(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: CLEANUP INTERNATIONAL presents "Shin Hito ~25th Anniversary of Naomichi Marufuji's debut~" (Korakuen Hall, Sunday, September 17th 2023)

"It's easy to say "25th anniversary", but I think it's been an incredibly long journey"

Mohammed Yone

Although his actual debut was on August 28th, Naomichi Marufuji today celebrated twenty-five years in wrestling. He himself was on autographs, while Keiji Mutoh did a special session. Noah announced an attendance of 1,532 with tickets being sold out almost at the moment the event was announced, but there were a marginal few empty seats. Event can be viewed on WrestleUniverse (English commentary available). 

MATCH ONE

Dragon Bane, Alpha Wolf & Seiki Yoshioka vs Ninja Mack, Alejandro & Hajime Ohara

Responsible Hajime Ohara and slightly less responsible Seiki Yoshioka started the match, herding their opponents (who had engaged in finger pointing) to the apron. Ninja Mack and Alpha Wolf went next, both throwing themselves into the ring over the ropes with a roar and then aerial melee fights broke out with Yoshioka and Ohara leaving the others to it. Dragon Bane and Alpha Wolf in particular targeted Ninja Mack, remembering how he had humiliated them both last time. Yoshioka joined in with being thrown by the brothers.

Winner: Alejandro with a Jacknife on Alpha Wolf (6 minutes, 25 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Takashi Sugiura, Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito vs Kai Fujimura, Taishi Ozawa & Yu Owada

Takashi Sugiura had referred to his young opponent team as "the children" (who all came racing to the ring, and lined up in their black rookie clothes to watch their seniors enter). No one they were facing was going to be easy, so Yu Owada started against Mohammed Yone. Yone would later dare Kai Fujimura to attack him, and Akitoshi Saito held him upside down for a long time, and then tagged in Sugiura who went to pin Fujimura repeatedly after Saito had slammed him. The young team worked together to target Sugi's knees, with Owada even scoop slamming him as Saito, outside, got thrown into the barriers.

Winner: Takashi Sugiura with the Front Neck Choke on Taishi Ozawa (8 minutes, 44 seconds)

Backstage, Mohammed Yone congratulated Naomichi Marufuji on his anniversary, and then spoke of the young boys. He said you couldn't really lump them together as that, and he was waiting for the moment they all broke out. 

MATCH THREE

Junta Miyawaki vs Ryohei Oiwa

The two made a beeline for each other, butted heads and then got down to fighting, with Junta Miyawaki (whose shoulder was heavily taped), torturing Ryohei Oiwa. 

Winner: Ryohei Oiwa with the German Suplex Hold (4 minutes, 50 seconds)

Junta Miyawaki left vowing revenge

MATCH FOUR

REAL (Saxon Huxley, Timothy Thatcher, Hideki Suzuki & Shuhei Taniguchi) vs Kazuyuki Fujita, Manabu Soya, Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba

Kazuyuki Fujita handed out his tonic as per usual, Daiki Inaba made a "wheew" face after drinking it, and after Fujita got a "Soya" chant going, he persuaded Soya to drink two bottles. If it made Inaba's hair stand on end, it did even more to Soya. 

REAL came to the ring and started shoving each other, Hideki Suzuki conveniently looking away. However, he did join in when they did their rugby scrum bounce and motioned for Kazuyuki Fujita, who was their opponent, to join in. Fujita did, and a mass brawl broke out with Suzuki and Fujita fighting each other (this even went into the lobby). Poor Alejandro was seen trying to keep control. On the way back to the ring, Fujita shoved a poster of Marufuji's anniversary into Suzuki's face, and apologetically handed the crumpled picture back to the fan at ringside. Meanwhile Inaba and Taniguchi were in the ring and slowly everyone started getting back on the apron. Then Soya went on a rampage of drinking (chugging) two bottles of Viper Tonic and shaking the ropes (complete with in-and-out zooming rapid camera shots) before attacking Taniguchi, unfortunately, the effect was diluted as he got the Tani Bomb and then was almost pinned. 

Winner: Manabu Soya with the Jumping DDT on Shuhei Taniguchi (9 minutes, 15 seconds)

Soya, hepped up on tonic, then went mad shaking the ropes, the referee had to stop him. Then he shook the iron barrier on the way out. Backstage, Soya warned people about the dangers of drinking too much Red Viper tonic, and he also promoted his new YouTube channel. On the 16th September, Soya had announced that he was starting his own channel, and it would most likely feature his family, such as his wife who he married last December. He also mentioned that she gave birth to their first child in March 2023. Soya plans to make his YouTube channel not only a promotional tool for Noah and himself, but to give a glimpse of the private life of himself and his family. He then said he was going to drink more Red Viper tonic. Lets hope he didn't. REAL, however, spoke about the upcoming title match and then wondered why Fujita hadn't been on their side!

MATCH FIVE

Kaito Kiyomiya, HAYATA & Eita vs Yoshinari Ogawa, Daga & Stallion Rogers

The signal for everyone to attack (to loud boos) came when Yoshinari Ogawa again dragged Kaito Kiyomiya from the top turnbuckle, and ripping his coat off of him threw it into the crowd. The green feathers could still be seen by the mat in the main event. As everyone was fighting outside of it, Daga decided to attack Eita (who the crowd were chanting for), and the two remained in the ring. 

Winner: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Figure 4 on Stallion Rogers (13 minutes, 4 seconds)

Although the camera didn't show it, Kaito Kiyomiya was looking at someone by the side of the ring when he won, which was probably Yoshinari Ogawa. As Kiyomiya wouldn't let go, even though he had won, the referee had to untangle them both. Meanwhile, Eita and Daga were quarrelling, which ended with Daga shoving Eita away by the face. HAYATA of course left as soon as the bell rang almost, and his only contribution backstage was to walk past Eita. Fast. 

MATCH SIX

El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr & Lance Anoa'i vs Psycho Clown & Kenoh

Psycho Clown came out with two of his children, who he kissed and sent off before getting into the ring. El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr came out dressed in a poncho and sombrero, which is a new look for him, but I think he was trying to make a point that like Psycho Clown, he too could make an entry. But it wasn't entries that was the issue in this match, it was masks. The first time it was El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr, who had to stop and fix his mask, which had come loose but it was Psycho Clown whose mask was targeted as El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr went to rip his mask off to the boos of the crowd. Psycho Clown looked like he had been scalped, and backstage, one of his children who was watching, was photographed with their head in their hands. This would later stop the match. 

As for Lance Anoa'i and Kenoh, after Anoa'i did a top rope moonsault, Kenoh (who was in a rare good mood and with lips twitching which means he is trying not to laugh) did his own acrobatics when called by the crowd, like the others he flipped over the ropes into the ring and then did a roll and into the fist pose. Anoa'i roared at him, but Kenoh, not being an ultra heavyweight does not speak Hoss, so responded with the fist. Kenoh had wondered what it would be like teaming with Psycho Clown, and he found out that it involves getting whipped like his opponents. 

Winner: Psycho Clown due to El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr ripping his mask off (14 minutes, 9 seconds)

El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr ripped Psycho Clown's mask in half and then all of it off. He was once again booed loudly, but then stamped on Psycho Clown (who had his face covered by Kai Fujimura's t-shirt). The crowd booed him even more as he posed with Psycho Clowns mask, which he even put over his own to leave the ring. Even Kenoh was shocked. 

One fan commented that "Wag-chan, had always shown honor in the ring". El Hijo Del Dr Wagner said that the only way to destroy Psycho Clown was to take his mask. Psycho Clown said that the worst thing that happened for the Wagner family has already happened, but in the next match, he was going to make that even worse. 

MATCH SEVEN

Good Looking Guys (Jake Lee, Jack Morris, Anthony Green, YO-HEY & Tadasuke) vs Go Shiozaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Adam Brooks, Atsushi Kotoge & HI69

Go Shiozaki came out holding his winners trophy as he and Jake Lee went to war, Jake even getting the Endless Love from AXIZ, and proving that on some moves he could block Shiozaki (such as when he blocked the lariat and countered with a kick, but was however still knocked down). Jake won the match by debuting a new submission, which he did on Hi69, and looked straight at Shiozaki while doing it.

Winner: Jake Lee with the Modified feather folding on Hi69 (13 minutes, 16 seconds)

Jake and Shiozaki got in each others faces on the apron, Jake holding the belt up. Backstage Jake warned Shiozaki that his arm was about to become very very painful. 

Prior to the match, Naomichi Marufuji was presented with flowers. Five years ago for his twentieth anniversary this was done in high ceremony with the roster joining in for a picture, but this year it was a little more low key, and he was presented with flowers by probably the president of CLEANUP INTERNATIONAL, who is sponsoring the event, and a picture was taken. 

MATCH EIGHT

Naomichi Marufuji vs Will Ospreay

Naomichi Marufuji gave Will Ospreay, the match of his boyhood dreams (or as Essex boy Ospreay colloquially put it, "the wrestla of my childood"), by combining the Marufuji of old with the Marufuji of new, and as per his comments about pulling out something new to defeat Ospreay, he did just that. Ospreay discovered how hard Naomichi Marufuji can and does chop, but he few a threw of his own, and even wound up in a chop competition where they held each others arms to see who would fall first. Although the match had started friendly enough (and it would end the same way), Ospreay tried to pin Marufuji with the Tiger Driver, which didn't go down well, and he found himself hit with the Tiger Flowsion. 

Winner: Will Ospreay with the Storm Breaker (23 minutes, 3 seconds)

After the match, Ospreay raised Marufuji's arm and spoke to him (and the crowd) in a mixture of fluent Japanese and English, and they both bowed to each other on the mat. Marufuji responded in kind, speaking to Ospreay as he left in faultless English. Marufuji then addressed the crowd and said that when he entered wrestling twenty-five years ago, his parents didn't object, but in fact had told him to do his best (he mentioned in his biography that his mother had to become a nurse out of the necessity of looking after her elderly parents, and so once said that whatever her children did, she wanted them to do their best in it), and he thanked both the fans, the staff and Noah. He reflected on his twenty-five years (which when you consider that he had to leave an established promotion for a new one, the death of Misawa and the resulting dark years of Noah, have not been easy) and thanked everyone for their support of himself and of Noah, which meant a lot to him and vowed to reach the top again.

Backstage, Ospreay praised Marufuji and mentioned that Eddie Kingston has a similar history to himself, so perhaps one day he (Ospreay) and Marufuji could team up against Jun Akiyama and Kingston. He also repeated this on social media.   

Noah's next event: SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 - Shimada City Sports Center Sub Arena, Shizuoka (Saturday, September 23rd) - broadcast at a later date

Picture credit: BBM Mobile