(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: Dream on 2022 FINAL (Saturday May 21st, Ota Ward General Gymnasium)

Rain clouds and thundery conditions were a fitting omen today for the event. Usually nothing is straightforward in Noah, especially where the junior division is concerned and the same can be said of Kazuyuki Fujita too. As champion, Fujita had demonstrated humbleness by presenting gifts to the Noah Dojo and to the Front Of House staff. Today, he went from doing something that no other champion had done to doing something that very little veterans in his position do, and that was helping to set up the

ring. He also after the event helped them take it down. 

Ota Ward Gymnasium contains a fragment of Noah's All Japan roots, as it was here that Jumbo Tsuruta, had unified the Triple Crown. In tribute to this, "Rolling Dreamer" (Tsuruta's theme which he wrote and recorded himself) was playing. 

Event was streamed live on WrestleUniverse. English commentary is available. If you are not a subscriber, you can watch the first few matches on YouTube.

MATCH ONE

Kazuyuki Fujita vs Kinya Okada

Kazuyuki Fujita made his way to the ring wearing a green t-shirt. His return to Noah was very subdued (something Keiji Mutoh had said he wanted) and he bowed deeply when his name was called. Kinya Okada went on the attack, but it was like he was attacking a bulldozer. After the first flurry of punches and kicks, Fujita made a kind of "Well, carry on motion" when he stopped. 

Noah encourage their young to branch out and get experience in other sports, so this probably accounts for Okada's aptitude in being able to mat wrestle Fujita. The match was not as big a squash as had been thought, and Okada may not have gotten much in by way of moves other than perhaps his opening flurry, but he hung on in there, even when there was no way he could get to the ropes and Fujita had him in a submission. Personally, I think Fujita might be good for Okada. 

WINNER: Kazuyuki Fujita with the Boston Crab (7 minutes, 11 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Daiki Inaba & Junta Miyawaki vs Yoshiki Inamura & Kai Fujimura

This match was a kind of younger generation showcase as it contained no theme of someone returning, no grudges and no titles, but this was also two W-1 wrestlers and two Noah Born,. There was stiff exchanges between Junta Miyawaki and Kai Fujimura, in which you could see a red mark come up on Fujimura's cheek.  Miyawaki and Daiki Inaba worked together to take down Yoshiki Inamura, who  threw Miyawaki around and then did a new move whereby he gained speed from bouncing off the ropes and hit him with a shoulder tackle. A small victory perhaps, but for generational Noah, it was a significant one.

WINNER: Yoshiki Inamura with a shoulder tackle (10 minutes, 55 seconds)

Backstage, Junta Miyawaki announced that he was going on excursion to Casa Toryumon in Mexico. Noah hadn't said it, or even decided it, but he had decided. As he's Noah Born and therefore stubborn, no doubt he will be given his own way. Noah did later confirm that Miyawaki would indeed be going to Mexico indefinitely, and his last match would be 30th May at Club Citta. He will face old friend Kaito Kiyomiya. 

MATCH THREE

Mohammed Yone vs Shuhei Taniguchi

As is traditional in Noah when someone wishes to go back to the start, he will come out as he was when he was a new debut. Both Takeshi Morishima (in his time) and Yoshiki Inamura (a couple of years ago or so) shaved their heads and came out in the plain clothes of a new debut. Shuhei Taniguchi did not go as far as to shave his head, but he did come out in the somber black he had worn at the time of his debut. 

Gone was the grin, the crown, the funky glasses, the yellow boa, the unlit cigar. It's been a while since anyone had seen Taniguchi so unanimated. King Tany had been a gimmick that had both made him happy and sad. It had come with a cost, which is why perhaps he looked like a man stripped to his bare essentials and who had to start again. He had no time now for funkiness, he was monotone in color and expression and almost tired of  Mohammed Yone. If Yone tried to provoke the monster in him, he was going to provoke the same in Yone. Yone found though, as ever, needed to fire him up. 

Yone found the fight easy initially, Taniguchi was lame and not fighting back. He seemed almost apathetic and dazed. Yone wore a grin as if to say that he should have stuck with King Tany. The eternal optimist, he probably thought that things would have worked out had he done. But, you can poke the tiger enough until it strikes back, and the monster awakened with a roar. Taniguchi often gets teased by his seniors that he is staid, and while he does have a long fuse he does tend to erupt suddenly. Yone found this out today. 

WINNER: Shuhei Taniguchi with the Wyvern Catch (10 minutes, 42 seconds)

This was probably the most significant match and biggest win that Taniguchi had had in a long while. He had made the right choice. Backstage he said he was aiming for the top. As for Yone, with Taniguchi gone, Akitoshi Saito very much on commentary recently and Masao Inoue not in Noah as much as he was, I remember the conversation he had in January with Masaaki Mochizuki, and wonder...later he did warn Taniguchi not to think he could return to Funky Express.

MATCH FOUR

The Noah Junior Regulars (Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY & Haoh) vs Kongoh Juniors (Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara, Hi69 & Shuji Kondo)

Kongoh posed on both the ramp and in the ring. Tadasuke of course yelling wildly at the ABEMA camera as Shuji Kondo looked on. The Noah Junior Regulars seemingly arrived in a big ball of fluff that was YO-HEY's coat and where far more chaotic in getting to the ring. Daisuke Harada made a beeline for Kondo and the two of them squared up for the longest time, Harada even taking his jacket off while staring at him. 

Daisuke Harada had pegged Kondo as a former GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion. While he and Kondo have never actually had a title match, and their last match was in All Japan in 2012, Kondo is part of the chain that caused Taiji Ishimori to win the title and hold it for a record breaking 405 days (Harada came close with 394). The spotlight of the match was on the rivalry between Daisuke Harada and Shuji Kondo, Kondo even threw him around by his hair. 

WINNER: Shuji Kondo with the King Kong Lariat on Haoh (15 minutes, 15 seconds)

Kondo had won for the Noah Juniors, and the four posed together. Tadasuke left in typical fashion, yelling and gesticulating wildly "Kondo! Kondo! Kondo!".  Backstage, Kondo berated them once again. He had won. What the hell did they do in that match? As Hajime Ohara quaked in the corner knowing the wrath of this senior, Tadasuke let it all wash over him, and said they would ask "that guy" to come back again. 

MATCH FIVE

Kongoh (Masakatsu Funaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya) vs Takashi Sugiura, Hideki Suzuki & Masaaki Mochizuki

Understandably, Takashi Sugiura no longer carries the ZERO-1 World Heavyweight with him. Fans are the opinion that Masato Tanaka will take it from him at the Shinjiro Otani benefit show in June. 

Katsuhiko Nakajima and Masaaki Mochizuki started with a kick war. It looked like there was some kind of eerie light shining of Nakajima's face. Then his arch nemesis, Hideki Suzuki tagged in, and Nakajima did the Misawa flash tag and stood on the apron. For the newer fans, the "Misawa flash tag" is a sudden tag Mitsuharu Misawa did when he couldn't be bothered to fight an opponent, which would usually leave his partner stunned. Nakajima has adopted this as his own. Fans were not to be denied however, as Suzuki's natural sarcasm and Nakajima's natural reaction to Suzuki's sarcasm combined, they had a swear off when Suzuki gave him the finger as Nakajima went to dive on him from the top turnbuckle. 

Things are not over between them, belt or no belt. I can see this rearing up again when the N-1 VICTORY comes round. 

WINNER: Masaaki Mochizuki with the Running Face Low Kick on Manabu Soya (15 minutes, 54 seconds)

MATCH SIX

Kenoh vs Simon Gotch

These two have never had a match before now, but somehow even before it, sparks were flying between them. Gotch had said after beating Kiyomiya he was going to visit that same brutality which Kiyomiya now understood, on Kenoh. Kenoh came stamping to the ring looking angry. Gotch offered him a handshake, but Kenoh glowered and refused it. Gotch gave him the finger, and not for the first time in the match. 

Kenoh complained of his language (which is pretty rich when you consider Kenoh's own choice of words), probably due to the fact that Gotch managed to get Kenoh in submissions he had seldom come across before and did not want to admit it, so he roped in Tadasuke who was at ringside. Kenoh said that Tadasuke was more "native" when it came to communicating via profanity. 

Kenoh seemed the most at ease when they had a kick war, otherwise he had to resort to what he always did when facing impossible opponents. 

WINNER: Kenoh with the rear naked chokehold sleeper (21 minutes, 4 seconds)

Kenoh would not let go and the referee had to force him away. Then more spitefully than their usual anger, Tadasuke and Kenoh got in the ring together to crow over Gotch. Kenoh even offering him his hand, which he withdrew repeatedly. 

Tadasuke was spat at again by Gotch and he left the ring. Kenoh, triumphant did his pose, and Gotch had to be forcibly pushed to the back by one of the seconds. 

MATCH SEVEN

GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Championship 

*Loser leaves STINGER*

STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway) vs STINGER (Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu)

For STINGER fans, this was probably the most nerve wracking match of the whole night, as fans knew for sure two things; one team would retain, the other would leave and STINGER would split. It was what was going to happen in between and after that was scaring them. No one at all could have seen what (or perhaps who) was coming. 

The match started in the usual way. A brawl. This involved Seiki Yoshioka kicking his former members down and then the technicians Yuya Susumu and Yoshinari Ogawa facing off. STINGER (Ogawa and Chris Ridgeway that is), where cold and furious. A reclusive unit who do their talking in the ring, they had a lot to say. They took out Yoshioka's knees, legs and feet so kicking was difficult and targeted Yuya Susumu's vulnerabilities so he had less power when doing holds. I got the impression that although Yoshinari Ogawa is able to keep pace (and often outpace) opponents, Yuya Susumu exhausted him. Back and forth, ebb and flow of the match, advantage one, advantage the other, the two teams seemed locked in an eternal battle with  what one team gave, the other could counter and so the advantage swung between them. No one wanted to submit no matter what was thrown at them, no one was going to give up. Endurance had to be tested. Fans were wondering just how this would end - would it go full time? Would HAYATA interfere? Would one partner turn on the other? 

No. 

Perros Del Mal De Japon entered wearing masks and beat down on Ogawa and the match went no contest. 

Match went no contest after 21 minutes and 4 seconds. Noah are not counting this as a defense due to the intrusion. 

STINGER had retained the belts, and no matter their issues one thing was for certain. They would need each other now. An Uber Eats bag was thrown into the ring, (to which Akitoshi Saito famously pointed out that Uber Eats deliverymen where usually not that aggressive), and the Triangle Gate tag belts were produced. Eita spoke on the mic and in true H.Y.O style, told Yuya Susumu that he had minus a high number of points. They then nominated STINGER as their challengers for the DragonGate Triangle Gate belts. 

When Perros had gone, STINGER had a reunion. Ogawa and Ridgeway offered handshakes to their rebel members, which were accepted. The four of them knew that with Perros back in Noah, they needed each other now, especially as they were a man down as Ridgeway was heading back to Europe for a few weeks. Backstage they agreed that since HAYATA was busy with the GHC Junior, and Ridgeway would be absent, Ogawa with Susumu and Yoshioka would challenge. 

NOSAWA Rongai had an announcement of his own. It seemed that the junior division had reset itself with Perros back, and in more than one way. Kotaro would freelance, Eita would appear from time to time, and NOSAWA was back as a contracted member of Noah. He said he had seen the pictures in Weekly Pro of the yakiniku celebration that HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa and Chris Ridgeway had had after the title matches, and it made him so irritated, that he came back to Noah. 

Perros are back and all have been returned to the Noah roster page. 

MATCH EIGHT

GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship 

HAYATA vs Extreme Tiger

HAYATA worked out Xtreme Tiger to an extent, but was still caught by him. He was going to have to come back up with something quickly, the time for observation was over. This was the time for taking it as came and thinking on his feet. HAYATA had changed his style from aerial to ground based as Marufuji had commented, but he was going to need to mix both now and look for openings. HAYATA hadn't really had the chance much in his last defenses or really over the past few years to fight Luchadores, and so this was something very new. The majority of his challengers he knew well, even if they did evolve (i.e. YO-HEY). It was a match which demonstrated HAYATA'S evolution, as often he had to combine aerial with technical. 

WINNER: HAYATA with the Headache (14 minutes, 53 seconds)

It is not just his in ring style that HAYATA has had to change. It's his character too. For a long while he hasn't liked to speak, but he has realized that if he wants to achieve his goal of beating Taiji Ishimori's record, this will mean leading the Noah Juniors. If he wants to lead the Noah Juniors (or Noah as he has sometimes said) then he needs to conquer his chronic shyness, which when he was a trainee made people say it was a miracle when he spoke. In an interview recently, HAYATA did say he would be taking it step by step and tonight he took a huge step for him and spoke on the microphone. No one was at ringside with him. 

“Anyone who wants this belt, come for it! No matter who does, I will win”

Backstage, and although he couldn't quite look into the camera, HAYATA reiterated what he had said in the ring. He was waiting for this next challenger, no matter who he was and where he came from. 

MATCH NINE

GHC Heavyweight Tag Championship

Les Mexicanas (Rene Duprée & El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr) vs Michael Elgin & Masa Kitamiya

The two teams were well matched in terms of size and power, the pre matches had been eventful too with a time out draw and a submission which gave both one win and one loss. It must be said that the challengers made a powerful team. 

WINNER: Masa Kitamiya with the Double Impact Type Powerbomb on El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr (23 minutes, 22 seconds)

MATCH TEN

Go Shiozaki, Kaito Kiyomiya & Masato Tanaka vs Keiji Mutoh, Naomichi Marufuji & Satoshi Kojima

Keiji Mutoh made his return to Noah today. His agility seemed better than it had been, and he was moving quicker, but no one was under any illusions as to his underlying condition and Mutoh was going to have a reminder himself. 

There were a lot of layers to this match; Keiji Mutoh said his target was to pin Go Shiozaki, Naomichi Marufuji and Masato Tanaka would fight each other as they were the only people "without a theme" as Marufuji put it, Satoshi Kojima was aiming for Go Shiozaki (and likewise) while also preventing Mutoh from stealing his thunder, and Kaito Kiyomiya was aiming for Keiji Mutoh. Mutoh remains the wall that Kiyomiya wants to get round, the person who he wants to absorb everything from, as really he is one of the last of the Misawa era veterans still active, but sadly time may be running out. Added to the personal dynamics between the six, was the ever present generational war between Kaito Kiyomiya and his seniors. This permeated Shiozaki and Marufuji too. Marufuji realized during the chop battle that Shiozaki was becoming more like iron than ever, and Shiozaki's chops had far more effect on him than his did on Shiozaki. 

Tokyo Sports labelled Shiozaki vs Kojima as "The Battle of The Strong Arm", and the pre matches have not disappointed. Recently Kojima revealed in an interview that although he had been using the lariat since 1995, he had received input from  Stan Hansen in 2002, and of course Shiozaki's own lariat was from Kenta Kobashi, who had been advised to use the move by Stan Hansen. It demonstrates how close the relationship is between New Japan, Noah and All Japan, despite their differences. The last pre match had ended in humiliation for Shiozaki when Kojima pinned him. He had to break even, and he had to break through. There was also Keiji Mutoh to watch out for, but Shiozaki blinkered him and concentrated on Kojima. It paid off.  

WINNER: Go Shiozaki with the Gowan Lariat on Satoshi Kojima (23 minutes, 46 seconds)

After the match, Keiji Mutoh limped to the stairs and sat and looked at the ring. He did not look like a man on a triumphant return, he looked like someone who was perhaps questioning whether or not what he was doing was right. Backstage he elaborated, the old problem had flared up again and he was feeling pain on doing moves. He was disappointed and didn't want to talk about it, but he would perhaps be making some kind of report. 

In the ring, Go Shiozaki spoke;

"Thank you for coming! Satoshi Kojima, I am only thinking of you right now, that is how exciting this fight with you is. On the 12th June at CyberFight Festival, that I AM NOAH is me!"

Attendance: 924

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse

With thanks to: Gong EX, Abeshin, Metal-Noah

Noah's next event: NOAH SANCTUARY (Monday May 30th, Club Citta, Kawasaki)