(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: MONDAY MAGIC EPISODE 3 (13th November 2023, Shinjuku FACE)

Funky Kato as the ambassador of the event opened the show and introduced the GHC National Champion, Jack Morris. Morris swaggered down to the ring, dressed in an open grey jacket (no t-shirt) and carrying the GHC National and with the GHC Heavyweight tag around his waist. After talking about how handsome he is, he started talking about the GHC National and how no challenger had come forward. He therefore had an announcement, he would hold a over the top rope elimination rumble to determine the number one challenger. The match would take place later tonight. 

MATCH ONE

*Exhibition Match*

Manabu Soya & Daisuke Nakamura vs Kenoh & Ulka Sasaki

Ulka Sasaki (who came to the ring looking nervous, which is understandable) made his Noah/wrestling debut, and started off against Daisuke Nakamura, who is a MMA fighter who is a former member of The Sugiura Army. This was ideal for him as he was in his element here, not so much so when he was against Manabu Soya, although he generally did do well and pulled out some wrestling moves. Sasaki worked well with Kenoh, (who was seen giving him encouragement), and the two tagged in and out against Manabu Soya. 

Winner: Time out draw at ten minutes. 

A video package them played showing some woods deep in the mountains, and The Great Muta, chopping wood (NOSAWA had been talking about wood chopping and posting a picture of an axe on social media previously), when a child's cry was heard. Muta went to investigate and found in an abandoned house, a small bundle wrapped in red silk. The bundle turned out to be a very tiny baby, which Muta nurtured with green mist, which he even fed to her in a bottle.

MATCH TWO

GHC National Rumble 

Competitors in order of entry

El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr

Takashi Sugiura

Saxon Huxley

Kai Fujimura

Great Mummy 1

Shuhei Taniguchi

Hajime Ohara

Great Mummy 2

Masaaki Mochizuki 

(Great Mummy 1 and Great Mummy 2 seemed familiar, and although they were never unmasked, fans had their theories on who they where, especially as Super Crazy had posted about the event and NOSAWA Rongai did not appear on the show as is customary). 

- Takashi Sugiura and El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr were only teaming the other day. 

- Saxon Huxley was seen to limp after El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr bit his foot

- Kai Fujimura found himself facing three seniors, who were happy to team up against him. He might as well have bounced off three walls before Saxon threw him out.

- Shuhei Taniguchi suggested that he and Saxon Huxley team up, and then did a seemingly endless rope bounce. Sugi was very helpful, pushing the puffed Taniguchi to the ropes so that he couldn't stop.

- Masaaki Mochizuki kept getting kicked in the face and knocked down

- Hajime Ohara played dead to sneak attack (and get the win) over Saxon Huxley

(Order of elimination) 

1. Kai Fujimura

2. El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr

3. Takashi Sugiura 

4. Shuhei Taniguchi

5. The Great Mummies

6. Masaaki Mochizuki

7. Saxon Huxley

Laughing like the arrogant and egotistical jerk that he is, Jack Morris appeared at the top of the ramp to "congratulate" Hajime Ohara on his win, and to predict an easy victory for himself and told Ohara that he was going to beat him up. He left to boos (and hisses) from the crowd waving dismissively. 

MATCH THREE

Atsushi Kotoge & TERRY YAKI vs HAYATA & Titus Alexander

Today's surprise roster member was Titus Alexander, who is an indie wrestler from Sacramento, California, who comes to Noah from West Coast Pro Wrestling/MARVELOUS (thanks to Metal Noah for the info). He is the son of Big Ugly. For some reason, HAYATA (of all people) seemed to like him and they got on well. 

Winner: Titus Alexander defeated Atsushi Kotoge with the Chaos Theory Suplex Hold (7 minutes, 18 seconds)

Backstage, Titus Alexander said he was here to prove that he could compete with the strongest wrestlers, not only in America, but anywhere in the world, and he would take over Noah.

MATCH FOUR

YUU & Hibiscus Mii vs Miyuki Takase & Chihiro Hashimoto

Winner: Miyuki Takase defeats Hibiscus Mii with the Diving Guillotine Drop (7 minutes, 7 seconds)

This match was a change to the advertised card, which had to be scrapped when Haruka Umesaki came down with a fever, so Chihiro Hashimoto suddenly made her Noah debut. Afterwards, Nagisa Nozaki (formerly of Pro Wrestling WAVE) came to the ring. Nozaki has been sidelined with a knee injury, and she came to announce her return and to nominate her opponent; 

"Nice to meet you everybody who has come to "MONDAY MAGIC, I am Nagisa Nozaki. I know that this is sudden, but Takase, will you be my opponent for my comeback match on the next "MONDAY MAGIC" on the 27th?"

Nozaki offered a handshake, which Takase took. 

MATCH FIVE

Dragon Bane vs Alpha Wolf

Winner: Time out draw

Dragon Bane and Alpha Wolf tore into each other, they are both close brothers ("my brother, my all" according to the older Alpha Wolf) and rivals. After the match, they quickly made up and embraced, and then their challengers came to the ring. Ninja Mack had said a few weeks ago that he and Alejandro were going to challenge again, but they hadn't had much of a chance recently, and after Alejandro had made their challenge, saying he wanted to fight the strongest brothers for the belts, Good Looking Guys YO-HEY and Tadasuke appeared. YO-HEY spoke;

"Hey, hey, hey wait a moment...we are not giving up on the junior tag, either. The next challengers are Tadasuke and me"

Since the junior division is volatile, and the brothers love a challenge (unlike STINGER who memorably said they were "allergic" to title defenses), Alpha Wolf proposed that they have a three way match, and somehow despite some squaring up, pointing and belt motions, six Noah juniors managed to leave without a melee brawl breaking out. Noah have arranged this rare match for the 2nd January at "NOAH the NEW YEAR" at the Ariake Arena. 

MATCH SIX

Jake Lee, Anthony Green & LJ Cleary vs Kaito Kiyomiya, Ryohei Oiwa & Yuma Anzai

I have noticed that on his entry, fans have taken to chanting "Ki-yo-mi-ya" along with his music, like they did/do for Kenta Kobashi ("Ko-ba-shi") and Mitsuharu Misawa ("Mi-sa-wa!"), so this definitely elevates Kiyomiya to an exclusive pantheon. Speaking of chants, there was a dueling one for All Japan's Jake Lee and All Japan's Yuma Anzai, naturally, Jake made a beeline for Anzai in what was a very fast paced match.

Winner: Kaito Kiyomiya defeated LJ Cleary with the Transformed Tiger Driver (17 minutes, 34 seconds)

After the match, it looked very much as if Yuma Anzai might join Good Looking Guys as he and Jake sat in conversation on the apron, and then again in the ring. The last time something like this had been on Episode 1, when LJ Cleary joined. In the event of things, he didn't (although Jake said on social media that people were no doubt curious about what was discussed, he himself wondered what would happen next and that he hoped people had fun imagining it), and Anzai, Kaito Kiyomiya and Ryohei Oiwa, stood together in unity as the next generation of their respective promotions, Noah, All Japan and New Japan, but as Oiwa pointed out backstage, they would remain rivals as not to lose out to each other. 

Attendance: Unannounced 

Event can be viewed on WrestleUniverse, but you must be a subscriber to watch.

Noah's next event: STAR NAVIGATION 2023 (Friday, November 17th - Light Cube Utsunomiya, Utsunomiya, Tochigi) - will be broadcast at a later date.