NJPW up by two on the night, but fans the winners in Yokohama

Wrestlers from both sides of the NJPW and NOAH roster went to battle in Yokohama Arena on January 8, but it was the fans that won out, a sold out crowd wowed by action across the entire evening. 

The youngest on both sides of the fence, Yasutaka Yano and Kosei Fujita battled in a contest between Ehime native amateur wrestlers. In a busy back and forth, Yano would try and grab a double wrist lock on Fujita in the face of heavy strikes, but the Young Lion trapped Yano in a Boston Crab as the time limit expired. 

In the second kickoff match, veterans of the Third Generation faced the Funky Express of King Tany, Akitoshi Saito and Mohammad Yone. There was a funky flavour to the NOAH side offense, as the Funky Express splash connected from Tany, but Kojima would deliver a lariat to pick up the first win of the night on the NJPW side. 

In a chaotic ten man bout to kick off the main card, Yoshiki Inamura bought powerful offense to Tomohiro Ishii while fellow young prospect Kinya Okada brought the fight to Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI, but would ultimately be caught in a half crab to give the CHAOS and Hontai side the win. 

The only singles match of the main card pit Atsushi Kotoge against SHO, but rather than fair competition it would be SHO bringing trademark HOUSE OF TORTURE antics to the ring, a wrench bouncing off the skull of Kotoge to bring about a tainted victory.

HAYATA and Seiki Yoshioka would be first from NOAH to get on the board in a match that saw Ishimori and HAYATA resume some issues lingering from the Bone Soldier’s time in the green brand. A Headache from the GHC Junior singles and tag champion picked up the win. 

El Desperado and DOUKI took on NOSAWA Rongai and YO-HEY in a match with more than a little background to it, mostly stemming from DOUKI’s past in Perros Del Mal. Yet Rongai and YO-HEY would push buttons with IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Desperado on the night, Rongai tossing Desperado’s belt to ringside at the start of a match that ended with a Pinche Loco. Yet YO-HEY would jaw with Desperado afterward, something that may sow seeds for action to come at a later date.

Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku and Taichi would see defeat at the hands of Sugiura-Gun, Takashi Sugiura, Kazushi Sugiura and Toru Yano, in as a mystery partner for the injured KENTA. Sugiura and Suzuki would target one another to resurrect five year old history, but the King would be held back by Yano as Sugiura delivered an Olympic Slam to TAKA. 

While SHO used the house style of HOUSE OF TORTURE to pick up a win early in the evening, the tactics of Dick Togo and EVIL were quickly defused by Go Shiozaki, Masa Kitamiya. Kitamiya powered through all of HOUSE OF TORTURE all but single handedly, leaving Go to pick up the emphatic win over Togo to earn a lot of NJPW fans on the evening.

The classical fans of pro-wrestling would be delighted by Naomichi Marufuji and Yoshinari Ogawa, who would team against Zack Sabre Jr. and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Technical masterwork from both sides would see Marufuji picking up the win on Kanemaru, easing a massive win loss deficit the Heel Master still enjoys, and bringing the scorelines between NJPW and NOAH even heading into the final two matches of the night.