(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: STEP FORWARD 2022 (Friday 11th February, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo)

Noah returned to Korakuen Hall this evening for the final night of their first ever three days in a row there. Seiki Yoshioka missed the final night, and will probably miss about three months, as he broke his ankle bone in yesterdays match. As a result the GHC Junior Tag Titles have been vacated by himself and Yuya Susumu, and NOSAWA & YO-HEY will challenge HAYATA and Susumu in Nagoya. 

Of course, this is the Noah Juniors, so this could well change...

Today's event was broadcast on WrestleUniverse. Japanese commentary only. You must be a subscriber to view. 

MATCH ONE

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

After a slight Haoh and Nioh square up, Daisuke Harada and Aleja started the match. I think Harada was determined to show Aleja that he is not the only person who can he acrobatic. Aleja outdid him, and naturally Harada did not like this. Nioh and Haoh's rivalry is still strong, with Nioh doing the most focused wrestling against him, because I think now he has a proper rival. 

WINNER: Haoh with the Firebird Splash on Aleja (12 minutes, 8 seconds)

Haoh has already been far more successful in the Noah Juniors than he ever was in Kongoh.

MATCH TWO

Takashi Sugiura, King Tany & Junta Miyawaki vs Kazushi Sakuraba, Mohammed Yone & Hajime Ohara

With his disapproving senior watching, King Tany kept his funkiness to a minimum, removing his crown and cigar and handing them to the seconds at ringside,  but the ref had to help him with his gold chain. He caught Takashi Sugiura's eyes here, but Sugi didn't seem to be too disapproving. Earlier he and Kazushi Sakuraba had squared up to each other over their "SUGI & SAKU" belts. Sakuraba commented later that throughout the match Sugi kept laughing. 

In the ring, Tany was as funky as ever countering Mohammed Yone's rope break with one of his own. He also halted his shoulder tackles with Yone's Disco Fever! Yone was like "Hell to the NO!" but Tany knocked him down.

At the other end of things, Sakuraba and Sugiura mat grappled. Perhaps Sakuraba should also be one from whom you should never accept a handshake, as he offered one to young Junta Miyawaki. Miyawaki took it and Sakuraba dragged him into the corner where he was attacked by Sakuraba's team. Sakuraba even got into the Disco spirit by joining in with the tandem rope move that Funky Express normally do. Sakuraba was not so playful in the closing moments of the match when he gripped Miyawaki in a headlock, the crowd cheered when Miyawaki reversed this into an armbar, but as Saku is the master of all reversals and was dealing with a young man not as experienced, he was able to reverse this and turn it into a lock. Miyawaki knew he was trapped, and tapped.

WINNER: Kazushi Sakuraba with a modified heel hold (13 minutes, 29 seconds)

MATCH THREE

Tadasuke vs Atsushi Kotoge

Rockstar Tadasuke walked out on to the stage, moving his way through an imaginary crowd and then talking to the camera making throat cutting motions about his opponent. If anyone in the Noah Juniors is at an advantage when it comes to facing Tadasuke, it's Atsushi Kotoge. Kotoge's advantage comes from not being able to match Tadasuke's strength, but as he was a heavyweight once, knowing how to deal with it.

WINNER: Atsushi Kotoge with a leg shot (8 minutes, 52 seconds)

Tadasuke in true Kongoh style left yelling expletives. 

MATCH FOUR

Kinya Okada & Yoshiki Inamura vs Kongoh (Manabu Soya & Katsuhiko Nakajima)

The super heavyweights locked up, Yoshiki Inamura heaving Manabu Soya up and onto his shoulder in much the same way he carried the bale of rice from the ring. There was also a moment during the match when Soya managed to pull up Inamura's singlet, and so we kind of got a view of what he wears underneath! Kinya Okada is carving out his own niche by using kicks, Katsuhiko Nakajima watched his pupil and then got in the ring to give him a masterclass, which involved stalking him with an eerie grin. 

Winner: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the PK on Kinya Okada (10 minutes, 15 seconds)

MATCH FIVE

Perros Del Mal De Japon (Super Crazy, Kotaro Suzuki, YO-HEY & NOSAWA Rongai) vs STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa, HAYATA, Yuya Susumu) & Yasutaka Yano

With this being a pre match now and not just a squabble between NOSAWA and HAYATA, NOSAWA (who had previously been singing along to his theme music) made spooky hands at HAYATA. Yoshinari Ogawa could be seen flicking his denim jacket at Super Crazy. 

No one took much notice of the rules as to be expected, constant ring invasions, melee brawls. Typical Noah Junior match. The refs have long since learned to pay attention to what is going on in the ring, the brawls outside will burn themselves out and everyone eventually returns to the apron. But today in the midst of this chaos, YO-HEY managed to kick NOSAWA in the face when Susumu escaped a move. This allowed Yasutaka Yano, who had pinned NOSAWA before, to get the win over him again. NOSAWA has never forgiven Yano for this and the humiliation returned today.

WINNER: Yasutaka Yano (4 minutes, 47 seconds)

NOSAWA, after a few seconds of making out that everything was okay, turned on YO-HEY, punching him to the floor. He looked outside the ring for a chair as Kotaro Suzuki and Super Crazy held YO-HEY. No one came to YO-HEY'S help as NOSAWA battered him, causing a gushing headwound, and the others joined in. 

Atsushi Kotoge ran to the ring and threw himself over YO-HEY. NOSAWA carried on using the chair, it long having lost its seat, which had also been used as a separate weapon. The Noah Junior Regulars flew in to help and Perros Del Mal left. NOSAWA and Super Crazy throwing chairs into the ring. 

You could have heard a pin drop in Korakuen Hall, seldom is it so quiet, as YO-HEY spoke on the mic. He thanked Kotoge and then dragging himself to his feet, shook hands with everyone as he was welcomed into the Noah Junior Regular Army. 

Hajime Ohara, remembering the heartbreak over the Full Throttle split, was not as welcoming. Old friend Daisuke Harada welcomed YO-HEY too. Backstage, YO-HEY addressed the title challenge and asked Atsushi Kotoge to tag with him against Yuya Susumu and HAYATA. Kotoge said that YO-HEY'S natural sparkle was vital to the Noah Junior Regulars. Title match will be in Nagoya on the 23rd February. 

Over in the Perros Del Mal De Japon camp, NOSAWA Rongai hinted that YO-HEY had been too much a nice guy for the unit, something a lot of fans would agree with. He wouldn't be chasing the titles however. He wasn't interested for now. On his official Twitter NOSAWA wrote that now the "junk we don't need" had been thrown out, there would be a new member of Perros. 

MATCH SIX

Daiki Inaba, Masa Kitamiya & Kaito Kiyomiya vs M's alliance (Masaaki Mochizuki, Masato Tanaka & Naomichi Marufuji)

As if there wasn't enough chaos at Korakuen that evening, Daiki Inaba went wild and attacked Naomichi Marufuji right away. Marufuji was seen holding his arm afterward as he stood on the apron and watched the M's alliance punish Inaba. Later he used a cable on Inaba's arm at ringside. It's rare to see Marufuji use weapons on someone. Back in the ring he flexed and posed at Masa Kitamiya, imitating him. 

Inaba wasn't Marufuji's only problem, Masa Kitamiya is a wall, and after each attack he powered up and bounced back with a scream. 

WINNER: Masaaki Mochizuki with the Dragon Suplex Hold on Daiki Inaba (18 minutes, 41 seconds)

Inaba disputed the win with the referee. It did him no good as the referee told him it was a firm three count. M's alliance had no time to quibble with one of their junior heavyweights, and told Kitamiya and himself to leave the ring by pointing the way out. Inaba left cursing. 

MATCH SEVEN

Go Shiozaki vs Kenoh

Kenoh called Shiozaki "battered" before the match and with good reason, this was the third night of the series following the elbows from Masato Tanaka and the chops from Naomichi Marufuji. Kenoh it seems had taken heed of Naomichi Marufuji's lesson yesterday, and  took Shiozaki off guard by drawing out new things himself. Unlike Marufuji however, Kenoh was not concerned with anything new that he might provoke Shiozaki into. He was also out for revenge after Shiozaki had denied him the main event limelight at The Nippon Budokan. The PFS to the apron, which made the crowd scream, was probably a culmination of both. 

Shiozaki struggled to get back into the ring after this, Kenoh made sure he did not first time by knocking him back out. When Shiozaki did get back in after a close call, Kenoh was given a lariat in mid flight from the turnbuckle. Sadly this was not enough. Kenoh might have called Shiozaki "tired", but he gave him two PFS before he pinned him. 

WINNER: Kenoh with the PFS (18 minutes, 41 seconds)

Kenoh addressed Shiozaki after the match. 

"Everyone may have forgotten, but I haven't, that you ruined everything after the Yoyogi double title match and stood in the main event at the Nippon Budokan, which was my dream. I hate you and I hate it, but you fought well for almost 20 minutes in the three singles matches of this series, but this is what your level is now. Hey, catch up to me fast." 

Afterwards Kenoh both in the ring and backstage bought up the subject of the next Nippon Budokan in July 2022. He was going to be in the main event again. Go Shiozaki also said the same. These four fierce battles with Noah's top was exactly what he had wanted. He would rise up from here to the main event of the Nippon Budokan. 

Attendance: 506

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse

Noah's next event: Saturday 12th February, Shimada City General Sports Center Sub Arena (event will be streamed on WrestleUniverse at a later date)