(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: SUNNY VOYAGE 2022 (Friday September 30th, Bandaijima Multi-Purpose Square Ogama, Niigata)

Due to Yoshinari Ogawa having a head injury, the card was changed at the last moment. Fans think that Ogawa was probably holding out until the last moment before the match was changed. In the lobby, Noah were collecting for Yoshihiro Takayama, Shinjiro Otani and for the Kumamoto Earthquake Relief Fund. Kaito Kiyomiya was on autographs, and answering fan questions. Even about his hair. Most of all the provincial fans were excited to see Noah, excited to see Ninja Mack, excited to see the title match and little did they know, there was a further surprise in store for them as well. Noah announced an attendance of 516. 

Today's event was not streamed live, although Noah did show the title match (the aftermath and the  on Instagram. As it was not broadcast, I therefore have more information on some matches than others and I am indebted to the fans who attended the show who live tweeted, they are Kei, Yasuko & Omochi.  

You will be able to watch today's show on WrestleUniverse on the 3rd October from 6pm JST. You must be a subscriber to view. 

MATCH ONE

Yoshiki Inamura vs Taishi Ozawa

Fans thought Taishi Ozawa was huge, and that is saying something when Yoshiki Inamura is around. 

Winner: Yoshiki Inamura via Figure 4 Neck Submission 

A win by submission is rare for Inamura, but then again, he was facing a rookie. Backstage, looking worn out and sweaty,  Inamura suggested that he and Ozawa train together tomorrow in the dojo. I would imagine tires will be involved. 

MATCH TWO

Super Crazy vs Yasutaka Yano 

Winner: Super Crazy via reversal of diving body attack (6 minutes, 17 seconds)

MATCH THREE

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

Ninja Mack, despite not feuding with Kongoh, got ganged up on by the Kongoh Juniors. You would never have seen such behavior once upon a time from Hajime Ohara. Tadasuke once again tried to rip Alejandro's mask off, but Xtreme Tiger came to the rescue. 

Winner: Ninja Mack with the Ninja Bomb on Hajime Ohara (9 minutes, 52 seconds)

After the match Ninja Mack said that his win was a message to all the Noah Juniors and all the juniors in Japan and above all to HAYATA.

MATCH FOUR

Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima vs Shuhei Taniguchi & Daiki Inaba

Introduced by Noah's English announcer as "Taka & Satoshi", the tag champions got into their usual squabble over the accidental hit, which I think the Niigata fans were worried they weren't going to do as this was after all, the countryside. But Noah always put on a Tokyo style show for those outside the big cities. Shuhei Taniguchi made everyone laugh by parodying Satoshi Kojima with the slightly less expletive, "Let's go stupid!"

Winner: Satoshi Kojima with The Western Lariat on Shuhei Taniguchi (13 minutes, 44 seconds)

Taka & Satoshi presented with a winners prize, and then probably got into a squabble about who it was presented to or whose music was playing. 

MATCH FIVE

STINGER (HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa & Kai Fujimura) vs The Noah Junior Regulars (Atsushi Kotoge, Seiki Yoshioka & YO-HEY)

It was back to the torture chamber for Seiki Yoshioka and Atsushi Kotoge, Chris Ridgeway alone did not stop them from being squeezed and twisted. 

YO-HEY was aiming for HAYATA'S head, which he knows to exploit as HAYATA'S main weakness. Later, YO-HEY called today "starting from scratch"/

WINNER: YO-HEY with a dropkick on Kai Fujimura (12 minutes, 41 seconds)

Fans said they were moved by Ridgeway and HAYATA took care of Fujimura after the match. 

MATCH SIX

GHC National Championship Match

Masa Kitamiya vs Masakatsu Funaki

Masakatsu Funaki made a small gesture when he entered the ring that moved fans,  as he touched hands with them.  

Masa Kitamiya bought out his talent for mat wrestling and took Funaki down in the early stages. He was ferocious in pursuit of the title, even gripping and bending Funaki's foot when he locked in the Prison Lock. He was dominant and determined, and had the taste of what he wanted in his mouth and with all the built up frustration over belts and singles career, he was not going to let it go. Funaki was basically cornered, until unfortunately for Kitamiya, he managed to break free. 

WINNER: Masakatsu Funaki with sleeper hold (12 minutes, 35 seconds)

After receiving a winners gift from the sponsor, Funaki was attacked by a very familiar masked man, who burst into the ring and got him in a choke hold. Once he let Funaki go he took his mask off and revealed himself as being the person everyone thought, Kazushi Sakuraba and challenged for the GHC National, after apologizing to everyone for being so abrupt;

"Next time, let me try that belt" 

Funaki agreed to his challenge (plus throwing in an "asshole" at Sakuraba for jumping him from behind) and this has been set for the 30th October in Ariake Stadium. This will be their first singles match in pro wrestling in fifteen years. 

MATCH SEVEN

Kaito Kiyomiya, Naomichi Marufuji & Jack Morris vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya)

Naomichi Marufuji loves working with Jack Morris, and was even seen gently pushing him ahead to the ring. In the ring, Kenoh and Manabu Soya stood glaring at their opponents, and this was before Kaito Kiyomiya even appeared. When Kiyomiya did he entered wearing the belt and opened his gown to show everyone, while he nodded as he looked around. You could see that already he is a far more confident champion than he was in his first title reign. Kenoh was immediately on the attack, getting in Kiyomiya's face. 

Noah unfortunately shut off the feed soon after the bell rang, so I have very little information on the rest of the match, other than Jack Morris is asking for trouble. The last time he and Katsuhiko Nakajima were in the ring, he shoved Nakajima off the ropes when he was doing Shutter Chance. Today he did The Shutter Chance back on him. 

Winner: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Transformed Shining Wizard on Manabu Soya (21 minutes, 49 seconds)

Katsuhiko Nakajima left carrying Soya, as Kenoh stayed to yell at Kiyomiya, who stood over him holding up the belt. When Kenoh had left to scream about Kiyomiya backstage and how he was going to pull him down and lead Noah himself, Kiyomiya spoke on the mic saying that he was able to bring the belt to Nagoya, which he considered was a power spot for him. Then, because he is Noah Born and has seen another Noah Born doing something that he himself wants to beat him in, he carried the bale of rice to the back in the same style that Yoshiki Inamura had done. There may be more to it than that however, Kiyomiya did say recently that he is aware of the generation below him coming up. 

Noah's next event: STAR NAVIGATION 2022 - Friday October 7th, Korakuen Hall (live on WrestleUniverse)

Picture credit: Shu Nishinaga

GIF taken from Noah Twitter Official