(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: BUMPER CROP 2022 in SENDAI (Sunday January 16th, Sendai Sunplaza Hall)

"NOAH! Thank you for holding in Tohoku."

Due to Coronavirus affecting the Noah Dojo, Noah were ten wrestlers down as Yoshinari Ogawa, Junta Miyawaki, Kaito Kiyomiya, Yoshiki Inamura, Kinya Okada, Yasutaka Yano, Super Crazy, Tadasuke and Daiki Inaba had to miss the event as they were either infected or quarantining. Yoshinari Ogawa was reported to have a fever, but he was recovering, which is a relief as Ogawa is a man in his mid fifties, has a predisposition to influenza and throat problems, and he doesn't eat much. Masato Tanaka missed the event due to illness, not COVID as he had a negative PCR. As a result there was no one at ringside as the trainees cannot leave the dojo, and so Perros disinfected the ring, the bus driver Mr Orange did what he could to second, there were only two referees in attendance and I wouldn't be surprised if the roster also helped with putting up and taking down the ring. Mohammed Yone says the MVP backstage today was Daisuke Harada who organized everyone into doing the work the trainees normally would i.e. hotel duties (getting everyone up and out) and cleaning up both backstage and at the arena. Promotions don't just go home, they have to clean up first. 

These were not the only issues, however. 

Due to the explosion of a volcano in Tonga and the subsequent Tsunami it generated, Japan's east pacific coast was put on alert. Sendai is on the east coast, and so the roster I think spent a sleepless night. Fortunately Japan was only hit in two places (not Sendai or Miyagi prefecture) by small waves, and so the alert was lifted at 2pm. Noah had asked that fans do not come to the show if it is going to put themselves at risk, and all things considered, an attendance of 633 was very good. Noah were grateful to everyone who came out in the circumstances and because of all of these issues were determined to go beyond their best. 

The event was broadcast live on WrestleUniverse. English and Japanese commentary is available. You must be a subscriber to view. You can watch the first two matches on Noah's official YouTube. 

MATCH ONE

Kongoh Juniors (Aleja, Nioh & Haoh) vs Perros Del Mal De Japon (Kotaro Suzuki, YO-HEY & NOSAWA Rongai)

Perros made their usual unruly entry which as ever contrasted strongly with the rank and file entrance of Kongoh. Kongoh were furious after the antics of the dogs in Yokohama, with Aleja being madder than the others. Perros wound them up by holding a conversation between them as Aleja was waiting. NOSAWA started against him and ate some dropkicks. Aleja, NOSAWA, the issue of Aleja's mask and the fact that NOSAWA is like an attack dog whenever he sees a masked wrestler and tries to pull it off, which happened again today, paled in the telling signs of discord between Haoh and Nioh. It started with the usual - Nioh missing NOSAWA on a dive, Haoh missing a kick when Nioh was holding YO-HEY. This would spill over later in a dramatic fashion. 

WINNERS: YO-HEY with a dropkick on Haoh (8 minutes, 58 seconds)

With Haoh and Nioh left alone in the ring, the issues between them bubbled to the surface with Haoh roughly pushing Nioh away. Aleja tried to come between them to calm them down, but it did no good and Haoh left angrily. 

MATCH TWO

Noah Junior Regulars (Hajime Ohara & Atsushi Kotoge) vs STINGER (Yuya Susumu & HAYATA)

In Yokohama, Yuya Susumu had set a condition; if The Noah Junior Regulars lose this match then their title challenge is forfeited and it will go to Susumu and Seiki Yoshioka. I wasn't sure if this was still going to be valid as Yoshioka is not in the match, but Atsushi Kotoge and Hajime Ohara seemed to think it was. 

In a less chaotic match than the first, Yuya Susumu and Hajime Ohara had a technical battle proving that if Ohara can outsmart Susumu, then Susumu can do just the same to him. Kotoge, however, was the one who got the brunt of Susumu and the former GHC Junior Heavyweight champion, who while he looks a little less stressed on losing the title, it hasn't made him any less sadistic, especially towards his challengers. Touchingly, HAYATA brought Ogawa's belt to the ring. 

WINNER: Atsushi Kotoge with the Killswitch on Yuya Susumu (11 minutes, 50 seconds)

Yuya Susumu says that he and Seiki Yoshioka will challenge the winners. 

MATCH THREE

Seiki Yoshioka vs Daisuke Harada

With the juniors assuming responsibility of opening the show, the one time I guess Daisuke Harada doesn't mind the division being second to the heavyweights, his first outing as GHC Junior was in a rare singles match. If Harada was looking for a quick and easy win, he was not going to get it as Seiki Yoshioka can read him as well as Harada can read himself. There was no tag challenge now for Yoshioka, but if he won he could challenge for the GHC Junior. Harada worked on wearing him down and winding him, and it was a tactic that worked. 

WINNER: Daisuke Harada with the Katayama German Suplex (12 minutes, 7 seconds)

Haoh came down to the ring. Fans and probably Harada thought he was going to challenge, but Haoh came to make a different statement.

"I want to rise. I want to change my environment. Let me fight together with you as a Noah Junior"

To show his resolve. Haoh quit Kongoh by taking off his Kongoh t-shirt and discarding it. He had exchanged red for green. Harada responded;

"There is no reason to refuse you. Let's do this together. Let's make Noah's ring even greater."

Nioh naturally objected and came to the ring with Aleja. Nioh asked if Haoh had taken a complete leave of his senses. Really? He was going to leave Kongoh and was now going to fight alongside Harada? Seriously? Then as this is the Noah Juniors, fights broke out which ended with Harada calling for the microphone, getting a referee into the ring, and an impromptu tag match started. 

MATCH FOUR

The Noah Junior Regulars (Daisuke Harada & Haoh) vs Kongoh Juniors (Nioh & Aleja)

Nioh, who was a lot more animated (and cold blooded) than I have seen him for a long time tore into Haoh, who gave as good as he got, even causing angry purple welts to come up on Nioh's neck. In many ways this match was Haoh's initiation into the Noah Junior Regulars as Harada needed to know he could trust him. At one point when Harada intruded into the ring and Nioh attacked him, Harada threw Haoh at him as Haoh was the one he wanted. 

Winner: Daisuke Harada with the Katayama German Suplex (9 minutes, 59 seconds)

Haoh is the first person Kongoh have punished for leaving, but then again all the others have been heavyweights (Atsushi Kotoge went back to the juniors but left as a heavyweight and both Inamura and Kitamiya are heavyweights) and as we all know, the juniors are volatile. Haoh did not expect to get off lightly, and Nioh said afterwards he would never forgive him. Kenoh wondered why it was Haoh had left, but failed to realize a few things. In an interview Kenoh had stated that anyone asking for help in Kongoh would get the response "please quit", Haoh's New Year calligraphy had hinted of individual expression when he had written "to have my own words" and that Haoh had in fact acted according to his own beliefs far more than he had ever done in Kongoh. 

MATCH FIVE

Funky Express (Mohammed Yone & King Tany), Masakatsu Funaki & Go Shiozaki vs The Sugiura Army (Kendo Kashin, Kazuyuki Fujita, Kazushi Sakuraba & Takashi Sugiura)

Go Shiozaki was trying not to giggle when Funky Express asked him if he wanted to join in! 

Kendo Kashin has worked out the formula to bringing out the monster in King Tany. It's not by stalking him at press conferences, saying things about his family or throwing water bottles at him. All Kashin has to do to provoke this elemental rage in Tany is to bring the Sasumata pole with him. For the newer fans, this pole was carried by Tany's former incarnation, the reptile monster, Maybach Taniguchi. Historically, the Sasumata was used by the Samurai as a weapon for catching criminals. Kashin attacked Tany with it, pinning both himself (and the poor ref who was behind him), into the corner. The Sugiura Army joined in, and with a roar, Tany pushed them all back. 

Then the fight between Tany and Kashin went to the side of the ring, and then backstage, when it came out it went to the English commentary table where Mark Pickering had his plastic sheet removed by Kashin who threw it at Tany. Because this is the heavyweights, the referee ignored them and concentrated on the action in the ring where Go Shiozaki and Takashi Sugiura were fighting. Shiozaki does not yet have the strength back to lift Sugiura like he once did. Masakatsu Funaki was one person that no one wanted to be in the ring with, especially Kazushi Sakuraba as Funaki was working on arm-holds. Kashin took him on in probably the most serious wrestling he has done in a while. 

Kazuyuki Fujita found he had two enemies in particular. Go Shiozaki who couldn't be kept out of the ring when Fujita was in it, chopping him to make him release the hold on Mohammed Yone (who was the main target of the Sugiura Army), and King Tany. Tany literally fell over himself to get in the ring with Fujita. It was around this point I also noticed that Tany was furious when Yone chose to tag Shiozaki in and not himself. Tany took on Fujita after a mass beat down, but Kashin got in the way and this gave Fujita the upper hand. Then it was Tany's turn. 

WINNER: Kazuyuki Fujita with the Powerbomb (18 minutes, 54 seconds)

Fans are used to seeing the trainees wipe the ring down, so when Perros appeared fans thought they were coming out to announce something. YO-HEY joked that they had come to Sendai specifically to clean as senior referee Nishinaga supervised. 

MATCH SIX

GHC Heavyweight Tag Championship

Kongoh (Manabu Soya & Kenoh) vs M's alliance (Naomichi Marufuji & Keiji Mutoh)

Manabu Soya was fixated on his opponents. His glare was so rigid that he didn't even notice the tag belts being presented. Kenoh let him start against Naomichi Marufuji, the person who had been winding him up and continued to do so by flexing his pectoral muscles at him and then challenging him to a test of strength. Soya had a score to settle with both Marufuji and Keiji Mutoh. Marufuji started as his main target and then it switched over to Mutoh. With his great size and power, Soya utilized the old fashioned bear hug, Mutoh would later take him down with a sleeper hold. This added a wonderful classic wrestling feel to the match both by a veteran and someone of the next generation. Showa era style has always had a place in Noah, with a lot of what the trainees are taught in the dojo stemming from there, so it never seems out of place. 

Usually when Keiji Mutoh wrestles a match he will put on an act, often as a feeble old man, which he will play in the promos as well. Kenoh knows not to trust Mutoh or any act he puts on, Mutoh sensed this in Kenoh I think, which is ironic as Kenoh is not always the best judge of character. Mutoh took a PFS both to the front and to the back and in turn with Marufuji, targeted Kenoh's knee. Manabu Soya went for everything to defeat Mutoh for those titles and to show him that he was not as Mutoh had said "a big dumb tree" which was "only useful for shade", but as we know, Mutoh can be devious, and he employed that sudden shock move to keep the belts in the M's alliance. 

WINNER: Keiji Mutoh with the Frankensteiner (20 minutes, 55 seconds)

The referee was roughed up by an infuriated Kongoh. Kenoh in particular was very vocal and refused to accept the decision. These two old men were lying on the floor...how had they beaten them? They hadn't! It must be some mistake. The referee insisted no, it was three. 

MAIN EVENT

GHC Heavyweight Championship

Masa Kitamiya vs Katsuhiko Nakajima 

A video package was shown, recapping the relationship of Masa Kitamiya and Katsuhiko Nakajima, both students from the Kensuke Office/Diamond Ring dojo. Ultimately it is the most saddest relationship in Noah. 

To explain a little, when two students are taught by the same teacher, they form a brotherhood. Nakajima the senior student is the "older brother". The same relationship is between Naomichi Marufuji and Kotaro Suzuki, who while they have little to do with each other, Kotaro knows that Marufuji (who he does call "older brother" like Kenta Kobashi used to do to Mitsuharu Misawa), will back him up. Even Kenoh and Kaito Kiyomiya (roughly the same relationship as Takashi Sugiura bought them both into his unit to train them in various ways), who have a stormy relationship, know that when it comes to Noah, one can rely on the other. Fans term their relationship as "a lot of jealousy, but a lot of love". Sadly, Nakajima and Kitamiya cannot claim any of those things. The hatred comes from Kitamiya's side, as he says he has always hated Nakajima from day one, so with them there is a lot of hurt and a lot of bitterness. The match as a result contained an element of anger and malevolence and I think slight hurt on Nakajima's side. The ring, Sendai, even Noah didn't matter. Nothing else in the world mattered but this moment, the supreme revenge for everything one had ever inflicted on the other. It became more than a title match.

Nakajima knew how dangerous Kitamiya could be and worked to wear Kitamiya down. It was a hard thing to do, but he could be worn down. Nakajima worked on him constantly with kicks and punches, although it was frustrating at times because Kitamiya kept bouncing back which provoked him into rage wrestling. For Kitamiya it was different, if he couldn't pin Nakajima (who had reversed the Saito Suplex), perhaps he could make him submit? Too bad Nakajima got to the ropes. Nakajima had another trick, which Kitamiya should have been wise to. 

Playing dead. 

Dropping his arm limply when lifted, lying on the floor like a deadweight when Kitamiya tried to haul him up, bought Nakajima time to both recover and catch Kitamiya off guard. The reaching for the ropes feebly was a nice touch. 

Winner: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the Vertical Spike (20 minutes, 55 seconds)

Orange-san (Noah's bus driver) who was seconding that evening, threw in an ice pack. Nakajima shoved the ref away and for a moment fans thought that he and Kitamiya were going to make up, but no Nakajima threw Kitamiya out of the ring and the ice pack after him. As there were no seconds, and with Mr Orange not physically capable of supporting him, Kitamiya crawled backstage. 

Nakajima didn't have to wait long for his next challenger. The Beast emerged from his lair.

Kazuyuki Fujita. 

No words passed between them, Fujita staring at the belt and smiling calmly, Nakajima matched this by holding up the belt. The title match has been set for 23rd February at "GAIN CONTROL 2022" in Nagoya. 

Nakajima closed out the show with addressing Fujita's title challenge, thanking everyone for coming today under such circumstances, and reassuring everyone that;

"Noah will be fine. I am here."

With thanks to: Dragon, Abeshin, Metal-Noah

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse

Attendance: 633

Noah's next event: "HIGHER GROUND 2022" Saturday 22nd January, Edion Arena 2nd Stadium, Osaka