"

Kiyomiya (leaving Inaba on the floor, where they dumped him) scrambled into the ring and accepted by saying that his wish had come true. This was a more confident and more angry, and more rude Kiyomiya. For Naomichi Marufuji, the chance to team with, challenge for belts and be champion with Keiji Mutoh, was a dream come true.

MATCH EIGHT

GHC Heavyweight Match

Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Masato Tanaka

For the title match, Katsuhiko Nakajima painted his wolf logo on his cheek, naturally nothing remained of it by the end of the match. With a smile and a lick of the lips, emboldened by his win yesterday, Nakajima's often uncontrollable ego was allowed to run wild initially as Masato Tanaka seemingly made it easy for him in the initial stages of the match. Grinning, grinding his foot in, pummeling Tanaka with kicks, daring Tanaka to hit him and reaching new heights by shoving Tanaka on the ramp, the wolf was tearing what seemed like a sheep apart easily...but sheep can also disguise themselves and the ramp marked a turning point in the match as Tanaka fought back as a Sliding D evened things out. 

Both were savage in attack, Nakajima going from smirk to snarl, as when he had the momentum worked on Tanaka's arms. Tanaka came very close to winning the title, but Nakajima kicked out with only a few seconds to spare more than twice. This carried on, the match going back and forth between them but things were heating up, time was ticking, fans were making a noise like thunder. Nakajima's ego would not allow him to fall in his first title defense, but again it surfaced and he lost precious seconds showboating to the cameras which enabled another Sliding D. He kicked out, but just barely. His face demonic, not sarcastic, when he got the chance Nakajima dragged Tanaka to his feet and hit the last Vertical Spike for the win. 

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the Vertical Spike (34 minutes, 44 seconds)

With two victories over Masato Tanaka, and one the highest than anything else had ever been so far, and probably always would be, the grin came back and Nakajima heaved himself out of the corner. While leaving the ring, Masato Tanaka (ever the sportsman) applauded him. It had been a brilliant night for Kongoh; they had won all their matches, Kenoh and Haoh were challenging for both the DRAGONGATE Twin Tag Titles and Kenoh was challenging for the GHC National, Nakajima had retained and aside from the GHC Tag and the GHC Junior tag, with Aleja challenging for the GHC Junior they were looking to be the most dominant unit. Nakajima spoke on the microphone;

"I am glad that I was able to defend my belt here in Fukuoka, where I was born. The era is in motion! You can't reverse it! The era is moving fast, it cannot keep pace! The final thing I want to say is, I am Noah!"

Attendance: 878

GIF taken from: WrestleUniverse & Noah Official Twitter

Noah's next event: Go on to the DEMOLITION STAGE 2021, Wednesday 3rd 2021 (Yokohama Radiant Hall)