(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: Go on to the DEMOLITION STAGE 2021 - Wednesday November 10th (Korakuen Hall)

The last show before the title matches in Yokohama this weekend attracted 483 people to Korakuen Hall today. Not a great turn out, but the crowd were lively, and the event was held at 6.30 in the evening on a Wednesday. Noah have had worse crowds at Korakuen, who were more silent during a time when crowds were allowed to cheer. Today saw the last pre matches between HAYATA and Aleja (GHC Heavyweight Junior), Kenoh and Masaaki Mochizuki (GHC National) and Masa Kitamiya & Kaito Kiyomiya vs Naomichi Marufuji & Keiji Mutoh (GHC Heavyweight Tag). All these matches ended with some kind of upset. 

The first two matches were streamed live on YouTube, with the show itself broadcast in full on WrestleUniverse. Japanese commentary only. 

MATCH ONE

Yoshiki Inamura return match

Yoshiki Inamura vs Manabu Soya

After suffering a leg injury in July which required surgery, Yoshiki Inamura made his return to Noah today. He didn't carry the tire with him, but he was still dressed the same and had a slight remnant of the tire pattern cut into the side of his hair. He was also looking very toned, even more so than before. Inamura said that he wants to start from scratch, so perhaps that is why he did not have the tire with him today. 

There was the usual heavyweight lock up, and Inamura earned loud applause from the crowd for being able to keep Manabu Soya in a headlock and pulling him back in when he attempted to escape. Then the shoulder tackles in which neither could knock the other down, so it went to the next step, a chop war. Soya eventually won the round by knocking Inamura down, but when he charged at Inamura he was scooped up and slammed a few moments after. Heavyweights don't usually lift Soya like this, it belongs to the ultra-heavyweights to throw each other around. 

WINNER: Manabu Soya with jumping DDT (10 minutes, 49 seconds)

Yoshiki Inamura later appeared back at ringside during seconding duties. Inamura doesn't really need to do this anymore, but for a long while he has spoken about starting again from the beginning and of course this role is part of that. I also think this is something he likes doing. A fan said that they had a bit of a shock because it seemed like one of the three trainees had suddenly had a growth spurt, but on closer inspection it turned out to be Inamura. 

MATCH TWO

Perros Del Mal De Japon (NOSAWA Rongai, Eita, YO-HEY, Kotaro Suzuki & Ikuto Hidaka) vs Noah Regular Army (Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara), Kai Fujimura & Yasutaka Yano

The two youngsters (Yasutaka Yano and Kai Fujimura) ran to the ring. Yano was so far ahead of everyone, that it looked like that for a few seconds he was entering on his own and wondering where everyone else was. When Perros got in the ring they held up the belts to the Noah Junior Regular army and dropped them and trod on them, which triggered the traditional Korakuen Hall Noah Junior fight. 

The referee could only protest to anyone who was listening (no one was) as mass brawls broke out around him which continued until Yano and Kotaro got in the ring together. Later when things stopped being civil and yet another mass brawl broke out with everyone fighting again, the ref was comically trying to count the pin with all of this going on around him. 

The match started with Yasutaka Yano managing to almost outwrestle Kotaro Suzuki. Suzuki tagged in YO-HEY (who was to be the MVP of this match), and YO-HEY I think was expecting Yano to tag in someone other than Fujimura. YO-HEY loudly yelled "BAAAAKAAAA" ("Idiot") at Fujimura during their exchange, he wasn't doing it a few minutes later when Fujimura almost pinned him, backed him into a corner and tagged Ohara in. Hidaka soon entered and the two technicians went at it, but the match was not going to be won by submission, it went to YO-HEY who pinned Atsushi Kotoge and therefore cost The Noah Junior Regulars not only the match but the chance to challenge for the tag belts in a spectacular way.

WINNER: YO-HEY with the Face G on Atsushi Kotoge (11 minutes, 46 seconds)

Noah crowds are generally good at keeping to the rule of no cheering, but at times they have been known to make a scream, and this was one of those occasions. Perros celebrated in the ring and backstage, Eita and NOSAWA called them "worthless champions" and likened them to being funny faces on paper cups, there only to do worthless tricks. For Harada, Kotoge and Ohara, Kotoge walked off in frustration leaving Ohara and Harada vowing to get the belts back. 

MATCH THREE

Takashi Sugiura & Kinya Okada vs Funky Express (King Tani & Mohammed Yone)

Funky Express came out to music which is kind of like what you would have heard on NHK in the 1980s in one of those segments on shows where an interviewer asks people on the street what they think. Neither Takashi Sugiura or Kinya Okada seemed impressed by their funky opponents. Disco seemed to enrage Okada's Show sensibilities as after standing up to Yone's shoulder tackles when the Disco Fever pose went to stop him, he took Yone down to the applaud of the crowd. As for Takeshi Sugiura, Yone pulled his pose twice at him, Sugi pulled his arms down twice and yelling "Stop It!" gave him some stiff elbows. 

Even King Tani was halted in doing as much as he might, by Sugiura working on his arms so that he couldn't do his fist pumps properly. 

Yone might present himself as a funky middle aged man, but those were vicious elbows which caused a sick noise that he gave to Okada, Tani by this time had Sugi trapped outside the ring and although the fans were behind Okada, who was taken down by Yone into a submission, he tapped.

WINNER: Mohammed Yone with an armlock submission (14 minutes, 35 seconds)

It was a win for Funky Express yes, but it wasn't a big one. Once again they had only defeated the younger generation and the least experienced person in the match. 

MATCH FOUR

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

Tadasuke walked out into the hall as if he was strolling on to stage after his drummer and bass player, and then motioned back to Aleja, who was following on behind. There was the usual Tadasuke camera spot, it seems that he now ignores Nioh photobombing him. When STINGER got in the ring the silent champion, HAYATA and his silent challenger, Aleja, stared at each other briefly. In true STINGER style, HAYATA immediately started being irritating by tagging in Seiki Yoshioka. Tadasuke could be heard protesting. Aleja was not to be denied however, and soon struck back at HAYATA with a top rope plunger and then he played him at his own game and tagged Nioh in. For Yoshinari Ogawa, his fight is with Perros De Mal Del Japon, and he remained pretty much in the background, yanking Tadasuke's hair to hold him in their corner. 

With the presence of eight Noah Juniors in the ring, naturally it disintegrated into a brawl. The ref could only sigh and try to get the two legal men back in the ring and leave the others to drift back eventually, but the last pre-match for the GHC Junior Heavyweight title suddenly went beyond a belt challenge between warring units, when HAYATA got it into his head to take an interest in Aleja's mask. Namely pulling Aleja's mask off. He didn't succeed at first thanks to Haoh, but Haoh was not going to be to protect Aleja from what ultimately was going to happen.

WINNER: HAYATA with the 403 on Haoh (13 minutes, 29 seconds)

HAYATA went back to attempting to rip Aleja's mask off while the bell rang in vain for all action to cease. With STINGER keeping Kongoh away, HAYATA (who had also thrown the ref out of the ring for attempting to stop him) succeeded and Aleja covered his face with his hands. Tadasuke even kept the camera away!

HAYATA posed with his foot on Aleja's chest while Aleja covered his face, and left clutching Aleja's mask and the belt. In the ring, Aleja left with a t-shirt over his head (Inamura's I believe), as a shirtless Inamura appeared to be the only person who remembered Haoh as everyone else had run off after Aleja. Backstage Tadasuke looked like airport security guiding a celebrity past journalists saying "No pictures! No comment!" On Twitter he wrote that HAYATA didn't have to rip Aleja's mask off. The whole issue with the mask has taken this match to another level. In the case of HAYATA and Aleja who do not speak, actions have spoken louder than words. 

MATCH FIVE

Kongoh (Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kenoh) vs The M's alliance (Masaaki Mochizuki & Masakatsu Funaki)

A four man kick fight which started off with Kenoh and Masaaki Mochizuki locking up naturally with kicks and then Katsuhiko Nakajima and Masakatsu Funaki, who can be described as rivals following the N-1 singles semi finals match, locking up part wrestling and part MMA. As Katsuhiko Nakajima has nothing to lose in this match, Nakajima could well afford to be his usual cocky self by torturing Mochi's arm and provoking Funaki while doing it. Kenoh however had to be on his guard, but it seemed that Mochizuki could read him and found his weakness by realizing that kicks weren't going to get the job done, so how about a sudden palm strike out of nowhere...

WINNER: Masaaki Mochizuki with a palm strike on Kenoh (16 minutes, 47 seconds)

Kenoh (with a split lip) scraped himself up off the mat, it slowly dawning on him what had happened. Mochi stuck out his tongue, made slapping motions and held the belt up. He continued this motion to the cameras while walking backstage. Kenoh has sworn revenge and says he will start over. Mochi said that if Kenoh really wants to end his era, then he should try and if anything today has proved that his (Kenoh's) generation doesn't have the discipline that his does by losing in the pre match. 

MATCH SIX

Kaito Kiyomiya, Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba vs The M's alliance (Keiji Mutoh, Naomichi Marufuji & Masato Tana

Kaito Kiyomiya came to the ring with a completely different vibe to his partners; to Daiki Inaba this was a match to win against some seniors, Masa Kitamiya is generally angry usually, but Kiyomiya's vibe was dark and almost malicious. Before the match, Naomichi Marufuji had commented that he was going to pay back Kiyomiya for pinning him in Yokohama, but he might just concentrate on his "bearded partner". Kitamiya got in the ring, looked at Marufuji and stroked his chin. 

Kiyomiya and his first nemesis, Keiji Mutoh started the match. Mutoh may move stiffly these days, but he is still capable of moving quickly, and Daiki Inaba (who has his own issues with Mutoh from the W-1 days) found that his jaw had become a target. Marufuji did get to concentrate on Kiyomiya's "bearded partner" and found that he was no selling his kick combination, Kitamiya hit the floor only to bounce back up. More than Mutoh and Kiyomiya, which is kind of the secondary story here, the feud over the belts is more between Kiyomiya and Marufuji and when they want to war the fans clapped along with each chop and each elbow, it ended with Marufuji doing something that Ogawa would be proud of, an eye rake. This was going to be the least of anyone's problems. 

WINNER: Naomichi Marufuji with the Osu Suplex Hold on Kaito Kiyomiya (20 minutes)

Kaito Kiyomiya was furious, and followed the ref around the ring complaining, but it was no good. The referees decision was final, the count was three and the match was over. Kiyomiya's face twisted into total rage. Mutoh dug his fingers in by making belt motions, something the watching Masato Tanaka seemed to be joining in with. Kiyomiya said something like "Never!" as the two teams faced off, and as Mutoh made three count pin motions, Kiyomiya stormed off angrily and flung the curtain open to get backstage. Marufuji spoke on the microphone;

"Kaito Kiyomiya and Masa Kitamiya are wonderful champions, but hasn't the history of tag teams been neglected? Only singles get featured, but people who have had great tags have worn the belts! I have been watching Noah's history for a long time, and I want to give back to Noah with the tag belts! Mutoh and I may have different thoughts and feelings, but we both have the desire to win the belts. I want to make history by capturing them in Yokohama with Mutoh."

Naomichi Marufuji later spoke more on history. The pin he had used, the Osu Suplex, was a move he hadn't used for years (it was used originally by Mighty Inoue) and the type of Shiranui he had done in the match was a form he had used in a singles match with Kenta Kobashi a long time ago. For Marufuji, this title challenge is another one of those Mutoh dreams which had characterized Mutoh's title reign, for Kaito Kiyomiya if there is any history, then it's a dark and threatening one. 

Noah's next event: WRESTLE UNIVERSE presents DEMOLITION STAGE 2021 in YOKOHAMA - Saturday November 13th, Yokohama Budokan

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse