Noah Card: HIGHER GROUND 2022 (Thursday January 27th, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo)

This card...What can I say about it following the events of Noah's last show, which was a wild night in Osaka. In Osaka we saw Haoh take on Nioh in a singles, it came to a time out draw and then Tadasuke came back, lariated him and swore revenge for leaving Kongoh...STINGER won the GHC Junior Heavyweight tag titles, which were (forcibly) taken from teammates Yoshinari Ogawa and HAYATA...HAYATA made YO-HEY tap...Masakatsu Funaki left the M's alliance for Kongoh, and Katsuhiko Nakajima didn't look too happy about it (he couldn't beat Kenoh for the GHC National and their match went an hour, Funaki did it in a few minutes)...and Go Shiozaki announced his "Road to GHC" series. 

This show is the fallout. Sadly, Katsuhiko Nakajima will miss the next two Noah events as he has developed a fever. Nakajima says that it is a chance for crisis to be turned into opportunity and while it would be interesting to see him team with Masakatsu Funaki and Kenoh on the fallout show, his having to watch and not be able to do anything will create an interesting situation.    

Event will be streamed live on WrestleUniverse from 18:30 JST. You must be a subscriber to view. 

Match One 

Kai Fujimura vs Yasutaka Yano

Yasutaka Yano returns from illness to open the show against Kai Fujimura. Even the rookies have a story tonight, as Fujimura is desperate to get a win (and his first win at that) over Yasutaka Yano. 

Match Two

Masa Kitamiya, Mohammed Yone, Daiki Inaba & Atsushi Kotoge vs King Tany, Yoshiki Inamura, Hajime Ohara & Kinya Okada

Interesting match which sets partners against partners as Masa Kitamiya takes on protégé Yoshiki Inamura (hoss fight), Mohammed Yone goes to funky disco war with King Tany, and Hajime Ohara and Atsushi Kotoge also find themselves on opposite sides. 

Match Three

The Noah Junior Regulars (Daisuke Harada, Haoh & Junta Miyawaki) vs Kongoh Juniors (Tadasuke, Aleja & Nioh)

Haoh says that he wants to develop relationships with each member of the Noah Juniors to prove that he truly belongs in the unit. Tadasuke, who (along with Nioh and the silent Aleja), has sworn revenge and that revenge starts tonight. I am wondering if Haoh will change his name and ring attire once he either feels he fits in the Noah Juniors or has defeated his former teammates. 

Match Four

Kaito Kiyomiya vs Kotaro Suzuki

Battle of the generations. Kotaro Suzuki is Noah's firstborn. Mitsuharu Misawa was so proud of this, that he gave him the ring name "Kotaro". "Ko" means drum as he wanted him to resound, with the suffix "Taro" which is traditionally given to the first bon son. Kaito Kiyomiya is the leader of the current generation of Noah Born, and unlike Kotaro he never knew Misawa. This will be their first singles match ever, and for Kiyomiya, Suzuki completes the pantheon of the Misawa era to wrestle. 

Match Five

STINGER (HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa, Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu) vs Perros Del Mal De Japon (NOSAWA Rongai, Eita, YO-HEY & Super Crazy)

The new GHC Junior Tag Champions (Yuya Susumu and Seiki Yoshioka) team with the people who Noah stripped the titles from, to take on their enemies, Perros Del Mal De Japon. There is a lot going on here - new champions without challengers (I am wondering if Susumu will nominate Ogawa and HAYATA as Susumu and Ogawa would like), Ogawa wants revenge on pretty much everyone, especially Eita and NOSAWA, Yoshioka and YO-HEY have their issues as do HAYATA and YO-HEY. It's going to be a wild ride. 

Match Six

Kongoh (Kenoh, Masakatsu Funaki & Manabu Soya) vs The M's alliance (Naomichi Marufuji, Masato Tanaka & Masaaki Mochizuki)

Masakatsu Funaki, who has promised new red ring gear, will make his first appearance tonight with his new unit, Kongoh. His old unit seemingly bear no ill will, and Naomichi Marufuji is looking forward to fighting. The M's are one member down, I wonder...

Match Seven

"Go Shiozaki's Road To The GHC"

Takashi Sugiura vs Go Shiozaki

After failing in his GHC Heavyweight bid and then being upstaged by Kaito Kiyomiya, and with his last win over the junior, Aleja, Go Shiozaki feels that to get back to the GHC he must pass some personal trials. Namely facing who he calls the "top of Noah" in singles matches, and those matches start with Takashi Sugiura. Shiozaki has to win each match, and Sugiura is not going to make it easy for him.