(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: HIGHER GROUND 2022 (Saturday 22nd January, EDION Arena Osaka 2nd Stadium)

It was a wild night in Osaka. 

Noah announced a full crowd of 456 people, with all available tickets snapped up. There was a long queue at the window. Inside, the Osaka locals said they had never seen the arena decked out with so many seats. Naomichi Marufuji agreed with them, commenting that he remembered the days when seating was sparse and the crowds were sparser. 

As Noah are a few men down with either Coronavirus or either isolating having been in contact with someone who has it (the outbreak appears to be in the dojo), Orange-san, the Noah bus driver, was once again on seconding duties. He was also seen wiping down the ropes before the event began. It wouldn't surprise me if Yoshinari Ogawa has been giving classes via Zoom. But, a few of the roster have started to drift back including Kaito Kiyomiya who was on commentary today and one of the referees. Kiyomiya was praised for his commentary skills, he spoke from the perspective of both a fan and a wrestler, he didn't ramble or get off track and he was right to the point. He also smiled and waved to the crowd. The majority of the roster will return on the 27th January. 

The event today was broadcast on WrestleUniverse. Japanese commentary only. You must be a subscriber to view. 

MATCH ONE

Haoh vs Nioh

Nioh, looking focused and with a cold glare in his eyes, came to the ring more purposely than he has done for a long time. Haoh (somewhat oddly) came to the ring still wearing his Kongoh trunks, and still being called Haoh. The fight started straight away with shoving. The ref tried to get between them, but they took no notice and rolled around the ring. Haoh was still in his t-shirt, and Nioh was still in his jacket. Once they had removed their clothing, they got back to fighting with Nioh's jacket being thrown in each others faces. 

This match was far more brutal than their singles match at the Kongoh produce when Kenoh set them against each other, they certainly did not come away from it with chop marks on their necks and chests like they did this one. Nioh showed a new sadistic side which has been rarely seen until now. The ref had to warn him a few times about choking.  Haoh too showed his fighting spirit. He might be small, but he knows how to pack a chop and an elbow which knocked Nioh down, and Nioh was the one with height and weight advantage. Kaito Kiyomiya too was amazed by the difference in the two, far different from what he or anyone else had seen so far. In Haoh's case it was his first chance at showing it having been stuck in Kongoh since he entered Noah, for Nioh it was a rare glimpse of what he could do when he had to think for himself. Fans noticed that he even used a move against Nioh that he had once said only HAYATA could take. 

WINNER: Neither time out draw (20 minutes)

Tadasuke ran into the ring and helped beat up Haoh. Then as the mouthpiece of the Noah Juniors, Tadasuke spoke over the fallen Haoh and gave him a vicious character assessment saying that he didn't know why Haoh had done this as soon as his back was turned, but he was going to make him pay for it and drive him out. At best he should have those Noah Junior guys dote on him, but in Kongoh he was nothing. He had no achievements. He also wondered why it was Haoh was still wearing a Kongoh costume. Daisuke Harada came out to save him, shoving Tadasuke aside. Tadasuke has sworn he is going to be Haoh's worst nightmare.

MATCH TWO

Funky Express (King Tany & Mohammed Yone) vs Perros Del Mal De Japon (NOSAWA Rongai & Kotaro Suzuki)

Despite the protests of Perros Del Mal De Japon, King Tany refused to remove his crown and just stood there staring directly ahead when the referee told him to remove it. He didn't and Tany decided to wrestle NOSAWA still wearing his crown. NOSAWA snatched it from his head and threw it across the ring and stamped on it. Probably an act of lese majesty similar to Bosworth field. Tany retrieved it and checked it for damage, and found it was broken. His face was very sad. 

Tany's crown was not the only thing disrespected, as NOSAWA also attacked Mohammed Yone's afro. 

Kotaro, as the first Noah Born, has known Taniguchi since he was a trainee, and no doubt like the rest of the seniors he isn't too thrilled at the route Tany has taken and like NOSAWA, he got up from a slam and got in Tany's face while he was dancing around. 

WINNER: King Tany with a huge Funky Press on NOSAWA Rongai (9 minutes, 31 seconds)

Funky Express had beaten a junior team. A great fight they had put up, but they were not a heavyweight team. However, it was still more substantial than their recent wins. Perros limped off with their tails between their legs, as Funky Express danced from the ring. 

MATCH THREE

HAYATA vs YO-HEY

YO-HEY attacked immediately, and caught HAYATA so much off guard that he almost got the pin. The match had a different vibe from anything so far, as they were both so changed as they combined their shared aerial abilities with HAYATA'S acquired technical abilities, and YO-HEY'S growing ones. This might have been the HAYATA that YO-HEY now knew, but it was not the YO-HEY that HAYATA had known. HAYATA found that YO-HEY was sometimes a couple of steps ahead, anticipating what HAYATA would do to a certain move, and YO-HEY found that HAYATA was even more sadistic than he had been previously in any other match. HAYATA took pleasure in attacking YO-HEY's arm, hand, elbow and shoulder, twisting it behind him, over the railings, attacked it with elbows, stamps etc. It was torture watching him try to get to the ropes, and after one sustained attack he had no choice but to tap.

WINNER: HAYATA via submission with the Modified Armlock (13 minutes, 24 seconds)

YO-HEY'S take on today's match was that he felt the difference, a big difference, but he thinks he has come to an understanding of what that was. 

MATCH FOUR

Kongoh (Katsuhiko Nakajima, Manabu Soya & Aleja) vs Go Shiozaki, Masa Kitamiya & Daisuke Harada

Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima started. Nakajima was as you would expect; irritating, smirking at Shiozaki and then doing the flash Misawa tag in on Manabu Soya after throwing Shiozaki into the ropes.

Shiozaki tagged in Masa Kitamiya and he and Soya charged at each other like wild bulls. Soya even charged around outside the ring to get to Kitamiya. Fans want to see a singles match between them as they work well as rivals, and they have been saying they also want to see a revival of their tag too and for Soya to leave Kongoh. There is potential in Manabu Soya and Masa Kitamiya as either rivals or teammates. Throughout the match Nakajima kept up his spiteful ways, humiliatingly Daisuke Harada, the hometown boy was his target. Nakajima went for the cocky pin on him. The referees refuse to count this, so he was robbed of that, but he did the Shutter Chance. Kitamiya took delight in slamming Nakajima when he got the chance. 

The match came down to Aleja vs Go Shiozaki with Aleja using his speed to dodge Shiozaki. No one could help Aleja as Nakajima was kept outside by Kitamiya and Soya was racing round the ring to fight with Harada. Aleja kicked out of one move, but he didn't with the second one. 

WINNER: Go Shiozaki with a short range Gowan lariat (16 minutes, 54 seconds)

For Go Shiozaki it was a bittersweet win. Aleja is a junior, not even half his size or weight. He was no Soya or Nakajima. He looked thoughtful. Nakajima slung the belt over his shoulder and left smirking. Harada, despite his hatred of the heavyweights, smiled and shook hands and then posed to his hometown crowd. Shiozaki happily posed with him. 

Backstage, Shiozaki had an announcement to make. In order to get back to the GHC level he was going to have four singles matches with Noah's best. He would take on Takashi Sugiura (27th January), Masato Tanaka (9th February), Naomichi Marufuji (10th February) and Kenoh (11th February). If he won all of them, then he would challenge. 

Funky Express, not Perros, were on ring cleaning duties today.

MATCH FIVE

GHC JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TITLE MATCH

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

This was a highly disappointing and humiliating match for the Noah Junior Regulars. The technicians Yuya Susumu and Hajime Ohara started at a lightning speed pace, which was then picked up by Atsushi Kotoge and Seiki Yoshioka. Daisuke Harada who was at ringside could do nothing but look on as Hajime Ohara tapped to Yuya Susumu.

Winner: Yuya Susumu with the Cross Face Lock (7 minutes, 39 seconds)

Susumu spoke on the mic;

"What a shame that Kotoge and Ohara thought they could take the belt today.  Too bad. Was it fun to watch the Junior tag in Osaka today? Say what you want, Yoshioka and I are the Junior Tag Champions"

It is well known that both Yoshinari Ogawa and Yuya Susumu are talking about a "STINGER showdown" over the belts, but as Ogawa is absent, nothing was said and they did not nominate them as the champions. As for The Noah Junior Regulars, Harada remains the only champion among them. 

MATCH SIX

The M's alliance (Naomichi Marufuji & Masato Tanaka) vs The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura & Kazushi Sakuraba)

Naomichi Marufuji and Kazushi Sakuraba continued their friendly rivalry by starting the match. Sakuraba tagged Sugiura in, and Marufuji left Sakuraba with a warning that the next time they met, it was going to be in a chop war. When they next met, Sakuraba took down Marufuji with knee submissions. Anything to get out of the chop war and although it wore Marufuji out, taking out his knee couldn't make Sakuraba escape. Sakuraba had however come prepared and had double rugged himself with not just one, but two tops. He refused to remove the second top, so like the first one, Marufuji had to pull it off after some argument. Sakuraba said fine, if you want to chop me then do, but chop my back. Marufuji chopped him raw. If you are wondering how Sakuraba is going to sleep. Don't worry. This is the man who bought a Futon dryer to heat his bed, so chances are he sleeps sitting up any way as it's probably caught fire. 

Winner: Naomichi Marufuji with a clever reversal of the sleeper hold (20 minutes, 26 seconds)

MATCH SEVEN

GHC National Championship

Kenoh vs Masakatsu Funaki

Kenoh, who was usually in a towering rage and verbally abuses his opponents, was quiet for once, despite the scowl on his face. The last time he and Funaki had faced each other, he knew he had gotten lucky. This time, Masakatsu Funaki was back both wiser and stronger. Funaki demonstrated just how dangerous he could be by taking him out with a sleeper hold. Kenoh knew he was never going to escape, and remembering the last time Funaki had choked him with face turning blue, he tapped. 

WINNER: Masakatsu Funaki with the sleeper hold (3 minutes, 58 seconds) 

Masato Tanaka and Naomichi Marufuji came to the ring to celebrate with their teammate. Marufuji strapped the belt on Funaki. Funaki made his winners speech to his hometown crowd, and then turned to Kenoh. Kenoh was on the mat looking both thoughtful and surprised, but he was about to be even more surprised (as was everyone else) when Funaki said; 

"Since last year, your matches have inspired me. Today I have a suggestion, Kenoh, let's team up! From today, I will enter Kongoh!"

His former teammates were alarmed, but Funaki turned to them and said;

"Wrestlers are not good friends. I settled it with you (Naomichi Marufuji and Masato Tanaka) a few years ago, but let's do it again!"

Funaki turned back to Kenoh as his former teammates left, and helped him up off the floor. Kenoh spoke on the microphone;

"Masakatsu Funaki, the strongest man in pro wrestling, will walk with us! He empathized with a strong belief, and entered Kongoh!"

After saying that he would change his costume to red, Funaki also said that he was inspired by wrestlers like Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kenoh, but his words made no impact on Katsuhiko Nakajima, who when he came to ringside with the rest of Kongoh to celebrate with their new member, looked very unimpressed with the new member. 

Funaki was introduced to his new unit. They all got a warm hug. Then it came to Nakajima. Nakajima hadn't clustered around Funaki like the others had. He remained in the corner. Funaki gave him his hand, and Nakajima with an ice cold stare took it. Never taking his eyes of Funaki. He also gave him the stiff handshake, refusing to let go even though Funaki tried to draw away.

During the post match interview, Funaki and Kenoh took centre stage with Nakajima standing behind Funaki who was unintentionally (or was it?) eclipsing him. Nakajima stood with his arms crossed and giving him looks out of the side of his eyes.

They have to team together next Thursday.

With thanks to: RealNGreen, Dokutoru-Naranan, Shift, Metal-Noah, Tack

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse

Noah's next event: HIGHER GROUND 2022 (Thursday January 27th, Korakuen Hall)