​"The sacred place where the green light shines"

It was a hot afternoon in Tokyo as fans queued outside of Korakuen Hall to attend the Misawa Memorial event to snap up the walk up tickets. Fans felt a sense of excitement but also apprehension, and no one could guess what was going to happen to night. As ever in Noah, what seems like a certainty is never the case. 

Unlike previous years the Misawa Memorial was going to be different due to the circumstances, there was to be no streamers, no ring welcome, and even no picture above the ring. Noah made up for this though by playing Misawa's favorite artist, Motoharu Sano, and the Tiger Mask II theme during the show. The lobby was full of flowers, and online old Noah alumni, former roster members and fans remembered him. Noah also opened the merchandise stand exclusively to Misawa merchandise. The green ring did not make an appearance, but the hall was lit up in green and the roster wore green taping (HAYATA wrapped it around his arm) or memorial bands. 

Takashi Sugiura turned 51 years old today. Fans couldn't give him presents like they normally would, but in a way today was a kind of present, and like any birthday you inevitably get a gift that you don't want, and he would get just that. Marufuji said cheerfully that today they would both "show what we have been walking together today". 

The event was broadcast over three channels; ABEMA, WrestleUniverse and FiteTV, with special guest Kenta Kobashi commentating the GHC National Match...and it's aftermath. You must be a subscriber to be able to view the replay. 

MATCH ONE
Seiki Yoshioka vs Haoh

Due to YO-HEY being absent as he has had to self isolate due to being exposed to Coronavirus, the match was changed from the grudge match between Yoshioka and YO-HEY to a singles match between Yoshioka and Haoh. Although it was an energetic opener, that is all it was, as neither really had any reason to be in the ring together. 

Winner: Seiki Yoshioka with the Boston Crab (4 minutes, 50 seconds)

​MATCH TWO
Kaito Kiyomiya, Yoshiki Inamura, Kinya Okada & Junta Miyawaki vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Manabu Soya, Nioh & Tadasuke)

Kaito Kiyomiya came to the ring looking flattened and still moping, despite the fact he was wearing new gear, which did little to brighten thing and he looked as if he had shadows around his eyes. Kenoh, naturally, was immediately irritated by the sight of Kiyomiya and beckoned to him (with a few expletives thrown in) to start the match. Kenoh knocked Kiyomiya down, which made Kiyomiya scream with rage and erupt. As one fan noted, with Kiyomiya like this it all falls to Yoshiki Inamura, which may cause the break between them.

Yoshiki Inamura hit the ring after Kongoh had worked over Junta Miyawaki, and Tadasuke decided to insert himself for some reason between Inamura charging at Manabu Soya. He looked like he had collided with a train as Inamura simply picked him up and ran with him, and then when Tadasuke bounced back, was hit with a massive shoulder tackle. Inamura continued his show of strength by picking up Soya and putting him on his shoulder as if he weighed nothing, and Soya weighs 112 kgs according to the official Noah site. 

Earlier, Kenoh had made comments on his Twitter about facing a "piss poor team" (the actual translation is a team that is immature, but it's kind of the same meaning), and he found himself in a kick fight with Kinya Okada. It was by no means a "Kick Fight From Hell" though.

WINNER: Kenoh with the PFS on Kinya Okada (12 minutes, 25 seconds)

Kenoh and Kiyomiya stared at each other afterwards, and after Kiyomiya rolled out of the ring he shook the iron barrier in rage. Kenoh decided to taunt him by saying on the microphone about having something worthwhile to say, and ending with "shut the fuck up". One person who probably wished that Kenoh would "shut the fuck up", is Noah\DDT President and the current target of Kenoh's wrath, Sanshiro Takagi. Kenoh of course cut a long promo about CyberFight Festival 2021, and Takagi. The main gist of Kenoh's rant was that he would "protect Noah". 

MATCH THREE
*Match of The Year*
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Championship Match
STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA) vs Daisuke Harada & Hajime Ohara

The match could only start with Daisuke Harada vs Yoshinari Ogawa, Ogawa even shoved the ref aside to start with Harada as the bitterness between the two runs very deep. Harada fought with gritted teeth, and he was going to need grit as was not only Ogawa playing very clever mind games with him, making him believe that he was going to do something but not actually do it, STINGER also attacked his knee. This was something Harada expected from Ogawa, but not something he had ever seen in the HAYATA he had known, especially when HAYATA would give him his head into getting to the ropes and then drag him back at the last moment. Each time Harada fell outside of the ring, Ogawa was waiting. No matter how much they attacked his knee, no matter how close to fainting he was when Ogawa used the Figure 4, quitting would mean that Ogawa had finally won. It was not an option. 

As much as HAYATA had changed some things remained the same, and it was because of this that Harada was able to turn the tide and tag in Ohara. With Harada on the outside, his knee damaged, it left Ohara alone with STINGER who he was at the mercy of. Ohara had his own plan for such a situation, and it was to make Ogawa angry, and so when Harada was able to tag in and take over, Ogawa was not in a position to be anything other than worn down by the attacks to the head and then the Katayama German Suplex for the win.  

If you like technical wrestling, then this match is for you. 

WINNER: Daisuke Harada with the Katayama German Suplex on Yoshinari Ogawa (26 minutes, 52 seconds)

STINGER retreated back under their rock, while an elated Momo No Seishun limped to the back.

MATCH FOUR
GHC Heavyweight Tag Championship Match
THE AGGRESSION (Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya) vs Funky Express (Mohammed Yone & Shuhei Taniguchi)

Suitable red lights and a fiery pyro greeted THE AGGRESSION as they got off the bus from Hell to walk to the ring. Kenoh sat and looked petulant on commentary. 

Throughout the match, Masa Kitamiya seemed to have his mind on other things. He didn't react as he normally did to Yone's Disco Fever rope break, giving him only a gut punch after a pause, and then taking him down the second time with a rough shoulder tackle. 
Katsuhiko Nakajima, however, had his big evil smile, and as things were going so well for him he ended up getting cocky and then thanks to Taniguchi outwitting him, ended up accidentally kicking Masa Kitamiya in the face. Kongoh were ready on the apron to get involved as Nakajima was bounced between Taniguchi and Yone. However. Kitamiya rallied and saved him, but there was only so much that he could do, and at least for a few moments Yone got to savor his triumph as victory looked so certain. Demons can be deceptive though and Nakajima got the win.    

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the Vertical Spike on Mohammed Yone (21 minutes, 5 seconds)

THE AGGRESSION celebrated their win in the ring, Nakajima requesting the fist bump from Kitamiya, and all looked well. Kitamiya slightly turned to face the camera with a "this guy" look on his face after it seemed that Nakajima apologized for kicking him in the face, and then as Nakajima went to leave the ring, caught him and slammed him. 
Kenoh left his seat on commentary, and flanked by the other members of Kongoh, asked Kitamiya what the hell he thought he was doing?!

Kitamiya gave his reply to Nakajima;

"What are you doing!? I don't trust you! I have hated you since I entered Kensuke Office! I can't stand you anymore. Kenoh, thank you for your help!"

Then he left, breaking the tag, leaving Kongoh and vacating the title belts. Kongoh gathered their wits about them and left the ring, Manabu Soya hoisting Nakajima on to his shoulder. Backstage Nakajima muttered "son of a bitch...son of a bitch", Kenoh growled "Kitamiya..." on Twitter, and Kitamiya himself saying that he was tired of having to pretend that he and Katsuhiko Nakajima were not "bitter enemies in the same boat" ever since Nakajima entered Kongoh. 

MATCH FIVE
GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship Match
Atsushi Kotoge vs Susumu

Kaito Kiyomiya came out to sulk on commentary as the two old friends\rivals from Osaka Pro and elsewhere faced each other down for the GHC Junior Heavyweight. As STINGER had lost the junior tag belts earlier in the evening, it was now up to Susumu to try and get some pride back. 

Kotoge knew that there were two things he had to do in this match, avoid the dreaded face lock and win. Susumu did manage to catch him in it, but Kotoge managed to escape, almost as if he was bolting for the exit.

WINNER: Atsushi Kotoge with the Killswitch (12 minutes, 31 seconds)

Kotoge then found himself with a lot of challengers all clamoring for a shot at the belt, Ikuto Hidaka (said he would be the most interesting), Seiki Yoshioka (who squared up to him) and Tadasuke came to the ring accompanied by their units. Only the others in STINGER did not appear. In order to satisfy everyone and keep the peace in division who could start a mass brawl with each other for no reason, Kotoge suggested they sort it out in the way that every Noah Junior would respect and understand. A rumble. The winner of this would get a shot at the title. Kotoge said he wanted every Noah junior to enter this, even his own unit. Ohara was enthusiastic, Miyawaki made no comment, but Harada said that he was the only contender and he would win it and challenge. 

MATCH SIX
GHC National Championship Match
Takashi Sugiura vs Kazushi Sakuraba

Kenta Kobashi (looking as if he was slowly inching his seat away from his co-commentator, NOSAWA Rongai), was at ringside commentary for this. It's probably best that it wasn't Kenoh, who would have gone up in flames on seeing Sakuraba and Sugiura mess around for the first few minutes of the match with Sakuraba twisting Sugi's ears. 

The GHC National has come to be characterized by very MMA style matches, and today's match was no exception. Sakuraba exploited Sugiura's weakness in this area by repeatedly pulling him in to ground attacks, and even targeting his knee. Each time he did, Sugi pulled him back up to his sphere, and let loose a flurry of elbows at one point. The MMA ground attacks and Sakuraba's submissions, as Sugiura himself admitted, are not used in wrestling so while Sugiura has a background in it, it is not something he comes across each time in the ring, and Sakuraba's submissions are different as a result and so he had good reason to fear them, but if he was going to win this match then he was going to have to bide his time and catch Sakuraba unawares. Playing him at his own game was going to be no good. He had to play Sugiura's.

WINNER: Takashi Sugiura with the School Boy (15 minutes, 18 seconds)

A handshake and a playful attack from Takashi Sugiura, meant that no lasting harm was done between the two, and that most likely Sakuraba would be paying for celebratory drinks. But there wasn't long to fool around or wait for the next challenger as Super Sasadango Machine had finally found his way into the venue, and he had bought Danshoku Dino with him. 
Sugiura commanded them in the same tone as Riki Choshu had once used to not get into the ring. He had to tell them twice, so they had to make their sales pitch, in the form of some printed out PowerPoine sheets, while standing on the apron. Sugiura looked puzzled, while Sakuraba couldn't stop laughing at their match suggestion for CyberFight Festival which was to challenge for their Saku & Sugi belts in a match that Sasadango once did with NOSAWA, when they spun round on the handle of baseball bats. Sasadango was sure this would be at the top of Yahoo News. Sugiura agreed to a match, although sadly not the spinning bats or the "Sugi Saku" titles, and then when the intruders had gone, cheered the crowd with, "1,2,3...Noah"

MATCH SEVEN
Keiji Mutoh & Masato Tanaka vs Naomichi Marufuji & Masakatsu Funaki 

In homage to his teacher, Naomichi Marufuji came to the match wearing a Tiger Mask. Marufuji has a collection of these masks and had always wanted to be a masked wrestler, it never happened for various reasons, and also Giant Baba wouldn't let him. Keiji Mutoh came out wearing the gown that had been specially designed for him, which he wore to the Misawa Memorial show in 2009. 

After a handshake with Keiji Mutoh, the M's alliance went to war with each other. The stiff tough Masato Tanaka who battered his opponents, the flawless Masakatsu Funaki and the last pre-match between Naomichi Marufuji and GHC Heavyweight Champion, Keiji Mutoh. If Marufuji fell into any trap here, it was hubris. Hubris in underestimating Mutoh. Marufuji had said he wanted to get results on this day before Mitsuharu Misawa, but at the end of the line, Mutoh was waiting for him after kicking out of the Shiranui. Tanaka battered Marufuji with the Sliding D, and Mutoh dug in with the Figure 4. Marufuji did the unthinkable, and tapped. As cool as anything, Mutoh simply unlocked the move and accepted the win. 

WINNER: Keiji Mutoh via Figure 4 submission on Naomichi Marufuji (18 minutes, 3 seconds)

Marufuji, ice pack held to knee and limping, had learnt an important lesson; do not underestimate Keiji Mutoh. He limped over to the commentary booth where Kenta Kobashi was, and gave him a deep bow. Kobashi had a wistful slow smile as he watched him leave. 

The ring faded to green and then black as Noah showed a video package of Mitsuharu Misawa to close the show out, and as the official Twitter put it "You will always be in the ring". 

With thanks to: Abeshin, Yoriki, Metal-Noah, Tahtaunwa
GIFS taken from WrestleUniverse
Noah's next event: CyberFight Festival, 6th June 2021

​Noah had to make an urgent card change before the event began today in Niigata as yesterday in Yokohama, Kotaro Suzuki started to feel unwell, and a positive PCR test was taken. Noah immediately pulled him from the show, and as a result they are four men down with YO-HEY, Yasutaka Yano and Kai Fujimura having to self isolate. Fortunately, Kotaro is not showing any other symptoms, so hopefully either he has a mild case or it is a false negative. 

Despite the event being in Niigata, which is the hometown of DDT'S Super Sasadango Machine, who has had an endless quest to request from Takashi Sugiura a match for CyberFest, he did not show up today at the event and in any case Takashi Sugiura did not want the gifts he left for him. Especially the Allegra allergy medicine. NOSAWA called it irritating and said he too wanted nothing to do with the match. 

Today's event took place at the Bandaijima Multipurpose Plaza Daikama. As this was once a fish market, the hall itself is very bright and spacious with big paneled windows. It has its drawbacks however, as being close to a river it got cold when Noah opened the doors for ventilation, and due to both the natural light and the electric lighting, it's not the best for photography at times. Event will be broadcast on WrestleUniverse on the 26th May. You must be a subscriber to view. As today's event was not shown live, I have more information in some places than others, so the recap may look sporadic. 

MATCH ONE 
Kongoh (Masa Kitamiya & Manabu Soya) vs Funky Express (Shuhei Taniguchi & Akitoshi Saito)
WINNER: Shuhei Taniguchi with the Funky Press on Manabu Soya (13 minutes, 3 seconds)

Shuhei Taniguchi had managed to defeat Kongoh, albeit not the tag champions, which kind of got him hinting that perhaps the problem was with Yone...

MATCH TWO
Junta Miyawaki & Kinya Okada vs Kongoh Juniors (Haoh and Nioh)

It was noted that Junta Miyawaki's knee pads slid down to his ankles (as per usual), but once again and like yesterday, it was not Miyawaki who either took the fall or lost the match.

WINNER: Nioh with the Stuka Splash on Kinya Okada (13 minutes, 5 seconds)

MATCH THREE
Kongoh (Kenoh & Tadasuke) vs NOSAWA Rongai & Ikuto Hidaka

Due to the card change, Kenoh wasn't facing a team which he could dub "inexperienced", and naturally NOSAWA provoked him by doing the fist pose when he had Tadasuke in a hold. It's rare to see Kenoh and Tadasuke tag, and their entry was Kenoh's fist pose and Tadasuke's pistol. Fans dubbed them "The Blonde Tag".

WINNER: Kenoh with the PFS on Ikuto Hidaka (12 minutes, 56 seconds)

MATCH FOUR
Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Mohammed Yone
"Killer Nakajima"

Mohammed Yone got beat down in twelve minutes by Katsuhiko Nakajima, who bought out all the kicks, apron kicks and everything else he had to punish him. Although Shuhei Taniguchi was at ringside, it looked like at one point Masa Kitamiya got involved to do some double teaming with Nakajima. 

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the Vertical Spike (12 minutes)

​With a bigger show tomorrow in Niigata, Noah held a smaller, more junior dominated event, in Yokohama today. Attendance was good with a lot of fans coming out from the local area and Tokyo, but one person found that while he could buy a ticket this time, he wasn't allowed to watch while wearing a mask. This person was of course DDT'S Super Sasadango Machine, who turned up today, bought a ticket and then was told by Noah's Iron Lady who runs the Reception Desk, that in addition to not being allowed to wear a mask, Takashi Sugiura wasn't here today, and so what was his business? Sasadango said that he was a masked wrestler, he couldn't take off his mask, and neither could he wear a surgical mask (not even a free Misawa Memorial one that THE LEAVE had given people) because he would suffocate, and now that he knew that Sugiura wasn't here, there was little point in staying. Sasadango had read Sugiura's comments, and had taken to heart one comment where he said he was "allergic" to him, so kindly he had bought some anti allergy tablets, Allegra, which Kazushi Sakuraba did the advert for. Handing these over, and the noodles he had also bought, he left calling to the fans to be excited about "Noah, DDT and CyberFight Festival" before vanishing from the arena to applause. Ironically, he had been sitting in the same seat that Kendo Kashin took when stalking Kenoh. 

Today's event was broadcast live on WrestleUniverse. You will be able to view this only if you are a subscriber to the service. 

MATCH ONE
Yoshiki Inamura vs Kinya Okada

Noah's rookie ref found himself referring a easier than usual match, as it had two polite and non troublesome Noah born in it. It is unusual that two heavyweights would open the show, but today's card is not really a normal one, and fans felt that the match was wasted as an opener. Kinya Okada worked throughout the match to keep Yoshiki Inamura down, but Inamura had a surprise for both him and the fans by breaking out a new move.

WINNER: Yoshiki Inamura with a deformed Canadian Backbreaker  (9 minutes, 6 seconds)

MATCH TWO
Kotaro Suzuki & YO-HEY vs Kai Fujimura & Yasutaka Yano

Sepia unhappy YO-HEY. No colors, only black and white. No crazy lock ups, no smile, no colorful tongue. Nothing. 

Yano started off against his hero, Kotaro Suzuki, and did the flip move which Kotaro himself had once used. Cocky Fujimura, however, tried to knock Kotaro off of the apron. The ref only slightly managed to stop him getting in, after which Yano and Fujimura double teamed YO-HEY, which Kotaro did not see as a threat. The rookies were punished throughout the match with Kotaro and YO-HEY taking their frustrations out on them. 

WINNER: Kotaro Suzuki with a body elbow to Yasutaka Yano (10 minutes, 59 seconds)

MATCH THREE
Funky Express (Mohammed Yone, Shuhei Taniguchi & Masao Inoue) vs Kongoh (Haoh, Nioh & Tadasuke)

Tadasuke came to the ring today without his traditional red leather jacket, and wore only a Kongoh t-shirt, and Akitoshi Saito came out looking unhappy and thus proving that YO-HEY is not the only miserable person. 

Little Haoh started off against Big Yone, and quickly demonstrated that he hated Disco as much as everyone else. Despite the fact that Tadasuke is really the only one out of the three of them that could possibly go head to head with the heavyweights, The Kongoh Juniors did quite well against them, and at one point in the match, Haoh almost pinned Taniguchi. That was until they stopped to celebrate and Taniguchi obliterated Tadasuke and Nioh, which left Haoh alone with three heavyweights. He was taken out so thoroughly that the referee had to check on him as he wasn't moving. 

WINNER: Shuhei Taniguchi with the Funky Press on Haoh (15 minutes, 44 seconds)

​The Kongoh Juniors had lost to Kongoh's current enemies, and Tadasuke was seen slapping the mat on losing. Akitoshi Saito watched them leave looking like he would have preferred to have been even on the losing team if it meant joining them. 

MATCH FOUR
Kaito Kiyomiya vs NOSAWA Rongai

NOSAWA, who had come to the ring flanked by an unsmiling YO-HEY and Kotaro Suzuki, actually started the match off in a civilized manner by offering a handshake, which Kaito Kiyomiya politely accepted. For once there was no funny business in it, but this being NOSAWA, the match wasn't going to stay civilized and after a period of actually wrestling, he rolled out of the ring and for a few moments took a seat in the crowd. YO-HEY was seen to be slightly squaring up to Kiyomiya. Kiyomiya got out of the ring and was smashed in the  by a massive chair shot by NOSAWA. The ref was furious as he gave NOSAWA a stern warning, even shoving him. 
In the ring, fans saw the very rare sight of Kaito Kiyomiya bleeding. And bleed he did, his face turned crimson and his body was covered in blood which stretched down to his legs, there was blood on the mat, on the referee, and when the fight went out of the ring and into the crowd, on seats. NOSAWA made it worse by gouging the wound. More foul play (as Giant Baba would have termed it) followed, with Kotaro distracting the ref and YO-HEY throwing NOSAWA a chair, following this the fight went into the crowd again and ended with a count out thanks to NOSAWA throwing chairs at Kiyomiya.  

WINNER: NOSAWA Rongai via count out (12 minutes, 55 seconds)

Kaito Kiyomiya erupted in a way that no one had ever seen before, or even thought he was capable of. He and Kenoh had their fights and their rivalry, and their shoving matches, but this was no longer meek and mild Kiyomiya. This was something else. No one had ever seen Kiyomiya actually throw the referee out of the ring, beat his friend Yoshiki Inamura down with two elbows and then a few stomps when he attempted to stop him from chasing NOSAWA (who had hightailed it backstage), and then return to rough the ref up and scruff the front of his shirt. As one fan put it, this was the "new side of Kiyomiya". Backstage, Kiyomiya said he didn't know if this was pro wrestling, and left screaming loudly. 

MATCH FIVE
Elimination match
Momo No Seishun (Atsushi Kotoge, Daisuke Harada, Hajime Ohara & Junta Miyawaki) vs STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa, HAYATA, Yuya Susumu & Seiki Yoshioka)

Any other match between eight Noah juniors all in one ring would start off with the traditional division brawl, but elimination matches seem to be the best way to get them to behave. The first half of the match, until Atsushi Kotoge was eliminated by Yoshinari Ogawa at 29 minutes and 43 seconds, and Yuya Susumu was eliminated by Kotoge at 23 minutes and 40 seconds, was between the GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, and his challenger. The second saw more of a fight over the GHC Junior Tag challenge. Fortunately NOSAWA didn't show his face and therefore there was no outside interference, but this was left to HAYATA who tripped Harada from the apron, and aside from this and the mass brawls which broke out at times, the match was generally free from the bonfire it could have become.

Hajime Ohara eliminated Seiki Yoshioka with the Tres Fleur (submission, 18 minutes, 39 seconds)
Atsusuhi Kotoge eliminated Yuya Susumu with the Killswitch (pinfall, 23 minutes, 40 seconds)
HAYATA eliminated Junta Miyawaki with the Cross Fix (pinfall, 27 minutes, 46 seconds)
Yoshinari Ogawa eliminated Atsushi Kotoge (over the top rope, 29 minutes, 43 seconds)
Yoshinari Ogawa and Daisuke Harada eliminated each other (36 minutes and 38 seconds)
HAYATA defeated Hajime Ohara with the 403 Impact (39 minutes, 57 seconds) 

​Momo No Seishun gathered round Hajime Ohara, who had been run ragged by STINGER, Daisuke Harada holding an ice pack to the back of Ohara's neck. Yoshinari Ogawa, overjoyed that his team had won, went to help HAYATA up and STINGER basically celebrated by rubbing it in their opponents faces when their victory was announced and their arms raised. Fans noted how Ogawa trusts HAYATA, but the question remains, can he really trust him? Ogawa himself raised concerns about the relationship of the other three in STINGER that he could not share. Backstage, and using rare bad language for him, Ohara could only apologize for losing to STINGER for the second time, with Daisuke Harada repeating "Tomorrow...Tomorrow...Tomorrow". 

Attendance: 151 (full to capacity under the amount of tickets Noah are allowed to sell currently)
With thanks to: Gong-Ex, Tantaunwa, Abeshin, Kei
GIFS taken from WrestleUniverse & Noah Official YouTube.
Noah's next show: 23rd May 2021

​Following in the footsteps of the DDT\Noah invasions of the past few weeks, DDT'S Sasadango (complete with camera) decided to try and show up at Noah today, and joined the 497 fans heading towards Korakuen in a humid early summer Tokyo. While 497 people might have found it easy to buy a ticket, he was told he wasn't allowed, and after wandering around the building, he was met with a withering look when at reception he asked if he should fill in some kind of form. Wondering how on earth this worked as Takeshita, Kenoh, Kaito Kiyomiya and Yoshiki Inamura managed it, he left two boxes of Ramen for Takashi Sugiura. NOSAWA was given them to to give to Sugi, who chose one and gave the other to Noah's CEO, Narihiro Takeda. Everyone else (after some people bought Funky Express flashing glasses from merchandise), took their seats in the hall, as Noah played Jumbo Tsuruta's theme "Rolling Dreamer" as a tribute to his memory. To explain quickly, Jumbo Tsuruta was the senior of Noah's seniors (Misawa, Kobashi, Taue, Akiyama), and had a hand in training Yoshinari Ogawa and Naomichi Marufuji, sadly he passed away on May 13th 2000. If Giant Baba is Noah's Grandfather, Tsuruta is Noah's uncle.  

Today's show was titled "ALL OUT ATTACK", which apparently is the name of a Godzilla movie. While there may have only been one beast fight\Hoss fight on the card, it can be said to be very true that cracks appeared between two units in the heavyweight league today.   

The event was streamed live on ABEMA, but while this was a free live broadcast, I am not going to post link as ABEMA have changed their policy. Events can be viewed live and for free, but you must now be an ABEMA premium member to view the replay. The event will eventually be put up on WrestleUniverse. 

MATCH ONE
Kinya Okada vs Yasutaka Yano

I can imagine that from watching Yasutaka Yano's reversal into submission today, that he is probably the prize pupil Yoshinari Ogawa (and Hajime Ohara). Yano is able to wrestle to a similar Showa style as Kinya Okada, and while I think Okada enhances it, this is the basic Noah style that is inherited from Baba, Tsuruta, Tenryu etc, these two seem two Noah Born gel when using various levels of it. Yano put up a good fight, but fans feel that Okada needs to progress to doing more than the opener. He himself would agree with this, saying backstage he wants to "fight higher people".

WINNER: Kinya Okada with the Sharpshooter (5 minutes, 44 seconds)

MATCH TWO
Kotaro Suzuki, YO-HEY & NOSAWA Rongai vs Kongoh Juniors (Haoh, Nioh & Tadasuke)

Kongoh's Haoh and Tadasuke made their return to the ring today. Fortunately neither of them caught COVID from Kenoh, which is a relief in the case of Haoh who is asthmatic, and Tadasuke's happiness to be back was quite inappropriate for Kongoh, who seem to hate fun of any kind. Tadasuke wasted no time adjusting his glasses at the ringside camera, and as we were soon to see, Crazy Tadasuke was also back too. 

Since being betrayed by HAYATA for STINGER, and then being betrayed by Seiki Yoshioka in the same way for the same reason, YO-HEY has not been completely his usual bouncy self. Today he was very subdued, and didn't even have colors in his hair. Subdued YO-HEY, Crazy Tadasuke, it didn't matter, because the fight started in typical Noah Junior style, a mass brawl, which left Noah's poor junior ref standing and waving his arms helplessly. Somehow he managed to regain order and get everyone into their corners. 

Before Tadasuke had to self isolate he had started training with Yoshiki Inamura's tires, which he probably went back to once he could return, and you could tell that this had paid off when Kotaro collided with him as if he was crashing into a brick wall, and he threw YO-HEY about effortlessly. 

WINNER: YO-HEY with the YO-ROLL on Haoh (6 minutes, 19 seconds)

MATCH THREE
Momo No Seishun (Atsushi Kotoge & Junta Miyawaki) vs STINGER (Yuya Susumu & Seiki Yoshioka)

Back with his old friends HAYATA and Yuya Susumu, and away from Hajime Ohara's kindhearted influence and aligned with that of Yoshinari Ogawa's, a very different Seiki Yoshioka came to Korakuen Hall today wearing a new blue costume which was almost as icy as he had become. Inside and outside the ring he used STINGER style tactics, apron interference with kicks when Kotoge took the ropes, and intruding via an over the top rope kick to Kotoge's head. He and Susumu had a strategy, wear Atsushi Kotoge down and keep Junta Miyawaki away. Miyawaki was repeatedly knocked off of the apron while Kotoge was worked on. Miyawaki did get his chance however, and in true division style, the match dissolved into chaos. He also got his revenge on Yoshioka by throwing him out. 

​Old friends Kotoge and Susumu have known each for a long time, and so neither for a while could find a way around the other, but it was Susumu who found a way.  

WINNER: Yuya Susumi with a Facelock on Atsushi Kotoge (9 minutes, 41 seconds)

The Noah Juniors in the previous match might have left without a fight as Kongoh are not the targets of NOSAWA'S team at the moment, however, STINGER are and a fight broke out after the match when Yoshioka was jumped by YO-HEY and Kotaro joined in. After the brawl was over, and YO-HEY and co had left, Susumu and Kotoge had a stare off in the ring. 

MATCH FOUR
Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura vs The M's alliance (Masato Tanaka & Masaaki Mochizuki)

Kaito Kiyomiya has lost a lot of his young idealism since losing to Keiji Mutoh, and has been searching for something to ignite his dreams again. Sadly, he didn't find it today, and has begun to question his ability of taking the leading role against both Masato Tanaka and other veterans. 

Today's match was mainly between Masato Tanaka and the increasingly morose Kaito Kiyomiya. Tanaka, the veteran, knows from experience that if attacking the upper body doesn't work (and it didn't against Inamura unsurprisingly) attack the legs. He had many ways throughout the match to take out both Inamura and Kiyomiya.  Masaaki Mochizuki, the other person in the match, found that kicking Kiyomiya had no effect (Kiyomiya is used to being kicked) as Kiyomiya yelled "Come on!" at him, and then he was ganged up on later in the match by the Noah born who crowded him into a corner. The match was so intense, so strong was Kiyomiya's need to overcome Tanaka (and probably Inamura throwing his opponents as if they weight nothing), that the ringpost camera was knocked off. 

WINNER: Masato Tanaka with the Sliding D on Yoshiki Inamura (15 minutes, 1 second)

​Staring angrily at Tanaka, Kiyomiya rolled Inamura out of the ring.

MATCH FIVE
Kongoh (Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masa Kitamiya & Manabu Soya) vs Funky Express (Mohammed Yone, Shuhei Taniguchi, Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue)

Kenoh returned from illness tonight, and found that Kongoh had changed in his absence. Katsuhiko Nakajima was now the focus, and this started right from the moment they entered, with Kenoh having to come to a screeching halt as Nakajima stopped in the walk to the ring to start looking and pointing around. Kenoh gave off the impression throughout the match of looking a bit left out, although he and Nakajima did kick Mohammed Yone around between him. Another person who was looking glum, was Akitoshi Saito, who remained Kongoh's focus right from the time wobbly Inoue was jumped by Kenoh and the others while doing their funky pose on ring entry. Nakajima had a big grin when slapping Saito around. 

WINNER: Mohammed Yone with the Kinniku Buster on Manabu Soya (12 minutes, 52 seconds)

Funky Express were so happy with their win, finally Disco had triumphed! As Kenoh stalked off angry (although he later said on TWITTER that it felt good to return home to wrestling), Mohammed Yone spoke on the microphone and did what everyone knew what he was going to do, and challenged THE AGGRESSION for the GHC Heavyweight Tag Titles, telling Nakajima to take a look at what he just saw, and that they had no intention of "being put out of business", and if he wasn't scared of "old men", then he should accept their title challenge. 

Katsuhiko Nakajima thought this was the funniest thing he had ever heard, and started laughing. In typical mocking style he asked them whether or not they should be telling everyone that they were "going out of business", he then added in sarcastically about being too scared of the "power of the old men" to give them a title shot. The audience however, applauded, and becoming serious Nakajima made it for "the best stage", by which he means May 31st at the Mitsuharu Misawa memorial. 

MATCH SIX
The Sugiura Army vs The Sugiura Army
Takashi Sugiura & Kazuyuki Fujita vs Kazushi Sakuraba & Kazunari Murakami

There was a mini stand off between Kazuyuki Fujita (who appears to have no feelings either way about Takashi Sugiura taking the belt off of him) and Kazunari Murakami, which fortunately did not last long. When Takashi Sugiura finally locked up with Kazushi Sakuraba, it was, like the rest of the match, done in very much of an MMA style. The atmosphere of the match reminded me somewhat of The Sugiura Army produce when they all fought to see who was the strongest, except there was no Kongoh, and there where no "playful old men" either, tonight "Sugi and Saku" became rivals. 

WINNER: Kazushi Sakuraba with the ankle lock (15 minutes, 38 seconds)

MATCH SEVEN
Keiji Mutoh & STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA) vs Naomichi Marufuji & Momo No Seishun (Daisuke Harada & Hajime Ohara)

The main event was a mixed junior heavyweight and heavyweight pre-match, and the first tag of Daisuke Harada & Hajime Ohara. Naomichi Marufuji shook hands his teammates, Hajime Ohara who was obliging and polite, and then after a pause from Daisuke Harada. Harada it looked like had been made to do it by Ohara, but there was no childishness between them today. Speaking of difficulties when shaking hands, Keiji Mutoh had no problems taking one from the normally reticent HAYATA.

Marufuji and Mutoh started the match, which probably saved it from turning into a junior brawl, especially since Harada and Ohara squared up to STINGER before the bell rang. Marufuji knows Mutoh well, but it was a different kind of knowing and not just one he has picked up when he fought The Great Muta as Magical Immortality, or the kind of knowing that comes from tagging, but the kind that came from observing, as he had been watching him ever since he was a child. 

The match contained some rare match ups, Marufuji vs HAYATA (HAYATA got chopped to the floor), and Ogawa and HAYATA teaming with Mutoh, which fans said was unusual in that Ogawa teamed with someone of another generation. Mutoh said later he could well understand why it was that Misawa had teamed with Ogawa. Ogawa vs Marufuji is not necessarily rare, but it can happen. HAYATA got a small look in too. While Mutoh did not specifically mention him, they were seen talking, which for HAYATA is a big thing. After the match, HAYATA was seen shyly patting him. 

With Ogawa & Ohara in the match, Noah's master technicians, you can well imagine that this match would go to double submission, it did twice and this was how the match ended. 

WINNER: Yoshinari Ogawa with the figure four on Hajime Ohara (23 minutes, 14 seconds)
​

​As mentioned above, Hajime Ohara and Yoshinari Ogawa are birds of a feather, and only one can make the other tap. STINGER of course had nothing to say about the match, but Ohara was different. Crawling on the floor of the interview booth, he apologized for what had happened. Kotoge said he too felt frustrated, with Harada saying frostily before walking off that he agreed it was frustrating, but it was never going to end like this. They were never going to give up, and would rally from here. 

As for Mutoh and Marufuji, Mutoh said he was confident in his stamina, but was worried about Marufuji's speed, which he found hard to keep up with. He also mentioned that in the future he would like to team with Ogawa for a tag belt. Marufuji spoke of the uniqueness of the pre-match and the uniqueness of the title match, and the damage that Mutoh could inflict in one go. 

Attendance: 497
With thanks to: Totoro_Hero, Tatsukun, Voyage, Abeshin. Metal-Noah
Noah's next event: ALL OUT ATTACK 2021, Yokohama Radiant Halls, 22nd May 2021.
Picture credits: Pro Wrestling DX

Noah's second night at Korakuen Hall was broadcast via WrestleUniverse, if you are a subscriber please click the link to view the show. There was a volatile atmosphere thanks to the all out war between the Noah juniors yesterday, which could be felt from the first match. With the bonfire that was lit yesterday, just what was going to happen today? 

MATCH ONE
Kotaro Suzuki, YO-HEY & NOSAWA Rongai vs Kinya Okada, Kai Fujimura & Yasutaka Yano

YO-HEY made his first appearance with new friends today, but this was a YO-HEY that was not as bouncy or as happy as usual and seemed somewhat sad. This was, as we will see later, also a nastier more angry YO-HEY. The presence of this team in the opener gave the feeling of a prelude. 

​This match was a big one for Yasutaka Yano, as he got to wrestle his hero, Kotaro Suzuki and he performed an amazing somersault during the opening stages which illustrates his potential as the Lucha the division needs. Kotaro is Noah's first born (Misawa gave him his name to reflect this), and interestingly Yano is double Noah born, as not only did he graduate the Noah dojo, he was also born on Noah's birthday, so the oldest today fought the youngest. Despite the fact that Kotaro had been taught too well by Ogawa to fall for any rookie tricks, Yano is often hard to pin and the boy kicked out of much of what was given out to him, but the Facial G proved too much. 

WINNER: YO-HEY with the Facial G on Yasutaka Yano (9 minutes, 29 seconds)

MATCH TWO
Kendo Kashin vs Masao Inoue

Kendo Kashin came out to the match. Got in the ring, and then went to the broadcast table as Inoue waved him back in the ring. The commentators told Kashin that he wasn't on guest commentary today, and a piece of paper confirmed this. Kashin could not even stay out of trouble when the ref checked him for weapons, and found something (that looked like a bottlecap) hidden in his mask. The bell rang and Inoue offered a handshake. Kashin, of all people suspected Inoue (of all people) of being up to something, and refused. Kashin then himself offered a handshake which Inoue took, and I have no idea what that was. 

The match continued in its random fashion, with Kashin going under the ring for a weapon and finding a birch broom, which he went to beat Inoue with. Inoue was saved by the referee, who made Kashin put it back. Then the fight went backstage, with Kashin stopping by the interview area where Murakami took a few shots at Inoue. When it came back out to the main hall, Inoue got squished behind the plastic perspex sheet, which was followed in true Inoue style by getting into a tussle with the iron gate. Back in the ring, after stamping on Inoue's toes and feigning being dazed when Inoue went to do his wind up punch, Kashin got the win with a submission. 

WINNER: Kendo Kashin with the arm-bar (9 minutes, 57 seconds)

Kashin was like a terrier, and wouldn't let go and when he did the weary looking referee had to remove the AED Box he threw into the ring from under it. Kashin then spoke on the microphone, and said something about "Masao" watching WrestleUniverse. Backstage he wasn't finished with him either, attacking Inoue in the interview area. 

MATCH THREE
KONGOH (Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masa Kitamiya & Nioh) vs Funky Express (Mohammed Yone, Shuhei Taniguchi & Akitoshi Saito)

Katsuhiko Nakajima was at his most demonic today, so much so fans said they were scared of him. Throughout the whole match Nakajima wore a huge Joker like grin as he choked out Akitoshi Saito (who looked unhappy compared to Mohammed Yone and Shuhei Taniguchi) with his feather boa and dusted his hands afterwards, and most especially demonic at the end of the match when his face seemed to be lit by some strange otherworldly light as he grabbed Taniguchi's hair and laughed in his face. He looked as if he was about to sink his teeth into his neck. 

Saito in particular seemed to draw the most ire from Kongoh, even from the junior Nioh, who seemed to despise him even more than the others. I think this is probably because they know he doesn't want to do it, and still does it, not following his "belief". Kenoh, who was watching from the balcony, was no doubt pleased with how Kongoh handed the situation.  

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the Vertical Spike on Shuhei Taniguchi (12 minutes, 41 seconds)
​

​Nakajima standing with his foot planted on Taniguchi's chest called for the microphone, telling the camera to zoom in on him, he spoke directly into the lens. 

"Tell me! How is it fun to support you half-assed guys? What is good? In a short while you will be shut down. I am looking forward to it."

Then he booted Taniguchi out of the ring, and left with the others in Kongoh, turning back at the top of the stairs with an evil grin. As for Funky Express, there had been nothing that anyone could do aside from Yone sitting and staring at the floor. 

MATCH FOUR
Kaito Kiyomiya vs Ikuto Hidaka

Both Kaito Kiyomiya and Yoshiki Inamura where to have veteran matches tonight, with Kiyomiya's being against a junior veteran. While Kiyomiya utilized submission holds, Hidaka utilized tricks. It was a good technical match and a good classroom for Kiyomiya, who is still searching for that something he lost when he lost against Keiji Mutoh. 

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Stretch Plum Type Face Lock (12 minutes, 18 seconds)

​As Kiyomiya was speaking on the microphone about the CyberFight Festival on June 6th, DDT'S Takeshita, and one half of his rivals at the event to come, walked in. Takeshita reminded him of what was coming up and asked him if he was truly ready for it. He and his partner where, but he had hardly seen intensity from Kiyomiya recently. Backstage Takeshita said that his whole purpose of coming here today was to tell Kiyomiya that if he wants new scenery, then he needs to stop sulking, and show an intense fight, which he hadn't seen for a while. 

MATCH FIVE
Momo No Seishun (Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara & Junta Miyawaki) vs STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa, HAYATA, Yuya Susumu & Seiki Yoshioka)

Not that they had any business being in the ring, but NOSAWA, Kotaro Suzuki, Ikuto Hidaka and YO-HEY decided to wait in the ring before the match started for their rivals to arrive. The referee tried to keep order as tensions started to rise and fights threatened to break out, which he somehow prevented. STINGER told them to get lost, as did Momo No Seishun, as Daisuke Harada waved his hand from the top of the ramp. Ohara looked a mixture of anger and sadness. Junta Miyawaki was too polite to tell NOSAWA and co to push off. Finally, the invaders left, YO-HEY lingering until the ref removed him, 
and so they reluctantly went backstage. For now. Then a mass brawl broke out when Ohara attacked Yoshioka. After this, things were as civil as they could be for a while, with amazing Daisuke Harada and Seiki Yoshioka interactions, but no matter who was fighting - the now more intense Yoshioka, or the angry Ohara torturing him - there was a feeling of anger in all three teams which had not been there before, not just annoyance. This period of civility ended with a mass brawl, and Susumu pointing at Kotoge and pinning Junta.

WINNER: Yuya Susumu with the Front Crash on Junta Miyawaki (23 minutes, 4 seconds)

Like the bad penny he is, NOSAWA turned up again with his group in tow, and a brawl broke out as YO-HEY attacked Yoshioka, and Ogawa and Kotaro fought. The brawl between YO-HEY and Yoshioka was eventually broken up, and when it broke out again they only did it to stir things up and walked off leaving STINGER and Momo No Seishun simmering with rage. 

​Susumu then took the chance to challenge Atsushi Kotoge for the GHC Junior Heavyweight. Kotoge told him his challenge had terms; he was welcome to challenge him and he would grant it, but only on one condition, STINGER put the GHC Junior Heavyweight tag belts up against Harada and Ohara. Ogawa of course made a fuss when he found out, but Kotoge thought the idea quite brilliant. STINGER have had no choice but to agree, and the tag belts will be defended on 30th May, as will the GHC Junior Heavyweight, at the Mitsuharu Misawa memorial show. 

MATCH SIX
Masato Tanaka vs Yoshiki Inamura

Kaito Kiyomiya sat on commentary as he watched his tag partner take on Masato Tanaka. For Inamura, like Kiyomiya, this was a learning curve, but in a different way as Inamura is not looking for inspiration or a spark to reignite his feelings. While Tanaka was dominant for much of the match, Inamura did at times gain the upper hand, and this led to praise from Tanaka afterwards who said that you could tell what Inamura did to train during the match, and it makes him stand out from the crowd.  Fans have labelled the battles against Tanaka (and there are more to come), "The wall for Noah's future".

WINNER: Masato Tanaka with the Superfly (13 minutes, 54 seconds)

MATCH SEVEN
The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura & Kazunari Murakami) vs The M's alliance (Naomichi Marufuji & Masaaki Mochizuki)

Naomichi Marufuji will have his pre-match with Keiji Mutoh at the end of the month, before then he had a loose end to tie up in Noah, which he had been waiting to do since 2007 when he was beaten and bloodied in five minutes and fifty seconds by Kazunari Murakami. They squared up today at the start of the match, but Murakami tagged in Sugiura and rattled, Marufuji tagged in Mochizuki. When they did clash it was just like 2007, Murakami kicking Marufuji around just like he had done then, and no selling his attacks and then just like old times, blood flowed, but this time from Murakami. Murakami was not the easiest to knock down, but Marufuji managed it and with the help of his new and increasingly powerful move. 

WINNER: Naomichi Marufuji with the Tiger King Zero (20 minutes, 24 seconds)

After the match, Marufuji closed out the show with a speech to the audience watching at home;

"We can hear the voice and the feelings of everyone in front of the screen. On the 6th June in Saitama, the challenge to Keiji Mutoh for the GHC has been decided, which means that I will keep protecting this ring all the time. The strength of your thoughts will be overwhelmingly powerful. Lets meet again at the venue."

With thanks to: Metal Noah, Abeshin
Noah's next show: Saturday May 15th, Korakuen Hall
GIFS taken from WrestleUniverse.

​Noah opened the show today on a dark and silent Korakuen Hall with only the ring lit, and the adverts they displayed as an extra form of revenue, lighting the arena. The card was advertised as a mystery, which is usually a Noah New Year tradition, and it certainly came as a surprise, leaving behind more questions and once again proving that nothing in the Noah Junior division can ever truly be predicted. It also left fans wondering that if this happened on the first night, what is going to happen tomorrow? 

Today's show was broadcast live on WrestleUniverse. You will be able to view it by clicking here, but you must be a subscriber as the stream was not free. 

MATCH ONE
Yasutaka Yano vs Kai Fujimura

Good young boy match to open the show, and the first of only two on the card which didn't have any kind of repercussion in or after it. Two things were obvious in this match, the first was how much Kai Fujimura has improved since he started receiving regular training at The Noah Dojo. A check on the official Noah site reveals that sadly, he has not joined the roster as a full time member yet. The second thing that was noticeable was the different styles of throwing an elbow, and as expected, Yano's was purely Noah. 

Fujimura used more submissions than Yano, who for the first two times got to the ropes, but after a very Hajime Ohara style submission, he tapped out. 

WINNER: Kai Fujimura with the Boston Crab (6 minutes, 24 seconds)

MATCH TWO
Kinya Okada & Yoshiki Inamura vs Funky Express (Mohammed Yone and Shuhei Taniguchi)

Yoshiki Inamura (looking immense today) had a test of strength with Shuhei Taniguchi, and as you can imagine, this was very much on the side of the man who is known for doing strongman training with tires and Atlas Stones, this didn't stop Taniguchi from slamming him later though. Taniguchi was not the only person who was taken aback by Yoshiki Inamura, Mohammed Yone was too and started to look worn down by both Inamura's attacks, and the fact that his attacks didn't seem to be going anywhere. The match was in no way a squash match, although the Noah Born were more dominant than their seniors, for Kinya Okada in particular there is a feeling that he is going to have a break out match soon. It was also significant for the two Noah Born that while they didn't win, they weren't defeated either. 

WINNER: Neither. 20 minutes time out draw

Funky Express decided that they had won, and pulled their Disco Fever pose. Anyone else would have shoved them or yelled at them. Everyone except a Noah Born, who politely left the ring after Inamura made a polite protest. 

MATCH THREE
Kotaro Suzuki, Ikuto Hidaka and NOSAWA Rongai vs Momo No Seishun (Atsushi Kotoge, Daisuke Harada & Junta Miyawaki)

As soon as Momo No Seishun got in the ring, NOSAWA and co (including Ikuto Hidaka who NOSAWA said he had fired, and even the commentators were wondering when he had been rehired), were straining at the bit and somehow a six man Noah Junior tag started on the bell, and not in a mass brawl beforehand, with amazing exchanges between Kotaro and Harada. It didn't stay so restrained however, as it disintegrated into chaos with everyone fighting in the ring or outside of it, with the referee protesting in vain. In the middle of all of this, Junta almost pinned Hidaka. 

WINNER: Ikuto Hidaka with the Sean Capture on Junta Miyawaki (13 minutes, 40 seconds)

​Because this is the Noah Junior division, and it's chaotic, two mass brawls took place after the match. Kotaro was at one end of the ring, shoving the GHC Junior belt into Atsushi Kotoge's face, with NOSAWA and Harada squaring up to each other. NOSAWA and Harada then intimated that this could be settled by the match being restarted. The match was restarted, and Harada charged across the ring at NOSAWA who slipped out at the last moment, and walked off with his teammates. 
All is normal. 

Backstage NOSAWA said he was going to go after Daisuke Harada, Kotaro said to leave Atsushi Kotoge to him, with Hidaka commenting that left him to sort out Miyawaki. 

MATCH FOUR
Takashi Sugiura vs Masao Inoue

Most people when they come out sit on commentary, enter through one of the side entrances and don't stand in the ring en route. However, if your name is Kendo Kashin the way to do this is to enter by the main curtain, get into the ring and then leave to take your seat and put on the headdress. Masao Inoue therefore thought he was his opponent, but much to his horror, his real opponent was Takashi Sugiura, Noah's "Killing Machine", who knocked him out of the ring with a big boot to the face soon after the bell rang. Inoue then challenged Sugiura (who was trying not to laugh) to shoulder tackles, which Sugiura soon grew tired of and knocked Inoue down with swift shoulder tackles. Inoue tried to run after getting the upper hand for a few seconds after treading on Sugiura's toes and eye raking, and he fled to the safe haven of outside the ring. However, each time he tried to roll out of it, Sugiura threw him back into it. Begging for mercy didn't work, and neither did the wind-up punch when he did eventually get the upper hand again. Inoue can be dangerous when he goes for his flash pins, and Sugi, not taking any chances for potential embarrassment (and probably social isolation), played Inoue at his own game.

WINNER: Takashi Sugiura with the Schoolboy pin (13 minutes, 37 seconds)

Leaving commentary, Kendo Kashin came to the ring and climbed up on the apron. Sugiura was convinced that he was going to challenge him, but Kazushi Sakuraba had already challenged him for the GHC National, and so perhaps Kashin was challenging him for his "Sugi" belt. 
Kashin might be nuts, but he's not nuts enough to challenge for a belt which isn't sanctioned, and so he said to Masao Inoue 

"Sugiura, no, Takashi! Can I express my challenge here? At the WrestleUniverse event that 8,000 people around the world will be watching tomorrow...Kendo Kashin and Masao Inoue in a singles match!"

Sugiura said he had never heard of anyone challenging the loser of a match...

MATCH FIVE
FULL THROTTLE VS STINGER

From the moment STINGER arrived in the ring, Yoshinari Ogawa made sure that YO-HEY wasn't going to go anywhere near HAYATA, by standing in front of him and showing him the title belt. YO-HEY wanted to start against HAYATA, but Hajime Ohara and Yuya Susumu started. Ohara tagged in YO-HEY for HAYATA, and HAYATA looked as if he was thinking about tagging out, but he stayed until Ogawa put a stop to the situation and tagged in. 

You would have thought that as his best weapons are his legs, that STINGER would have wanted to take out his knees, but today they worked on his arm. This, and the issues between HAYATA and YO-HEY made Ohara be protective. HAYATA and YO-HEY naturally know each other well, and so when HAYATA went for a moonsault and YO-HEY moved, he had a real look on his face of "Ha! I knew you were going to do that!" YO-HEY and HAYATA may have known each other well, but HAYATA also knows Yoshioka well, and well enough for STINGER to persuade him to kick YO-HEY in the head (which is how HAYATA betrayed YO-HEY for STINGER), and join them. 

Winner: HAYATA with the 403 Impact on YO-HEY (21 minutes, 11 seconds)

​As HAYATA and Susumu held Ohara, Yoshioka got on the microphone and said that he wanted to be at the top of the Noah Juniors, and hearing words he didn't understand like "Peron" or "Mui Bien" wasn't helping, and he wanted more than that, then he aimed a super-kick at Ohara's face and left the ring with old friends HAYATA and Susumu, (who he goes way back with), and Yoshinari Ogawa, who has scored another point over YO-HEY.
YO-HEY and Ohara didn't have long to console each other, as NOSAWA Rongai materialized in the ring with Kotaro Suzuki and Ikuto Hidaka. Not interested in Ohara, NOSAWA offered his hand to YO-HEY, and YO-HEY took it. After shaking hands with NOSAWA, Hidaka and even the hated Kotaro, YO-HEY left the ring without a backwards glance at Ohara. Ohara was heartbroken, and sat with his head in his hands. 
But, there was one last group left in the Noah Juniors to come to the ring and offer assistance, Momo No Seishun. Offering condolence to the brokenhearted Ohara, Kotoge told him "You are very familiar with what the promotion thinks, team thoughts, fan thoughts and so on. Hey. Is FULL THROTTLE gone? Ohara, we need your strength. Do this with us. We need your ability. Lets excite the Noah Juniors together."
Ohara then joined Momo No Seishun, the team he had likened to "a wake" once, and the balance in the Noah Juniors changed again. Before now it was three on three, now with the addition of each of FULL THROTTLE to every team other than Kongoh, the juniors have split into four man units. The new war begins on the 3rd May. Ohara wrote later in his blog that he was grateful to Momo No Seishun, but his heart hurt over Yoshioka's kick, even if the pain in his face had faded. 

Once the juniors and their never-ending drama went backstage, fans (although they were in a whirl over what had just happened) had a treat as Kenoh came to the ring. He was dressed in a suit which looked a little large for him, looked tired (and worryingly even more so when getting out of the ring like the whole effort had exhausted him), he looked flushed as someone who has had a fever has just had, and slightly bloodshot eyes. Kenoh spoke on the microphone to say;

"I was infected with the Coronavirus, and I deeply apologize for any inconvenience or concern. I'm really sorry. I had a fever of 39 degrees for a week, and was hospitalized. I am grateful to the medical staff and the health center. Thank you. 

I have something to say to the fuckers watching WrestleUniverse. Corona is really severe. Young people, don't think "I'm okay", you don't how easily letting your guard down and getting infected is easy. Please be really careful. I am also full of regrets for Manabu Soya, Haoh and Tadasuke, who often traveled with me and ate together having to miss time being certified as close contacts. I'm really sorry.

I had a lot of thoughts these past few weeks. This is the first absence I have had in thirteen years of my career. It was really disappointing for me to watch the event I was supposed to wrestle in, at home. I made me reflect on a lot of things. But, I only have wrestling, right? I will evolve further and return to Noah's ring. On May 15th, all of Kongoh will return at Korakuen Hall. Hey! Fuckers watching WrestleUniverse! Kongoh, who will evolve further from now on, and Kenoh...follow me!"

Kenoh spoke a little more on his illness backstage; he said he caught it when he attended a small gathering of people as a friend was having a housewarming. Three of the six who attended came down with the virus, which for Kenoh had resulted in a week long fever, a headache he couldn't shift (I think he is prone to headaches anyway having made reference to them before), and pneumonia which meant he couldn't breathe when he moved, even a little bit. He had also lost about 6 - 7 kilograms in weight, which for Kenoh not being one of the more heavyweights, is significant.

MATCH SIX
Kongoh (Nioh, Masa Kitamiya & Katsuhiko Nakajima) vs The M's alliance (Naomichi Marufuji,  Masaaki Mochizuki and Yuko Miyamoto)

Naomichi Marufuji has come up with a new move, and so he has been eager to practice it on opponents leading up to the title match with Keiji Mutoh, and today was no exception with Nioh tasting the Tiger King Zero, but much to his credit he gave Marufuji in no way a helpless or push over victory. 

Katsuhiko Nakajima needs only fans and a camera, it didn't matter to him that the fans were watching at home, if anything it gave him an added bonus because it meant that no one was going to miss his big smile, The Shutter Chance or the time he went to kick Marufuji, and Marufuji took his foot and placed it slowly on the floor before chopping him. 

There was kind of a story to this match, not that anyone challenged for the GHC Heavyweight Tag Titles, and I thought that Mochi and Miyamoto might have done, but it was more related to Kongoh than it was the belts as Akitoshi Saito was on commentary, and it almost seemed as if Nakajima was giving him a demonstration of something he could be doing instead of halfhearted disco dancing. 

WINNER: Naomichi Marufuji with the Tiger King Zero on Nioh (19 minutes and 35 seconds)

MATCH SEVEN
Kaito Kiyomiya vs Masato Tanaka

Kaito Kiyomiya and Masato Tanaka have clashed in the ring before now several times, but this is their first singles match. Kiyomiya (who fans felt was sluggish today), was dominated pretty much by the tough veteran, Tanaka, someone who has come from a completely different world than anyone he has met before. Tanaka used vicious submission moves on Kiyomiya, one moved looked like he was going to rip Kiyomiya's hair from his scalp. It's true Kiyomiya has experienced Tanaka before, but he has never experienced him or anything else quite like this. Kiyomiya saw it as growth and experienced and hoped he could find the spark he was looking for, but to be honest, for himself and Yoshiki Inamura (as we will see), this is going to be a new and interesting learning curve and a young vs veteran battle, especially as Tanaka commented backstage that he wasn't going to "lose to the young".

WINNER: Masato Tanaka with the Sliding D (19 minutes, 21 seconds)

After the match an angry looking Yoshiki Inamura got into the ring. He didn't square up to Tanaka exactly, more glared threateningly at him. Tanaka knew he had come to challenge him to a match, and told him that strength in wrestling "did not come from lifting tires". The match between them will take place on the 3rd May. 

With everything that has happened tonight - another full shift in the Noah Juniors leading to total war, Kashin chasing Masao, Saito's growing awareness that there may be a way out of being "Funky", and Inamura and Kiyomiya unleashing a war with Masato Tanaka, Kotoge and Kotaro, and the yet unchallenged GHC Heavyweight tag belts, just what will happen tomorrow? 

With thanks to: Metal Noah, Abeshin
GIFS taken from WrestleUniverse
Noah's next event: NOAH THE OVATION DAY 2, 3rd May 2021

​"Nagoya burned"

Nagoya is the last show for the foreseeable future that Noah can have fans attending due to the worsening Coronavirus situation in the Tokyo Metropolitan areas, and as a result there was a long queue for the merchandise, not least because the Showa era style posters and t-shirts for Takashi Sugiura vs Kazuyuki Fujita were on sale. 

Noah streamed the event live over three channels, ABEMA, WrestleUniverse and FITE. ABEMA you can watch free and from anywhere in the world for three days after the broadcast, WrestleUniverse (as long as you are a subscriber), you can watch whenever you want, and FITE have the show available for $19.99, although I cannot say how long it will be there for. Stuart Fulton and Mark Pickering provided English commentary for FITE, which was also broadcast on WrestleUniverse. The ABEMA crew providing the Japanese commentary were at ringside, with the flamboyant Kuniko Yamada dressed in pink to support Atsushi Kotoge. 

MATCH ONE
MOMO NO SEISHUN (Atsushi Kotoge & Daisuke Harada) & Yasutaka Yano vs FULL THROTTLE (Hajime Ohara, Seiki Yoshioka & YO-HEY)

YO-HEY came out to the match looking somewhat focused for his usual exuberant self. There was somehow an element of seriousness to him today. Fans were expecting him to challenge for the GHC Junior Heavyweight as he had been indicating that he would, but in the event he didn't. He had another challenge in mind later, which we will see, although during the match he did indicate that he was still after Kotoge. 

FULL THROTTLE'S opponents consisted of the young Yasutaka Yano (who has taken a bit of teasing about his hair, which Takashi Sugiura likened to the guards outside of Buckingham Palace), who teamed with Daisuke Harada and Atsushi Kotoge, who has a speckled chest thanks to being chopped a few days ago. Yano decided (as ever) that he was going to start, and knowing its better not to argue with a Noah Born as soon as he has made up his mind, Daisuke Harada looked around, saw it was Hajime Ohara and gave him the start. Yano put on a show worthy of an experienced wrestler against his seniors, kicking out of Hajime Ohara's pin repeatedly, standing up to Seiki Yoshioka, and using dropkicks on YO-HEY (who soon gave him a demonstration of how it was done) although at times he did need to take direction from Harada. 

Fans found that as much as they loved Daisuke Harada vs Hajime Ohara, they want to see more of Daisuke Harada vs Seiki Yoshioka in the future, and today teased that. 

WINNER: YO-HEY with the Face G on Yasutaka Yano (11 minutes, 54 seconds)

MATCH TWO
Kongoh (Katsuhiko Nakajima & Nioh) vs Akitoshi Saito & Junta Miyawaki

Akitoshi Saito flew solo today, and was trying to rouse himself to be "Funky". It looked awkward, he didn't look happy, and if anything he looked as if someone had a gun to head. Katsuhiko Nakajima observed all of this, and was not impressed by Saito, his "funkiness" or what he has become and during the match he was merciless with him. Despite this, Nakajima cannot stay away from the cameras, and couldn't resist posing for them. Junta Miyawaki was treated like an afterthought, or not even a thought, although he did come close to pinning to Nakajima and probably would have done if it wasn't for Haoh breaking the pin.   

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

​Nakajima managed to make it look sinister when asking for the microphone, and addressing a sad and washed out looking Saito, he said

"Here today too, you Akitoshi Saito. Funky? Noah is crumbling because of dumb-ass guys like you. You should give it up, I will force you into giving it up. I'm looking forward to it."

And with a laugh he threw down the microphone and walked off. Saito looked for a moment like he was thinking about it, before coming to his senses and walking backstage. 

MATCH THREE
Kotaro Suzuki vs Susumu

Very technical grudge match, and mercifully free of NOSAWA'S presence, or vengeful STINGER coming to fight their enemies. Suzuki and Susumu have their own grudge, which has been stemming from Kotaro's misguided befriending of Susumu as Sarubahe de Oriente, who turned out to be HAYATA'S old friend when he was unmasked. Certainly, had Noah (and the world) had not been suffering a pandemic, this match would have gone on longer, and sadly due to time limits it came to a draw. 

WINNER: Neither, time out draw (11 minutes, 2 seconds)

Both Susumu and Kotaro couldn't believe it, and complained to the ref. Had Kotaro pinned Susumu a few seconds earlier, then Kotaro would have probably gotten the win and therefore nothing was resolved. 

MATCH FOUR
The Sugiura Army (Kazushi Sakuraba, Kazunari Murakami & Kendo Kashin) vs Funky Express (Mohammed Yone, Shuhei Taniguchi & Masao Inoue)

Melee fight broke out almost immediately with fights going on outside all four corners of the ring, Kendo Kashin threw a steel barrier at Masao Inoue, who retaliated in kind. Inoue was not taking any rubbish anymore from anyone this evening. It was time to take a stand! Kashin ran off, knowing he was evidently dealing with a wild man. Kazushi Sakuraba later found the same, leading Kashin to complain to the ref about Inoue. Then Inoue got cocky, emboldened by his own success against Sakuraba, he broke the pin. Sakuraba reversed it into a headlock, and this started a chain reaction of everyone doing  on each other. Inoue was not put out by this, and used the eye rakes on The Sugiura Army, that was until everyone ganged up on him. 

Kazunari Murakami (who Takashi Sugiura says looks like a gangsters sub-boss), is no lover of Disco. Yone used the defiantly proud "Disco Fever" pose at him, and was dealt with quickly. By a huge slap. 

At the end of the match, Sakuraba comically started looking like Takashi Sugiura does whenever he has to deal with Inoue, and put him in a submission while fights went on around the ring, even going backstage. 

WINNER: Kazushi Sakuraba with the Sharpshooter on Kazushi Sakuraba (10 minutes, 48 seconds)

Kendo Kashin has a habit of latching on to people, for some unfathomable reason he thinks that he and Kenoh are friends (even going as far as to call him "Daisuke", which is real name), and so today he thought that Funky Express, who had just lost the match, might want to Disco pose with The Sugiura Army. They didn't, even though Kashin begged. They remained unmoved, and Kashin and Sakuraba got Murakami to do it.

Then the heavyweights did something very rare, they started fighting backstage, as Kendo Kashin burst in on Funky Express and attacked them. Kashin is a junior, he has experience of this, the others didn't quite know what to do and Masao Inoue looked as if he was laughing. Kashin left pointing his fingers and yelling. 

​MATCH FIVE
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Championship Match
*Match of The Year*
STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA) vs Ikuto Hidaka & NOSAWA Rongai

The match was volatile from the moment STINGER entered the ring, and it erupted in the way most if not all junior matches do when you have more than two men in one place, in a mass brawl. 

NOSAWA thankfully did not try and end this in just a few seconds with sneak attacks and quick pins, but he no doubt wished it could have been over that quickly as STINGER were both out for revenge, and to protect their titles. NOSAWA tried begging Ogawa for mercy, but that did no good. If NOSAWA was going to attack STINGER'S knees, they were going to attack his arm. They did this by keeping him away from his partner, and utilizing flash tags.  HAYATA smiling watching Ogawa rip NOSAWA'S arm from its socket. 

NOSAWA can be as devious as Ogawa, but he's not as clever in it, he found this out when none of the standard tricks worked and Ogawa carried himself with an air of, "What? You expect me to fall for that?" Despite this, NOSAWA did manage to pull off a few of the usual tricks, HAYATA'S knee was targeted, and a crisis situation arose whereby he almost quit (Ogawa saved him), and NOSAWA resorted to a low blow on Ogawa, which HAYATA broke the pin on. And then because everything was going so well, NOSAWA started wasting time showboating, which allowed Ogawa to get the pin.

WINNER: Yoshinari Ogawa with the reversal of the La Mahistral (18 minutes, 36 seconds)

Then something that many fans had been hoping for happened. 

​YO-HEY and Seiki Yoshioka came out to challenge for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Titles. After challenging for the belts, YO-HEY looked at HAYATA and Ogawa and waved the mic at them both, daring one of them to take it as he knew that neither of them liked speaking. In the end it was HAYATA who took it, but he didn't give YO-HEY an answer, he just threw it down and walked off. 
This is bad news for Ogawa, YO-HEY is back on the scene, and he is the one person who has some influence over HAYATA, which is why Ogawa has wanted to keep them apart. It's also bad because both YO-HEY and Yoshioka know HAYATA very well, and indeed, have known him for far longer than Ogawa has. There is also Susumu to add to this, who also knows them well. So for Ogawa, this title challenge is an extreme threat to not just losing the titles, but to losing everybody, as YO-HEY is capable of taking far more than just a belt.

MATCH SIX
The M's alliance (Naomichi Marufuji, Masaaki Mochizuki & Masato Tanaka) vs Kaito Kiyomiya, Yoshiki Inamura & Kinya Okada

Naomichi Marufuji tried to shake hands with Kaito Kiyomiya at the start of the match. Kiyomiya ignored him, and was almost chased around the ring. In the end Kiyomiya gave him his own way. He knows it's easier that way. 

Masaaki Mochizuki was sent flying by Yoshiki Inamura, for simply bouncing off of him, and The M's alliance soon realized that the best way to take him down is not by attacking his body, which is rock hard from lifting tires, so they took his knees out. Because of Inamura's training, the attempted GEKITOZ on Tanaka looked like two boulders falling when he put his fists down. 

Kinya Okada's big chance came against Naomichi Marufuji when the two fought solo towards the end of the match. Okada might not have come away with a huge win, but Marufuji came up with a new move, which involved giving one of his Tiger Knees to an opponent facing head on, whose ears he grabbed. Marufuji hasn't given it a name though, although he said he was thinking about it. 

WINNER: Naomichi Marufuji with the New Tiger King (provisional name according to Noah) (17 minutes, 36 seconds)

MATCH SEVEN
GHC National Championship Match
Kazuyuki Fujita vs Takashi Sugiura

"This was a fight between monsters. The hashtag doesn't lie"

As this was a fight between a unit, The Sugiura Army gathered round, Kazushi Sakuraba was put on Kendo Kashin control duty as he was seen to be taking a firm hand with him and leading him away from the action. Given half the chance he would have gotten involved. Katsuhiko Nakajima was on commentary, and sat looking on as Kazuyuki Fujita and Takashi Sugiura had the traditional stare down, which has become standard in Fujita title matches. Sugi said he didn't like it, wasn't going to do it, and attacked after a few seconds with a big boot. The two beasts then proceeded to tear up Nagoya. There was nothing very much technical in this match, just two guys fighting over a belt with slams, elbows, punches, kicks and the occasional suplex and Sugi clinging on to Fujita's ankle to make him submit.
Fujita however made it to the ropes.

When the course of the match turned back to Fujita, Sugiura had a plan, and this worked well. Pretending to be knocked out, he played the part enough for the ref to bend down and check on him. Sugi kept the ref engaged long enough in this for Fujita to become annoyed, and shove the ref aside. Fujita then went for the Soccer Ball kick, and Sugi rolled out of the way and caught him in a slam using his momentum. A vicious elbow war followed, and then a slap war. The match finished with Sugiura punting Fujita's head almost to the roof, and then hitting the Olympic Qualifying Slam. 

WINNER: Takashi Sugiura with the Olympic Slam (18 minutes, 8 seconds)

Everyone gathered around Fujita who was lying motionless with his eyes flickering, even his tongue seemed to be lolling out of his mouth. Kashin undid his boots to let circulation flow, and a stretcher was bought out.  Once Fujita had been carried out, Sugi was speaking to the crowd, when his first challenger appeared. 
Kazushi Sakuraba. 
Sakuraba challenged for the title, to be told by Sugiura that he could do it on one condition. 
He beat him at Rock-Paper-Scissors. 

​Sakuraba did, and Sugiura had no choice but to give him his shot, which will take place on the 30th May at the Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial in the Ota Gymnasium. 
You can tell this is going to get very silly. 

MATCH EIGHT
GHC Heavyweight Championship Match
Keiji Mutoh vs Masa Kitamiya

The gallery of champions played on the screen as the lights lit up the arena green for the much anticipated main event, as Naomichi Marufuji took his place on commentary. The story of this match, was not of the future like Kaito Kiyomiya's had been, but rather it was one of the past, and the shared memory of Masa Saito. For the match Kitamiya had shed his Kongoh colors of red, and appeared in Saito's black.  

Mutoh started by wearing Kitamiya down with mat wrestling. This is his usual way of getting a feel for an opponent; with Go Shiozaki he had worked out that he would best play the feeble old man, with Kaito Kiyomiya, young and full of energy, he would let him wear himself out, but with Kitamiya, so much like Masa Saito, the old ways were called for, and he was going to have to catch him off guard.  Later Mutoh praised Kitamiya, and said that he was more than worthy to inherit and be the guardian of the Saito name.

WINNER: Keiji Mutoh with the Shining Wizard (22 minutes, 53 seconds)

As the referee strapped on the belt, Naomichi Marufuji left the commentary area and got in the ring. Mutoh shook hands with the M's alliance, and everyone lined up to celebrate as they did their pose. Then Marufuji went for the microphone, and challenged for the GHC Heavyweight. 

"Congratulations on your defense, Mutoh-san. Mutoh-san, there is a man who wants to take a chance and fight for that belt. How about...Naomichi Marufuji? 

Mutoh, the person who had ignored his last two challengers, responded and no hard feelings between them, they made their M sign together. For Marufuji, this is a childhood dream. Title match will take place on the 6th June at the CyberFight Festival at the Saitama Super Arena.

WITH THANKS TO: Abeshin, Naoki Slam, Karin, Kei
GIF CREDIT: WrestleUniverse, Noah GHC
Noah's next event: Saturday 2nd May 2021

The Tokyo City Council has declared a state of emergency due to the Coronavirus situation that is rising in the metropolitan area, and therefore today's show in Yokohama was the first of the two that will be with an live audience, after that Noah will go back to holding empty arena shows for the time being. Knowing that this could be one of the last times for a long time that Noah hold attended shows, 151 people came to the show, with Noah only stopping selling tickets when all available space ran out. 

Noah had decorated the hall (wallpapered like a frieze) with the immensely popular Showa era style posters adverting the big fight in Nagaoya of Takashi Sugiura & Kazuyuki Fujita. The posters on the t-shirts proved popular, as did the Momo No Seishun ones. 

Today's event was broadcast live on WrestleUniverse, which you can view in perpetuity should you have missed the show live or are a new subscriber to the service. 

MATCH ONE
Hajime Ohara vs Kai Fujimura

Hajime Ohara started the match by doing some kind of strange jig in the ring, which involved arm popping. After this, it was down to business. Kai Fujimura had previously told Daisuke Harada after their match, that he wanted to fight as a Noah Junior (he still has not joined Noah, and fans are saying it is time he did), to which Harada had told him how to fight and what it meant to fight. I guess Hajime Ohara was the personification of that talk and together they created a strong opener. With the experience he has gained from fighting in Noah's ring and the training he has received in the Noah dojo, Fujimura is progressing further, making a valiant effort to get to the ropes when Ohara locked in a submission. However, Ohara is the master technician and the most experienced, and put Fujimura into a submission move in which his foot was almost touching his head. 

WINNER: Hajime Ohara with the Tres Fleur (7 minutes, 59 seconds)

MATCH TWO
Yoshiki Inamura & Junta Miyawaki vs Kinya Okada & Yasutaka Yano

Battle of the Noah Born. 

Yasutaka Yano started against Junta Miyawaki, and wisely he didn't want any of Yoshiki Inamura, and wisely tagged Kinya Okada in. However, Inamura was not finished with him, and sent Yano flying off of the apron. Yano is the youngest in this match, but you would never have thought that with the beautiful Noah suplexes he was throwing, he was the least experienced. Okada and he worked in tandem with Okada setting up a dropkick from the top turnbuckle. 

Yano could not avoid Noah's tank, Inamura for long, and put up a hell of a fight, kicking out of two big splashes, until Inamura (and this is rare for him) got the win via submission. 

WINNER: Yoshiki Inamura with the Boston Crab (6 minutes, 43 seconds)

MATCH THREE
Takashi Sugiura vs Nioh

Nioh, the junior and a member of perpetually angry Kongoh, faced Takashi Sugiura, a member of the perpetually fun-loving Sugiura Army. Nioh gave it his best shot, and while Sugiura didn't exactly no sell him, he more overpowered him. Nioh was not totally defenseless and this match could not be called a squash, as he did manage to get some choke holds, a Lionsault and submission techniques in.   

WINNER: Takashi Sugiura with the Boston Crab (6 minutes, 43 seconds)

There was concern for Nioh after the match as he had difficulty walking and had to be helped out by the two trainees at ringside, whose shoulders he lent on, and a referee. However, it may have been either a twisted knee or a working injury, (and in any case his knees are not the best), as Noah advertised he would be appearing on the card on the 29th April in Nagoya.  

MATCH FOUR
THE AGGRESSION (Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya) vs Funky Express (Mohammed Yone & Shuhei Taniguchi)

Funky Express are expected to be the next challengers to the GHC Heavyweight Tag Belts, but the problem is that they need to win first in order to challenge for them. THE AGGRESSION went into the match knowing what Funky Express were all about, and this didn't stop Katsuhiko Nakajima from kicking Yone harder than usual when he did the Soccer Ball kicks, or checking out where the camera was so he could do Shutter Chance. Masa Kitamiya, his mind fully on the upcoming GHC Heavyweight Championship with Keiji Mutoh, had no time for Disco Dancing and knocked Yone to the floor a few times.  

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with The Vertical Spike on Mohammed Yone (7 minutes, 2 seconds)
​

​After the match, with Funky Express lying spreadeagled on the mat, Katsuhiko Nakajima asked for the microphone, and said bitingly; 

"Yellow card? No, you guys have red cards. Look at the state of this. You should retire...no, just give up. I will drive you out of business. This world does not need "funky"

Funky Express made no comment, they did not even rise up from the mat. 

MATCH FIVE
Yoshinari Ogawa vs NOSAWA Rongai

NOSAWA Rongai came out looking his usual nonchalant self. Yoshinari Ogawa came out looking furious, he got into the ring and took his jacket off, and then his t-shirt, and then the belt and making a motion which he seamlessly turned into a motion whereby he turned and hit NOSAWA. NOSAWA, however, turned the tide of this very short match by throwing Ogawa into the ref, using a low blow and then getting the sneak win. 

WINNER: NOSAWA Rongai with the Super High School Class La Mahistral (39 seconds)

As NOSAWA had already left, Ogawa attacked the ref and threw him out of the ring. This was going to boil over into the next match,and then backstage after that. 

MATCH SIX
STINGER (HAYATA & Yuya Susumu) vs Ikuto Hidaka & Kotaro Suzuki

It takes a lot to wind HAYATA up, but NOSAWA will do that to people and as much as a man wearing a mask, a hood and holding a belt over his face can be, his body language told how angry he was. As Ogawa was not in the match, it was  HAYATA'S knee that was targeted by Ikuta Hidaka and Kotaro Suzuki, Yuya Susumu was kept away each time he tried to interfere. 

NOSAWA Rongai appeared at ringside during the match, looking like butter wouldn't melt, and Ogawa soon joined him, still with steam coming out of his ears. Although NOSAWA decided it would be a good idea to bait Ogawa, they ignored each other util NOSAWA decided to get involved in the match, holding the ropes away from HAYATA so he couldn't break the hold that Hidaka had him in. Ogawa didn't get involved, and NOSAWA was caught by the ref. Ogawa came round to chase NOSAWA off, but Hidaka decided to get involved, and the ref had to cool the situation
It was like trying to put out a building fire using a garden hose. 
NOSAWA soon got involved again by trying to get HAYATA counted out by hanging on to him, Ogawa took care of this, and NOSAWA slammed him into the ring post. 

WINNER: STINGER (HAYATA & Yuya Susumu) after NOSAWA intruded into the ring (14 minutes, 32 seconds) 

Then the usual chaos broke out, as Ogawa took out the opposition with the title belt, and then a fight broke out backstage, which started with Ogawa throwing water, and included the second face off between Yuya Susumu and Kotaro Suzuki, before STINGER stamped away. NOSAWA, naturally, looked unconcerned about Ogawa sitting on him and strangling him out of pure rage, saying that he would wear the belt by any means. 

MATCH SEVEN
Naomichi Marufuji & FULL THROTTLE (Seiki Yoshioka & YO-HEY) vs Momo No Seishun (Atsushu Kotoge & Daisuke Harada) & Kaito Kiyomiya

FULL THROTTLE came to the ring in usual exuberant manner, YO-HEY especially as he said he had a plan, but it seemed to be more Daisuke Harada than Atsushi Kotoge that he was interested in, especially as he responded to him with a sarcastic nod when Harada approached him and then later when tagged in, he told Kaito Kiyomiya to get out of the ring as he wanted Harada. Not Kotoge. Harada dealt with the usual exuberant lock up of YO-HEY'S (probably hated by each and every junior), by distracting him by clapping in his face. 

Whether it is a junior facing a heavyweight or a heavyweight facing a junior, the champion is always a target, with Marufuji (again, not YO-HEY), making a beeline for Kotoge. Kotoge had his chest chopped red, which YO-HEY and Seiki Yoshioka joined in with. Marufuji ended the match fighting with Kaito Kiyomiya outside the ring, while YO-HEY had his moment with Kotoge.

WINNER: Atsushi Kotoge with a knee kick on YO-HEY (21 minutes and 20 seconds)
​

​Despite his Harada interactions, YO-HEY left the ring pointing at Atsushi Kotoge, "the pinkish person", who he said had a belt he was interested in. Atsushi Kotoge closed out the event, addressing the crowd saying

"Thank you very much for visiting us today! Noah fights hard at such a time, and I also will fight hard! Please show your fight together! The end will definitely come. Let's do our best!"

Attendance: 151
GIFS taken from WrestleUniverse
With thanks to: Abeshin, Metal Noah
Noah's next event: "Noah The Glory 2021",  Thursday April 29th

​Noah announced on the 17th April, almost literally before the event, that Kenoh had been removed from the show as he had developed a fever. As a precaution, Noah also removed from the card Tadasuke, Manabu Soya and Haoh who had been in close contact with Kenoh. Fortunately their PCR tests were returned negative (doubly so in the case of Haoh who is asthmatic), and Noah update the situation when they know more. The card was changed at short notice, and as ever Noah made the best of a crisis, and delivered an energetic show. 

For the fans who came to Korakuen, they found that it was full of Showa era style monster movie type posters advertising Takashi Sugiura vs Kazushi Sakuraba in Nagoya. This gave the feel of being in a cinema lobby during the late 1960s, this Showa era feeling was added to by Noah's use of retro music by playing 80s rock in the main hall.  Speaking of the main hall, Yoshinari Ogawa may have just been finishing up a class (and as tonight will reveal, he has now three extra students), as Kaito Kiyomiya was seen leaving the ringside area. 

The event was streamed live on ABEMA, but it turned out that "Free" broadcast this evening meant you could view it in Japan only, and not worldwide as had been the case in past streams. However, it will be put on WrestleUniverse eventually, but you will need to be a subscriber to view this.

MATCH ONE
FULL THROTTLE (Hajime Ohara, Seiki Yoshioka & YO-HEY) vs Junta Miyawaki, Kinya Okada & Yasutaka Yano

Young Yasutaka Yano insisted on starting, and ploughed his two teammates (and seniors) back into the corner. Kinya Okada took one look at Hajime Ohara, who was herding his own team back, and patted Yano on the arm. Fans noted that Ohara seemed grumpy today with a particularly tough attack, especially when trading blows with Miyawaki, who was felled with a huge slap.

YO-HEY naturally was playing up to the crowd, taking the chance to clap to them from the turnbuckle before jumping off and attacking Okada. 

Because this is a Noah Junior match, you had the standard Noah junior melee brawl, which at one point left the referee standing helpless in the ring and raising his arms, as all was chaos around him. In the midst of all of this, Seiki Yoshioka did a Tornado kick on Yano.

WINNER: Seiki Yoshioka with the Tornado Kick on Yasutaka Yano (10 minutes, 36 seconds)

​Noah then created a new tradition. Normally trainees only introduce themselves to the audience when they are about to make their debut, but today Noah announced the three who are now seen at ringside. They are: 

Keisuke Ota, 26 years old. He entered Noah in January 2020, so hopefully he will be debuting soon. However, it is Ogawa who decides these things. 

Yosuke Sasaki, 18 years old. He was one of the ones who came to the trainee audition last November. He has recently entered Noah (April 2021). 

Haruto Ogawa, 18 years old. Like Sasaki, he came to Noah via the trainee audition last November, and entered Noah at the same time as Yosuke Sasaki. 

The three boys bowed to all four corners of Korakuen, before leaving the ring.

​MATCH TWO
Daisuke Harada vs Kai Fujimura

Kai Fujimura came flying to the ring, barely avoiding the ABEMA cameraman. He also decided to attack Daisuke Harada the moment Harada put one boot onto the outside mat, and then went for the swift pin when Harada rolled into the ring, still in his Noah jacket. Harada, older and more experienced, soon turned the tables, but Fujimura wasn't going to be subdued so easily. 

WINNER: Daisuke Harada with the Diving Elbow (6 minutes, 11 seconds)

Fans praised Fujimura's efforts, and backstage he confirmed further participation in Noah's ring and almost seemed to hint that he would be joining the promotion full time, which is something that many people are hoping for. 

MATCH THREE
Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura vs Funky Express (Mohammed Yone & Shuhei Taniguchi)

After what has been called a "Polite Invasion" of DDT by Kaito Kiyomiya and Yoshiki Inamura (who both came to DDT quietly, took their seats and sat quietly, applauded the win, got up on the apron when asked and then left politely), you could understand Kiyomiya checking the audience to see who was here, but no one from DDT came out. In any case, Kiyomiya remained in his usual morose fashion, which is kind of making him a little like Kenoh. He was also wrestling very angrily. 

Mohammed Yone was not going to take any insults to his beloved disco, and Yoshiki Inamura got kicked in the face for his disrespect. The strongman training has paid off for Inamura, as Taniguchi was launched into out of space by the GEKITOTZ. I don't think Taniguchi has ever been thrown like that before. Kiyomiya and Inamura appear to have made this into a combination move, with Kiyomiya setting it up with the dropkick beforehand.

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Stretch Plum Facelock on Shuhei Taniguchi (12 minutes, 9 seconds)

MATCH FOUR
STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa, HAYATA & Yuya Susumu) vs Kotaro Suzuki, Ikuto Hidaka & NOSAWA Rongai

"The atmosphere of war has already begun from the entrance"

After the usual melee brawl at the start of the match, and some intense interactions between the two teams, which made fans really want to see a singles between Kotaro and Yuya Susumu (especially as Susumu used a modified Blue Thunder Driver), NOSAWA took a cue from from Kotaro's book of "How to wind up Yoshinari Ogawa", and he Kotaro and Hidaka left the match and decided to return backstage. Furious, Ogawa took this up with the referee, but there was nothing he could do. So STINGER went after them, and threw them back in the ring. 

​Ogawa is not the only one who can play dirty, NOSAWA employed the low blow kick twice - the first time was on Ogawa, and the second time on Susumu. If they couldn't leave the ring to wind their opponents up (although to be honest, the only people who have ever wound HAYATA up are YO-HEY and Chris Ridgeway), then he could rob them of a proper win by getting their team disqualified deliberately by kicking Susumu in the crotch in front of the referee. 

WINNER: Yuya Susuma after a deliberate DQ low blow kick by NOSAWA Rongai (13 minutes, 16 seconds)

MATCH FIVE
GHC NATIONAL PRE-MATCH
Kazuyuki Fujita & Kendo Kashin vs Takashi Sugiura & Kazushi Sakuraba

As you would imagine, with the shared MMA background between all four in this match, there would be a lot of MMA style wrestling. That happened between Kendo Kashin and Kazushi Sakuraba mainly, not that Takashi Sugiura and Kazuyuki Fujita noticed, as while Kashin and Sugiura grappling in the ring, Sugiura and Fujita were glaring at each other from the ring apron

Despite Sugiura saying that he wasn't going to do this as he hated it, I think his sense of humor must have won over, as he certainly did it when then they got into the ring, but neither noticed that Sakuraba had the acrylic board pressed against his face.

​Staredowns and acrylic boards over, in the ring they tore it apart, Fujita with stiff slaps to Sugiura, felling him with a lariat. Sugiura rose up with a roar, it took another lariat and soccer ball kick to keep him down. It took three kicks to the head for the win.
Korakuen was shaking during and after their exchange. 

WINNER: Kazuyuki Fujita with the soccer ball kicks (9 minutes, 15 seconds)

Hideki Suzuki was seen to remark on Twitter that this was complex. Fujita had nothing to say backstage, only "Nagoya is next." Takashi Sugiura was as fine as he could be, fortunately he was not concussed, but he did have a black eye and swelling on the side of his face starting as seen in this picture by Sakuraba.

​MATCH SIX
GHC Junior Heavyweight Title
Atsushi Kotoge vs Nioh
*MOTY*

With the ice cold presence of Daisuke Harada and the less chilly one of Junta Miyawaki accompanying Atsushi Kotoge to the ring, it was sad to see that no one was with Nioh, especially as he had one of the best matches of his career tonight. 

Atsushi Kotoge wrestled the match calm, calculated and focused. Nioh was just the same, anticipating Kotoge's moves. Nioh has a tendency sometimes to not think too much about what he needs to do and is sometimes content to go along with what someone else says (Taiji Ishimori was a prime example of this when they tagged), and so fans said tonight it was great to see just what Nioh could do, and what Nioh did was to work on wearing Kotoge down, including at one point using a Javelin Throw move and ramming Kotoge's head into the apron. This was an utterly brutal title match, and was said to be by far the best match on the card of the evening. 

WINNER: Atsushi Kotoge with the Killswitch (23 minutes, 1 second)

Daisuke Harada strapped the belt back around Kotoge's waist, as Seiki Yoshioka was seen watching from the balcony. FULL THROTTLE had spoken backstage to say that they were planning their next steps, but neither he or anyone else came out to challenge. Backstage, Kotoge said he was hungry for challengers and would take all comers. Nioh said he lost this round, and he would be trying to challenge again soon.

MATCH SEVEN
GHC HEAVYWEIGHT PRE-MATCH
The M's alliance (Keiji Mutoh vs Naomichi Marufuji) vs THE AGGRESSION (Masa Kitamiya & Katsuhiko Nakajima)

Because of the nature of the match (two on two), and the fact that one of the teams are the heavyweight tag champions, fans felt this was more like a GHC Tag match than a pre match. Naomichi Marufuji lamented that he was the only person without a belt, and Nakajima took the opportunity to slightly taunt him over this by posting on Twitter at 2am that it was a long time since he had fought Keiji Mutoh, and he had nothing to say to Marufuji. Although fans wanted to see more of Nakajima vs Mutoh (they were begging for it), Nakajima pretty much left it to Kitamiya and concentrated on winding up Marufuji. 

It's getting harder and harder to destroy Kitamiya these days, Marufuji's combo kicks didn't even phase him, although Mutoh's Figure Four was a different matter though, but if Mutoh has this, then Kitamiya has his Prison Lock. Marufuji saved Mutoh the first time, but the second time he wasn't so lucky as Nakajima was keeping him outside the ring, and with a huge headbutt that bust them both open.

​Marufuji had saved Mutoh from the Prison Lock once, but he couldn't the second time when Nakajima kept him outside the ring. After a headbutt, which bust them both open, and a second Prison Lock, Mutoh had no choice but to tap out.

WINNER: Masa Kitamiya with the Prison Lock (18 minutes, 51 seconds)

Still bleeding from his head wound, Kitamiya addressed Mutoh on the microphone;

"How are your knees, champion? I will beat them up. Your obsession with the GHC belt is different fron mine, asshole. On the 29th April in Nagoya, it will be ME, MASA KITAMIYA, who will wear it!"

With thanks to: Metal Noah, Abeshin, Kazuaki, TACK
GIFS taken from Noah GHC\ABEMA
Picture credit: PKDX, Kazushi Sakuraba 
Noah's next show: 24th April, Yokohama Radiant Halls

​"Hot and humid in the hall"

Spring brings the rain and the wind to Japan, and Tokyo was no exception when fans came to Korakuen Hall for a mid morning Noah show at Korakuen Hall today. Despite the pandemic and Noah not being able to sell all the seats out, they announced an attendance of 678 people. Two fans came dressed as "Funky Express" (Mohammed Yone and Shuhei Taniguchi). 

Noah seem to be suffering from the injury bug at the moment, with Go Shiozaki and Hitoshi Kumano out long term as both need operations (Shiozaki shoulder, Kumano eye) and are a further two men down with Kaito Kiyomiya being absent from the ring tonight due to a concussion, and Kotaro Suzuki suffering gallstones, which put in place an interesting singles match which gave rise to something more than just a card change. 

The event was broadcast live on WrestleUniverse, you will be able to view this on demand, even if you are reading this some months or weeks after the event, but you must be a subscriber to view. 

MATCH ONE
Atsushi Kotoge, Kai Fujimura & Yasutaka Yano vs Kongoh (Haoh, Nioh and Tadasuke)

The young boys came running to the ring, followed by a slightly hyper Atsushi Kotoge. Yasutaka Yano decided he was going to start the match, and ploughed back his teammates. Kotoge, understanding the audacity of youth, kind of rolled his eyes and patted him on the head. Tadasuke congratulated himself on besting Yano, right up until Yano knocked him back with a dropkick to the corner, and Tadasuke felt he needed to complain to the ref. Yano was able to stand up to and almost out wrestle Tadasuke to an extent. Kai Fujimura, however, didn't present too much of a problem and Tadasuke had the wide manic grin with hair flying everywhere when beating up on him, throwing him to the mat after attacks. 

As to be expected from a match with Noah's junior division, there were some melee brawls, but on the whole, the ref was able to keep order. 

WINNER: Nioh with Stuka Splash on Kai Fujimura (12 minutes, 28 seconds)

Although Tadasuke had dropped hints that he may challenge for the title, it was Nioh who got there first, as he and Kotoge had a square off on the ring apron over the belt. Backstage, Nioh officially confirmed he would be challenging and the title match has been set for 18th April at Korakuen Hall. 

In the short lull between the two matches, Kaito Kiyomiya came out to the ring to make an announcement. Dressed in white shirt and jeans, he was unsmiling and not his usual animated self, as he told everyone that he would be returning to the ring on the 3rd April (in an eight person tag match against Kenoh), and he would also be taking part as planned in ZERO-1's show, the "Pro Wrestling All Star Great Charity Festival”. Kiyomiya's appearance was more than just announcing his return, he also stated that he wanted to climb his way up back through Noah. 

MATCH TWO
Hajime Ohara vs Susumu

"Collected more than just wins. I found a rival"
Yuya Susumu

As stated earlier, the card had to be changed due to Kotaro Suzuki becoming ill, but this gave rise to a very technical match (which will have far reaching consequences, i.e. STINGER vs FULL THROTTLE in the long run which is what Noah appears to be building up to), which you could tell that they both enjoyed doing. This is their first singles match, although they have clashed before (the last time they did was in Noah in 2018), and Susumu gave as good as he got and it got to the point where Ohara couldn't believe that Susumu was either not kicking out or not giving up. Ohara pulled pretty much everything he had out, but in the end it was Susumu who did the unthinkable, and made made Hajime Ohara (the nicer version of  Yoshinari Ogawa), tap out

WINNER: Susumu with the Cross Face Lock (10 minutes, 22 seconds)

MATCH THREE
FULL THROTTLE (Seiki Yoshioka & YO-HEY) vs Ikuto Hidaka & NOSAWA Rongai

YO-HEY came out with blue hair and a blue tongue to match. He had announced he would be dying his hair on Twitter, and fortunately for us all, the other thing that was discussed on Twitter with old Dove Pro friend, Naoki Tanizaki, did not happen. His partner, Seiki Yoshioka, looked sad after the title loss, but not defeated, but he was going to have a very different look on his face, one of shock, when NOSAWA managed to win the match with one of his flash pins, which is what makes him so dangerous. 

WINNER: NOSAWA Rongai with the Super high school class La Mahistral (2 minutes, 25 seconds)

​Yoshioka couldn't believe it, and neither could YO-HEY. For Yoshioka in particular it was first the loss to Kotoge, and now this. On the way out, YO-HEY, even felt he had to take it up with Ally at ringside on the way out, and Yoshioka slapped the table as he passed. This is unusual for them to be so aggressive towards officials. There were definite clouds on the normally sunny FULL THROTTLE horizon tonight.

MATCH FOUR
Loser disbands and joins the winning team
Funky Energy (Mohammed Yone & Shuhei Taniguchi) vs The Anti Wrestlers Alliance (Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue)

The blue and yellow glowsticks were out in force for Mohammed Yone and Shuhei Taniguchi, who came dancing their way to the ring. Naturally, The Anti Wrestlers Alliance were more somber, and Akitoshi Saito thought it was best he start the match compared to Masao Inoue, who came limping to the ring. Yone and Saito started with shoulder tackles, which led to lariats, and then when neither of these failed to knock the other down, they had a kind of "hair off" after butting heads in which Saito smoothed back his hair, and Yone smoothed his afro. 

​Masao Inoue can do serious wrestling when he wants, and it does make him a threat when he does, and in any case, Saito was not in the mood for any bumbling by Inoue tonight. Like NOSAWA, Inoue can be dangerous when he uses flash pins and so used a succession on Shuhei Taniguchi, who kicked out of all of them, making Inoue to complain to the ref. Inoue also used the Noah in joke of stamping on Taniguchi's toes. To explain to newer fans, both Inoue and Taniguchi suffer from gout, so the heavyweights make a point of stamping on Inoue's toes.They do this more to him than they do Taniguchi though. Inoue showed grit in his fight with Taniguchi, but ultimately the taller and stronger prevailed, and The Anti Wrestlers Alliance ended after almost a year. 

WINNER: Shuhei Taniguchi with the Funky Press (12 minutes and 4 seconds)

Excited, Shuhei Taniguchi got on the microphone, and did a celebratory jig screaming "Funky", Yone reminded Saito he had a promise to keep. Saito said he was a man of his word, and from now on, they would all be "funky" together. They did a four man fist bump, and for Th Anti Wrestlers Alliance, there was one last wave of the flag, a bow to all four corners by Saito and then forgiveness for Inoue. On Twitter, Saito sadly packed away his Hakama and thanked Inoue for everything. 
Personally, I don't see Saito putting up with this for very long.  

MATCH FIVE
The M's alliance (Naomichi Marufuji & Yuko Miyamoto) vs The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura & Kendo Kashin)

The match started off as it meant to go on, with comedy between the two teams. 
The chaotic tag team of Takashi Sugiura and Kendo Kashin started with them both standing on the ring apron as neither wanted to start the match, and Kashin couldn't do as he was told. Naomichi Marufuji and Yuko Miyamoto later parodied this. Then after a brief exchange with Naomichi Marufuji, Kendo Kashin tagged in Takashi Sugiura using the Misawa flash tag, Sugiura got in the ring, and then immediately tagged Kashin back in. 

​Aside from his usual tactics of grabbing the referee, Kashin went for his perspex sheet spot, which he famously used on Kenoh. He went to use it on Marufuji, who was being held by Sugiura. When he went to put it over Marufuji's face, he hit him on the back of the head. Marufuji wriggled free, and ran off, and Sugiura ended up having it done to him. Afterwards, he audibly accused Kashin of doing it on purpose. Kashin denied it, and Sugi just looked weary. However, Sugiura would recover his sense of humor enough about it to parody Kenoh in accusing Noah officials of doing it deliberately, saying he had been with Noah twenty years, wasn't going to be treated this way and was going to quit if it happened again. 

WINNER: Takashi Sugiura with the Olympic Slam on Yuko Miyamoto (11 minutes, 35 seconds)

The Sugiura Army were not finished yet, in victory they made Referee Nishinaga stand with his hands raised between them. He does deserve it though with having to control out of control Noah Juniors, grumpy heavyweights, and Kendo Kashin. 

MATCH SIX
Kongoh (Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masa Kitamiya & Manabu Soya) vs Osamu Nishimura, Yoshiki Inamura & Kinya Okada

Osamu Nishimura teamed today with Yoshiki Inamura and Kinya Okada, but he very much kept out of the match, and a lot of his interactions were mainly with Manabu Soya. They have an extensive history together stretching through All Japan and New Japan, which started in 1993 with Nishimura's defeat of Soya in the Young Lions Cup. 

Yoshiki Inamura and Masa Kitamiya created loud ripples of sound over Korakuen, by having a shoulder tackle fight and screaming loudly as they slammed into each other. This Hoss Fight was not resolved until Inamura got Kitamiya in a headlock, and tagged Kinya Okada in. Then Nakajima entered the ring, and a slow evil smile spread over his face as he kicked Okada around. However, as much he might do that, long suffering referee, Shu Nishinaga, refused to count Nakajima's cocky pin as a pin, no matter how many times Nakajima moved his foot around. Okada kicked out, and went on to duck some of Nakajima's kicks.

​Okada took down Kitamiya, until Kitamiya decided he had had enough of this. This didn't stop Okada's momentum however, but after a spirited fight, the tag champion got the win.

WINNER: Masa Kitamita with the Saito Slam on Kinya Okada (16 minutes, 14 seconds)

Given their long past history, Osamu Nishimura and Manabu Soya had a stare off briefly, and Nishimura remained in the ring to stare at him as he left. Regarding the Heavyweight Tag Championship, at the time of writing, no one has come forward to challenge THE AGGRESSION for the titles. Fans were hoping that Yoshiki Inamura and Kinya Okada might. 

MATCH SEVEN
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship 
STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA) vs Momo No Seishun (Daisuke Harada & Junta Miyawaki)

This has been called Junta Miyawaki's "break out match", and with good reason. He was on fire and showed far more technique and far more presence than he ever had done before. From the moment he entered the ring, Miyawaki set his stamp by standing defiantly in the ring against STINGER, Yoshinari Ogawa flicked the wet from his hair at them, and the ref eventually told Miyawaki to back off. Harada didn't though when Miyawaki bundled him into the corner, as he was determined to start. 

STINGER had never really given Miyawaki much credit during the pre-matches, and now they were finding much to their chagrin, that he was fighting back, especially when they tried to isolate him. Miyawaki worked with HAYATA'S fragile, if not injured, arm to good effect in a more savage style than before. Yoshinari Ogawa was watching intently, although inside the ring he was more interested in fighting Daisuke Harada, who he considered a more worthy fight...or else, knowing Ogawa, there could well be another reason. Ogawa couldn't escape Miyawaki however, and so he punished him for his hubris in Miyawaki's attacking HAYATA'S wrist, as STINGER attacked his knee. Miyawaki gritted his teeth until Harada came to the rescue to break the hold, so Ogawa did an even worse one.  Generally, Ogawa was furious with Harada, and insulted by being challenged by Miyawaki. 

The more relentless STINGER grew, the more hungry Momo No Seishun grew. No matter what STINGER did to him, Miyawaki was not going to give up, which meant that STINGER had to pause and take stock of the situation. Miyawaki also demonstrated a budding devious streak, when he pretended to be dazed in order to lure HAYATA into a submission move, in which he pulled and pulled on his arm. Harada was frantically keeping Ogawa outside the ring, HAYATA refused to give up, so Miyawaki pulled more and more. In the end, it was Ogawa who broke up this high adrenaline moment, and the match ended with HAYATA using a really nasty looking submission, in which basically used Miyawaki's own arm to choke him.

WINNER: HAYATA with the Modified Camel Clutch on Junta Miyawaki (26 minutes, 47 seconds)

After Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada had rolled Junta Miyawaki out of the ring, some old and unwelcome enemies of STINGER raised their heads. The type of unwelcome faces which are guaranteed to drive Ogawa into a frenzy. 

​NOSAWA Rongai and Ikuto Hidaka had come to challenge for the belts. HAYATA accepted as Ogawa wouldn't (Ogawa is not going to speak on the microphone or in interviews unless he has to, and as he he is so senior, no one is going to make him), and as you have four Noah juniors in the ring, a fight broke out and NOSAWA and Hidaka posed with the belts before sarcastically draping them over the champions and leaving. Title match has been set for 29th April in Nagoya. 

MATCH EIGHT
GHC National Championship
Kenoh vs Kazuyuki Fujita

"For Kenoh, the future will depend on whether he can overcome this with a victory."

Led by the challenger, Kazuyuki Fujita, The Sugiura Army filed out in an orderly but somehow still chaotic line (Takashi Sugiura, Kazushi Sakuraba, who by the way had forgotten his "SAKU" belt which made Sugiura laugh, NOSAWA Rongai, Kendo Kashin and Kazunari Murakami). Katsuhiko Nakajima for some reason joined Kongoh, which is something he normally wouldn't do. 

Kazuyuki Fujita added the last moment of comedy, which we had seen in the pre-matches and when Kenoh had nominated Fujita as challenger, by standing in the way of Kenoh when Kongoh did their pose, and seeing who would move first. 

Had it just been Kenoh on his own, he probably would have stayed as still as he could for as long as he could, but as he was aware that all of Kongoh was waiting, he got up and was immediately irritated. The ref had to separate them. 
This was not going to be the last stare off, which have now become a staple of Fujita title matches, the second occurred when the ref checked them for weapons and Kenoh broke it with kicks. The third happened afterwards, although their seconds urged them to do something but no one moved. They slowly started to move towards each other, and then the match was on. Kenoh had come to the ring looking as if he realized that in Fujita, he had bitten off more than he could possibly ever chew, let along swallow, and he faced the painful reality of no matter what he did it was having very little effect -his normally devastating kicks met with Fujita telling him to "Come On!", and after being shoved to the mat by Fujita, Kenoh made the mistake of rolling off into The Sugiura Army corner which naturally caused the juniors on both teams to start fighting with the heavyweights breaking it up. 

Back in the ring, Fujita destroyed Kenoh, he was just too powerful, nothing Kenoh did made any difference

WINNER: Kazuyuki Fujita with the Facekick (19 minutes, 14 seconds)

There was one last moment of comedy, however, when Fujita tried to get NOSAWA and Kendo Kashin to stand with one of their feet on Kenoh's chest, but Kongoh refused to let this happen, and took Kenoh from the ring. Takashi Sugiura got on the microphone soon afterwards and said;

"Congratulations! Kazuyuki Fujita is wearing a Noah belt. It's fun, isn't it?! However, I want to fight the strong Kazuyuki Fujita. I want to fight with all my heart for that GHC belt."

The title match will take place on the 29th April in Takashi Sugiura's hometown of Nagoya, but before that, there is a pre-match on the 18th at Korakuen Hall, and from now this is the first time that anyone in The Sugiura Army has challenged another for a belt.  

WITH THANKS TO: Tetorin No.3, Nodapooh3, Abeshin, Metal-Noah, Kazuaki 
GIFS taken from WrestleUniverse
Noah's next event: 3rd April 2021, Yokohama Radiant Halls ​