NOAH Kohai 2: The Road to New Sunrise 2020

This review article is part of a series where I Chronicle my attempts to watch all of Pro Wrestling NOAH's 2020 catalogue. The previous article can be found here and the next one chronologically, if I haven't fallen off the reviewing wagon, can be found here. Give them all a read if you want the full context of what I'm talking about.

If you have issues with the fact I use Star Ratings for some of the matches I review here, kindly follow this link for my explanation.

Alright, the biggest show of the year is over with. There's a new singles championship that the entire roster can gun for with the National title, RATELS have control over both of NOAH's Junior titles, and Kongo went 0-2 in their attempt to take over the Heavyweight Division. The next significant show in the timeline, to me, is the New Year's show on January 4th of the cursed year 2020. But that doesn't mean we have nothing to do until then. We have four title matches over the course of three regular shows. On top of that, we have a trio of "Produce" shows run by three of NOAH's factions; RATELS' Showtime, Kongo's DIAMOND, and Sugiura-Gun's All Dogs Gather! (That Exclamation is part of the show name, not reflective of my excitement for the show). 

If I tried to attentively give every match on all of these shows a full blown review I'll probably burn myself out, almost definitely not finish by the time Budokan show gets here. So there's select matches I'll definitely give the full treatment, title matches or important singles matches mostly, but the best I'm probably going to do in between the big shows on my timeline is to glance over and give general feels on the smaller build up shows. I guess, at this point I'm trying to figure out if I can even FINISH before Budokan, I thought the show was on the 21st of February and not the 12th. But the success is in the effort, not the results for this one. Let's get started.

Pro Wrestling NOAH Starting Over, Night 5 November 16th 2019

This was the first show I watched after Aesthetic and I honestly wasn't expecting much, barring the crown jewel match I knew was coming. But, after the first two matches, all three of the 6-man tag matches on the show ended up being really good/ The RATELs/Stinger War was a break neck match which somehow surprised me, Kongo vs Kaito, Marafuji, and Hi69 was a good bounce back performance for Kenoh's unit, and the main event was a great prelude to the National title match coming up between Sugiura and Taniguchi. But the obvious reason anyone would watch this show was-

IPW UK Junior Heavyweight Title [1st Defense]

Atsushi Kotoge (c) (STINGER) vs Daisuke Harada (RATELS)

The Peach Twisters EXPLODE for the...Jesus Christ Daisuke Harada and Atsushi Kotoge have wrestled 34 times. I'm not joking, it's all right here. 

 

Anyway, THIS MATCH RULED. Oh my God this match was so good. It started with Daisuke outmatching Atsushi in the grappling department and keeping on the offense for the opening stretch of the match. Any time Atsushi gained the advantage, it was due to a high risk maneuver or from brawling outside the ring and into the crowd. You can see throughout the whole match that these two men know each other so well; each man at one point went for a splash that was countered with the same knee raising and quick pin, while later in the match each was able to easily avoid or endure the other's sugnature maneuvers. Technical exchanges turned to crowd brawling, which itself turned into an exchange of strikes in the ring. First  Elbows, then slaps, until both men were brought to the ground while the crowd rose to their feet. Finally, Atsushi gained control and almost had Daisuke with a top rope Spanish Fly. This is his one shot and I think he knew it as well. He landed a vicious headbutt on his old friend and a Killswitch for the two count. Desperation set in with some amazing and baffling roll ups from both men. Kotoge's luck ran out, as all luck does against the Young Master, who railed the champion with a knee and rolling elbow, a Katayama German, and finally the infamous top rope Katayama German Suplex for the Three Count. What a Goddamn War.

****

 Pro Wrestling NOAH Starting Over Night 6, November 26th 2019

Despite having more matches of consequence than the show that took place ten days earlier, overall I thought the matches on the 16th were overall better than the matches this night. Highlights include the hoss fight between Masa Kitamiya and Akitoshi Saito, up there with the main event 6-man tag match. But, those matches aren't what we're here necessarily to talk about. Let's start with-

GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles [1st Defense]

Daisuke Harada and Tadasuke (RATELS) (c) vs Atsushi Kotoge and Kotaro Suzuki (Stinger)

This match started with an outside brawl. STINGER and RATELs fucking hate each other, that much is clear. We got an all too brief stretch of Daisuke and Kotaro which I would like more of, please. I look at these two the same way that I think people used to look at Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero during their New Japan junior days; light but technically sound, one can fly and does so more than the other but mostly to counter the babyface flyers. I'm looking forward to Kotaro's [Spoiler] lengthy title reign throughout 2020. After that steak we get the Atsushi/Tadasuke sizzle for a while. Tadasuke is...I don't know, I think I like him? I'm pretty sure....maybe. I think he has potential in him that's going untapped and maybe that'll come out in the next year for me to see. Great moment where Kotoge goes for the Spanish Fly he hit on the last show before Tadasuke caught him for a Landslide off the top rope. An amazing tag team move that I can't believe I've never seen when Daisuke put one of the challengers in a Bow and Arrow for Tadasuke to CRUSH WITH A SWANTON OF DEATH, then a Lariat followed by the 8 Second Ride that was used to win the titles, but only for a 2 count. Tadasuke accidentally hit his partner with a lariat, and got spinning goddamn tombstone piledriver'd INTO a Killswitch for the pinfall. A very good match, definitely better than the Junior Tag Title match at Aesthetic, and one you should check out.

***3/4

Oh, Jesus wept, this next match

GHC National Title [1st Defense]

Takashi Sugiura (Sugiura-Gun) (c) vs. Shuhei Taniguchi

I was really scared coming into this match that I was gonna see someone get killed, despite knowing both men are alright today. Shuhei's fucking terrified me twice now in this retrospective by getting busted the fuck open on really scary headbutts, and given who he was facing in this title match I immediately assumed he would do it again. And he did, look at that, lovely. This shit was physical from the first bell, through the crowd, against the apron and the guard rails, back in the ring, with Sugiura taking most of the match. Shuhei VERY briefly got the advantage and knew he had to shoot his shot. He nailed a punt kick, a top rope splash to the back, and goes for a second splash but Takashi catches him with the knees to the ribs AND IT'S THE STANDING GUILLOTINE. Everyone except Shuhei knew it was over when he was still fighting to get his shoulders up at two each time. Olympic Qualifying Slam and STAY DOWN PLEASE SHUHEI HE'S GONNA KILL YOU. Second Slam, pinfall. Jesus.

***3/4

I'll be honest, I never liked Taniguchi. Every time I got back into NOAH over the years briefly he just never connected to me. Even today I don't entirely like him in the ring. But after this match and his match against Fujita, I understand why people like him and I can respect him for the passion he clearly has for wrestling. Just please stop headbutting yourself into a bloody mess.

RATELS Produce Showtime!/KONGO Produce DIAMOND/Suguira-Gun Produce All Dogs Gather! Bark at Korakeun!

These three shows were self-produced by the respective factions within NOAH. Supposedly, Misawa started this practice of having other wrestlers booking shows on their own so that they can learn other aspects of the business besides wrestling, which falls somewhere between neat and genius.

These three Produce shows were all good good, with All Dogs Gather having more than one excellent match in my mind. I'll go through the highlight matches I would definitely watch if you have the free time below.

KONGO produce DIAMOND- Watch the whole show. No, really. It's only four matches, and three of them are under 14 minutes. The main event is a good six-man that is quickly becoming the main reason to watch and NOAH non-big show.

Sugiura-Gun Produce All Dogs Gather!- AXIZ vs Kaito Kiyomiya and Shuhei Taniguchi was a FANTASTIC match out of fucking nowhere and ended with Kaito being nailed with a Gowan Lariat for the pinfall, setting up the next month of Go eventually becoming challenger for the heavyweight title. The final match of Sugiura and Kazushi Sakuraba taking on the absolute monster team of Hideki Suzuki and Kazuyuki Fujita ended in a no contest but was still some delicious grappling and striking that lead into a MANIAC main event of everyone not Sakuraba against KONGO. Definitely go check out the main event if you're the Bloodsport enjoying kind of fan.

Pro Wrestling NOAH Starting Over Night 7, December 3rd 2019

Oh thank God this show was cut down to a clean and healthy two hours. I got to burn through the undercard to get to the two main matches I was watching this show for; HAYATA's title defense and the main event of my favorite tag team having a healthy, brutal competition. Let's get started.

GHC Junior Heavyweight Title [3rd Defense]

HAYATA (RATELS) (c) vs Chris Ridgeway (Stinger)

Chris Ridgeway is really fun to watch. The comparisons to Zack Sabre, Jr. are bound to come out (and I think they did but 2019 was a decade and  half ago so I don't entirely remember), but I think Chris does enough to work well past that. He has mat skill, but he's also a great striker and has an entirely different kind of Charisma than Zack. I hope that once the Plague calms down that he'll return to NOAH and have another shot at the GHC Junior Heavyweight title.

This was a very fun matchup of a decently flighty champion and his close quarters combat challenger. Ridgeway went for submissions and snug shots throughout the match while HAYATA did his best to keep momentum on his preferred level and the offense flying, with neither man really holding the clear advantage throughout the entire match. Chris went for submissions and knockout shots for most of the match, trying to wear the champion down. After several minutes where the match could go the way of either man, HAYATA landed Sudden Impact [a Brainbuster lift into a DDT] and the Headache, driving Chris' head into the mat twice for the win. A very good match, especially for those looking for a high impact fix.

***1/2

Dad vs. Cool Older Brother 15th Anniversary Debut Match

Go Shiozaki vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima

I was very excited for this match and it didn't disappoint.If there's going to be two main characters in NOAH Kohai, it's probably going to end up being these two men, this match being the start of the metamorphosis of both. In this match Go could be seen definitely going towards the Misawa-colored light, showing great spirit even through great pain, while Nakajima started showing signs of an apathetic, disrespectful shit kicker that is the Darkness of Kawada (It's maybe not a perfect metaphor but I like it, so come at me...please don't I bruise like a ripe peach). Definite highlights include the pair recreating their wrestling dad's (Kobashi for Go and Sasaki for Nakajima) famous exchange of chops in the middle of the ring, with Katsu replacing chops with middle kicks, as well as both men breaking out old finishers like the Go Flasher, the Limit Breaker, and the Diamond Bomb. Finally, when the dust was starting to settle, both men hurting from this (un)friendly spar, Go nailed his tag team championship fucking partner with three Gowan Lariats before finishing him with a Moonsault. A great match that made both men look great, and I'm sure there will be absolutely no ramifications on Katsuhiko's mental health from suffering this loss.

****1/4

Alright, we're finally done taking our preparatory tour through 2019. Next time we return to NOAH Kohai, we'll be looking at New Sunrise 2020, with a big card feel all up and down and four title defenses in Korakeun Hall. Hoping to see you all then...metaphorically I can't see anything from this side of the blog.

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. You can catch her updates, translations, and overall charm at her Twitter here.
See you down the Road.