The venue (which is said to be beautiful, clean, air conditioned and comfortable) opened the doors today at 3.30pm (although the event started at 5pm) as just like last year, there was entertainment going on in the ring from local groups of Kawasaki citizens, and the university (bar the Korean pop band), which included some kids doing hip-hop, as well as some traditional arts (and Hula dancers too). Soya Milk was handed out to children below high school age, and those in their sixties, and a recruitment drive was held for Kawasaki Firefighters. Hajime Ohara, who is a voluntary firefighter and had helped arrange the event again, appeared in his blue overalls and made a speech. Noah ran the venue last year as part of the 70th anniversary of the Kawasaki City Sports Association. It looks like this is becoming an annual big summer event.
Noah didn't put all the seats on sale last year and closed a section off (they often don't offer balcony tickets for provincial shows either), but this year they have opened all the floor seating, and banners lined the hall (HAYATA'S had his picture on it, so naturally it was the most photogenic one there). The ladies from Coteani also made an appearance. Harking back to the old days at Differ (although rather than Differ, many fans were reminded of FMW'S presence in the area long ago), the venue has a raised walkway for the wrestlers to enter and exit in from (and probably either push, jump or suplex each other off or on to).
Elsewhere in Noah, YO-HEY (who probably had HAYATA with him), said that he got lost at the station and missed his train...fortunately he\they made it in time.
Takashi Sugiura was on autograph duty, and the GHC Junior trophy was displayed in the lobby, which will be presented to today's winner.
MATCH ONE
The Return of The Dark Agents (Akitoshi Saito and Masao Inoue) & Shuhei Taniguchi vs 50 Funky Powers (Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm) & Rocky Kawamura.
Masao Inoue was put in "the chin lock of hell" by Mohammed Yone early in the match, and Yone also struck an elbow at some point (although I don't know who on), that everybody in the venue heard.
Usual hi-jinks from Masao Inoue vs Rocky Kawamura, but the old man (who gets harassed by Takashi Sugiura who photographs him at the urinal and stalks him on long bus journeys, plus telling fans that Inoue has no shame as he heard him breaking wind loudly in the men's bathroom in front of lots of people), had his revenge...and Rocky was stunned.
WINNER: Masao Inoue with the sneak roll up on Rocky Kawamura (9 minutes and 28 seconds)
Noah didn't put all the seats on sale last year and closed a section off (they often don't offer balcony tickets for provincial shows either), but this year they have opened all the floor seating, and banners lined the hall (HAYATA'S had his picture on it, so naturally it was the most photogenic one there). The ladies from Coteani also made an appearance. Harking back to the old days at Differ (although rather than Differ, many fans were reminded of FMW'S presence in the area long ago), the venue has a raised walkway for the wrestlers to enter and exit in from (and probably either push, jump or suplex each other off or on to).
Elsewhere in Noah, YO-HEY (who probably had HAYATA with him), said that he got lost at the station and missed his train...fortunately he\they made it in time.
Takashi Sugiura was on autograph duty, and the GHC Junior trophy was displayed in the lobby, which will be presented to today's winner.
MATCH ONE
The Return of The Dark Agents (Akitoshi Saito and Masao Inoue) & Shuhei Taniguchi vs 50 Funky Powers (Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm) & Rocky Kawamura.
Masao Inoue was put in "the chin lock of hell" by Mohammed Yone early in the match, and Yone also struck an elbow at some point (although I don't know who on), that everybody in the venue heard.
Usual hi-jinks from Masao Inoue vs Rocky Kawamura, but the old man (who gets harassed by Takashi Sugiura who photographs him at the urinal and stalks him on long bus journeys, plus telling fans that Inoue has no shame as he heard him breaking wind loudly in the men's bathroom in front of lots of people), had his revenge...and Rocky was stunned.
WINNER: Masao Inoue with the sneak roll up on Rocky Kawamura (9 minutes and 28 seconds)
MATCH TWO
RATELS (Daisuke Harada & YO-HEY) vs Junta Miyawaki & Hitoshi Kumano.
Junta Miyawaki has sworn he will get the victory over his seniors (one of whom helped train him, and is his hero), although it is rare to see Harada in the second match on the card. It is also rare to see him team with YO-HEY.
Due to the streamer ban (which fans are now obeying it seems), there were no streamers for YO-HEY to get tangled in (and he has, even once having the ref and HAYATA untangle him).
Hitoshi Kumano managed to get into it with YO-HEY and overpower him, then Miyawaki went up against Daisuke Harada. Miyawaki showing him that he too could be technical.
WINNER: Daisuke Harada with the Katayama German Suplex (12 minutes, 10 seconds)
RATELS (Daisuke Harada & YO-HEY) vs Junta Miyawaki & Hitoshi Kumano.
Junta Miyawaki has sworn he will get the victory over his seniors (one of whom helped train him, and is his hero), although it is rare to see Harada in the second match on the card. It is also rare to see him team with YO-HEY.
Due to the streamer ban (which fans are now obeying it seems), there were no streamers for YO-HEY to get tangled in (and he has, even once having the ref and HAYATA untangle him).
Hitoshi Kumano managed to get into it with YO-HEY and overpower him, then Miyawaki went up against Daisuke Harada. Miyawaki showing him that he too could be technical.
WINNER: Daisuke Harada with the Katayama German Suplex (12 minutes, 10 seconds)
MATCH THREE
Naomichi Marufuji, Minoru Tanaka & Hi69 vs Stinger (Yoshinari Ogawa, Kotaro Suzuki & Chris Ridgeway)
"Just completed my first tour with Pro Wrestling NOAH.
I honestly never thought that would be a sentence I would ever say.
I don’t have any words to describe how I feel just now; it has been incredible and I am happy to say I’ll be back in August!"
(Chris Ridgeway)
Naomichi Marufuji and Kotaro Suzuki (both Mitsuharu Misawa's trainees) started the match, this will be their last match until their singles match at Noah's anniversary show. The fans were cheering, and wanted to see Misawa's boys face off.
WINNER: Naomichi Marufuji with the Shiranui on Chris Ridgeway (10 minutes, 22 seconds)
It looked like in the melee following the match, Hi69 and Minoru Tanaka challenged for the GHC Junior tag belts.
MATCH FOUR
Go Shiozaki vs Hideki Suzuki
"How many years has it been since you saw a power comparison, it used to be natural once."
Suzuki came to the ring wearing a Sugiura Army "Company Dog" t-shirt in a match that was described as "hard" by the fans. Suzuki attacked Shiozaki's injured shoulder, with Shiozaki responding with the lariat, and in addition to the shoulder he also went for the arms and the knees too. It was somewhat of an old fashioned match, and like the quote above said, you don't really see it anymore, which is true, especially when Suzuki used a sleeper on Shiozaki.
This was a match of elbows, knee strikes, lariats and chops, nothing overly technical in two guys having a test of strength.
When he had Shiozaki in a leg lock, Suzuki told Kenta Kobashi (Go Shiozaki and KENTA'S teacher, who is on commentary) to "take a good look".
WINNER: Neither, match went to 30 minute draw.
Naomichi Marufuji, Minoru Tanaka & Hi69 vs Stinger (Yoshinari Ogawa, Kotaro Suzuki & Chris Ridgeway)
"Just completed my first tour with Pro Wrestling NOAH.
I honestly never thought that would be a sentence I would ever say.
I don’t have any words to describe how I feel just now; it has been incredible and I am happy to say I’ll be back in August!"
(Chris Ridgeway)
Naomichi Marufuji and Kotaro Suzuki (both Mitsuharu Misawa's trainees) started the match, this will be their last match until their singles match at Noah's anniversary show. The fans were cheering, and wanted to see Misawa's boys face off.
WINNER: Naomichi Marufuji with the Shiranui on Chris Ridgeway (10 minutes, 22 seconds)
It looked like in the melee following the match, Hi69 and Minoru Tanaka challenged for the GHC Junior tag belts.
MATCH FOUR
Go Shiozaki vs Hideki Suzuki
"How many years has it been since you saw a power comparison, it used to be natural once."
Suzuki came to the ring wearing a Sugiura Army "Company Dog" t-shirt in a match that was described as "hard" by the fans. Suzuki attacked Shiozaki's injured shoulder, with Shiozaki responding with the lariat, and in addition to the shoulder he also went for the arms and the knees too. It was somewhat of an old fashioned match, and like the quote above said, you don't really see it anymore, which is true, especially when Suzuki used a sleeper on Shiozaki.
This was a match of elbows, knee strikes, lariats and chops, nothing overly technical in two guys having a test of strength.
When he had Shiozaki in a leg lock, Suzuki told Kenta Kobashi (Go Shiozaki and KENTA'S teacher, who is on commentary) to "take a good look".
WINNER: Neither, match went to 30 minute draw.
NOSAWA had promised he would bring a "World Class Celebrity" to the show, and speculation flew around, with the majority voting that it would be Davey Boy Smith Jnr (partly because of hints NOSAWA gave and partly because he is known to work with\for MLW, who have recently partnered with Noah). NOSAWA'S surprise turned out to be Kazushi Sakuraba, the shoot fighter\MMA\Wrestler who had done some training with Kaito Kiyomiya earlier in the year. He will be participating in Noah on the 16th September in Osaka.
Noah also announced two entrants into the N-Q Victory from MLW; namely Hijo del Dr Wagner Jnr and Alex Hammerstone. Noah will announce the full participants later.
MATCH FIVE
The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura, KAZMA SAKAMOTO, Hajime Ohara & Kinya Okada) vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Masa Kitamiya, Atsushi Kotoge & Yoshiki Inamura)
Hajime Ohara (with a long list of activities concerning Kawasaki read out) was presented with flowers, and he posed with The Sugiura Army for pictures along with the event planners.
After Kongoh got in the ring, Kenoh stood and glared at Sugiura. Sugiura just stood still and stared back...however, it was the former members of Kenohara (Kenoh and Hajime Ohara) who faced off first. Sugiura and Kenoh later faced off, with Sugiura doing a spectacular Avalanche Brainbuster on Kenoh. This has set the stage nicely for Inamura vs Okada in the future.
WINNER: Yoshiki Inamura with the big splash on Kinya Okada (18 minutes, 30 seconds)
MATCH FIVE
The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura, KAZMA SAKAMOTO, Hajime Ohara & Kinya Okada) vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Masa Kitamiya, Atsushi Kotoge & Yoshiki Inamura)
Hajime Ohara (with a long list of activities concerning Kawasaki read out) was presented with flowers, and he posed with The Sugiura Army for pictures along with the event planners.
After Kongoh got in the ring, Kenoh stood and glared at Sugiura. Sugiura just stood still and stared back...however, it was the former members of Kenohara (Kenoh and Hajime Ohara) who faced off first. Sugiura and Kenoh later faced off, with Sugiura doing a spectacular Avalanche Brainbuster on Kenoh. This has set the stage nicely for Inamura vs Okada in the future.
WINNER: Yoshiki Inamura with the big splash on Kinya Okada (18 minutes, 30 seconds)
After the match, Kenoh got on the microphone and gave the usual rant about LIDET, company dogs and his vow to win the N-1 Victory.
Atsushi Kotoge also had an announcement to make, he is returning to the junior division and therefore is leaving Kongoh as he feels that he could do better there for both Noah and the division. The parting was amicable with Kenoh and the others shaking his hand, and Kongoh posing on the ramp one last time.
Question is, who is going to be the new member of Kongoh as now they are outnumbered three to one? And who is going to be the new heavyweight?
MATCH SIX
Global Junior League 2019 Finals
Tadasuke vs HAYATA
Oddly, Tadasuke came out with YO-HEY seconding him, while HAYATA was seconded by Daisuke Harada (I guess this is their way of remaining neutral).
Tadasuke and HAYATA know each other so well, so they were going to have to bring something out of the drawer that neither was expecting. HAYATA was not going to give up, and neither was Tadasuke.
WINNER: HAYATA with the Headache (19 minutes, 12 seconds)
Atsushi Kotoge also had an announcement to make, he is returning to the junior division and therefore is leaving Kongoh as he feels that he could do better there for both Noah and the division. The parting was amicable with Kenoh and the others shaking his hand, and Kongoh posing on the ramp one last time.
Question is, who is going to be the new member of Kongoh as now they are outnumbered three to one? And who is going to be the new heavyweight?
MATCH SIX
Global Junior League 2019 Finals
Tadasuke vs HAYATA
Oddly, Tadasuke came out with YO-HEY seconding him, while HAYATA was seconded by Daisuke Harada (I guess this is their way of remaining neutral).
Tadasuke and HAYATA know each other so well, so they were going to have to bring something out of the drawer that neither was expecting. HAYATA was not going to give up, and neither was Tadasuke.
WINNER: HAYATA with the Headache (19 minutes, 12 seconds)
In a rare moment, HAYATA got on the microphone and challenged for the belt after Minoru Tanaka got into the ring, he simply said "Next is the belt". Afterwards, squabble over (that is until HAYATA or another one of them win a belt another decides they want), RATELS reconciled and all posed with the trophy to show that this was a win for all of them.
HAYATA gave the traditional winners interview afterwards. By "traditional" I mean that he was asked questions, looked like he was thinking the answer, looked to the side (probably saw that YO-HEY was too near for him to answer anything as he would probably burst in), and then walked off without saying anything.
MATCH SEVEN
GHC HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Kaito Kiyomiya vs Katsuhiko Nakajima
HAYATA gave the traditional winners interview afterwards. By "traditional" I mean that he was asked questions, looked like he was thinking the answer, looked to the side (probably saw that YO-HEY was too near for him to answer anything as he would probably burst in), and then walked off without saying anything.
MATCH SEVEN
GHC HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Kaito Kiyomiya vs Katsuhiko Nakajima
The match started off in usual Nakajima fashion.
He sat down (he did this to Sugiura and lay down, Sugiura protested, and the ref only got him to stand when he threatened to get Uchida involved).
So, naturally, being polite, Kiyomiya sat down too.
Then Nakajima got up.
Match that followed was a harsh one, and Nakajima set the tone with a Tombstone from the apron, and later the action spilled out on to the rampway. Kiyomiya kicked out of the vertical spike at 20 minutes, and later Nakajima kicked out of the Tiger Suplex. However, Kiyomiya got the win with the Tiger Suplex from the top turnbuckle. He will now go into the N-1 as the GHC Heavyweight Champion.
WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Tiger Suplex from the top turnbuckle (29 minutes, 34 seconds)
Kiyomiya didn't make a speech, but after the match he went around the ring and shook hands with everyone, including Kenta Kobashi who had been on commentary. Naturally, with the N-1 beginning in mid August, there was no challenger.
NOAH'S NEXT EVENT: Departure (Noah's 19th anniversary), 4th August.
ATTENDANCE: 1, 455 (full but not sold out)
WITH THANKS TO: Metal Noah, Abeshin, Fujiwara Armbar, Shishikazu, Duka, Sash No. 1, iWASBorn, FujiError, Sakido,
PICTURE CREDIT: Noah GHC, PKDX
He sat down (he did this to Sugiura and lay down, Sugiura protested, and the ref only got him to stand when he threatened to get Uchida involved).
So, naturally, being polite, Kiyomiya sat down too.
Then Nakajima got up.
Match that followed was a harsh one, and Nakajima set the tone with a Tombstone from the apron, and later the action spilled out on to the rampway. Kiyomiya kicked out of the vertical spike at 20 minutes, and later Nakajima kicked out of the Tiger Suplex. However, Kiyomiya got the win with the Tiger Suplex from the top turnbuckle. He will now go into the N-1 as the GHC Heavyweight Champion.
WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Tiger Suplex from the top turnbuckle (29 minutes, 34 seconds)
Kiyomiya didn't make a speech, but after the match he went around the ring and shook hands with everyone, including Kenta Kobashi who had been on commentary. Naturally, with the N-1 beginning in mid August, there was no challenger.
NOAH'S NEXT EVENT: Departure (Noah's 19th anniversary), 4th August.
ATTENDANCE: 1, 455 (full but not sold out)
WITH THANKS TO: Metal Noah, Abeshin, Fujiwara Armbar, Shishikazu, Duka, Sash No. 1, iWASBorn, FujiError, Sakido,
PICTURE CREDIT: Noah GHC, PKDX
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