(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: JUST FINE! 2022 (Thursday March 24th, Korakuen Hall)

Noah's last show of the month today wrapped up most of the loose ends concerning some titles, and opened up some developments for when shows resume in early April. 

Event was broadcast live on WrestleUniverse. Japanese commentary only. If you are not a subscriber, you can watch the first few matches on Noah's official YouTube. 

MATCH ONE

Masaaki Mochizuki, King Tany, Kinya Okada & Yasutaka Yano vs Masa Kitamiya, Mohammed Yone, Yoshiki Inamura & Junta Miyawaki

King Tany's team stood around waiting for him to take his chain off. The strict ref was not going to help him. Neither where his team. Tany was given an applause for actually removing it himself! 

Since the DragonGate invasion yesterday, and the gibe that none of Z-Brats knew his name or what he looked like, plus the suggestion that he had no presence, he was on fire. He was so intense that even veteran Masaaki Mochizuki tagged out. Miyawaki was not the only person that Mochizuki had problems with, Masa Kitamiya refused to release the hold he had, and Mochi kicked him twice. The ref sternly ordered him out of the ring before he could do anymore. 

Poor Yasutaka Yano, as you can imagine being the youngest and most junior in the match, was flattened by Kitamiya and Yoshiki Inamura. But there where some very funny sides to the match. Namely, Masa Kiyamiya, the Disco King. Yone, always trying to get people over to the Funky side and unleash their inner disco dancer, tried to get Kitamiya to strike a pose. Kitamiya at first refused to join in. Then when he did, there was a huge applause. 

Don't worry. Kitamiya is not going Funky. A man who listens to "Straight Outta Compton" by N.W.A when eating Ramen has no need of any gold and glitter other than a championship belt. 

Even Mochi got in on the Disco dance poses. Unfortunately, Tany was not as impressed as Yone was. Probably because this is the move that Yone was using. Mochi's disco dancing had little effect, and he himself later said it was fun, but that was all. He has no intention of joining Funky Express. Mochi remains a very good partner for Kinya Okada. Both of them use kicks, and under the tutelage of Katsuhiko Nakajima, Okada's continue to grow. Okada is also showing great strength, and managed lift and slam Inamura, but no matter how strong he is the fact remains that Noah have probably never had someone as strong as Inamura, and the shoulder tackle he gave Okada not only left in in the same position until King Tany moved him, but caused also caused the audience to groan as to the force of it.

WINNER: Yoshiki Inamura with a shoulder tackle on Kinya Okada (11 minutes, 44 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Alejandro vs Super Crazy

No high flying moves from Super Crazy, he had to keep the much smaller and quicker Alejandro grounded. So he sunk his teeth into Alejandro and punished him by ring post shots, submission moves and the classic Perros fighting outside the ring. 

WINNER: Super Crazy with La Guitarra (6 minutes, 13 seconds)

MATCH THREE

The Noah Junior Regulars (Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY & Haoh) vs Kongoh Juniors (Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Nioh)

YO-HEY said this would be hitting Kongoh's beliefs with their brightness, but nothing could lighten the dark presence of Hajime Ohara, who in his anger almost tore Atsushi Kotoge's knee in half. There is still an element of bitterness between Haoh and Nioh, but on Haoh's part now it has more of a feeling of wanting to show how much better off he is. 

Kotoge was screaming in the Ohara submission, but no one could help, Kotoge got to the ropes with applause. Kotoge fought back with a little help from YO-HEY, but the second time Ohara had a little help from Tadasuke, and the Muibien he trapped Kotoge in meant he couldn't go anywhere and Kongoh made sure no one could help. Kotoge tapped. He had no choice. 

WINNER: Hajime Ohara with the Mui Bien on Atsushi Kotoge (14 minutes, 25 seconds)

Ohara looked demonic, and Tadasuke got on the mic and addressed the GHC Junior Tag Champions. In typical zany Tadasuke style, this also involved listening to the belt as he challenged for the titles.

"Hey, Kotoge! What is "being yourselves"? You guys have the belt, but it would be happier if we where wearing it! I can't wait! We will challenge you guys in Gunma on the 3rd April!" 

MATCH FOUR

Masato Tanaka vs Daisuke Harada

Daisuke Harada was under no illusions that this was probably going to be one of the hardest matches of his career, and so he attacked at once. Masato Tanaka's music hadn't even stopped. In the ring as a result he had the upper hand for a while, but Tanaka countered. Harada had no choice but to grit his teeth and fight on. 

Harada (who as you can see is inventive) wanted a fight, so Tanaka was going to give him one, but he was going to wear him down first by attacking his arms. Harada was not going to quit, despite Tanaka's combination of an arm sub and a pin. Harada dragged himself to his feet as much as he could after each sustained attack, even when Tanaka repeatedly knocked him down when he climbed on the turnbuckles. Harada suplexed him off, but Tanaka still remained dominant. There was even a Rolling Elbow battle, which ended with both being knocked down. No one could deny that Harada came close to the win. 

WINNER: Masato Tanaka with the Sliding D (13 minutes, 45 seconds)

MATCH FIVE

Perros Del Mal De Japon (NOSAWA Rongai, Eita & Kotaro Suzuki) vs STINGER (HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa & Yuya Susumu)

Eita was not in the mood for messing around today, he entered looking grim, with a bandage and a bottle of water, which he threw at STINGER and things escalated quickly into a melee brawl with Yoshinari Ogawa vs Kotaro Suzuki, and HAYATA vs Eita. Eita had not even removed the GHC Junior belt. The fight stopped briefly as everyone was in danger of being counted out, but carried on in the ring. Eita was still wearing the GHC Junior Heavyweight when after an apron kick from Yoshinari Ogawa, HAYATA struck and pinned him. 

WINNER: HAYATA with the Headache (1 minute, 44 seconds)

No one had even tagged into the ring. HAYATA posed with the belt, before draping it on Eita, and that was that and STINGER left. Backstage, a bloodied Eita sat with the belt that was covered in his blood, and reflected that the last two days had been humiliating. 

MATCH SIX

Naomichi Marufuji vs Daiki Inaba

It was confirmed on commentary today that what Daiki Inaba had been hinting at about joining Noah, had actually happened. He was now a full time roster member. 

Naomichi Marufuji entered not in the best mood, but with a slight smirk. The match began in a slight stare down as both wanted to work out the other and see who would make the first move. I think despite the grudge, Marufuji wanted to show Inaba the differences between freelancing in Noah, and what it meant to be part of Noah, and so his first lock up was broken graciously. Sportsmanship counts in the division that Inaba was going to fight in. Inaba understood the lesson well. 

A win at any cost was not what Inaba wanted, he wanted to prove he could beat Marufuji again. and so a count out was not ideal when it looked as if Marufuji was not going to get in the ring, and Inaba threw him back. Elbow and chop followed soon after, and after a while Marufuji started smiling. Inaba was soon to discover what being a roster member and having a match with a veteran meant, when the classic apron spot was performed, and Inaba went head first into the side of the ring and then rolled on to the floor.  He was down, but not out and would bide his time for the Shiranui, which he countered with a suplex. The second time he went for a submission. Its hard to make Marufuji quit however, and in the end Marufuji (who had been holding himself up by one arm) broke the hold by simply collapsing, which forced Inaba to let go. Marufuji bounced back with knees and kicks, but Inaba would not break. Headbutts proved effective, and Inaba fought on kicking out of the Shiranui, a knee to the back of the head, but not the Shin Toraou. 

WINNER: Naomichi Marufuji with the Shin Toraou (17 minutes, 14 seconds)

Inaba staggered to his feet after the match. Marufuji offered his hand, but Inaba countered with a punch. I think Marufuji quite liked this response, as it promised more friction between them, but he himself would never have done this to his own seniors. Times had changed. Backstage, Marufuji, talked about Inaba joining Noah saying that Inaba had been a champion in W-1, if he were buried here it would be embarrassing to the former members. He wanted him to surprise them, he wanted him to create an image and he wanted him to go further and do more. Today in the match Inaba had driven him more than usual. 

MATCH SEVEN

Takashi Sugiura, Go Shiozaki & Kaito Kiyomiya vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya)

Kongoh had even more of an air of grimness, despite the success of their juniors that evening, and watched their opponents come to the ring as they were going to pounce. Much to their credit, Noah did not choose to capitalize on Shiozaki and Nakajima. That had been done, Shiozaki had moved on, and as we would see, so would Nakajima. Shiozaki and Nakajima pretty much had little do with each other, although they did interact in the latter stages. It was Manabu Soya who got the machine gun chops, and probably their most significant interaction was a momentary stare before their fight began. Akitoshi Saito was right, as much as AXIZ is over and as much as Nakajima hates Shiozaki (and I don't think the feeling is truly mutual), they remain tied. 

The match spotlight came down to Kenoh and Takashi Sugiura. Kenoh in fury choked out Sugiura, and the ref stopped the match. Kenoh would not let go and had to be pried off. 

WINNER: Kenoh via referee stop (21 minutes, 4 seconds)

Kenoh had defeated the champion, and won the right to challenge. Taking the tag belt, he growled at Sugiura that old men where gathering and getting the Noah belts, and that Noah was "not a playground for old men", something which Kenoh had no interest in and did not find interesting in any way. He and Katsuhiko Nakajima where going to challenge for the tag belts. 

The Kongoh heavyweights have more patience than the juniors, and the match has been set for Sumo Hall on the 30th April. 

MAIN EVENT

GHC NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

Masakatsu Funaki vs Hideki Suzuki

Very much mat wrestling, MMA, IGF and Catch-can style. This has come to characterize the GHC National as the majority of its owners (if not all) have had a background in MMA - even Kenoh's Nippon Kempo shares elements with MMA. It has also come to be signified by very short title defenses and also very long ones, in this case it was a short defense which Masakatsu Funaki won with submissions. 

WINNER: Masakatsu Funaki with an ankle lock (8 minutes, 14 seconds)

It had been a good night for Kongoh - two belt challenges and a belt retained, for Hideki Suzuki his own belt had been challenged for. Kongoh got in the ring to celebrate with Funaki. 

"Kongoh Theatre"

Funaki has a characteristic microphone after title defenses, which has bought a little rarely seen humor to Kongoh. He talked about the match, which included an epic burn that "I fought on behalf of Japanese Pro Wrestling, and wasn't going to lose to someone who had just returned from WWE." 

He then handed the microphone to Kenoh. 

Kenoh said to give the microphone to Tadasuke.

Even Tadasuke was confused, but he rose to the occasion and asked Funaki if he would support himself and Hajime Ohara in their title bid in Gunma. 

Then things got a little strange in a way that can only happen around Tadasuke. Funaki mentioned that why he wanted Tadasuke to close out the show was to do with Tadasuke and Funaki's telephone number...he did not elaborate on the story, but hinted that perhaps Kongoh are not as humorless as they make out themselves out to be. Kenoh later elaborated on this saying that Tadasuke didn't ask for a phone number, he wanted to invite him to the Kongoh group chat on LINE*.

Nakajima had to show Funaki where to stand in the pose that followed, and then he did the same with Tadasuke backstage. Kongoh had another talk. Kenoh and Nakajima where challenging for the Junior Tag, Funaki is the GHC National Champion, and Tadasuke and Hajime Ohara where challenging for the GHC Junior Tag. 

But what about Manabu Soya and Nioh? 

Well, there is nothing for Nioh currently and Funaki didn't think he was going to challenge for the GHC National, but he hinted to Soya that he might consider it as he too should be thinking about chasing a belt. Soya looked a little surprised, but nothing has been said and that is how matters rest in Noah until their next show on the 3rd April. 

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse

With thanks to: Abeshin & Metal-Noah

Attendance (up from the 24th March): 441

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