"Very happy! Thank you!
Even though changes have occurred with the new ownership, if the wrestlers are positive, then the fans will follow suit. I am proud to have confidence in Pro Wrestling Noah".
Noah had a snowy three hour drive from Tokyo to Fukushima to start the first day of their small tour, and sadly the last tour which will feature the ikonic green ring (outside of the June Misawa memorial shows that is). Fukushima itself was said to have clear weather.
No matter the weather outside, the atmosphere in the hall today was said to be intense, but welcoming, and the local people were grateful that Noah had come to town, so much so that people apparently traveled from outside of Fukushima and together they made a full house.
Speaking of the cold weather, Atsushi Kotoge photographed himself drinking coffee when Noah made a pitstop on the journey at a place called "Tully's Coffee" saying that it was too cold to "de-pink" his clothes (he means to get rid of them, punning on the "de-Misawa" or the "leaving behind" or "removing" of); Cody Hall took a picture of outside the building, in which Kotoge in the window, came out as a pink blob.
MATCH ONE
"Yoshiki Inamura's Seven Match Series"
Masa Kitamiya vs Yoshiki Inamura
Yoshiki Inamura said to give a good showing today of his fighting spirit, which was conveyed to the fans. A lot of highlights in the match.
Winner: Masa Kitamiya with the Side Suplex (9 minutes and 13 seconds)
MATCH TWO
Kenoh & HAYATA vs Katsuhiko Nakajima & Junta Miyawaki
Sparks started flying straight away between Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kenoh, when Nakajima decided to stick his leg out when Kenoh got into the ring and knelt to do his pose when his name was announced.
Kenoh, not known for his sense of humor, didn't find this funny.
Nakajima, known for being Noah's Cheshire Cat, smirked.
The referee, knowing a fight was coming between them, broke it up.
HAYATA did the "come on, hit me" pose with Miyawaki by standing with his arms apart as if to give him a good shot.
WINNER: HAYATA with the Moonsault on Junta Miyawaki (10 minutes and 12 seconds)
MATCH THREE
The Backbreakers (Hajime Ohara & Hitoshi Kumano) vs Yoshinari Ogawa & YO-HEY
HAYATA came out to second YO-HEY & Yoshinari Ogawa (who was wearing his round rimmed shades). Although they weren't in the match, Daisuke Harada and Tadasuke came out and wanted to know what the hell it was HAYATA thought he was doing.
I doubt they got an answer, and Hitoshi Kumano held Harada back with his big red plastic rice paddle. Tadasuke said he went to complain about HAYATA "running off".
WINNER: Hitoshi Kumano with the Bear Bottom on YO-HEY (13 minutes and 39 seconds)
MATCH FOUR
Takashi Sugiura, Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue vs The Hooligans (Maybach Taniguchi, Cody Hall & Maybach Taniguchi)
The "Dark Agents" (Sugiura, Saito and Inoue) reformed for a night (basically, they were a stable formed roughly from 2004 to 2006; Bison Smith and Mike Awesome were also members. Their goal was to stir up Noah's mid card and bring out the anger in them).
There was the usual Hooligans fight outside the ring (some small children ran from them when the fight went near the merchandise booth), and Nagai used a steel railing on Sugiura.
Afterwards, Nagai told Sugiura that they were going to make him clean their toilets first when he becomes their slave.
WINNER: Maybach Taniguchi with the Maybach Bom Zwai on Masao Inoue (11 minutes and 58 seconds)
MATCH FIVE
50 Funky Powers (Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm) vs Atsushi Kotoge and Go Shiozaki
"He is the hero who will stand and face the opponent, even if he is hurt and no matter how painfully.
He will return to your cheers of "Revolution"
Go Shiozaki
The "Revolutionary Hero" came out acting manic as usual, and tried to get Referee Yoshida to do the "Revolutionary Fist". Once again, his timekeeping was not to Shiozaki's liking, and he stood there tapping his wrist as Kotoge ran round the hall.
There was the usual Disco Fever vs Deluded Revolution stand off.
Then came Kotoge's injury.
After jiggling around on the apron and hitting the turnbuckle as he climbed on to it to do the"Revolutionary Splash", he seemed to have hurt his arm when he got up from it. Pro-Wrestlers are trained to continue until they physically can't, and Kotoge was no exception, and he took the finisher as well.
After the match, one of the trainers, Nagahama, came into the ring and assessed Kotoge, who was helped out and to the back. Kotoge was grimacing in pain, and people had noticed his head had been drooping in the ring.
Kotoge later wrote that he felt a sharp pain in his arm and he couldn't move it at all (I am wondering if this is an old injury that Kotoge has had, as a few months ago he wrote he woke up unable to move and was almost taken to hospital, with the trainers getting him back up and running again before it came to that). He says he does not know the results of the diagnostic tests yet, but will do his best to return.
The championship match where he will be tagging with Eddie Edwards to challenge for the GHC Heavyweight tag on the 24th February, is currently up in the air.
WINNER: Mohammed Yone with the Funky Buster Bomb on Atsushi Kotoge (14 minutes and 46 seconds)
MATCH SIX
Kaito Kiyomiya, Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke vs Naomichi Marufuji, Minoru Tanaka & Hi69
Tadasuke got chopped.
Marufuji, who was, caught square in the face with the dropkick by Kiyomiya, later said that he understood the dropkick worked, but his own confidence was rising since the return match.
Kiyomiya said afterwards (also on Twitter) that although they couldn't fight in the Global League 2018 finals, he is not the person he was at that time.
After the match, Kiyomiya got on the microphone and said, that he would fight Marufuji in Yokohama, and there the issue of era would finally be settled.
WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Tiger Suplex Hold on Hi69 (20 minutes and 27 seconds)
ATTENDANCE: 351 (Full)
WITH THANKS TO: Dragon, Noah GHC, Musui, Mami
PICTURE CREDIT: PKDX, Noah GHC, Kaito Kiyomiya, Atsushi Kotoge