(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: Dream on 2022 (Wednesday May 4th, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo)

If today had a theme it would have been a cross between the Noah Junior Warring States and "give us our belts back". Naomichi Marufuji said he wanted to bring the GHC tag titles (mainly heavyweight, but it also applies to the juniors in this case) back into prominence, and tonight they even managed to eclipse the GHC Heavyweight pre match. 

Noah announced an attendance of 645 people, which is not bad for both midweek in Tokyo and a national holiday. Fans were a little disappointed that there was no autographs today, but they were also tickled at the thought that the Lucha tag might trash the commentary desk again. In the main hall, Akitoshi Saito's entertaining video about the rules of pro wrestling was playing, and the man himself was on commentary. Behind the scenes, the GHC Heavyweight Tag match was quietly signed for. 

Subscribers may watch today's event on WrestleUniverse. Japanese commentary only. 

MATCH ONE

Simon Gotch vs Kinya Okada

This was the kind of match that the seniors have been wishing for their younger roster. Growing up themselves in "The Golden Era", the younger roster grew up fighting foreign wrestlers both in Japan and elsewhere. Due to the difficulties Noah have had over the past few years, the younger roster have sadly not had this experience. 

Kinya Okada (who has strong kicks) benefitted very much from this match I think, as it showcases what skills of his get eclipsed in tags. Simon Gotch is very individual as a wrestler, in terms of mannerisms especially, and you can see why Masakatsu Funaki praised his individuality. On the whole, it was a good opener and a good learning experience for Okada. 

Winner: Simon Gotch with All Dead (4 minutes, 58 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Perros Del Mal De Japon (NOSAWA Rongai, Texano Jnr & Super Crazy) vs Alejandro, Kai Fujimura & Yasutaka Yano

"Arriba Mexico, Señores!"

The match started in time honored junior tradition, with a mass brawl between the two teams which culminated in a Kongoh triple team on Super Crazy and Yasutaka Yano demonstrated some new aerial techniques. The match was a squash, which ended without NOSAWA Rongai even tagging in, and Texano Jnr booming all over the arena "Come on you bastard" or "Fucking fight back". Language that could rival Kenoh's.

WINNER Texano Junior with The Road to Texas on Kai Fujimura (4 minutes, 29 seconds)

The bell was ringing in vain for the junior chaos to end (because another one was due to start) as the bull rope was used to not only beat Perros opponents, but to choke all three together at the same time.

MATCH THREE

Kongoh (Kenoh & Masakatsu Funaki) vs Kendo Kashin & SLEX

Kendo Kashin (or was it) came out dressed as Kazushi Sakuraba, complete with mask, but sadly without the "Playful old man t-shirt". SLEX offered the glasses to Kashin, he refused them at first, but as soon as they where put on him, they did SLEX's dance together. 

None of this endeared them to Kenoh, who was on the verge of erupting probably. Naturally he was highly vocal after doing his pose with Masakatsu Funaki. When Kenoh did finally get Kashin in the ring, Kashin went to try and do his slow chops. Kenoh kicked him down and then went into the danger zone. Out of the ring, which as far as Kashin is concerned means a signal to take him backstage and up to the balcony.  Kashin trapped Kenoh behind the door before emerging to throw him further down the corridor where he threw him past some lockers. Another Playful Old Man Machine was waiting there and after trying to both throw each other back off the balcony, the two (but Kenoh and who else?) had to beat the count back to the ring. The Playful Old Man Machine in the ring, resembled Sakuraba more than Kashin. Funaki probably knew this too. Kenoh looked enraged and complained to the referee. The commentators also had their suspicious. 

As Kenoh and SLEX fought in the ring, with SLEX (and his shades) almost getting the pin over Kenoh, Masakatsu Funaki had vanished. The cameras later caught up with him on the balcony where both Playful Old Man Machines where trying to throw him off. 

WINNER: Kenoh with the PFS on SLEX (11 minutes, 5 seconds)

Kenoh turned around to see what was happening after the pin, and even the referee was pointing at Funaki who was dangerously close to taking a tumble onto the wooden bleachers. Then it looked like two of them would go over as Funaki had changed the tide and was leaning heavily on one of the Playful Old Man Machines, as Kashin (and it was Kashin) came back to the ring. 

Fortunately, no one fell, although they came close to it. Kenoh stamped backstage holding the GHC National and proceeded to rant against his new enemies, and probably his new nightmare. Kenoh declared backstage that he was not going to deal with them any further. Kongoh were aiming for the top, and that didn't include two old men messing around in masks. 

MATCH FOUR

Kongoh Juniors (Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Hi69) vs Dragon Bane, Alpha Wolf & Extreme Tiger

HI69 with a cropped head, came to the ring looking very down. I think he was also a little embarrassed and wondering about his place in Kongoh, but he had no choice but to go through with this. He had made a bet, and he lost. It was also noted that Hi69 had also shed his Kongoh costume, along with his name, but with his name gone, he just seemed to give up, there was none of that cold intensity we had seen when fighting Haoh. 

The Lucha Tag today shed their aerial maneuvers, for a more ground based Noah style attack. Dragon Bane had a technical lock up with Hajime Ohara, and  Tadasuke took on Alpha Wolf, who is very similar to his own size and strength. Their first exchange didn't last long, but you could tell Tadasuke was looking forward to the second time, his big grin shining through his blonde hair. Any aerial spots were placed away from the commentary table this time

WINNER: Alpha Wolf with the Night Wolf on HI69 (10 minutes, 34 seconds)

Noah announced that the N-1 Victory would return on August 11th with the opening night at the Yokohama Budokan, and finish as per tradition in Osaka in early September (3rd). There will only be eight nights. 

MATCH FIVE

Kongoh (Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya) vs Michael Elgin & Masa Kitamiya

Hoss fighting machine Manabu Soya  was out in force against his opponents. As for Katsuhiko Nakajima, who better to take things out on, than your younger brother after a long period of frustration? Nakajima and Masa Kitamiya tore into each other. Nakajima's grinning and slapping Kitamiya around, had the intent he wished to fire him up, but probably not the outcome as he was slammed. Kitamiya's partner, gave a demonstration of strength by lifting both Nakajima and Soya on his shoulders at the same time and slamming them

WINNER: Michael Elgin with the Elgin Bomb on Katsuhiko Nakajima (9 minutes, 12 seconds)

Manabu Soya and Michael Elgin had a square up after the match, standing nose to nose and butting heads. Soya left to fireman carry Katsuhiko Nakajima backstage. 

MATCH SIX

STINGER (HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa, Chris Ridgeway, Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu) vs The Noah Junior Regulars (Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY, Haoh & Junta Miyawaki)

Compared to the cloud like entrance of The Noah Junior Regulars, STINGER hit the ring like dark thunderclouds, and indeed a thunderstorm was coming. The two teams squared up in usual fashion, but then Yoshinari Ogawa waved for the Noah Junior Regulars to step back. The whole affair was so disorderly, that the referee had to intervene so STINGER could make a rare unit pose. Two things should be noted; almost every unit in Noah has some kind of pose they do for the cameras, STINGER do not. Secondly, HAYATA has gone back to hiding behind the belt. 

STINGER had ruined their Kodak moment, so now it was time for the Noah Junior Regulars to ruin theirs and they attacked seconds after. 

The match was a normal one; fast paced match when everyone was in the ring, Chris Ridgeway and Atsushi Kotoge starting off and everyone storming in and then fighting outside. HAYATA'S sadistic smile lighting up (his eyes also appear to be glowing) when fighting YO-HEY. In particular, it seemed to be YO-HEY. YO-HEY would also feature again against Seiki Yoshioka. The two have had a difficult history. Matches have usually culminated with YO-HEY getting the better of Yoshioka, but not today. Today Yoshioka anticipated what YO-HEY was going to do, and he felled him with a massive kick to the head which sent a sickening cracking sound around the hall. 

WINNER: Seiki Yoshioka with the Buzzsaw Kick on YO-HEY (13 minutes, 19 seconds)

Fights broke out when Harada shoved Ogawa. Harada went berserk and then proceeded to throw Ogawa and HAYATA out of the ring. The bell rang for calm, but as ever, Noah Juniors are deaf to this sound. Harada couldn't stay out of the ring and caused the fights. In the end, his own team had to drag him away. Ogawa and Ridgeway told him to get lost. Ogawa held the belts up, indicating that they are still waiting for challengers. 

Challengers were just around the corner. 

Ogawa didn't need to look far. They were standing right next to him when Yuya Susumu attacked him and then Seiki Yoshioka attacked Chris Ridgeway. HAYATA backed into the corner and watched as Susumu and Yoshioka held the tag belts up and Susumu said,

"Hey! There is no rule that the same team shouldn't challenge, right? Myself and Yoshioka will get the belts back that we had to return!"

Susumu and Yoshioka left with the belts. HAYATA left with them rather than staying with Yoshinari Ogawa and Chris Ridgeway. Ogawa had once said that Susumu, Yoshioka and HAYATA shared a background together that he didn't (they have known each other since they were teenagers in Hiroshima based promotion, WrestleGate, hence the reason why the three of them call themselves "The Hiroshima Boys), so it is only natural that HAYATA should side with them. However, Kotaro Suzuki also had said something very apt once, that the only way to make Ogawa understand how serious you are about challenging for a title he has, is to attack him when making your challenge. Backstage, Susumu was talking about the challenge, when Ogawa and Ridgeway burst in and attacked them. Title match has been set for 21st May in Ota. 

MATCH SEVEN

Kaito Kiyomiya vs Ninja Mack

"The most unique card of the day"

This was a completely new challenge for Kaito Kiyomiya and he had to work hard to find an opening and win on momentum as Ninja Mack kept slipping out of his grasp. There was a thunder of applause for Ninja Mack, who has become a firm favorite in Noah. Naomichi Marufuji in particular has given him his endorsement, and cannot wait for the match tomorrow when they team together. 

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Tiger Suplex Hold (9 minutes, 49 seconds)

MATCH EIGHT

Go Shiozaki, Daiki Inaka & Yoshiki Inamura vs Satoshi Kojima, Naomichi Marufuji & Masato Tanaka

Part generational match and part pre-match. Satoshi Kojima is fighting Go Shiozaki for the GHC Heavyweight, while Naomichi Marufuji has a score to settle with Daiki Inaba, and Masato Tanaka had it reinforced to him once again today that Yoshiki Inamura is becoming harder and harder to beat. But while the other three in either team had a battle, Go Shiozaki and Satoshi Kojima had a war sending a clear message about just what this title challenge is going to be like. Their interactions were vicious to say the least, and at the end of the round of chops, Kojima posted a picture on his Twitter of his bright red and bleeding chest. 

Naomichi Marufuji, for whatever reason, had some kind of issue with Yoshiki Inamura's costume. First of all telling the referee to recheck it, and then making some kind of motion to Inamura about it, and after being thrown about the ring, he even pinged his braces! Marufuji wasn't much interested in Shiozaki and left him and Kojima to tear into each other. 

WINNER: Satoshi Kojima with the Lariat on Go Shiozaki (14 minutes, 16 seconds)

The challenger had pinned the champion in the very first pre-match, it was an upset to say the least. Normally, Shiozaki as the champion would stagger off on his own two feet, but as he was stunned, I don't think he minded too much leaning on Inamura. Backstage Kojima spoke about people talking of him being in his prime, and this was to him, his prime. 

MATCH NINE

GHC Tag Championship Match

The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura & Hideki Suzuki) vs Les Mexicana's (Rene Dupree & El Hijo De Dr Wagner Jnr)

The two teams were well matched. Hideki Suzuki and Rene Dupree are tall and powerful, while Hideki Suziki and El Hijo Del Wagner Junior are smaller, more stocky and powerful. Rene Dupree said when they made the challenge that this was nothing personal, he thought that Sugiura and Suzuki where great champions, but they wanted those belts back. The belts they had never lost in the first place, and tonight at Korakuen they came for them in a spectacular way. The champions where worn down to begin with following a hard title match just a few days before, and the challengers gave them no let up wearing them down even more with submission holds. The champions gave as good as they got, but the challengers had grit and returned this to them and more. Usually Takashi Sugiura's title matches are knock down affairs full of punches and kicks, elbows and his dreaded front neck lock. Today, his technical wrestling ability was drawn out. 

WINNER: El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Junior with the Moonsault Press on Takashi Sugiura (18 minutes, 32 seconds)

The crowd screamed on their win. It had been a little over two years since they had to give the belts back, and it was fitting that they should take it from Takashi Sugiura, the person who had taken the vacated belts back in the days of the pandemic. No challengers have come forward yet, (night 2 is always somehow even wilder than night 1), and the two headed off to celebrate. They had been a dominant team during the tag league, now they were going to dominate as champions. 

Noah's next event: Dream on 2022, 5th May, Korakuen Hall

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse

With thanks to: Go2sleepK, Metal-Noah, Flame286