Pro Wrestling NOAH has a rare morning matinee event on tap today, a Naomichi Marufuji 25th Anniversary event presented by sponsor LEC Cleanpa! I remember seeing Marufuji in person early in his career when NOAH and US independent promotion Ring OF Honor had a working agreement and I attended an ROH event in person in the mis-late 2000s, now some 20 years later he remains active both as a wrestler and an Executive Vice-President of NOAH, and still one of the coolest cats in the business. Today he has a dream match of sorts to celebrate as New Japan Pro Wrestling star Will Ospreay comes over for a cross-promotion main event, while the undercard is mainly tag and multi-man matches although New Japan Young Lion Ryohei Oiwa makes another appearance in NOAH today as well. Based on the current listing and news updates it also appears Alejandro will return after missing ths past week due to potential concussion symptoms.
Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in English only. Japanese commentary will be muted or dubbed over because this is an ABEMA exclusive broadcast in Japan (the Japanese commentary version will be available on demand once the event is over). Keiji Muto will be a special guest on Japanese commentary. You can also watch the first 3 matches FOR FREE on YouTube via the Pro Wrestling NOAH YouTube channel. The event is a legit advance sellout and it was a very quick one at that, with maybe only some standing room only tickets made available today. There are no title matches today but with 8 matches and a main event that could easily go long, the running time will depend largely on time limits but I’m anticipating the event’s total runtime being about 3 hours. (Show beginning update: With time limits for matches, the longest the event could go is 4 hours)
Today’s lineup:
Dragon Bane, Alpha Wolf & Seiki Yoshioka vs Ninja Mack, Alejandro & Hajime Ohara
Takashi Sugiura, Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito vs Kai Fujimura, Taishi Ozawa & Yu Owada
Junta Miyawaki vs Ryohei Oiwa
Saxon Huxley, Timothy Thatche, Hideki Suzuki & Shuhei Taniguchi vs Kazuyuki Fujita, Manabu Soya, Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba
Kaito Kiyomiya, HAYATA & Eita vs Yoshinari Ogawa, Daga & Stallion Rogers
Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. & Lance Anoa’i vs Psycho Clown & Kenoh
Jake Lee, Jack Morris, Anthony Greene, YO-HEY & Tadasuke vs Go Shiozaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Adam Brooks, Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69
Naomichi Marufuji vs Will Ospreay
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 7:15 PM PT/10:15 PM ET.
7:15 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has just begun. We’ll be going to the venue shortly.
7:30 PM PET UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Your hosts are Stewart Fulton & Mark Pickering. NOAH English host/announcer G-Man starts by hyping up the crowd. Seriously, that dude’s got some kind of enhanced chin. He will also be on commentary.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event but it’s a legit advance sellout, and was a very fast one at that. The actual number will depend on configuration and standing room only tickets sold today, but based on recent Korakuen events that were sellouts it should be anywhere from just over 1300 to maybe near 1500. The venue’s full capacity pre-pandemic, which it hasn’t yet returned to, is 2100-2350 depending on the setup. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 1532, a legit advance sellout, but some empty seats were visible during the broadcast)
The matches will begin shortly after the opening video package and card rundown.
The matches begin at 7:35 PM PT/10:34 PM ET.
Match 1: Dragon Bane, Alpha Wolf & Seiki Yoshioka vs Ninja Mack, Alejandro & Hajime Ohara. 15 minute time limit
Result: Ninja Mack, Alejandro & Hajime Ohara beat Dragon Bane, Alpha Wold & Seiki Yoshioka. Alejandro pinned Wolf.
Match 2: Takashi Sugiura, Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito vs Kai Fujimura, Taishi Ozawa & Yu Owada. 20 minute time limit
Result: Takashi Sugiura, Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito beat Kai Fujimura, Taishi Ozawa & Yu Owada. Sugiura beat Ozawa.
Match 3: Junta Miyawaki vs Ryohei Oiwa (New Japan) (Side note: Commentary noted that Oiwa is on his traditional Young Lion excursion from New Japan, but he went to NOAH which is interesting because normally they go overseas, often to Mexico or Europe although Yuya Uemura went to the USA to Impact Wrestling). 20 minute time limit
Result: Ryohei Oiwa beat Junta Miyawaki. First singles win in NOAH for Oiwa.
The YouTube broadcast ends here. It is now available on demand (53 minutes).
Match 4: Saxon Huxley, Timothy Thatcher, Hideki Suzuki & Shuhei Taniguchi vs Kazuyuki Fujita, Manabu Soya, Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba; 20 minute time limit
Result: Kazuyuki Fujita, Manabu Soya, Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba beat Saxon Huxley, Hideki Suzuki, Timothy Thatcher & Shuhei Taniguchi. Soya pinned Taniguchi after a jumping DDT.
Match 5: Kaito Kiyomiya, HAYATA & Eita vs Yoshinari Ogawa, Daga & Stallion Rogers. 30 minute time limit
Result; Kaito Kiyomiya, HAYATA & Eita beat Yoshinari Ogawa, Daga & Stallion Rogers. Kiyomiya beat Rogers with a figure 4.
Akitoshi Saito joins Japanese commentary.
Match 6: Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. & Lance Anoa’i vs Psycho Clown & Kenoh. 30 minute time limit
Result: Psycho Clown & Kenoh beat Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. & L:ance Anoa’i by DQ. Wagner Jr. DQ’d. Ripping off Clown’s mask. Drew rather rare boos from the Japanese fans as Wagner Jr. seemingly turned heel.
Match 7: Jake Lee, Jack Morris, Anthony Greene, YO-HEY & Tadasuke vs Go Shiozaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Adam Brooks, Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69. 30 minute time limit
Result: Jake Lee, Jack Morris, Anthony Greene, YO-HEY & Tadasuke beat Go Shiozaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Adam Brooks, Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69. Lee beat Hi69.
Main Event: Naomichi Marufuji vs Will Ospreay (New Japan). 1 Hour time limit
Result: Will Ospreay beat Naomichi Marufuji
A faster event than I expected with all the matches from start to finish going just under 2 1/2 hours. After the main event, Ospreay addressed the crowd following his first and maybe only career appearance in NOAH. He put over the NOAH roster and Marufuji in English and a little Japanese before leaving and turning the microphone over to Marufuji. He thanked Ospreay in English before thanking everyone in Japanese for coming today. He said he lost today but he will continue to aim for the top and thanked everyone for their support to end the show.
The next event is 9/23 at Shimada City Sports Center Sub Arena in Shizuoka. There will be no live broadcast.
