(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 (Shinjuku FACE, Thursday July 20th)

With the N-1 on the horizon, the participating heavyweights can put aside any title challenges and kind of have a little fun while competing with each other before the league starts. The Noah Juniors, not having any leagues or any special shows coming up which are specifically for them, (and probably not wanting to lose out to the heavyweights and their league), also started to put themselves back together and some new teams stirred and were created tonight. Event was streamed live on WrestleUniverse. 

MATCH ONE

Taichi Ozawa vs Yu Owada

Taichi Ozawa made the submission even worse by kicking Yu Owada in the side and the back. He is developing a vicious streak. An early win perhaps for Ozawa, but one to be expected over someone whose second match this is.

WINNER: Taichi Ozawa with the Boston Crab (6 minutes, 37 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Yoshinari Ogawa, Super Crazy & Kai Fujimura vs AMAKUSA, Hajime Ohara & Junta Miyawaki

Junta Miyawaki returned tonight to Noah from injury, he always seems to make a return at Shinjuku FACE for some reason. There were lots of calls for him from the crowd, which made him turn, smile and bounce off the ropes for one call. Unfortunately for him, he started against Yoshinari Ogawa, who has been in a foul mood for the past few shows. Ogawa even threw a chair into the ring after Junta had knocked him out of it. Junta, polite Noah Born that he is, kicked it aside. Super Crazy set the tone for the evening, tongue in cheek imitating Ogawa and running out of the doors when knocked out of the ring by AMAKUSA. Fans also loved his use of Japanese, "Dame" ("No Good") and "Baka!" ("Idiot!") and joined in with his "Viva (Mexico)!". 

WINNER: Junta Miyawaki with the Modified Guillotine Drop on Kai Fujimura (12 minutes, 1 seconds)

MATCH THREE

Ninja Mack vs Stallion Rogers

Since these two don't really have much reason to be in the ring together, they had a somewhat silly but very enjoyable match. Stallion Rogers offered a handshake, to which Ninja Mack (a Noah Junior and from a division where handshakes are viewed with suspicion) refused and a lone fan chanted "Shake his hand! Shake his hand!". Ninja Mack did, and as Stallion Rogers is a heavyweight, there was no attack, it was a gesture of sportsmanship. Perhaps that was all that could be considered a serious sportsman like gesture in this match as Ninja Mack (who was at his loudest) started giggling sensuously as Stallion Rogers went to pull down his shoulder straps before the chop contest, after that he offered to do it himself, and Ninja Mack sold his chops dramatically. Stallion Rogers was not going to be selling any chops at all however, and he even gave the Jake Lee bow (see GREEN Anthony filed under ROGERS Stallion, "Not Friends"). The chop battle went outside the ring, and the count kept getting reset, which made the referee angry. Then the match went into the seats and they fought on a table like surface, with Stallion Rogers pulling out a moonsault. By this time the ref was sick of their shenanigans and told them angrily to get back in the ring

WINNER: Ninja Mack with the Ninja Bomb (9 minutes, 33 seconds)

The two butted heads after the match, but then they shook hands. However Stallion Rogers snatched his hand away soon after and walked off.

MATCH FOUR

THE TOUGH (Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura) vs Lance Anoa'i & Adam Brooks

Adam Brooks might not have wanted to have or make friends, but he and Lance Anoa'i were like caged dogs when Yoshiki Inamura entered the ring and the three briefly snarled at each other. The heavyweight matches are now becoming as chaotic as the juniors, which means that with the juniors starting to stir again, the whole promotion is going to be out of control. In this match, Brooks got a taste of Inamura's power, which Anoa'i seems to be almost equal to. 

WINNER: Lance Anoa'i with the Samoan Splash on Yoshiki Inamura (8 minutes, 41 seconds)

MATCH FIVE

Naomichi Marufuji, Kenoh & Atsushi Kotoge vs AXIZ (Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima) & Hi69

Fans knew that this match was going to be fun, as Kenoh and Naomichi Marufuji, who is the shadowy cause of Kenoh's imagined persecution, were teaming together. Something very rare indeed, and everyone was looking forward to seeing how Noah's most stubborn was going to get along with Noah's most angry. Marufuji actually entered to Kenoh's music, Kenoh, however entered a long way after both himself and Atsushi Kotoge. Marufuji did a quick fist motion behind Kenoh (who didn't see this), and Kotoge (who played peacekeeper and policeman for the evening, or more fittingly, perhaps the adult) had to keep them apart as Marufuji was complaining about the entry and then who would start, and a squabble was breaking out.

Then Marufuji started to wind Kenoh up, and Kenoh stamped to the apron as Marufuji started against Katsuhiko Nakajima. Then another row broke out about tagging each other in, which occurred on the apron, and Kotoge had to come to the rescue. Even when Kotoge was in the ring and they were arguing outside of it, he had to suspend the match by trying to sort it out as Go Shiozaki looked on. Kotoge challenged Shiozaki to a chop contest, got no sold and then floored. Later,  Shiozaki spat on his hand before chopping Kotoge in the corner, Kotoge was seen to shake his head as Shiozaki's hand swung towards him, and even Nakajima winced. As all this was going on, Marufuji was seen skulking outside the ring as he refused to get on the apron with Kenoh for the longest time. He and Shiozaki had their "Chop War". 

After Kotoge got the brunt of AXIZ, (kicked and chopped), Kenoh finally got in the ring and knocked Shiozaki off the apron, he left HI69 alone as he is not concerned about him. Despite his difficulties with Marufuji, the two did work together, albeit briefly, and Kenoh was quite surprised. 

WINNER: HI69 with the Stuka Splash on Atsushi Kotoge (15 minutes, 45 seconds)

Marufuji somehow ended up sitting in the crowd by this point with AXIZ staring at him. Kenoh had 

presumably long since vanished. In the ring, HI69 pulled Kotoge to his feet and asked him if he wanted to tag, Kotoge said yes and the two shook hands and embraced.

MATCH SIX

Eita vs LEONA

Eita was halfway in taking his robe off before LEONA attacked him, but as the match only went for five minutes and fifty five seconds, and was won without LEONA getting the chance to "break Eita's legs", Eita (who the crowd was firmly behind) didn't even have to use any of his signature moves aside from the finish.

WINNER: Eita with Upside Down (5 minutes, 55 seconds)

I think Noah could see that there wasn't much fan interest in this and had the sense to end it quickly and in the right way. LEONA remained in the ring, his hands on his head and slapping the mat, he remained this way for a few minutes before leaving, holding his face to the mat in anger. Backstage, Eita attributed his win to the gap between himself and LEONA being "10 billion light years away" when it came to singles matches, and to the fact that he proclaimed he was "the face of the Noah Juniors". I can imagine that remark is going to be like lighting a fuse in a division which is volatile. 

MATCH EIGHT

Good Looking Guys (Jake Lee, Jack Morris, Anthony Green, YO-HEY & Tadasuke) vs Manabu Soya, Daiki Inaba, Shuji Kondo, Seiki Yoshioka & Alejandro

Poor little Alejandro turned around after the huddle with his teammates and found he was facing the tallest heavyweight and the GHC Heavyweight Champion, Jake Lee and almost jumped out of his skin. His teammates scattered as they wouldn't tag him in. This was an amusing match with a lot of funny moments, even from the usually dour Manabu Soya, who was challenged to a test of strength by Anthony Green, who kept on changing hands. Soya even did some comedy with Shuji Kondo when Kondo refused to be thrown by him into Tadasuke

WINNER: YO-HEY with a dropkick on Alejandro (16 minutes, 36 seconds)

YO-HEY spoke on the mic after the match to formally challenge STINGER (Daga and Chris Ridgeway) for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag titles, but Seiki Yoshioka crashed the ring saying that he and "Kon-chan" (Shuji Kondo, who has asked him not to call him that), but then other Noah Junior teams joined the fray; AMAKUSA and Junta Miyawaki and HI69 and Atsushi Kotoge, each making their own challenge. 

As the division squared up to each other and a fight looked imminent, it took Shuji Kondo to diffuse the situation by telling them that staring at each other would solve nothing, so wouldn't it be better to have a match to decide the winner? He said he would leave that for Noah to arrange. He also left the juniors with a warning, from now on, they needed to be aware that he was going to be in the Noah Juniors more often and in earnest.

After the show, Noah announced that the contending teams for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag will be fought on a series of dates, not in one event; 

9th August 2023 (N-1 VICTORY): Round 1 - Good Looking Guys (YO-HEY & Tadasuke) vs Shuji Kondo and Seiki Yoshioka

10th August 2023 (N-1 VICTORY): Round 1 - Atsushi Kotoge & HI69 vs AMAKUSA & Junta Miyawaki

The two finalists will fight on the 11th August and the winning team will face the GHC Junior Tag Champions at the N-1 finals night in Osaka on the 3rd September.

MATCH NINE

GHC Junior Heavyweight 

HAYATA vs Atsuki Aoyagi

HAYATA was dominant during the early stages of the match, working on Atsuki Aoyagi's arm throughout. This was probably the only serious match on the card tonight. But, as Aoyagi seemed so helpless initially, fans began to wonder as to whether he was really so? Or was he just playing a game with him? Aoyagi played the helpless manipulated puppet for a while, before countering a finisher and fighting back. He even countered the first Headache. The hall was split into two camps; on one side HAYATA and the other side Aoyagi, with the atmosphere becoming more and more tense as they both kicked out with only a split second between HAYATA retaining and Aoyagi coming very close to dethroning him. 

WINNER: HAYATA with the Headache (20 minutes, 13 seconds)

HAYATA'S winning speech was the standard three words, three second speech, in which he said that his next challenger could be anybody. No one came forward, but as HAYATA did to "Weekly Pro" that he wanted a foreign wrestler, it could well be Daga, or else fan opinion has it that this could even be Eita, given his comments earlier. Backstage, HAYATA thanked "that guy Atsuki Aoyagi" for the match (he has finally remembered his name), which he was very happy with. 

Attendance: 389

Noah's next event: SUNNY VOYAGE 2023, Sunday 23rd July (Gunma C Hall, Gunma) - event will be broadcast on WrestleUniverse at a later date.