(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: MAN CRUSH 2021 (Tuesday 7th December, Korakuen Hall)

Noah announced an attendance of 584 people today who came to Korakuen Hall on a rainy winters night in Tokyo. Noah did not manage to sell out the event, but the attendance isn't bad considering its still early in the week. Kinya Okada today celebrated three years in Noah, but sadly Noah fans still cannot give gifts. Okada says he is looking forward to his 4th year. 

The event today was broadcast on WrestleUniverse. No English commentary available. If you are not a subscriber to WrestleUniverse, you can watch the first two matches for free on Noah's YouTube. 

MATCH ONE

Funky Express (King Tany & Mohammed Yome), Hajime Ohara, Kai Fujimura & Yasutaka Yano vs Kongoh (Manabu Soya, Tadasuke, Aleja, Haoh and Nioh)

Tadasuke bounced back from losing to HAYATA in Nagoya on Sunday and entered like a true rockstar, got photobombed by Nioh, fought heavyweights, reacted in horror to Mohammed Yone's disco ropebreak and had fun fighting against heavyweights in this typically chaotic opener where the majority of the teams are Noah Juniors. Even Manabu Soya got in on the wildness by obstructing the ref. 

After Hajime Ohara had herded the younger boys to the ring, Mohammed Yone very firmly told Yasutaka Yano (by way of physically moving him) that he would be starting the match. Yano is a true Noah Junior as we later saw in the evening, completely ignoring the ref who was telling him to get out of the ring. Kai Fujimura too, despite not being a Noah Born, is becoming more Noah especially in the style of his dropkicks. Crowd were enthusiastic for this energetic opening match. 

WINNER: Hajime Ohara with the Finnish Forearm on Tadasuke (8 minutes, 58 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Atsushi Kotoge vs Kotaro Suzuki

Atsushi Kotoge has been on a downspin recently, and very sadly although he put up an epic fight against Kotaro Suzuki who wore him down with abdominal jabs and sternum attacks to wear him down, and who was cocky enough to no sell him and kick him in the head, tonight again he was going to be on the losing side. Kotaro was relentless. 

WINNER: Kotaro Suzuki with the Tiger Driver (11 minutes, 35 seconds)

Hajime Ohara (who had been at ringside) had got in the ring to see to Kotoge and hold an ice pack to his neck, but Kotaro kicked him away and dragging Kotoge up, threw him out of the ring. He even threw the ice pack out too! The bell even started ringing as things looked to be getting physical. 

MATCH THREE

Perros del Mal de Japon (NOSAWA Rongai & Eita) vs STINGER (Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu)

Eita bought a big tub of sterilizer with him for some reason, and his usual bottle of water. It probably saved lives that he didn't pour water over STINGER. 

Naturally, no one wanted for the bell to sound or the music to stop before PERROS attacked. When things calmed down a little, NOSAWA and Eita used their quick tags to work on Seiki Yoshioka as they had pegged him as the weaker target given his win/loss ratio recently. Eita found that despite this, it's probably not best to bait him as he was kicked hard. Susumu got some revenge for the team by torturing Eita. NOSAWA came to the rescue and humiliatingly for Yoshioka tried to pin him using the Mahistral to keep him away from Susumu who was soon to see stars. 

WINNER: Eita with Trauma on Yuya Susumu (5 minutes, 36 seconds)

NOSAWA wouldn't let Yoshioka go, and didn't until Eita counted the pin as the ref wouldn't. Eita then started insisting that NOSAWA had won, the referee somehow disagreed. Yoshioka couldn't believe it. Had his luck really sunk that low? The match was over in 5 minutes. 

MATCH FOUR

The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura, Kazushi Sakuraba, Kazuyuki Fujita & Kendo Kashin) vs Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba, Yoshiki Inamura and Kinya Okada

Kendo Kashin did not even bother to hide his mischief today, although I am not sure why he bought a toothbrush with him. He was soon busted by the ref as he had it strapped to his wrist. The Sugiura Army thought it would be funny to let Kashin start off against the towering Yoshiki Inamura. Kashin firmly tagged in Kazuyuki Fujita after Inamura had sent him flying, this was not the case with the shoulder tackles between Inamura and Fujita, which Fujita eventually won. Kashin skulked at ringside after this, and was tagged in forcibly by his teammates. He was helpful though, helping Kinya Okada get to the ropes to be told off by Kazushi Sakuraba who afterwards made sure his next submission was done away from Kashin. 

Kendo Kashin was not the only person in the match to cause laughter. After being rammed by Yoshiki Inamura and sent flying outside the ring, Sakuraba was very considerately thrown back inside by Kashin and then after begging Inamura to wait after being squished in the corner, Sakuraba challenged Inamura to test of strength. He had a plan though (he always does) and trapped Inamura in a leg submission. Unfortunately for Kendo Kashin, Inamura had quite recovered by the time he got in. 

Daiki Inaba came in for a round of applause from the crowd today. There is a new intensity in his attack, and his movements and the way he fights is becoming very Noah like. 

WINNER: Takashi Sugiura with the Sliding D on Kinya Okada (20 minutes, 10 seconds)

Takashi Sugiura sent a message to Masato Tanaka by using his finisher. 

As The Sugiura Army left the ring, Daiki Inaba and Kendo Kashin were fighting in the lobby and this went through the doors to the stairs. The fight ended when Kashin threw Inaba down and then vanished down some stairs.

MATCH FIVE

Keiji Mutoh vs Masaaki Mochizuki

Masaaki Mochizuki went straight into the attack, meaning that Keiji Mutoh had a few seconds to evaluate the situation outside of the ring. Mutoh went to wear down with submissions, putting his full weight on him. When the tide of the match turned, Mochi returned the Shining Wizard to a thunder of applause, the crowd (who seemed to be behind Mochi) made an "Ooooh" sound when Mutoh kicked out. Sadly, Mochi was not so lucky the second time. 

WINNER: Keiji Mutoh with the Shining Wizard (10 minutes, 15 seconds)

Cracks appeared in the unit as Mochi refused a handshake from Mutoh and pushed him away roughly, making belt motions he stalked to the back angrily.

MATCH SIX

Kongoh (Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kenoh) vs Go Shiozaki & Kaito Kiyomiya

With Kaito Kiyomiya challenging Kenoh for the GHC National, the balance of this match was changed. It went from being Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima fighting over the GHC with Kenoh and Kaito Kiyomiya and their history on the sidelines, to the GHC Heavyweight and the GHC National being united to fight against their challengers. Usually the two belts are at war with each other. 

Kenoh wanted Kiyomiya, although he wasn't as furious as he usually is when he challenges him. Nakajima of course wanted Shiozaki. Both Kenoh and Nakajima kept their heads, no anger from Kenoh and no grin from Nakajima, it was now a double threat for them both. The match had a completely different atmosphere from Sunday in Nagoya. 

Shiozaki, who was in a lot better condition than he had been in Nagoya and didn't seem so fragile as he had been, chopped the hell out of Nakajima the sound echoing around the hall. There were also some cheers and whistles heard from the crowd, who gasped at the force of Nakajima's kicks. Shiozaki ended the match by tearing his elbow pad off and took Nakajima's head off with the Gowan Lariat. 

WINNER: Go Shiozaki with the Gowan Lariat (20 minutes, 52 seconds)

For Kenoh it was back to yelling at Kiyomiya and holding up the belt, as Shiozaki stood over Nakajima. 

Nakajima eventually scraped himself up and staggered to his feet, holding the GHC Heavyweight up. Shiozaki silently pointed to it. As Nakajima stumbled out, Shiozaki remained behind to the applause and some forbidden cheers from the Korakuen Hall crowd. 

MATCH SEVEN

Scramble Match

YO-HEY & HAYATA vs Yoshinari Ogawa and Daisuke Harada

No one entered with their "partners", and while YO-HEY and HAYATA were a tag for a long time, it is the first time that Daisuke Harada and Yoshinari Ogawa have probably tagged like this. HAYATA ignored YO-HEY and immediately attacked Ogawa. The two Noah Juniors left in the ring, just looked at each other, shrugged and went to their corners. Each time HAYATA fell (or rolled) outside the ring, Harada threw him back in. Ogawa was surprised that Harada would help him like this, but Ogawa later discovered that Harada's doing this was a way to irritate him and keep the match from disintegrating. 

As for YO-HEY and HAYATA, they pretty much ignored each other, although YO-HEY did look at him thoughtfully. Which he had done the last time they tagged. 

Then the moment, a tandem move. 

Fans clapped loudly in anticipation and they managed half of one before HAYATA threw YO-HEY into Ogawa as Ogawa halted on the ropes knowing what they were going to do. 

The match fell apart when Ogawa decided he wasn't interested however in Harada tagging him in against YO-HEY and walked off allowing YO-HEY to get the upper hand. Harada then forcibly tagged Ogawa in and they started fighting, HAYATA took advantage and YO-HEY pinned Ogawa in the melee. The three of them had just worked together to defeat Ogawa. It was just like old times.

WINNER: YO-HEY with the Facial G on Yoshinari Ogawa (18 minutes, 19 seconds)

Daisuke Harada stood over Yoshinari Ogawa furious as YO-HEY and HAYATA had their arms raised. Fans were on an emotional rollercoaster at this point, as YO-HEY turned and kicked HAYATA down before he was punched out by Harada's Rolling Elbow. Harada collected up the tag belts and held them up before draping one over Ogawa and one on HAYATA and then standing with a demonic look on his face, one fist raised in triumph before leaving. 

YO-HEY would later post another cryptic post on Twitter, saying that yes he had gotten the win today and asking HAYATA, just what had happened between them...

MATCH EIGHT

Naomichi Marufuji vs Masato Tanaka 

Very technical match, and I am sure that Naomichi Marufuji remembered the lessons of Global League 2015 when Tanaka beat him in eleven minutes. It was a brutal match with Marufuji working on Tanaka's elbows, and Tanaka taking out his knees and feet. A Sliding D was even delivered from the apron, with tough as leather Masato Tanaka taking knees and kicks before Marufuji could even knock him down. Marufuji knew that this was only a pre match, the title match was going to be something else.

WINNER: Masato Tanaka with the Sliding D (20 minutes, 49 seconds)

Masaaki Mochizuki and Keiji Mutoh might have had a falling out after the match, but Masato Tanaka and Naomichi Marufuji where different. The classic stiff handshake was given, which was ended by Marufuji semi snatching his hand away. The GHC Heavyweight pre match had ended half and half for both teams. As Marufuji exited the hall, Tanaka spoke on the microphone. He thanked Noah for taking care of him during a difficult period, and thanked them for allowing Sugiura to come to ZERO1 and himself to The Budokan.

With thanks to: Metal-Noah, Gong EX

Noah's next event: MAN CRUSH 2021 (Sunday, December 12th - Shizuoka / Kira Messe Numazu)

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse