(NOAH) CARD: SUNNY VOYAGE 2022 (Wednesday December 14th, Aizuwakamatsu City Cultural Center)

Noah start a busy December in Fukushima before returning to Tokyo for their remaining dates. When we last left them on November 23rd in Yoyogi, the scene had been very much set for tonight; Perros Del Mal De Japon said farewell to each other, and tonight NOSAWA Rongai gets the chance to finally settle things with his long term nemesis. Yoshinari Ogawa, Naomichi Marufuji challenged Takashi Sugiura and Satoshi Kojima for the GHC Heavyweight tags with KENTA as his partner (sadly no pre match tonight), AMAKUSA challenged Dante Leon for the GHC Junior Heavyweight, Kaito Kiyomiya defeated Kenoh and told him he "was all mouth", and Atsushi Kotoge and Seiki Yoshioka took the GHC Junior Tags back from Kongoh (grudge match looms) and were challenged by YO-HEY (with Kzy as his partner). 

Unfortunately, given the flammable material above, tonight's show isn't going to be live, although hopefully we should get a live stream on Instagram. The show will be broadcast on WrestleUniverse on the 17th December from 6pm JST. For those braving the Fukushima cold and deep snow, the doors open at 17:45 JST, with the show starting at 18:30. The planned autograph session with Kaito Kiyomiya has been cancelled. 

Absent due to injury: Kai Fujimura, HAYATA, Yuya Susumu, Daisuke Harada & Go Shiozaki 

MATCH ONE

Hi69 vs Daishi Ozawa

The only member of Kongoh not to be in the main event, opens the show against a heavyweight rookie. This should be interesting as Ozawa does not often wrestle juniors, and a veteran like HI69 has much to learn from. 

MATCH TWO

Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba vs Funky Express (Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito)

Match two is a Masa Kitamiya vs Akitoshi Saito Hoss Fight, with no doubt Mohammed Yone pulling Disco poses for his irritated opponents. Kitamiya is not (and never is) polite as Daiki Inaba when it comes to this. With this match, Funky Express move up the card a little, fighting more experienced wrestlers and not rookies. 

MATCH THREE

Naomichi Marufuji & Jack Morris vs Yoshiki Inamura & Yasutaka Yano

Jack Morris returns to Noah, and teams with Naomichi Marufuji, who is really impressed by him. No pre match tonight for Marufuji though, as I get the impression that he is going to be doing some teaching/assessing of young Yasutaka Yano. There was meant to be a singles match with Yano, but the card has been changed due to Kai Fujimura's injury (fractured arm), and so this tag match was formed. Yano will also be appearing in the main event of the "NEW HOPE" produce on the 18th, against Satoshi Kojima, so with Ogawa elsewhere tonight I guess Marufuji wants him to be prepared. 

MATCH FOUR

Yoshinari Ogawa vs NOSAWA Rongai

This is one part of the culmination of the long running and bitter feud between NOSAWA Rongai and Yoshinari Ogawa. Tonight there is no STINGER (Ridgeway is in England, HAYATA and Yuya Susumu are injured and Yano is in the match before) and no Perros Del Mal (as far as we know) so for all intents and purposes, this seems to be just Ogawa vs NOSAWA to settle things once and for all. NOSAWA has been complaining recently that his body hurts. Just wait NOSAWA. Just wait. 

MATCH FIVE

Dante Leon & YO-HEY vs AMAKUSA & Alejandro

Dante Leon and YO-HEY have been described as "soul mates", so expect color co-ordination when this team makes their appearance in what is going to be half pre match between the solemn AMAKUSA and the champion Dante Leon, and Dante Leon and the two remaining Noah Juniors who will no doubt continue their competition of outdoing each other. 

MATCH SIX

Kaito Kiyomiya, Takashi Sugiura, Satoshi Kojima, Atsushi Kotoge & Seiki Yoshioka vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Manabu Soya, Tadasuke & Hajime Ohara)

Heavyweight pre match and Noah Junior grudge match. 

As mentioned above, Kaito Kiyomiya (the GHC Heavyweight Champion) pinned Kenoh in their last skirmish and told him that he was "all mouth" having "lost to the guy who you say is "just trying his best". A humiliation that Kenoh is going to do his best to rectify. Most likely vocally as well. 

As for the Noah Juniors in this match, Atsushi Kotoge and Seiki Yoshioka took the GHC Junior Tag titles from Kongoh when Kotoge used the Killswitch on Hajime Ohara. Expect retaliation. Another factor in this match is the presence of Manabu Soya and Takashi Sugiura (two tanks) and of course the possibility of a kick fight between Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima and Seiki Yoshioka. 

Picture credit: Noah.co.jp