​Pro Wrestling Noah returned to Korakuen Hall today to kick off the second part of N-1 VICTORY. Sadly the venue was not sold out with only 835 in attendance, but those who did come were on their feet and enthusiastic since the start.
Personally, I would rather see a small excited crowd, than a small bored one.

Noah also announced that they would be live streaming the show via their YouTube channel, which had about 17,871 people worldwide tune in. Naturally, some of the theme music had to be muted as a result as Noah do not own the rights. However, the technology they use does have a slight lag at times, but on the whole the broadcast went well.

Previous to all of this, NOSAWA Rongai had announced that he would be bringing another "friend" to Korakuen Hall today, which he termed as "The Last Successor", and Noah also had an announcement to make during the interval about a future participant, although this was not announced prior to the event.

Naomichi Marufuji (who celebrated his 21st anniversary in pro-wrestling with a small party at Yamada Maru ((the former "Muscle Grill", which I believe he now owns)), which included Takashi Sugiura (and I like to think KENTA, although I doubt it), was on autograph duty.
Alex Hammerstone took charge of the Noah's Ark fanclub pictures.

MATCH ONE
50 Funky Powers & Sonico vs The Return of The Dark Agents (Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue) & Junta Miyawaki.

Lots of calls from the audience for Junta Miyawaki (and Sonico too), when they both locked up.
Energetic opening match with fast paced exchanges between Miyawaki and Sonico, which the crowd got behind. This is something that I think people would like to see more of.

WINNER: Sonico with the Swanton Bomb on Junta Miyawaki (8 minutes, 57 seconds)

At the end of the match, Mohammed Yone (with characteristic kindness), stopped Sonico from exiting the ring after the match and told him to go and stand on the opposite turnbuckle to celebrate his win.

​MATCH TWO
Yoshiki Inamura vs Kinya Okada

Battle of the big thicc beefy boys, which was dominated by the far more experienced and advanced Inamura. Sadly, Okada's career has been blighted due to injury which prevented him from debuting at the same time as Inamura, and then he had another spell which put him behind further.
The match was short, but the crowd were screaming at the end when Inamura had Okada in the Boston Crab.

WINNER: Yoshiki Inamura with the Boston Crab (3 minutes, 49 seconds)

Okada rolled out of the ring.
Inamura stood and watched him, hands on hips.

​Then NOSAWA Rongai appeared and got into the ring. He had bought with him "The Last Successor", Kazuyuki Fujita, and he challenged Inamura to a singles match with him at Osaka.
Inamura's response was to first yell into the microphone (he did that afterwards as well) and then attacked Fujita. A fight broke out (with the crowd chanting for Inamura "Ina-kun...Ina-kun"), and which NOSAWA had to break up), which was a nice little taster of the match to come.
This will be a very good experience for Inamura, who says he realizes this is a big chance for him.

MATCH THREE
STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa, Kotaro Suzuki, Atsushi Kotoge & Chris Ridgeway) vs RATELS (HAYATA, Daisuke Harada, Tadasuke & YO-HEY)

RATELS came out first, and the got jumped by STINGER who did not wait for their own entrance. Kotoge attacking Harada (who hadn't even taken his jacket off). In the end it was Ogawa who helped Harada off with his jacket.
By flinging it into the crowd.

​Tadasuke got into the ring like a manic whirlwind, knocking STINGER off the apron twice, and YO-HEY joined in with his fist pose on the apron (Harada was on the floor, HAYATA just watched).
Fast paced match, which made you quite understand why people in the countryside said that it was near impossible to take pictures. The crowd screamed when HAYATA did a massive over the top rope somersault.

Harada and Kotoge managed to roll back into the ring on the count of seventeen (everyone was outside the ring), and Harada got the pin.

WINNER: Daisuke Harada with the deformation pin on Atsushi Kotoge (9 minutes, 18 seconds)

The fight wasn't over, as Harada and Kotoge continued to go at it with the ref getting knocked down in the process, and then Kotoge angrily standing over him to protest the decision.
Harada told him to get lost.

Interestingly, Tadasuke didn't stay with the rest of RATELS to celebrate the win, and YO-HEY got into the ring with the GHC Junior Heavyweight on his shoulder.
HAYATA did a double take as he started parading around with it, and then asked for the belt back.
YO-HEY handed it over.
HAYATA was hesitant to take it, despite YO-HEY'S pleadings, but he did.
YO-HEY then tried to kick him.
HAYATA ducked.
YO-HEY made it look like it was all a jest, HAYATA didn't quite believe him.
YO-HEY is probably THE ONLY person who can irritate HAYATA. Many have tried. All have failed.
Thing is, they know each other too well.

MATCH FOUR
Katsuhiko Nakajima, Hi69, Hitoshi Kumano & Minoru Tanaka vs The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura, KAZMA SAKAMOTO & Hajime Ohara) & El Hijo de Dr Wagner Jnr.

As music is not allowed, this makes a good substitute for "When Love Comes To Town"

Katsuhiko Nakajima and El Hijo de Dr Wagner Junior started the match. El Hijo making the mistake of offering his hand to, and then than shaking hands with Nakajima (who kicked him in the stomach).

The former Backbreakers (Hajime Ohara and Hitoshi Kumano) faced off, and Kumano still has a little blue in his hair left over from the Atsushi Aoki memorial show earlier this month.
Kick and chop battle between Takashi Sugiura and Katsuhiko Nakajima.

KAZMA SAKAMOTO did "the scream", which was imitated by both Takashi Sugiura and Hajime Ohara (I think this may be the first time that I know of that Ohara has done it).

Big applause for El Hijo de Dr Wagner Junior during the match, especially the moonsault at the end.

WINNER: El Hijo de Dr Wagner Junior with the Moonsault Press on Hi69 (11 minutes, 38 seconds)

The Sugiura Army then posed together to celebrate their win.
I guess El Hijo de Dr Wagner Jnr is now a member, as he was wearing a "Company Dog" t-shirt.

Noah had a long drive (about seven hours) from Kumamoto to Takamatsu, Shikoku, where unsurprisingly most of the roster (save Takashi Sugiura, who couldn't sleep, and Atsushi Kotoge who photographed a cute dog), fell asleep. It's not surprising given how grueling and intense this short tour has been. After today's show its a short 2 -3 hours drive to Osaka (Mohammed Yone is sad as it means he can't eat udon noodles), and from there back to Tokyo, and for the majority of the roster (except those appearing in TAKAYAMANIA on Monday), it is three days off until N-1 resumes again on the 29th. ​

There is only so far that Harada can be pushed, and he threw one of his tantrums (although he didn't throw anything or kick anything this time), and started battering Ridgeway with the chair, and then later trapped him under it while he sat on it.

The match was restarted three times:
1. Mass brawl with the two legal men, Atsushi Kotoge & Tadasuke getting counted out (1 minute, 25 seconds)
2. Chris Ridgeway hit Daisuke Harada with a chair (1 minute, 16 seconds)
3. Chris Ridgeway hit Daisuke Harada with a chair (12 minutes, 7 seconds)

MATCH FOUR
The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura & Hajime Ohara) & El Hijo de Dr Wagner Jnr vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura)

El Hijo de Dr Wagner Jnr took the fight to Kongoh, knocking Kenoh off of the top turnbuckle with what appeared to be a roundhouse kick, and squaring off with Masa Kitamiya.

WINNER: Takashi Sugiura with the Olympic Slam on Yoshiki Inamura (14 minutes, 55 seconds)

Afterwards when his team posed for the win, Sugiura stood with his mouthguard looking like a cigar. Like. A. Boss.
​

​MATCH FIVE
Kaito Kiyomiya & Alex Hammerstone vs Naomichi Marufuji & Minoru Tanaka 

"The team of champions, Kiyomiya and Hammerstone"

Hammerstone got chopped by Marufuji, while Kiyomiya was tortured by Minoru Tanaka (who it looks like did his Fireball splash too). I think there was also some kind of test of strength between Marufuji and Hammerstone. Sadly, I don't have too many details on this match.

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Tiger Suplex on Minoru Tanaka (13 minutes, 6 seconds)

MATCH SIX
N-1 VICTORY
Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Shuhei Taniguchi

Nakajima had spent most of the past week winding Taniguchi up, and he did this also in the match by doing his usual grin and the rope choke where he poses for pictures for fans.
Taniguchi, however, swore that he would not lose, and kicked out the Vertical Spike at 2. I don't really have too many details on the match itself, but fans are saying that it was intense.

WINNER: Time out draw

NEXT NOAH EVENT: 25th August, Osaka Edion Arena 2
ATTENDANCE: 247
WITH THANKS TO: Peke Poko, Ehime Yosuke, Nodapooh
PICTURE CREDIT: Noah GHC

​Kumamoto is Go Shiozaki's hometown, and naturally, he was on autograph duty. There was a long line to greet him, and when he got in the ring for his match he was given flowers.

After the event Akitoshi Saito thanked everyone for coming and (in one of his poetic moments) said, "thank you for the heat that chased away the rain".

I am afraid that it is another one of those times when I don't really have too much information on the opening matches aside from results, and then information on others is sporadic (for example, I don't have much info on the main event, or what Go Shiozaki said on the microphone afterwards).

MATCH ONE
The Return of The Dark Agents (Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue) vs Hitoshi Kumano & Junta Miyawaki.
WINNER: Akitoshi Saito with the Suicludees on Junta Miyawaki (8 minutes, 12 seconds)

MATCH TWO
Hi69 & Minoru Tanaka vs The Sugiura Army (NOSAWA Rongai & Kinya Okada)
WINNER: Minoru Tanaka with the Arm criss-cross on Kinya Okada (8 minutes, 44 seconds)

​MATCH THREE
The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura, KAZMA SAKAMOTO & Hajime Ohara) vs 50 Funky Powers (Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm) & Sonico

Fast paced match, and as Hajime Ohara seems to like carrying a towel to the ring, he has now the "Sugiura Army\Company Dog" one, which he proudly displays.

One fan noticed that following a spot to the outside of the ring on Hajime Ohara, Sonico appeared to be injured on landing. Noah later announced that he had suffered a sprained ankle (so hopefully nothing too serious), he says himself that with ice, rest and "watching the best wrestlers in the world", he will get better. There have been a lot of well wishes from fans for his recovery. 

WINNER: Hajime Ohara with the Mui Bien on Sonico (11 minutes, 9 seconds)

MATCH FOUR
STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa, Kotaro Suzuki, Atsushi Kotoge & Chris Ridgeway) vs RATELS (HAYATA, Daisuke Harada, Tadasuke & YO-HEY)

"I stole a belt & shoe & a SMILE"
(Chris Ridgeway. One fan said that one of Harada's boots signed by him would be a good thing).

Mass brawl outside the ring, both teams so intent on laying into each other that no one seemed to notice the bell. Not that this match lasted for long.

​Daisuke Harada had his ankle attacked again by Chris Ridgeway. Ridgeway also attacked his leg with a chair (which got him disqualified), and then when Harada was on the floor after being battered with it, sat and laughed at him.

WINNER: Daisuke Harada due to Chris Ridgeway getting disqualified for using a chair (1 minute, 24 seconds)

​Both fans, RATELS and STINGER requested that the match be restarted, which led a much longer match (13 minutes, 16 seconds) to a double count out between Atsushi Kotoge & Tadasuke.
Outside the ring, Ridgeway again took off Harada's left boot (which he apparently stole later), and then tortured his bare foot again.

Judging by the blurry pictures taken by fans, the match seemed to be another one done at the speed of light.

MATCH FIVE
Kaito Kiyomiya, Shuhei Taniguchi & Alex Hammerstone vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura)

Except for Kenoh and Kiyomiya, this was a proper hoss match when Hammerstone and Taniguchi collided with Kitamiya and Inamura.

​"In each official N-1 VICTORY match, each wrestler fought for the win! But, it's just getting started, and I don't know which wrestler will win!"
Noah decorated the venue beautifully today with a big curtain which had the N-1 official picture on it which made it very striking as it hung behind the ring. It looked really impressive when the venue lights were dimmed, and a single spotlight was shone on it. 

There was a long line of people to see Katsuhiko Nakajima at the merchandise booth. He was videoed signing of the "YES" towel, and then holding it up and grinning.

MATCH ONE 
Yoshiki Inamura vs Kinya Okada

The two rookies turned rivals, Yoshiki Inamura (the ever growing tank from "Kongoh"\"THE TOUGH") and his classmate, Kinya Okada ("The Sugiura Army") opened the show.

WINNER: Yoshiki Inamura with the Boston Crab (8 minutes, 33 seconds)

MATCH TWO
Junta Miyawaki vs Sonico

Fast moving match, which Miyawaki (not a Lucha wrestler), managed to pretty much keep pace in and at one point doing a dive to the outside (not a moonsault or anything though, although it was top rope).

WINNER: Sonico with the AMF (8 minutes, 8 seconds)

At the end of the match when Chris Ridgeway got Daisuke Harada in the ankle lock, someone (most likely Yoshinari Ogawa) draped the IPW Junior Heavyweight belt over Ridgeway's shoulder.
Ridgeway had a big smile on his face as Harada screamed, and then tapped out. 

​WINNER: Chris Ridgeway with the Ankle Hold on Daisuke Harada (11 minutes, 17 seconds)

MATCH FIVE
Kaito Kiyomiya & Alex Hammerstone vs 50 Funky Powers (Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm).

Alex Hammerstone (who one fan said thought he looked a little like Gellert Grindelwald from "Fantastic Beasts") continued his dominance in Noah by showing that he is not only very strong, he is also very agile for a man of his size. He manhandled Mohammed Yone, and gave 50 Funky Powers a massive lariat.

WINNER: Alex Hammerstone with the Pendulum Nightmare on Quiet Storm (8 minutes, 57 seconds)

After the match, the two champions held up their belts to each other.

MATCH SEVEN
N-1 VICTORY
Kenoh vs Shuhei Taniguchi

Shuhei Taniguchi had the advantage today standing 6ft to Kenoh's 5'9, and outweighing him by about 136kg, but Kenoh, as outnumbered as he was by (fractional) size and weight, took Taniguchi down despite the Wyvern clutch and the lariats, with strong kicks to the legs.

WINNER: Kenoh with the diving footstamp (12 minutes, 51 seconds)

Afterwards Shuhei Taniguchi wrote something on Twitter afterwards that indicated either a concussion or else he was drunk.

MATCH EIGHT
N-1 VICTORY
Takashi Sugiura vs Masa Kitamiya

Brutal match which was not an easy fight for either competitor, and it came very close to going to a time out draw before Sugiura got the win at the last moment.
​

​"It was maybe more than ten years ago when I came to Noah last"

Old fans are coming back to Noah.

Noah held the inauguration of the very first "elite" heavyweight league, the "N-1 VICTORY" today. House was not sold out, but it was full, and the crowd was excited.

Some local children gave a karate demonstration in the ring before the event started (Noah usually have a demonstration of some sort going on beforehand, sometimes they let the local children play in the ring, and very often Yoshinari Ogawa holds classes for the roster in technique which everyone, no matter what level, benefits from). They were later joined by Katsuhiko Nakajima, (his background is in Karate, which is part of the reason why he was often at odds with KENTA who did kickboxing).
I'm not exactly sure what he said, but it looks like Nakajima gave some kind of speech.
Speaking of children, after the event a little girl (fourth grade) gave Naomichi Marufuji a handmade card which said that she came to see Noah today for the first time and had a lot of fun.

Mohammed Yone celebrates 25 years in wrestling today.

I am afraid that today was a day of lots of pictures, but not too much saying what was going on, so I have only been able in some cases to give a result, and in others elaborate a little more.

Event will be broadcast on Samurai on Sunday August 25th at 10pm JST.

​Opening ceremony
As per tradition, the competitors came out to the ring as their names were announced. Everyone was wearing N-1 t-shirts, and they lined up in their respective blocks.
As far as I know everyone managed to behave themselves, there was no arguments or squaring up, Kenoh swearing and stamping off, or Marufuji winding him up by holding the ropes open for him.

MATCH ONE
The Sugiura Army (KAZMA SAKAMOTO & Kinya Okada) vs Junta Miyawaki & Sonico

Not really too much to say about the opening I am afraid, except it was a good match (and Okada and SAKAMOTO wore the dog t-shirts)

WINNER: KAZMA SAKAMOTO with the Pop-Up-Powerbomb on Sonico (5 minutes, 58 seconds)

Sound problems occurred and the event was delayed a little, fortunately it was sorted out quickly.
Atsushi Kotoge was seen peeping out of the curtain during the downtime.

MATCH TWO
STINGER (Atsushi Kotoge & Chris Ridgeway) vs RATELS (Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke)

Atsushi Kotoge is noted to have some weight now that he has become a junior again, and he was semi-hyper again today. He seemed to suddenly cheer up when going to the ring.

Kotoge got the win over Tadasuke, while Ridgeway held Harada outside the ring in a headlock.

WINNER: Atsushi Kotoge with the Kill Switch on Tadasuke (10 minutes, 20 seconds)

In his backstage interview, a much happier looking Atsushi Kotoge said that STINGERS goal is to have all the junior belts.

MATCH FOUR
STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa, Kotaro Suzuki, Atsushi Kotoge & Chris Ridgeway) vs RATELS (HAYATA, Daisuke Harada, Tadasuke & YO-HEY)

"It's just the beginning"
Tadasuke

Atsushi Kotoge introduced new ringwear today, and in keeping with the more somber style of STINGER (Chris Ridgeway says that the name must be written all in caps), he was dressed in dark clothes with just a little hint of pink.

The match was said to be a very fast paced one, so much so that fans said pictures were near impossible to take. The action got going when the bell was still vibrating after being rung, both teams not wasting a moment to lay into each other...and crazy Tadasuke also made an appearance.
The moment the bell rang with its chimes still in the air, Kotoge attacked Harada.

WINNER: Atsushi Kotoge with the Killswitch on Daisuke Harada (14 minutes, 21 seconds)

After the match, Atsushi Kotoge said in the interview that people were "tired of watching the camaraderie​ of RATELS".

MATCH FIVE
Kaito Kiyomiya & Junta Miyawaki vs THE TOUGH\KONGOH (Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura)

"Noah's new scenery in green and orange"

Kaito Kiyomiya and Junta Miyawaki teamed up to take on fellow Noah born Yoshiki Inamura, who was with THE TOUGH partner, Masa Kitamiya.
Miyawaki used a lot of judo techniques, and at one point he and Kiyomiya used a double submission on Kitamiya.

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

After the match Masa Kitamiya spoke on the microphone to say that he would win the N-1.

Shuhei Taniguchi was the one who showed the most momentum in this match (fans said he "woke up"), ignoring Kenoh when he demanded the tag, taking advantage of his size and power, to throw around Marufuji, lariat both himself and Shiozaki, and then and subdue Takashi Sugiura after Sugi had taken the kicks.

WINNER: Shuhei Taniguchi with the Wyvern Catch on Takashi Sugiura (24 minutes 2 seconds)

Yes. You read that right.
Noah's resident porn loving Terminator, tapped out.

Taniguchi made a typically short promo on the microphone after the match, by simply saying that he would win the N-1 (and then thanking everyone for coming today).
Takashi Sugiura said later, "so you got an unexpected win...wait until the N-1 final".

NOAH'S NEXT EVENT: Sunday 18th August 2018, Opening night of N-1 VICTORY, Nagoya
ATTENDANCE: 294 people (full house)
WITH THANKS TO: Maki, Atsuka, Hae, MK Bomber, Naoki, iwasborn, Kei, Lily, Shikazu,       PICTURE CREDIT: Katsuhiko Nakajima, PKDX, Noah GHC, Naomichi Marufuji ​

Start SummerSlam weekend with Wrestlers Union THURSDAY in Toronto

The Union of Independent Professional Wrestlers returns at The Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick Ave in Toronto, Ontario on Thursday, August 8 featuring Josh Alexander, RJ City, Space Monkey, Shane Sabre, Addy Starr, and UNION Heavyweight champion Anthony Kingdom defending against Kevin Blackwood.  

Tickets and info available at WrestlersUnion.ca. See the teaser: bit.ly/unionslam

With the world’s leading professional wrestling company bringing their biggest event of Summer to Toronto, the Toronto owned-and-operated UNION of INDEPENDENT PROFESSIONAL WRESTLERS will showcase some of Canada’s best homegrown talent to local and visiting pro wrestling fanatics THIS Thursday night!

Join a night of cold beers and hot fights at The Tranzac Club (292 Brunswick Ave near Bloor and Spadina) with  “Never Say Never”, a six-fight extravaganza full of hard-hitting, high-flying, no hold barred action.

Doors open 8:30 p.m., bell time 9 p.m.!  Tickets on sale NOW at WrestlersUnion.ca!  $20 for General Admission and only $35 for VIP Front Row (including 8 p.m. entry with an exclusive match and a free Union t-shirt)!

Follow UNION on Twitter/Instagram @wrestlers_union!

​Noah held their 19th anniversary show at Korakuen Hall in the heat of summer today in the mid morning. It wasn't a sold out crowd, but it was a full house with the usual excited and exuberant crowd.

It was announced on the 2nd August that Harley Race had passed away.
Race had strong connections with Noah which stretched back to before the company was founded due to his time in All Japan, which led to his friendship with Mitsuharu Misawa. During the Golden Era, Noah wrestlers would attend the training camp in Eldon, Missouri, while the wrestlers from WLW\Harley Race's Training Academy, would likewise come to Noah. I'm not sure for how long he retained the position, but after Joe Higuchi's death in November 2010, he was created the chairman of the GHC Heavyweight Championship committee.

​Akira Taue (making a rare appearance for Noah) did the honors of holding the picture in the ring while a ten bell salute was sounded for him as the roster lined up around outside. Touchingly, Naomichi Marufuji (who Harley Race had called his "Japanese Son"), had kept the dimes that Race had once given him.
During the interval it was announced that Keiji Mutoh would be appearing at Noah's Edion Arena Osaka show. Later on Twitter, Kaito Kiyomiya said that he hoped for a tag with Mutoh, and that there would be another person appearing in Osaka...but it seems that there would be more than one person, Noah have announced it will be a six man tag, and so far only Kiyomiya and Mutoh have been announced. The rest are "X"...
Kenta Kobashi also came out in the interval and talked about Noah's founding event nineteen years ago. I have to say, it was painful watching him get out of the ring afterwards, as Kobashi seems not frail now (not like Akira Taue), but less mobile.

MATCH ONE
50 Funky Powers (Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm) & YO-HEY vs Hi69, Hitoshi Kumano & Junta Miyawaki.

Energetic opener to start the show. As predicted, YO-HEY did do the "Disco Fever" pose, but not at the beginning. At the beginning he did his odd pose with his palms facing down which makes him look like he needs an umbrella to dance round with. He did "Disco Fever" briefly at the end of the match, Yone caught him, he denied it, and in any case he came out dancing to their theme music.

WINNER: YO-HEY with the Face G on Junta Miyawaki (5 minutes, 40 seconds)

MATCH TWO
Yoshinari Ogawa vs Atsushi Kotoge vs RATELS (Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke).

As soon as they entered the hall, RATELS attacked, Harada targeting Atsushi Kotoge (who does look to have lost a lot of weight, but still looks somewhat dead-eyed) who he practically threw around the arena and at one point giving him a brain-buster on a pile of chairs that he had thrown on the floor. However, this was not going to be the last time that Harada would throw chairs that evening. It should also be noted that Kotoge did not enter wearing a cape, or do any "Revolutionary" activities (Stinger do not encourage such things, and Ogawa has made his feelings clear in the past about the cape by wiping his feet on it and throwing it away).

​Outside the ring, Tadasuke fought Ogawa, and YO-HEY (who had stayed to second RATELS) even got in on the action with Ogawa throwing him into the iron barrier. Pity referee Ben and Seiya Morohashi in trying to keep control in this one, in what looked like a fight in the playground at some point.

Despite the furious beat down he was getting from Harada (who isn't happy about Kotoge thinking he can abandon the juniors for the hated heavyweights and then come back, playing "weird characters" and wanting belts), Kotoge managed to get the sneak win...

WINNER: Atsushi Kotoge with a kid clutch on Daisuke Harada (10 minutes, 22 seconds)

​Daisuke Harada threw an epic tantrum on Kotoge winning, throwing chairs and attacking him, and having to be held back by Tadasuke and YO-HEY. Harada managed to escape their clutches (after a few more chair throws) and attack Kotoge in the ring.
Tadasuke and YO-HEY managed to remove him from it as Kotoge watched from the turnbuckle, and was helped down by Ogawa. Ogawa later announced that Kotoge had joined Stinger, which will now set him in direct opposition with RATELS.

The next day Noah announced that Hi69 & Minoru Tanaka had challenged for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Titles. Match will take place on the 18th August.

MATCH THREE
The Sugiura Army (Hajime Ohara, NOSAWA Rongai & Kinya Okada) vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura)

​As Kenoh doesn't really have too much of a hatred of anyone in this match, except perhaps Hajime Ohara (but that isn't on the same level as Takashi Sugiura), the tension was built between the two rookies, Kinya Okada and Yoshiki Inamura, who are developing quite a feud between them which Noah can run with for years, and bring to the new and next generation(s) of fans. Even better and more poignant, they are Noah born.

WINNER: Kenoh with the Diving Foot Stamp on Kinya Okada (5 minutes, 53 seconds)

After this relatively short match, Kenoh got on the microphone and went to start yelling. 
However, the microphone didn't work (which will probably make him even more paranoid that LIDET are out to get him), so he was handed another, which worked. The basic gist of Kenoh's promo was to ask why the hell it was that LIDET allowed Kaito Kiyomiya, the champion, NOT to participate in the N-1 (Kenoh seems to refuse to believe that Kiyomiya can be stubborn and once he has made up his mind, that's it, preferring to see it as LIDET controlling him, which is something he has concerns about despite his love\hate relationship with what is termed as his "younger brother"), he also declared that HE himself would win the league. Kenoh it seems has also set a date for the Budokan return, 2020.

​After the match, YO-HEY got in the ring and "husband" wished HAYATA ("wife") congratulations on his birthday, gave him a hug to congratulate him on the win, and while he was still hugging him, challenged him for the belt. HAYATA, not one to speak on the microphone, nodded. The match has been set for that traditional RATELS big event city, Osaka at the Edion Arena 1st Stadium on the 16th September.
YO-HEY later said that he knew that HAYATA wanted him to challenge.

MATCH SIX
GHC Heavyweight Championship
AXIZ (Katsuhiko Nakajima & Go Shiozaki) vs The Return of The Dark Agents (Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue)

Comedy match which later turned very emotional, and as one fan put it, Inoue was the star of this match. Often the butt of jokes by the roster (Takashi Sugiura and Naomichi Marufuji in particular), Inoue's forte is as a comedy wrestler, but a man who was Toshiaki Kawada's trainee counts for much (even if Kawada did once say of him "his stomach goes before everything" before silently wishing he could have had a Marufuji, a KENTA or a Nakajima as a trainee), and when he puts his mind to it and leaves out the bumbling, Inoue can be a force to be reckoned with. Match started with usual silly spots such as Nakajima bouncing Inoue of the ropes continually (Saito yelled at him), and then as things grew more serious, the tension heightened.

​At one point Inoue and Nakajima were alone in the ring, and Inoue got Nakajima in an Argentina Backbreaker. Shiozaki was busy outside with Saito, and the audience screamed not for Nakajima to give up; far from being an old vet who has his confectionery stolen, he was becoming a legitimate threat. Fortunately, Shiozaki got back in the ring to break the hold. By the end of the match both Nakajima and Shiozaki had realized this (if Inoue's shock pin in the opening seconds when he almost pinned Shiozaki in a few minutes wasn't enough), and the smirk snapped off. No more playing.  

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the vertical spike on Masao Inoue (16 minutes, 31 seconds)

No challengers have come forward for the title as the majority of the heavyweights are now concentrating on the N-1.

MATCH SEVEN
Special match
Naomichi Marufuji vs Kotaro Suzuki

Both Naomichi Marufuji and Kotaro Suzuki were trained by Mitsuharu Misawa, so the terms "older brother" or "senior student" (Marufuji, who is the senior student, despite being younger) and "younger brother" (Kotaro Suzuki), is often applied to them (Suzuki also calls himself "the prodigal son" as he is Noah's firstborn). Their first singles match together was seventeen years ago, since then they have had tag matches, and Suzuki has left Noah and then returned. When he did, he asked Marufuji for a singles match, which sadly never did come about sooner as Marufuji was injured. Suzuki said that he feels that Misawa has had a hand in the arranging of this; the match would have been ideal for the Misawa memorial event, but it turned out to be better and more poignant at the 19th anniversary.

​Marufuji admitted in this match that had to reach down deep inside and pull out a lot of things that he hasn't used for a while, and said that he was worn out, but it was fun and nostalgic.
It was a fun nostalgic match, dominated mainly by Marufuji (the heavyweight), who at one point chopped Suzuki (who isn't really used to being chopped and so his chest bust open) and then smeared a line of blood with his finger on Suzuki's cheek....

WINNER: Naomichi Marufuji with the Emerald Flowsion Pole Shift Type (20 minutes, 33 seconds)

After the match, Marufuji gave a long speech, basically thanking everyone for coming, saying he would win the N-1, and finishing by saying "if you want to see Marufuji, come and see Noah".
In his post match interview, Kotaro Suzuki changed this to, "if you want to see Kotaro and Marufuji, come and watch Noah". Suzuki may still be a freelancer, but Noah is his home.

Noah's next show: August 16th  
Attendance: 1,288 (full house, but not sold out)
With thanks to: Metal Noah, Abeshin
Picture credit: PKDX, Noah GHC