(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: Dream on 2022 (Thursday 19th May, Yokohama Radiant Hall)

Noah bought the usual drama to Yokohama today in front of a crowd of 147 people. The event can be viewed on WrestleUniverse. Please note this is done by static cam and there is no commentary. You must be a subscriber to view.

Masahiro Chono was also a guest today. He is an old friend of Rene Dupree (and the Dupree family, having known his father, Emil, when Chono came to Canada in 1988. A beautiful memory by Rene is playing soccer with Chono on the shores of Prince Edward Island), and after seeing his match encouraged him to try singles as well as tag. 

MATCH ONE

Xtreme Tiger & YO-HEY vs The Noah Junior Regulars (Haoh & Alexandro)

This was a fun and friendly opener with no malice, feuds or really any reason to fight, it started with a handshake between all four and a genial fist bump, which is rare to see in this division. Alejandro and Xtreme Tiger started the match (the two Lucha) while Haoh was left to be unimpressed by YO-HEY'S unique lock up. 

WINNER: Xtreme Tiger with the Reverse face bomb on Alejandro (11 minutes, 54 seconds)

Xtreme Tiger and YO-HEY pulled a few poses after the match as their opponents slunk off. Backstage, Xtreme Tiger warned HAYATA that what you saw today, he would be next.  

MATCH TWO

Rene Dupree vs Michael Elgin

Very American style match with Rene Dupree doing quick sharp movements, some Japanese style undertones. 

WINNER: Neither. Match was counted out after 6 minutes and 51 seconds as both were counted out.

MATCH THREE

Kongoh (Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Hi69) vs Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge, Yoshiki Inamura, Junta Miyawaki & Kinya Okada

Kongoh arrived in usual well ordered military fashion, compared to the rabble that was their opponents, who had kind of arrived in a mob. After the pose, Tadasuke complained there was no corner camera! 

Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kinya Okada started the match. This was kind of a teacher versus student, as Okada has been taught to kick by Nakajima, and so they traded these. Kenoh was observed to be watching this very keenly (I can imagine that although fans say that Okada's kicks are more like Nakajima's style, Kenoh has had an input as he himself teaches Nippon Kempo). The student got a big applause for knocking his master down with a flurry. Kenoh then tagged in, knocked Yoshiki Inamura off of the apron and then demanded Okada tag him in. This was not a very wise move as Inamura crushed him, and Kenoh was seen to be shaking the cobwebs off. 

This match was a bundle of unresolved issues, a lot of which had no way of being resolved. Not much of the issues were relevant ones aside from the rivalry between the two junior teams. Everyone had some kind of past grievance with someone on the other team for something or another, such as Tadasuke who had the satisfaction of knocking Daisuke Harada down. This didn't last long however, as Harada knows him too well. 

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with a face kick to Junta Miyawaki (15 minutes, 43 seconds)

Kongoh remained in the ring to pose with Kenoh barking the order for everyone to leave and they filed out with the same precision they had come in with. 

MATCH FOUR

Kaito Kiyomiya vs Simon Gotch

Despite their rivalry, they shook hands in a display of sportsmanship. The match was a good blending of both Japanese and American style. Kaito Kiyomiya drew on a lot of his (dormant as he does not think he can use some of the moves in a Japanese ring) overseas training experience which Simon Gotch of course responded to, which meant that Kiyomiya himself could in turn respond to Gotch and the two mixed up moves, move sets and counters. 

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya via submission with Double Arm Lock (11 minutes, 8 seconds) 

Not only had Kiyomiya pinned Gotch, he had now made him tap. For Kiyomiya this was all fuel ahead of the Ota Ward main event where he was determined to make Keiji Mutoh aware of him. Gotch's next singles match is against Kenoh. 

MATCH FIVE

STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway) & Kai Fujimura vs HAYATA, Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu

Out of all the matches this evening, this was the one that made fans feel highly nervous as no one knew quite what was going to happen. Or rather that should read, they knew what was going to happen, but they didn't know when and where it was going to happen. Either way, a split was coming no matter whether HAYATA stayed with his old friends, or stayed with STINGER. 

The atmosphere remained tense, everyone watching for signs. Noah kept fans waiting as Seiki Yoshioka moved at light speed with Yoshinari Ogawa keeping up, as Kai Fujimura held his own, as pins were broken, the two technicians of Ogawa and Yuya Susumu went to war, Chris Ridgeway and Yoshioka traded kicks and then it happened when Yoshinari Ogawa bought the belt into the ring and broke the pin with it.

Match thrown out when Yoshinari Ogawa attacked Seiki Yoshioka with the belt (12 minutes, 5 seconds)

Following a melee brawl, Yoshioka went to hit Ogawa (who was being held by Susumu) with a kick to the head, but HAYATA stepped in front of him. 

Susumu and Yoshioka asked him what the hell he was doing, but he had made his choice and threw them out of the ring with the help of Ridgeway. Afterwards he shook hands with Ogawa and Ridgeway and the three of them stood with the belts raised. Backstage, HAYATA said "WE are STINGER". Interestingly, Susumu and Yoshioka have said very little about HAYATA'S betrayal of them, but both have agreed to look towards the title match for now as there is no time to look back. There is more than just a belt on the line however, the losing team leaves STINGER, which is already fractured beyond repair sadly. Fans have reacted to HAYATA'S betrayal in different ways, some are heartbroken he has betrayed his oldest friends, others are touched as to how he protected Ogawa. No doubt in Ota, more drama is in store for everyone. 

Backstage, The Noah Junior Regulars semi got involved when Daisuke Harada, holding the interview with STINGER that was done in this weeks Weekly Pro, in which Yoshinari Ogawa said he was aiming for him, said he would be aiming for Ogawa. 

MATCH SIX

El Hijo del Dr Wagner Jnr vs Masa Kitamiya

Pre match Hoss fight ahead of the GHC Heavyweight tag. Both are well matched in terms of size and power, and so the advantage in this match went back and forth quickly. For Masa Kitamiya I think this match is more than a title match and more of a pre match. In 1964 his mentor, Masa Saito, competed in Olympics and as this match is so international, it's kind of an echo for him. Kitamiya is not just representing his team or himself, he's also representing Japan and fighting with that spirit, and he's also representing his master. By the time this match finished, it felt like Yokohama Radiant Hall had shifted a few inches. 

WINNER: EL Hijo Del Dr Wagner Junior with the STF Wagner (10 minutes, 41 seconds)

El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Junior had his revenge. He had made Kitamiya tap, which was how the title challenge was made in the first place. Their partners got in the ring, and Les Mexicanas loomed above them with their belts, bumping them together in celebration. Dupree had warned them earlier, they were hammering nails in to their own destruction. 

MATCH SEVEN

Go Shiozaki & Daiki Inaba vs Satoshi Kojima & Naomichi Marufuji

Go Shiozaki had been humiliated in his last encounter with Satoshi Kojima, and he was not going to allow a repeat of that tonight. With the presence of Naomichi Marufuji and Daiki Inaba in the match, it felt like a generational war, not just in terms of age, but also in move-set and even puroresu history. Go Shiozaki (a Noah Born) was trained by Kenta Kobashi, who is of the Baba line, while Satoshi Kojima (a Young Lion) was trained in the New Japan dojo, and therefore is of the Inoki line. It was a clash of lineage. 

Naomichi Marufuji (much to his credit) was not interested in fighting Shiozaki, that spotlight belonged to Kojima. His portion of the match was Daiki Inaba, and with only their chop war battle occurring between himself and Shiozaki, he had no reason to steal anyone else's thunder. Mitsuharu Misawa once said that it was easy to fight people of his generation, it was the young people who he found difficult, and so I am wondering if this is part of the reason why Marufuji relishes the challenge with Inaba and others. 

WINNER: Satoshi Kojima with the Western Lariat on Daiki Inaba (17 minutes, 32 seconds)

The second pre match had ended in another win for Kojima, but it wasn't a win over the champion. Kojima spoke on the mic (fans thought it was somewhat New Japan style) and said;

Go Shiozaki! Finally, our title match is only in three weeks time. I won't run away and hide! I will do my best to win with all my strength and the pro wrestling that I have been doing for thirty-one years. I will win this with Western Lariat!! But finally I am going to say this...I'm going to win, idiot!

The last line seems to be one that Kojima often uses, and while the crowd laughed at it, Go Shiozaki got into the ring and silently held up the belt. 

With thanks to: Metal Noah, Abeshin, Karin

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse

Noah's next event will be on Saturday 21st at the Ota Ward Gymnasium