(NOAH): EVENT RECAP: STAR NAVIGATION 2022 (Friday October 7th, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo)

It was a rainy Friday night in Tokyo at Korakuen Hall, which attracted 625 fans to Noah's first night. When they arrived Kaito Kiyomiya was on autographs, and a masked man wearing an Alejandro mask was looking under the ring for something. Fans could not decide whether it was Alejandro or Kendo Kashin, who had probably stolen Alejandro's mask if it was.  

"Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye"

Noah held a memorial for Antonio Inoki, who passed away on the 1st October. Although Inoki had nothing to do with Noah (who were from his rival Baba's line), there were many on the roster who did; Keiji Mutoh, Kazuyuki Fujita, Hideki Suzuki, Akitoshi Saito, Kendo Kashin and Masakatsu Funaki to name a few, and besides Inoki had been one of the few remaining from the original dojo where everything came from, no matter which path you took; Rikidozan's. The whole roster came out as the bell tolled in remembrance and Keiji Mutoh, flanked by Masakatsu Funaki and Kazuyuki Fujita stood in the ring with a picture of their late teacher. Fujita had been to visit Inoki's body at his home to pay his respects, and came away in tears, while Kendo Kashin seems to have been more involved with seeing Inoki over his last few months, mentioning to Tokyo Sports that he had seen how much he had declined and how frail even his skin had become. 

MATCH ONE

Kai Fujimura vs Taishi Ozawa

A good opener and an unlikely (but probably intentional) Kai Fujimura showcase in which he got the chance to shine as he was the senior in this match. He could not match Taishi Ozawa's size or power, but his advantage lay in experience, and especially the experience gained by fighting with STINGER against Perros Del Mal.

Winner: Kai Fujimura with The Boston Crab (5 minutes, 34 seconds)

Kai Fujimura did what his seniors did when defeating a younger and less experience member of the roster, and that was to just walk off backstage and not look back. 

MATCH TWO

Yoshinari Ogawa, Jack Morris & Yasutaka Yano vs Perros Del Mal De Japon (NOSAWA Rongai, Eita & Super Crazy)

Eita came to the ring carrying the usual bag. Often when it's STINGER (in particular Yoshinari Ogawa) Perros are facing) there is something bad in it, but recently it has just been a towel. Yoshinari Ogawa knew what Perros were like and so came stalking to the ring, and neither he or anyone else was intimidated by Eita holding up the towel to them. Ogawa naturally wanted Eita and a lot of gesticulating went on between them, NOSAWA of course baiting everyone. Despite this, the match somehow started civilly, Super Crazy locking up with Jack Morris and getting knocked out of the ring by him for messing around. Young Yasutaka Yano (who has adapted the move he took from Kotaro Suzuki, involving a turnbuckle somersault on the opponent) was a far easier opponent though, but he gave as good as he got, kicking out repeatedly from an attempted pin by NOSAWA. 

If Yano was the target for Perros, then NOSAWA himself was in for some humiliation. First he was used as the rope in a tug of war between Perros and their opponents, and later he tried to get the win after kicking Morris in the groin, but unfortunately for him, Morris reversed the pin. 

WINNER: Jack Morris via small package reversal on NOSAWA Rongai (12 minutes, 30 seconds)

NOSAWA complained to the ref that Morris had pulled his shirt, but the referee said the decision stood. Jack Morris grinned and tapped his head. NOSAWA continued to complain. 

MATCH THREE

Masato Tanaka, Masaaki Mochizuki & Kendo Kashin vs Masa Kitamiya, Shuhei Taniguchi & Daiki Inaba

Kendo Kashin has been absent from Noah due to having Coronavirus. Tonight though, Noah's resident poltergeist was back on form; his weapon, a huge tube of cardboard was kicked from the ring, and then confiscated by the ref after he tried to attack the opposition with it and then got into an argument with Shuhei Taniguchi, before deciding that he was a member of the M's alliance by doing the pose with his team (who had been members) and revealing he had a M's alliance chest sticker and all of this before the bell had even rung. Backstage, Kashin said that the M's alliance was reborn, not realizing that he couldn't be a member as neither of his names started with an "M". 

Kashin's target seemed to very much be Taniguchi, who Masa Kitamiya tagged in against him, Kashin immediately tagged in Masaaki Mochizuki and then tagged himself in and almost wrecked the corner camera by messing with it as he wanted to film himself fighting Taniguchi on the turnbuckle. Two technicians were seen fixing it after the match. Even Masato Tanaka and Masaaki Mochizuki got in on the comedy, chopping Kashin which caused pain to Taniguchi who Kashi had in a leglock. Other than that they tended to ignore him, teaming up together. Kashin was counter productive at times, shoving the ref from the ring at one point, and then later clinging on to Taniguchi's leg so that Mochi could not suplex him from the top turnbuckle. Mochi had to yell at him to let go.

As far as wrestling went, Masato Tanaka and Daiki Inaba was interesting, as were Masato Tanaka and Masa Kitamiya, two matches that fans want to see more of. 

WINNER: Masaaki Mochizuki with the Sliding DK (assist from Masato Tanaka) on Shuhei Taniguchi (14 minutes, 44 seconds)

Kashin, who was seen replacing the Perspex screens which he had stolen from the commentary table to beat someone with, got back in the ring to celebrate and do the M's alliance pose. 

MATCH FOUR

The Noah Junior Regulars (Atsushi Kotoge, Seiki Yoshioka, YO-HEY & Alejandro) vs Kongoh Juniors (Shuji Kondo, Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Hi69)

Match started in the usual way, a melee brawl. Tadasuke the focus of Kotoge and Alejandro's rage. Kotoge hurting one side of Tadasuke's face, which provoked wild Tadasuke who attacked with his own vengeance. 

As the smallest, unfortunately Alejandro got the brunt from Shuji Kondo as Kondo knew Alejandro was no match for him, and with a smile worthy of the sadistic STINGER members, he held his leg preventing him from crawling and tagging in

The match was chaos with Kondo dominant. He and Tadasuke made a formidable team

WINNER: Tadasuke with the Jidanda Lariat on Seiki Yoshioka (11 minutes, 45 seconds)

Backstage, Tadasuke said that the title match might officially be on the 30th October, but as far as they (Kongoh Juniors, himself and Hi69) were concerned, it started tonight. 

MATCH FIVE

STINGER (HAYATA & Chris Ridgeway) vs Ninja Mack & Xtreme Tiger

HAYATA and Chris Ridgeway looked like they did when HAYATA came to the UK. HAYATA was dressed more simply this evening in a hoodie and a fabric mask, not his usual purple robe and decorated mask. 

HAYATA started the match against Ninja Mack, as he wanted to scope out his opponent. HAYATA found he had a highly aerobic opponent, who twisted moves into ways that he was not used to and could not predict yet. While HAYATA was doing this, Ridgeway took care of Xtreme Tiger by tying his arm into knots and bending it into ways bones and cartilage do not allow. Ridgeway usually left Ninja Mack to HAYATA, but he did pull out a few moves of his own against him (leg swipe) and even pulled 

the Crane Pose afterwards.

WINNER: HAYATA with the Schoolboy on Xtreme Tiger (12 minutes, 58 seconds)

After the match, HAYATA quietly (he hasn't spoken since Ninja Mack made his challenge) stood on the apron looking triumphant and held up the belt. Ninja Mack simply bowed. 

Naomichi Marufuji and the fan who attends Noah events in a Jushin Lyger mask

MATCH SIX

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!". The title match has been set for Ariake Stadium on the 30th October. As the challengers did a pose together, Masakatsu Funaki broke the atmosphere by walking past them and picking up the microphone. Funaki had a special idea for the title match, he had initially intended to do it under wrestling rules, but he proposed to Sakuraba that they make it a no pinfall win, with the win only being obtained by knock out or submission. Sakuraba agreed. 

MATCH SEVEN

Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura vs Kazuyuki Fujita & Hideki Suzuki

Naturally the GHC Heavyweight Champion started the match with Kaito Kiyomiya fighting Kazuyuki Fujita. Unusually for Kiyomiya, he actually slapped him whole on a rope break. Fujita liked this, it looked like someone had lit up a promenade, or in Fujita's case made a fountain flow with highballs.

Hideki Suzuki and Yoshiki Inamura had a test of strength, which Inamura initially won, getting Suzuki to his knees. Kiyomiya had described Suzuki as "eccentric" in an interview, and Suzuki it seems had taken this on board in their first match since the issue in which it appeared, but Suzuki's interactions were pretty much with rival Yoshiki Inamura, whom he didn't throw to the mat by his leg and then loom over like he did Kiyomiya.  The commentators were lost for words, except to say that Inamura was cool, when he threw Hideki Suzuki around the ring - a bear hug lift to the corner and at one point, even over the top rope by his hair and a sustained attack following that

Kiyomiya was in the ring as they fought outside, Fujita softening up with elbows and a Shining Wizard. Fujita also experienced Inamura's awesome strength which suddenly seems to have come crashing to the forefront in Noah. 

WINNER: Kazuyuki Fujita with a Power Bomb on Yoshiki Inamura (16 minutes, 37 seconds)

Fujita grabbed Kiyomiya by his hair when he was leaning over Inamura and did the same nuzzling and licking motion until Kiyomiya pushed him off and into the ropes where he got him by his throat. Human words were beyond Fujita, and The Beast just roared.

Roll on night two of Noah at Korakuen Hall. 

With thanks to: Hiroto, Metal-Noah & P_nawa

Broadcast: WrestleUniverse

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse

Noah's next event: STAR NAVIGATION 2022, Saturday October 8th, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo