CARD: HIGHER GROUND 2022 (January 30th, Act City Hamamatsu)

Today's event will not be broadcast live on WrestleUniverse, but will be streamed on the 2nd February from 18:00 JST. Hopefully tonight we will get a live Twitter or Instagram broadcast. Katsuhiko Nakajima and Nioh are absent due to illness (Noah have not confirmed whether this is Coronavirus or not, but it is known that both are or where ill with fevers), and so the card has been changed to give some rare and unusual matchups. 

MATCH ONE

Hajime Ohara vs Kai Fujimura

With Yasutaka Yano bumped up the card tonight, Kai Fujimura takes on Hajime Ohara in the opener. Fujimura is desperate to catch up to Yano and get his first singles win too. 

MATCH TWO

Funky Express (King Tany) & Mohammed Yone) vs Daiki Inaba & Kinya Okada

The Funky duo (who have been booked on opposing teams recently, which appeared to have confused King Tany) once again reunite and take on the somber Kinya Okada and staid Daiki Inaba. Expect a kick war between Yone and Okada. 

MATCH THREE

Takashi Sugiura & Kotaro Suzuki vs Masa Kitamiya & Atsushi Kotoge

Very rare tag between Noah's first born, Kotaro Suzuki and Takashi Sugiura. Although Sugiura technically debuted in Noah before Kotaro, he trained in the All Japan dojo and made his debut in Noah, whereas Kotaro was a Noah dojo graduate. Kotaro is considered therefore to be the first Noah Born. Between Kotaro and Atsushi Kotoge it's the continuation of the eternal Noah Junior unit wars, between Sugiura and Kitamiya it's the shoulder tackle challenge. 

MATCH FOUR

STINGER (HAYATA & Seiki Yoshioka) & Yasutaka Yano vs Perros Del Mal De Japon (NOSAWA Rongai, YO-HEY & Super Crazy)

Yasutaka Yano, a rookie, has entered into the Noah Junior wars in a big way; pinning NOSAWA, getting water dumped on him and even having bits of his hair snipped off. STINGER seems to be the unit he has allegiance to, although he's not actually a member officially. Tonight, Yano continues his rivalry with NOSAWA, NOSAWA continues his with YO-HEY against STINGER, in particularly Seiki Yoshioka who YO-HEY challenged for the GHC Junior Tag Titles on behalf of himself and reluctant NOSAWA. It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out, especially since YO-HEY chose NOSAWA over Super Crazy, who was in the ring with him at the time. 

MATCH FIVE

Manabu Soya vs Yoshiki Inamura

Only two words are needed here to describe this match; Hoss fight, meat slapping, beast fight, charging bulls. You name it. 

MATCH SIX

Naomichi Marufuji & Junta Miyawaki vs Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshinari Ogawa

Junta Miyawaki and Naomichi Marufuji make a rare tag against another rare tag, Kaito Kiyomiya and Yoshinari Ogawa. It's an intriguing possibility that since Yoshinari Ogawa says he and HAYATA are interested in "other belts", or that since Kaito Kiyomiya is talking about getting a belt, a challenge might be made. Something else to keep in mind (although this may not happen) is that Junta Miyawaki, being a "M" and therefore able to join, slips into the vacancy left by Masakatsu Funaki. 

MATCH SEVEN

Go Shiozaki, Daisuke Harada & Haoh vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Tadasuke & Aleja)

This is a kind of pre-match between Go Shiozaki and Kenoh for Shiozaki's "Road to GHC" single match series at Korakuen Hall later on the 11th February. I pity Haoh in this, as not only does he have Tadasuke and Aleja to contend with, he also has Kenoh. Tadasuke challenging for the GHC Junior Heavyweight, however, is probably going to be more concerned with overcoming Daisuke Harada. Everyone has a reason to win in this match and whoever wins, its going to come with some kind of consequence. 

Picture credit: Noah.co.jp