(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: DEPARTURE 2022 (Friday 5th August, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo)

"Noah's ship will continue to sail with the athletes, staff and everyone who supports them who has the same will"

(Mayumi Misawa, 2015)

"In less than two months, we started from nothing."

Referee Shu Nishinaga about Noah's early days

Noah celebrate their twenty-second anniversary today. As a relatively young company (compared to New Japan and All Japan), Noah have weathered a lot during their twenty years. Born from the infamous All Japan walkout in 2000, the years saw the comfortable but blind world of The Golden Era, Misawa's tragic death, the dark years of scandal, the walk out to All Japan, money worries, the disaster of Suzuki Gun and then the turbulent era when they had to rebuild, plus almost constant ownership changes. Noah finally arrived at this point, battered by waves, but in a safe harbor. 

Today's event was broadcast on WrestleUniverse. You must be a subscriber to view. If you are not, you can watch a the first match for free on Noah's official YouTube.

MATCH ONE

Masaaki Mochizuki & Shuhei Taniguchi vs Masa Kitamiya & Mohammed Yone

Mohammed Yone danced his way to the ring, and even danced to the clapping of the crowd. Masa Kitamiya was not here to dance, he was all business. Yone was his partner nothing more, and no, he was not going to do the Disco Fever pose when suggested by Yone. No one was here to dance, except Yone, but the crowd did gasp loudly as to how hard Yone punched Shuhei Taniguchi, more than once.  

Due to the fact that both Masa Kitamiya and Masaaki Mochizuki were in the N-1, the focus was very much on them. 

WINNER: Masa Kitamiya with the Saito Suplex on Shuhei Taniguchi (9 minutes, 10 seconds)

MATCH TWO

STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & Yuya Susumu) & Kai Fujimura vs PERROS DEL MAL DE JAPON (NOSAWA Rongai, Eita & Super Crazy)

This was by far the most wild match on the card, but then again, how could it be anything different? 

Kotaro Suzuki, who was not in this match or on the card tonight, came out to the ring to second his friends. He came out even before them. When Perros Del Mal De Japon did appear, Eita was carrying their new bag, in which he was storing Ogawa's stolen tag belt. In the ring, while Eita paraded around, NOSAWA Rongai looked as if he was surveying the horizon, and told Kotaro to keep an eye out. STINGER did not appear for a long while, letting Perros's music play through, and Super Crazy got into the groove by dancing to the music. 

When STINGER did appear, a very very grim looking Yoshinari Ogawa came to the ring with a chair and attacked all of Perros. He didn't care about the match. He just wanted his belt, which he grabbed and went backstage, chased by Eita as Susumu and Fujimura beat up Kotaro and tied him up with duct tape to the ringpost. NOSAWA and Super Crazy did little to help, and Kai Fujimura was left to finish up the taping, as Susumu drove them off. 

The referee, used to this from the Noah Juniors, simply left Ogawa and Eita to it, as back in the ring the match continued, and NOSAWA took the chance to untie Kotaro, who complained about the tape. However, they only let him out so he could walk, and NOSAWA even used him as a kind of missile to throw into Fujimura, as he still had his arms taped down by his side. 

Meanwhile, Ogawa was still chasing Eita, who came back to the ring having retrieved the belt. Eita made a fatal delay when NOSAWA was holding Ogawa, by showing off the belt, which meant that Ogawa had time to get free, duck and then drape Kai Fujimura over NOSAWA for the win. 

WINNER: Kai Fujimura pins NOSAWA Rongai (6 minutes, 22 seconds)

Another fight broke out over the belt, which after a tug of war, Eita took from Ogawa. Susumu attempted a rescue and again Perros scattered with Eita teasing Ogawa with the belt as if he was playing with a cat, and both teams ran backstage.  

MATCH THREE

Kongoh (Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya) vs Anthony Greene & Stallion Rogers

With the N-1 looking, the focus was again on Katsuhiko Nakajima and Anthony Greene. Their first skirmish ended with Nakajima smirking, and Greene warning him that he had his measure. Then came a complete contrast of styles and size; 86kg Stallion Rogers vs 112kg Manabu Soya, it was like watching a man trying to chop a giant redwood tree with a penknife. Perhaps that is a little extreme as Rogers did manage to get Soya off of his feet and down to the mat via headshots. Greene had vicious exchanges with a grinning Nakajima, which involved him (Greene) doing "showtime" and then after kicks from Nakajima, felling him with an elbow

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with The Vertical Spike on Stallion Rogers (10 minutes)

Nakajima threw Rogers out of the ring and told Greene that he too had his eyes on him, then smirking over the win and how easy it had been, Nakajima went backstage with Soya.

MATCH FOUR

The Noah Junior Regulars (Daisuke Harada & Seiki Yoshioka) & Ninja Mack vs The Noah Junior Regulars (Atsushi Kotoge & YO-HEY) & Dante Leon

Note: Today is Daisuke Harada's 16th anniversary in wrestling. He made his debut against Atsushi Kotoge.

Blue tongued Leon and blue tongued YO-HEY, made a very colorful team with Atsushi Kotoge. Daisuke Harada's team were definitely more controlled than their opposition. 

Seiki Yoshioka and YO-HEY started, they shook hands, although I think Yoshioka didn't really know what to make of it at first. There is still a feeling of fragility between them though. Something isn't quite right. YO-HEY offered a fist bump afterwards and then tagged Kotoge in.

Fast paced junior match, usual chaos which involved Harada making a human tree out of his opponents in the corner and giving each of them a missile dropkick to the face, and the crowd screaming for Ninja Mack, although this is forbidden...

WINNER: Ninja Mack with the Ninja Bomb on Atsushi Kotoge (13 minutes, 48 seconds)

The loss wasn't too bad, as it was to their friends, and two of those friends were returning to America. Ninja Mack shook hands with Kotoge and YO-HEY, and even his frenemy, Dante Leon, got a fist bump. Backstage, The Noah Juniors said that Ninja Mack and Dante Leon, were unit members. 

After the match Noah ran a short video package for Keiji Mutoh's next stop on his retirement road, which will be when The Great Muta comes to the overworld for one last time in Osaka (his birthplace, or more aptly the place the portal was first opened) on the 3rd September. After this, the gates of the underworld will close forever. Noah have announced no further details as to opponent, but I like to think that Naomichi Marufuji's demon "Magical Immortality" and HAYATA (who has been very influenced by Keiji Mutoh and Great Muta) would somehow be involved. 

MATCH FIVE

Kongoh (Kenoh, Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Hi69) vs Kaito Kiyomiya, El Hijo Del Santo, Ultimo Dragon & Alejandro

Alejandro was very excited as he himself said he had the chance to team with and learn from two masked wrestlers who were legends. Kongoh appeared in the usual way - Kenoh scowling, Tadasuke briefly posing for pictures, and after their pose Kenoh started yelling at Ultimo Dragon and El Hijo Del Santo and was held back by Kaito Kiyomiya and Alejandro. Tadasuke at this time was talking to the corner camera. I was very much reminded of a prank done once on British TV.

At the press conference, Ultimo Dragon had said that he wouldn't let Kenoh lay a finger on El Hijo Del Santo, and so El Hijo Del Santo was protected by Kaito Kiyomiya and Alejandro any time Kenoh came near, and even held back from attacking him. Until Kongoh did manage to beat up on him, and El Hijo Del Santo ended up getting the Kongoh elbow and stamp, Kenoh had to be content with Kaito Kiyomiya, who was using Keiji Mutoh mannerisms, his elbow drop and then as a further example of his own personal growth, a somersault tandem moonsault alongside Alejandro. 

WINNER: El Hijo Del Santo with the Coverjo* on Hajime Ohara (7 minutes, 52 seconds)

*Submission (note Ohara was trained by Ultimo Dragon)

Kenoh had a typically high volume row after the match with El Hijo Del Santo, over their respective belts, and then stamped backstage. Backstage, Kenoh said he didn't know what belt El Hijo Del Santo had, but he thought it was the World Boxing Championship, which he would be correct in, but if he wanted to go then he would do it. El Hijo Del Santo kind of agreed....

Following the match, Noah announced that Tadasuke would miss a few upcoming events due to a fractured nasal bone. 

MATCH SIX

N-1 VICTORY 2022 QUALIFIER

Yoshiki Inamura vs Kinya Okada

With Timothy Thatcher grounded in America due to visa issues and not being able to compete in the N-1 Victory 2022, Naomichi Marufuji announced that the vacant spot would be fought over by Yoshiki Inamura and Kinya Okada. For Okada, this was his most biggest match to date. 

While Okada was no match for Inamura's size or weight, nevertheless he displayed amazing strength, and the crowd were more behind him than Inamura, as I think as they felt that Okada needed this chance, Inamura had gotten to the finals of the Fire Festival. He didn't need another league. Okada did and Okada said he would fight to the death for it.  Okada seemed to have come together in this match, and he didn't just turn that corner, he ran round it at top speed with everything he had learned leading him to this point - the kicks from Katsuhiko Nakajima, fighting Mohammed Yone, the mentorship from Shuhei Taniguchi, Akitoshi Saito and even probably Kazuyuki Fujita, the desperation, the humiliation, the sense of being left behind, this was his chance to catch up and maybe even overtake.

WINNER: Kinya Okada with a Rolling Leg Fold (15 minutes, 18 seconds)

The crowd, already wound up by the match, screamed at Okada's win. Not only had he won his first singles match, he had beaten the much more accomplished Yoshiki Inamura. Okada, however, was under no illusions that the league was not going to contain his contemporaries, but his seniors and was going to get very tough. His first match is against Masakatsu Funaki on the 11th August.  

MATCH SEVEN

Naomichi Marufuji's return match

Naomichi Marufuji, Go Shiozaki & Takashi Sugiura vs Satoshi Kojima, Masato Tanaka & Daiki Inaba

Naomichi Marufuji returned from knee injury today. He has been out the last couple of months due to an issue that as he says did not happen in the ring, but was something that affected his daily life when he noticed his knee was painful. He says that this injury has been hard to come back from, I think because there was a chance he would miss having a final match with Keiji Mutoh, and he also felt frustrated that nothing he was doing was making it better. Thank Akira Maeda for giving a light at the end of the tunnel, by suggesting a clinic that could help, and did. 

The match was chaos as the N-1 Heavyweights tend to act like the juniors at this time of year. Naomichi Marufuji wound up Daiki Inaba, and there was slight comedy between himself and Satoshi Kojima. Kojima flashed his pecs at him, and Marufuji, who is never one to back down from a challenge, responded in kind. 

Marufuji did admit after the match that he needed to be in a tag to have his first match back, and be supported by Takashi Sugiura and Go Shiozaki, but now, America beckons with a singles match with Eddie Kingston and an appearance in November in King of the Indies 2022. His knee still seemed a little fragile and he was seen lying on his back and flexing it following a slight stumble. 

The match contained the usual Bullet Yankee war, Takashi Sugiura taking and giving a lot of elbows, not just too and from Masato Tanaka. This is why Naomichi Marufuji called him "a weapon". It took a lot to get him off of his feet and to the mat. 

WINNER: Go Shiozaki with the Gowan Lariat on Daiki Inaba (17 minutes, 56 seconds)

MATCH EIGHT

GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship Match

HAYATA vs Shuji Kondo

Shuji Kondo wasn't going to fight this match psychologically, it didn't work. But he did find parts that did work and he could capitalize on, such as working on the neck, an element of surprise worked too by being not where HAYATA thought he would be. HAYATA took some pretty heavy blows, but his own strategy too, in a match with a lot of build, was to aim for the head. Even doing The Headache on the apron on Kondo, who was almost counted out. HAYATA couldn't rely on strength or size, so that left momentum and surprise. Kondo had called him a mystery, he had been called that his whole career, it was something he could use to his advantage. 

No one knew how this match was going to end. Kondo countered the HEADACHE, people block it, they rarely counter it , that is when they see it coming and Kondo countered it twice, but there was not to be a third. 

WINNER:HAYATA with The Headache (19 minutes, 3 seconds)

Quiet shy HAYATA, who had once not liked or wanted to speak, closed out the show by saying;

"I defended against Shuji Kondo, the strongest challenger. The one who will continue to win as the Noah Junior's champion, is me."

As no challenger had appeared, HAYATA nominated his own. He was heading over to England for a week to appear in both WrestleCarnival on the 7th August (the match will be on WrestleUniverse) on and then he would be appearing for PROGRESS later in the week, so it made sense to nominate his challenger as Chris Ridgeway.

"England from tomorrow. If I have a singles match with Chris over there anyway, I will put this belt on the line. Spread Noah to the world. Even in England, STINGER takes the leading role"

Attendance: 616 (Noah did not make all seating in the hall available)

Noah's next event: N-1 VICTORY opening night (11th August, Yokohama Budokan)

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse.