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.

Osaka Pro 2004 Super J Cup

Naomichi Marufuji vs Jun Kasai
This is the first of four first-round matches in the Super J cup tournament. I quite like what little I've seen of Kasai before, so this should be interesting. He looks pretty good here, and is quite dominant at first, nailing some DDT's and getting two from a top rope splash. I also loved him hitting a low blow then quickly spinning Marufuju around to disorient him before getting two off a backslide. They work at quite a fast pace, both trying for rollups to get the swift win - sensible in a tournament setting, before Marufuji gets Sliced Bread for the win.

Goa vs Garuda
I have seen one Gaurda match before and zero Goa matches, so going into this blind. Garuda has a great look and hits a nice suicide dive early, so I've taken to him already. Goa is stockier and goes to the chinlock pretty swiftly into his offensive run. Not too sure about the flow of this match: Garuda breaks out of a sharpshooter and within 30 seconds is hitting a plancha on Goa, which seems too quick a transition. Falcon Arrow gets two for Garuda. Goa hit some power offense, including a Jackhammer for two, but Garuda ducks a Shining Wizard and gets the win following a rana. Their work was decent enough, but the match needed a bit better structure.

Wataru Inoue vs Kazuya Yuasa
These two face off before the introductions, so hopefully we'll see a bit of fire here. Yuasa wins the ensuing strike exchange with a nice big clothesline. Another strike exchange, which is one of my least favourite things in wrestling, follows. Inoue takes over with a largely pointless bit of matwork, before Yuasa suckers him in outside the ring and nails him with a dropkick as he dives from the apron. I like that a lot of Yuasa's offence involves some beefy blows, with uppercuts and clotheslines hurting Inoue. Yuasa does annoy me by twice going to an anklelock, despite having used no offence on Inoue's leg before. After a deathlock doesn't work, he doesn't go back to it either. After avoiding another Yuasa clothesline, Inoue locks in an Octopus Stretch for the win. This wasn't great.

Takehiro Murahama vs Taichi Ishikari
Ishikari goes on offence quickly here, levelling Murahama with dropkicks and a big German suplex for two. Again, makes sense to go for the quick win in a tournament. Murahama seems to be a bit of a striker, so he nails some stiff blows to take over. I get the impression he's the more favoured of the two, as Ishikari seems to go to quick offensice flurries when he gets an opening, as if he doesn't want to risk Murahama recovering. When he does hesitate, Murahama kicks him in the head to take over. Murahama seems confident on offence, blitzing Ishikari with kicks and, despite a few desperation roll ups by his opponent, quickly wins with a brainbuster. Really enjoyed this, told a good story of the overmatched guy trying to sneak a win against the odds.

Ofune vs Apple Miyuki
Joshi match here to break up the tournament matches. This really isn't very good and there is something quite annoying about Ofune. They run through a bunch of basic offence, though Miyuki at least shows fire with some stomps in the corner, and I did enjoy one submission hold she did from the corner. A guilotene choke gets the win for Ofune.

Tomohiro Ishii, MEN'S Teioh & MIKAMI vs Kintaro Kanemura, Azteca & Big Boss MA-G-MA
Kanemura has some bandaging on his neck, which is pretty distracting. I remember liking the one MIKAMI match I saw previously, and he's pretty slick here too. Both teams having a big powerhouse (Ishii and Kanemura) adds a fun element as their face-off leads to everything breaking down outside the ring. Back in, MIKAMI gets picked out, including taking a stepladder to the nuts from Kanemura. MA-G-MA gets great air hurling him across the ring with a butterfly suplex. The heat section on MIKAMI sees him getting pummelled by his three bigger opponents before the leads to Ishii clearing house like a beast. Huge superplex on Kanamura is impressive. We head into a hot finishing sequence, with MIKAMI taking top rope splashes from Azteca and MA-G-MA, which his partners break up on the pin, and Ishii kills Azteca with a snap powerbomb, also for two. The end sees Azteca hit in quick succession by a Miracle Ecstasy Bomb by Teioh, a swanton from a ladder by MIKAMI and finally a brainbuster by Ishii to finish him off. Great fun match here. Of note, the ref kept curiously jumping in the ring, like he was stomping ants. Very odd.

Ebessan vs Kuishinbo Kamen
Man, it takes these two forever to get to the ring. This is, as you'll know if you've heard of these two, a comedy match. This appears to be some kind of title defence by Ebessan. They run few a few of the usual comedy routines, wrestling in slo-mo, wrestling that turns into a dance routine etc. However, some wrestling does sneak through and it does end up being something resembling a match. I thought Ebessan hit a lovely Sky Twister Press, as did Kamen, who picked up the win with his.

Garuda vs Naomichi Marufuji
I liked Garuda, after a little bit of token matwork, just going "fuck it" and hitting a huge tope about a minute into the match. Garuda goes back to the matwork to ground Marufuji, but Marufuji is slightly quicker on the mat and takes over there. They end up outside, where Garuda seems more comfortable, hitting a decent Asai moonsault. Things really heat up from there, and the final few minutes, though maybe a bit too back-and-forth, were a lot of fun. Garuda hit a swank Dragon suplex for a very close two. He misses a 450 splash, but in turn avoids Sliced Bread from Marufuji, who instead quickly locks in a Majistral cradle for the win. Fun semi-final.

Takehiro Murahama vs Wataru Inoue
This was a fun match. Murahama spent a good proportion of this bout kicking Inoue to fuck, with some lightning fast kicks too much for the New Japan man. I especially liked Murahama teasing one type of kick, then nailing a different one when Inoue tried to block. Inoue's offence didn't seem convincing, despite him being given an even share of the bout, though a cross legged brainbuster looked pretty good. There was a great spot, where Inoue tried to block a top rope superplex by repeatedly hitting Murahama, who would just about hold on to the top rope, before eventually hitting the suplerplex. Murahama gets two from a brutal looking kick flurry, and shortly after wins with a brainbuster.

TAKA Michinoku & Shiryu vs Billy Ken Kid & Tigers Mask
This is a pretty fun tag match, largely due to the heeling of TAKA and Shiryu. They work over Billy Ken Kid to start, and do little annoying things like gouging at his face and trying to undo his mask. Just little dick moves. Shiryu in particular levels some stiff blows on Kid. We see a little friction in the heel team after some "face ducks and move hits partner instead" , but they manage to stay on the same page to work Kid over. TAKA keeps going to a crossface on BKK, which he'll repeat throughout the match. The hot tag to Tigers Mask sees some nice stereo dives by the faces. Tigers Mask gets a two count from a Tiger suplex, but Kid misses a 450 splash, before more stereo dives, this time from the heel team. The heel friction shows up again as Shiryu hits TAKA by accident with a leg lariat. TAKA tries to lock in another crossface on BKK, but it's not locked on properly and Kid rolls him up in a crucifix for the victory.

HEAT, KENTA & CIMA vs Jushin Liger, Jinsei Shinzeki & Super Delfin
Interesting battle of the three younger stars against the more established veterans. The youth clear the ring to start, and start working over Delfin, clearly seeing him as the weak link of the team. I loved HEAT just nailing Delfin with repeated dropkicks in the corner. Liger gets tagged in, and gets a surfboard on CIMA, and I just love Shinzeki coming in to stand guard, preventing CIMA's partners saving him with a magnificent grumpy look on his face. Liger is also magnificently surly in the match, seeing an attempt to break a pin coming, and immediately standing up and giving a non-too-subtle "up yours" gesture. Things start to break down, and the young guns hit a series of dives each. Shinzeki hitting the ropewalk on CIMA and KENTA at the same time is pretty swank. The end sequence is an exciting series of moves, but Delfin gets isolated trying the Delfin Clutch on CIMA and, after getting kicked to fuck, he gets hit with Schwein by CIMA for the win. This was a lot of fun.

Naomichi Marufuji vs Takehiro Murahama
The tournament final, and it's not the two most exciting guys in there (but then my personal choice of Garuda vs Kasai wouldn't have gone down too well). Unfortunately, whilst this is ok, these two seem to have a few communication issues, which makes this look a little sloppy. Curiously, given that I've found Marufuji the weaker half of his two earlier matches and have generally enjoyed Murahama in this tournament, it was Marufuji who impressed more here. I liked his gameplan of focusing on the legs of Murahama to remove his striking game, even if Murahama seemed unwilling to sell the damage as soon as it was his turn on offence. Marufuji even busted out the old Bret Hart ringpost figure four. They tease a superplex to the floor, but instead Murahama takes a nice bump to the floor before kicking the leaping Marufuji in mid air, which looked good. In the ring, Murahama gets two off a brainbuster, before Marufuji also gets two from Sliced Bread #2. The end sees Marufuji hit Sliced Bread again, this time from the top rope, to pick up the victory. This had a few good moments, but didn't really come together well.