(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: MONDAY MAGIC EPISODE 4 (Monday 27th November 2023, Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo)
"MONDAY MAGIC" has quickly gained a reputation for being wild; on each show we get new faces in Noah, unexpected matches, matches you would not normally see on a Noah card, and of course the introduction of The Great Muta's daughter. Tonight's show made you wonder what the season finale will be like. Event can be viewed on WrestleUniverse.
MATCH ONE
*Elimination match*
Alejandro vs YO-HEY vs Dragon Bane
Alejandro and YO-HEY ganged up on the champion for a few minutes, and then after that, everyone ganged up on each other with Dragon Bane showing amazing balance and ability during a ropewalk when Alejandro tried to knock him off.
Elimination 1: Dragon Bane with the Twister Bane on Alejandro (5 minutes, 5 seconds)
Winner: YO-HEY with a dropkick on Dragon Bane (7 minutes, 18 seconds)
Alpha Wolf (wearing the GHC Junior tag belt) attacked YO-HEY after the match (YO-HEY'S selling was great by the way), and the Lucha Brothers left drawing their thumbs over their throats. Backstage, Alpha Wolf told his brother that they are a team, and he will always have his back. That appears to be it for Los Golpeadores until January 2024, as they have completed their tour and will be going back to Mexico for now. Alpha Wolf wrote a lovely message to the fans thanking them for their hospitality, and thanking Noah for the experience they both gained. He also touched on the challenges he has had with changing his body type, which encouraged him to push himself more. He finished off by wishing everyone a happy Christmas, and said that he and his brother would see everyone again next year.
While Los Golpeadores where leaving the ring, and YO-HEY'S music was still playing, NOSAWA Rongai and Ulka Sasaki came to the ring by another staircase. In the ring, NOSAWA announced that Sasaki would be making his Noah debut at Ariake Arena on the 2nd January, and "his opponent is this guy!"
Takashi Sugiura came to the ring (Sasaki was seen to gulp).
Very humbly, Sasaki spoke on the mic to ask Sugiura to please treat him kindly and be good to him (rough translation as the phrase he actually used, "lend me your chest", doesn't translate into English) and asked for a handshake. Sugi, however, hit him with the Olympic slam and told him;
"Yuruka! Pleased to meet you! The pro wrestling fight has already begun! Kiss my ass!"
Sugi left the ring after making a "kiss my ass" motion (in Japan this kind of means "here is the target"), and then doing the same at the top of the ramp.
Then it was time for another installment of The Great Muta. The video showed the inside of a traditional Japanese country house (albeit one in hell as an eerie red light was shining through the paper on the Tatami doors). A pot was bubbling over the fire, and Great Muta (with his collection of masks behind him) was using a herb mortar as his daughter sat with her back to the camera, watching. He handed her a concoction he had put together, and she coughed and screamed and collapsed. He put a red Muta hood on her head, and then carried on grinding herbs. Later she sat with it on and then bowed. She then practiced in the mountains and we saw no more other than an announcement that the "The Great Sakuya" had been born.
MATCH TWO
Good Looking Guys (Jack Morris, Anthony Green & LJ Cleary) vs Hajime Ohara, Titus Alexander & El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr
Hajime Ohara didn't think that there was going to be a pre match for the GHC National (as held by Jack Morris), and he started off against Morris. Morris initially had the upper hand as Ohara is a junior and he's a heavyweight, but when he found that Ohara found a way round him, swore at him and then tagged in Anthony Green. Aside from one very short skirmish later, this was really their only interaction and the match was won by Titus Alexander.
Winner: Titus Alexander with the Big Ugly on LJ Cleary (6 minutes, 28 seconds)
After the match, Jack held up the belt to Ohara from outside the ring, but Ohara just walked off. Ohara being Ohara has written a "manifesto" for his title win, in which he said he plans to become the mainstay of the Noah Juniors. But that is not all, with this title win he wants to pass on the ten years of experience he has accumulated as a Noah Junior, and "support this Ark as the breadwinner". To Ohara this means spreading Noah by TV appearances, social media, YouTube etc and through that to create an atmosphere like he saw in Mexico, to make pro wrestling accessible. In his note, Ohara also spoke of his activities outside of Noah, he spoke of caring for his elderly grandparents, which in turn led to his work with the elderly people of Kawasaki as he came to understand Japan's aging population crisis and his service to the community as a volunteer firefighter.
MATCH THREE
REAL (Sax & Timmy), Alpha Zo, Vinnie Massaro & vs Kaito Kiyomiya, Daiki Inaba, Ryohei Oiwa & Masa Kitamiya
Alpha Zo and Vinnie Massaro from West Coast Pro made their Noah debut today. Vinnie Massaro, it turns out, is one of the few left on the roster now who knew Mitsuharu Misawa. Back in 2002, he fought a match with Doug Williams against Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa (who will be absent from Noah until December due to dizziness symptoms), in California. Misawa asked Massaro to come to Noah for a while, but due to personal commitments (partner and young son), he couldn't. But now with a relationship changing and his son growing up, now is the time and he was finally able to come to Noah, albeit a very different Noah. Massaro and Zo found themselves pitched into a wild match with
the audience alternately booing and cheering thanks to the antics of REAL.
Winner: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Transformed Shining Wizard on Vinnie Massaro (13 minutes, 50 seconds)
After the match there was lots of shouting as REAL left the ring with Timothy Thatcher holding Saxon Huxley back from attacking Ryohei Oiwa. Backstage, Huxley and Thatcher got back to their dressing room, and Huxley found that someone had left a Great Mummy mask in his bag. Naomichi Marufuji found this very funny.
MATCH FOUR
Nagisa Nozaki return match
Nagisa Nozaki vs Miyuki Takase
Nagisa Nozaki returned from knee injury today, along with her sadistic streak and eerie grin which she never seemed to lose for long.
Winner: Nagisa Nozaki (8 minutes, 42 seconds)
After the match, Nozaki and Takase were clasping hands and thanking each other for the match, but they were interrupted by Haruka Umesaki. Umesaki sadly had to drop out of her last Noah match, but she was here tonight to make up for that, and (after greeting the crowd) she asked Nozaki to fight with her next. The hall went dark and The Great Sakuya appeared in the ring and after a few seconds of everyone standing unsure of what her intentions where, she spat the green mist at Haruka. Takase squared up to Great Sakuya, with Nozaki separating them. Great Sakuya whispered something in Nozaki's ear, and Nozaki turned on Takase, aligning herself with the dark side. A tag match between the four will take place on the 2nd January at the Ariake Arena.
MATCH FIVE
Junta Miyawaki & Shuji Kondo vs HAYATA & Rising HAYATO
Rising HAYATO was back in the Noah ring after four years today in a surprise tag with HAYATA, which fans called "The Beautiful Visual tag" and even former Noah president, Masuyuki Uchida, who was in the crowd commented that this was an attractive tag team. While Junta squared up to HAYATO (he's too polite to do that to HAYATA), Shuji Kondo and HAYATA targeted each other. Kondo used the match as a chance to teach Junta, doing nothing to break the sub that HAYATO had him in, other than bending down to encourage him (after getting rid of HAYATA a few times). When he saw that Junta wasn't going to quit, or get to the ropes, he then broke it and stamped on Junta as well for good measure.
Winner: HAYATO with the Sid Vicious on Junta Miyawaki (11 minutes, 42 seconds)
Backstage, HAYATO hinted that perhaps he would be returning to Noah in the future, while Kondo took Miyawaki to task about losing, reminding him that he was from Noah, and people from Noah certainly did not lose that easily. It probably went unspoken that he meant NoahBorn.
MATCH SIX
*GHC Hardcore Championship*
Masato Tanaka vs Ninja Mack vs Super Crazy
Winner: Ninja Mack with an Avalanche style powerbomb from a ladder through the board on Masato Tanaka (11 minutes, 13 seconds)
Ninja Mack became the second champion, beating a hardcore legend. No challenger has come forward as of yet, but fans are wondering if the GHC Hardcore may be specific to "MONDAY MAGIC" only.
MATCH SEVEN
Go Shiozaki & Manabu Soya vs Kenoh & Satoshi Kojima
Kenoh and Satoshi Kojima have a volatile relationship; they are rivals, but in some strange way, they are also some kind of friends. From the moment Kojima appeared, Kenoh started looking enraged and the two of them got into an argument.
Kojima decided that he would start, and the look on Kenoh's face was priceless, however he soon kicked Kojima and threw him out of the ring. Later, their war of words cooled, they did get on and even did a fistbump. If Kenoh and Manabu Soya were interested in fighting each other due to the GHC Heavyweight, then it fell to Go Shiozaki and Satoshi Kojima to pick up their part and they had a chop war, plus a lariat war, which Shiozaki sold as if he had a delayed reaction on running into a block of granite.
Winner: Satoshi Kojima with the Strong Arm Lariat on Go Shiozaki (10 minutes, 48 seconds)
Kojima offered a Kenoh a handshake, which he took and then the two posed together. No one closed out the show this evening. Backstage, Kojima thanked Kenoh for requesting him. Kenoh said he didn't ask for him, he asked for Tenzan!
The final night of "MONDAY MAGIC" will be held on 18th December. Noah have announced the show is sold out, and they will not be releasing any advance tickets (all sold out) or any tickets on the day.
With thanks to SavonAnkka
Attendance not announced
Noah's next event: NOAH the BEST 2023 (Yokohama Budokan, 2nd December) - live on ABEMA
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