NOAH Global Tag League 2018 Final - 11/04/2018

Yoshinari Ogawa vs Junta Miyawaka

Clipped version of a match that apparently only goes 5 mins anyway. Ogawa works over the arm of Miyawaka in some fun, torturous ways. Miyawaka comes back with some token basic offence, but Ogawa grabs the arm on at attempted sunset flip and cranks an overhead hammerlock to win.

Akitoshi Saito vs Masao Inoue vs Seiya Morohashi

Another clipped match, but what’s shown is fun. Saito and Inoue pretty much team up on Morohashi, but you can tell Saito has no respect for Inoue and is constantly undermining him. At times he even sabotages the best intentions of Inoue, helping Morohashi avoid a sunset flip by pushing him downward onto Inoue. It feels like Saito knows he can win if he just gets Inoue in the ring alone, and he does, hitting a standing enzuigiri for the victory.

Cody Hall & Kazma Sakamoto vs Maybach Taniguchi & Mitsuya Nagai

I’ve actually seen Sakamoto live, very much a “what’s this guy doing here?” situation, as he fought El Ligero in the first of a back-to-back double bill of shows. Strangely, he only wrestled on one show, you’d have thought that he’d be on both after the expense of flying him into Britain. This kicks off with a brawl that sees all four on the outside. Sakamoto takes a big bump to the floor, which warms him to me, but then takes a really wussy bump hitting a low angle suplex. We clip to a 2-1 situation back in the ring, with Sakamoto nowhere to be seen. Hall looked to have really soft blows at the start of the match, but he really lays his stuff in at this point, discus clothesline looks great. However, he’s overmanned, eating a top rope headbutt from Nagai, a top rope splash from Taniguchi, then Taniguchi hits the weakest move of the match – a kind of waistlock version of the Edgeomatic – for the win.

Hitoshi Kumano vs YO-HEY

YO-HEY is instantly annoying to look at. He looks like he should be running some wacky YouTube channel where he pranks unsuspecting members of the public, who just want to go on with their day without a colourfully haired idiot making life more difficult. He’s not much offensively, hitting a few decent kicks but not much else. Kumano seems really great though. Loved him hitting an STO into a back-breaker, then focusing on the back for the rest of the match. Nasty clubbing blows to the back, catching YO-HEY in mid air for another backbreaker, then hitting a vicious looking straightjacket into a backbreaker that really feels like the end. Sadly, YO-HEY gets the win with a pair of knees to the face from nowhere, but Kumano feels like a guy I want to see more off.

Minoru Tanaka vs Tadasuke

Disappointingly clipped quite a few times, in really obvious places that totally change the momentum of the match. One guy will get hit with a move, only for him to be on his feet with his opponent on the mat within a second. What we do get looks pretty good. Tanaka uses the upper thigh of Tadasuke as his focus, hitting dropkicks just above the knee and using a swift kick when he needs to regain control. Tadasuke hits a pair of huge clotheslines, at one point covering Tanaka so excitedly that he pulls his shoulders off the mat. Tadasuke picks up Tanaka in a torture rack, but Tanaka slips free and locks in a leglock for the win.

Hajime Ohara vs HAYATA

Ohara and HAYATA are tag partners to Kumano and YO-HEY respectively, and Ohara seems to be having an easier time of it that his partner did. He controls HAYATA pretty easily on the mat, including a nice Boston crab variation. HAYATA tried a handspring elbow that didn’t have enough reach on it, basically forcing Ohara to walk into the move after HAYATA was clearly about to fall short. His strikes are also a bit weak looking, so it’s lucky that Ohara picks up the slack for the match. Like Kumano, he has a nice assortment of back breakers, hitting ones from a full Nelson and from over his shoulder. He gets the win with a half crab, be interested in seeing more of his team with Kumano.

Hi69 vs Daisuke Harada

Haven’t seen a Hi69 match in about 15 years. Really liked how this started, Hi69 hitting a tope before Haruda is even in the ring, nailing a running kick inside for two, then immediately trying a second for another two, before Haruda rolls outside to catch his readjust. They have a fun brawl outside, Haruda hitting a suplex onto a pile of chairs on the floor before he even gets a chance to take off his hoodie. Back inside, Haruda manages to look more in control, one step ahead of Hi69, who is forced to resort to quick pin attempts to sneak a win. Liked Harada hitting a cradle neckbreaker onto his knee. The tide turns with a ref bump, that allows Hi69 to bring a table into the mix, hitting a big splash from the top to the floor through it. Back inside, a top rope splash only gets two, the ref still recovering, but a high angle Michinoku Driver gives Hi69 the win.

Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masa Kitamiya & Quiet Storm vs Atsushi Kotege, Mohammed Yone & Naomichi Marufuji

So this is a pretty fun little six man. Quiet Storm seems to have properly bulked out since I last saw him a decade ago, and somehow this makes him look even shorter. He’s matched in the meathead caveman stakes though by Kitamiya, a burly looking beast who isn’t opposed to hitting a backfist against the ropes. Nakajima and Marufuji manage to have a strike exchange that’s pretty fun, with Nakajima proving himself to be a bit smarter by using kicks, wearing down Marufuji a lot quicker than Marufuji is doing to him with strikes. The kicks are really thudding too, looked really great. Yone and Kotege kind of highlight how good it was by having a far less interesting one moments later. Kitamiya catches a Kotege crossbody and turns it into a Samoan Drop, which looks great. Everything breaks down and Kotege hits Storm with a series of weak kicks and the Killswitch for the victory. Fun stuff.

Go Shiozaki & Kaito Kiyomiya vs Kenou & Takashi Sugiura

This is the final of the Global Tag League, and I’ll be honest, this didn’t work for me. Just felt like far too much of the match was given to excessive non-selling of moves or needlessly overlong strike exchanges. I understand that this is part of the house style, but when Sugiura can catch a charging Shiozaki flush in the face with a knee, only for Shiozaki to wave it off like nothing happened, it doesn’t feel entertaining. Despite this, there were bits I liked, mainly from the Kenou/Shuiura team. Shugiura is a powerful looking bull of a man, with some nice looking strikes (when sold), and I did enjoy him ending one of many chop exchanges by just slugging Shiozaki in the face. He also hit a delayed vertical suplex from the second rope, which looked terrific, and his clotheslines all looked like they’d take a man’s head off. Kenou, for his part, had nice movement, hit some nice kicks from interesting positions and seemed like he was trying to make a struggle of the match. When Kiyomiya tried for a Tiger suplex, Kenou refused to give up his arm, forcing Kiyomiya to really work for it. Kiyomiya had some very non-hurty looking offence, but he seemed harmless enough. The end sequence is pretty hot, with guys coming in at the last moment to break nearfalls, before Shiozaki finishes Kenou with a clothesline, but as a whole there isn’t much substance.

Masaaki Mochizuki Produce Buyuden 25/01/2007

Didn't know too much about this show when I picked it up, based purely on the line-up. A little digging tells me this is the first of a series of shows produced by Masaaki Mochizuki, which seems to be heavily assisted by Dragon Gate, whose ring is used and whose logo is all over this show. This was a pretty enjoyable 2 hours.

Naruki Doi, Gamma & Masato Yoshino vs Daichi Kakimoto, Super Shenron & Turboman

Not familiar with any of the second team here, though Google Image Search brings up Shenron as some anime character, so I guess him and Turboman are cartoon character inspired. This match is clipped, which is a shame, as it’s pretty fun, and unsurprisingly moves at a pretty fast pace. Gamma has this horrible spot where he gets his opponents in the corner, as if to hit 10 count punches, but instead spits in his hands and rubs it on his opponent. Lovely. Kakimoto was pretty impressive here, he’s the guy who gets worked over the most, but he had some lovely strength spots, including stopping a Doi small package and deadlifting him from the floor to slam him. There are a few comedy spots that get lost in translation, but I dug a rana by Turboman that whipped the opponent over with real speed before Yoshino hits him with a Paige Turner for the win.

Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito vs Shori Asahi & Makoto Oishi

Asahi and Oishi play heel here, coming to the ring with an entourage who aren’t afraid to interfere. The first part of this is wrestled like a classic tag match, with Horiguchi playing face-in-peril after getting low blowed. He even gets whipped by a valet on the floor. It breaks down as Saito enters without a tag and essentially becomes a tornado tag. There’s a lot of action, well-executed, but it feels like a missed opportunity, even if I accept that’s an affect of the style. Loved the camera work that saw Saito hit a frogsplash from out of nowhere onto Oishi, looked great. Asahi and Oishi always seem one step ahead of their opponents, outsmarting them and even causing friction when Saito is used to break up his own partners pin by being pushed on top. The end sees Saito rally and hit a dragon suplex on Oisahi, but Asahi hits the ref with a skateboard and the entourage come in to beat up Horiguchi and Saito for the DQ

Danshoku Dino vs Akira Tozawa

This is the first time I’ve seen Dino, but I’m fully aware of his character. Essentially, he’s like Pepe Le Pew, only wanting to molest wrestlers rather than paint-stained cats. This is a comedy match, with Dino essentially fondling Tozawa for laughs. It’s odd seeing sexual harassment played up for comedy, and this is the epitome of the match you don’t want people walking in on when you’re watching it. Tozawa turns the tables on Dino by stripping down to some tiny pants and straddling HIS face, in an interesting twist (and that sentence will do nothing for my Google search stats on Blogspot). Tozawa even does that “Joey Ryan overpowers his opponent with his penis” spot 9 years before it became a popular gif. Dino hits a tombstone with Tozawa’s head stuffed in his pants for two, and hits a piledriver the same way for three.

Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Onryo vs Don Fujii & Yamato Onodera

Pretty decent tag match here, with a healthy dose of schtick for good measure. Loved Don Fujii demanding to fight Kuroda early on, then immediately tagging out to Onodera. There’s a good chunk of crowd brawling, with both Fujii and Kuroda managing to hit their partners accidentally, and a few choice comedy bits – Kuroda does his patented “smash opponent legs into the ring post then elbow the leg” spot, and gets an old lady from the crowd to also hit an elbow to the leg of Fujii. Meanwhile, while all this is going on, Onryo and Onodera are having a pretty decent series in the ring. Loved Onryo stopping a three count by grabbing the ref’s hand as he was about to hit the mat for the third time. Keeping hold of the hand, he uses it to strike Onodera before downing him with a crucifix to win.

Kintaro Kanemura & Mammoth Sasaki vs Daisuke Sekimoto & Magnitude Kishiwada

Kanamura really looks like shit here, all strapped up and looking beaten down, which makes it kinda great that he’s still able to bust out ranas and an Asai moonsault (of sorts). Sasaki seems to be having a whale of a time in the match, grinning from ear to ear. Kanemura gets isolated and suffers the effects of the opposition bringing chairs into the ring, getting slammed onto them as well as taking a Death Valley Driver. I was pretty impressed by Sasaki hitting a Dragon suplex, which looked a lot better than the sloppy quebrada Kanemura hits. He makes up for it with a bulky top rope senton on Kishiwada for two. There’s a great power spot by Sekimoto, where Kishiwada hits a German suplex on Kanemura, from which position Sekimoto wheelbarrows Kanemura and deadlifts him into another German. It does feel like Kanemura is just dying out there, and by saving him Sasaki is only stopping him being put out of his misery. At least, until Kanemura grabs a backslide out of nowhere for the win. Pretty sloppy in places, but not without it’s charm.

BxB Hulk, CIMA & Matt Sydal vs TAKA Michinoku, MEN’s Teioh & Dick Togo

Yeah, this was really great, and even Teioh was able to keep up well. There are some lovely pairings in this that just make you wonder about a singles match, with the mid-match Sydal/Togo face-off being really fun to watch. I loved the triple teaming by both teams: Kaientai using Hulk for the traditional pose and a great sequence where CIMA and Hulk team up for a double-team Codebreaker on Michinoku, punctuated by Sydal hitting a standing moonsault whilst stood on TAKA’s back. Togo is probably the standout guy here, he just seems to put a little extra something on everything he does, and I thought his high-angle slingshot senton looked excellent. The final few minutes sees everything break down, and we go through a breathtaking sequence of moves before Hulk gets picked off by the Miracle Ecstasy Bomb from Teioh and a big Togo top rope senton for the three. Loved this.

Masaaki Mochizuki & Minoru Tanaka vs Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita

Both Hidaka and Tanaka are holding Jr gold here, with Hidaka being Zero-1 International Jr Heavyweight champ and Tanaka being IWGP Jr Heavyweight champ. Tanaka was really fun here, and I loved him making a chump out of Fujita with a series of eye pokes and an over-the-top forward roll just to hit a low blow. The double-teaming by Mochizuki and Tanaka is really effective, nothing contrived, just one guy positioning an opponent to allow his partner to swiftly hit a move. Fujita feels like the weak link of the match: he’s decent, but some of his kicks are either off target or look realy milky. Mochizuki kicks the ringpost after Fujita ducks, and this allows Hidaka to go after the leg, working it over before locking in a figure four. I like the way they hark back to the injury throughout the match, highlighting it as a real weak point for Mochizuki. Hidaka and Tanaka work really well together, and their smooth sequence ends in a great spot where Tanaka has Hidaka locked in an armbar that Hidaka constantly gets THIS close to breaking before being powered back into it again. I loved the logic of Fujita going back to the injured leg of Mochizuki to lock on a Regal Stretch, and Hidaka holding a heel hook in Tanaka to stop him being able to break it, with Mochizuki instead getting the ropes. This is paid off at the end too, as this time it’s Tanaka holding Hidaka back with a return to the armbar, as Mochizuki kicks Fujita’s head off to pick up the win. Fun main event.