NOAH vs. The World: 6/22/2008, Faringdon Leisure Centre
As many readers will know, NOAH held it’s first ever show outside of Japan in Coventry, England. The Live Results for this show can be found here. . However, this was not the only show featuring NOAH talent held in England that weekend. The day after European Navigation was NOAH vs. The World, a show from the Faringdon Leisure centre, 20 miles south of Oxford.
The show was held in a Leisure Centre in the small town of Faringdon. The attendance was around 150 people, with the majority being non wrestling fans, kids and locals. All the matches featured NOAH wrestlers taking on young English wrestlers, with only one wrestler present who did not hail from Japan or England (NOAH Gaijin Bison Smith). The show was without the likes of Kenta Kobashi, Go Shiosaki, KENTA, Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness, who were competing in WXW in Germany on the same day.
Due to the very different nature of the show I will rate the matches with varying superlatives, rather than a numerical system since this is a show that was as much about the crowd as the wrestlers. This was because the show was, in essence, a “local†wrestling show that just happened to feature NOAH talent.
Match 1: Wade Fitzgerald & Mark Sloan vs. Atsushi Aoki & Taiji Ishimori
Mark Sloan is the promoter behind both NOAH shows in the UK, as well as a very highly regarded trainer. Wade Fitzgerald may only weigh 142lbs but he has a background in martial arts and some nice strike. Aoki is a great mat technician and my favourite NOAH student while Taiji Ishimori is most famous for being KENTA’s current Tag Team partner and NOAH’s resident high flier.
This was a traditional tag match, with the NOAH representatives playing the young, cocky heels. Fitzgerald was face in peril, Sloan got the hot tag and Aoki managed to regain control before Sloan countered a standing Armbar into a Roll up for the win.
Mark Sloan pinned Atsushi Aoki by school boy: Good match
Fitzgerald had a good match, much better then his performance at European Navigation since his opponents were much closer to his own size. He played face in peril quite well and had a great range of strikes which he used to make the hot tag. Both NOAH wrestlers did very well playing the cocky heels, with Aoki in particular doing a good job as a heel. Sloan made a good hot tag and the match ended with nice a back and forth exchange with him and Aoki.
Match 2: Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Zack Sabre Jr
Kanemaru is the current NOAH Jr Heavyweight Champion with Sabre Jr is a young English wrestler who is very technically gifted who had a very well received singles match with Bryan Danielson in March.
The story was Sabre working over Kanemaru’s arm while Kanemaru wrestled his usual match, interspersing strikes and mat submissions with big head drops like the Deep Impact DDT and a Brainbuster. The match ended as a 20 minute draw.
Twenty Minute Time Limit Draw: Above average match
Sabre worked the arm very well and showed a lot of focus. He also sold well and took a nasty Deep Impact. Unfortunately I felt that Kanemaru was close to going through the motions, not selling the arm and not bothering to establish himself as a heel like most of the NOAH wrestlers did. It didn’t help that Sabre’s style was more suited to a heel then a face, especially for a crowd who have seen little wrestling other then the WWE. The worst match of the show but it wasn’t bad at all.
Match 3: Joel Redman vs. Naomichi Marufuji.
Marufuji was still without his ring gear (lost by Parisian Baggage Handlers) but that didn’t matter. Redman had a decent showing at European Navigation and was looking to prove in his second singles match of the weekend.
Marufuji played the heel and enjoyed it. Redman played the plucky youngster and got a great amount of offence, including a nice Spinebuster to counter a reverse crossbody. Eventually Marufuji picked up the win with a Shiranui.
Naomichi Marufuji pinned Joel Redman by Shiranui: Very Good match
A very good match, designed to get people into the show before the intermission. Marufuji did a great job riling up the crowd, he really seemed to be enjoying himself. He had a great spot where he took Redman’s head up to the ring bell, a small bell swinging from a metal frame, and hit it repeatedly with the hammer, bashing it into Redman’s head. One kid hated Marufuji with a passion and Marufuji stared him down after the match, before slowly extending his hand, which the kid shook. Not only could you tell how good he is, you can tell how much he enjoyed this opportunity
Like Fitzgerald, Redman had his best showing of the weekend with a display of good selling and great offensive moves. This was the best singles match of the night for wrestling and it showed how versatile Marufuji can be.
During Intermission I checked out the merchandise stalls. They knew their market since the stall only sold cheap WWE DVDs, wrestling figures and the Kobashi and Brit Rage foam hands. I congratulated Fitzgerald on his match and the lad was very appreciative of praise. I feel that he may have taken criticism of his performance at Coventry to heart. Already there were signs that the crowd was won over but they still had three matches to go.
Match 4: Jun Akiyama, Tsyoshi Kikuchi & Junji Izumida vs. Bubblegum, El Ligero & Muhammad Yone.
Jun Akiyama is one of NOAH’s 5 biggest veterans while Kikuchi is a reliable 20 year veteran and Izumida is a comedy style heavyweight. Bubblegum is a young blond cruiserwight, very similar to Spud, while El Ligero is the UK’s version of El Generico. These two are a regular tag team called HubbaBubba Lucha. They were teamed with the afro sporting Yone. Unfortunately Bubblegum had left his awesome pink crushed velvet tights at home.
HubbaBubba Lucha and Yone were the faces, with the sheer awesomeness of the ‘fro making Yone the second most over person on the show. The match started with Ligero trying to out power Izumida in a nice comedy start that got Izumida ridiculously over as a heel. Eventually, team NOAH isolated Bubblegum and picked him apart. He eventually made the hot tag to Yone for a phenomenally loud pop. The faces isolated the heels on the outside while Yone hit the Musclebuster on Kikuchi to win the match for another crazily loud pop.
Muhammad Yone pins Tsyoshi Kikuchi by Musclebuster: Great match
This was a great tag match and probably one of the three best examples of working the crowd this weekend. From the start you could tell the crowd loved Yone and HubbaBubba Lucha are great young babyfaces. The opening comedy was well done and even got Izumida tremendous heat, which he took advantage of for the work over period. His “sod you†style shrugs were great and seemed so natural. The work over period on Bubblegum was great as all three members of Team NOAH showed how well they can work a crowd and built up the crowd so that the pop for the hot tag was phenomenal. Yone did exactly what he needed to do and the crowd loved it. Bubblegum did great as the face in peril and I enjoyed Ligero’s work. If Yone gets a chance to re-team with these guys in the UK then go. Team HubbaBubba Afro is one of the most fun trio’s I’ve seen live.
Match 5: Takeshi Morishima vs. “The Human Hate Machine†Dave Moralez
Morishima was still without his ring gear but he seemed to be better then Saturday in terms of feeling the effects of an ankle injury. Moralez is best described as England Football player Wayne Rooney after a 3 year burger binge. There was only 40lbs between him and Morishima.
Morishima worked face due to Moralez’s natural heel charisma and mannerisms. Morishima hit the Guardrail Hip attacks to a nice little pop and Moralez got in a decent amount of offence The match was quite short with Morishima hitting the Lariat, Back Drop Driver combination for the victory.
Takeshi Morishima beat Dave Moralez by Back Drop Driver: Good match
A good match wile it lasted. Moralez really impressed with his heel work, a surprisingly quick turn of pace and some nice selling, such as selling his own diving headbutt. Morishima didn’t need to get into top gear but still had a decent performance and seemed to be in less pain then the day before. The crowd gave it a fairly good reaction and seemed to not mind cheering a gigantic Japanese man.
Match 6: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Mark Haskins & Bison Smith
Haskins was the local boy and at least 10 people came just because he was appearing. His parents were actually selling the tickets at the door and were nervous beforehand. Misawa came out with the banners waving and the smallest Mi-SA-Wa chant ever! About a dozen people, including each of the four banner wavers and myself.
The story of the match was Mark Haskins getting worked over for a good chunk of the match by both opponents, riling up the crowd. Smith was knocked off the apron twice and Misawa and Suzuki managed to stop the referee from seeing the blind tag TWICE. This was proper heel tag team psychology and it worked a treat. When Haskins finally got a chance and Superkicked Misawa the crowd erupted. The crowd reached a new crescendo when he tagged in Smith, who proceeded to batter Misawa. Haskins had a chance to regain his strength and the match ended with him and Suzuki in a close struggle where Haskins got many opportunities but Suzuki was too much and one Blue Destiny was all it took. For a second the crowd couldn’t believe that Haskins lost, then they began to applaud the local lad who came so close to victory.
Kotaro Suzuki beats Mark Haskins by Blue Destiny: Great match
I think this was the best crowd work I had ever seen live. It wasn’t about the wrestlers reputation, moves or aura, it was about methodically working the crowd using great heel tag team psychology. Each trick made the crowd more and more irate, driving the heat to a new level each time. This is the kind of hot tag that Jim Cornette would have loved. Bison again had a surprisingly good showing, egging on his team mate, getting enraged by the dastardly heels and being a great foil for Misawa during the hot tag and containment portions. Misawa did well, using the elbows effectively, hitting a Tiger Driver and relying more on his psychological prowess then his ailing physical skills. Suzuki had a great match, being the perfect partner for Misawa by not only carrying a good proportion of the wrestling but by also doing his fair share in drawing heat and by making Haskins look like a star in the finishing portions. Haskins had what must be his best match so far in his young career. His selling was great, he was fantastic as the Face in peril, and he looked like he could actually do it in the finishing stretch.
Overall Thoughts
The show may not have had the best wrestling in terms of moves and selling but the working of the crowd, most of whom rarely even watched wrestling was phenomenal. The only two Japanese wrestlers who got face heat were Yone and Morishima, with Yone getting the second biggest pop of the night. Match of the night was either Akiyama, Kikuchi & Izumida vs. Bubblegum, Ligero, & Yone 6 man or Misawa & Suzuki vs. Haskins & Smith. Both these matches had amazingly good tag team psychology, with the former having a great feeling of fun to start and the latter having some good wrestling and a breakout performance by Haskins. This was not as good as European Navigation in terms of wrestling but the atmosphere was something else. I honestly think that I will be remembering this show in 20 years time, the crowd noise and atmosphere at the end was that good. If you ever wondered what would happen if NOAH ran a small venue of people who didn’t know who they were, this was it. And it was solid Gold. If you are looking at buying the Official DVDs for European Navigation take a risk and spent the extra £7 to get both shows. You will be pleasantly surprised.
Additional Notes
I went to this show on a whim since I got up too late to go to a car show with some friends. It was very much worth the £10 ticket and ¼ of a tank of petrol. There were about 20-30 wrestling fans present, at least 4 from the UKFF board. The furthest afield a fan had travelled was David, a fellow ROH fan who had the unenviable task of getting back to Glasgow by public transport.
As well as the wrestlers NOAH had their official referee (who was very good in the tag matches), some support staff and a crew of four in the crowd whose job it was to hoist the mighty green banners for Misawa. One of the gentlemen was even kind enough to take my photo while holding said banner.
