(NOAH CHRONOLOGY) GHC JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT TAG CHAMPIONS: STINGER (HAYATA & Yuya Susumu) vs The Noah Junior Regulars (YO-HEY & Atsushi Kotoge)

STEP FORWARD 2022 (FRIDAY 11TH FEBRUARY, KORAKUEN HALL, TOKYO)

Perros Del Mal De Japon (Super Crazy, Kotaro Suzuki, YO-HEY & NOSAWA Rongai) vs STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa, HAYATA, Yuya Susumu) & Yasutaka Yano

With this being a pre match now and not just a squabble between NOSAWA and HAYATA, NOSAWA (who had previously been singing along to his theme music) made spooky hands at HAYATA. Yoshinari Ogawa could be seen flicking his denim jacket at Super Crazy. 

No one took much notice of the rules as to be expected, constant ring invasions, melee brawls. Typical Noah Junior match. The refs have long since learned to pay attention to what is going on in the ring, the brawls outside will burn themselves out and everyone eventually returns to the apron. But today in the midst of this chaos, YO-HEY managed to kick NOSAWA in the face when Susumu escaped a move. This allowed Yasutaka Yano, who had pinned NOSAWA before, to get the win over him again. NOSAWA has never forgiven Yano for this and the humiliation returned today.

WINNER: Yasutaka Yano (4 minutes, 47 seconds)

NOSAWA, after a few seconds of making out that everything was okay, turned on YO-HEY, punching him to the floor. He looked outside the ring for a chair as Kotaro Suzuki and Super Crazy held YO-HEY. No one came to YO-HEY'S help as NOSAWA battered him, causing a gushing headwound, and the others joined in. 

Atsushi Kotoge ran to the ring and threw himself over YO-HEY. NOSAWA carried on using the chair, it long having lost its seat, which had also been used as a separate weapon. The Noah Junior Regulars flew in to help and Perros Del Mal left. NOSAWA and Super Crazy throwing chairs into the ring. 

You could have heard a pin drop in Korakuen Hall, seldom is it so quiet, as YO-HEY spoke on the mic. He thanked Kotoge and then dragging himself to his feet, shook hands with everyone as he was welcomed into the Noah Junior Regular Army. 

Hajime Ohara, remembering the heartbreak over the Full Throttle split, was not as welcoming. Old friend Daisuke Harada welcomed YO-HEY too. Backstage, YO-HEY addressed the title challenge and asked Atsushi Kotoge to tag with him against Yuya Susumu and HAYATA. Kotoge said that YO-HEY'S natural sparkle was vital to the Noah Junior Regulars. Title match will be in Nagoya on the 23rd February. 

STEP FORWARD 2022 (Saturday February 12th, Shimada City General Sports Center Sub Arena) 

Naomichi Marufuji & HAYATA vs The Noah Junior Regulars (Atsushi Kotoge & YO-HEY)

"Today Naomichi Marufuji is a villain"

While he didn't wear white gear, YO-HEY seems a lot happier and more like his old self. Fortunately he doesn't seem to have suffered any ill effects of the head injury and came to the match wearing a bandage. Atsushi Kotoge was seen to gently put it back in place. He also came to the ring with an N-Innovation t-shirt hanging out of the front of his pants. Unfortunately for YO-HEY his head injury was a target, not so much for HAYATA I don't think (although I could be wrong) but certainly for Marufuji who knocked YO-HEY'S head around, even trampling on his face. HAYATA remained completely unconcerned by Marufuji and anything Marufuji was doing, refusing to shake hands with him at the start of the match (seriously, when you get the chance, take a look at Marufuji's expression) and not even joining in when Marufuji fought YO-HEY outside the ring. HAYATA had to uphold STINGER today with both Yuya Susumu and Seiki Yoshioka absent, and Yoshinari Ogawa in a singles match, and succeeded. 

WINNER: HAYATA with 403 Impact on YO-HEY (13 minutes, 1 second)

TITLE MATCH

GAIN CONTROL 2022 IN NAGOYA (AICHI / NAGOYA CONGRESS CENTER EVENT HALL, WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 23RD)

YO-HEY started against HAYATA. HAYATA was the one, even more than Yuya Susumu, who YO-HEY needed to overcome more than anything, seldom having beaten him before and they know, or perhaps once knew each other very well. More than the title, perhaps more than any other titles they had ever fought for, tonight was YO-HEY'S arc in an adrenalin churning fast paced exciting and emotional match. To add to the drama, YO-HEY'S head opened again which HAYATA and Susumu helped to open a little more. Fortunately, YO-HEY did not bleed like he did when he was originally given the cut. 

HAYATA and Yuya Susumu were merciless in attack. HAYATA using Ogawa tactics, distracting the ref by making out that Atsushi Kotoge was up to something when he wasn't. Yuya Susumu (with his own eerie grin on inflicting pain) softened up YO-HEY with kicks, and used a vicious chokehold on Kotoge and the face lock that YO-HEY had tapped out in one of the pre matches. Worn down and smeared with blood, YO-HEY refused to give up. 

WINNER: YO-HEY with the Super Face G on Yuya Susumu (26 minutes, 58 seconds)

YO-HEY couldn't believe it, and even counted it on his fingers. He was still to defeat HAYATA (and that will come in due course), but for now he and Kotoge had won the titles, and this was the true start of raising the Noah Juniors. He hadn't defeated HAYATA however, but he had taken the championship from him. It was a start. 

Next champions: The Noah Junior Regulars (YO-HEY & Atsushi Kotoge)