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Tag: NOAH

  • Lion’s Gate Project 2 results: NOAH vs. New Japan eight man tag

    Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Hirai Kawato

    This is a battle between New Japan (Kuwato) and NOAH (Kiyomiya) rookies. NOAH young lions wear green instead of black like in New Japan, but both are required to have boston crab as finishers, as was the case here. A lot of the match was Kuwato being worked on. Kiyomiya got the win with a Boston Crab. Kuwato wasn’t pleased after the match and the two brawled for a bit, slapping and kicking each other.

    Shiro Tomoyose vs. Teruaki Kanemitsu

    Apparently my theory about all NOAH rookies wearing green was wrong. Tomoyose is a NOAH rookie as well, but is wearing black. Apparently all NOAH rookies choose a color to wear, and Tomoyose’s color is black. Kanemitsu is taller than Tomoyose, but Tomoyose is more stout and looks a bit more physically imposing. He controlled a lot of the match, but Kanemitsu made a comeback and had him in a Boston crab for a long time. He eventually escaped, but Kanemitsu had his arm and was going for a submission when the bell rang, a time limit draw. Good, basic match.

    Kanemitsu went for a handshake after the match but Tomoyose would have none of it. Tomoyose eventually was convinced to shake hands, but then Kanemitsu tricked him by slapping the taste out of his mouth and bailing. These New Japan kids are pretty rude this morning.

    Hitoshi Kumano vs. Ayato Yoshida

    Kumano is another NOAH rookie; he wears red. Yoshida represents Michinoku Pro. The latter had a lot of good looking strikes. This was solid, if not unspectacular.  Kuwano got the win with a chokeslam/spinebuster combination.

    Yoshinari Ogawa vs. David Finlay

    Finlay showed a lot of great fire early. In terms of presence and look he really outshines White, who is a bit better in the ring. Ogawa controlled a lot of the match and kept it on the ground, working on Finlay’s left arm. Finlay made a good comeback and kicked out of a back suplex. Finlay looked like he was going to capture Ogawa’s arm in an armbar, but in transition Ogawa held him down and pinned him. Cool finish to a pretty solid match.

    Captain NOAH & Genba Hirayanagi vs. Muhammed Yone & Ryusuke Taguchi

    This was a total comedy match, at least the first half of it. Genba’s gimmick apparently is that he likes to use the testicular claw on everyone, as he did during the early parts of the match. Taguchi wore an afro like Yone’s, I guess to match. NOAH and Taguchi had a chop battle and Taguchi teased doing the Flair flop, since that is Jado’s thing (he’s Captain NOAH, spoilers) but NOAH fell anyway. This was VERY LONG. Not terrible or anything but felt way longer than it needed to be. This was at least a twenty minute segment or longer when it needed to be half that.

    Taguchi finally got the win for his team after two sliding hip attacks on Genba. Captain NOAH cut a promo after the match. No idea what he said.

    Naomichi Marufuji vs. Jay White

    This was pretty good. White does the little things Finlay doesn’t that really add to the match, though Finlay is a bit more dynamic in what he does. Marufuji gained control early but White made a comeback and hit some very nice spots. This was one of the first times where he did more than just the basic stuff he does in his prelim matches and didn’t look totally out of place, though there were a few moments that looked a bit off. Shiozaki eventually cut him off and won with the sliced bread. This was given some decent time and was a very good match while it lasted.

    Go Shiozaki vs. Juice Robinson

    Juice has definately improved since working regularly in Japan. I wouldn’t say he’s as good as Finlay or White, but he’s perfectly fine and doesn’t look lost out there – he gets it. Much like the story of other matches on this card, Shiozaki worked on Robinson after dodging some punches and was in control until Robinson made a comeback. He kept kicking out of nearfalls, but eventually he could not kick out of a sick lariat dished out by Shiozaki, and that was the end of Robinson. Pretty solid match.

    Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima, Maybach Taniguchi, Masa Kitamiya & Quiet Storm

    New Japan old guard were the faces here. Storm and Nakanishi traded big guy spots, which is funny since Storm is about a head shorter than Nakanishi. I’ve complained on here before that no one should buy Nakanishi and Nagata’s finish because they’ve never submitted anyone with the armbar/torture rack they do. Well this time, it actually did work. While Nagata didn’t have an armbar in, he did pin Quiet Storm with a backdrop suplex while Nakanishi had Taniguchi in the torture rack. Perfectly okay eight man tag, but nothing memorable.

    Nagata got a mic and introduced his two guys that are training in the New Japan dojo. One is Ota, who is a high level wrestler, and Kitamura, who is also a wrestler and jacked to the gills. He teased they might wrestle on the next Lion’s Gate show.

    For the most part, everything was good. Marufuji/White was probably the best match on the show.

  • Alan 4L’s Japanese Wrestling Notebook: NJPW & NOAH’s big weekend

    New Japan

    NJPW had two shows with titles on the line this past weekend. On Saturday, they were in Nagoya and headlined with a Satoshi Kojima challenge against NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata. After a successful defense, Shibata was challenged by Kojima’s partner Hiroyoshi Tenzan. It looks like the story will be Shibata having to go through “The Third Generation” one by one. The other man who fits that bill is Yuji Nagata and that could end up being a title match in May or June.

    Sunday in Amagasaki, Tomohiro Ishii retained his ROH Television championship against the man who gave him a run for his money in the New Japan Cup – EVIL. After 21 minutes, Ishii hit the vertical fall brainbuster for the win. The NEVER 6 Man titles were also on the line as The Elite (Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks) took on Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin & Juice Robinson. The Elite retained following a One Winged Angel by Omega on Juice.

    NOAH

    NOAH had a big show at Korakuen Hall and the results were rather questionable as they continue to have Suzuki-gun run through the NOAH babyfaces in an almost nWo-esque fashion. Whilst Takashi Sugiura retaining against Katsuhiko Nakajima was not a suprise, the tag title match result of Killer Elite Squad defeating Go Shiozaki & Maybach Taniguchi was rather head scratching.

    KES has held the belts for over a year now and the babyface team needed this win, particularly with Shiozaki the man who needs to be belt as the man to conquer Sugiura. The one set of titles that did change hands were the junior tag titles as Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge dropped their straps to Kenou and Hajime Ohara.

    Today, DDT and Dragon Gate took the stage with big shows in Sumo Hall and Wakayama respectively. At its 19th anniversary show before a sold-out 7000 fans, DDT had its K-OD title up for grabs in a big match between Isami Kodaka and multi-time former champion HARASHIMA. Whilst the Open The Dream Gate featured a main event of Shingo Takagi defending against Ryo Jimmy Saito in front of 1500.

    Get your DDT results here and your Dragon Gate results here.

  • Adam & Mike: NOAH’s latest big show, NJPW, Taichi and TAKA celebrate Easter

    The original alternate returns with what’s basically a demo tape, that we hope will get us to the mix tape, as we move towards a whole album of a show. And, as a large, bearded, Albanian man once sang, “There’s no hit records on the demo.” But there are topics that include, but aren’t limited to: Apologies world, NOAH more Suzuki-Gun, NJPW, TAKA and Taichi produce EASTER without messy crucifixions or pastel colored eggs, Atsushi Onita takes another Bible story (sort of) to produce death via Barbed Wire Boards and Deadly Poison Apples, as well as some other things that were scribbled down illegibly. It’s the radio show that’s often imitated, but never duplicated (which probably makes sense); It’s the Adam and Mike BIG AUDIO NIGHTMARE~! Proudly here at F4WOnline.com.

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  • Adam & Mike BAN: NHL Trade Deadline, New Japan Cup and more!

    Back after a short hiatus due to Adam’s immune system going viral, the original alternate returns by taking it old school. How old school? The first half of the show is all about the NHL’s trade deadline kind of sold school. What can we say? We had to ease back into things. And what better way than speaking upon the Imperial Blackhawks leaving everyone else in their dust? We also get into some other things too, like New Japan’s Cup looking to be filled, Stardom’s new streaming service, Kota Ibushi’s visions, the new unofficial official band of the BAN, and much more. It’s the radio show that knows all of the stuff that Chrisley doesn’t; it’s the Adam and Mike BIG AUDIO NIGHTMARE~! Proudly here at WrestlingObserver.com.

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  • Lion’s Gate Project 1 results: Nagata vs. Kitamiya; NJPW and NOAH rookies shine

    Announced last year, this morning’s Lion’s Gate event was the first in what is to be a regular series of events highlighting rookies from New Japan, NOAH, and other associated promotions with New Japan. Tonight’s card is a mixture of NOAH and New Japan rookies and veterans squaring off in a nice mix of singles and tag matches.

    Takumi Honjo vs. Shuhei Taniguchi

    Taniguchi is the former Maybach Taniguchi who I guess has taken off his mask in recent weeks and has sided in NOAH in their battle against Suzuki-gun. This is Honjo’s debut match, graduating from the New Japan dojo. The former Maybach isn’t the best first match to have. Honjo looked like someone in his first match and Taniguchi wasn’t that good. Honjo got some chants going for him at least. Taniguchi got the win quickly with a Boston crab.

    Kawato Hirato vs. Hitoshi Kumano

    Kawato is the really young NJPW lion, only 18 years old. He looked good here and showed some fire with his offense, and his strikes look good. This didn’t last long either. Kuwato him have some offense, cut him off and pinned him with a fisherman’s suplex.

    Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

    Kiyomiya is a NOAH rookie, wearing green tights as I guess that’s the rule over in that promotion. He has a good dropkick and handled basics pretty well. It was very much in the same formula as the previous two matches. Taguchi eventually cut him off and got the win with the dodon.

    David Finlay vs. Taiji Ishimori

    Pretty good while it lasted. Ishimori came off looking really good, doing some great dynamic spots throughout the match. I wonder why he didn’t get a spot in the Super Juniors tournament last year. Finlay got some great near falls and submissions, including the stretch muffler. Ishimori gave him a lot. ishimori gave him a uranage then followed with a 450 for the win.

    Jay White vs. Yoshinari Ogawa

    Another good match. White looked good here too. He’s the best out of the current crop of the young lions in terms of overall athleticism and ability. He would have been my rookie of the year if Chad Gable hadn’t come along. He took a lot of this match and people were behind him big time. He even handled some mat wrestling with Ogawa well. He cut him off with an eye poke and tried to go for a superplex but White stopped him. Ogawa avoided him, gave him a dragon screw and put him in a figure four, submitting him.

    Lion’s Gate Project 2 was announced for 5/19.

    Quiet Storm vs. Manabu Nakanishi

    I haven’t seen a singles bout from Nakanishi in forever. There’s a good reason for that. Storm is an interesting story as he wrestled in the very early era of Ring of Honor, was mostly a small independent level guy, then went to Japan in the mid 2000s and has pretty much found consistent work there ever since. They did a lot of big guy spots even though Nakanishi is about a head taller than Storm. Wasn’t bad. Nakanishi can only do so much, but he got all of this spots in and was fine. After Storm teased putting the Rack on Nakanishi, he cut him off and put him in the rack, with Storm quickly submitting.

    Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Genba Hirayanagi & Captain NOAH

    Genba was billed as Captain Genba as he was wearing a mask like Captain NOAH’s. Kojima & Tenzan dominated a lot of the match. Genba got heat momentarily by cutting off Kojima with a testicular claw. That’s one way of halting a comeback. The masked duo got double submissions on Tencozy but they didn’t submit. Kojima came back with a diamond cutter and a brainbuster but NOAH broke it up, only to get a 3D. Genba tried to get a cheap win with the claw again and a roll up, but Kojima hit the ropes and scored a lariat for the win. Perfectly fine match.

    Juice Robinson vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima

    This was pretty good. Robinson was given a lot and has improved a lot in his time here with New Japan. He’s that weird situation where it doesn’t seem like he’s a young lion, but not really a pushed guy either in New Japan, so he was given a lot more here than other young lions in previous matches. Nakajima is riding a big wave of momentum as he’s pinned Minoru Suzuki and is probably next in line for the GHC Heavyweight title. Robinson also got over big time with the crowd as they were with him from the start. Lots of back and forth great action. Nothing too fancy, but a really well worked match that people got into. Nakajima picked up the win after a brainbuster.

    Yuji Nagata vs. Mitsuhiro Kitamiya

    Kitamiya looked good against Nagata, who did a good job in this match. There’s the occasional showing his age signs here and there, but he’s still a tremendous preformer and looked great here. He gave Kitamiya a lot and they had a pretty good back and forth match, as was the theme for many of tonight’s matches. Nagata hit the backdrop driver but Kitamiya kicked out. Kitamiya laid into Nagata with some slaps but Nagata no sold them and fired back with another backdrop driver for the win. Very nice main event with a great finish.

    Nagata said a few things to close out the show.

    Overall, this was a solid show. Quality wise, maybe about your average New Japan house show, maybe a little less. Nothing really bad, mostly solid to good. The unique matches really added a lot to the show and made it a fun watch.

  • Adam & Mike: Breaking news on NOAH’s 1.31 show and the booking fallout for 2016, SAYONARA SHINSUKE~!

    Doing almost as many shows in January as we did during all the months last year, the original alternate returns with topics that include, but aren’t limited to: As NOAH turns (literally): the ongoing Suzuki-Gun vs. NOAH feud, Sunday’s results, Hiroshi’s Tanashoulder, the Hirooki Goto conundrum (how many times has a variation of that been in these teasers?), Shinsukamura V3 begins, the best non-Shin Nihon puro match so far this year, not David Bowie (RIP) but where all All The Young Dudes are, and much more. It’s the unwanted All-Star John Scott of podcasts; It’s the Adam and Mike BIG AUDIO NIGHTMARE~!

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  • Note on upcoming ROH title match in Japan

    While the claim was made tonight at the ROH show in Philadelphia and reported that the ROH title would be defended for the first time in Japan in 2016, that is correct only related to New Japan Pro Wrestling.

    Takeshi Morishima actually defended the ROH title twice in Japan on Pro Wrestling NOAH events.

    –Thanks to Chris Arias