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

​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)

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. ​

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

 With Global Junior League 2019 wrapping up and with the big summer event in Kawasaki being held on the 27th July, Noah held their small interim event today in Niigata. 

I am afraid that I don't have much information coming out of today's show aside from results, but the big news coming out of Noah is that they have confirmed a working agreement with MLW, and that the partnership with IMPACT will continue. A wrestler from MLW will be competing in the N-1 Victory, and will be announced at a later date. 

​RESULTS

Junta Miyawaki vs Kinya Okada
WINNER: Junta Miyawaki with the Cross Arm Breaker (8 minutes, 30 seconds)

MATCH TWO
The Return of The Dark Agents (Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue) & Hi69 vs Mohammed Yone, Quiet Storm & Rocky Kawamura.
WINNER: Akitoshi Saito with the Sucidees on Rocky Kawamura (10 minutes, 58 seconds)

MATCH THREE
Atsushi Kotoge vs KAZMA SAKAMOTO
WINNER: Atsushi Kotoge with the Killswitch (11 minutes, 4 seconds)

KAZMA bought his white umbrella with him, while Kotoge looked different although he was wearing his red cape

​Noah held the semi final night of Global Junior League 2019 today, and Naomichi Marufuji discovered FaceApp and posted pictures of himself as an old man, himself as a woman, Sugiura as an old man, Yone as an old man, and then (naturally as he gets harassed by people and their phones, which will probably get worse tomorrow on the journey back to Tokyo) Masao Inoue as an old man (twice) and then a woman.

Despite it being a small country venue in Japan's north, the event was said to have a "big match" feel today, even if the event was being held in a banqueting room of a hotel. Sadly, and despite the fact that today is the Global Junior League semi finals and the GHC Heavyweight Tag Title match, I don't have a lot of information from today's show, which is so often the case in the provinces, so in some places I have been able to present little other than just results.

MATCH ONE
The Return of The Dark Agents (Yoshinari Ogawa & Masao Inoue) vs Hitoshi Kumano & Junta Miyawaki
WINNER: Masao Inoue with the lariat on Junta Miyawaki (10 minutes, 36 seconds)

​MATCH TWO
The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura & NOSAWA Rongai) vs Minoru Tanaka & Kinya Okada
WINNER: Takashi Sugiura with the Boston Crab on Kinya Okada (8 minutes, 32 seconds)

~Takashi Sugiura said in the post match promo he wants Kinya Okada to join the Sugiura Army.

​MATCH EIGHT
GHC HEAVYYWEIGHT TAG TITLE MATCH
AXIZ (Katsuhiko Nakajima & Go Shiozaki) vs Kaito Kiyomiya & Shuhei Taniguchi

~ Katsuhiko Nakajima has started doing a little finger bending thing when he leans through the rope and grins for the choke. He managed to do that to all four corners of the hall today (and at one point pointing and laughing at Kaito Kiyomiya)

WINNER: Go Shiozaki via lariat on Shuhei Taniguchi (26 minutes, 39 seconds)

After their title defense, The Return of The Dark Agents (Masao Inoue and Akitoshi Saito) came out to make their challenge, which AXIZ apparently found very amusing (as did Takashi Sugiura somewhere no doubt). AXIZ will defend the GHC Heavyweight Tag Titles against The Return of The Dark Agents at Noah's Anniversary show "Departure" on August 4th.
Event will be broadcast live.

But before all of that, it's a nine hour journey back to Tokyo....Masao Inoue has challenged for the tag titles...and Naomichi Marufuji has a new toy on his phone...

NOAH'S NEXT SHOW: 26th July, Aōre Nagaoka Arena
ATTENDANCE: 721 (overcrowded)
WITH THANKS TO: Sachan, Ma, Hamarin, Neriro, Hiropapa
PICTURE CREDIT: Noah GHC

Taking advantage of the beautiful weather in Akita today (unlike the Kanto region where it is raining according to one fan), RATELS decided to go on a walk and see the sights (they seem to like sightseeing, especially as a group). They came across a nature reserve which didn't allow entry due to bears in the forest. YO-HEY joked that it was Hitoshi Kumano (whose surname literally means "Bear") who was doing an autograph session.
HAYATA, with his well known love of animals, was probably inside patting one. However, a less flattering picture was taken of him in the background of a picture of Daisuke Harada, facing some bushes....and yes, he probably did still have his cigarette in his mouth.  

Today's venue looked beautiful with big glass window facades on entry, and having a river nearby and small wind turbines dotted along the way, but sadly I don't have too much information coming out of today's show, so I can present little more than results in some cases.

Quiet Storm vs Yoshiki Inamura
WINNER: Quiet Storm with the 50cm lariat (8 minutes, 3 seconds)

Global Junior League 2019
Hitoshi Kumano vs Chris Ridgeway
WINNER: Chris Ridgeway via ankle lock submission (10 minutes, 1 second)

STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa vs Kotaro Suzuki) vs Junta Miyawaki & Kinya Okada.
WINNER: Kotaro Suzuki with the running elbow on Kinya Okada (10 minutes, 10 seconds)

After the match Miyawaki went to see if Okada was okay, and Okada turned on him. Never really friends, this could be the start of a small rivalry between them.

Global Jnr League 2019
Minoru Tanaka vs Tadasuke
WINNER: Tadasuke with the 2 PAC (10 minutes, 14 seconds)
​

​
​The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura, Hajime Ohara & NOSAWA Rongai) vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Masa Kitamiya & Atsushi Kotoge)
WINNER: Kenoh with the diving foot stamp on NOSAWA Rongai (13 minutes, 39 seconds)

Global Junior League
HAYATA vs HI69
WINNER: Hi69 with the Stuka Splash (11 minutes, 27 seconds)

AXIZ (Katsuhiko Nakajima & Go Shiozaki), Mohammed Yone & RATELS (Daisuke Harada & YO-HEY) vs Kaito Kiyomiya, Shuhei Taniguchi, Naomichi Marufuji & The Return of The Dark Agents (Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue)

Go Shiozaki returned today. Although his arm and shoulder were heavily taped, this didn't stop him from machine gun chopping Kaito Kiyomiya. This is the last pre-match before the GHC Heavyweight Tag title match tomorrow. Afterwards, Katsuhiko Nakajima addressed Shuhei Taniguchi and Kaito Kiyomiya, but I have no idea what he said though.

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the Verical Spike on Shuhei Taniguchi (16 minutes, 52 seconds)

NOAH'S NEXT SHOW: 21st July 2019, 
ATTENDANCE: 214
WITH THANKS TO: Sachan, Miyu
PICTURE CREDIT: Noah GHC

​"The future of Noah is so bright, it's too bright". 

Noah arrived in Morioka after a long journey from Tokyo (five hours) on which Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura, took the usual pictures of Masao Inoue (fortunately no urinal pictures this time), and then when they arrived Noah proceeded to eat up all the cold noodles in town (a regional specialty). Unfortunately Senior Referee Shu Nishinaga, said he could not. 

New merchandise in the form of two muffler towels will be released at Kawasaki on the 27th July, one of them is Naomichi Marufuji's, the other is a Takashi Sugiura one and it features both his dogs at each end of the towel (his other one is Toy Poodle) saying "Yip!Yip!".

Not a sold out crowd today, but one that enjoyed the card, and were very appreciative that Noah had come all the way up North to see them.

I am afraid that information coming out of today's show was sporadic, and I have more information on some matches than others.

MATCH ONE
Global Junior League 2019
Hi69 vs Hitoshi Kumano

A lot of cheers for local boy, Hi69.

WINNER: Hi69 with the Stuka Splash (9 minutes, 39 seconds)

MATCH TWO
Global Junior League 2019
Yoshinari Ogawa vs Junta Miyawaki

Instead of the leather jacket, Yoshinari Ogawa came to the ring to torture Junta Miyawaki, in his summer denim jacket. Junta Miyawaki had remained optimistic following his loss at Noah's last show, saying that he would defeat Ogawa.
You have to admire Junta's optimism considering that the veteran Marufuji almost didn't defeat Ogawa earlier in the year, and came away from the match saying he was "exhausted" because every move he made, Ogawa was waiting round that corner for him.

WINNER: Yoshinari Ogawa with a Camel clutch type arm lock (9 minutes, 54 seconds)

Yoshinari Ogawa commented after the match that he was going to make YO-HEY bleed more than he made Daisuke Harada bleed. He also lamented Junta Miyawaki, and compared the current juniors unfavorably to those in Misawa's day.
YO-HEY'S reaction was to laugh (online that is, in the overworld, he was talking about one of his nipples before he walked off). ​

​MATCH THREE
Takashi Sugiura vs Kinya Okada.

This was meant to be a tag match, but this was changed in the shuffle due to Go Shiozaki's injury. Kinya Okada said he felt he managed to get a few good shots in, but Sugiura took him out in the shortest match of the evening.

WINNER: Takashi Sugiura with the Boston Crab (6 minutes and 47 seconds)

MATCH SEVEN
Kaito Kiyomiya, Shuhei Taniguchi, Naomichi Marufuji & Chris Ridgeway vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Masa Kitamiya, Atsushi Kotoge & Yoshiki Inamura)

Now that he has turned 23, there was said to be a new aura about Kaito Kiyomiya. Naomichi Marufuji also seemed to have a definite feeling which wasn't confined to Kiyomiya, as he chose to put some distance between himself and his teammates, he said "had a sense" of it. Chris Ridgeway he wants a singles with (and they are budding rivals), Kaito Kiyomiya is the GHC Heavyweight champion (who he failed to take the belt from), and Shuhei Taniguchi, he does not trust, and has learned not to. Taniguchi, however, once the match got going was "untouchable" knocking his opponents down.

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Tiger Suplex on Yoshiki Inamura (20 minutes, 7 seconds)

I am unsure of the match dynamics (but I can hazard a guess about how Kenoh interacted with Marufuji and Kiyomiya, two of his three obsessive hatreds), but after the match Kiyomiya (with a slight smirk on his face), held up the belt as he stalked off.

After the event the wrestlers, not just the contracted ones (Junta Miyawaki, Noah's new boy) and the freelance ones too, were seen taking down the ring.

NOAH'S NEXT SHOW: 20th July 2019
ATTENDANCE: 393 people
WITH THANKS TO: Hirune, PEN, Dragon   
PICTURE CREDIT: Noah GHC, PKDX  ​

It cannot be denied that the venue is a beautiful one; a beautiful plaza, a beautiful light and airy reception, and a wonderful hall...but for the Noah ring crew, this venue is the bane of their existence. Home to what they have termed "The Demon Staircase from Hell" as the truck cannot be parked in a loading bay, all the ring equipment has to be carried up and down the long stairway, across the plaza and through the lobby.

Unfortunately after Noah's Korakuen Hall event, it was announced that due to a form of dislocation in his shoulder, Go Shiozaki will miss time. Noah have tentatively announced it as being today, but it is unknown how long he will be out for, and sadly it leaves both the GHC Heavyweight Tag and the match with Hideki Suzuki up in the air.

Mohammed Yone's group of middle aged to elderly ladies attended the venue today in their "YONE KIKS" t-shirts. Last time they were seen they were named "The Tadasuke women", as Tadasuke tried to impress them with his might. Minoru Tanaka joked that he sprained his ankle being distracted by them.

MATCH ONE
Global Junior League
Daisuke Harada vs Junta Miyawaki

Daisuke Harada (in a foul mood and wearing his "shark smells blood face") came stalking out looking very angry (and with a small bandage). Junta Miyawaki (who has new music) put up a good fight against him, and almost got the three count at various points, but he could not prevail.

WINNER: Daisuke Harada with the diving elbow (6 minutes, 52 seconds)

Daisuke Harada stalked off without even waiting for his arm to be raised in victory, and Junta Miyawaki was positive about the loss, writing that tomorrow he would win. Against Yoshinari Ogawa.
Yes. Junta.
​

​MATCH TWO
The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura & KAZMA SAKAMOTO) vs Masao Inoue & Kinya Okada.

Usual bumbling antics from MASAO WORLD today, especially when he tried to dive at Takashi Sugiura from the ropes. Slipped, and after having Sugiura's boot on his face, got whacked on the head by him and asked, "What are you doing?"
Okada put up a good fight against KAZMA, kicking out at two at the kick, but then falling at three.

WINNER: KAZMA SAKAMOTO with the running knee on Kinya Okada (10 minutes, 50 seconds)

MATCH THREE
Katsuhiko Nakajima & Minoru Tanaka vs Shuhei Taniguchi & Akitoshi Saito

MATCH SEVEN
Kaito Kiyomiya, Naomichi Marufuji & 50 Funky Powers (Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm) vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Masa Kitamiya, Atsushi Kotoge & Yoshiki Inamura)

The jackets of Kaito Kiyomiya and AXIZ are notorious for shedding their feathers, and it is a backstage joke in Noah that the dressing room, the waiting room and the entryway always have them on scattered the floor. In the ring today, Naomichi Marufuji scooped them up and blew them from the palm of his hand outside the ring. Marufuji was also menaced by Kongoh when he got into the ring, he just grinned (I'm amazed that Kenoh hasn't started screaming about him wearing silver and black which are LIDET'S colors). Despite this hostility, the two people with the least beef between each other, Atsushi Kotoge and Kaito Kiyomiya, started the match.

Parts of the match went outside the ring with Inamura trying to take on Marufuji.
Kenoh no sold the Kawada Kicks (Kawada probably would have erupted in fury had it happened to him).

Match ended in a huge melee, with everyone fighting each other in various places. I think the ref just gave up and concentrated on what was going on in the ring.

WINNER: Masa Kitamiya with the Saito Suplex on Quiet Storm (17 minutes, 21 seconds)

After the match, Kenoh got on the microphone and after the usual rant about "company dogs", and how Kiyomiya is "loved by the parent company, LIDET", Kenoh spoke about the N-1 and how he would participate and how he would win in the main event at Sumo Hall.
Kaito Kiyomiya later posted on Twitter that he would do everything he could to ensure that he faced Kenoh in the main event.

NOAH'S NEXT SHOW: Friday, July 19th 
ATTENDANCE: 209 (Full House) 
WITH THANKS TO: Naoki, Pinkie Pie, iWasBorn, Shishikazu, Koichiro Takeda, Fujiwara Armbar, Karin      
PICTURE CREDIT: Boku Pro, Noah GHC ​

​Noah held an earlier show than usual for a Monday today as it is a National Holiday ("Marine Day"), and so the doors to Korakuen opened at 10.45, with the show starting at 11.30.

The "Company Dog" t-shirts are selling well (as were the MEGARAGE Noah t-shirts and Hitoshi Kumano's bear) and later sold out within about 30 - 45 minutes. Kaito Kiyomiya was on hand to sign merchandise. There was a long queue of people to meet him.
Speaking of "Company Dog", it was noticed in the hall that someone had placed Kongoh's banner next to LIDETS.

The night, however, belonged to the Noah Juniors, eclipsing for once the heavyweights.

MATCH ONE
The Return of The Dark Agents (Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue), Hitoshi Kumano, Junta Miyawaki & Kinya Okada vs 50 Funky Powers (Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm), Minoru Tanaka, Hi69 & Rocky Kawamura. 

"Please tell Minoru Tanaka that an apple is not to be used as a weapon"

Referee Ben had his work cut out for him in this ten man match which opened the show.
Hi69 & Junta Miyawaki started off. Naturally, later came Rocky Kawamura (who had his apples stolen by Minoru Tanaka, who stood eating one) vs MASAO WORLD.
The apples would make a further two appearances, once when Minoru Tanaka attacked Kinya Okada with it, and the second when Tanaka posted that he had stolen them from Kawamura for lunch.

WINNER: Mohammed Yone with the Funky Buster Bomb on Kinya Okada (9 minutes, 5 seconds)

After the match, Rocky joined in with the "Disco Fever" pose.

​"The confrontation between the technicians, has become a bloody battle"

"It was not a good match, it was a great match"

Ogawa immediately attacked Harada with the tag belt when he entered, and made him bleed. Naturally, Ogawa being Ogawa (and with a hatred for RATELS, and in particular Harada), exploited the wound and jammed his fingers into it....Harada bled everywhere, leaving pools on the mat outside the ring.
Harada fought back, at one point setting up a table outside the ring, and driving Ogawa's head into it (but not through it), which busted Ogawa open. To see weapons used against Ogawa is rare, to see him bleed is equally so. Usual tactics from Ogawa though. 

WINNER: Yoshinari Ogawa with the sneak roll up following a low blow (9 minutes, 47 seconds)

Harada was so furious about Ogawa winning, that the ref had to haul him away from Ogawa afterwards. A group of seconds (which included Seiya Morohashi, who is a freelancer and doesn't have a match today) entered with towels to mop up the blood.

MATCH FIVE
Kaito Kiyomiya, Shuhei Taniguchi & Chris Ridgeway vs AXIZ (Katsuhiko Nakajima & Go Shiozaki) & Naomichi Marufuji. 

"Shuhei Taniguchi, a true awakening"

Naomichi Marufuji debuted new ring wear of metallic silver and black (which incidentally are LIDET'S colors).
 
Kaito Kiyomiya and Shuhei Taniguchi faced off with AXIZ (Nakajima and Kiyomiya making a beeline for each other). Shiozaki's knee is still taped, and he was noticed to be still limping a little, which has made fans concerned that he has come back before he is ready, but at the moment he doesn't really have a choice. Taniguchi said to be very good today. 
Match started with Marufuji vs Ridgeway. Marufuji it seemed had been aware of Ridgeway from the time of his entry, and pointed at him after the introductions. They had a kick\chop war. Fans want to see them have a singles match.

In a surprising turn of character, Kaito Kiyomiya aimed a missile dropkick to Shiozaki's knee! Kiyomiya had told him to his face that he wasn't going to attack it, but no doubt he meant, he wouldn't in the title match. If so, this is an interesting turn of character for Kiyomiya.
Nakajima, however, showed no difference in character when Kiyomiya got the soccer kicks which had the audience reeling.  
 
WINNER: Shuhei Taniguchi with the modified camel clutch submission on Go Shiozaki (22 minutes, 1 second)

MATCH SIX
Global Junior League
Kotaro Suzuki vs HAYATA

"Main was 100 times what you could imagine, fight to the death"

Although they waited for the bell, that was all they waited for, as this match got going quickly. Suzuki started trying to wear HAYATA down immediately, and although HAYATA stood up to it, he did suffer from it as the match was very much to Suzuki's pace. When HAYATA did manage to fight back, the aerial maneuvers came into play as he used his somersault rope dive and an avalanche from the top rope.
HAYATA had his own strategy, however, and that was to wear down Suzuki by letting him tire himself out, before he hit the Blue Destiny, it was noted that his elbows were becoming weak. But as much as HAYATA wouldn't give in, neither would Suzuki; everything was used Endless Waltz, Cross-Fix, Headache, Blue Destiny...the audience screaming for HAYATA (as opposed to Noah's first born son), and time started to run out....Suzuki hit the Tiger Driver...Korakuen screamed in vain.
But it was too late. 
Time is up.  
 
WINNER: Neither, time limit draw.

No one spoke on the microphone afterwards. Kotaro Suzuki was probably too exhausted, and HAYATA (who says he does his talking in the ring) does not usually speak anyway. Suzuki spoke after the match and said this situation had fired him up. 

In the lobby, The Sugiura Army did an autograph session and the table was packed with people. Each member was wearing their dog t-shirt, with NOSAWA'S cut off at the sleeves to create a tank top. Usual sweets were handed out afterwards. 

Noah's next show: July 16th 
Attendance: 984
With thanks to: Metal Noah, Anenome Mournian, Abeshin, Takei, Masaki, YAMA, Fujiwara Armbar, Hae, Hamarin, Maiko 
Picture credit: Noah GHC