NOAH are back on Wrestle Universe with NOAH Sanctuary. A nice little card here. The show will take place from the NOAH arena (which is Club Citta Kawasaki). Let’s breakdown the matches and see what this event has in store for us.
Bell time is 19:00 JST (6:00 EDT ,3:00 PDT, 11:00 BST).
Match 1:
The Tough (Yoshiki Inamura & Masa Kitamiya)
vs
Kinya Okada vs Shuhei Taniguchi
We have one of the premier teams in the NOAH tag division take on the put together team of Okada and Taniguchi.
In this match, we have the rivalry that may be a cornerstone in NOAH in Okada and Inamura. Okada has never beat Inamura yet. Mainly because Inamura is further ahead in his development than Okada.
The two youngsters have two NOAH stalwarts in their corner. Inamura has his tag partner Masa Kitamiya and they have been teaming regularly since 2019. Okada has Taniguchi. Though they don’t team together regularly Taniguchi is a 5x GHC Tag Team champion all with different tag partners. So he knows who to adapt.
The Tough will be looking to avenge their stablemate Manabu Soya who Taniguchi beat on the Kongoh produce show.
This match should be a solid tag match with everyone getting a good chance to show what they can do. The interactions between Kitamiya and Taniguchi should be good. Both men will be looking to continue to build momentum as they both won on the Kongoh produce show.
Match 2:
Seiki Yoshioka
vs
YO-HEY
A first time meeting between them and a preview match to the FULL THROTTLE vs the former Ratels 3 v 3 at Departure day 1 on the 4th of August.
Yoshioka who made NOAH his home promotion April when he joined Sugiura-Gun. He and Hajime Ohara broke away to for FULL THROTTLE with Atsushi Kotoge. His singles record in NOAH so far is 1 win, 1 draw 3 losses. This isn’t the best record but he is still finding his feet in NOAH. He has been a good addition to the junior division and will surely continue to grow as he finds his feet.
YO-HEY has had a whirlwind of a 2020 so far. He won the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team championships with HAYATA. HAYATA then betrayed YO-HEY and the rest of Ratels joining Stinger in the process. YO-HEY has become a lot more serious the betrayal showing a different side of himself. His singles record in 2020 is 3 wins and 4 losses.
This should be a good match. A lot of speed and aerial attacks in this match. This should be a match to check out. Either man could easily pick up the win or they could even go to a draw. It will be interesting to see who picks up the win ahead of the 3 vs 3
Match 3:
AXIZ (Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima)
vs
Kongoh (Haoh & Nioh)
A junior heavyweight team vs a heavyweight team.
Kongoh will be hoping to get back in the win column after both losing in their respective singles matches at the Kongoh produce show. Their record as a duo in 2020 is 5 wins, 1 draw, 6 losses. Even beating out some heavyweight teams. They will be trying to build momentum for the Global Junior Tag League.
AXIZ are current holders of both singles titles in NOAH (GHC Heavyweight). They are also arguably the best tag team in the world. Their record as a duo in 2020 is 7 wins, 3 losses. They will be looking to build momentum towards their upcoming title defences. Shiozaki against Naomichi Marufuji and Nakajima against Kenoh.
This should be a great showcase of juniors vs heavyweights. We have the speed and agility of Kongoh. Versus the power of AXIZ. This should be a great match to watch. It also ties into Nakajima’s match with Kenoh as he is fighting two of Kenoh’s stablemates. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is the one to pick up the victory. Ultimately I think AXIZ will be the winners but Kongoh will put up a good fight.
Main Event
Kaito Kiyomiya, Daisuke Harada, Tadasuke
vs
Naomichi Marufuji & FULL THROTTLE (Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara)
Main event time and it’s a 3 v 3 tag match.
We have Kaito Kiyomiya teaming with Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke. While Naomichi Marufuji teams with FULL THROTTLE (Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara).
This should be a good match.
We have a preview match of the FULL THROTTLE vs the former Ratels 3 v 3 at Departure day 1 on the 4th of August. Harada & Tadasuke will be looking to bounce back after a losing their GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team challenge and gain momentum for the FULL THROTTLE tag match.
Kiyomiya will be looking to continue his momentum after an impressive first half of the year. he may have lost in the two title matches as well as not advancing from his block in the Global Tag League. He has been impressive. Kiyomiya has only lost 2 singles matches this year. he stepped up when Shiozaki was injured to help NOAH. He has flown under the radar.
FULL THROTTLE will be looking to build momentum not only towards the 3 v 3 at departure but also towards the Who is the leader event. This is where FULL THROTTLE will decide who will be the leader of the unit. All 3 will face each other in singles match and the person with the best record will be the leader.
Marufuji will be looking to build momentum to head into his GHC Heavyweight title challenge on Departure day 2. He earned the right to challenge after pinning Go Shiozaki in a tag match at NOAH Stay Together day 1. In terms of the year he is having, Marufuji is having a pretty successful one. He captured GHC Tag Team Championships on the January 5th show and even defended it in Dragon Gate. He joined the DDT stable Disaster Box where his unbeaten this year.
This match should be a good one. We have the preview of the junior 3 v 3. Harada should have good interactions with both members of FULL THROTTLE. He has had great matches with both of them with in the last year.
Marufuji and Kiyomiya will continue their rivalry. With Kiyomiya being the future ace and future of the company. While Marufuji has been through it all with NOAH being there since the first show. He wants to prove that he is still the ace of NOAH.
Conclusion
Overall, a nice little card for NOAH’S exclusive Wrestle Universe show. Seiki Yoshioka vs YO-HEY should be a face-paced junior match and a good preview. AXIZ vs Kongoh is an intriguing match. I think it will be the match of the night with 2 good teams involved in it. I am glad NOAH have been doing some smaller shows after coming into criticism of the length of some of their shows. This show should be digestible and enjoyable.
The show will air live on Wrestle Universe (subscription cost of 900yen per month) on July 30th.