(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: STAR NAVIGATION 2022 (Thursday July 21st, Korakuen Hall)

Hideki Suzuki was not on hand for The Budokan fallout show, as Noah announced he was suffering a fever. In true style, Suzuki announced he would be watching on ABEMA along with everyone else. The card was changed, with Mohammed Yone being put on the card and Satoshi Kojima moved into another match. Akitoshi Saito was on commentary, and Anthony Greene was on autographs. Attendance was 537. It should be noted that while this sounds like a dire attendance, Noah did not make all the seats in the venue available to buy with two or so sections of the hall blocked off. 

Event is available to view on WrestleUniverse, but you must be a subscriber to view. 

MATCH ONE

Shuhei Taniguchi vs Kinya Okada

As he himself stated as he was not in the N-1 VICTORY, Shuhei Taniguchi  wanted to get good stimulus that was given to the younger guys. The match came across as a teaching one, and I think Kenta Kobashi would have been pleased with his student returning to a more serious persona and utilizing the lariat, a relatively new thing for Taniguchi. 

Kinya Okada had the crowd behind him, and showed good offense in coming very close to the pin,  blocking Taniguchi's chokeslam and evening knocking him down with kicks and kicking out of the chokeslam and the huge lariat. It says a lot that Taniguchi felt the only way to win, was by submission.

WINNER: Shuhei Taniguchi with the Wyvern Clutch (9 minutes, 6 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Ninja Mack & Alejandro vs Dante Leon & YO-HEY

From the moment they entered, it looked as if YO-HEY and Dante Leon had hit it off instantly. Their opponents had no less chemistry, and the commentators called them "The Masked Man Combination".  YO-HEY called himself and Dante "YO-HEY chan and Dante Leon" and felt a new tag had been born. 

We will see as current events later in the show, may change things. 

Excited YO-HEY started off against Ninja Mack, telling him "YO-HEY, Ninja". The initial lock up was full of Nina pose offs. Alejandro and Dante Leon did marginally more actual wrestling, that was until Dante told Alejandro to tag in Ninja Mack and then the match disintegrated into a top rope somersault competition. Everyone was loving the vibe of friendly rivalry and junior chaos. Ninja Mack knocked his opponents off of the apron with backflips, and then did one over the top rope, fortunately Dante Leon won the match soon after. The bell was rung to signify the end of the match, and a second time which kind of warned the juniors no more competitions. 

WINNER: Dante Leon with the Crusio Cutter on Alejandro (11 minutes, 21 seconds)

The bell was kind of rung as if to signify not only the end of the match, but no more competitions. 

MATCH THREE

Daisuke Harada vs Seiki Yoshioka

Unsurprisingly, there was no playful feeling in this match. Both had a score to settle and wrestled to exhaustion as the time ticked down. Highly technical match, in which Daisuke Harada grounded Seiki Yoshioka, not by attacking his legs but by sharp jabs and punches to the abdomen to exhaust and wear him down. 

WINNER: Daisuke Harada with DOKAAAN (12 minutes, 27 seconds)

Harada spoke on the microphone after the match, and knowing that Seiki Yoshioka was on his own (Harada does not generally like lone wolves as they inevitably join an enemy unit) offered him to join The Noah Juniors regulars, because he thought what he saw today when they fought, was awesome. Yoshioka accepted his offer. YO-HEY has made no comment so far about his enemy joining, and Yoshioka didn't seem to mind that YO-HEY was in it, but I guess we will see something later perhaps. Backstage, Harada said the Noah Juniors needed Yoshioka's strength to grow, while Yoshioka said that he had tried being a lone wolf and failed to get the GHC Junior Heavyweight, but he was willing to try it while doing something he had never done before. 

Note: If Hajime Ohara left Kongoh and came back to the Noah Juniors, we would have a FULL THROTTLE reunion of Yoshioka, Ohara, YO-HEY and Atsushi Kotoge. It's unlikely though.

MATCH FOUR

Kongoh (Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya) vs Mohammed Yone, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura

Mohammed Yone's dancing to the sound of the fans clapping was not appreciated by Manabu Soya, who did not crack a smile. The Disco Fever Rope break went over even less well as Soya just walked off to Yone saying, "Hey! Hey!". Things weren't so funky in the shoulder tackle fight that followed with Manabu knocking Yone down. 

Kenoh's target throughout the match was Yoshiki Inamura. Kenoh has said in interviews that he wants to make Noah a place where the young have a voice and when he wins the N-1, he is going to nominate either Inamura or Kinya Okada as challengers. So today, as the only Katsuhiko Nakajima (who Inamura picked up and carried as if he was doll) other person in the N-1, Kenoh saw it as his duty to violently inspire him. Inamura was not to be cowed. 

WINNER: Kenoh with the PFS on Mohammed Yone (15 minutes, 25 seconds)

Kenoh's win was a bit of a damp squib, but he had been lucky because Nakajima had saved him from Yone pinning him. Outside the ring, the heavyweights were having a melee brawl, which broke up the moment the bell rang for them to stop. Nakajima walked off grinning. He hadn't won the match today, but he didn't care. He said he would again be number one. 

MATCH FIVE

STINGER (HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa & Yuya Susumu) & Kai Fujimura vs Kongoh (Shuji Kondo, Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Hi69)

HAYATA let out a big sigh when entering the ring and looking at Shuji Kondo. Kondo has the advantage in almost everyway - he's bigger, he's stronger for starters. Kondo actually was initially quite friendly, offering HAYATA a handshake. He might be speaking now, but shaking hands is not something he is going to be doing. Just yet at least. 

Kondo proceeded to no sell HAYATA, lifting his arms for him to chop him and even walking towards him arms outstretched, a butt of heads and HAYATA desperately trying to chop him. Kondo did not even break a sweat when he knocked him down. By the end of the match, HAYATA seemed to have worked Kondo out somewhat, in that kicks seemed to be the most effective in wearing him down.

WINNER: Shuji Kondo with the King Kong Lariat on Kai Fujimura (15 minutes, 59 seconds)

Kondo spoke on the mic and went to speak in HAYATA'S face, at that HAYATA snatched the mic from him and growled quietly that he was looking forward to the title match. Kondo agreed, he was too, and offering his hand suggested that they have a straightforward match. HAYATA shook his hand, but when Kondo went to walk off, HAYATA hung on and a fight broke out almost straight away with HAYATA'S sneak attack being dodged. 

Kondo later said he would wage "mental warfare" on HAYATA. 

MATCH SIX

Satoshi Kojima & Atsushi Kotoge vs Anthony Green & Stallion Rogers

The big story was between Satoshi Kojima and Anthony Greene, who were aware of their N-1 Rivalry. They might be in different blocks, but it doesn't matter. The heavyweight division act like the juniors when the league comes round. Their rivalry dragged Stallion Rogers and Atsushi Kotoge in, which culminated in a shock win. 

WINNER: Anthony Greene with the Alternative Ending on Atsushi Kotoge (13 minutes, 55 seconds)

MATCH SEVEN

OPEN THE TRIANGLE GATE Championship

OPEN THE TRIANGLE GATE

Perros Del Mal De Japon (NOSAWA Rongai, Eita & Kotaro Suzuki) vs HIGH ENERGY (YAMATO, Dragon Kid & Kagetora)

Eita came to the ring with the GHC Junior Tag belt, which Yoshinari Ogawa has evidently not retrieved. He even held it up as if he was already champion, and posed with it for the group picture. He then handed to Super Crazy who was at ringside. YAMATO and Kotaro started the match (which was free from any run ins by an angry STINGER looking for revenge) and naturally, Eita started cheating, with Perros doing this throughout the match. It was a fast paced fun match, with NOSAWA and YAMATO winding each other up. 

WINNER: Eita with the Imperial Crab on Kagetora (10 minutes, 18 seconds)

The issues between NOSAWA and YAMATO had reached boiling point, and NOSAWA challenged him to a singles match in Noah. In DragonGate the title was moving as had no sooner than HIGH ENERGY departed, Masaaki Mochizuki came to the ring with his own unit M3K. M3K consist of his son, Ryoto and a DragonGate wrestler called Susumu Mochizuki (no relation and was formerly known as Yokosuka). They are also dressed in the baggy pants, t-shirts, shades and varsity jackets and floppy hair of 90s college boys, leading NOSAWA Rongai to ask Mochizuki (52) if he was a little old to be dressing that way? And that Ryoto didn't really want to be dressing that way either. 

Their attire was the least of Perros worries, they had come to challenge for the titles. The challenge will take place in DragonGate at KobeWorld next week. With MK3 gone (and no they didn't bring their scooters) Eita once again proclaimed himself a GHC Junior Tag Champion. Yoshinari Ogawa ran to the ring and started to beat him up, but no help from Perros was forthcoming as they were too interested in arguing with MK3 to notice what was happening behind them. The bell was also ringing, but no Noah Junior takes any notice of that which rings when fighting with other Noah Juniors or invading wrestlers. 

When Perros eventually did notice, they saw a tug of war over the belt going on and Ogawa again tasted the Imperial Uno kick. Yuya Susumu came running out and was dealt with much the same when he threw himself over Ogawa. Eita taunted Ogawa with the belt, playing with him as if he were dangling a string to play with a cat. Ogawa did not get his belt back, and another fight broke out near the curtain, which then went backstage. Perros later got jumped by STINGER when in the comments booth. 

MATCH EIGHT

N1 scramble 6-person tag match

Go Shiozaki, Masato Tanaka & Masa Kitamiya vs The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura & Kazuyuki Fujita) & Kaito Kiyomiya

"Noah's past present and future"

Everyone was united, but everyone was separate as they made their own entrances. Takashi Sugiura and Go Shiozaki started. Sugiura (who was looking a little happier, but he left the ring as soon as he could) offered a handshake to his partners, Kazuyuki Fujita took it, but Kaito Kiyomiya was a little more hesitant. 

Kaito Kiyomiya entered in his old black and silver gown, looking more a little like himself. He didn't use any of the "Three Treasures" that Keiji Mutoh had given to him today (The Shining Wizard, The Figure Four or The Dragon Screw), but he was different. More controlled, more thoughtful. He said later that this was something he had learned from Mutoh. How to think during a match. He later said that he hadn't used any of Mutoh's moves as he wanted to find a move unique to him, which he hoped he would find in the N-1. 

There were a lot of N-1 preview fights here; The Bullet Yankees (Takashi Sugiura and Masato Tanaka) who love to fight, even though they are in different blocks, Go Shiozaki and Masa Kitamiya, and Masa Kitamiya and Kazuyuki Fujita, who he threw across the ring. 

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Double Armlock on Go Shiozaki (22 minutes, 15 seconds)

What was important was that Kiyomiya won by being Kiyomiya who incorporated what he had learned. Keiji Mutoh's ghost exorcised, he looked like a breath of fresh air had swept over him. He addressed the crowd and said he wanted to build the pro wrestling of Noah's new generation. 

As Kiyomiya spoke, Shiozaki remained outside the ring. Fans felt something was wrong, as although Shiozaki could move his arm, his arm seemed to hang loosely. A good sign was that he could move his fingers, but his body looked contorted and although he tried to heave himself up and walk out on his own (champion or not, he does not like to be helped) he had difficulty. Noah later announced that due to a neck injury he would miss both tomorrow and the fan events at the weekend. Hopefully, he will not miss the N-1.

With thanks to: Metal-Noah & Miriam

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse

Noah's next event: STAR NAVIGATION 2022, Friday July 22nd, Korakuen Hall (live broadcast)