(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: THE LEAVE presents N Innovation U-CUP Night 2 (Friday 7th January 2022, Yokohama Radiant Hall)

Night two of the grueling two day Noah Junior tournament culminated today. Tonight the winning unit will be presented with the trophy from Noah's longtime sponsors, THE LEAVE. Going into the event STINGER lead with four points, with the other units (Kongoh Juniors, Perros Del Mal De Japon and the slightly sulky Noah Junior Regulars) all trailing behind with two. Daisuke Harada has challenged HAYATA for the GHC Junior Heavyweight title, and as the title match takes place on the 10th January, this will be their one and only pre-match. Attendance for tonight was 128, which is up from the first night which was 109. The crowd were also somewhat vocal with occasional screams and cheers being heard, but who could blame them? The atmosphere was electric. 

Event was streamed live on WrestleUniverse on static cam. There is no commentary. You must be a subscriber to view. 

MATCH ONE

Yasutaka Yano vs Kai Fujimura

The last time they clashed in their last singles match, Yasutaka Yano came out the winner. Kai Fujimura tonight was looking for his own victory and the two boys put on a technical show. This was only an opening match but there was an atmosphere of expectation among the fans who treated this as if it were a big match. Yano was using submissions with Fujimura reversing them, often time using clever technique. You can tell that these boys are ready for the next level. 

Throughout the match Fujimura continued to catch up with Yano as he chased that first win. He came close a few times and he grew desperate as time ticked on. Yano too wanted his second win, and so his intensity was no different. 

WINNER: Time out draw at 15 minutes 

Yano was not happy with the result, and left slapping the mat and screaming. He also gave Fujimura a slight shove when he came near him. 

MATCH TWO

N-Innovation U-Cup match

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

Poor Nioh had to put up with a very pink YO-HEY and his inventive lock ups. Even YO-HEY's tongue was pink today, as well as his hair. The match disintegrated as Noah Junior matches tend to do with bodies everywhere either lying on the apron, in the ring or fighting outside, and NOSAWA decided to taunt Tadasuke. In the midst of all this chaos came a part where Aleja may have botched a spot as he went outside the ring leaving YO-HEY wondering what to do, he rallied though and saved it. 

With Tadasuke utilizing his strength in both tandem moves to take down Perros and also against Perros individually, everyone fell to the outside and began brawling. The time ticked down and the ref started counting, Perros kept Kongoh from getting in and Kotaro was trapped on the apron with two teams fighting over him, one to release him and the other to keep him out. Unfortunately for everyone, they both got counted out. 

WINNER: No one, count out at 6 minutes and 17 seconds. 

SCORE

Perros Del Mal De Japon: 3

Kongoh Juniors: 3

Then the usual fights broke out. 

MATCH THREE

N-Innovation U-Cup match

STINGER (HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa & Yuya Susumu) vs The Noah Junior Regulars (Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge & Junta Miyawaki)

The carnage from the last match over, this one was much more focused. There wasn't really too much of a noteworthy interaction between HAYATA and Daisuke Harada aside from an opening skirmish. To be honest their title match doesn't really need a build as it doesn't have the emotion behind it as say for example HAYATA vs YO-HEY or HAYATA vs Ogawa or even HAYATA facing someone new (i.e. Haoh, Nioh etc), and this is the second time in HAYATA's title reign that Harada has challenged. The match can stand alone and Noah chose to focus on the N-Innovation. 

Junta Miyawaki was thrown to Yoshinari Ogawa, who with a loud thud threw his head into the timekeepers bell before throwing him in the ring. Pegged as the runt of The Noah Juniors, Miyawaki was tortured by all of STINGER. It wasn't just his neck or knee that was attacked, it was practically all of him. Miyawaki refused to give up, even when Ogawa was twisting his leg into a position not designed for the human body. You would have thought that given his often vindictive personality, Yoshinari Ogawa would be targeting Harada for literally throwing him to the dogs yesterday, but Ogawa today was more focused on points. 

WINNER: Daisuke Harada with the Katayama German Suplex on Yuya Susumu (15 minutes, 48 seconds)

STINGER who where in the lead with four points where now tying with The Noah Junior Regular Army. Whether they advanced or whether they lost was now up to Seiki Yoshioka. The Noah Junior Regulars were not exactly in the same position as they were now the highest scorers having caught up to STINGER. Once again, this did not look like a team that was happy with a win.

MATCH FOUR

N-Innovation U-Cup match - 4 Way elimination

Hajime Ohara vs Seiki Yoshioka vs Haoh vs Eita

NOSAWA came to the ring with Eita and gave him a pep talk from the apron. I doubt Eita needed it as after giving Haoh a quizzical glance (he still doesn't know who he is) he immediately attacked Hajime Ohara when he entered the ring. Ohara was not above paying Eita back in kind by pulling at his legs. The referee also came in for a rough evening as he was shoved twice by Eita for not counting quickly enough. The referees have a tough time with the Noah Juniors in the ring, and then breaking up fights between the Heavyweights at press conferences and match signings. Eita eliminated Hajime Ohara with the Imperial Uno after 8 minutes and 13 seconds. Seiki Yoshioka eliminated Eita a couple of minutes later (10 minutes and 45 seconds) much to everyone's relief. 

Perros tried to throw him back in, but long suffering Referee Nishinaga kicked him back out. It came down to Haoh and Seiki Yoshioka, with Haoh picking up a big win on momentum, which seems to be the easiest way to pin Yoshioka. 

WINNER: Haoh (14 minutes and 6 seconds)

Haoh picked up two points for the Kongoh Juniors meaning that they would now go to the finals and face The Noah Junior Regular Army, but before that there was a chance to take a breather and recover. 

MATCH FIVE

Kaito Kiyomiya & Daiki Inaba vs Perros Del Mal De Japon (Super Crazy & Ikuto Hidaka)

True to his rabid stable, Ikuto Hidaka attacked Kaito Kiyomiya on sight and then joined in with Super Crazy to attack Daiki Inaba behind the referees back. The heavyweights soon got advantage over the much smaller Hidaka, but Hidaka is the veteran and bounced back. Super Crazy proved why he is both an original member and a member of the Japanese branch of the bad dogs, by giving Kiyomiya a crotch kick which made his groan echo over the hall. 

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya pinned Ikuto Hidaka (10 minutes, 28 seconds)

MATCH SIX

N-Innovation U-Cup elimination tag match

The Kongoh Juniors vs The Noah Junior Regulars

Daisuke Harada and Junta Miyawaki started against Tadasuke and Aleja. Wild Tadasuke was on form, headbanging, getting carried away at times and yelling loudly "C'mon Baby!" Miyawaki was eliminated after 5 minutes and 20 seconds by Aleja with the Sky Bullet. Harada eliminated Aleja with the Katayama German Suplex at 8 minutes and 25 seconds. Aleja left slamming the ring apron in anger.  Daisuke Harada was unsteady on his feet and was lying on his back for a long time until Nioh came into the ring and was checked by the referee. Kongoh were kind enough to give him a few seconds before they attacked, although Kenoh would (like any good Spartan) disapprove of this weakness. God knows what he thought when Tadasuke said that Haoh cried. Nioh eliminating Harada with the Stuka Splash was like an act of mercy. Time was ticking down as Ohara eliminated Tadasuke with the Finnish Forearm, and it came down to Kotoge and Ohara vs Haoh, who was like a fireball. Kotoge was fighting for the team, his knee had been attacked, and at times he had to hop but he was still able to somersault over the top rope. Kotoge had been in Harada's shadow for a long time watching him get the wins, watching him get the title matches, tonight would be his time to shine.  

WINNER: Atsushi Kotoge with the Killswitch on Haoh (18 minutes, 29 seconds)

The crowd gave a quiet shriek when Kotoge got the win. Harada limped into the ring looking a little more conscious, but still clutching his head. He was a little unsteady on his feet still. Junta Miyawaki held an ice pack to Kotoge's knee before Kotoge managed to get up and accept the cup from the sponsors. 

This was probably the only time throughout the whole event that they had looked happy. The unit had triumphed and Kotoge had finally evened his score against Harada. There was more to come too, while taking a chance to take a shot at the heavyweights in his speech to close out the show ("the Noah Juniors have a passion comparable to the Heavyweights" and promising that this was just the start), Kotoge asked Ohara to tag with him so they could challenge STINGER (HAYATA and Yoshinari Ogawa) for the GHC Junior Tag Titles. Title match has been set for the 22nd January in Osaka, at the Edion Arena 2nd Stadium. Kotoge is of course an Osaka boy, with HAYATA too having ties to the city.

Night 3 of the N-Innovation will take place on the 10th January at Yokohama Radiant Halls. Daisuke Harada will challenge HAYATA for the GHC Junior Heavyweight, with two final N-Innovation matches. One which will see Ogawa team with Eita...but before all of that, Noah faces New Japan on the 8th at the Yokohama Arena. 

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse.