Following my little experiment with All Japan, why not do the same thing with NOAH? Since the last time I watched any wrestling from the Green Ring, the whole company’s been pretty much decimated and re-built from the ground up using various indie wrestlers and young new talent. Pretty much the same story as AJPW, except NOAH seems to have gotten a harder time getting back on its feet. Korakuen Hall is packed for this one though and we have two fresh faces in the main event, so business might be looking up.
Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Junta Miyawaki
Miyawaki is NOAH’s latest rookie and he instantly wins me over by coming out to ‘’White Riot’’ by The Clash. Ogawa, Misawa’s eternal sidekick, still hanging out on the NOAH undercard is kind of endearing. This match is over in 30 seconds when Miyawaki goes after the vet with dropkicks but ends up getting caught in a Backdrop for the insta-finish. PRO-WRESTLING NOAH! *
Mitsuya Nagai, Yuko Miyamoto & Cody Hall vs. Mohammed Yone, Akitoshi Saito & Quiet Storm
A lot of people have fond memories of Nagai teaming up with Kawada in early 2001 Wasteland-era AJPW. Well, I have fond memories of him teaming up with Katsuyori Shibata as masked goons in the MAKAI CLUB! I don’t think anyone has any fond memories of Quiet Storm. Him and Yone are working a 70’s disco funk tag gimmick called FUNKY POWERS and my mind is officially blown to bits. The match is slightly clipped but we still get a good look at fairly effective midcard wrestling. Miyamoto particularly impresses with a sweet backflip double kneedrop out of nowhere. Nagai is now working a Minoru Suzuki-esque heel gimmick, which feels like a good fit. He takes out Quiet Storm with a Makai Driver followed by the (still awesome-looking) Hyper Knee Kuga. Seemed allright? **1/4
Minoru Tanaka, Hi69, Hajime Ohara, Hitoshi Kumano & Seiya Morohashi vs. Daisuke Harada, Tadasuke, HAYATA, YO-HEY & LEONA
Almost half of this match is missing thanks to Samurai TV clippage, but it’s still a pretty cool introduction to NOAH’s junior division. I don’t know half of the people involved but the whole thing has a serious ROH/Dragon Gate indie wrestling vibe with fast-paced leg-slapping action and backbreaker variations. Actually, Ohara seems to be working a full-on Japanese Roderick Strong gimmick, except with weirdly low-impact backbreakers? Minoru Tanaka still has the smoothest kneedrop in wrestling. Bless this man. LEONA is none other than Tatsumi Fujinami’s son and seems to have absolutely NO STAR POWER WHATSOEVER! Sad, but he does use his dad’s Dragon screw and Figure 4, which is cool. Morohashi takes him out with a Crippler Crossface. Seemed like a real three-star-territory barn-burner, but too much was clipped out.
Takashi Sugiura vs. Jay Bradley
Wikipedia tells me that Bradley is a former OVW/TNA/WWE mainstay. Sugiura’s got HAIR now and kind of looks like Nise Masato Tanaka. Another match that’s clipped to shreds, but we see a bloody-nosed Sugiura working from under and fighting off Bradley’s generic tall-dude onslaught with big suplexes and knee attacks. Sugi gets the win with his monsterous Olympic slam. Cliptacular.
Katsushi Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya vs. Go Shiozaki & Atsushi Kotoge
Clearly inspired by Hiroshi Tanahashi’s December stunt in NJPW, Nakajima comes out with a SWEET PERM and a shady rapestache, looking like a proper 80’s badass. This one’s joined in progress but we get to see most of the match and it’s a good one. Nakajima and Shiozaki have got some crazy great chemistry together and wrestle like they fucking hate each other. Katsuhiko lays in the kicks and Go responds in kind with absolutely brutal Ode-to-Kenta Kobashi chops. Kitamiya’s working this retro bearded Masa Saito-esque wild man gimmick with lots of leg-focused offense. A weirdly satisfying mix of Japanese wrestling tropes. Kotoge was the more forgettable of the bunch, coming off as a generic indie wrestling dude with obligatory indie-knee-attacks. Kitamiya takes out his leg and taps him via Prison Lock. Solid stuff! ***
Naomichi Marufuji vs. Maybach Taniguchi
Hearing Marufuji’s theme after all these years is a major nostalgia rush. Him and Maybach used to be tag partners, but Taniguchi turned his back on Maru to join Mitsuya Nagai’s new heel possee. This match is a bunch of okay wrestling but mostly serves as a setup for a Nagai-Gun post-match heel beatdown. Maybach Taniguchi is a guy who has an amazing name and a great heel look but just doesn’t fully seem to click as a professional wrestler. Marufuji gets in all of his snappy kick combos and plays super babyface, fending off Nagai at ring-side. Nagai eventually pulls the ref out of the ring and the match gets thrown out, Kotoge and FUNKY POWERS running-in to save Maru from the heel beatdown. RAW is NOWA! **1/2
Taiji Ishimori © vs. Andrew Everett – Impact X-Divison Title
Like most of the NOWA loyalists on this card, I haven’t seen Taiji in forever. He is still equal parts tiny, ripped, and tanned. His weird camo gear and goofy entrance mask point at a very possible tag partnership with the sleaze-tacular Hi69. Andrew Everett is a TNA guy that looks like David Finlay but tries to wrestle like Will Ospreay. A pudgy white guy with an awful look that is all about THE FLIPS. This match is very much based on those sweet, sweet flips. And for this kind of X-Division back and forth spot-fest, it does the job. Kind of like those Ospreay NJPW matches do the job. Everything’s fine in terms of execution: Everett pulls off a cool Shooting Star press to the outside, there’s cartwheel standoffs and all of that shit. But again, like those Ospreay NJPW, there’s no reason to be emotionally invested in any of it and I’m already forgetting half of the action because the performances and character work are just not that memorable. A high-calorie meal that leaves you feeling empty. Taiji retains the title, pinning Everett with his 450 splash. **3/4
Kenou © vs. Kaito Kiyomiya – GHC Heavyweight Title
Out of all the new NOAH guys on this show, Kenou is easily the one that most comes off as a STAR. I remember digging his matches with Hayato Fujita Jr back in Michinoku Pro, but this is something else. From the villainous-sounding interview in the pre-match package to the bleached bowl-cut and swanky entrance robe, he has totally repackaged himself in the best kind of way. Kiyomiya is NOAH’s pure-hearted young hope who just came back from excursion and is now fully repping the company with green trunks and Misawa-tribute spots. The match is all about establishing Kaito as a new main event player for NOAH and it’s a wild success.
Kenou carries this thing like a true ring general, in the vein of guys like Katsuyori Shibata and Minoru Suzuki. Guys that will truly beat the shit out of you. Which is what he does to Kiyomiya with some of the hardest fucking kicks I have seen in a very long time. Kiyomiya gets a bloody nose and a NASTY neck bruise from all of the slaughter, but becomes a total crowd favorite in the process as he does a great job responding to the violence with emotion and big-time Fighting Spirit Moments.
Both guys go ALL OUT, in the spirit of the old Misawa/Kobashi-era classics, trying to kill each other with a lof of super devastating shit: Kenou hits a freaking German suplex on the FLOOR, Kaito pulls off this insane top-rope lifting Reverse DDT and best of all: we get one of the hurtiest diving foot stomps in recent memory as Kenou comes off the top-rope crushing a CRAWLING Kaito. AMAZING! Through all of this epic wrestling greatness, they work a cool sub-plot where Kaito keeps going for the Tiger suplex, but can never quite pull off a complete version. It all comes down to a bloodied and battered Kiyomiya fighting for his life against Kenou’s brutal head kicks, ALL OF KORAKUEN HALL BEHIND HIM, but ultimately falling short. A great match that turned Kaito into a new star for NOAH and confirmed Kenou’s status as a MUST WATCH DUDE in the 2018 Japanese wrestling landscape. ****
Yuko Miyamoto comes out to challenge Kenou after the match, and from what I’ve seen of the dude in his midcard tag match, this thing could kick all kinds of ass. We also get a big pull apart angle that highlights the various tensions between the top NOWA pairings, namely Kenou/Sugiura, Shiozaki/Kiyomiya and Nakajima/Kitamiya.
An okay show that ended on a very high note, instantly turning me into a Kenou super-fan and selling me on Kaito Kiyomiya as an Eventual Top Guy for NOAH. The Samurai TV clipping hurt some of the matches on the undercard and I wasn’t a big fan of the X-Division title match but I am definitely up for more Kenou title defenses.
