Pro Wrestling NOAH 2/9/2022 - Step Forward Day 1

Pro Wrestling NOAH 2/9/2022 - Step Forward Day 1

I covered 4 matches here:

GHC Junior Heavyweight Title - Daisuke Harada (c) vs Tadasuke

Tadasuke hits a running reverse shoulder early. Harada comes back with a shoulder and stops himself from diving on him outside when Tadasuke moves. Harada takes an F-U on the apron for 2.

Tadasuke puts him in the stretch plum but Harada rope breaks. Harada hits some chest clubs and goes down to a chop. Harada overhead suplexes him then hits some corner charge moves before hitting a running forearm. Harada then topes him.

Harada hits a death valley driver for 2 and then Harada is pop up powerbombed. Harada is bent over then Tadasuke lariats him over the shoulders. Harada rolls him up on a lariat attempt and eats a knee. Tadasuke swantons him then hits a sliding D for 2.

Tadasuke hits a big lariat and gets a close 2. Harada reverses a rack attempt into a pin then climbs his back for a sleeper. Tadasuke gets out and Harada does a neat roll into a pin attempt for 2. He rebound german's Tadasuke and spinning forearms him for 2. Harada picks him up and bounces him off the top then does a high angle german for 2. Harada electric chair drops him and wins it.

This was a decent match with a nice finishing stretch. Not much storytelling or logic behind it but good action all throughout. Harada's rope bouncing german was cool and I liked the return of the electric chair drop.

Kaito Kiyomiya vs HAYATA

Hayata cartwheels over a dropped down Kaito and puts his knee out when Kaito tries to leapfrog him. They trade shots and Kaito spears the post. Hayata double jumps off the ropes for a dropkick.

Hayata armdrags him and runs into a forearm. Kaito shoots both feet out backwards and dropkicks him then rolls forward. Hayata works the arm a bit more then is hiptossed. Hayata hsotgun dropkicks him in the corner then tornado ddt's him for 2.

Kaito hits some forearms and a 2nd rope twisting elbow. Kaito hits a missile dropkick from up top for 2 then Hayata hammerlocks him out of nowhere. Hayata gets a superkick and a handspring elbow in. He misses a moonsault but catches himself but is german suplexed then tiger suplexed for the win.

This was longer than it needed to be and I'm not really sure why Kaito was put up with him when he's much above him in kayfabe terms. At least Hayata worked the arm some before losing.

Sugiura-gun (Kazuyuki Fujita, Kendo Kashin and Takashi Sugiura) vs Kongo (Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kenoh and Manabu Soya)

Fujita and Nakajima wrestle for a while early. Fujita hits some slaps then Fujita gets boots in the face by three opponents. Nakajima and Sugi trade forearms and Sugi and Soya go at it. Kenoh and Kendo stare down and Kendo hits some weird light slaps on the chest. Kenoh then spin kicks him and he rolls out.

Kendo hits more light slaps and is spin kicked out, then thrown int othe rails by Soya. Everyone fights outside then Kendo takes a 2v1 with Kongo elbows. Nakajima hits some kicks on Kendo. Kenoh lifted Kendo up for something and Kendo grabbed the ref. Kenoh then top rope double stomped him for 2.

Sugi and Soya traded forearms and Soya hit a headbutt and a suplex. Nakajima then downed Sugi with a chest kick. They traded kicks for forearms then Sugi speared him. Kenoh and Soya tried a 2v1 on Fujita but her lariated out of it then german suplexed Nakajima.

Soya hit a big lariat on Fujita then Nakajima PK'd him. Nakajima hit some superkicks then got caught on a kick with a lariat. Fujita hit Nakajima with a big lariat and optned not to pin him. Fujita then running kicked him but the camera's mostly missed it and that won him the match.

I didn't like this one. This first part was slow and I didn't really get the Kendo Ka Shin stuff. It got better near the end with the various kicks but this was not that good.

Masato Tanaka vs Go Shiozaki

They do some basic stuff to start and go to the mat. Tanaka gets sat up top and Go dropkicks him off it. They go back in and Go gets dragon screwed on the ropes. Tanaka then sliding d's his knee and they go back out. Tanaka ties up Go's legs in the rail outside.

Tanaka goes to work on the leg and stomps it. Tanaka hits more kicks to it and then sliding D's it. Tanaka indian deathlocks him and they trade headbutts and forearms from that position. Tanaka running forearms him on the ropes then Go suplexes him then shoulder tackles him at 10 minutes.

Go hits machine gun chops and a big lariat. They trade corner lariats and Tanaka diamond dust's him. Tanaka then top rope suplexes him and holds on and gets suplexed. They knock eac hother's forearms away then Tanaka takes a big lariat. They fight up top and Go hits a twisting brainbuster that isn't sold. They trade more forearms and chops and Go hits a big lariat. Go hits a suplex into a slice then Go hits some bolo punches and another lariat.

Go moonsaults him but Tanaka gets his knees up then sliding D's him for 2. Tanaka frogsplashes him for 2. Go hits a weird head and arm german suplex but Tanaka gets back up and forearms him. Tanaka hits two hard forearms for 2. Tanaka then does a long forearm combo and Go powers up with bolo punches. Tanaka hits a hard forearm and drops him then sliding D's him for the win!

I didn't like the no selling and the completely forgotten leg work. I did like the last fourth of this match where they started drilling each other with forearms, lariats and chops, which they should have done all along. 

Overall thoughts: It sounded better on paper than in reality. I liked the last part of the main and I thought Harada/Tadsuke was okay, but I didn't like the rest of what I saw.