Wrestle-1 Tour 2018 Outbreak Part 2 Results & Review (6/22/2018)

Published

5 years ago

July 18, 2018

Welcome back to Wrestle-1 and last time we covered them, a lot has happened with CIMA and OWE invading Wrestle-1 to shake the company up, as they will be fighting each other in a series of matches during the show and Manabu would also retain his championship in the process.

Our main event tonight is for the W-1 Tag Team Championships since Jiro and Masato would defeat Ashino at the previous show as they look to have the match tonight. Will W-1 be able to drive OWE away on their first night or will they show that they’re here to stay? Let us…dive right in.

Singles Match
Takanori Ito vs. Takumi Baba

Review: We open up the show with a regular exhibition match between Takanori Ito as he takes on Takumi Baba. This one was really nothing to write home about because this was more of an average squash type match with one guy controlling the majority of the match in a short amount of time and eventually Takumi would get some offense in the match for about a brief moment and ended after he would hit a Dropkick off the top rope and Ito would turn it around with a few kicks to the chest and would call for the German Suplex Hold for the win after about five minutes. Ito reminds me a bit of Kevin Owens and I think I said that before since he pretty much has the same attire as him, same body type and is quick, but doesn’t have the full intensity like Kevin does, but he does have potential to be a top guy in W-1.

Recommended: Skippable.

Six Man Tag Team Match
Ganseki Tanaka, Koji Doi & Tsugutaka Sato vs. Masayuki Kono, MAZADA & NOSAWA Rongai

Review: Time for a six-man tag match involving someone that is responsible for the invasion of CIMA and OWE, NOSAWA and he got exactly what he wanted so let’s see if he’s right later on tonight, but now he has to focus on his match against Ganseki, Koji, and Tsugutaka. With another old vs new style tag team match, it’s what you expect with Koji getting the early shine in the match and would lose it once Ganseki came in to take in the heat of everything from NOSAWA, MAZADA, and Kono as all three of them would just give him a beating without giving him any chance to tag in anyone else, which is how it should be when it comes to tag team matches. Eventually, Koji would get back in the ring for the hot tag and would clean house with his powerhouse style and would tag in Sato to try and put it away, but NOSAWA would hit a Shining Wizard on Sato, followed by a Lariat from MAZADA and Kono would hit a Chokeslam to try and win it, but Koji would break the pin just in time. NOSAWA and MAZADA would fight the illegal guys on the outside of the ring as Kono would hit a Chokebomb for a two count and then would hit his Running Knee as the young guys would lose once again.

Recommended: It was an average match, so this one is up to you

Tag Team Match
Alejandro & El Hijo del Pantera vs. Kenichiro Arai & Yusuke Kodama

Review: On our last show, Kodama would defeat Seiki to become the new Cruiserweight Champion and was then challenged by Pantera to be the next contender for the belt as we have no match date for it just yet, we got a tag match with Pantera partnering up with Alejandro while Kodama would team up with Kenichiro Arai. We get our preview early as Pantera and Kodama would start the match off with Pantera being all quick in the ring and even ran the middle ropes for a bit before the two locked up and Pantera is just too quick for him with his cat-like reflexes, no pun intended. Kodama would throw Pantera to the ropes and he just flips outside on his own as he landed on the entrance ramp before going in to do a Springboard Dropkick to make him go outside of the ring as Kenichiro would run in only to be tripped down as Alejandro would hit him with a Crossbody to make him go outside now and it looks like they’re both about to do a Suicide Dive, but they psyche them out as they are still in the ring taunting them.

Alejandro gets tagged in now and looks to do a Splash to the corner as Kodama would move out of the way and kick Pantera down before going back to the ring to tag in Kenichiro as he now begins to work on Alejandro’s arm and that seems to be the key focus for Kenichiro and Kodama when they kept tagging each other back and forth while still working on his arm to injure it more until Kenichiro came back in the ring to do more damage as Alejandro would hit a Hurricanrana to get him down as he makes the hot tag to Pantera. Pantera would hit the both of them with a Tilt-a-Whirl Backbreaker and would go to the ropes to do a Springboard Frontflip onto Kenichiro and before he could do anything, Kenichiro would tag in Kodoma when he wasn’t looking and hits Pantera with an elbow while Kodoma hits a Diving Crossbody for a two count. The two start punching each other back and forth until Kodoma would rake his eyes and went to throw him into the ropes, Pantera would hit a Springboard Headbutt and top it off with a Dropkick before he made his way to tag in Alejandro who hits a Dropkick off the ropes and Pantera would hit a Drop Toehold to make Kodoma land between the ropes so they would hit a Double 619 and a Double Dropkick as Alejandro goes for the pin, Kenichiro would break the count. Alejandro and Pantera would hit the ropes again but Kenichiro would pull Pantera out of the ring, giving Kodama an opening to attack Alejandro with a Fisherman Buster and then he hits his Mad Splash to get the victory.

Recommended: Solid match, worth watching.

Singles Match
CIMA vs. Jun Tonsho

Review: It is now time for Strong Hearts vs. Wrestle-1 to begin as we have our first match with the leader, CIMA to take on Jun Tonsho, who has been pretty impressive during the last couple of times that I’ve seen him wrestle and should be an interesting bout. Soon as CIMA got into the ring, Jun would start to Dropkick him right away and start going after him so CIMA doesn’t get a chance to fight back and it’s a smart move on his part to try and take him down quickly and does with a few more Dropkicks and once he attempted to go for the Dragon Suplex, CIMA would fight it off and hits a Dropkick of his own. CIMA would first hit a Fisherman Buster for a two count and he quickly picks him up for a DDT and then goes to the ropes to hit his Meteora for the quick victory as he defeats Jun in less than two minutes. Strong Hearts has one point on the scoreboard while W-1 has zero.

Recommended: For a match being two minutes, it was pretty entertaining. Worth a viewing I say, especially if you’re interested in this feud.

Tag Team Match
Kaz Hayashi & Seiki Yoshioka vs. Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz

Review: After pretty much CIMA getting the quick work done on Jun, our next match is a tag team match as we have Kaz Hayashi leading this one with former Cruiserweight Champion, Seiki Yoshioka as they take on two of Strong Hearts members, Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz and I’m excited for Zachary as he’s been one of the breakout stars for me in 2018 and I can’t wait to see him shine more tonight. Zachary and Seiki start the match off with first some basic chain wrestling as Zach would turn it around into an Armbar to try and make him tap, but Seiki would have his foot on the rope to break the hold. Seiki would start ducking Zach’s strikes and attempts to go for a Baseball Slide as Zach jumped over him and ran to the ropes to do a Springboard Corkscrew to knock the former champion down and once Saiki got back up, Zach would tag in his partner Dezmond. as Seiki backed up to tag in Kaz.

Dezmond would outsmart Kaz with his strikes and jabs whenever Kaz would try to throw or hit him as Dezmond kept on turning it around and threw him into the corner only to be thrown over, which Zach would tag himself in the second Dezmond hits the apron and would kick Kaz in the back of the head and jump over the ropes to kick his chest in and soon as Dezmond rolled off him, Zach would jump over Dezmond to hit the Bronco Buster and impressive teamwork right here. Seiki would attack Zach for a bit and Kaz would Dropkick his leg to knock him down as he now begins to work the leg a bit until he went for a Handspring Enziguri only for Zach to duck and hit the same move but with a Dropkick as he connected and hurts his knee in the process before tagging in Dezmond.

Dezmond would Dropkick Kaz on the back of his head to make him roll out of the ring and went to go for a dive, but gets punched in the face instead as Zach would jump over the ropes to land on top of Kaz. Seiki would try to attack Dezmond and gets thrown to the ropes and he does an Asai Moonsault to the outside only for Dezmond to do a cartwheel into a Moonsault to the outside as well as the place goes crazy. Dezmond get Kaz back in the ring and goes for a 450 Splash to only land on his feet since Kaz moved and would hit Kaz with a jab to the midsection as both him and Zach would hit a combination of strikes where Zach ends it with a Double Stomp while Dezmond goes for the cover and Kaz kicks out. Seiki and Zach get tagged in and Seiki would look like to put it away as he hits the Headscirssor Slam and tops it off with a Roundhouse Kick to go for the cover but Dezmond breaks the count and gets Kaz out of the ring. Seiki went to go for the victory as Zach had him in a short-arm hold as Dezmond hits Seiki would a Superkick and Zach turns him around for a knee strike as Zach went to go for his Standing Moonsault by Seiki’s feet, Dezmond would push him mid-air to make him land on Seiki for the win. Strong Hearts now has the lead 2-0.

Recommended: Great match and I’ll even post the video of the match on here so you can see it for yourselves.

Six Man Tag Team Match
Andy Wu, Manabu Soya & Shuji Kondo vs. El Lindaman, Gao Jingjia & T-Hawk

Review: This will be the last match in the Strong Hearts vs W-1 matches for the evening as it is not a six-man tag match with our Wrestle-1 Champion, Manabu Soya leading the team with Andy Wu and Shuji Kondo as they take on T-Hawk who leads the team with El Lindaman and Chinese star, Gao Jinjia. Can Strong Hearts get a clean sweep or will Wrestle-1 finally get a victory here?

This is my first time seeing Gao in action here and I gotta admit that while he’s a little bit green and needs more work, he’s very athletic and can definitely move in the ring here, I hope to see more growth from him in these matches. Lindaman is someone I wasn’t fully sold on in Dragon Gate and I still cannot get into the guy here since he’s just mediocre at best in my opinion. T-Hawk is someone I felt like he wasn’t ready for the big spotlight when he won the King of Gate last year and once he teamed up with Eita, he started to slowly get better in the ring and with his character work, and now seeing him here made me think that it would be a good place to start if he does get involved with major storylines with W-1 depending on how long the feud will go on for, but I do believe that Manabu will eventually fight at least CIMA or T-Hawk for the championship depending on the direction they go with it. The match was solid with mostly Kondo and Wu doing the work in the matches while Strong Hearts relied heavily on the heel tactics and greater numbers against one person. When Manabu was in the ring, he really played his strengths into the match to show that the company was his house and he’s not going to let another promotion come in here and try to take it from him or the others in Wrestle-1. One move I did love was that Gao jumped onto Lindaman’s back and hits a 450 Splash off his back and onto Andy Wu, I don’t think I really see that happening and thought it looked awesome. T-Hawk and Andy are in the ring now and it looked like Wu would get the one win Wrestle-1 needed over Strong Hearts, but Hawk would hit his Black Tiger Bomb and get the three count.

That’s right, Strong Hearts was able to get a clean sweep over Wrestle-1 by winning all three of their matches tonight. The two teams would continue to brawl in the ring after the match while T-Hawk was getting confrontational with Manabu hinting that they would eventually fight each other again soon. W-1 would eventually leave the ring during the brawl and T-Hawk declared that they will all return for the Korakuen Hall show on July 18th. Though he stated that this time around that STRONG HEARTS will announce their matches/teams with W-1 being given the chance to follow.

Recommended: Solid six-man tag match, worth a viewing.

WRESTLE-1 Tag Team Title Match
Kumaarashi & Shotaro Ashino (c) vs. Jiro “Ikeman” Kuroshio & Masato Tanaka

Review: At the last show, Jiro would get the surprise victory over Ashino with the Ikeman Flash and Jiro stated that he and Masato would challenge for the belts at the next show with his partner this time since Kuma was busy that night taking on Manabu for the Wrestle-1 Championship and then lost. Both Ashino and Kuma would need to win this match here to redeem their losses or will Jiro pull the upset once again with Masato and have a second belt in his collection since he’s still the Wrestle-1 Result Champion?

Yes, Masato is still rocking Jiro’s jacket and wearing it while he wrestles in this match, I just love how he can be a heel in a few places while being the babyface in other companies like this one. I love whenever Jiro and Ashino work together in the ring since they have such great chemistry together with Ashino’s ability mixed up with Jiro’s charisma gives us unique matches together. I liked how Ashino would tackle Jiro down and would just kip-up right away and do it a couple of times even when Ashino would rake his eyes and throw him down to the ground and Jiro would just find a way to mess with Ashino, it’s the small types of interactions mixed with their chemistry that I just enjoy. Kudos to Kuma for showing off his power and throwing Jiro around like a rag doll and he sold that once he hits the turnbuckle post on the outside, even when Kuma tried to throw him into the ring, Jiro would bounce off the ropes to fall back down to the outside and it made Kuma look great here. Masato getting the hot tag and in the match and starts exploding in the ring and he continues to show that he can still be at the top of his game for a man his age, it must be that ancient Japanese secret that I don’t know about and need to figure out. Ashino would lock the Ankle Lock on Jiro and would make sure he wouldn’t let go of the hold so he could make him tap out this time instead of giving him any type of advantage to escape and pull another upset like he did at the previous show and while Jiro was able to escape, Kuma would be ready to do a Diving Senton onto him off the second rope to add more damage to his body and Masato would hit Ashino with a Brainbuster off the top rope as Jiro hits his Moonsault Press to go for the win, but Kuma broke the count. Ashino isn’t done yet with Jiro as he worked him more with some stiff European Uppercuts and a T-Bone Suplex to go for a two count and would reapply the Ankle Lock once more to see if he could get him to tap out once more and he still fails to do so, and Masato would catch Ashino off guard with a running knee to the face and Jiro would hit not one, but two Moonsault Presses to double tap him and pins him for the win as we have new Tag Team Champions!

Seeing the title change hands rather quickly did throw me off guard, but at the same time, I think it made sense since Ashino is too good for the tag titles and needs to focus on getting his Wrestle-1 Championship back, maybe Kuma can find a different partner from his faction to go for the belts. But congrats to Jiro for now holding two championships in the promotion and if he can win the Grand Prix, he’ll have a chance to win three belts if he can also defeat Manabu, but again he has to win the Grand Prix first.

Recommended: Very fun match and all four of these men delivered for a great main event. Give it a watch.

Overall: I was amazed that Wrestle-1 was able to pull off two great shows back to back and they added new elements to their storylines and rivalries to make me wanna watch more of them frequently if they were able to upload shows in time instead of almost a month in between. Next up is the Wrestle-1 Grand Prix which takes place on the July 1st show and will have the semi-final and finals taking place on July 18th (my birthday), and the winner of that match will fight for the Wrestle-1 Championship on their big show in September 2nd. The entrants to this match are Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio, Masayuki Kono, Kaz Hayashi, Shotaro Ashino, Shuji Kondo, Koji Doi, Takanori Ito, and Kumaarashi. I’m gonna go with Jiro making lightning strike twice and win it back to back, but don’t be surprised if Ashino wins the match to set up the rematch between him and Manabu.

Favorite Match: Kaz Hayashi & Seiki Yoshioka vs. Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz

Least Favorite Match: Takanori Ito vs. Takumi Baba

Score: 8/10

See you all next time!

Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!

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(NOAH) NOAH NEWSLETTER VOL.196 ~ 29th March 2023

An injury to a major a player in NOAH causes a little concern! New challengers arise for the champions!

Published

17 hours ago

March 30, 2023

Hi5ame

NEWS

Kongoh vs GLG

Sparks flew between Kongoh, the Kongoh Juniors and Tadasuke and GLG (“Good Looking Guys”) during NOAH’s Tohoku tour. Hi69, who appears to be the mouthpiece of the Kongoh Juniors (when Shuji Kondo is not around to terrify them), swore revenge on Tadasuke for his defection, and Kenoh who had branded GLG “a bunch of rando’s” proposed a best out of three falls for one night, and then a Captains Fall (he nominated Hi69 as the captain) for the final night. Kongoh might have won the Best out of Three falls match, but they were humiliated on the last night of tour, when GLG won over Kongoh, with Jake Lee pinning Hi69. Kongoh are also at war with GLG as Katsuhiko Nakajima is challenging Jake Lee for the GHC Heavyweight. Both had their brutal interactions, but neither got the win over the other. Nakajima told Jake, that “It’s amazing that you won the GHC Heavyweight not long after coming to NOAH. BUT! I will take the helm. Anyway, I’m changing this situation. That is all.”

Shuhei Taniguchi & Takashi Sugiura’s title challenge

Shuhei Taniguchi introduced his new tandem move with Takashi Sugiura during the Tohoku tour. Except, he didn’t tell Sugiura that he was going to use him as a weapon to chokeslam him onto his opponents. Tokyo Sports have named this move, “The Sugi Bomb”. This move came after Taniguchi lost to Masa Kitamiya, and Sugi basically told him to shape up as there wasn’t any time left. Taniguchi since then has gone slightly off the rails, and even accidentally dissed Sugi by not shaking his hand as he was too elated.

STINGER fall apart, YO-HEY and Tadasuke challenge

Yoshinari Ogawa and HAYATA managed to stay together until the third night of tour, when HAYATA accidentally caught Yoshinari Ogawa in the face with a kick when Tadasuke ducked, meaning that YO-HEY got the win and the right to challenge. After the match, YO-HEY and Tadasuke held the tag belt above Ogawa, and officially became the next challengers. YO-HEY likened the Ogawa and Eita relationship as a “mushy daytime drama” which he was sick of. He also said that getting the tag belts would prove the reason why he left The NOAH Junior Regulars and why Tadasuke left Kongoh. Meanwhile in the ring, HAYATA and Ogawa got into a fight, which led to HAYATA saying that he wasn’t going to tag with Ogawa the next day, or team with him in any form, and that NOAH had better change the card. Looking at the matches booked for the run up to the 16th in Sendai, HAYATA and Ogawa have nothing to do with each other, and as Chris Ridgeway is not currently in Japan, this leaves the field open for Eita who said that he was on Ogawa’s side and was all he had left. Title match has been set for ABEMA presents GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in SENDAI on 16th April at the Xebio Arena Sendai.

AMAKUSA retains, HAYATA challenges

AMAKUSA was successful in his title defense against Lanzelot on March 26th at the Aomori Mutusu Maeda Arena, and was challenged by HAYATA afterwards. Neither are people of very many words. HAYATA’S challenge was simply that he had come to take his belt back, and therefore, he was asking to be the next challenger. AMAKUSA used his catchphrase of something being a stupid question and said he had been waiting for HAYATA to come, and how he had been waiting for “a duel” and, “I would like to ask for a fight that will lead me and the NOAH Junior’s greatest treasure to the highest heaven.”

Title match has been set for ABEMA presents GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in SENDAI on 16th April at the Xebio Arena Sendai.

El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr, Jack Morris and the GHC National

E Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr was initially a little hurt by Jack Morris’s challenge to him and his subsequent vicious attacks on him during the pre matches, as he considered him to be a friend, and they had both discussed getting the tag belts together some day. Both have sworn to destroy the other, with Jack saying he won’t just destroy El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr, he was going to humiliate him as well.

Kaito Kiyomiya concussed, trip to America cancelled

Kaito Kiyomiya had planned to accompany Keiji Mutoh (and Yoshiki Inamura) to Keiji Mutoh’s WWE Hall of Fame induction in Los Angeles, but unfortunately, he was concussed following a Wagner Bomb from El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr on the last night of tour. For a while after taking the move he lay motionless, leading NOAH’s trainer to get in the ring. He was helped out and taken to the back with the fans applauding him. The good sign was that he was walking, but sadly a concussion meant that he had to be in contact for the next couple of days with NOAH’s medical team, which meant no long haul flights. Kiyomiya has made no comment as he is not in a state to be on social media, which he hasn’t been on since losing to Jake Lee, while Keiji Mutoh said there will be other chances and Kiyomiya should concentrate on getting better. NOAH’s director, Narihiro Takeda is a little irritated with Kiyomiya for not being able to take this chance, while Yoshiki Inamura looked a little upset that Kiyomiya wasn’t able to come to America.

EVENT RECAPS & POST MATCH INTERVIEWS

Recaps

SUNNY VOYAGE (TOHOKU TOUR)

Akita Selion Plaza, Friday March 24th

Iwate Morioka Gymnasium, Saturday March 25th

Aomori Mutsu Maeda Arena, Sunday March 26th

Aomori Hachinoe Yutori 1st floor multi-purpose large hall, Monday March 27th

Post match interviews

Akita Selion Plaza, Friday March 24th

Iwate Morioka Gymnasium, Saturday March 25th

Aomori Mutsu Maeda Arena, Sunday March 26th

Aomori Hachinoe Yutori 1st floor multi-purpose large hall, Monday March 27th

ELSEWHERE IN NOAH

– Because Akita Selion is a small venue in the provinces (Japanese countryside), the comments booth was a curtained off area in the main hall. Everyone heard Kenoh shrieking as they left.

– Akitoshi Saito was observed by Naomichi Marufuji to be eating frozen broccoli that he had bought from a convenience store when the bus made a stop. Marufuji asked him if he should be eating it like that, to which Saito said he didn’t see the problem. Marufuji summed up the card the next day as “young guys fighting, title match pre matches and a fight with frozen broccoli.”

– As the Tohoku tour took place outside of the big cities there were no restaurants around the hotel area or the venue, so people very much stayed in their rooms. Naomichi Marufuji did an increasingly drunken Instagram live with Mohammed Yone and Masa Kitamiya, which involved Kitamiya belching and Yone pulling gangsta signs, and then the three of them running their phones at the same time so each was live from the same room and whistling and humming at the same time. The last night showed a very drunk Takashi Sugiura.

– With YO-HEY defected and Daisuke Harada gone, Atsushi Kotoge hinted at the creation of a new unit with Seiki Yoshioka and Alejandro.

– The Iwate fans helped to clean up the arena by packing away chairs on to pallet trolleys.

– Yasutaka Yano debuted a new costume, officially ending the first part of his career. Naomichi Marufuji hinted that he wanted him to think a little more about what he did and start joining in the title race.

– When he was in Dove, fans used to comment on how much they loved YO-HEY’S aftershave. Fans commented on this in the same way this past week in Tohoku.

– Yoshiki Inamura photographed some squirrels whilst in Los Angeles.

CURRENT CHAMPIONS

GHC Heavyweight Champion: Jake Lee
Challenger: Katsuhiko Nakajima, ABEMA presents GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in SENDAI (Xebio Arena Sendai, Sunday April 16th)
GHC Junior Champion: AMAKUSA
Challenger: HAYATA, ABEMA presents GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in SENDAI (Xebio Arena Sendai, Sunday April 16th)
GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: Masa Kitamiya and Daiki Inaba
Challengers: Shuhei Taniguchi & Takashi Sugiura, ABEMA presents GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in SENDAI (Xebio Arena Sendai, Sunday April 16th)
GHC Junior Tag Champions: Yoshinari Ogawa & Eita
Challengers: Good Looking Guys (YO-HEY & Tadasuke), ABEMA presents GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in SENDAI (Xebio Arena Sendai, Sunday April 16th)
GHC National Champion: El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr
Challenger: Jack Morris, ABEMA presents GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in SENDAI (Xebio Arena Sendai, Sunday April 16th)

THIS WEEK IN NOAH

4th April: Xtreme Tiger birthday (1981)

Kenoh and Shuji Kondo will be heading to Dragon Gate to challenge Natural Vibez (Big Boss Shimizu and Kzy) for the Open The Twin Gate tag championship on April 1st. NOAH themselves don’t have any events until April 8th. April schedule can be found here.

LINKS

Interview with Kenoh, a professional wrestler from Tokushima, who will hold an event to commemorate the 15th anniversary of his debut at the Tokugin Tomony Arena

“If it ends suddenly in one go, it doesn’t matter how the match goes”, new GHC Heavyweight Champion Jake Lee talks about the challenger, Katsuhiko Nakajima

NOAH FROM THE VAULT

“Donmai, Donmai” – Mitsuharu Misawa’s diary

(This latest entry was by far the most embarrassing thing I have ever had to do at work)

Picture credits: Weekly Pro, PKDX and Tokyo Sports.

Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!

(NOAH) NOAH NEWSLETTER VOL.195 ~ 22ND MARCH 2023

New champions, All Japan interactions, new debuts and Joshi in NOAH! NOAH is heating up in 2023!

Published

1 week ago

March 23, 2023

Hi5ame

NEWS

YO-HEY & Tadasuke join GLG

During Kongoh vs The NOAH Junior Regulars at Great Voyage in Yokohama 2023 on the 19th March, Tadasuke inadvertently knocked down Shuji Kondo, which allowed Atsushi Kotoge to get the win over him (Tadasuke). The NOAH Juniors left the ring, which left Kondo and the others, Hajime Ohara and Hi69 advancing menacingly on Tadasuke. Kondo it is well known does not like him, Hi69 has a simmering jealousy, and Ohara will do whatever Kondo does. YO-HEY ran in to save Tadasuke, and just when it looked as if Tadasuke would be welcomed by the NOAH Junior Regulars, YO-HEY was seen whispering something to him, and the two took out Kotoge, Seiki Yoshioka and Alejandro. Backstage, while Kotoge et al wondered what had happened, YO-HEY said “No Comment”. Fans were hopeful of a RATELS reunion (Daisuke Harada had been signing autographs), but YO-HEY and Tadasuke came out in the main event as members of GLG (Jake Lee’s “Good Looking Guys” unit).

Saxon Huxley debuts in NOAH

The 203cm Saxon Huxley (which makes him taller than even Jake Lee at 192cm), made his NOAH debut at “Great Voyage in Yokohama”. Very reminiscent of Bruiser Brody, his first match was fittingly a match teaming with Hideki Suzuki and against Yoshiki Inamura and Mohammed Yone. Huxley won the match and backstage said that he didn’t come to Japan to look at the Cherry blossoms, he came here to fight!

The problem with Shuhei Taniguchi, Takashi Sugiura takes a hand

Shuhei Taniguchi emerged from his slumber and the monster reawakened against Takashi Sugiura in a match in Yokohama (“Great Voyage”) where Taniguchi had one of the best matches of his in a long time. He won via repeated soccer ball kicks to the head, which made a nasty thudding sound. Backstage, Takashi Sugiura urged him to seize this chance, Taniguchi asked him for another match, but Sugi told him he had to seize the opportunity by himself. Later (and with Sugiura looking on, hands behind his back and standing in the background in teacher mode), Taniguchi challenged Daiki Inaba and Masa Kitamiya for the GHC Heavyweight Tag titles they had just retained against Kongoh. Masa Kitamiya grimly told Taniguchi that he would accept their challenge, but he would “teach him” when to “leave NOAH forever” and that there was no future for him. Title match will take place on April 16th in Sendai.

Jack Morris challenges for the GHC National

The Yokohama Budokan has always been good to Jack Morris, he made his NOAH debut there (which he won) and on the 19th, he defeated El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr and therefore won the opportunity to challenge for the GHC National. Morris picked up the belt and silently held it over El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr, who was lying spread out on the mat. Title match has been set for April 16th in Sendai.

SUWAMA, Kenoh, Soya & All Japan

Following Kenoh’s labelling All Japan as a “pigsty” (I am trying to imagine how that would have gone down in the Baba era) and walking out of the press conference saying that the whole venue chosen for it was like an old fashioned mayoral meeting in Tokyo with the close press of bodies, Kenoh and Manabu Soya succeeded in winning the All Japan World Heavyweight titles on the 21st March. I have never seen Kenoh so happy on winning a title, the GHC has history, but not as long a history as All Japan, the promotion it flowed from and I think despite his disparaging, Kenoh was overcome to be holding the belts that the legends of All Japan once did. Suwama got in the ring after their victory to challenge for the titles on behalf of Voodoo Murders, Kenoh basically told him to beat it. He wanted nothing to do with him, he was insulted by his not turning up to Great Voyage in Yokohama, where Kenoh had prepared a special seat for him at ringside, and their next challenge (and probably any subsequent challenges) would take place in NOAH as he told everyone pointedly in the ring and then backstage, along with more jumping and cheering with Soya. No challengers have come forward yet, but Kenoh looks to be adding to his collection of belts as on the 1st April when he and Shuji Kondo will challenge DragonGate’s Natural Vibez (Big Boss Shimizu and Kzy) for the Open the Twin Gate Championship. Media outlets are wondering whether Kenoh will once again attempt to unify the GHC and All Japan belts.

Kenoh “All Japan, Aoyago disappointing”. Aoyagi demands a double title match and orders Kongoh to win the GHC, World Tag Press Conference

Seriously? Managing Director Kohei Suwama sends a thank you letter to Kenoh, “If it’s full, I’ll give you a monetary reward”

Kenoh & Soya win the World Tag, notice of defense in NOAH, re-notification of “break” to Suwama

Kenoh’s “pigsty” ruthlessly inflames Suwama, lambasts Triple Crown Champion Yuji Nagata!

No love lost, Masa Kitamiya & Kento Miyahara

Furious that Masa Kitamiya was ignoring his demands for a three man tag in All Japan and irritated even more over Kitamiya’s not greeting him as his senior, Kento Miyahara appeared in NOAH to confront his unrepentant junior following Kitamiya & Inaba’s successful tag defense against Kongoh. Miyahara, who danced his way to the ring, told an unimpressed “Mitsuhiro Kitamiya” that he was getting way ahead of himself (he said it was by one hundred years) calling himself “Masa” and that he had come to finally get an answer out of him about the match. Kitamiya told him that there was no benefit, but since Miyahara had come all the way down here just to shame his junior for not responding, then fine, he would fight him. There was no love lost in Ota Ward, at least not on Masa Kitamiya’s part, and while Miyahara might have had a change of heart after the match, Kitamiya didn’t. The match itself was won by Yoshiki Inamura (against whom Ryo Inoue in particular has sworn revenge and says he will win the All Japan tag league to do it) and was followed by Miyahara speaking on the microphone to Kitamiya. He told him that with the “Masa” name Kitamiya had no choice but to go to the top of NOAH and having seen for himself how he was now, he was no longer “Mitsuhiro Kitamiya”, which was hard for him to say, and he could stop worrying about him. Kitamiya (who hates both of his older brothers/sibling students) told him that he wanted nothing more to do with him, he hated him then and he hated him now. Miyahara, however, seemed to think that they would meet in the ring again although Kitamiya made it very clear that it was unlikely.

Kitamiya gets irritated with “Irresponsible comments”, “Not thinking about unnecessary things”. Kenoh once again declares “GHC World Tag Team”. GHC tag signing ceremony.

“Pathetic”, Miyahara asks Kitamiya to quickly determine the three wrestlers who will be on the NOAH side

NOAH’s Kitamiya wins the match, an announcement of “Never getting involved”, Miyahara cheers “Get to the top!”

STINGER war, outcast Eita

To the surprise of no one, Yoshinari Ogawa (and Eita) did not attend the match signing. Chris Ridgeway and HAYATA did, and while Ridgeway did most of the talking, HAYATA was vocal enough to state that losing the pre matches could be an Ogawa trick. He also likened him to an “Amanojaku” (天邪鬼, lit “Heavenly evil spirit”) which is a demon in Japanese folklore, which urges people to wicked deeds by preying on their darkest desires. HAYATA’S description is apt, because the demon is tricky and never does what anyone expects as their nature is contrary. There was no way to try and outmaneuver such a demon with tricks, so HAYATA said there was no strategy other than to destroy him. In the title match, Ogawa stole the win and then appealed for peace between himself, HAYATA and Ridgeway. HAYATA shook hands, Ridgeway was a little apprehensive and when it came time to leave the ring, hung back without shaking hands, despite the fact that both Ogawa and HAYATA where urging him to come walk with them.

What about Eita?

Eita and Ogawa got into a shoving match when Ogawa shook hands with HAYATA, which ended with Ogawa slapping Eita, who thought that like his squabbles with NOSAWA, it would blow over in a matter of seconds. What he forgets is that Ogawa forgives when he wants.

It was hard not to feel sorry for Eita as he did look so alone when he left the ring, gathering up his belt sadly and slinking backstage with hunched shoulders and holding the side of his face. Like Eita said, STINGER are a notoriously silent group, two don’t have social media, the third doesn’t use his much, and it is only Eita who talks online. Eita’s last post was sad, he said he still believed in Ogawa…after all, they were the GHC Junior tag champions. So far, no one has come to challenge for the belts.

Related articles

Yoshinari Ogawa declares dissolution of STINGER!? (Interview, Part 2)

“Stop waking up Ogawa”, HAYATA declares a parting? GHC Junior tag signing ceremony

Lanzelot challenges AMAKUSA

Lanzelot challenged AMAKUSA for the GHC Junior title following his (Lanzelot’s) win over him at the Yokohama Budokan. Title match will take place in Aomori on March 26th. This will be broadcast at a later date.

Joshi matches announced on a NOAH show

NOAH continue to test the water in putting on Joshi matches, this time outside of a special show (i.e. Great Muta and Keiji Mutoh’s retirement) by putting on a women’s match for the first time ever on an official NOAH show. Nothing as of yet has been announced regarding a women’s division or a GHC Women’s Championship, but it would not surprise me if an announcement was made on the 16th April following Maya Yukihi vs Sumire Natsu.

Jake Lee wins the GHC Heavyweight title

Jake Lee defeated Kaito Kiyomiya following a brutal match where Kiyomiya was worn down but did not have the energy to keep wearing down Jake, which he almost succeeded in doing, at Great Voyage in Yokohama and became the 42nd GHC Heavyweight Champion. He was immediately challenged by Katsuhiko Nakajima, who told him that he would show him what the real NOAH is, and he used the phrase “I’m NOAH”, which made fans wonder if there was a double meaning here as Nakajima started using this in response to Go Shiozaki’s, “I am NOAH”. Jake Lee, after looking stunned, commented that Nakajima was one of the wrestlers he had always wanted to fight. Title match has been set for the 16th April in Sendai.

Related articles

GHC Champion Kaito Kiyomiya dismisses the recommendation to retire, and will “turn everything upside down” in the match against Jake

“I think I will dominate” Jake Lee reveals his ambition in his first GHC challenge to Kaito Kiyomiya in an exclusive interview

Jake “Get the symbol of freedom”, Kiyomiya smiles and says, “Spring in full bloom”. GHC Heavyweight signing ceremony.

“Kiyomiya, take a rest!” The strongest black ship appears in the new era of NOAH! Getting to the bottom of Jake Lee’s heart.

“There are still some diamonds in the rough that I am curious about”, the new GHC champion Jake Lee expresses his beliefs to increase his power

EVENT RECAPS & POST MATCH INTERVIEWS

Post match interviews

Sunny Voyage 2023 (Tuesday March 14th)

Great Voyage in Yokohama 2023 (Sunday March 19th)

Event recaps

Great Voyage in Yokohama 2023 (Sunday, March 19th)

ELSEWHERE IN NOAH

– Naomichi Marufuji picked a few hairs off of Anthony Green’s chest before chopping him

– Very sadly with the defection of YO-HEY and the retirement of Daisuke Harada, the NOAH Junior Space recorded its last session this past week.

– Naomichi Marufuji posted two short InstaLive videos of himself and a drunk Tadasuke. Who had a white towel over his head for some reason in the first, and then had the grin and the eyes half closed and half open in the second.

– A sports news outlet based in Nigeria, reported that Chris Ridgeway had passed away on March 30th 2021! I mean STINGER might be reclusive, and one fan drawn cartoon depicted HAYATA living inside of Yoshiki Inamura’s tires as it was a dark place to hide, but come on! I doubt the 1,308 fans at the Yokohama Budokan were all having a mass hallucination.

– Eita has now become a freelancer. DragonGate said that with his activities in NOAH and Eita also wanting to expand, that this was the best and easiest option all round.

– Manabu Soya announced himself as the mystery wrestler who would enter Champions Carnival Block B

– Kenta Kobashi will be running Fortune Dream (8) again at Korakuen Hall on the 14th June.

– The Great Muta will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, alongside Keiji Mutoh. Akitoshi Saito wondered whether Muta had a passport.

CURRENT CHAMPIONS

GHC Heavyweight Champion: Jake Lee
Challenger: Katsuhiko Nakajima, ABEMA presents GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in SENDAI (Xebio Arena Sendai, Sunday April 16th)
GHC Junior Champion: AMAKUSA
Challenger: Lanzelot, SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 (Aomori Mutsu Maeda Arena, Sunday March 26th)
GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: Masa Kitamiya and Daiki Inaba
Challengers: Shuhei Taniguchi & Takashi Sugiura, ABEMA presents GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in SENDAI (Xebio Arena Sendai, Sunday April 16th)
GHC Junior Tag Champions: Yoshinari Ogawa & Eita
Challengers: None at the time of writing
GHC National Champion: El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr
Challenger: Jack Morris, ABEMA presents GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in SENDAI (Xebio Arena Sendai, Sunday April 16th)