(NOAH CHRONOLOGY) GHC HEAVYWEIGHT TAG CHAMPIONSHIP: TAKA & SATOSHI (Takashi Sugiura and Satoshi Kojima)

Won: 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)

Number of title reigns (as a team): 0

Number of defenses: 

Lost: 

Total number of days held: 

Challengers

1. Kongoh (Kenoh and Katsuhiko Nakajima)

2. Funky Express (Mohammed Yone and Akitoshi Saito)

3. MaruKen (Naomichi Marufuji & KENTA)

VS Kongoh (Kenoh and Katsuhiko Nakajima) 

ABEMA presents Ariake Triumph-THE RETURN-PRO-WRESTLING LOVE FOREVER - Ariake Arena, October 30th

STAR NAVIGATION 2022 (Friday October 7th, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo)

Takashi Sugiura, Satoshi Kojima, Naomichi Marufuji & Kazushi Sakuraba vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Masakatsu Funaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya)

You would have thought that the focus of this match would have been on the GHC National Championship challenge that Kazushi Sakuraba made to Masakatsu Funaki, but the focus was actually on Kenoh and Katsuhiko Nakajima and their targeting of Takashi Sugiura and Satoshi Kojima. Sakuraba and Funaki started off with a technical mat style of wrestling, which gave Funaki an idea of what the title match would be like at the end of the match. 

Out of everyone in Kongoh, Manabu Soya seems to be Naomichi Marufuji's favorite to fight, probably because he's the biggest and strongest and therefore it appears to Marufuji's stubborn nature to fight him and to try and overcome him. 

The tag champions knew they were being targeted. Kenoh with his usual fury targeting Kojima, whom he has a grudge against. He smirked after their first match up, as if these two old men could mess around, then so could he and Nakajima. They didn't do their usual spot though, and Takashi Sugiura managed to land a big boot without a groggy Nakajima moving. Kenoh broke the pin with a wild PFS, and then recovered, both Sugiura and Kojima got the tandem kicks. Nakajima did a devastating kick to Sugi's face, pausing beforehand and then looking demonic. He went for the win looking straight at Kojima.

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the Vertical Spike on Takashi Sugiura (22 minutes, 30 seconds)

Nakajima gathered up the tag belts and draped them both over Takashi Sugiura before calling for the mic;

""Taka and Satoshi, you're having fun pretending to be actors. Even if you old men have belts, they are just getting old. Me and Kenoh and those belts, let's go assholes!""

Kenoh had earlier parodied Kojima's "let's go", but in a far more foulmouthed way with "Let's go, fuck you!"

SUNNY VOYAGE 2022, Saturday 15th October (Sun Arena, Sendai)

Takashi Sugiura, Satoshi Kojima, Naomichi Marufuji, Atsushi Kotoge & Alejandro vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Manabu Soya, Tadasuke & Hajime Ohara)

WINNER: Kenoh with the PFS on Satoshi Kojima (16 minutes, 1 seconds)

The finisher on Kojima was apparently pretty brutal with the Vertical Spike by Katsuhiko Nakajima being done before the PFS. The two of them did the pose once again by a decimated Satoshi Kojima. Kenoh, as the winner, was then awarded with the winners prize, GET Tuna, by the sponsors. The prize was in the form of their logo, a giant Tuna, which kind of gave the Kongoh pose a funny element. Kenoh was even carrying it with him backstage when he went to yell about Sugiura and Kojima.

Title Match: [Muto Retirement Road] ABEMA presents Ariake Gaisen-THE RETURN-PRO-WRESTLING LOVE FOREVER . 3 ~TRIUMPH~

The match was wild and initially the champions were run roughshod by their challengers, who had no time for their "Dangerous Detective" antics. The crowd did though and called back "Kojima" each time Sugiura called "Satoshi". Despite this, the "old men playing at being detectives" as Kenoh called them, can be dangerous and this chaotic match saw Kenoh breaking a pin with the PFS, Kenoh countering Kojima's chops with kicks and screaming "Let's go mutherfucker!", and it was almost like a junior match in that all four at one point laid in the ring after taking each others moves, but the old men prevailed and Kojima won. 

WINNER: Satoshi Kojima with The Western Lariat on Katsuhiko Nakajima (21 minutes, 23 seconds)

VS Funky Express

GLOBAL2days WRESTLE UNIVERSE presents Global Honored Crown, Thursday November 10th 2022, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

[Muto Retirement Road] ABEMA presents Ariake Gaisen-THE RETURN-PRO-WRESTLING LOVE FOREVER . 3 ~TRIUMPH~

The last time we had seen Funky Express, Akitoshi Saito had said that Tamon Honda had given permission for his move "Dead End"to be used, Mohammed Yone said that with this they could go to the tag front, and today they "two of the funkiest people in the world, had come to challenge for the titles".  Sugiura had no problems doing it, but naturally he also deferred the question to Kojima, who yelled "Let's go motherfucker!". 

SUNNY VOYAGE 2022, Kiramesse Numazu (Thursday, November 3rd)

Kaito Kiyomiya, Yoshiki Inamura & Funky Express (Akitoshi Saito & Mohammed Yone) vs Takashi Sugiura, Satoshi Kojima, Timothy Thatcher & El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr

Takashi Sugiura and Akitoshi Saito seemed to have more of a feud between them than Mohammed Yone and Akitoshi Saito. However, Yone wasn't messing around, he and Sugiura got straight into shoulder tackles and the Disco Fever pose was met by a big boot to the face. After the match, Saito and Sugiura kept fighting. 

WINNER: Timothy Thatcher defeated Kaito Kiyomiya with the Fujiwara Arm Bar (19 minutes, 59 seconds

GLOBAL2days WRESTLE UNIVERSE presents Global Honored Crown, Thursday November 10th 2022, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

GHC Tag Championship match

Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima vs Funky Express (Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito)

As fitting their roles in this match, Akitoshi Saito came out looking all business, Mohammed Yone came out looking all funky. He was all business though in the ring, as was Satoshi Kojima. The GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions were aware that both the titles in the matches beforehand had already changed hands that evening, they didn't want to be the third, and they tore into their opponents. The big boot was hit, with Satoshi holding the opponent firm, and Akitoshi Saito even used some Bison Smith moves. Fans I think were really behind Saito, even more than Yone. 

I think this was probably the best match that Akitoshi Saito/Funky Express have had in a while. This match took them from a comedy opening act, who had done little more than talk about making a big belt for all four in the unit (when there was four in the unit, which Saito said was going to be funded by Masao Inoue's piggybank) to fighting the younger wrestlers to Yone's cheerful assertion that this was their purpose, to being seen as a legitimate team to challenge for belts. 

WINNER: Takashi Sugiura via referee stop (Front neck hold on Akitoshi Saito, 22 minutes and 54 seconds)

Funky Express were devastated that they had not been able to win the belts, Yone looked close to tears while Saito was in them. The champions gave them a handshake to acknowledge their match, their challenge and the new position of Funky Express in the heavyweight tag division. No challengers have come forward as of yet. The challengers left to the applause of the fans, they might have lost the match, but they left as victors in other ways.  

VS MaruKEN

ABEMA presents NOAH "THE NEW YEAR" 2023, Sunday January 1st, Nippon Budokan

NOAH the BEST 2022 (Wednesday November 23rd, National Yoyogi Stadium 2nd Gymnasium)

The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura, Kazuyuki Fujita & Timothy Thatcher) vs Naomichi Marufuji, Masaaki Mochizuki & Masato Tanaka

WINNER: Naomichi Marufuji with a rolling black clutch on Takashi Sugiura (17 minutes, 27 seconds)

Takashi Sugiura looked stunned that Marufuji had gotten a momentum win, and Thatcher left complaining with Fujita trying to calm him, but Sugiura remained in the ring as Naomichi Marufuji got on the microphone, and made a huge announcement;

"Taka, ever since you won the tag belt with Satoshi, I have been aiming for it. Taka, I won today, so can I challenge you?" 

Marufuji's M's alliance partners were hanging over the ropes, holding out their hands and hoping that he would chose them. Marufuji continued,

"I'm going to take this belt in one go, my partner is....KENTA! Taka & Satoshi vs MaruKen...will you do it?"

The venue by this time was in an uproar, and although Sugiura looked as if he wanted to say, "KENTA? KENTA?! Are you fucking kidding me?! he accepted the challenge. Which has been set for the Nippon Budokan on New Year's Day. KENTA, however, as Marufuji later revealed hadn't exactly been asked, but he evidently has agreed to it. When asked why he chose KENTA, Marufuji explained that he wanted to do something interesting and had been thinking about this since he was in America, and while he "wasn't interested in old memories" (and neither did KENTA as Marufuji supposed), next year was also his (Marufuji's) 25th year in wrestling. KENTA has typically made no comment, even though Marufuji said he wanted him to "go wild on the Noah mat", and simply posted a picture of the match. To explain for the newer fans, MaruKen (Marufuji and KENTA) where a much beloved junior tag team who hold the record for the longest reign as champions. They had gone their separate ways as a team as heavyweights, but did challenge for the belts as juniors, when they took on (and lost to) Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa (see "Heir To The Ark" for more on this).

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