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Furious Flashbacks: NOAH Global League 2014 Finals

January 15, 2015 | Posted by Arnold Furious
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Furious Flashbacks: NOAH Global League 2014 Finals  

NOAH Global League Finals

 

8th November 2014 (Aired 13th November on Nippon TV). This took place the same night at New Japan’s Power Struggle PPV so there was little hope or point of showing it on live TV. I’m somewhat confused as to why NOAH chose to run it the same night as the NJPW PPV but seeing as NJPW were in Osaka and this took place in Tokyo, I guess there’s room for both.

 

We’re in Tokyo, Japan at Korakuen Hall. 1,850 in attendance. That’s a capacity sell-out. Seeing as this show opens with the final round of tournament matches, here’s a look at the standings.

 

BLOCK A

Daisuke Sekimoto 8

Katsuhiko Nakajima 8

Satoshi Kojima 8

Akitoshi Saito 6

Naomichi Marufuji 6

Shane Haste 4

Takeshi Morishima 4

Colt Cabana 4

 

Effectively this is a 3-horse race. Sekimoto vs. Nakajima is the important match this evening and whoever wins that is basically the winner of the group. Although maths will come into play if Satoshi Kojima can overcome Morishima. Everything else is dead rubber matches.

 

BLOCK B

Masato Tanaka 8

Takashi Sugiura 8

Maybach Taniguchi 8

Yuji Nagata 8

Chris Hero 6

Mikey Nicholls 4

Mohammed Yone 4

Quiet Storm 2

 

Block B is far more open going into the last round with four guys in contention but again the big match is a contest between two potential winners. Sugiura vs. Taniguchi. Both Tanaka and Nagata will finish their campaigns before that match goes on so both wrestlers will know what they need to do. It’ll come down to complex mathematical equations if two wrestlers are level but I shouldn’t worry about that.

 

First it’s the final four matches in Block A.

 

Naomichi Marufuji vs. Shane Haste

 

The GHC champion has had a patchy tournament on the whole. Perhaps there’s a lack of willingness to compete on his part, seeing as the tournament outcome is a shot at his title. Haste has found himself outmatched in singles but you can see from his opening exchanges with the champ that he’s striving to improve and be competitive. Haste seems to have most of the tools to be a star but perhaps lacks a bit of presence. This is evident as soon as Marufuji takes over as the champion’s confidence is abundant. Haste doesn’t know his way around a killer ‘big’ spot either and backdrops Marufuji onto the apron but surely you’d rather take a backdrop on the apron than the floor. The apron is softer and closer. Because tonight is a packed card (11 matches) not a lot of the group bouts will get time. This gets just about enough to establish Haste as a potential winner and then immediately snuff him out. Haste takes the big knee RIGHT IN THE JAW and sells it like death, causing the ref to call for the finish without a pin. If that was selling, and not him being knocked silly, it was magical stuff. Marufuji gets to finish on 8 points, which is respectable. Now he gets to kick back and await a winner.

 

Final Rating: **1/4

 

Akitoshi Saito vs. Colt Cabana

 

This is total filler. Neither man can reach the final match, neither man has threatened to do anything in the tournament. Colt because he’s basically goofing around, Saito because he’s too old. That’s basically how they set the match out too. It’s Colt Cabana goofing around, and even pausing for laughs, and Saito struggling to keep up. Saito almost completely ignores Colt’s tactics too, a contrast to his match in DDT against Danshoku Dino where he gave in to the comedy. Like he doesn’t want to look funny in his home promotion. So once again Cabana has to cross the divide and turn it into strike duels where he carries the mannerisms of Steven Regal meets Dusty Rhodes. It’s not a good match. Like with the previous Cabana wins he just catches Saito in a fluke roll up and that’s Akitoshi’s tournament done. Colt looked like he was having fun…eventually. Someone had to.

 

Final Rating: *1/2

 

Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Daisuke Sekimoto

 

Now this match is far more important as the winner here is in pole position for the Global League. Not only will they have an almost unassailable lead but they’ll be in the finals before their opponent, allowing scouting. Nakajima has the ambition to be here, while Sekimoto has the build. Sekimoto is tactically aware and he knows he needs to look beyond this match, which doesn’t mean powering through it but more conserving energy while dominating. Nakajima kicks him a lot. It’s a contrast of styles. Nakajima is keen to end it quickly and feels high impact is his only way to go. It seems to suggest he’s done his homework as Seki is weak when it comes to kicks and Marufuji beat him twice that way. But he lacks Maru’s focus and allows Sekimoto to overpower him by switching gears. When Nakajima is baited into strike duels, he’s outmatched but doesn’t seem to be smart enough to realise this. The match is at its best when it’s Nakajima’s kicks vs. Sekimoto’s overwhelming power. Both guys can be hugely entertaining when they stick to their strengths and the majority of the match is like that. I don’t get the same vibe from Nakajima that I get from the big stars in Japan but here he gets to look special. This could be a great GHC title match down the line. Nakajima’s near falls feel genuine and his last gasp kickouts are convincing too. Eventually he falls to a German suplex and Sekimoto advances providing Kojima doesn’t win. Which is where the block booking comes from with Kojima getting that weird win over Sekimoto where he didn’t earn it. It’s to set up tension here. Is it worth it? Not really. This match was really strong though.

 

Final Rating: ***3/4

 

Takeshi Morishima vs. Satoshi Kojima

 

Morishima looks motivated from the start, so he’s going over. Cho Kibou-gun’s usual bullshit turns Kojima into an underdog, which isn’t quite what they’ve been gunning for all tournament with Koji coming across as a big New Japan bully. If Morishima was just putting Kojima in his place it’d be fine but Kenou interfering isn’t needed. Especially when Kojima makes his chop rush comeback to resounding boos from the Korakuen. The match is one of the better of the tournament from both guys because they’re so astoundingly pig-headed. It’s like a constant one-upmanship contest. Kojima looks to have won that with a fucking BRAINBUSTER on Morishima. Cho Kibou-gun then act like total shitheads by using comedy weapons and Morishima wins with a backdrop driver to insure Sekimoto goes to the finals. Hey, no arguments from me. I’d actually love to see Morishima vs. Kojima again because they’re both gargantuan assholes and because neither of them give a shit it doesn’t effect the quality of the match.

 

Final Rating: ***

 

Chris Hero vs. Quiet Storm

 

Hero will need a mathematical miracle but can still make the finals if everyone else loses (which is impossible with Sugiura vs. Taniguchi taking place but it doesn’t stop NOAH putting him on the graphic with the other contenders). Hero does a cracking job of putting over Storm’s strengths; namely his beefy strikes and convincing the fans the massive height difference isn’t an issue. Part of making yourself look good in winning is making your opponent look better before you pin them. Storm is somewhat limited and focuses mainly on strikes, making him ideally suited to Japan, whereas Hero has a range of abilities and skills. Storm’s injured ribs have played into most of his matches but strangely it’s not the focus of Hero’s range of offensive moves. Hero seems content to wrestle Storm on his own terms, which involves a lot of chop duels. Storm manages to kick out of the Rolling Elbow but Hero then goes to the ribs and wins with an abdominal stretch. You get the feeling Hero could have finished that a lot quicker but wanted to give the crowd the appearance of a legitimate contest first. Hero has had a few genuinely good contests during Global League.

 

Final Rating: **1/2

 

Masato Tanaka vs. Mikey Nicholls

 

If Tanaka wins here, he can only lose the Block to Nagata, so it’s a big opportunity. Mikey is no small guy and when TMDK worked Dangan Yankees, Mikey wasn’t overwhelmed at all due to his size and strength. Tanaka probably figures his experience and lumber will be too much for Mikey and normally I’d agree with that assessment but tournaments can be tricky. Tanaka, normally dominant in matches, finds himself being manhandled and overpowered. This rarely ever happens to him so it’s weird to see and it’s as if Mikey has done his research. Tanaka still finds himself able to knock Mikey down on 50-50 encounters but anytime Nicholls has a plan it seems to work. Tanaka’s smashmouth style isn’t hard to work around but due to Japanese culture, a lot of opponents simply don’t try being sneaky and aim to batter him into submission, which fails. Mikey seems to have an answer for everything outside of that. Including ducking Sliding D and just generally being smarter. Tanaka attempts to no sell, which gets him planted with the Mikeybomb and shock Nicholls moonsault confirms the upset. Tactically Mikey came in bright and deserved the victory. I’ll go back again to Kojima’s win over Sekimoto where he didn’t earn shit. He just stopped selling and hit a crappy lariat. Here the win was earned, Tanaka didn’t so much get upset as he did get outwrestled. Mikey tried to work heel earlier in the tournament and he was rubbish but this showed rare depth to his abilities. He’s more than just bursts of power. He has potential beyond that.
Final Rating: ***1/4

 

Muhammed Yone vs. Yuji Nagata

 

With Mikey having played spoiler for Tanaka, it’s up to Yone to put the skids on Nagata’s potential run to the finals. The crowd maintains its anti-New Japan stance by chanting for “Yone” initially but then show support for their former champion with a smaller but respectful “Nagata” chant. During Nagata’s title run, Yone came up short (in this very building) when challenging for the GHC title. That match was hampered by Yone’s insistence at taking the match outside the ring and that approach hurts this one too. Especially as Nagata blatantly doesn’t want to take whatever the hell Yone has lined up off the apron. It looks like a neckbreaker before he teases the Kinniku Buster. Just not happening. Given the big marquee matches NOAH has lined up this evening, this one almost plays out in silence. I think the fans believe Nagata will triumph in the same effortless manner he retained the GHC title against Yone and the match suffers from this. This time Yone has a surprise for Yuji though, he’s figured out a counter to the backdrop driver and it works…once. Nagata plants him with a second one and it looks over, mainly thanks to Yone’s glassy eyed staring at the ceiling. Yone has a counter for the gamengiri, or the fake gamengiri dropkick, whichever Nagata was going for, by sweeping the leg before Nagata even gets ready. It’s these little touches that show Yone was prepared for Nagata this time around and you wonder why he didn’t do this research for his title shot? Strange Japanese psychology but like Mikey Nicholls, Yone earns the win by exploiting Nagata’s overconfidence and catching him unawares. This culminates in the Kinniku Buster and Nagata’s tournament is over. Now the winner of Taniguchi & Sugiura is going to the finals.

 

Final Rating: **3/4

 

Takashi Sugiura vs. Maybach Taniguchi

 

And here it is, the match to determine the opponent for Daisuke Sekimoto in the finals. This match might be the smartest piece of booking in NOAH all year long. They need to keep Sugiura fresh for the finals and require a quick match. Taniguchi is job-proof anyway because he’s shit. They even have Taniguchi start fast and hard to show this isn’t a total squash. Sugi rana’s out of the chokeslam though and chokes Taniguchi out to win inside 2 minutes, which draws a big “OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” from the Tokyoites. I love Taniguchi’s reaction too as he starts shoving officials around and wondering why the match has finished on account of him blacking out.

 

Final Rating: SQUASH!

 

Super Crazy, Pesadilla, Yoshinari Ogawa & Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kenou, Hajime Ohara, Mitsuhiro Kitamiya & Hitoshi Kumano

 

This all feels a bit thrown together. Tagging the jobbers up with the heels is strange. What it does allow is Zack Sabre Jr. to take Kumano to wrestling school. Hey, opening match guy, enjoy the broken arm! It doesn’t bend that way, Mr Sabre Jr., please stop that! When he eventually does manage to tag out poor Kitamiya gets much the same treatment only with more hope spots. Cho Kibou-gun rather predictably refuse tags. Ohara is having trouble with boot laces, while Kenou has something in his eye. So the opening act guys have to take it 2 on 4 and that does not go well for them, especially with Sabre Jr. set on Jerk Mode. Eventually Kenou gets bored and runs all the Cho Kibou-gun nonsense with the kendo stick before pinning Pesadilla with a German suplex. Ogawa & Sabre Jr.’s reaction to this is extremely telling as they walk off to the back immediately. Sabre’s mat skills and Kitamiya’s babyface resilience aside this was a bust. Interesting to note Ohara looking a bit miffed that Kenou once again ‘accidentally’ hit him in the arm with his Kendo stick. Seems to be happening quite a lot of late.

 

Final Rating: *1/2

 

BRAVE (Taiji Ishimori & Atsushi Kotoge) vs. No Mercy (Daisuke Harada & Genba Hirayanagi)

 

And the shilling of the next junior title match begins! It’ll be Harada vs. Kotoge and if the build for this is a patch on the build for Harada-Sabre, it should be a blast. Harada can’t wait for Genba to finish his pre-match chat with the crowd and starts elbowing Kotoge in the face. I know the best defence is a good offence but at least tell your tag team partner that. Harada’s overreaching may well be his undoing. He’s gone from relative underdog, when he won the strap, to taking on the former champion (Ishimori) and Kotoge, who’s already been tagging in main events, by himself. Plus he’s got a comedy tag team partner, whereas the opposition is two championship contenders. Kotoge shows he’s learned something recently too. Instead of doing a big rope flip thing he opts to just hook a pin and catch Harada by surprise. It shows he’s thinking instead of just butting heads like a heavyweight. Literally in his case, as his main strike is a headbutt. Genba has just about enough in his locker, low blows mostly, to keep Ishimori occupied. At least it stops him doing stupid spots. Ishimori that is. Genba still does stupid spots, that’s his gimmick. The real focus is on Kotoge-Harada, even when they’re not in direct competition. Like with the Sabre Jr. build up, there’s already an issue building way before the match. Of course it goes deeper than that with both men coming through Osaka Pro and even teaming together pre-NOAH. They’re familiar with each other and that should produce results. Naturally it’s Genba who jobs here to get over Kotoge’s threat. Match was solid and help to create some building blocks for that big singles encounter.

 

Final Rating: **3/4

 

Global League Final:

Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Takashi Sugiura

 

Little bit of a history before we get started. Global League began in 2010. The opening League featured 12 wrestlers. The first winner was Yoshihiro Takayama. He bested Jun Akiyama with a German suplex. That first tournament also featured Kensuke Sasaki, Toshiaki Kawada and Marufuji was the whipping boy in Block B. How times have changed. In 2011 the League expanded to 18 participants although the star quota was down on 2010. Quantity over quality, perhaps. Morishima won in 2011, besting KENTA with a backdrop driver. In 2012 the League went back to a sensible number of participants with 14 men involved. KENTA won, defeating tonight’s finalist Sugiura with GTS. Last year Yuji Nagata was triumphant, downing Morishima in the finals.

 

It’s clear what’ll happen tactically in this match from the early going: these guys are going to WAIL on each other. This seems to benefit Sekimoto but Sugiura is slightly healthier, having had a much shorter match earlier in the night and Sugi tends to be quicker to look to change tactic. Seki will just bulldoze you, if you let him. Sugiura makes a point of blocking some of this aggression with defensive holds, like a choke to block a shoulderblock takedown. Seki’s response is, by and large, a mass of strikes and deadlift suplexes. It’s not complicated but stopping him is another matter. Battles over suplexes have ridiculous levels of testosterone spilling from them. Sugi works a smart match though, eager to keep Sekimoto unbalanced by varying his attacks. Mixing strikes, suplexes and the angles of attack. He’s vicious about it too, pinning Sekimoto down in the corner and unloading with elbows. Sekimoto will not back down though. He’s determined not to lose a straight up fight. Where he goes wrong is getting overly ambitious and a top rope splash is blocked by Sugiura’s knees. If he just stuck to bludgeoning Sugiura, it was only a matter of time before his victory. As they continue to beat each other up the fans start to really get into the match. Sekimoto throwing Sugiura around like he’s sack of spuds is astonishing. Seki just release German suplexes Sugiura across the ring like it’s nothing. Sugiura is 200lbs of muscle. Sugiura’s selling is wonderful too. Every time Sekimoto just bounces back up he has a look in his eyes; what will it take? ELBOWS! And lots of them. Some of them are downright vicious, to the side of the head from behind. It’s brutal. When Sekimoto has taken such a thrashing that he can barely move Sugiura hauls him up for the Olympic Slam to become the fifth Global League winner. The brutality here was extremely pleasing. Sekimoto really took a hiding off Sugiura and this made Sugiura look like a worthy winner. A contrast to earlier tournament matches (Kojima springs to mind) where Sekimoto was beaten but didn’t look it. Here he was beaten and he looked as if he had nothing left. A ballsy match and no mistake. Now Sugiura is next in line for Marufuji at Great Voyage in Tokyo Vol. 3.

 

Final Rating: ****1/2

 

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You can also follow me on Twitter @ArnoldFurious

 

8.0
The final score: review Very Good
The 411
This is a really fun show. One of the best of the year from NOAH. Even the filler matches came across quite well and several of the undercard matches overachieved. In particular Morishima looked surprisingly motivated against Kojima, Nakajima-Sekimoto was a blinder and Mikey Nicholls looked brilliant against Tanaka. NOAH have developed a pleasing habit of delivering on their big shows during 2014, after a sluggish start and a bad Morishima run at the top. This was no exception. Three good matches plus a big tournament conclusion and a great main event equates to a positive viewing experience.
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