​Noah returned to the same venue that last August, during a six man match, Naomichi Marufuji tried to throw YO-HEY into the river that runs outside. Today they were there in late September, and due to the Coronavirus they couldn't risk going outdoors and coming into contact with any non sterilized surface , so Naomichi Marufuji (who is celebrating his 41st birthday), didn't need the "rubber ring and goggles" that YO-HEY suggested he bring next time. 

Prior to the event, a Noah promotional truck patrolled Niigata with loudspeakers promoting the show, which gave it a big match feel, which certainly true in the lobby with the busy stalls. Daisuke Harada was on autograph and picture duty, and he was joined by Atsushi Kotoge. The photographs soon ran out of stock. 
Kenta Kobashi was also at the event, but he did nothing more than sign autographs and take pictures. He was only there for that and left soon after the show began as he had to be back in Tokyo the next day as he had an engagement in the morning. With the typhoon season rolling in, he drove back in heavy rain. 

Today's show was not broadcast live on either NTV or WRESTLE UNIVERSE (the show will be available from the 29th September there), so Noah streamed some of the matches via Periscope. I don't know how long they keep these up for, but I believe it is for quite a while. You can find the links below. Because of some matches being streamed and others not, this report is going to be like the old days with more info on some matches more than others. 

MATCH ONE
The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura, NOSAWA Rongai & Kaz Hayashi) vs FULL THROTTLE (YO-HEY, Hajime Ohara & Seiki Yoshioka). 

YO-HEY with his red tongue, bought an element of wild abandon to FULL THROTTLE, which started by his pulling a crazy pose to mock Atsushi Kotoge.

WINNER: YO-HEY with the Facial G on NOSAWA Rongai (8 minutes, 43 seconds)

MATCH TWO
N-1 VICTORY
Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Yoshiki Inamura

Streamed live 

Katsuhiko Nakajima immediately flew at Yoshiki Inamura, fangs bared, but Inamura bought him down. He was not going to take Nakajima's menace, and Nakajima was not going to listen to anything the referee told him; when the ref was counting him for being on the ropes during the Shutter Chance, Nakajima was making the "take a picture" motions at the camera, and when told to get back in the ring, he nodded, said "Yes" and then jumped off the apron. 

Inamura wrestled flat out to win, taking everything that Nakajima threw at him, and even kicked out of the soccer ball kicks. Nakajima couldn't believe it, and finished the match soon after. 

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the Vertical Spike (11 minutes, 49 seconds)

Yoshiki Inamura has one final chance to pick up some points when he faces Shuhei Taniguchi on 4th October, and Nakajima advances with a further two points, which now puts him level with Kenoh.

MATCH THREE
Kaito Kiyomiya & Kotaro Suzuki vs Kongoh (Kenoh & Haoh)

As one fan commented, Kotaro's red made him look like a member of Kongoh, and not "The Red Comet". I don't really have too much on this match, but Kotaro was pretty merciless in his dealings with Haoh, and Kenoh and Kiyomiya tore into each other. 

WINNER: Haoh via Endless Waltz Reversal on Kotaro Suzuki (13 minutes, 51 seconds)

Kenoh stayed out of the ring as Haoh spoke on the microphone about the upcoming challenge with Kotaro. 

MATCH FOUR
N-1 VICTORY
Masaaki Mochizuki vs Manabu Soya

Streamed live (leads into the next match)

Manabu Soya used power, with Masaaki Mochizuki using technique. Mochi knew that power alone was not going to be enough, he had to use kicks to keep him down and use his brains to further keep him down, which had Soya roaring in his face and Mochi taking a step back from each one. Technique and power were so evenly matched, that it came down to a punch war while on their knees. 

WINNER: Masaaki Mochizuki with the Triangle Kick (13 minutes, 14 seconds)
​

​MATCH FIVE
STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA) & Kinya Okada vs Momo No Seishun (Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge) & Junta Miyawaki

"The peach youth riot has started"

After an absence of seven months with a shoulder injury, Junta Miyawaki returned to Noah in Niigata to team with the newly formed Momo No Seishun, and get back into the endless conflict between the Noah juniors. Miyawaki came to the ring looking very different to what he did in March, no longer an affable young man with a baby face, Miyawaki hit the ring with an angular sharp face, short hair and a toned body, and got right back into the fray hitting dropkicks left, right and centre on STINGER. Elsewhere, Atsushi Kotoge was manic but controlled, headbutting Ogawa, who managed to catch Daisuke Harada out. Fast paced junior match, with a growing rivalry between Kinya Okada and Junta Miyawaki, which will be good for both of them.

WINNER: No one as with Miyawaki and Okada fighting, HAYATA and Kotoge (the legal men), Ogawa and Harada fighting on the outside the Ref declared a count out as no one at all was listening to what was going on (16 minutes and 22 seconds)

The fight continued after the match ended, as after a brief lull another fight broke out when HAYATA attacked Harada, and then the other juniors came running in from the back and more fights broke out around the ring, with HAYATA and YO-HEY briefly working together to beat up on Harada. Once order was restored, Harada and Kotoge were left in the ring. Taking everyone in and knowing that everyone wanted to fight everyone else, Harada (hair standing on end), suggested a battle royale on the 4th October at Korakuen Hall, but mostly because he wanted revenge on everyone for the mass brawl at Korakuen. Watch this space as no card for any junior has been announced at the time of writing. Once again, the turbulent Noah juniors have managed to steal the limelight from the heavyweights. 

MATCH SIX
N-1 VICTORY
Naomichi Marufuji vs Shuhei Taniguchi

Despite Naomichi Marufuji's teasing of Shuhei Taniguchi, and his pleas for him to give him a good match, it never does to underestimate Taniguchi when you are in the ring with him. Staid and expressionless he may be, but he is a monster when he wants to be. Marufuji had to bide his time, hook kicking Taniguchi through the legs and with repeated knee strikes and kicks, Taniguchi staggered but fought back with a huge lariat, but the monster was eventually worn down and felled. 

WINNER: Naomichi Marufuji with the True Tiger King (18 minutes, 21 seconds)

MATCH SEVEN
N-1 VICTORY
Go Shiozaki vs Masa Kitamiya

Brutal match with Masa Kitamiya, a determined man on a mission, working on Go Shiozaki's arms, wrapping it around the ringpost in ways arms really aren't meant to bend. Shiozaki, however, had that Kobashi moment when overcoming his pain, the accumulated damage and the repeated attacks, decided that enough was most certainly, enough.

WINNER: Go Shiozaki with the Gowan Lariat (20 minutes)

Despite each fight taking a toll on Shiozaki, he was cheerful enough to give a spirited talk to the audience, and somehow walked off looking fresher than he has looked in months. 

WITH THANKS TO: Metapokokick, Kei, Shosen 
Picture credit: Pro Wrestling Noah 
Noah's next show: October 4th

Current N-1 Victory points after today

A BLOCK

Go Shiozaki: 6
Kaito Kiyomiya: 5
Masaaki Mochizuki: 5
Kazushi Sakuraba: 4
Masa Kitamiya: 2
Manabu Soya: 2

B BLOCK

Kenoh: 6
Katsuhiko Nakajima: 6
Takashi Sugiura: 5
Naomichi Marufuji: 5
Shuhei Taniguchi: 2
Yoshiki Inamura: 0

Pro Wrestling Noah held two shows today at Korakuen Hall, an afternoon show and an evening show. The evening show was by far the most explosive, but I will get to that in due course. 

The two events had completely different atmospheres; the afternoon one (which attracted more people than Noah had expected and someone had travelled all the way from Kagoshima) had what was described as a "unique" atmosphere, the evening had more of a sense of excitement. 

The event was broadcast over three channels with FITE TV (Had time differences not been such an issue between Japan and the USA, then FITE probably would have broadcast the evening and not the morning, but sadly this was not the case), WRESTLE UNIVERSE also broadcast the afternoon, with ABEMA streaming the evening. WRESTLE UNIVERSE you will need to be a subscriber to watch, and ABEMA will have the show available only for six days before it gets put up on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. I am afraid I don't know about the availability of the broadcast on FITE TV. 

The Afternoon Show 
​

​MATCH ONE
Daisuke Harada, YO-HEY & Kinya Okada vs FULL THROTTLE (Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara & Seiki Yoshioka)

Atsushi Kotoge came bouncing out with his new toy, making Seiki Yoshioka gave him a puzzled look. This is normal. It's the way most people look at Kotoge, who was particularly hyper today with an endless lariat attack on YO-HEY. Despite the rivalry between Harada and Kotoge, it was Harada and Yoshioka who seemed to have the most issues today. 

YO-HEY (who had a black tongue today) decided to make fun of Kotoge's "Brum Brum", this wasn't appreciated by Kotoge, although Yoshioka probably thought it was funny though. Kotoge later had to warn YO-HEY of the consequences of making fun of him. 

Kinya Okada put up a brave fight against FULL THROTTLE, being tied into knots by Ohara and then holding on long enough when locked into the Mui Bien to be rescued by Harada and YO-HEY, who had been outside the ring fighting with Kotoge and Yoshioka. 

The match ended in a time out draw, with YO-HEY going for a series of typically crazy pins on Hajime Ohara. He was convinced he had the three, but was overruled by the referee and both teams left frustrated. 

WINNER: Neither. Time out draw (20 minutes)

MATCH TWO
N-1 VICTORY
Kenoh vs Yoshiki Inamura

There was no handshake beforehand between the two members of Kongoh. It doesn't appear to be the Kongoh way. You could sense that any unit camaraderie had been set aside for the league, as both were focused on winning for their own purposes; Inamura to take the all important next step in his career, and Kenoh who is driven by his complex relationship with Kaito Kiyomiya, and his desire to win the league and make history. 

Throughout the whole match, Inamura refused to be cowed by Kenoh, who challenged him each time he staggered to his feet, even when used those irritating small kicks and the "hit me" pose. Inamura was not helpless however, as Kenoh went to use a submission to take Inamura down, but found himself shaken off by being squashed against the ringpost, and then later he was launched into the air by the GEKITOTZ, but the match and the points belonged ultimately to Kenoh when the match went to referee stop thanks to Kenoh's palm strikes. 

WINNER: Kenoh via referee stop (10 minutes, 26 seconds)

True to the Spartan Kongoh way, Kenoh walked off leaving Inamura beached in the ring.  

MATCH THREE
N-1 VICTORY
Masa Kitamiya vs Kazushi Sakuraba

Kazushi Sakuraba went straight into mat wrestling to keep Masa Kitamiya down, it didn't take long for him to practically wrench Kitamiya's knee from its socket, so much so, Kitamiya appeared with a limp that afternoon.  

WINNER: Kazushi Sakuraba with the Knee Cross Lock (2 minutes, 29 seconds)

MATCH FOUR
N-1 VICTORY
Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Shuhei Taniguchi

So far Katsuhiko Nakajima has taken the league seriously, and not done any of the terrible things that he has threatened to do which would ruin it for everyone else, but that hasn't stopped him from winding his opponents up, which today began with Shuhei Taniguchi as he backed out of the first lock up and then went straight in with the kicks. Later, Nakajima kicked Taniguchi around outside the ring and then as the count went on, sat and waited for him to get back in. Taniguchi didn't, and after lying on his back and waiting, Nakajima got up and threw him back in. Then there was the usual irritance from Nakajima, grinding his boot into Taniguchi's face. 

The bigger Nakajima's grin, the more cocky he gets, until it ends up costing him in some way, which it did because Taniguchi got the upper hand. However, Nakajima eventually decided he had had enough, but Taniguchi was playing him at his own game, and roaring in anger as he went to kick Nakajima in the head, but Nakajima kept moving. However, it wasn't enough to give Nakajima the win. 

WINNER: Shuhei Taniguchi with the Face Kick (14 minutes, 42 seconds)

MATCH FIVE
N-1 VICTORY
Kaito Kiyomiya vs Manabu Soya

Kaito Kiyomiya came out to the ring looking thoughtful, he knew what was at stake here, and seemingly taking inspiration from Naomichi Marufuji, he used a similar hand and wrist submission, which cleverly keeps Soya away from the ropes and makes it more difficult afterwards for him to do any kind of power moves, although this did not stop Soya peeling his arms away during a headlock, only for Kiyomiya to take him back down to the mat for the win. 

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Tiger Suplex (21 minutes, 55 seconds)

Kiyomiya spoke on the microphone and said that he didn't have much left, but he managed to get out of the funk he had been in and beat Soya. He then spoke in English and thanked FITE for the broadcast, and all the Noah fans who were watching all over the world. 

The evening show
Storm clouds

Fans returned to Korakuen, to find Yoshinari Ogawa in the ring holding a class where he was teaching one of the trainees, and using HAYATA to demonstrate moves while he explained things, often sitting on his knees next to them. 

MATCH ONE
Shuhei Taniguchi & Mohammed Yone vs THE TOUGH (Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura)

Shuhei Taniguchi came out looking somewhat bruised from the match with Katsuhiko Nakajima from earlier in the day, while Yoshiki Inamura focused on him. Having lost to Takashi Sugiura, Naomichi Marufuji and Kenoh, Inamura has two matches left to prove himself in the league, and since Taniguchi is one of those opponents (the other is Katsuhiko Nakajima), this was kind of their pre-match. Kitamiya told Inamura to save himself, he would start against Yone. 

Noah's monsters (both the same height at 182cms which gets overlooked) did eventually clash however, with Inamura winning the shoulder tackle fight which got him a huge applause from the crowd, but once again Inamura's first big win would have to wait. 

WINNER: Shuhei Taniguchi with the Face Kick on Yoshiki Inamura (8 minutes, 8 seconds)

​MATCH TWO
N-1 VICTORY
Naomichi Marufuji vs Kenoh

Naomichi Marufuji came out smirking at Kenoh. Kenoh, who has very little sense of humor when it comes to Marufuji and what Kenoh imagines to be his endless backstage plots against him. Marufuji decided to wind Kenoh up, and knowing that he would attack on the rope break dodged his kick and rolled out of the ring, and then refused to get back in it as Kenoh was lurking outside. When he did get back in, Kenoh naturally couldn't wait to attack, and Marufuji couldn't wait to put him in one of his nasty submission holds. However, even after a hook kick which semi knocked him out, and with Marufuji shoving the ref out of the way who was checking on him, Kenoh was not going to give in to his mortal enemy for the sake of his "strong beliefs". 

WINNER: Kenoh with the rear naked choke sleeper hold (referee stop, 15 minutes, 5 seconds)

Naomichi Marufuji couldn't believe that he had lost to Kenoh in a second singles match, and complained to the referee who told him that the decision stood. He had a rare tantrum where he kicked the ropes as he left the ring, and threw the ice pack down as he walked off. 
 
MATCH THREE
N-1 VICTORY
Kaito Kiyomiya vs Kazushi Sakuraba

This was a new style of match for Kaito Kiyomiya, who has only met Kazushi Sakuraba in a ring outside of Noah, and that was when Sakuraba gave him some training in MMA ahead of Kiyomiya's title match when he was GHC Heavyweight Champion, against Naomichi Marufuji. Sakuraba may have left bruises where he kicked, but it was Kiyomiya's youthful frenetic and at times impulsive wrestling that worked, which was probably combined with the prior training he had been given, and Sakuraba tapped.

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Figure Four (9 minutes, 47 seconds)

MATCH FOUR
STINGER (Kotaro Suzuki, Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA) vs Daisuke Harada, YO-HEY & Kinya Okada

Demon Tag

STINGER came out to the match with their own particular quirky way of wearing the junior championship belts; Yoshinari Ogawa is the only person who wears it like you are meant to, Kotaro Suzuki drapes his around his neck and shoulder under his ring robes, and HAYATA drags his on the ground. 

Yoshinari Ogawa's classroom continued in the ring with Kinya Okada, who discovered that with Ogawa, you never truly escape his web, he likes you to think you have, only to pull you back in, and naturally being the most junior in the match he got it the worst from his opponents. HAYATA, however, took the most pleasure when fighting Harada as he had his sadistic smile on. This would become ironic later on as we will see. The junior pride here was at steak as no one wanted to be overshadowed by anything the heavyweights were doing, and the juniors managed to eclipse them, but not by anything that happened in the match, more what was going to happen after it. 

WINNER: YO-HEY with the sneak pin on Yoshinari Ogawa (15 minutes, 47 seconds)

Daisuke Harada, who was lying on the ring apron, turned to the camera and held up three fingers to signify the win over the hated STINGER. He got up and joined his team in having their arms raised, when YO-HEY kicked him in the face. For a split second before YO-HEY left the ring, he seemed to look at STINGER as if he was waiting for them to do something, but nothing happened and he left. STINGER then turned and attacked Harada, and this turned into a brawl as Kongoh (Tadasuke, Haoh and Nioh) came out to fight STINGER, and then The Sugiura Army (NOSAWA Rongai and Kaz Hayashi) joined in, with FULL THROTTLE'S Hajime Ohara and Seiki Yoshioka at ringside, with Atsushi Kotoge getting in the ring to help Harada.
Once things had cooled, there was a tense face off with Kotoge and Harada staring at each other. The former friends, turned bitter enemies again turned friends, with Harada offering his hand, which Kotoge shook. Yoshioka and Ohara did not take kindly to this and demanded to know what was going on. YO-HEY got back into the mix, and more fights broke out which ended with YO-HEY aligning with Yoshioka and Ohara as the new FULL THROTTLE (YO-HEY said this wasn't quite his plan, but he would take it), and the newly reformed Momo no Seishun ("The Peaches of Youth" which was their tag team that Kotoge had broken to go to the heavyweights, leading Harada to form RATELS), challenged STINGER (HAYATA & Yoshinari Ogawa) for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Titles. Ogawa has seemingly made no argument of this and granted them their match which will take place in Osaka on the 11th October.

​There will still be a mystery man joining Harada (and now Kotoge) in Niigata at the end of the month. When asked why he came out to rescue his erstwhile enemy, Kotoge said he was compelled to. It was not something he had planned. 

With this junior tornado just passed through Korakuen, fans found it hard to concentrate on the next match. 

MATCH FIVE
N-1 VICTORY
Takashi Sugiura vs Katsuhiko Nakajima 

Takashi Sugiura knows all to well from bitter experience, just what Katsuhiko Nakajima can be like, and so he tried to stop him from messing him around too much, but ultimately couldn't prevent it. Nakajima threw him round outside the ring, the grin on his face growing bigger as he planned worse to come, and again Nakajima's cockiness cost him as Sugi locked in the ankle lock. Nakajima managed to get to the ropes and this served as a wake up call, and the smile snapped off. It was time to end this. 

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the Vertical Spike (17 minutes, 42 seconds)

MATCH SIX
N-1 VICTORY
Go Shiozaki vs Masaaki Mochizuki

Masaaki Mochizuki offered Katsuhiko Nakajima a handshake before the match. He's probably one of the few in Noah that you can trust to do this. Despite this show of sportsmanship, Shiozaki's arms suffered even more damage when Mochi targeted them, even at one point luring Shiozaki into a chop war, Shiozaki went for it, but Mochi knocked him aside, and met the machine gun chops with a punch. After being knocked outside the ring, Shiozaki decided he had had enough and went very Kobashi with Kobashi mannerisms, but Mochizuki's plan which didn't work against Sakuraba, certainly worked against the increasingly battered Shiozaki. 

WINNER: Masaaki Mochizuki with the Dragon Suplex Hold (16 minutes, 21 seconds)

Shiozaki couldn't believe what had happened, and complained to the referee (they must dread leagues as they have such a rough time), and when he had gone Mochi spoke on the microphone. Acknowledging that it was not a member of Noah, or even the champion, closing out the show, he had just beaten the GHC Heavyweight champion and he would go on like this, wrestling in his own style until the end of the league, and to support him while he was here in Noah from another promotion. In a kind of cheeky by the way, he added that DragonGate would be holding a show on the 7th October. 

WITH THANKS TO: Abeshin, Fujiwara Armbar, Metal Noah
PICTURE CREDIT: PKDX
GIF TAKEN FROM WRESTLE UNIVERSE
NOAH'S NEXT SHOW: Saturday 26th, Niigata 

After today's event, Kaito Kiyomiya leads Block A with 5 points (Go Shiozaki and Kazushi Sakuraba are second with 4), Kenoh leads Block B with 6 points, with Takashi Sugiura in second with 5.

​Noah kicked off the first night of their three shows in a row at Korakuen Hall today. While the merchandise stable was stocked (and no doubt Kenoh's notorious paranoia will start whispering to him as soon as he sees how the pillows were stocked and start imagining the evil CyberFight were behind it), and Kotaro Suzuki was selling his new product at his own booth, Yoshinari Ogawa (with HAYATA) was in the ring teaching one of the new trainees. Usually Ogawa is teaching members of the roster, so it was a treat for fans to see this. 

The event was streamed free, live and worldwide on ABEMA. You will be able to watch the event for seven days after the date of broadcast. After that it will be placed on WRESTLE UNIVERSE, which you will need to subscribe to to view. 

MATCH ONE
Mohammed Yone & Kinya Okada vs Kongoh (Manabu Soya & Yoshiki Inamura)

Yoshiki Inamura and rival, Kinya Okada, started the match with the woolly mammoth sized Inamura trapping Okada in a submission between his thighs. Okada later faced the other member of Kongoh's monster team, Manabu Soya, who no sold his attacks and then later threw him to Inamura. 

Good opening match, which demonstrated both the growth of Yoshiki Inamua and Kinya Okada's potential as a monster (even if he never reaches Inamura like proportions)

WINNER: Manabu Soya with the Ballistic on Kinya Okada (9 minutes and 29 seconds)

MATCH TWO
N-1 VICTORY
Kenoh vs Shuhei Taniguchi

Having faced Shuhei Taniguchi last year in the N-1 VICTORY and won, Kenoh knew that he would have to bring out something special to defeat him this year. It was Taniguchi, however, who struck first aiming a kick to Kenoh's face. Erupting early on, Taniguchi was able to evade the much smaller Kenoh at times, and Kenoh was able to pull a few tricks of his own, such as his acrobatics which he pulls out for big matches, although rather than a somersault PFS or a moonsault PFS, he did a cartwheel evasion move on the apron. Both had done their homework on each other since their last league match, but Kenoh was the one who had seemingly done more by luring Taniguchi in and then locking in a submission, which is rare for Kenoh to use. Kenoh hung on, his arm wrapped around Taniguchi's throat and squeezed, you could see how tight he was the ref attempted to move him. Kenoh refused to let go, Taniguchi's tongue was practically coming out of his mouth. Kenoh only let go when the referee called a stop.
Short but very different and very clever match showing how versatile Kenoh is. 

WINNER: Kenoh with the rear naked sleeper hold (referee stop after 14 minutes, 32 seconds)

MATCH THREE
N-1 VICTORY
Kaito Kiyomiya vs Masa Kitamiya

Kaito Kiyomiya's N-1 woes continued against the dominant Masa Kitamiya today in a fast paced match, but Masa Kitamiya's sudden blooming cost Kiyomiya another precious point in the league as speed met experience and power, and experience and power won. 

WINNER: Masa Kitamiya with the Saito Suplex (14 minutes, 32 seconds)

MATCH FOUR
STINGER (Kotaro Suzuki, Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA) vs Kongoh Jnrs (Haoh, Nioh & Tadasuke)

Noah's heel group, Kongoh Jnrs, met the ultra heel group, STINGER. As he got into the ring, Yoshinari Ogawa took a moment to survey his opponents, but no matter how much he hates Tadasuke, and is indifferent to Nioh, the person with the bullseye painted on him was Haoh. A challenge to any member of STINGER marks you as a target, and their attack was relentless. Haoh was very eager to prove himself against Kotaro, and this was sometimes on the verge of desperation. Kotaro however, had nothing but contempt for him and resorted at the end of the match to use the technique of breaking the pin to torture the opponent more. Usually this backfires, but not in this case. 

WINNER: Kotaro Suzuki with the Javelin (referee stop after 21 minutes, 2 seconds)

Kotaro then spoke on the microphone and gave Haoh a vicious character assessment, telling him that not only should he start over as a wrestler, but that he was the "weakest GHC challenger ever". 

MATCH FIVE
N-1 VICTORY 2020
Go Shiozaki vs Kazushi Sakuraba

Give the impression that he was just warming up, in reality Go Shiozaki was not going to forgive Kazushi Sakuraba for making him tap in the pre-match with The Sugiura Army just before the GHC Heavyweight tag battle. Like everyone else in the league, Sakuraba targeted Shiozaki's arms in a far worse away than Katsuhiko Nakajima's kicks, wrapping them round the barriers in ways they were not meant to bend, before kicking them. This caused Shiozaki to loose power in his arms, and Sakuraba thought that he was going to avoid the chops he so much hates. Sakuraba took to taunting Shiozaki, and even pulling the front of his shirt out to look down his top, but a long fuse he might have, it's never a good idea to wind him up and Sakuraba not only got the Machine Gun Chops but also chops to the head in a flurry. 

WINNER: Go Shiozaki with the Gowan Lariat (8 minutes, 35 seconds)

Shiozaki then spoke on the microphone and said that he would show a match that was second to none, and finished with "I AM NOAH". 

MATCH SIX
N-1 VICTORY 2020
Naomichi Marufuji vs Takashi Sugiura

Two most senior people in Noah (after Yoshinari Ogawa who is the most senior), hold twenty years of fighting both side by side and against each other, and no matter what it has been for, (except when Sugiura joined The Suzuki Army), it has always been for Noah. Partners, rivals, today they were united in one thing, to put on a match that would not lose out to any other league happening in wrestling at that time. 

There was shades of Baba's All Japan and the wars between Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada in the pacing of the match, with both pulling out desperation moves as time went on, with Sugiura using a rare suplex and Marufuji using his new move, which involves crushing the hand and wrist (which he used against Inamura), it's inventive as most people attack the arm. They fought until the time ran out, Marufuji being saved as the bell signalled full time as Sugiura locked in the dreaded choke. 

WINNER: Time limit draw (30 minutes)

After the match they both shook hands, with Marufuji commenting backstage that he would like to do another singles with Sugiura, but for now he had the league to concentrate on. 

WITH THANKS TO: Abeshin
PICTURE CREDIT: PKDX, Noah GHC 
GIFS taken from ABEMA
NOAH'S NEXT SHOW: 23rd September 2020 (double bill at Korakuen Hall)

​Noah travelled up to Takasaki in Gunma Prefecture today to hold the second night of The N-1 Victory 2020. The venue (which I think can be used as a rink), although pretty, light and airy was described as "slightly old" and had a glass panelled ceiling, which while this lets in the sunlight, for both the wrestlers and the fans it became like a greenhouse. The event was streamed live on WRESTLE-UNIVERSE (the show will be there when you click the link, but you must be a subscriber to view). 

Naomichi Marufuji and Go Shiozaki were on autograph duty. 

MATCH ONE
Kinya Okada vs Nioh

Nioh came out in an unsmiling manner that befitted Kongoh, and did a rare solo pose, which was just him raising his head (you can read about the symbology of Kongoh here). 

It was an opener like the old days of Noah between a veteran and a rookie. The match worked well as while they aren't level in terms of experience, Kinya Okada was able to get in a good offense against Nioh as they are roughly the same size and weight. Throughout the match Okada worked on Nioh's arm, and wouldn't let up. The veteran struck back and after a few close calls, decided enough was enough and locked in a nasty submission

WINNER: Nioh with the Camel Clutch (11 minutes, 6 seconds)

​MATCH TWO
N-1 VICTORY
Naomichi Marufuji vs Yoshiki Inamura

Naomichi Marufuji had said on Twitter yesterday that he wouldn't be letting down his guard against Yoshiki Inamura and he wasn't going to give him an inch either. Marufuji was right to be precautious, as while he has the experience that Inamura does not, Inamura has the size and the strength that Marufuji doesn't, true he's a heavyweight but he's not one of the larger ones, and Inamura managed to knock him down flat to the mat on several occasions. 

Marufuji worked out that to take Inamura down, he needed to work on his hands. Inamura's main attacks centre on lifting (Oklahoma Slam which almost got him the win today) and the Splash Mountain, so Marufuji invented a nasty move whereby he stood on Inamura's hand, crushing it while he kicked his chest. However, despite these attacks on his hands, Inamura's power could not be kept down, and he still slammed Marufuji like he weighed nothing. He also screamed at his kicks, and refused to take them. 

Inamura has also learned how to play dead, as Marufuji seemingly knocked him out with a knee at one point. Slumped in the corner and motionless, the referee was checking on him until Marufuji shoved him out of the way (the referees on the whole had a very rough evening), hauled Inamura to his feet and went for the Shiranui. Inamura however, had been luring him in...but sadly, despite the very close pins and the ring psychology, it was Marufuji picking up the points. 

WINNER: Naomichi Marufuji with the True Tiger King (12 minutes, 23 seconds)

MATCH THREE
Go Shiozaki, Kaito Kiyomiya, Daisuke Harada & YO-HEY vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Haoh and Tadasuke)

Rockstar Tadasuke led Kongoh out, but only he, Kenoh and Haoh posed in the ring, Katsuhiko Nakajima sat on the turnbuckle looking sinister. This was a chaotic match with melee fights breaking out

You could tell how humid the venue was getting by that point as Daisuke Harada was wiping his head as he started off against Tadasuke. A few seconds later, Haoh decided to storm the ring, and this was even before they had locked up. Tadasuke paid for it as YO-HEY helped Harada pay him back in kind. YO-HEY has speed and incredible natural agility, but he does not have the strength that Tadasuke and Harada do. 

​The former AXIZ faced off. Katsuhiko Nakajima with a big evil Cheshire Cat grin as he wound up Go Shiozaki. Sliding out of the ring and wandering around, made Shiozaki (who has witnessed this behavior countless times), chase him back in. Go Shiozaki has two bullseyes painted on him at the moment, the GHC Heavyweight title and his notoriously damaged arms which Nakajima attacked relentlessly, wrapping them around the steel barriers, and aiming his kicks at them. Kongoh joined in while Shiozaki was in their corner by pressing their boots into his shoulders. Throughout the match Kongoh worked to wear Shiozaki down, with Kenoh returning the machine gun chops with machine gun kicks. Shiozaki also got the Kongoh version of "Endless Love". 
Shiozaki has been described as "more docile than Kenoh or Nakajima" by Takashi Sugiura, which he didn't take well to. But it must be said that while this is true to a point, he does have a long fuse, and when he gets wound up too much he goes go mad, the start of this was giving Nakajima a rare headbutt when he was on the turnbuckle, and then dropkicking him off of it. 

Another person who gets wound up slowly, is Kaito Kiyomiya, who Kenoh (who looked slightly bruised from Friday's match with Nakajima), kept provoking to storm into the ring and then throwing him out each time he did, and then walking off nonchalantly (Kenoh probably never forgave being drop kicked out of the ring earlier in the match). 

WINNER: Go Shiozaki with the Gowan Lariat on Katsuhiko Nakajima (20 minutes, 19 seconds)

Shiozaki lost his temper, and with a wild look in his eyes, he screamed on the microphone to the motionless spreadeagled Nakajima, that if he thought the league was so crap, he would be the one to make it interesting. Kenoh said that they would finish what they didn't in Yokohama in the N-1. Kiyomiya then chimed in and said that he would break through his block to the finals, his enemies were not the only ones to be standing before him, and to Kenoh he told to make sure he was in the finals. 

MATCH FOUR
N-1 VICTORY
Masa Kitamiya vs Manabu Soya

A block A Kongoh HOSS FIGHT.

Fast paced match between two big heavyweights, who both threw each other around like they weighed nothing. Punch war, top rope slam, Kitamiya catching Soya in a headlock as he charged towards him, headbutts, backdrops, elbows, it was all there, and then Manabu Soya went for his nasty submission and Masa Kitamiya did something he rarely does, and tapped.

WINNER: Manabu Soya with the neck lock (12 minutes, 56 seconds)

Manabu Soya, usually so staid, celebrated in an enthusiastic way. 

MATCH FIVE
N-1 VICTORY
Masaaki Mochizuki vs Kazushi Sakuraba

Karate met MMA today, and while this is a non Noah match (i.e. both are freelancers appearing in Noah), it went over well with the crowd although the match was short. It was a harsh match of kicks and holds, which ended with a miscalculation by Masaaki Mochizuki, which cost him the win. 

WINNER: Kazushi Sakuraba with 39 Locks (8 minutes, 28 seconds)

After the match Mochizuki offered a bow and a handshake to Sakuraba, and they both bowed to each other on their knees. 

MATCH SIX
N-1 VICTORY
Takashi Sugiura vs Shuhei Taniguchi

Takashi Sugiura came out with his weary face on (the one he usually uses when dealing with upstarts on the roster who are younger), and Shuhei Taniguchi came out looking like Shuhei Taniguchi. Which is to say expressionless. Taniguchi gets teased a lot by the roster (mainly Sugiura, Marufuji and at times Shiozaki), for being so unanimated, and in order to prove that he wasn't Taniguchi once created a drinking club which met after practice to unwind, talk, drink, and tell jokes etc. 

Sugiura had said on Friday at the beginning of the league that as it was Taniguchi, he could safely stay in 3rd gear, there was no reason to accelerate to the top one. He was mistaken in this as during this hoss fight, Taniguchi erupted as they both tried to wear each other down, even at one point brushing the ref away. 

WINNER: Takashi Sugiura with the Frankensteiner (21 minutes, 57 seconds)

Shuhei Taniguchi was furious with the win (Sugiura pulls using the Frankensteiner out of nowhere, and it works) and shoved the ref around, but no it was a three, and rearranging his features, he stalked off angrily. Takashi Sugiura recovered from the headbutt that he had been given earlier, ("Goddamn"), and thanked everyone for coming, acknowledging how difficult it must have been for people in masks in the hothouse atmosphere of the venue. Sugi reiterated that he didn't want to lose out to any other groups who were holding their own leagues at the same time, and for people to watch to the end. 

With thanks to: Abeshin, Naoki_Slam
Noah's next show: Tuesday September 22nd, Korakuen Hall
Picture Credit: Noah GHC ​

​Noah kicked off the first night of the N-1 with a big match feel in Nagoya today. The event was streamed over WRESTLE UNIVERSE (which had technical problems for some viewers, although I luckily had no problem except for some slight lag and minor screen freezes) and Samurai TV, where Mohammed Yone was the guest commentator. Some fans travelled outside of Tokyo to see the opening night, and even some Jurina Matsui fans turned up. Noah later made the stream free for all to view. 

The opening ceremony when the wrestlers come to the ring for the official presentation, was drama free; Katsuhiko Nakajima (who came sauntering out) and Go Shiozaki stayed apart, Kenoh prevented himself from yelling at Naomichi Marufuji or Kaito Kiyomiya.

MATCH ONE
Shuhei Taniguchi, Mohammed Yone & Kinya Okada vs The Anti Wrestlers Alliance (Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue) & Masashi Aoyagi

Although it was Mohammed Yone and Masashi Aoyagi pointing at each other, it was Yone and Masao Inoue who started the match. Yone pumped up the fro before starting the match, in which we discovered that Inoue is also not a disco lover. 

Kinya Okada (young enough to be Aoyagi's grandson) did well against the old veteran, and in true Heisei style, the veterans did not let up on him in any way. Akitoshi Saito in particular sent a punch that was audible around the arena. Okada though, was able to take him down later. 

Shuhei Taniguchi, however, is not a veteran and had Masao Inoue begging for mercy. At this point Saito and Aoyagi scattered, leaving Inoue to scream "bastard!" at Taniguchi. Inoue got his revenge, however, by attacking Taniguchi's gouty toes with stamps. 

WINNER: Akitoshi Saito pinned Kinya Okada with a Boston Crab type pin (13 minutes, 13 seconds)

MATCH TWO
N-1 VICTORY (BLOCK B)
Takashi Sugiura vs Yoshiki Inamura

This is the second singles match between Takashi Sugiura and Yoshiki Inamura, and although he won, Sugiura left the match looking back at Inamura as if he was aware that he was now becoming more of a threat. 

Although Sugiura, the veteran, used Inamura's experience and momentum to throw him from the ring,  Inamura was able to throw him heavily into the barriers outside, and he won the punch war, knocking Sugi to the mat. But the veteran was not going to go down that easily, and after a last minute kick out from Inamura, Sugiura went for the choke. Inamura went to get out of that via a reversal, but Sugiura reversed and Inamura tapped. 

WINNER: Takashi Sugiura with the front neck lock (9 minutes, 11 seconds)

Takashi Sugiura said the match with Yoshiki Inamura was a "good test run", but since his next match is with Shuhei Taniguchi, he will only need to be in "3rd gear" for it. 

MATCH THREE
N-1 VICTORY (BLOCK A)
Kaito Kiyomiya vs Masaaki Mochizuki

Fast paced match, with the crowd clapping enthusiastically from the start. Mochi found Inamura a little too much, so he requested a time out. While Mochi threw his kicks, and Kiyomiya his punches, Kiyomiya had the chance to discover just how inventive Mochi can be. Mochi didn't just work on Kiyomiya's knee, he like Ogawa is not scared to be resourceful and to use what is around him, such as using kicks to get out of the Tiger Suplex, yelling and pointing at someone at ringside and then striking Kiyomiya when the ref was distracted, and so as Mochi lured him in, Kiyomiya found himself meeting both experience and mind games. But as fond as the crowd were of Mochi, they were behind the Noah born.

WINNER: Neither. Time out draw (30 minutes)

With this draw they only get one point each (2 points for a win, 0 for a loss)

MATCH FOUR
Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Kotoge vs The Sugiura Army (NOSAWA Rongai & Kaz Hayashi)

Mostly because he's insane, and partly because FULL THROTTLE used them for a show they will be appearing on filmed in Hajima Ohara's Kawasaki, Noah's resident nutcase, Atsushi Kotoge, came zipping out of the curtain clutching the handlebars and light of a motorcycle. Naomichi Marufuji loved it, but NOSAWA Rongai and Kaz Hayashi were not so impressed. Kotoge wasn't either when the referee told him that such things were not allowed in the ring. The match was very much junior heavy, and you could tell how much Marufuji enjoyed working with the division. 

Marufuji had said on Twitter that he was very much looking forward to chopping NOSAWA, but after a great exchange with Kaz Hayashi, Marufuji wanted NOSAWA, and then tagged Kotoge in. Who started bouncing all over and yelling "Brum Brum". NOSAWA thought he was crazy enough to accept a handshake (and who can blame him), Kotoge accepted the offer, but he's crazy not stupid, and caught the kick that NOSAWA went for. If NOSAWA didn't get chopped (Hayashi did), he had to endure Marufuji holding his mouth open so Kotoge Kotoge could rev up and kick it when bouncing the ropes. Unfortunately, this meant that Kotoge kicked Marufuji's fingers. Always one who is game to join in with anything, Marufuji did his own version of the rope bounce. 

WINNER: ATSUSHI KOTOGE with a moonsault on NOSAWA Rongai (11 minutes, 59 seconds)

Then after the match there was this...

​And Kotoge rode an invisible motorcycle backstage

​Noah held a short interval in which they announced that on the 19th December they would be heading up to Nagoya. It wouldn't surprise me if Noah's last big show of the year was combined with Takashi Sugiura's 20th anniversary (he debuted in December 2000 in Noah). Sugiura is from Aichi, Nagoya and was featured on the picture. Further details are to be announced. 

MATCH FIVE
N-1 VICTORY BLOCK A
Go Shiozaki vs Manabu Soya

Brutal power match. 
Go Shiozaki might not have been much affected by Soya's chops, but due to taping his arms and shoulders were vulnerable and Soya worked on these areas heavily, even at one point making it so he couldn't chop, but it couldn't stop him getting the machine gun chops. 

There was nothing technical in this match, as it was brutal and full of punches, kicks, chops and elbows. Soya could not ultimately overcome the GHC Heavyweight champion, but he came very close. 

WINNER: Go Shiozaki with the Gowan Lariat (16 minutes, 54 seconds)

MATCH SIX
N-1 VICTORY BLOCK B
Kenoh vs Katsuhiko Nakajima

Despite his threats to wreck everything for everyone, Nakajima's act of rebellion was when the ref told him to get down from the turnbuckle, and then take off his jacket, not just his mask. The match started with Nakajima offering Kenoh a handshake. Kenoh (a man with a lot of enemies, both real but mainly imagined), was hesitant and ultimately refused. 

There was more of an emphasis on wrestling and martial arts ability initially, the kick fight came later (when Nakajima dared Kenoh), and compared to their championship match there was no feeling of hatred between them. This time you got more of a sense of Kenoh being a little unsure of Nakajima and what Nakajima was going to do, and Nakajima luring Kenoh into some sense of security. 

The match ended when Nakajima kicked Kenoh in the head, and then punched him repeatedly just to make sure that he was knocked out. He had a huge sinister grin on his face. 

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the Diamond Bomb (17 minutes, 19 seconds)

After the match Nakajima bent over Kenoh. Kenoh slowly offered his hand, which Nakajima took and pulled him to his feet. Something seemed to be building as Nakajima pulled Kenoh up and they stared at each other, but Nakajima let him go and Kenoh rolled out of the ring. Nakajima went to speak on the microphone, but took his time. When he spoke, he said that this league was "rotten", and the matches before were "sluggish" (rough translation), but he would make it interesting, and for "everyone to watch me". 

WITH THANKS TO: Metal Noah
PICTURE CREDIT: Shu Nishinaga
GIFS taken from WRESTLE UNIVERSE
Noah's next event: September 20th (bell sounds at 16:00) ​

​Shu Nishinaga returned to his home prefecture of Kanazawa today, both for his 30th anniversary in wrestling (he started off a part timer in All Japan, was taken on full time by Giant Baba and has spent twenty years in Noah since walking out with Mitsuharu Misawa 2000), and for Noah's event. Flowers were sent by Kenta Kobashi, CyberFight & THE LEAVE which were displayed in the lobby.  Today would be the last event before the N-1 Victory starts on Friday.

There was a sense of a big event which was shared between the fans watching at home (event was streamed live on WRESTLE-UNIVERSE via static cam) and those who attended the event, and for those who were lucky enough to go to the arena, Naomichi Marufuji and Go Shiozaki were signing autographs, with Yoshinari Ogawa holding class in the ring with HAYATA and Kaito Kiyomiya. 

Noah's special guest today was Hiroshi Hase (former wrestler now a politician, who looks a million miles from both the picture Noah used on the poster, and his shoulder length hair and moustache from his days in the ring), who gave a speech before the event began. He evidently could not stay for long as he was not seen again, and Mutoh kind of alluded to the fact that he couldn't stick around for the whole thing when he spoke on the microphone at the end of the match. Hase was not the only notable person in attendance as Kuniko Yamada was also at ringside. 

MATCH ONE
Daisuke Harada & YO-HEY vs FULL THROTTLE (Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara)

FULL THROTTLE made "Brum Brum" motions to a little girl sitting at ringside as they came to the ring, and YO-HEY made good his promise to dye his hair at 3.30am as he couldn't sleep and was up playing computer games. Speaking of hair, one fan described Kotoge's hair (despite it being freshly pink) as being cut like "a little child in a school entrance ceremony"

​This was a fun opener between two crazy people and two sane people. Fans gave a big applause for that rare precious treat of Hajime Ohara vs Daisuke Harada which started the match, then they tagged in their insane tag partners, and YO-HEY spent a few seconds bouncing around with Kotoge. Fast paced match (which Takashi Sugiura and Kenoh were seen watching from the balcony, although not at the same time), which included one of YO-HEY'S most beautiful dropkicks on Ohara, Kotoge really catching Harada in the face with a kick and Harada vs Ohara being as beautiful and brilliant as ever.

WINNER: Time out draw (20 minutes) 

The fight went on even after the bell and ended with YO-HEY throwing Kotoge off of the turnbuckle, and then falling off it himself to the floor. Both teams left in frustration that neither could get the win over the other, and so their positions in the Noah Juniors were still stagnant. Backstage, YO-HEY & Daisuke Harada announced that they would be introducing a new member of their team on the 26th in Niigata (fans are speculating that this could be the returning Junta Miyawaki, Hitoshi Kumano which I think is unlikely, or a member of Dove). 

MATCH TWO
Mohammed Yone & Alexander Otsuka vs Seiya Morohashi & Kinya Okada

Alexander Otsuka (who took his time on entry) was Mohammed Yone's debut opponent 25 years ago. Ironically, he was also the one that Kenoh debuted against too in Michinoku Pro. In a touching sign of respect, he even held the ropes open so that Yone could get into the ring. 

Semi squash match but really for the more experienced Seiya Morohashi and ironically not the less experienced Kinya Okada, who managed to hold his own against the two veterans than Morohashi did, although Okada is still too junior in Noah to react in too much rage to Yone's Disco Rope break or try and get into the ring to break the hold when Yone held him back as Otsuka tortured Morohashi, Morohashi was completely dwarfed by Yone and thrown around by Otsuka

WINNER: Alexander Otsuka with the Alex Buster on Seiya Morohashi (10 minutes, 49 seconds)

MATCH THREE
Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Seiki Yoshioka

Katsuhiko Nakajima came out to the ring using a new entry song, which he not only inspired, but was in the video for. Yoshioka had come out before him and instantly noticed Kuniko Yamada; Yamada made a joke of the incident when Yoshioka had come crashing through the announce table, by when he did moonsault and land near (not on) her during the match, by telling him to go away and get back in the ring. 

Seiki Yoshioka's sports background is in Taekwondo, and as Katsuhiko Nakajima's is in Karate, fans were looking forward to the inevitable kickfight between them. It was definitely not as brutal as the one between Nakajima and Kenoh, and while Nakajima as the heavyweight was naturally stronger, Yoshioka attacked in a flurry and managed to knock him across the ring. He also won the kickfight as Nakajima was kicked out of the ring. Yoshioka kicking out of the Soccer Ball kicks was too much for Nakajima, and his cocky smile snapped off and his eyes started to glow as they grew cold, and he pinned him with the Vertical Spike while staring into the photographers lens as the flash lit up his face.

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the Vertical Spike (10 minutes, 50 seconds)

Shu Nishinaga was presented with flowers by fellow referee, Nakayama, for his 30th anniversary in wrestling. He was originally working part time in All Japan, when Giant Baba noticed his merit and asked him if he wanted to be a referee, after that he became full time and trained under Joe Higuchi and Kyohei Wada. He left All Japan in 2000 when Mitsuharu Misawa formed Noah, and has stayed ever since. 

MATCH FOUR
Go Shiozaki, Kaito Kiyomiya & Shuhei Taniguchi vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura)

Kongoh filed out first looking militaristic, and Kenoh lurked in the corner for his enemies to come out. Kaito Kiyomiya came out with white feathers floating everywhere from his coat, Go Shiozaki looking still sad (his arms looked better though on the surface with only one elbow support, but he is still heavily taped around the shoulders which became a target for Kongoh), and Shuhei Taniguchi, being Shuhei Taniguchi. Taniguchi is probably the only person who is low on Kenoh's list (although he is probably on it). 

Noah built up Kiyomiya vs Kenoh (which as we will see was brief), with Kiyomiya and Kitamiya starting off the match. Kitamiya has suddenly bloomed over the last few months into the powerhouse he was always meant to be, with Shiozaki not quite believing how Kitamiya stood up to him, especially the machine gun chops which he refused to take and the repeated brainbusters which he stood up from. If anything, tonight's MVP was Kitamiya. 

​Kenoh and Kiyomiya finally faced off after Kenoh provoked him, Kiyomiya even shoving the ref away to get to Kenoh. They had a brief punch war, which ended with Kenoh throwing Kiyomiya outside the ring and sauntering off. I wonder as this exchange was so short (and given Kenoh's fury this week about Kiyomiya being on the cover of "Weekly Pro", so much so he went to the offices to complain about it), if Noah are saving something for N-1 Victory. 

Yoshiki Inamura came very very close to pinning Go Shiozaki, and the venue were behind him, but Shiozaki kicked out what can't even be described as the last split second, Inamura came that close to having a very very big win.

WINNER: Go Shiozaki with the Gowan Lariat on Yoshiki Inamura (19 minutes, 44 seconds) 

Go Shiozaki spoke on the microphone, and thanked everyone for coming and thanked Nishinaga for his 30 years service to wrestling.  

MATCH FIVE
STINGER (Kotaro Suzuki, Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA) vs Kongoh (Haoh, Nioh & Tadasuke)

While Kongoh with Red Tadasuke might have kept it clean, STINGER did not and while their music was still playing and even before the bell had sounded, Yoshinari Ogawa decided to attack Tadasuke. Tadasuke remained the subject of his focus throughout the match, although it's hard to know exactly what Tadasuke has done recently to Ogawa, but then again it could just be a combination of them both being the leaders of their group and their past history. 

Haoh was out to prove himself today, and Kotaro wanted him to do this too. Easier than Ogawa when it comes to title matches, all Kotaro asks is that you prove yourself and you challenge, and he was determined to keep Haoh in the ring, STINGER naturally came in from time to time, but Kongoh had to be kept out. The crowd were very much behind Haoh, who got the win with a combination of speed, luck and sheer desperation. 

WINNER: Haoh pinned Kotaro Suzuki (16 minutes, 24 seconds)

Haoh rolled about the ring in almost the same frenzied manner that Kaito Kiyomiya did when he won the GHC Heavyweight, STINGER, however found nothing to celebrate and contested it to the referee. Tadasuke got in the ring clapping, practically in HAYATA'S face. Kotaro cannot say no now (although he probably will) as Haoh addressed him afterwards as he was leaving, basically saying he couldn't deny that he was the next belt challenger. 

MATCH SIX
The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura, Kazushi Sakuraba & NOSAWA Rongai) vs The M'S Alliance (Naomichi Marufuji, Keiji Mutoh & Yuko Miyamoto)

As Kazushi Sakuraba made his entrance (he and Keiji Mutoh made separate entrances to their teammates), Naomichi Marufuji decided to annoy Takashi Sugiura and NOSAWA Rongai, by pointing at NOSAWA and complaining to Sugiura, and even making lunging motions at him. He was making such a nuisance of himself hanging around in the opposite corner, that in the end Sugiura told him to go away.

Kazushi Sakuraba and Keiji Mutoh started the match with Sakuraba mat wrestling him. Unfortunately this kind of looked a little clumsy on Mutoh's part; it might have worked a few years ago, but it just looked awkward. A better point of the match was their exchange later on, when Sakuraba decided to use submission moves with Sugiura and NOSAWA daring Naomichi Marufuji and Yuko Miyamoto to get in the ring. 

NOSAWA tried chopping Marufuji, it didn't work. They had a chop war which Marufuji no sold, and ended up knocking NOSAWA down. NOSAWA however had another target in mind, mainly Keiji Mutoh which he did the Shining Wizard on in usual twitchy fashion (and teasing Mutoh about his bad knees in the process), but Mutoh had his revenge and NOSAWA found himself on the receiving end as Marufuji sat imitating him, while sitting on the apron to keep Sugiura out of the ring. The next time Marufuji and Sugiura will meet, will be the N-1 Victory. 

WINNER: Keiji Mutoh with the Shining Wizard on NOSAWA Rongai (17 minutes, 54 seconds)

After posing with a sponsors sign (Nihonkai Club which sounds nice as they advertised they serve steak and beer), Keiji Mutoh spoke on the microphone. Hase evidently couldn't stay to address the crowd, so it fell to Mutoh to say that he was happy to be here, and he wanted to do his best to energize those watching pro wrestling.

WITH THANKS TO: Kei, Metal Noah, Asuka, Kosen, Abeshin 
GIF'S taken from WRESTLE-UNIVERSE
Noah's next show: Friday 18th September (N-1 Victory opening night)

​It's been six months since Noah have been able to leave Tokyo to hold events outside the city, and today they came to the beautiful Fujisan Messe. Mount Fuji was not very visible, when Noah arrived it was swathed in clouds, but for the fans although the clouds remained the skies seemed to have cleared with a beautiful late summer cornflower blue, despite the typhoon rolling in soon. The venue seems to be affected by the color of the mountain and was a mixture of greys, whites and silvers, but as ever with an atmosphere of fresh air and light. Fans were excited to go, and for those travelling from Tokyo it's only an hour by bullet train. 

Due to a combination of the venues outside of the big cities being smaller (for example, although Noah tried to keep fans and roster apart as much as they could, they were sharing one bathroom as there were no facilities backstage), and the roster having to travel by bus, the company did not want too many people crammed into too small a space due to the threat of infection. The show might have been small and rural, but it had a very good turnout (although I am unsure of the number as Noah did not publish it and one fan joked that as Masao Inoue was not on the card it might be affected), but it was intense. 

Event was not broadcast live today, but will be available to view on WRESTLE UNIVERSE on the 9th September. You will need to subscribe to the service to be able to watch it (900 yen per calendar month, with the first month free).  

MATCH ONE
Daisuke Harada vs Kinya Okada

Strong opener with Kinya Okada "raging" against Harada in a strong fight with arm attacks and kicks, Harada took all of this, but fought back with vicious elbows. Fans have noticed that as well as the Rolling Elbow that Harada seems to have incorporated into his moveset, he has worked on other attacks too.

WINNER: Daisuke Harada with the Diving Elbow Drop (10 minutes, 13 seconds)

MATCH TWO
Mohammed Yone vs Masa Kitamiya

Aside from Masa Kitamiya being not impressed by the "Disco Fever" pose that Yone did on entry, and pressing himself and glaring into the corner of the ring, I don't have too much information on this match, but it was said that despite it being billed as just an ordinary singles match, it was at the level of a N-1 match, despite the fact that Mohammed Yone is not in the league. 
 
WINNER: Masa Kitamiya with the Saito Suplex (9 minutes, 50 seconds)

​MATCH THREE
The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura & NOSAWA Rongai) vs Naomichi Marufuji & YO-HEY

Marufuji: Rongai! Come out!
NOSAWA: I don't want to die!
Marufuji nominating a reluctant NOSAWA at the beginning of the match

The main focus here was meant to be the N-1 Victory pre match between the Noah veterans, Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura, and while that was true to a certain extent the ultra rare card also saw Marufuji punish a reluctant NOSAWA Rongai and YO-HEY vs Takashi Sugiura, and although someone the size of YO-HEY has very little defence against someone made in SKYNET like Sugiura, they actually kind of worked well together. Despite this, YO-HEY seemed a lot happier today, although I do hope that he was sensible enough not to take a CyberFight t-shirt clad NOSAWA'S hand when he offered. 

WINNER: Takashi Sugiura with the Olympic Slam on YO-HEY (14 minutes, 44 seconds)

MATCH FOUR
FULL THROTTLE (Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara & Seiki Yoshioka) vs The Kongoh Juniors (Tadasuke, Haoh & Nioh)

"Excellent and spectacular!"

It must be said that when Tadasuke was in RATELS he was the sneaky villain, in Kongoh he is a heel and he is loving every single second of it, and it is what the unit needed, especially the juniors. Nioh even went as far as to tell someone in the audience off for clapping for FULL THROTTLE. 

FULL THROTTLE were all smiles; Atsushi Kotoge acting the usual crazy person, and Seiki Yoshioka giggling at something (probably Kotoge) in a chaotic match. 

WINNER: Haoh with the Jack Knife on Seiki Yoshioka (21 minutes, 37 seconds)

Haoh said in the post match interview that as he pinned Yoshioka, Kotoge better take note, he was coming for his belt, "asshole!". Haoh sadly does not seem to realize that he needs to pin Kotoge in order to convince him to give him a title shot, he is not going to care he has pinned Yoshioka. 

MATCH FIVE
Go Shiozaki, Kaito Kiyomiya & Shuhei Taniguchi vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Yoshiki Inamura)

"Darkside Nakajima"

Katsuhiko Nakajima made his Kongoh debut wearing a maroon coat (not really red) with the hood up, with chains and studs. His part in the Kongoh pose is to sit on the ringpost and watch them pose. The overall effect is sinister. 

Go Shiozaki, Nakajima's former tag partner, came out looking tired, sad and unshaven. He took a long hard sorrowful look at the new Nakajima. Kayfabe the betrayal has been hard on Shiozaki mentally, while physically and in reality the GHC Heavyweight title reign has been hard on him too as he took his jacket off today to reveal that his athletic supports were on both arms and stretched from almost his taped shoulders to nearly his wrists. He faced off with Nakajima in the opening of the match, with Nakajima kicking him around and Shiozaki responding with chops that sounded over the quiet arena like gunshots. Later Nakajima teamed with Kenoh to rub Shiozaki's face in it further, by doing their version of "Endless Love", which saw Kenoh and Nakajima kick Shiozaki between them.

Aside from Nakajima and Shiozaki, the other fight was between Kenoh and Kaito Kiyomiya, with Kiyomiya slapping Yoshiki Inamura who was squaring up to him, without taking his eyes off of Kenoh. 

In the midst of all this emotion of hatred, jealousy, sibling rivalry, betrayal and heartbreak, Monster Taniguchi emerged and took out Kongoh, but the win was not his. 

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the Vertical Spike on Shuhei Taniguchi (25 minutes, 52 seconds)

This win before their N-1 match, was a huge upset between Nakajima and Taniguchi, but Nakajima's attention was focused on Shiozaki as he told him "Are you really "I am Noah?" Ha ha ha ha ha! I laugh at you! AXIZ bond? There never was such a thing. That is emotionally messed up thinking, you need to bring it to the ring. Where should I aim next? I'll break you, I'll break you, bit by bit..."

Shiozaki said nothing, but quietly left. 

Kenoh, however, was going to have his say and typically the object his vitriol was Kaito Kiyomiya who he yelled as Kiyomiya was leaving, "When you were GHC Heavyweight Champion, you didn't want to participate, but this time you aim to win in your first appearance?" Kenoh then deliberately spoke the last sentence to Kiyomiya very slowly, "Don't underestimate the N-1". Once Kiyomiya had gone, Kenoh started yelling that he was going to win the N-1 and would change everything about what Noah is. 
The last (and most telling word given what fans are predicting is going to happen in Kongoh) came from Katsuhiko Nakajima who said that from now on, fans should "keep an eye on himself and Kongoh". After that Kongoh did their pose, with Nakajima sitting quietly on the ringpost, watching them...

With thanks to: Ya, Metal Noah, Pyu, Fujieda Mirko, Rembrandt, Juan Casado Barton
Picture credit: Noah GHC 
Noah's next show, "THE REVIVAL" will be on Sunday 13th in Ishikawa. ​