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 2 is on the 19th 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 matches.
Bell time is 11:30 JST (22:30 EDT,19:30 PDT, 3:30 BST)
Match 1:
Hitoshi Kumano farewell match
Kinya Okada & Naomichi Marufuji
vs
Takashi Sugiura & Hitoshi Kumano
This will be Hitoshi Kumano’s last NOAH match as he takes an indefinite amount of time off to get treatment for his eye.
He teams with his wrestling hero Takashi Sugiura in his last match. This should be a feel good match for everyone. It will be sad to see Kumano to go on hiatus just now as he was a great junior powerhouse.
Marufuji will be looking to gain momentum after challenging Go Shiozaki for the GHC Heavyweight championship. Okada will be looking to continue his recent good performances and show his potential
I think Kumano will pick up the win over Okada in this match. So Kumano will go out with a win with his hero.
Match 2:
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match
Stinger (HAYATA & Yoshinari Ogawa)
vs
Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke
The GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships are on the line as HAYATA & Yoshinari Ogawa defend against Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke
Another battle in the drawn out rivalry that is the Stinger vs the former Ratels.
This is a match that could really go anyway. A win for Stinger keeps the titles in their faction and keeps them in control of the junior division. A win for the former Ratels allows them to recapture the titles they used to have but didn’t manage a defence of.
There is really a lot of styles in this match. Tadasuke is a junior powerhouse, HAYATA usually takes to the sky, Ogawa is a technical wizard and Harada is an all-rounder. It really is a melting pot of styles. It should make for a good match.
Hopefully this is their last clash for a while as like I said previously the rivalry is starting to drag a little.
Personally I have Stinger retaining here allowing them to keep their control on the junior division and sending the former Ratels to the back of the line.
After the match I don’t expect anyone to come out and challenge for the titles.
Match 3:
GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship match
Kotaro Suzuki
vs
YO-HEY
The GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship is on the line as Kotaro Suzuki defends against YO-HEY
Another battle in the drawn out rivalry that is the Stinger vs the former Ratels.
Suzuki defends his title for the third time. This is YO-Hey’s 4th challenge for the GHC Junior Heavyweight title. He has been unsuccessful the last 3 times
This is only the second time these two have met with Suzuki beating YO-HEY in the finals of the Global Junior League in 2018.
So all things considered this is a relatively fresh match up. We have seen them collide in the dozen Stinger vs Ratels matches but now we get to see them go one on one.
YO-Hey likes to take to the sky and quicken the pace of the matches. While Suzuki can do that he prefers to slow the pace down and control the match and I am sure that will be his strategy for this match.
This will be an interesting match just like the last one. A win for Suzuki keeps the title in Stinger and allows them to keep control of the junior division and would send YO-HEY to the back of the line. A win for YO-HEY means he holds the GHC Junior Heavyweight title for the first time . Also he breaks the grip that Stinger have on the division.
Personally I am leaning more towards Suzuki retaining just because it should mean no more Stinger vs the former Ratels for a little while. Although with YO-HEY being a lot more serious than he usually is you never know if he will get the upset.
In terms of title challenge after the match I could see Seiki Yoshioka coming out to challenge the winner.
Main Event:
Go Shiozaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Shuhei Taniguchi, Kaito Kiyomiya, Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara
vs
Kongoh (Kenoh, Masa Kitamiya, Yoshiki Inamura, Hao, Nio, Manabu Soya)
The match is really interesting due to all the mini matches inside this big match. You have the two junior teams who will mix it up and it should be interesting.
You have Nakajima and Soya. Who had a match for the GHC National title. Nakajima also invaded Soya’s old home promotion of WRESTLE1 won the world title and disrespected the company showing it no respect.
You have AXIZ and The Tough (Kitamiya & Inamura) who clashed over the GHC Tag Team Championships. Kitamiya and Nakajima used to be tag partners as well.
You then have Kenoh and Kiyomiya. These two have a long storied rivalry. Kenoh was a big factor in Kiyomiya’s growth during his title reign and really helped him come out of his shell.
So as you can see it may look like a simple 6 vs 6 but there are layers to this match.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this match is used to set up a title match for the National title.
If I had to guess, I would say that Kitamiya would challenge for National belt. Kenoh maybe could go for the National title but I think its too soon. So I would say Kitamiya challenges Nakajima for the National title after the match or pins Nakajima to set up the match.
Conclusion
A pretty small card to ease NOAH back into having fans again at their shows. With both junior titles on the line, we could see a shift within the balance of power in that division. We bid farewell to Hitoshi Kumano for the time being as he gets treatment for his eye. We have a big 6 vs 6 that could potentially set up to title matches in the future. The card is really exciting. There is many possibilities and that can only be a good thing.
This particular show will air on the 26th of July on NTV G+. Bell time is 11:30 JST (22:30 EDT,19:30 PDT, 3:30 BST)