Well, it's been a while. Don't really have an excuse, but I'm here now, and I'm gonna be reviewing what I can. So, starting off this fourth(?) run of trying to review wrestling is the first night of Pro Wrestling NOAH's Global Junior Tag League. The downside is that the actual tournament matches on the card tonight were outdone by the semi-main and main event 6-mans that followed them. There is an upside, though, in that this was a perfect show that a non-fan of NOAH could jump in on. What do I mean by that? Hopefully once you've heard me talk about this card you'll see why.Akitoshi Saito, Masao Inoue and Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Mitsuya Nagai and 50 Funky Powers (Mohammed Yone and Quiet Storm)
I think the best thing I can say about this match is that it was inoffensive. There was nothing in this match that would cause someone to not keep watching the show, but I also wouldn't highly recommend it to anyone. It's the opener, what're you gonna do. Taniguchi eventually got the submission on Quiet Storm with some kind of Hammerlock Camel Clutch.
**
Tadasuke (RATELS) vs. Yoshiki Inamura (Kongoh)
Yoshiki is, or was, one of the local Young Boys in NOAHand he's only been here for less than a year. Although he's now in Kongoh (more on these glorious bastards later) I don't know whether his graduation was official or not. Here he squared off against Tadasuke of RATELS, who I've always subconciously classified as "the other RATEL" between him and his three stablemates. Inamura had a really fun match with Yuji Hino at the finals of the Tag League in early MAy I suggest you try and find, but this match turned out to be alright. Yoshiki landed an Oklahoma Stampede, getting brownie points from me, and went for what looked like a copy of Yuji Hino's FUCKING BOMB, which I will henceforth refer to as the GODDAMN BOMB if it becomes a regular thing. Tadasuke got out of the attempted plagiarism and after some quick pin attempts he nailed the rookie in the back with an elbow and got the pin with some kind of clutch. A neat match that did a good job at showcasing Inamura, even in loss.
**1/2
Global Junior Tag League 2019
Hajime Ohara and NOSAWA Rongai (Sugiura-Gun) vs. Chris Ridgeway and Hitoshi Kumano
I love how the latter team came out to Paint It Black, because fuck your copyright laws, this is NOAH. Ohara and Kumano were until recently in my favorite named tag team in NOAH, The BackBreakers. I find it interesting that, in the same way that the stiff, fighting spirit aspects of Japanese wrestling are very much in vogue in the western world, British wrestling is making a breakthrough in Japan. Between Zack Sabre's popularity in New Japan, Joel Redman being in the Champion's Carnival, and Ridgeway here in the Junior Tag League, you're seeing more and more British wrestling in prominent spots. I...I just have "Palpatine" written here and I don't really know why. I assume I meant that I'll watch Ridgeway's career with great interest. He got the win for his team by making Ohara tap out with an Ankle Lock.
**1/2
Global Junior Tag League 2019
Junta Miyawaki and Seiya Morohashi vs. Hi69 and Minoru Tanaka
I really shouldn't be running out of steam at this point, but this is the fourth match in a row that's just...there. The benefit of this match is that the second of NOAH's two super rookies, Junta, is here, rocking his Kobashi Creamsicle gear. There seems to be a lot of potential and a lot of stock put into this young man and i hope that his rise isn't aided by a rocket, and his trials aren't all necessarily by fire, the way I feel like Kaito's was and have been. This is a special match if only for the ending, where Hi69 gets caught attempting a splash and Junta, assisted by Morohashi, picks up his first pinfall win in NOAH. Korakeun fucking exploded. I'd try and find the ending minute of this match somewhere, but the overall bout lingers in the range of "alright"
**3/4
Global Junior Tag League 2019
HAYATA and YO-HEY (RATELS) vs. Stringer (Kotaro Suzuki and Yoshinari Ogawa)
The hottest (and really the only) program going on in the Junior Heavyweight Division plays out here in an almost 20 minute fight. I was really high on HAYATA and YO-HEY when they first debuted in NOAH, and I still am now. YO-HEY is recovering from a collapsed lung, and Stinger took advantage of this by constantly assaulting his chest throughout the match. Not since CM Punk worked the diverticulitis have I seen such a unique strategy. Finish was great for what it was. YO-HEY had dived from the post to beyond the guardrail to get Suzuki and the count begins. Both men try and get in but are stopped, YO-HEY back suplexed by Ogawa, HAYATA springboard kicked Suzuki, and both men are counted out. That didn't stop the fight from continuing, and the bad blood between both teams is far from over. A fun brawl that finallyshowcases what I consider the best parts of NOAH's Junior Division.
***
Kenoh, Masa Kitamiya, and Atsushi Kotoge (Kongoh) vs. Daisuke Harada (RATELS), Jinsei Shinzaki, and Naomichi Marufuji
Now we get into that good stuff.
Okay so real quick for the new people here. See that guy in the middle? That's Kenoh, match kinda focuses around him. That's his unit, Kongoh (it's fairly new). One of the men across from him is his trainer, Jinsei Shinzaki. The whole bout builds up to the moment when the two get in the ring and the crowd loved it when they finally did. Even taking this out, the match was really good. Marufuji is the arguable elder statesmen in NOAH, but he's taken the habit of agitating everyone he either faces or teams with as of late. In this match, the focus of his annoyance was Daisuke Harada. Daisuke is someone I'm highly interested in watching in the near future, as word is the Junior Heavyweight star may be slated to bump up to heavyweight. Kongoh beat on Harada for a while, before we finally got Jinsei in the ring, leading to Kenoh tagging in himself. The staredown was intense, and after a brief exchange Jinsei came out slightly on top. Final breakdown saw Kotoge from the Kongoh side singled out by his opponents, and Daisuke pinned him after a knee to the face and a German Suplex. A great paced, competitive match.
***1/4
AXIZ (Katsuhiko Nakajima and Go Shiozaki) and Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Hideki Suzuki, KAZMA SAKAMOTO, and Takashi Sugiura (Sugiura-Gun)
With the exception of KAZMA (no offense Im just not as familiar with him) I fucking LOVE every man in this match for different reasons. Kiyomiya, the champ and the man who wants to carry this company on his shoulders. Nakajima and Shiozaki, the hard hitting tag champs and NOAH loyalists (the former being the man who brought me to NOAH in the first place). Murder Uncle Sugiura, who's going for both titles he stands across from this day, joined by the close second greatest Suzuki in wrestling today. honestly, I think of all the Suzukis out there, Hideki is actually my favorite. Legit skill, handsome face, lavender trunks, he's got it all and i hope he fights Kaito for the GHC Title someday soon. Kaito got beaten down for what felt like forever. As good as the champion is, it seems like he's always been an underdog, fighting from the bottom ever since he won the GHC Heavyweight Championship. If he beats Sugiura in June, I don't know how much longer he can hold onto that belt. Finally, Kaito got out of there, bringing in the AXIZ allies for the rescues (I wanted to say that at least once in this blog). Go's exchanges with both Suzuki and Sugiura were as good as I expected, leading up to Go's match with Marufuji on June 9th. Match breaks down, several double teams from Shiozaki and the smiley Nakajima later, and Kaito is left in the ring with SAKAMOTO. The champ nails a Tiger Suplex for the pin. Despite my critiques of Kiyomiya, this was still a very good main event.
***1/4
The final three matches were put on Youtube, which is really useful for people not looking to watch the full card, or are too anxious with technology to try using Google Drive. the Global Junior Tag match is here, The Kongoh match is here, and the Main event here. Again, these are the three matches I recommend someone completely new to NOAH watch. It's the largest swath of who makes up the company's main event scene, and the people you should be watching out for (minus Minoru Tanaka who's the Junior champion, Taniguchi who might be in line to move up the card...again, and 50 Funky Powers)
Thanks for reading! I'm glad that I can turn my passion for wrestling into something that so many people enjoy. If you want to get regular updates on when I release more reviews, you can follow me at Twitter at @LSWayne21. Big shoutout to Hisame, the one woman workhorse translating NOAH news and interviews, and who was kind enough to give this review a once over for accuracy. You can catch her updates, translations, and overall charm at her Twitter here. You can find this, and more Japanese wrestling, at the Purodream Twitter, found here
See you down the Road.
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