NOAH are back in front of fans this weekend. Having had a rocky empty arena period with some great matches and some shows that went a little too long they finally have fans again. Stay Together day 1 is on the 18th of July and is coming from Korakuen Hall. The card has been announced although not in any order so I will be putting them in some sort of order and previewing the match.
Bell time is 18:30 JST (2:30 PDT, 5:30 EDT, 10:30 BST).
Match 1:
Kinya Okada
vs
Yoshiki Inamura
Two men who hopefully will play a big part of Noah’s future. Inamura is further ahead in his development than Okada due to Okada having a couple of injuries. Both men showed their promise during NOAH’S New Hope series where they competed in a series of singles match. Including one against each other where Inamura beat Okada.
Okada has really shown a lot of promise lately after leaving the Sugiura army. He had been training with Katsuhiko Nakajima and you can see the influence he has had. He really has started to find his own style in Noah. However, I think that Inamura’s experience here will prove too much for Okada to overcome
Match 2:
Katsuhiko Nakajima, Mohammed Yone, Shuhei Taniguchi
vs
FULL THROTTLE (Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara, Seiki Yoshioka)
A really interesting matchup next as NOAH’S newest junior stable take on a mash up of heavyweights.
FULL THROTTLE are still working out some kinks like who is the leader. They are a breath of fresh air in the junior division in a junior division that in my opinion has been a little stale recently.
The opposite team really is a mash up of heavyweights. Nakajima is the GHC National champion. Yone who has really not done much since his 50 Funky Power tag partner Quiet Storm departure NOAH apart from a couple of singles matches on the New Hope series and making it to the second round of the #1 contender tournament. Taniguchi had a really good 2019 after breaking away from his Maybach stuff. Similar to Yone hasn’t done much in 2020. Some singles matches on the New Hope series and making it to the semi-finals of the #1 contender tournament. As well as a decent showing in the Global Tag League with Kaito Kiyomiya
Usually you could say that this is a match just to fill the card but with Nakajima being in the match makes it interesting. Nakajima has stated that he wants all members of the roster to be able to challenge.
I could see one of the members of FULL THROTTLE perhaps coming forward to challenge Nakajima. I think out of the 3 members Kotoge seems the most likely to challenge.
Match 3:
Elimination Tag
Stinger (HAYATA, Kotaro Suzuki, Yoshinari Ogawa)
vs
Daisuke Harada, Tadasuke, YO-HEY
Daisuke Harada, Tadasuke, YO-HEY
A preview match as all 3 men will be involved in title matches tomorrow. Suzuki and YO-HEY clash over the GHC Junior Heavyweight championship. While Harada/Tadasuke will take on HAYATA/Ogawa for GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.
The Stinger vs the former Ratels rivalry has been going on for almost a year with those two factions have had control over the junior division since August 2019. The factions as they have changed members over the rivalry. Kotoge left Stinger while HAYATA betrayed his stablemates to join Stinger recently.
As for this match I can see this match being a draw. The over the top rope elimination rule is in effect. So I can see them drawing and continuing to brawl after the match
In my honest opinion this rivalry has went on a little too long for my liking. I am hoping these weekend shows are the last they clash for a little while.
Match 4:
Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura, Kaz Hayashi, Kendo Kashin, Kazushi Sakuraba, NOSAWA Rongai)
vs
Kongoh (Kenoh, Masa Kitamiya, Hao, Nio, Manabu Soya)
The first of two big tag team matches of the weekend for Kongoh. On this card they take on the Sugiura army.
The Sugiura army kind of oversaturated with the amount of members they have. Although NOSAWA has side-lined a lot of members recently which has brought the amount of members down. Not a lot of heavyweights in this match for the army with Sugiura being the one. This should be a difficult match for them and give them a chance to get back in the win column after losing to the M alliance on the last NOAH show.
Kongoh have been inconsistent in 2020 so far. They invaded DDT and won their match on night 1 on the DDT event Peter Pan. The number 1 contender tournament for the National title had an all Kongoh final with Kitamiya and Soya in the finals. Soya won the number 1 contenders tournament but couldn’t win the title match. They have won tag matches and lost tag matches that should have won.
After a decent 2019 with the new additions to the group I expected them to kick on and maybe capture some gold. We are only halfway through the year. There is time for them to kick on.
Kongoh for me should win this match. They need it more than the Sugiura army. This way the build momentum and can take it into the show the next day where I think we might see someone from Konogh challenge for a title.
Main event:
Go Shiozaki & Katio Kiyomiya
vs
M Alliance (Naomichi Marufuji & Keiji Mutoh)
Main event time as 2 members of the newly named M Alliance take on the current GHC Heavyweight Champion Go Shiozaki and the former GHC Heavyweight Champion Katio Kiyomiya.
There is a lot of story going into this match. Mutoh has recently said that he wants to become the GHC Heavyweight champion and become one of only a handful of men to have won the IWGP Heavyweight, Triple Crown and GHC Heavyweight championships.
Kiyomiya has been rallying for a singles match against Mutoh for quite some time. He wants to show his skill and spirit. He wants to take NOAH to new scenery and for him he needs to go through Mutoh on that journey.
So there is a lot of possibilities going into this match. Will Kiyomiya dominate Mutoh and get his singles match against him? Will Mutoh pin Shiozaki and set up a GHC Heavyweight championship match? Will Shiozaki pin Mutoh and deny his goal? Will Marufuji set up a match against Shiozaki?
Personally I think option 1 in the most likely to happen in my opinion. No offence to Mutoh but I wouldn’t want to see him in a GHC Heavyweight championship match in 2020. I could see Marufuji perhaps setting up a match for the title. I think Shiozaki will defend against Marufuji but not now.
So Kiyomiya either pinning or dominating against Mutoh seems the most likely option for me.
Conclusion
A pretty small card to ease NOAH back into having fans again at their shows. While the card may look basic when you look into the matches there really is a lot of potential to set up future matches. it is going to be interesting to say the least.
Bell time is 18:30 JST (2:30 PDT, 5:30 EDT, 10:30 BST). Stay together is a Abema exclusive broadcast. It will be free to view and free to view 7 days after airing .I would expect it to go onto Wrestle universe a couple weeks after airing.
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