(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: 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)

There were two treats today for fans arriving at the arena. Yoshinari Ogawa was finishing up a teaching session with two Noah Born, Kaito Kiyomiya and Yasutaka Yano, and Naomichi Marufuji was on autographs. Autograph sessions are done by ticket only, and one fan lamented that they got there too late. Noah later announced an attendance of 1,933. 

Event can be viewed on WrestleUniverse, with English and Japanese commentary available. You must be a subscriber to view. Please consider a subscription as at the time of writing, Noah are running a promotion of two weeks free. 

MATCH ONE

Manabu Soya vs Taishi Ozawa

This was an interesting match for both Taishi Ozawa and Manabu Soya, as Soya I kind of got the impression was showing Ozawa how to fight as a heavyweight, and probably an ultra heavyweight one at that. Ozawa never took his eyes off his opponent, and offered a handshake, which was accepted. Ozawa showed he was a true Noah Born as like all the other Noah Born, he stubborn and it even took him a while to tap

WINNER: Manabu Soya with Boston Crab (7 minutes, 1 second)

MATCH TWO

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

Compared to the young boys who ran the length of the entryway to the ring, Eita and NOSAWA were in no hurry to get there and wasted time promoting new merchandise and yelling at the camera in the entryway that unless people bought their merchandise, they wouldn't come to the ring, and then they wasted time pointing out a fans t-shirt in the crowd and those with Perros merchandise. Eita was also carrying a bag (there was nothing in it) and flicking the towel at cameras. 

When they eventually reached the ring, NOSAWA offered a handshake, but Kai Fujimura and Yasutaka Yano, knowing him and Perros too well, attacked him, double dropkicked Eita and so for now got the advantage. NOSAWA even tried to tag Eita in using his foot.

The two boys worked at keeping Eita out of the ring and NOSAWA in it, however NOSAWA managed to reverse a move, Eita interfered and the dogs fought back, winning via a double team. 

WINNER: Eita with a low flying dropkick to the face on Kai Fujimura (7 minutes, 1 second)

Backstage, NOSAWA was on again about challenging Kenoh and Katsuhiko Nakajima. However, as later events would show, he may come to regret that decision. 

MATCH THREE

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

Masa Kitamiya celebrated his 11th debut anniversary in Noah today. It's not really imaginable by looking at him now, but he actually debuted as junior. You wouldn't recognize him from then. 

Mohammed Yone came dancing to the ring, even Akitoshi Saito had a little swing in his step. Saito and Yone are the last two left in Funky Express, as Shuhei Taniguchi left and Masao Inoue doesn't look to be returning to Noah any time soon. I doubt that Funky Express are going to get involved in tag challenges or even split up, Saito seems to have a role on commentary and it's an easy payday for them both, which they have both deserved. 

This was very much a heavyweight match, nothing in the way of technicality but very much lariats, slams, shoulder tackles etc. and of course loud roaring. Yone was on form today, dancing along rapidly with the crowd clapping. Kitamiya countered Disco Fever with his Go For Broke pose, but Disco Fever did also not prevent Kitamiya from leaping at Yone and knocking him to the mat. Yone also delivered some pretty audible punches on Inamura. 

WINNER: Yoshiki Inamura with the Musou on Mohammed Yone (9 minutes, 47 seconds)

MATCH FOUR

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

The masked wrestlers have formed their own little unit within a unit pretty much, and they form an extension of the Noah Junior Regulars in a way. They had the advantage until the Kongoh Juniors cheated and Ninja Mack inadvertently distracted the ref by complaining about them. However, there is a certain level of risk that comes with being a masked wrestler when with a wild expression, Tadasuke tried to unmask Alejandro while he was trapped on the ropes, the ref stopped him the first time but he almost completed it the second. The ref saved Alejandro again by threatening to count Tadasuke, who stopped this activity pretty damn quick.  However, Tadasuke succeeded in ripping the mask off of Alejandro and the match was thrown out

WINNER: Alejandro (thanks to Tadasuke) (11 minutes, 24 seconds)

Alejandro managed to get his mask back and then in anger chased after the Kongoh Juniors. Backstage Alejandro asked Tadasuke if he wanted do a mask match. Tadasuke however, as we will see, has moved on to bigger fish. 

MATCH FIVE

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

Filler match where much to their credit, the veterans (Naomichi Marufuji, El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Junior, Masaaki Mochizuki and Masato Tanaka) stayed out of the match to some extent, letting the younger ones take the stage. I think had the M's alliance still been around, Jack Morris certainly would have been a member as Marufuji seems to really enjoy working with him. 

At the start Marufuji and Tanaka started, Marufuji tagged in Jack Morris after getting an elbow to the face and wandered around outside the ring a bit holding his jaw. Later,  Marufuji and Inaba rekindled their feud, Marufuji taking pleasure in dog-earring Inaba and chopping him. Later, Masaaki Mochizuki used his former partner as a springboard to dropkick down El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr and Morris.  

Inaba, who had been wound up tightly by Marufuji, with a savage look on his face locked in his submission on Morris, Morris was saved by his teammates, and so as the veterans fought outside the ring leaving the younger two to fight, Morris may have started a feud.

WINNER: Jack Morris with the Shooting Star Press on Daiki Inaba (13 minutes, 49 seconds)

MATCH SIX

GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship

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

STINGER were their usual unemotional selves, ready to cause pain to those who dare challenge them, especially people they don't like, which is pretty much every other Noah Junior. 

The match started in the usual way. A melee brawl, but against the much less battle damaged Atsushi Kotoge. Fans knew this was going to be a hard match to watch and it started to resemble a torture chamber with Kotoge's arm being worked on by Ogawa, while nearby Ridgeway worked on Yoshioka's knee, the air was filled with screams. The Noah Juniors were ragged, but they still held on. Every Noah Junior knows the damage that can be inflicted by STINGER as it is not just bodies they play with, but minds as well, which makes them dread opponents. A submission to STINGER is probably more satisfying than a pin, and with each one emotions in the hall soared, with screams from The Noah Junior Regulars, the sound of STINGER driving the screws in, and the commentators yelling and the crowd clapping.

WINNER: Seiki Yoshioka with the Buzzsaw Kick on Yoshinari Ogawa (26 minutes, 56 seconds)

Then the new champions got jumped by the Kongoh Juniors, Tadasuke and Hi69. Tadasuke wielding a chair which he used to batter Kotoge with before beating him down, while Hi69 got Yoshioka's knee in a lock. The bell rang for order, which wasn't resolved until Tadasuke challenged for the belts and then attacked Kotoge with the belt before grinding the chair seat into his face and wiping Kotoge's blood into his (Tadasuke's) hair. 

MATCH SEVEN

GHC Heavyweight Tag Championship

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

Timothy Thatcher and Hideki Suzuki entered to dramatic music which was very fitting for the match. It's not many wrestlers who enter to composers like Haydn or Handel. 

This was almost as much as a test of endurance as the first match, but also added in was a test of teamwork which wasn't an issue in the junior tag, as Satoshi Kojima and Takashi Sugiura haven't always got along, albeit in a comedic way. Heavyweights aren't as wild as the juniors (even though they have had their moments recently), so the match didn't have the same air of impending chaos. 

Takashi Sugiura and Satoshi Kojima were suffering through due to the damage inflicted by Thatcher, who did use the Fujiwara Armbar, but more as a tool to wear down initially, rather than to submit. Then there was a misfire from Sugiura when Hideki Suzuki dodged and Kojima was caught in the face, fans had been waiting for this moment, but how would it play out in the match? In actual fact, the second time Sugiura managed to boot Suzuki in the face without any mishaps. 

WINNER: Takashi Sugiura with The Olympic Slam on Hideki Suzuki (18 minutes, 41 seconds)

Noah's most dysfunctional/functional tag team had won the titles. Kojima spoke on the microphone and called them "The world's most dangerous tag team". Sugiura also gave him a proper handshake afterwards. Unlike the Noah Juniors, no one came to jump them with a chair and they left the ring without incident. Backstage they started squabbling again, this time about Kojima closing out the match despite Sugiura getting the win. Sugi then went back to shaking hands using one finger. 

Hideki Suzuki in his own promo, told Sugi not to hesitate to get back online. 

MATCH EIGHT

GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship

HAYATA vs YO-HEY

Unusually for him, HAYATA wore the belt to the ring. I don't recall HAYATA ever doing this before as normally he's trailing it behind him or he has it over his shoulder. Then again, things are always different when YO-HEY is involved. YO-HEY had added a splash of purple (HAYATA'S color) to his hair, his tongue, his arm bands and even his underpants. Perhaps this was all the memory he wanted to carry of HAYATA into the match, letting the rest of him go. 

The match started quickly, no circling, no lock up, just straight into the action. HAYATA was enjoying YO-HEY fighting back, as he found he could hurt him and hurt him he did by working on his arm in a variety of different ways, even twisting and pulling down, yanking YO-HEY'S shoulder over the ropes and following it up with a dropkick. Both went for a more ground based approach, which differed from their last title matches. There were a certain level of predictive moves between them i.e. YO-HEY knew HAYATA would go for a moonsault, and HAYATA knew how YO-HEY would follow it up when he countered, but there were things that neither could predict such as YO-HEY'S drop toe hold which tripped HAYATA to the barriers and the Facial G he followed it up with and the apron spot that followed. As the match progressed, HAYATA'S expression twisted from sadistic to demonic, and he went for heavy punches, just like in the pre matches, this was the hardest he had probably ever hit YO-HEY before. YO-HEY utilized kicks, something he had tended to use after matches to knock people down (namely HAYATA, Harada, RATELS when he turned on them), realizing that kicks and shots to the face seem to be something HAYATA is not very resilient against. HAYATA went for his bridging armlock, a move somehow impossible to escape from, fortunately, YO-HEY is one of the most agile of the Noah Juniors and so he managed to escape. 

With each move, each kick out at the last second, each breath even, tension went up several notches, it felt like an explosion was about to happen. This was wrestling at a level of art, slow action building up to a grand finale, almost like a waltz and although he was partial to heavyweight wrestlers, I think Baba would have loved this. Misawa certainly would have done. 

WINNER: HAYATA with the Headache (23 minutes, 45 seconds)

YO-HEY'S quest for the title continues. Backstage he said that he would start again from zero and work his way back up. In the ring, Ninja Mack, made his long awaited challenge saying that it was finally time to make his challenge and would everyone care to "take a bet on that?". 

Now YO-HEY isn't around, HAYATA has gone back to speaking, and said "Are you finally interested in this belt? Next is Ninja". Match has been set for the 30th October when Noah make their return to Ariake. To celebrate his challenge, Ninja Mack did backflips on the ramp. 

MATCH NINE

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

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

As Keiji Mutoh made his farewell to Nagoya, a video package showed some images of past matches there. One involving a masked Satoshi Kojima and a younger Mutoh. As Mutoh made his way to the ring in Nagoya for the final time, in a nice touch his junior and his partner Kazuyuki Fujita, held the ropes open for him. 

Both Katsuhiko Nakajima and Masakatsu Funaki had promised in their own ways not to go easy on Mutoh. Funaki had said they wanted to kick him until people felt disgust, and Nakajima had threatened that he might not even make it to his retirement at the Tokyo Dome. In the event of things, it was Fujita who got the worse taking the Endless Love kicks and the vicious slaps from Nakajima. Despite age, status and condition, Mutoh, however, was spared nothing by Funaki who stalked him around the ring, watching every move that he made. He and Nakajima worked together on his already battered knees. 

Nakajima, cocky as ever, gave Mutoh the Shutter Chance after advancing on him with a huge evil grin. and later he gave him the Vertical Spike. There was a tender moment, and one which Mutoh was very touched by when Nakajima bought out Mutoh's Space Rolling Elbow. Nakajima is not an aerial wrestler - he does not do moonsaults, over the top rope somersaults etc, and so it was an unusual thing for him to have done this. 

Despite his infirmities and mobility issues (and as Mutoh said backstage, his jetlag), the old man was still able to bring out the old moves such as a Shining Wizard to the turnbuckle, the Dragon Screw and then the Shining Wizard on Nakajima for the win following a soccer ball kick from Fujita.

WINNER: Keiji Mutoh with the Shining Wizard on Katsuhiko Nakajima (20 minutes, 35 seconds) 

On his way back from the ring, Mutoh made one final pose and then bowed to bid farewell to Nagoya. Noah announced that tomorrow there would be a press conference where he would announce his match for Ariake Arena on the 30th October, and either his partner or his opponent (either way a special guest) would be in attendance. 

MATCH TEN

GHC Heavyweight Championship

Kenoh vs Kaito Kiyomiya

Kenoh has new music to lead into Heartbreak Mosh when he comes out for big matches. That said, I am not sure what the Spanish guitar intro was all about, but it had to be better than the music used in the match video package. 

Kaito Kiyomiya bought out an impressive array of moves; Flashing Elbow, Shining Wizard, Tiger Suplex and even introducing Jumbo Tsuruta's jumping knee strikes. Kenoh mocked the Shining Wizard, which caused rage from Kiyomiya but Kenoh remained in control. I think Kenoh worked out a long time ago that provoking him is a good way to beat Kiyomiya as he stops fighting with his mind. This was not the last time that Kenoh was going to use Mutoh or Mutoh like moves. However, Kiyomiya calmed down and stopped taking the bait and started thinking with his head even when Kenoh pulled out other Mutoh moves in order to try to beat him.

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Transformed Shining Wizard (26 minutes, 14 seconds)

Kenoh crawled (literally) to the back, this is the second time that he has failed to defeat Kiyomiya for the title. This was a far cry from this "green boy" he snarled at in 2017 for challenging him. Kiyomiya had already chosen his challenger; Kazuyuki Fujita and called him out. 

Fujita appeared on the ramp and toasted Kiyomiya with a can of beer, he got into the ring silently and after taking his t-shirt off circled Kiyomiya and then hugged him, making a licking motion on the belt.

Kiyomiya shoved him away and Fujita poured beer on his head and into his mouth, Kiyomiya spat it at him and the two got into a scuffle. 

Politely, Kiyomiya held the belt up and grabbed the mic, yelling that he didn't even like beer, but Fujita just left yelling loudly "KAMPAAAAIIII!" ("Cheers"). The championship match has been set for the 30th October at Noah's homecoming at the Ariake Arena. This is poignant for Kiyomiya as he is from the last generation who knew Differ. 

Backstage, Kiyomiya explained why he had nominated Fujita, He hadn't defeated him yet. None of the preceding champions had as Fujita had to relinquish the belt due to Covid, and there had been a feeling amongst the successive champions that in order to be the absolute champion, you had to defeat Fujita. Kiyomiya had another reason too, he felt that too much attention was paid to Mutoh and Fujita, and it was defeating the object of Noah's young to make their own mark and spread their own pro wrestling.  

With thanks to: Yossan, Nomusandaa & Metal Noah

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse

Picture credit: Satoshi Kojima

Noah's next event: SUNNY VOYAGE 2022 (Bandaijima Multi-Purpose Square Ogama, September 30th) - event will not be streamed live.