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Furious Flashbacks: NOAH Great Voyage in Yokohama 2014

December 12, 2014 | Posted by Arnold Furious
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Furious Flashbacks: NOAH Great Voyage in Yokohama 2014  

NOAH Great Voyage in Yokohama

 

21st October 2014 (Taped 12th October for Nippon TV).

 

We’re in Yokohama, Japan. 3,500 in attendance at the Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium. NOAH don’t have a lot of dream matches on tap but decided to pitch a fairly unique match for this show; Marufuji defending his GHC title against Daisuke Sekimoto! Being a big fan of both guys, I’m all over this show. It’s also the lead-in for NOAH’s Global League, which kicks off just days after this. NOAH’s version of the G1.

 

Mitsuhiro Kitamiya vs. Hitoshi Kumano vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

 

NOAH has taken to throwing out a lot of 3-way dances on their undercards recently. They’re usually not very good. Hopefully Sabre can bring a little quality to proceedings. Kitamiya and Kumano are both tag team partners and NOAH’s in-house jobbers. Kumano’s desperation to actually record a victory immediately stops their natural 2 on 1 advantage. It causes me to raise a wry smile and they generally throw in a shit load of roll ups. Sabre vs. Kitamiya is actually bordering on brilliant. The counters and ideas at play are seriously great. This includes, but isn’t limited to, Sabre blocking a capture suplex with a kimura. Hanging on to the arm to block the motion. Sabre gets Kumano isolated and submits him in short order. Kitamiya looks a bit pissed off about it. I really want to see Sabre vs. Kitamiya in singles with some time allotted to it. They had moments of genius. The rating might seem harsh but the match was literally 4 minutes long.

 

Final Rating: **

 

Quiet Storm & Pesadilla vs. No Mercy (Akitoshi Saito & Genba Hirayanagi)

 

Pesadilla is another luchadore to come through DTU (the company that produced Flamita). He’s a regular guest in NOAH. I get the feeling that Super Crazy is recommending the lucha guys to NOAH (he trained Pesadilla). This isn’t the best of matches to check out Pesadilla as he looks hungover. Does it bother anyone else that Pesadilla sounds he should be a delicious Mexican snack? If he was, Quiet Storm would eat a dozen of him all while smacking the waiter around with his meaty appendages. Storm is strangely loveable and he seems to think he can go toe to toe with Saito and Saito lets him. This is the same Saito who gave Sugiura NOTHING in a recent singles match. The crowd give up after Pesadilla’s 5th sloppy spin kick and sit on their hands. There’s nothing worse than a sloppy luchadore. Some of the offence he unleashes during this one is downright embarrassing. I blame Saito for letting him. He even lets Pesadilla hold him back while Storm batters Genba with a lariat for the shock win. I know Genba is a comedy midcard guy and the loss won’t hurt him but I’m surprised Storm & Pesadilla, a mismatched duo, went over anyone this established.

 

Final Rating: *1/4

 

TenKoji vs. Cho Kibou-gun (Takeshi Morishima & Maybach Tanaguchi)

 

Four New Japan veterans on this evenings show and Nagata & Nakanishi are teaming after this match. Kojima, and Nagata, are both in the forthcoming Global League so this match is partially to sell that. They’re billing the two matches tonight as “NOAH vs. NJPW: Passage to Global League”. You would hope that Morishima & Tanaguchi would take it seriously because of that but they just run the usual bullshit. Incidentally, if you get the chance check out the video on YouTube of Cho Kibou-gun attempting to play tennis. Tanaguchi comes across as the least coordinated guy in the world and Ohara’s selling, even in tennis, is quite fantastic. TenKoji must be aware they’re slumming it and Kojima makes a hash of an early slingshot elbow. Morishima is hard to get a draw on nowadays. Some of his matches are tragically bad, some of them show promise but he’s nowhere near the level he was back in 2007 when he had the world at his feet. It’s sad. He could have been great. The crowd are somewhat indifferent to TenKoji on account of them being invaders from New Japan. Kojima gets a muted reaction compared to usual. It’s weird though because even if the NOAH fans were rooting for the ‘home’ team, they’re heels and have worked this match as heels. Kojima seems to enjoy himself but the standard of the wrestling is universally poor. Morishima uses his joke weapon (it’s supposed to be a stone club but it’s blatantly plastic) and Tanaguchi uses his crook so much the ref calls for a DQ. Good God, Tanaguchi is an idiot. This match sucked. There were moments where Morishima looked energised but they were few and far between. Tenzan didn’t turn up at all.

 

Final Rating: *

 

Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. BRAVE (Muhammed Yone & Katsuhiko Nakajima)

 

With Cho Kibou-gun having lost, another NOAH faction gets a shot at New Japan guys in BRAVE. There’s a bit of history as Yone came up short when challenging for Nagata’s GHC title before he lost to Yone’s stable-mate Marufuji. The crowd reaction is again mixed with the fans not sure whether to hate on Nagata or not, seeing as he was babyface when he wrestled in NOAH but now he’s seen as part of an invading faction. The complexities of the heel/face alignment in Japan is hard to follow. Nakanishi’s presence rather drags this down into the realms of comedy midcard territory as, even when he tries hard, he’s not what you’d call accomplished. Especially at his age. Nagata on the other hand is keen to show the locals that he deserved to be the champion here and hasn’t lost it. I wish they hadn’t lumped him together with Nakanishi (New Japan, that is) as it takes the edge off Nagata. Still, he throws Yone and Nakajima around like a boss and the match only loses momentum when Nakanishi lumbers back in there. NOAH do bust out an awesome slo-mo replay of Nakanishi chopping Yone though, which shows all the displacement of flesh and organs upon impact. More of that, please! Nakanishi embarrasses himself by being too slow to stop Nakajima breaking a submission attempt, leaving Nakajima standing around for a few seconds, and then failing to lift Nakajima for the Rack, mistiming his lift after Nakajima had already jumped into it. Yone gets picked off regardless and Nagata finishes him, again, with the Bridging Backdrop suplex. A frustrating match that alternated between poor and promising and spent equal time in each camp.

 

Post Match: the real entertainment kicks in as we NAGATADANCE! Nakanishi comically can’t do it as quickly and gets blown up.

 

Final Rating: **1/4

 

GHC Junior Tag Team Championship:

BRAVE (Atsushi Kotoge & Taiji Ishimori) (c) vs. Cho Kibou-gun (Kenou & Hajime Ohara)

 

As much as I hate Cho Kibou-gun matches, these two guys are brilliant wrestlers. This is Kotoge & Ishimori’s 2nd title run and their 1st title defence since winning the belts from Sabre & Ogawa. They’ve already bested their first run with the titles, which was only 22 days. They’ve had them for over 3 months this time, albeit with no title defences. A barrage of streamers provides cover for the challengers to jump the babyface champs, only to be seen off by high flying antics. There’s a nice contrast between the heel aggression and the babyface high spots. Sadly Cho Kibou-gun resort to the usual bullshit and work half the match in the crowd. It’s spirit crushing to see good wrestlers work an ugly match. Kenou at least focuses his assault on Ishimori’s permanently injured left knee. Seeing as Ishimori actually sells it, the match is better when he’s not in the ring. Although not by much. It’s frankly an enormous disappointment that they make the decisions that they do, regarding tactics and pacing. The first half of the match is a total waste. Things pick up in the second half but the match also breaks down in the process. Kenou takes a nasty shot to the forehead that busts him open hardway, which is unfortunate as he’s a heel and generates sympathy where it doesn’t belong. Ishimori, the little idiot, starts doing flying knee strikes in the corner. If your knee is injured then don’t use it! He doesn’t even modify moves and deliberately uses his knee. I hate that shit. His offence looks stupid enough already without the total lack of psychology. Ohara just owns Ishimori on the exchanges. Allowing his flippity nonsense a good set up before countering it all with ease. Kenou reminds Ishimori of his injury by hitting the knee with a kendo stick. Ohara catches the little punk bastard in Muy Bien and taps him out for the titles. The match was a hot mess but the psychological aspect of working the knee and getting a submission on the knee counts for a lot.

 

Final Rating: **1/2

 

GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship:

Daisuke Harada (c) vs. Super Crazy

 

Since winning the title in a great match over Ishimori in March (****1/4 Great Voyage in Tokyo) Harada has had three successful title defences. Harada is way too good to be classified as a junior heavyweight but so were KENTA and Marufuji and they got their chances eventually. Super Crazy, being crazy, comes out dressed as a stereotypical Mexican (poncho, sombrero, maracas). At least he doesn’t ride down on a lawnmower. Super Crazy is 40 years old now and looks it. He’s getting a bit podgy around the middle and the face. He looks a bit like a Colombian drug lord who’s been overdoing the excesses in life. Crazy decides to test out Harada on the mat and it’s a fun contest, which showcases both guys technical skill. You don’t always think of Crazy as a technician because of his flying but he’s well rounded. The match feels like it’s come from Crazy’s own personal playbook and harks back to contests against Tajiri from ECW. What really caps off that vibe is Crazy doing a moonsault off the stage. Yeah, it looks fake as hell with Harada having to catch him but it maintains that ECW feeling. Harada goes with the flow without fully embracing the style and smoothly runs through his spots. My one complaint about Harada is his lack of connection with the crowd. That could be an issue for him going forward but his in-ring is mint. Crazy is a bit too obvious with some of his spots, like a blatant hand clap when delivering a dropkick but his flash pins are slick as fuck and get the crowd worried on the near falls. It’s a genuinely good contest. Crazy starts to get a bit winded as the 15 minute mark approaches and that adds to the spectacle as his kickouts get really laboured. Eventually Harada puts him down with a German suplex to end a very fun contest. Best Crazy singles match since his ECW days. Not just because Harada was great either. Crazy performed well.

 

Post Match: Zack Sabre Jr. shows up to issue a singles title match challenge to Harada (and insult his hairstyle). That match will take place during the Global League. He’s already challenged for the strap but did so in a three-way dance and wants to take on Harada mano-a-mano.

 

Final Rating: ***1/2

 

GHC Tag Team Championship:

Dangan Yankees (Takashi Sugiura & Masato Tanaka) (c) vs. TMDK (Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste)

 

This should be good as TMDK have been routinely the best tag team in NOAH all year long and a contender for best in all of Japan. Meanwhile Dangan Yankees have aimed to bust a gut almost every time out and if we’re talking about guys from ECW who are still good, Masato Tanaka is at the top of that particular pile. His elbows are still one of the best looking strikes in Japan, where strikes are heavily overused and everyone needs good looking strikes. His elbows on Shane Haste are beautiful. While Haste takes abuse, Mikey is out to prove himself the match of Sugiura. He’s in the same Global League block as Sugi so he might be setting down a marker. Mikey has enthusiasm but even at their collective ages Dangan Yankees are unpredictable. There’s a lot of talent and a lot of title reigns on that team. TMDK are no slouches but their double teaming is less creative and more aggressive. Aimed for maximum damage. Haste takes an absolute thrashing at the hands of Tanaka. Lariats, elbows, head-drops. The works. He takes the abuse and keeps kicking out, which shows you how highly rated TMDK are. Hence the spot on the card. Sugiura and Mikey is a lot closer, in terms of a contest, but Sugi still destroys Nicholls with elbows. The difference is that when Mikey hits something, Sugiura looks like he might stay down. The Mikeybomb looks like it might even finish and the set up is phenomenal as you can see Haste release powerbombing Tanaka on the apron in the background. Sugiura kicks out, just to spoil TMDK’s big moment and then Mikey is once again obliterated with elbows. I love Dangan Yankees multiple elbow assaults. They’re like a hyper-violent version of being Night at the Roxburied! Mikey tries being cocky and kicking out at one so he eats Sliding D AND the Olympic Slam for the loss. Wonderful match. TMDK came across as the plucky underdogs, out to prove a point but they just couldn’t overcome the violence of the champs. Mikey tried like hell though. Bless his little cotton socks.

 

Final Rating: ***3/4

 

Tangent: It seems TMDK have gotten so over with the Japanese public that New Japan are going to take them on loan next year. Good news for Shane & Mikey, not so much for NOAH’s tag division. Potential issues here: 1. TMDK are better workers than most of New Japan’s ailing tag division. 2. Most of New Japan’s main tag teams (Bullet Club, KES) are gaijin. TMDK work better as faces though and they’re both heel teams. Mouth watering prospects against Shibata & Goto or Great Heel Bash. 3. Other ‘loanees’ like BUSHI didn’t exactly get the opportunities they deserved. TMDK are too good to go to New Japan and be enhancement. However it pans out, I wish them the best of luck. They are a genuinely good team, one of the best in Japan during 2014, if not outright the best team.

 

GHC Heavyweight Championship:

Naomichi Marufuji (c) vs. Daisuke Sekimoto

 

If NOAH hadn’t spent most of the year with Nagata (another outsider) as champion I could totally see them switching the belt here. Sekimoto is certainly good enough to carry the company, even if he spends more of his time in Big Japan. The good news for those worried that a longer match (over 20 minutes) might slow these two down is they both have superb conditioning. So they go full out into chops for the opening sequence. A marked contrast to the slower pace of AJ Styles-Hiroshi Tanahashi at the last New Japan show. Although they did go 30 minutes. Maru is keen to prove he’s a heavyweight now and goes toe to toe with Sekimoto on the striking. He’s being booked like a man now. Like with most opponents of Sekimoto, Marufuji does find himself overwhelmed at times. The sheer mass of muscle is intimidating. Even if you’re the champ. Maru knows he can’t allow Sekimoto to dictate to him though and slows things down with an inescapable headlock. A deliberate display of wrestling power. He tries to take it to the floor but falls over the ropes like a klutz so Seki improvises the bump into a bulldog on the apron. When talking about great wrestlers, it’s not about mistakes, it’s about how you recover from them. They even have a cool spot to follow as Sekimoto backdrops the champ off the apron. The glorious slo-mo HD replay is gorgeous. NOAH are doing great things with replays all of a sudden. Sekimoto uses this match to demonstrate his ridiculous strength as Marufuji is small enough for him to toss around the ring like a bag of spuds.

 

Marufuji’s response is through kicks and the way he angles a superkick around Sekimoto’s body to kick his face when his back is turned is quite brilliant. He goes for the Shiranui too early though and gets countered into a back suplex, which happened in a recent tag match too. Sekimoto’s ability to block a move is almost second to none because of his muscular build and wrestling brain. Marufuji again uses his kicks to get back into the game before moving up to a suicide dive, learning from his Shiranui mistake. This trend continues with Marufuji switching his game around. His game plan isn’t set in stone. It keeps Sekimoto unbalanced and the frequent kicks prevent Seki from getting a series of moves away. Marufuji knows Sekimoto’s power offence can potentially finish the match if given the chance. He uses more kicks to set up the Shiranui for a near fall and Seki seems to have no answer to the kicks. They’re too quick for him. When Sekimoto does launch a power move it’s brutally efficient. A brainbuster is followed by a lariat and Marufuji is in real danger of losing the belt. Seki even gets the Deadweight German suplex away only for the resilient Marufuji to kick out. Again Marufuji finds refuge in rapid-fire kicks, which Sekimoto still can’t avoid and he knees Seikimoto in the face for the pin (he calls that one the Ko-oh). Not quite the MOTYC everyone was hoping for but a great match. I enjoyed the contrast between the two guys with Seki never quite able to handle Marufuji’s quicker offence and Marufuji finding ways around Sekimoto’s power. Hence, he’s still the champion.

 

Final Rating: ****1/4

 

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7.5
The final score: review Good
The 411
  Honestly, I really enjoyed this card. It seemed to improve as the show went on culminating in Harada-Crazy onwards. Harada-Crazy was really good, Yankees-TMDK was even better and the finale of Marufuji-Sekimoto was terrific. Given the structure of the show, it came off a lot better than usual. Having Cho Kibou-gun buried against TenKoji in the 3rd match was a good place for them. When I’d finished the show, I could only really remember the good stuff from the second half rather than the middling stuff at the beginning. You could certainly trim the fat off these shows but at least NOAH is exhibiting signs of improvement. Much like with All Japan, things seem to be going in the right direction. The only major concern is a lack of main eventers and a lack of build in the midcard but at least the wrestling is better.
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