(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: WRESTLE UNIVERSE presents DEMOLITION STAGE 2021 in YOKOHAMA - Saturday November 13th, Yokohama Budokan
As fans came to the Yokohama Budokan today, there was a sad reminder not too far away of the old Yokohama Bunka Gym that has now been pulled down. Old fashioned, uncomfortable (built for Showa era people, so the seats were too small for modern day Japanese according to Kenoh) falling to pieces, lights threatening to fall down, no air conditioning in summer (Keiji Mutoh said it was too hot, Go Shiozaki couldn't cool down after a title match even with the AC of his car on full blast) and notoriously cold in winter (Kenoh once forgot to turn the hot water on), and chairs about to fall down from the top balcony, it may have been - but the old place was special to Noah fans. Noah using the Yokohama Budokan is a relatively new thing and while memories have been created here, the old Bunka Gym will always remain in the heart.
Noah opened the doors at 2.30pm and welcomed in 887 fans. There was a lot to do beforehand; Atsushi Kotoge, Daisuke Harada and Hajime Ohara had done the usual Twitter video showing fans the merchandise they could buy, Yasutaka Yano handed out postcards at the WrestleUniverse booth, and Katsuhiko Nakajima signed autographs and posed for pictures. Kendo Kashin was selling his "Noah Nursing Home" t-shirt.
The event was broadcast on WrestleUniverse, with the first four matches being broadcast on YouTube. English commentary is available on WrestleUniverse.
MATCH ONE
Yasutaka Yano vs Hajime Ohara
Yasutaka Yano took on one of his teachers in the opener, he came very close to pinning Hajime Ohara, but quit when Ohara locked in the Tres Fleur and almost forced Yano's toes to touch his head.
WINNER: Hajime Ohara with the Tres Fleur (7 minutes, 53 seconds)
MATCH TWO
Tadasuke vs YO-HEY
The former RATELS members had the a RATELS squabble as they faced off in a singles match. Tadasuke was dominant, catching YO-HEY and throwing him and gradually winding up into the usual wild Tadasuke state. Due to the size of the venue, he also entered as if he was making his way through adoring fans.
WINNER: Tadasuke with the Jidanda Lariat (10 minutes, 13 seconds)
MATCH THREE
The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura, Kazushi Sakuraba & Kendo Kashin) vs Funky Express (King Tani, Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito)
Mohammed Yone and King Tani came out dancing (Yone had a real groove), while Akitoshi Saito did his best to ignore them.
Kendo Kashin gave the impression that he was going to behave as he came to the ring without grabbing a chair, a barrier or even anything under the ring. That was until it was discovered that he was wearing a jacket, a summer jacket and a t-shirt. He took these off slowly, folded them up and then handed them to the second slowly. Then there was the usual difficulty of the referee checking him. King Tani was patient enough, but this soon ran out and he attacked Kashin. Tany said that Kashin had made some comments which his family didn't appreciate and had worsened his situation at home. As Tani and Kashin fought outside the ring, Kashin shoving the plastic sheet over Tani's face, the wrestlers remaining in the ring did what anyone but a Noah Junior would do. Get on with the match.
More the monster of old, Tani dealt with Kashin inside the ring eventually. Elsewhere Mohammed Yone's disco pose gave Kazushi Sakuraba an opening to choke him out, but as Yone is a former BattleArts guy. he was tough enough to stick out the chokehold that Sakuraba took him down with.
Kashin later got it into his head to take Tani up to the balcony, but unfortunately he found himself thrown off a ledge. The crowd applauded and Tani struck a disco pose.
No one at all, not even his teammates, went to check on Kashin before Tani threw him back in the ring. The most Kashin was going to get from Takashi Sugiura, was Sugi pointing warningly at Tani to watch it. After that, Tani commanded Yone and Saito to keep Sugiura and Sakuraba away while he dealt with Kashin.
WINNER: Shuhei Taniguchi with the Funky Press on Kendo Kashin (15 minutes, 18 seconds)
With his deeply unimpressed face on, Sugiura once again pointed warningly at Tani after the match, but he and Sakuraba seemed to be more irritated about losing the match than what happened to Kashin. Then they left, without attempting to help him as Tani was posing with his foot on him. Comically they left by the wrong exit and had to turn round, but the final comedy part belonged to Kashin who was scraped up by one of the trainees, who carried him on his back backstage and who had to pause by the curtain to bow to the crowd.
MATCH FOUR
Kongoh (Katsuhiko Nakajima, Manabu Soya, Haoh & Nioh) vs The Noah Junior Regulars (Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge), Daiki Inaba & Kinya Okada
The Noah Junior regulars swelled their ranks today by entering with Daiki Inaba and Kinya Okada, all wearing WrestleUniverse t-shirts. They are probably honorary one night members however as both are unaffiliated, but both are also heavyweights. It was the heavyweights who started the match with Kinya Okada and Manabu Soya getting straight down to shoulder tackles. The Noah Juniors in the match, however, played by their own chaotic rules to which the Noah referees have adopted an air of resignation. They know just to tell them to get back to the apron when they attack en-masse, not that anyone takes much notice being too busy fighting each other. Another rule seems to be the referees refuse to count Nakajima's cocky pin (or Tadasuke's for that matter)
Katsuhiko Nakajima was having the time of his life. As the centre of attention as the GHC Heavyweight Champion, he could afford to camera kiss and play up he did. Inaba ruined this as he kept singling him out for attacks. Inaba has a score to settle with Nakajima (involving Nakajima's disrespect of the W-1 Championship most likely), and I don't think he was driven to attack him out of concern for Kotoge.
There was a teacher vs pupil moment in the closing stages of the match when Nakajima took on Okada, who he has been training to use kicks. Nakajima ducked his attacks and followed them up with kicks of his own, and roaring back at Okada's. The poor guy later suffered the soccer ball kicks and then the PK which won Kongoh the match.
WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the PK on Kinya Okada (16 minutes, 31 seconds)
MATCH FIVE
Yoshiki Inamura vs Kazuyuki Fujita
Noah fans love the ultra-heavyweight beast fights between Kazuyuki Fujita, Yoshiki Inamura, Manabu Soya and Masa Kitamiya. In true style, Inamura went on the attack, charging at Fujita and keeping him in the corner as he beat him down. The ref had to pull him away. Unlike the last times that Inamura had been given the Fujita Bomb, he wasn't going to make it so easy this time and Fujita found that he was the one thrown. After the traditional ultra heavyweight standards of shoulder tackles, Fujita countered Inamura with one of his huge slaps.
WINNER: Kazuyuki Fujita with the Fujita Bomb (9 minutes, 59 seconds)
Fujita then briefly posed with his foot on Inamura's face.
MATCH SIX
STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa, Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu) vs Perros De Mal Del Japon (NOSAWA Rongai, Eita & Kotaro Suzuki)
As each of Perros De Mal Del Japon came to the ring holding two 2L bottles of water, Yuya Susumu called them the "Water Shop". "Water Cooler vendor" might be a better translation for Western readers. Ironically, it was Kotaro Suzuki who posed with his on the turnbuckle. Kotaro is the one who (understandably) seems to have a hard time watching the humiliation of Yoshinari Ogawa when Eita pours water over him. Ogawa wanted to start with Eita, and so after some discussions with his teammates, Eita did but when he tried to tag out almost immediately, his teammates wouldn't let him.
Eita wanted Ogawa, and therefore his teammates were going to let him get Ogawa. NOSAWA eventually decided to tag in, then he hopped over to Kotaro and tagged him in. Ogawa, seeing as how he was going to have to hate and wait, tagged in Susumu and finally the match began.
It was a match of bitterness. NOSAWA attempted to improve the atmosphere by offering a handshake to Ogawa, but this was met with a kick to the gut.
Eita found that he could not run from Ogawa forever, if Ogawa cannot get you in the ring, he can certainly get you outside of it and Eita kept running. For once it was not Kotaro Suzuki who was making Ogawa see red. Ogawa did eventually capture his prey, and there were times inevitably when Susumu and Yoshioka were kept away and the two of them were left to fight. Trust Eita though to go and end the match by a chair shot on Ogawa.
WINNER: Yoshinari Ogawa over NOSAWA Rongai thanks to Eita using a foreign object (11 minutes, 35 seconds)
As Susumu could be seen outside the ring battering Perros with a chair, Ogawa was inventive in his revenge. He trapped NOSAWA on the ropes and then turned to deal with Eita who he put into a submission. Everyone else was engaged in fighting everyone else, so YO-HEY came to the rescue and was knocked on his back by a kick from Yoshioka. With STINGER back in the ring and Perros lying on the canvas or outside the ring, Ogawa held up the Junior Tag belts and then left with them. Perhaps those belts weren't as "garbage" as NOSAWA and Eita had made them out to be as they both looked pretty shocked about them being gone. There was probably also an element of shock as to how Yoshinari Ogawa had taken them both out, and he didn't need anything other than his head to humiliate them.
Ogawa must have left the belts backstage somewhere as Perros appeared in the interview area with them, as they had them when Yasutaka Yano came to challenge on the belts on behalf of himself and Yoshinari Ogawa. It is generally accepted now that Yano has probably joined STINGER, which would make sense as fans say he is Ogawa's favorite pupil. NOSAWA told him that he wasn't interested in defending the belts against Ogawa and Yano, if Ogawa wanted to challenge, then he had better do it with HAYATA....but he would give Yano a one on two match, he and Ogawa vs himself. Then poor Yano found himself drenched in 6 liters of water, beaten up and left on the floor with ripped clothing (Eita even decided to pull his pants down). Title match has been set for 28th November.
MATCH SEVEN
GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship Match
HAYATA vs Aleja
HAYATA bought the mask he had ripped from Aleja with him to the title match, and then in a new malicious act, ripped it up. This is a new evil side of HAYATA. Aleja of course wanted revenge and spent the first few moments of the match rage wrestling and not really using his head, this played into HAYATA'S hands as when the match swung back to his favor he had that vicious looking smile as he started baiting Aleja to do something. Aleja got it together and started to pose a threat, but this is something that HAYATA actually seems to like, even when his opponents kick out. This gives him the chance to come up with something worse. Aleja used some very clever moves, including one which is a move very similar to the Headache and this almost won him the match.
WINNER: HAYATA with the 403 Impact (17 minutes, 41 seconds)
From one Kongoh member to another, Tadasuke challenged HAYATA for the title;
"HAYATA! Well, our Aleja! Aleja! Aleja! You did it again! Accept my challenge next!"
HAYATA by this time was ready to go, but Tadasuke provoked by telling him not to run off, which caused him to come back. HAYATA as usual accepted the challenge silently, holding the belt up to Tadasuke and pointing it at. Title match has been set for the 5th December in Nagoya. All the other title matches stemming from tonight will take place in November in a couple of weeks, HAYATA vs Tadasuke has been given a longer build.
MATCH EIGHT
GHC National Championship Match
Kenoh vs Masaaki Mochizuki
Katsuhiko Nakajima placed himself on commentary. This was going to become significant later.
As much as they don't get along and dislike each other, both Kenoh and Kaito Kiyomiya's matches had the same themes running through them; to go to the core of Noah and to dislodge the older generation from that spot. Kiyomiya however was more polite, and not given to Kenoh's rage against middle aged and old men cluttering up his ring. Kenoh unleashed his anger as soon as he could, attacking Mochi in what was going to be a very brutal match, and having the ref come between him. Mochi's kicks seemed to infuriate Kenoh even more, rather than wear him down. Where Mochi did go wrong however was not capitalizing after he struck Kenoh with the Palm Strike, and letting Kenoh get his wits back; the first time he didn't capitalize, the second time he couldn't as they were both knocked down. The match naturally did feature a lot of kicks, but they were inventive with them, and it was Kenoh who would strike the finishing one.
WINNER: Kenoh by knock out win (17 minutes, 32 seconds)
After yelling at the retreating Mochizuki about the era of the old men being over, Kenoh turned his attention to Katsuhiko Nakajima and said;
"I want to wear the GHC Heavyweight and the GHC National belts at the Nippon Budokan. Katsuhiko Nakajima, let’s fight for my belt versus your belt!"
Nakajima said he had no objection and the kick fight from hell, not for a N-1 Victory or just a single title, but belt vs belt and the spot in the main event at the Nippon Budokan in January 2022, has been set for 28th November at the Yoyogi National Stadium No 2 Gymnasium.
MATCH NINE
GHC Heavyweight Tag Championship
Kaito Kiyomiya & Masa Kitamiya vs The M's alliance (Keiji Mutoh and Naomichi Marufuji)
For Kaito Kiyomiya there were two walls to climb here; Naomichi Marufuji, who he had overcome before, and his greatest rival, Keiji Mutoh. It's no wonder that Kiyomiya has ditched the brown hair for black, which makes him look even more of a contrast to his earlier lighter self. Kiyomiya is no longer a dreamy young man who had summer dreams of a new view, he's now a young man who fights for his place. The time of dreaming is over, today was reality.
The match started with Kiyomiya and Mutoh, Kiyomiya managing to knock Mutoh down outside the ring and then raising his arms in despair when Mutoh tagged in Marufuji, unfortunately for Kiyomiya he has never realized that most of the time Mutoh was putting on his old man act that worked so well in wearing him down. Marufuji wasn't interested in Kiyomiya during the first tag exchange (not for the moment at least) and he tagged in Masa Kitamiya. As Mutoh would later admit, his knees were a target and with very Ogawa like mannerisms, Kiyomiya put Mutoh in the Figure Four. The difference is that whereas Ogawa is usually controlled (unless he spies Kotaro), he has a wildness to him that Ogawa does not. Marufuji understood this about Kiyomiya and took pleasure in goading him into losing his head, which meant that the challengers could capitalize. Kitamiya also targeted Mutoh's knees, and put him in the Prison Lock. Marufuji interrupted this by kicking him in the face. Kitamiya is not the easiest person to knock down with kicks, and Marufuji had to turn it into high gear to get him to his knees. Mutoh was waiting and hit the Shining Wizard. Significantly, once again it was not Mutoh pinning Kiyomiya, or vice versa.
WINNER: Keiji Mutoh with the Shining Wizard on Masa Kitamiya (30 minutes, 27 seconds)
Noah's next event: PREMIUM PRELUDE 2021 (Tuesday, November 23, 2021)
With thanks to: METAL NOAH
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