NOAH April Tour observations

In addition to the big Budokan show on 4/24, the rest of the tour dates and most of the match-ups have been announced. Thought I'd point out a few of the more interesting shows.

NOAH, 4/2/05
Tokyo Differ Ariake
1. Mitsuo Momota VS Haruka Eigen
2. Tamon Honda VS Go Shiosaki
3. Akitoshi Saito, Masao Inoue & Takashi Sugiura VS Takuma Sano, Jun Izumida & SUWA
4. Yoshinari Ogawa & Yoshinobu Kanemaru VS Akira Taue & Kishin Kawabata
5. Takeshi Rikio & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi VS Mohammed Yone & Takeshi Morishima
6. Tiger Emperor VS Ricky Marvin
7. Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama VS Naomichi Marufuji, KENTA & Makoto Hashi

First is the tour opener, which from top to bottom looks like a can't miss show! But it's a pity there aren't any plans to tape the show for TV!
The main event would be PERFECT if not for Makoto Hashi being in it, as it also immediately points the finger at who will take the fall in the match. Would have prefferred Sugiura or even Momota in that spot.
The return of Tiger Emperor should also be interesting, as Kotaro Suzuki has improved alot, and a good performance with Ricky Marvin could lead to a Jr. title challenge down the line.

NOAH, 4/3/05 (NTV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. Takuma Sano VS Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
2. Tamon Honda & Jun Izumida VS Shiro Koshinaka & Kishin Kawabata
3. Scorpio VS Go Shiosaki
4. Yoshinari Ogawa, Richard Slinger & Kotaro Suzuki VS Rick Steiner, Michael Modest & Donovan Morgan
5. Jun Akiyama VS Makoto Hashi
6. Mitsuharu Misawa, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Takashi Sugiura VS Kenta Kobashi, KENTA & Ricky Marvin
7. Akira Taue & SUWA VS Minoru Suzuki & Naomichi Marufuji
8. Takeshi Rikio, Takeshi Morishima & Mohammed Yone VS Akitoshi Saito, Masao Inoue & Bison Smith

The first Korakuen Hall show of the tour also shows some promise with a main event that builds up the big Budokan show on 4/24, but the two semi-main events look really good! For some reason, I have high interest to see Taue VS MiSuzuki in a singles match.

NOAH, 4/17/05 (NTV)
Hakata Star Lane
1. Mitsuharu Misawa & Mohammed Yone VS Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiosaki
2. Takeshi Rikio, Jun Akiyama & Bison Smith VS Akira Taue, Takuma Sano & Masashi Aoyagi
3. Captain's Fall Elimination Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Takashi Sugiura, Makoto Hashi & SUWA VS Naomichi Marufuji, KENTA, Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin

The second TV taping of the tour has an INCREDIBLE looking Captain's Fall Elimination Match in the main event! The Captain's of each team haven't been announced yet, but that will be the big factor in how the match turns out as elimination of the captain means the entire team instantly loses.

NOAH, 4/24/05
Tokyo Nippon Budokan
1. GHC Heavyweight Title: Takeshi Rikio VS Akitoshi Saito

And of course the big Budokan show at the end of the tour. Make no mistake about it, Rikio defending against Saito will not sell out the 16,000 seat Budokan, so a strong mid-card is heavilly needed. Additional title matches need to be stacked onto the show as well as getting a big outsider like Tenryu on the show.