(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: DEMOLITION STAGE 2023 in NIIGATA (Niigata City Gymnasium, Saturday November 4th)

Tonight's show was both a fallout show and the second half of DEMOLITION STAGE 2023 in FUKUOKA. Noah streamed the last three matches on Instagram, but the whole show will be available on WrestleUniverse from 18:00 JST on the 7th November. You must be a subscriber to view. 

MATCH ONE

Eita vs Yu Owada

Winner: Eita with the footstamp (4 minutes, 56 seconds)

I'm not sure what happened in this match, but Eita turned up in the main event with a red mark on his cheek and bruising on his neck according to fan pictures. 

MATCH TWO

REAL (Saxon Huxley & Shuhei Taniguchi) vs Stallion Rogers & Taishi Ozawa

REAL did their rope bounce, chest bounce and team bounce...but first the referee wanted to check them. 

Winner: Saxon Huxley with the Neck Hanging Bomb on Taishi Ozawa (5 minutes, 55 seconds)

MATCH THREE

Ninja Mack, Alejandro, X-Treme Tiger & TERRY YAKI vs Atsushi Kotoge, Hi69, Hajime Ohara & Kai Fujimura

Usual chaos which young Kai Fujimura joined in with. 

Winner: Ninja Mack with the Ninja Bomb on Kai Fujimura (11 minutes, 31 seconds)

MATCH FOUR

El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr vs LJ Cleary

Fans said it seemed like a long time since they had seen El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr without his belt

Winner: El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr with the Wagner Bomb (9 minutes, 2 seconds)

MATCH FIVE

Yoshinari Ogawa & Super Crazy vs Shuji Kondo & Junta Miyawaki

Fans welcomed Super Crazy back to Noah, and as far as I know he managed to get on with Yoshinari Ogawa somewhat. They also could not believe that Ogawa is fifty-seven now, as he moves like the younger wrestlers on the roster. Ogawa, ever the "Rat Boy", found he couldn't take Shuji Kondo down by shoulder tackles, so he resorted to eye poking. This match was the first appearance of the team of Kondo and Junta Miyawaki, Miyawaki having begged Kondo to help him, and when he wasn't fighting with Ogawa and Super Crazy, Kondo stood on the apron shouting instructions to Miyawaki. 

Winner: Super Crazy with the Camel Clutch on Junta Miyawaki (12 minutes, 21 seconds)

On Miyawaki losing, Kondo just walked off. Previously, he had told Miyawaki that he was going to be the "demon instructor" (Hajime Ohara no doubt turned pale at what that meant), and backstage he told Miyawaki that from now on there was to be no giving up. 

MATCH SIX

Naomichi Marufuji, Takashi Sugiura & Go Shiozaki vs Masa Kitamiya, Manabu Soya & Daiki Inaba

Winner: Manabu Soya with the Jumping DDT on Go Shiozaki (12 minutes, 21 seconds)

The seniors had been presented with flowers, while the winners were presented with the traditional Niigata rice bale (Niigata is the heartland of Japanese rice farmlands). Normally, Yoshiki Inamura would heave the 60kg bale on to his shoulder and carry it to the back, but the heavyweights have started to become competitive about this with Kaito Kiyomiya doing it once, and Manabu Soya doing it tonight. Soya not only carried the bale backstage, he also carried it into the comments booth, 

MATCH SEVEN

Good Looking Guys (Jake Lee, YO-HEY & Tadasuke) vs Kenoh & Los Golpeadores (Alpha Wolf & Dragon Bane)

Jake Lee had posted on social media a few days ago that he was thinking of perhaps changing his costume, and tonight he debuted in a hat and a new coat. Jake said he liked the coat, I think he found it a lot easier, although he did hint that he may change this after a while too. 

Another issue that surrounded Jake, was the fact that Kenoh forgot the GHC Heavyweight Championship! Normally, the ex champion and the challenger he lost it to, would face up, the winner shoving the belt in the losers face. What happened tonight was that Jake walked over to Kenoh, and asked him what happened? Jake probably got his answer in between being kicked around the ring and being trapped and forced to face Kenoh as YO-HEY tapped. 

Winner: Kenoh with the Kenoh Special on YO-HEY (11 minutes, 40 seconds)

MATCH EIGHT

GHC Heavyweight Tag Championship

Good Looking Guys (Jack Morris & Anthony Green) vs Kaito Kiyomiya & Ryohei Oiwa

Prior to the match starting, Good Looking Guys offered a handshake to Kaito Kiyomiya and Ryohei Oiwa. Oiwa shook without any hesitation, but Kiyomiya was a little more reserved, as he knows how things work in Noah. He was right, as a fight broke out soon after as GLG attacked, and during the match Kiyomiya was used as a weapon by double champion, Jack Morris, to wind Oiwa first time and then knock him off the apron the second time. 

Winner: Anthony Green with the M-83 on Ryohei Oiwa (22 minutes, 2 seconds) 

The next challengers, Masa Kitamiya and Daiki Inaba, came down to the ring to challenge. Kitamiya took the mic telling Jack and Anthony that they (Jack and Anthony), were great champions, but they wanted the belts back, and therefore the next champions were them. Good Looking Guys responded by shoving their belts in the challengers faces.

 Anthony said backstage that "Demolition Stage" was an apt title as GLG had to rebuild Noah. As for their challengers, they were former champions, the past, while himself, Jack and GLG were the future. Title match will take place on the 24th November at Korakuen Hall.

MATCH NINE

GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship

HAYATA vs Daga

Daga came waltzing to the ring, and like HAYATA, was presented with flowers. HAYATA was more polite and handed his to one of the seconds, while Daga threw his on the floor. In the pre matches he had given HAYATA a taster of what he would do to win, which involved cheating, and this diverted HAYATA into watching out for that, when he should have been watching Daga in other areas. Daga (as far as I know from a static phone being used to record the match at a distance), kept everything above board.

Winner: Daga with the Diablo Wings (19 minutes, 24 seconds)

After he had seen to HAYATA, Eita went to make his challenge. However, Eita being Eita only got as far as "Daga! Next...", Shuji Kondo's music played and his silhouette loomed at the top of the ramp, before making his way down to the ring. Eita being Eita got as far as saying, "Kondo, you..." before Kondo gave him the King Kong lariat into oblivion. 

However, unlike 99% of the Noah Juniors (and pretty much the whole roster come to think of it), Kondo actually deigned to speak to Eita and said, "Eita, isn't it more interesting for me to go, than you? I am the face of the Noah Juniors", turning back to Daga he asked (demanded) to know if Daga was fine with him? Daga said, "This is my belt, okay". Backstage, Daga bragged that he was the "Lion King", "the strongest junior" and this was his "Kingdom" now. He pointed out that he had been a champion twice this year, and challenged the two other singles champions in Noah (Kenoh and Jack Morris, it seems he has forgotten about Masato Tanaka, or perhaps he's being sensible), to put their belts on the line. He didn't care that he is a junior and they are heavyweights. For Shuji Kondo, he felt he was setting an example to Miyawaki. HAYATA of course didn't say anything, as now he doesn't have to talk, chances are that he won't. 

With thanks to: KTT1887989, Kei, Marianne & yasuko7130

Attendance: 1024

Noah's next event: SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 (Osaka Edion Arena Osaka 2nd Stadium, Saturday November 11th) - event will be broadcast at a later date 

Picture credit: PKDX, and screenshots taken from Noah Official X.