Written by Hisame https://twitter.com/Hi5ame, originally on her blog, used on Puroresu Gate with permission
(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: STAR NAVIGATION 2022 (THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 15TH, KORAKUEN HALL)
“I will support him with all my strength, hoping that he will shine like an emerald and become a wrestler who will fascinate us Ark fans”
“Noah’s future, do your best.”
Today was a very special day in Noah as their sixteen home grown talent (Noah Born) made his debut. Fans bought their own signboards for Taishi Ozawa, and Noah gave their own out in the lobby. The official Twitter account posted messages from fans, and messages were posted on the big screen at Korakuen. Messages flooded in from all over Japan.
Yuya Susumu will be absent from Noah for about four or so events due to a neck sprain, so he was absent from Noah tonight. Also absent due to injury are Go Shiozaki (shoulder), Kinya Okada (jaw) and Daisuke Harada (neck).
The event was originally streamed on ABEMA, but is available to watch on WrestleUniverse. You must be a subscriber to view.
MATCH ONE
Yoshiki Inamura vs Taishi Ozawa
Taishi Ozawa (who came to the ring with a red mark on his chest from training for his debut) was presented with flowers by the president of The Leave, and had a commemorative photo taken. Later on, Noah handed out free facemasks with his name on them as fans left the hall. I am not sure that any trainee before him has had such a celebration made.
Fans were eager to see what Ozawa could do. While his move-set was elementary as he is only a complete rookie, he gave indications of what he may become; his height is almost the same as Yoshiki Inamura’s (he is 181 and Inamura is 182) and I would imagine that he probably will have Inamura’s size too. He was technically sound, as Noah do not allow their trainees to debut until they are ready, and Yoshinari Ogawa teaches Giant Baba’s philosophy that no one is ready unless they have mastered the basics. You could also hear Baba’s “sound” too. Ozawa has a background in gymnastics, and it is rare to see a heavyweight (at least in Noah) throw dropkicks.
Inamura’s job here was to make Ozawa look good, which he did, but he didn’t really need to do that. Naomichi Marufuji said that when he debuted (again going back to Baba, to whom all roads lead in Noah), it was up to the senior in the match to make the rookie look good and they would be scolded if that was not the case. It’s hard to imagine that anyone found fault with Ozawa or Inamura today.
Winner: Yoshiki Inamura with a body slam (6 minutes, 31 seconds)
MATCH TWO
Super Crazy vs Kai Fujimura
Kai Fujimura has suddenly stopped wrestling like a young boy and has gained the experience to start wrestling as someone with more focus, awareness and who is more comfortable with his surroundings.
For example, his dropkick from the railings and the fact that normally he would have been pounded into the mat in short order, as there is before now a match may not have gone on for this length or have been like this with Fujimura so dominant. Sadly for Fujimura, his opponent was Super Crazy of Perros Del Mal De Japon, whose opponents require them to have eyes in the back of their heads.
WINNER: Super Crazy with the Moonsault Press (7 minutes, 45 seconds)
MATCH THREE
Naomichi Marufuji & Mohammed Yone vs Masato Tanaka & Shuhei Taniguchi
Naomichi Marufuji bounced into the ring and eyed his opponents. Throughout the match he would be more interested in fighting the reset Shuhei Taniguchi, who was fighting quietly but strongly in the mid card. Probably not the ideal place for him to be, but a sensible fight was what his seniors asked for. Taniguchi, aware of who he was now and probably remembering his disapproving seniors when he was the funky king of yore, watched Mohammed Yone dancing to the clapping of the crowd, who gave him a look to ask whether he might join in or not. He didn’t. Taniguchi was particularly vicious when wrestling Marufuji, and practically wrenched his arm. I think the important thing was that he was using both his body and his mind, and because of this, the monster was able to advance on his senior with an evil smile and even cleared the ring of them. It took a lot of hook kicks and knees from Marufuji to knock Taniguchi down.
WINNER: Masato Tanaka with the Sliding D on Mohammed Yone (12 minutes, 34 seconds)
MATCH FOUR
Dragon Bane, Alpha Wolf, Xtreme Tiger & Alejandro vs Kongoh (Shuji Kondo, Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Hi69)
Alpha Wolf started the match against Shuji Kondo, which was like a collision of mountains. Being the nice guy that he is Alpha Wolf asked for a handshake. Shuji Kondo answered in true Kongoh fashion (or perhaps Junior fashion, and not just in Noah), with the middle finger. After their interactions throughout the match, Kondo left putting Alpha Wolf on notice that this was not over between them.
The aerial team blended their high flying with Noah style, fans loved the spots that they treated them to such as the triple top rope somersault, and the Dragon Bane and Alpha Wolf combo which almost got them the win. Xtreme Tiger used a double hurracanrunna and a double dropkick, for which he was punished by Kongoh. He almost stole the win too, which could have been very embarrassing to Kondo as he is always scolding the Noah Juniors for inviting him in and then failing to win. Kondo might not have been pinned, but the victory that night was not Kongoh’s.
WINNER: Xtreme Tiger with the Reverse Face Bomb on Hajime Ohara (13 minutes, 17 seconds)
Backstage, Kondo was once again angry about being invited in and the team failing to win.
MATCH FIVE
The Sugiura Army (Hideki Suzuki, Timothy Thatcher & El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr) vs The Born in 1970s trio (Takashi Sugiura, Satoshi Kojima & Masaaki Mochizuki)
This was a nice taster of Takashi Sugiura vs Timothy Thatcher in both their upcoming singles match and their title challenge. It was nice in this match to see Takashi Sugiura gradually come out of his shell a little, and doing things like looking at his opponents when fighting El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr to send a message, and of course the falling out with Satoshi Kojima. In a match characterized by brawls (and Timothy Thatcher using his granite head to counter Kojima’s punches and then work in his hand), Sugiura managed to catch Kojima again by accident, and the two fell apart with Kojima shoving him, which gave their opponents an advantage. I seem to remember Noah’s last dysfunctional tag team being Minoru Suzuki and SUWA.
WINNER: Satoshi Kojima with the Western Lariat on El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr (15 minutes, 36 seconds)
Takashi Sugiura grumpily had his arm raised, and the ever affable Satoshi Kojima offered him a handshake. By this time, Sugi was on the apron and so, like a petulant child, Sugi gave him a finger to shake.
Backstage, Hideki Suzuki burst in on their promo, and chased them off with the chair he was carrying.
MATCH SIX
STINGER (HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway) vs The Noah Junior Regulars (Atsushi Kotoge, Seiki Yoshioka & YO-HEY)
STINGER came out in the usual fashion and contrasting strongly with their animated and colorful opponents, i.e. dressed in dark clothes, silently and entirely unanimated. The bell rung after hostilities had commenced i.e. a typical Noah Junior match where fights break out the moment the the two teams in the ring. In this case it was STINGER who were attacked by the Noah Junior Regulars. Their attack was so sudden, that the tag champions did not have time to even take their belts or their jackets off. During the match, HAYATA even lost a shoe and was wrestling in one sneaker and one black sock.
YO-HEY and HAYATA had very little interaction compared to the pre match of STINGER vs Atsushi Kotoge and Seiki Yoshioka. HAYATA seemed to take pleasure in preserving YO-HEY in mint condition and beating up on Kotoge and former friend, Yoshioka. Chris Ridgeway had said he was going to hurt them for interrupting the moment of their win in Osaka. Yoshioka got the brunt today.
WINNER: HAYATA with the 403 Impact on Atsushi Kotoge (16 minutes, 35 seconds)
The match ended inconclusive for everyone. YO-HEY attacked HAYATA after the match, enraged he did a dropkick to the side of HAYATA’S head.
He then took the belt and stood over him holding it. This was not the pranks of yesteryear when he challenged while they were teaming together, or even their last title challenge, there was no feeling either of the lingering closeness between then when HAYATA had nominated him his challenger. After a while YO-HEY folded the belt up and put it over HAYATA before leaving. He turned back and looked at the ring as he walked to the back, looking demonic.
YO-HEY later said that in attacking HAYATA, he felt like a switch had flipped. He didn’t know if it was good or bad, only that “there will be no next time”.
MATCH SEVEN
Kongoh (Kenoh, Masakatsu Funaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya) vs Kaito Kiyomiya, Jack Morris, Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba
Normally it’s Kenoh who starts yelling at Kaito Kiyomiya when the two of them are in the ring, but today it was actually Kaito Kiyomiya who got in his face by shoving Kenoh (albeit politely). Kenoh looked like he couldn’t quite believe this, but okay if he wanted to fight, then the two of them would start the match.
Masa Kitamiya and Masakatsu Funaki slapped the hell out of each other before Funaki took him down to the mat. Later after being slammed by Kitamiya, Funaki said backstage that he was never going to take another one.
Despite the GHC Heavyweight pre match and the GHC National pre match, the loudest applause was reserved for Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Daiki Inaba. The fans had been waiting for this. Nakajima, however, had other plans and soon tagged Manabu Soya in via Misawa flash tag. Nakajima, however wasn’t above taking a few pot shots at Inaba and then no selling him. Jack Morris also stirred the pot with Nakajima by doing something that no Noah wrestler has ever done, and that was to shove Nakajima off the ropes during the Shutter Chance. Morris paid for this, Nakajima savoring every moment, even if his prey was fighting back.
The final of the match came down to Kenoh and Kiyomiya. Kenoh blocked the Shining Wizard and then did his own, pulling Keiji Mutoh’s pose. The crowd screamed as he almost pinned Kiyomiya with it. Kenoh then rubbed it in by using the moonsault, but Kiyomiya moved. Later Kiyomiya would counter the PFS by a dropkick, and do two Shining Wizard’s on Kenoh before using his own as of yet unnamed variation for the win.
WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Transformed Shining Wizard (20 minutes, 10 seconds)
Kiyomiya got into a dazed Kenoh’s face in the ring, while Nakajima basically patted Inaba in the chest and walked off while Soya helped Kenoh out.
Nakajima later posted on Twitter about Jack Morris, leaving any interactions with Inaba out. He did mention him, but just as a footnote. As all this was happening, Kiyomiya spoke on the mic
“Kenoh! I have been chasing you all this time! You are the opponent I am the most aware of. I don’t want to lose to Kenoh and on the 25th September, I will wear Kenoh’s belt in Nagoya! There will be a pre-match at Korakuen tomorrow, so please come and watch me!”
(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: STAR NAVIGATION 2022 (FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16TH, KORAKUEN HALL)
If yesterday was about grudges, today was all about revenge. In the calm before the maelstrom that was released on and in Korakuen, Naomichi Marufuji signed autographs in the lobby and Noah were still posting good luck wishes to Taishi Ozawa from yesterday. Attendance tonight was 554. Event can be viewed on WrestleUniverse (you must be a subscriber). Please note there is no English commentary.
MATCH ONE
Shuhei Taniguchi vs Taishi Ozawa
Taishi Ozawa is only marginally smaller than Shuhei Taniguchi at 181cm (Taniguchi is 182), so along with Yoshiki Inamura, who says he wants Ozawa to work on building up his body, this most certainly puts him in the heavyweight category. Ozawa gave hints of the wrestler he will become today, a very tough one (although he did lose via submission), and even his second match he almost pinned Taniguchi. Even in his second ever match, which went on longer than his debut, fans are predicting great things for him.
WINNER: Shuhei Taniguchi with The Boston Crab (7 minutes, 22 seconds)
MATCH TWO
Xtreme Tiger vs Kai Fujimura
From one talented rookie to another, although he is not Noah Born and did not debut in Noah, but he has come a long way under Noah. The match was very technical, even when they rolled out of the ring Xtreme Tiger did not break the hold on Kai Fujimura. This was countered by both of them into a failed brainbuster and then a shoving match and argument, until the count almost ran out and they scrambled back in. Xtreme Tiger got Fujimura in a seemingly impossible submission, but Fujimura made it to the ropes. Very impressive match for Fujimura, especially as he was doing spots he does not normally do
WINNER: Xtreme Tiger with Reverse Face Bomb (6 minutes, 55 seconds)
MATCH THREE
Funky Express (Akitoshi Saito & Mohammed Yone) & Satoshi Kojima vs THE TOUGH (Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura) & Daiki Inaba
Mohammed Yone seemed to be feeling the funk more than Akitoshi Saito or Satoshi Kojima today. I thought Kojima might join in, but he did not. Yoshiki Inamura stood watching them, Yone in particular. His arms folded and glaring.
Yone later challenged him, and Inamura took him down. Later in a moment of comedy (all thanks to Yone), Yone kind of peeped around to see Kojima’s pec flexing. Later he sent more fighting words to Inamura by walking over, and pumping up the ‘fro. He made good his promise, punching Inamura so hard that the commentators and the crowd gasped.
Daiki Inaba, being the smaller heavyweight, got the brunt of the opposition. The arena was in an uproar when Inaba got Kojima in his Octopus submission, and the chaos was added to by everyone fighting around him and the screaming of the commentators
WINNER: Satoshi Kojima with the Western Lariat on Daiki Inaba (14 minutes, 9 seconds)
MATCH FOUR
Dragon Bane vs Alpha Wolf
There was a handshake between the brothers to a thunder of applause from Korakuen. Today they mixed it up a little, devoting the first half of the match to their Lucha and the second half to a more ground based Noah style attack. Dragon Bane, smaller and lighter, initially outwitted his brother. Alpha Wolf, however, was not to be outdone and went for a somersault. Unfortunately he landed on two trainees and people sitting in the front row. Dragon Bane had amazing light speed reversals in the second half (the more Noah part) of the match, but he was more into the realm of the bigger and stronger Alpha Wolf here. Brothers and best friends they may be, but not in the ring.
WINNER: Alpha Wolf with The Midnight Wolf (12 minutes, 1 second)
MATCH FIVE
The Sugiura Army (Hideki Suzuki & El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr) & Perros Del Mal De Japon (NOSAWA Rongai, Kotaro Suzuki & Super Crazy) vs Kongoh (Katsuhiko Nakajima, Manabu Soya, Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Hi69)
Super Crazy came out, carrying a Perros Del Mal De Japon bag to the ring. Usually this means that Perros are up to something (i.e. a “present” for Yoshinari Ogawa, a stolen belt), but this time it was nothing nefarious only a Mexican Flag for Super Crazy, and El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Junior. NOSAWA thinks of Mexico as his spiritual home.
As there were six Noah Juniors in this match, it started in a brawl, with brawls going on pretty much throughout the whole match. The referee spent most of his time with his back turned as chaos raged around him, NOSAWA cheating and pretending to tag in. Katsuhiko Nakajima even got involved, assisting his team so that the elbows could be dropped on Kotaro. Speaking of Nakajima, an usual feud has grown between himself and NOSAWA Rongai, when they found themselves brawling outside the ring. Nakajima went to do the soccer ball kicks (loud applause from the crowd), but Hideki Suzuki interfered. Suzuki could not rescue him the second time, and to an even louder applause, Nakajima kicked him.
Suzuki and Nakajima also resurrected their rivalry, Suzuki giving Nakajima the finger and not allowing him to the Shutter Chance. The two eventually squared off in a punch war.
WINNER: El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr with the Wagner Driver on Hi69 (14 minutes, 38 seconds)
Backstage, NOSAWA said he wanted a one on one match with “little bitch Nakajima”. His teammates looked at him in horror, with Hideki Suzuki asking him if he was okay and that he did realize that he was probably going to die.
MATCH SIX
STINGER (HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway) & Jack Morris vs The Noah Junior Regulars (YO-HEY, Seiki Yoshioka & Alejandro) & Naomichi Marufuji
The match unusually didn’t start in an immediate brawl. The juniors squared up with Naomichi Marufuji and Jack Morris doing the same. Alejandro held back Seiki Yoshioka. YO-HEY stood looking unusually angry and glaring at HAYATA. He did not have long to wait to fight him, HAYATA was good enough to start the match. Unusually for HAYATA though, he started the match pretty brutally, and not with a lock up.
Yoshioka was once again the target, Ridgeway again attacking the bone by ripping off the bandages on his arm, and even choking him with them. Alejandro didn’t escape either, Yoshinari Ogawa went to rip his mask off.
WINNER: HAYATA with a particularly vicious modified arm lock on Seiki Yoshioka (17 minutes, 41 seconds)
In a night when the heavyweights started acting like the juniors, Naomichi Marufuji made Jack Morris look at something he was pointing at in the balcony, there was nothing there, but when Morris turned to look, Marufuji attacked him and Yoshiki Inamura ran to break up the brawl that was going backstage.
Another one was about to break out in the ring when the juniors finished up their own (Ogawa knocking Alejandro down) and YO-HEY and HAYATA butting heads in the ring.
When it looked like everyone had left, YO-HEY jumped HAYATA and threw him back in the ring and gave him the GAMEN-G. He took the belt, stood over HAYATA gesticulating and then held it up before draping it back over HAYATA and leaving. Out of all of HAYATA’S challengers, this feud has been the most vicious, the most bitter and the most personal. YO-HEY even pulled a hand sign that he and HAYATA had once used to use.
MATCH SEVEN
Kongoh (Kenoh & Shuji Kondo) vs Kaito Kiyomiya & Atsushi Kotoge
Kaito Kiyomiya politely waited until Kenoh had finished his pose before squaring up to him. Kenoh shoved him away. The match was very much about the GHC Heavyweight pre match, with Shuji Kondo and Atsushi Kotoge being there to assist their partners, and keep the other away.
Kenoh has never failed to see Kiyomiya as the young boy he once knew, and he knew it winds Kiyomiya up whenever any of his seniors pat his head condescendingly. Doing this threw Kiyomiya into a rage. Knocked out of the ring by this, Kenoh took the belt up from the stand and held it up. He also thought that Kiyomiya could go in for a closer look and trapped Kiyomiya under the steel barrier and sat on him so he was eye level with the belt.
Kenoh had sworn that he was never going to be pinned by Kiyomiya using The Shining Wizard or any kind of Shining Wizard variant again. Kenoh reversed the modified Shining Wizard into a choke, but Kiyomiya turned it into a pin. The title match is by no means going to be straight forward. Kenoh got cocky when he broke the pin after doing the PFS, but he achieved his aim by mocking both Keiji Mutoh and Kaito Kiyomiya, by doing his own Shining Wizard for the pin.
WINNER: Kenoh with the Shining Wizard (17 minutes, 47 seconds)
This was a humiliation for Kiyomiya, not only had Kenoh defeated him, countered his Shining Wizard (albeit what followed), but he had pinned him with a Mutoh move. Kenoh then pulled more Mutoh poses as he sat over Kiyomiya with the belt in hand. Kenoh even pulled them as he was leaving the ring, Ally and the English language announcer remained stony faced with their arms crossed.
MATCH EIGHT
Timothy Thatcher vs Takashi Sugiura
This was like two Cyborgs meeting each other, and all I could think of was the hallway fight from Terminator 2. Timothy Thatcher was worthy of being in STINGER with his attack on Takashi Sugiura’s arm. He didn’t even allow the poor guy breathing space after he had collided shoulder first with the ring post before with sadistic grin, he attacked.
WINNER: Timothy Thatcher with The Fujiwara Armbar (10 minutes)
The heavyweights had another square up when Satoshi Kojima got into the ring and squared up with Thatcher. Then a fight broke out with Hideki Suzuki joining in, and Kojima took them both out.
Kojima spoke on the mic, with Sugi (or “Taka” as Kojima has taken to calling him), looking as if to say, “Why can’t this guy just leave me alone?”
“Hideki and Thatcher! We are the world’s most dangerous tag team “Taka and Satoshi!” Taka, wait!! Sorry for the delay, but as it’s our GHC Tag Title (challenge) in nine days, please lets have lunch just once”
Again they did the fist & finger handshake, which seems to have become their thing.
Puroresu Gate 