NOAH Destination 2021 Back to Budokan 2/12/2021

NOAH Destination 2021 Back to Budokan 2/12/2021

I will be doing selected matches here. I wanted to do more but it's a long show and what I saw was not good and didn't excite me to finish the rest of the show.

Kaito Kiyomiya and Yoshiki Inamura vs Naomichi Marufuji and Jun Akiyama

Jun puts a wristlock on Ina early after they stare down. They trade shoulders and Jun gets knocked down. Kaito gets in and trades some shots with Jun. Jun kicks Kaito in the back and drapes his arm over the ramp. Maru starts working Kaito's arm and slams it off the guardrail from the apron. Jun then assists him and puts Kaito's arm over the rail and kicks it.

Marufuji does a hard wristlock on Kaito and then Jun comes in and stomps it. Kaito comes back with a big dropkick then double dropkicks both opponents. Ina comes in and lariats and shoulders both opponents. Ina suplexes Jun then shoulder dives him from the top.

Marufuji and Ina trade chops and Ina hits him with a lariat. Ina tags out and Kaito takes over on Marufuji. Marufuji captures his arm and back cracker's him. Maru hits some kicks to Kaito. Maru does a hook kick then Jun hits an exploder but Ina saves the pin at 15 minutes. Maru hits the shiranui and Kaito kicks out at 2. Maru tiger drivers him intoa hammerlock and Kaito rolls out then gets caught in one with his head trapped too.

Ina and Maru trade shots and Ina shoves Maru into a Kaito german. Kaito powers up and takes some hook kicks and a pumping knee. Kaito comes back with a headbutt then german suplexes Maru for 2. Kaito tiger suplexes him and wins it. Of all the legend vs younger wrestlers matches tonight, I liked this one the best. Kaito and Ina got a decent bit in though I don't know if they were given as much as they should have. This was a pretty good display for Kaito who really helped carry this match.

GHC National Title Match - Kenou (c) vs. Masakatsu Funaki

I really don't like Kenou trying to take on all these shooters lately. Not much happens early as they do some MMA positions. Funaki slaps around Go in the mount then armbars him, which Ken rope breaks for. Funaki hits some kicks then a quick koppo kick. Funaki hits a nice backdrop. They trade some slaps and Ken hits a nice german suplex. Ken hits a chest kick and takes a knee to the face.

Funaki hits a tombstone and puts on the choke but Ken quickly gets the ropes. Funaki hits some chest kicks and they slap each other hard. Ken hits a high kick then dragon suplexes Funaki for the win in a very quick match. This was disappointing just as the Sakuraba/Ken match was especially since it was the semi-main event. All they needed to do here was flurry each other with strikes then one of them surprise knockouts the other. It would have fit the length of time the same and would have been more entertaining.

GHC Heavyweight Title - Go Shiozaki (c) vs Keiji Mutoh

They battle for position on the mat early. They trade headlocks and Mutoh grabs the leg but Go hits the ropes. Mutoh hits a flashing elbow. Go comes back and hangs Mutoh's head over the apron and running knees him.  Go hits some chops, backdrops him and ddt's him. Mutoh comes back with a spin kick and a koppo kick.

They battle on the ramp and Mutoh gets DDT'd on the ramp. Mutoh makes itb ack in first and shining wizard's Go as he enters, then he dragon screws him on the ropes. Mutoh leglocks him then Go ropebreaks. Go mounts a comeback with chops then hits machine gun chops. Go then suplexes him for 2.

Go runs the ropes and is dropkicked in the knee. Mutoh dragon screws him then figure fours him. Go eventually hits the ropes and breaks it. Mutoh puts it on again and forces him to rope break. Mutoh shining wizards him but Go comes back with a lariat. Mutoh dropkicks his knee and shining wizards him but Go comes back with a german. Mutoh doesn't sell it then shining wizards him again.

Go hits a go-flasher for 2 and hits a bunch of seemingly missed strikes.  Go hits a big lariat for 2 but Mutoh moves on Go's moonsault attempt. Mutoh hits a shining wizard to the front and the back, then another to the front for a nearall. Mutoh tries for an emerald flowsion and Go gets out, but then Mutoh hits it. Mutoh slams him and teases a moonsault but decides against it. Go catches him up top and slips on some kind of suplex and dang near kills mutoh by dropping him. Go comes back with forearms and a big lariat. Go slams him and then his a moonsault for 2. Go lariats him an tries again but gets caught with a hurricanrana for the Mutoh upset win. 

Like all matches, this was really hurt by the lack of crowd. The match was a typical slower Mutoh match with a lot of leg work and shining wizard spam. Go didn't bring a lot to the table here though to be fair, when you are wrestling Mutoh, you have to wrestle his way. Go just works best with other people who can strike with him and Mutoh has never been a striker. It was alright and you have to give extra points to Mutoh for pulling this off at his age, but I didn't think this was a classic.

Go wouldn't shake hands with Mutoh and Kaito Kiyomiya came out to staredown Mutoh after.