(NOAH) CARD: GRAND SHIP 2022 in NAGOYA PRO-WRESTLING & KEIJI MUTOH RETIREMENT ROAD - LOVE FOREVER.2 ~OUT BREAK~ (Sunday September 25th, Dolphins Arena, Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium, Nagoya)

The chain of events which began when the N-1 finishes culminates tonight, and as ever the wheel keeps on turning and a whole new set of rivalries, stories and twists and turns will arise. While this is true for probably most of the roster, for Keiji Mutoh who makes a stop on his retirement road tonight, it is a story that is drawing to a close. Tonight sees not only Mutoh's farewell to Nagoya, but also four emotional title matches, none without their drama, albeit comedic in one case. 

The doors open at 14:30 JST (Naomichi Marufuji and Kazuyuki Fujita will be on autographs) with the show starting at 16:00. Event will be streamed live on WrestleUniverse, English and Japanese commentary will be available. You must be a subscriber to view, and at the time of writing, Noah are running a promotion of getting two weeks free. 

Tonight will also be Masa Kitamiya's 11th debut anniversary.

MATCH ONE

Manabu Soya vs Taishi Ozawa

Noah's newest Noah Born takes on ultra-heavyweight Manabu Soya. So far Ozawa, unsurprisingly, has only fought heavyweights and Soya makes a good teacher in this.  

MATCH TWO

Perros Del Mal De Japon (NOSAWA Rongai & Eita) vs Yasutaka Yano & Kai Fujimura

I feel very sorry for three people in this match; Kai Fujimura because he's going to be at the mercy of Perros Del Mal De Japon who are are faster, stronger, more experienced and don't play fair; Yasutaka Yano as NOSAWA Rongai has been embarrassed by him in the past when Yano has pinned him so that makes him a target, and NOSAWA himself for potential embarrassment should the same happen again.

MATCH THREE

Funky Express (Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito) vs THE TOUGH (Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura)

THE TOUGH reunite to take on Funky Express. Noah fans love their hoss fights so get ready for Akitoshi Saito vs Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura shoulder tackles. 

MATCH FOUR

Ninja Mack, Xtreme Tiger & Alejandro vs Kongoh Juniors (Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Hi69)

Noah Junior chaos as three of Noah's luchadores take on the dour Kongoh. I am expecting Tadasuke to pull out a few of his own moonsaults for this, and of course Hajime Ohara loves being in the ring with Mexican wrestlers as they remind him of his early days in wrestling. Match of chaos, because the Noah Juniors have to fit that in somewhere and everyone else is in title matches tonight.  

MATCH FIVE

Naomichi Marufuji, Jack Morris & El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr vs Masato Tanaka, Masaaki Mochizuki & Daiki Inaba

The last match on the card before fans hearts are broken and emotion soars to the sky by the matches that follow, sees a rivalry in the form of Naomichi Marufuji and Daiki Inaba (plus a smaller one as Masato Tanaka and Masaaki Mochizuki are opponents), and Jack Morris fight some N-1 nemesis.

MATCH SIX

GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship

STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway) vs The Noah Junior Regulars (Atsushi Kotoge & Seiki Yoshioka)

The title matches start off with one of the most harsh of the evening. Seiki Yoshioka (but not Atsushi Kotoge, does that mean anything or not I wonder) has been targeted by STINGER mercilessly during the pre matches - his leg attacked, his knee, even his foot, and then they started on his arm effectively neutralizing one side of him. This is going to be a hard match to watch as STINGER are going to bring double the attack they have done, and The Noah Junior Regulars are going to need everything they have got to fight back.  

MATCH SEVEN

GHC Heavyweight Tag Championship

The Sugiura Army (Hideki Suzuki & Timothy Thatcher) vs Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima

Takashi Sugiura and Satoshi Kojima are Noah's dysfunctional/functional tag team, perhaps not on a level seen when SUWA and Minoru Suzuki teamed up (Scorpio had to separate them once as they started fighting in the corner, as Takeshi Morishima watched and laughed), but still at a level where they accidentally hit each other and then have a falling out which is quickly made up. Sugi has even likened them to a slapstick comedy duo. Their opponents, despite Hideki Suzuki's Commedia dell'arte, are more serious and we have seen how Timothy Thatcher is just as much of a cyborg as Sugi is. Despite the usual Sugiura Army chaos, which no doubt will appear at some point in the match, it's going to be a supreme test of endurance just like the junior tag was. 

MATCH EIGHT

GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship

HAYATA vs YO-HEY

For a long time, even when they were teaming together, YO-HEY had cherished an ambition to defeat HAYATA for the GHC Junior Championship and he has never been successful. With the passage of time, things have changed and both have evolved, and YO-HEY has managed to get a rare defeat over HAYATA in the last pre match. He himself admits that he will need to do more in the title match to win though. Another factor in this match is their personal ties. Although they don't team together anymore and it was HAYATA who broke the team by turning on YO-HEY, YO-HEY admits that it is HAYATA the person, not HAYATA the tag partner, who he still has a soft spot for and this has been an issue in past title matches he thinks. Despite the use of the ties that bind "my ex partner" was a phrased used often, nostalgia for the past hinted at and HAYATA of course not speaking much as YO-HEY does that (force of habit), this has been one of the most vicious, bitter and intensely personal of all of HAYATA'S challenges. Expect the match to be nothing less. 

For YO-HEY & HAYATA fans, whatever happens, this match is going to tear them apart. 

MATCH NINE

PRO-WRESTLING LOVE FOREVER.2 ~OUT BREAK~ (Keiji Mutoh retirement road)

Keiji Mutoh & Kazuyuki Fujita vs Kongoh (Masakatsu Funaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima)

Katsuhiko Nakajima described the atmosphere of Keiji Mutoh and classmate Masakatsu Funaki reuniting with their lower classman (or junior to them) Kazuyuki Fujita as a class reunion. Nakajima says he is going to destroy that atmosphere and has warned Mutoh that after this match, he (Mutoh) may not even make it to his retirement at The Tokyo Dome. Masakatsu Funaki has also echoed this sentiment saying that he and Nakajima are going to kick Mutoh so much, that people are going to be disgusted by it.  

MATCH TEN

GHC Heavyweight Championship

Kenoh vs Kaito Kiyomiya

Kaito Kiyomiya won the N-1 VICTORY 2022 and won the right to challenge Kenoh for the GHC Heavyweight. Instead of marching to the ring and spitting profanity laden flames at him, Kenoh actually looked amused. At the match signing, he patted Kiyomiya on the head. As their feud has deepened and after Kiyomiya pinned Kenoh with The Shining Wizard, Kenoh changed tactics and found ways to counter the move, and then found that it was just as effective if he did it himself. Kenoh's announcement that he would therefore take the move over as once Keiji Mutoh retired, Kiyomiya wouldn't keep it up, has not gone down well with Kiyomiya and neither did Kenoh's announcement that he would be the one to cherish Mutoh. This is not the start or the end of their story, it is just a continuation of the story of two people just as tied together as their counterparts in the GHC Junior. Kenoh has retained the GHC Heavyweight before against Kiyomiya (albeit Kiyomiya had no chance of winning when he challenged), and Kiyomiya has done the same to Kenoh, although things were very different in 2019. Will tonight break that cycle?    

Picture & GIF credit: WrestleUniverse