(NOAH) CARD: SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 (Akita Selion Plaza, Friday March 24th)

Noah start the first event in their four day tour of the Tōhoku region (Northern Japan, known as "snow country") which will see them go to Akita, Iwate and the last two dates in Aomori before heading back to Tokyo. None of these shows will be streamed live, but will be delivered on WrestleUniverse at a later date. I do not have any dates unfortunately at the time of writing, but will do my best to cover each shows as much as I can with live tweets from fans in attendance. Hopefully Noah will live stream one of the matches. 

Event today starts at 18:30 JST, with Naomichi Marufuji on autographs. 

At Noah's last show

- YO-HEY & Tadasuke joined GLG, when Tadasuke was kicked out of Kongoh and YO-HEY turned on The Noah Junior Regulars (who will be looking for revenge tonight) 

- Saxon Huxley made his Noah debut

- Shuhei Taniguchi defeated Takashi Sugiura, and the two challenged Daiki Inaba and Masa Kitamiya, who retained the GHC Heavyweight Tag against Kongoh, for the titles. 

- Jack Morris challenged El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr for the GHC National 

- Lanzelot challenged AMAKUSA for the GHC National

- HAYATA and Yoshinari Ogawa reunited

- Jake Lee won the GHC Heavyweight from Kaito Kiyomiya and was challenged by Katsuhiko Nakajima. 

Full recap can be read here

Welcome to the Yokohama Budokan fallout show, tonight will no doubt determine the next four days in Noah. 

MATCH ONE

Funky Express (Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito) vs Kinya Okada & Daishi Ozawa

Funky Express bring the disco to springtime Tohoku in this opening match. 

MATCH TWO

Yoshiki Inamura vs Yasutaka Yano

Two Noah Born face off, the 182cm and 120kg ultra heavyweight Yoshiki Inamura, and the 74kg 166cm Yasutaka Yano. Size and weight difference aside, Noah Born put up a fight, especially against each other, so this probably won't be too much of a squash match.

MATCH THREE

The Noah Junior Regulars (Atsushi Kotoge & Seiki Yoshioka) vs Kongoh Juniors (Hajime Ohara & Hi69)

Both units have seen defections recently, YO-HEY turned on Kotoge and Yoshioka, while Tadasuke was kicked out of Kongoh. Neither YO-HEY or Tadasuke are in this match tonight, but it won't stop the two teams taking out their frustrations on each other. 

MATCH FOUR

Kaito Kiyomiya, Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba vs Naomichi Marufuji, Takashi Sugiura & Shuhei Taniguchi

Kaito Kiyomiya makes his first appearance after losing the GHC Heavyweight, teaming with the GHC Heavyweight Tag champions (Masa Kitamiya and Daiki Inaba) as they face their challengers Takashi Sugiura and Shuhei Taniguchi in a pre match. The pressure is on for Shuhei Taniguchi to do well here, as both his seniors are teaming with him tonight. 

MATCH FIVE

AMAKUSA, Ninja Mac & Alejandro vs Lanzelot, Super Crazy & Xtreme Tiger

AMAKUSA'S first pre match against his challenger starts tonight in a match with six Luchadores, so not only will AMAKUSA be looking to avenge the loss to Lanzelot, everyone will no doubt be trying to outdo each other. 

MATCH SIX

Manabu Soya vs Saxon Huxley

Manabu Soya makes his first Noah appearance as the All Japan World Heavyweight Tag Champion. This will be a complete Hoss fight, which makes me wonder if the building (let alone the ring) will even survive. 

MATCH SEVEN

El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr & STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA) vs Good Looking Guys (Jack Morris, YO-HEY & Tadasuke)

For RATELS fans the moments when HAYATA and YO-HEY face off (or even when they tag together, which has happened albeit rarely since the split) are very special. While I don't think that we may see a reunion tonight, Yoshinari Ogawa is holding a title that has not been challenged for (the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag), and so a challenge is more likely. Elsewhere, El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr faces off against Jack Morris, the man who defeated him at the Yokohama Budokan and challenged him for the title, in their first pre match. This is going to be an interesting match. 

MATCH EIGHT

Good Looking Guys (Jake Lee & Anthony Green) vs Kongoh (Kenoh & Katsuhiko Nakajima)

Jake Lee makes his first appearance as GHC Heavyweight Champion and faces off against his challenger, Katsuhiko Nakajima, while Kenoh (who was more delighted than anyone had ever seen him before) makes his first appearance as the other half of the All Japan World Heavyweight Tag Champions. I don't know if Suwama will follow Kenoh (and Soya) to Akita, or if anyone will for that matter, but the outcome of this match will be interesting to see, both before and after.

Picture credit: Noah.co.jp