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

Today's event will be streamed on WrestleUniverse on 27th March at 18:00 JST. As the show was not televised, I am very grateful to Namahage, Madoka_F, Kei, Nukosama, Nakatadesu & Omeka, for their live tweets. Noah announced an attendance of 246 people. One fan said they attended "on a whim" and instantly became a fan of Mohammed Yone and Masa Kitamiya. In fact, Noah attracted a lot of first time fans today. 

Pre event news

The GHC Junior was signed for quietly backstage between AMAKUSA and his challenger, Lanzelot. This is because the title will be challenged for on the 26th, and there is not enough time to arrange a press conference. 

The Noah bus was parked outside as fans arrived at the venue. They mentioned a feeling of "nervous excitement" before the show started. 

Naomichi Marufuji was an autograph/picture duty. I noticed from the pictures that for the first time in a while, Noah had taken the plastic screen away, which they have had since Covid began. "Hysteria" (Marufuji's theme) was playing through the session. 

There was only one trainee at ringside today.

The event

MATCH ONE

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

Winner: Akitoshi Saito with the Iron Claw Slam on Daishi Ozawa (7 minutes, 28 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Yoshiki Inamura vs Yasutaka Yano

Winner: Yoshiki Inamura with the Oklahoma Stampede on Yasutaka Yano (8 minutes, 17 seconds)

MATCH THREE

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

Winner: Hi69 with the Stuka Splash on Atsushi Kotoge (11 minutes, 22 seconds)

Backstage, Hi69 swore revenge on Tadasuke. It should be noted that Tadasuke was going to be kicked out of Kongoh, but he teamed with YO-HEY and managed to attack them before that could happen. This is the Noah Juniors, and besides, no one leaves the Kongoh Juniors without the others swearing revenge. Hi69 thought their name originally was "Good Looking Boys", to which Hajime Ohara corrected him. Hi69 threatened he would make Tadasuke regret what he did, especially as Morioka is his (Hi69's) hometown. 

MATCH FOUR

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

The pressure was on for Shuhei Taniguchi, as he was teaming with both of his seniors. At the start of the match, the team of Naomichi Marufuji, Shuhei Taniguchi and Takashi Sugiura had a discussion about who would start, and it was decided to be Marufuji, who faced off against Kaito Kiyomiya. Kiyomiya got chopped by Marufuji, which as one fan noted, left a handprint on his chest after only one. Marufuji would also get Kiyomiya's nose too later. Later, outside the ring, the pair managed to fall into or against one of the steel gates and dented it. 

Winner: Masa Kitamiya with The Saito Suplex on Shuhei Taniguchi (13 minutes, 11 seconds)

This was unfortunate for Shuhei Taniguchi, and he was scolded by Takashi Sugiura backstage; 

"Hey! What are you doing losing, bastard? Get a grip! There is no time left for us! Do you understand!"

Shuhei Taniguchi simply said, "Yes". 

MATCH FIVE

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

Winner: AMAKUSA with the Huracanrana Invertida on Super Crazy (8 minutes, 3 seconds)

MATCH SIX

Manabu Soya vs Saxon Huxley

Manabu Soya made his entry as the All Japan World Heavyweight Tag Champion with one belt over his shoulder and the other around his waist. This complete Hoss fight got going and ended quickly. 

Winner: Neither, match was counted out at 7 minutes and 12 seconds

MATCH SEVEN

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

Fans had been keen to see YO-HEY & Tadasuke's new gear now they were members of Good Looking Guys. YO-HEY's wasn't too different than from when he was in Perros Del Mal De Japon (save the black armbands), while Tadasuke ditched the leather jacket, the aviator shades and the red, and came out wearing black. While I am unsure of the interaction between GLG and STINGER, I do know that STINGER proved helpful to El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr, by attacking Jack Morris's knee. 

Winner: El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr with the La Serviente Azteca on Jack Morris (17 minutes, 4 seconds)

Apparently, El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr didn't let go of the submission right away, even after winning the match and then later shoved the belt in his face. Backstage, El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr said, "Morris, I think of you as a friend, but are you really going to try for this belt? Is it because of GLG? I will never hand this belt over."

MATCH EIGHT

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

Kenoh bought the All Japan World Heavyweight Tag belts to the ring, but he did not wear them as far as I know, but he was holding them in both hands, and he put them over both shoulders when it came to doing the Kongoh pose.

Winner: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the Vertical Spike on Anthony Green (19 minutes, 47 seconds)

After the match, the champion and the challenger had an exchange on the microphone with Nakajima saying

"Jake Lee, it's amazing that you won the GHC Heavyweight not long after coming to Noah. BUT! I will take the helm. Anyway, I'm changing this situation. That is all."

Backstage (and fans heard this as the comments booth was set up behind a curtain partitioning off the hall from the backstage area) Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kenoh addressed the camera. Nakajima told Jake Lee that he did not know or understand Noah, so how could he "take the helm?" and he, Nakajima, would stop him. Kenoh, however (and fans heard him yelling) told Jake Lee not to disrespect Noah, and tomorrow he wanted a five on five (Kongoh vs GLG, who he termed as a "hodgepodge group of people" that he was going to beat up and a "group of people walking around pretending to be cool and handsome") best out of three falls match. Noah agreed, Jake Lee liked the idea, and so the main event for tomorrow in Morioka has been changed accordingly.

Afterwards

As Noah left for their journey to Morioka, the Selion Tower was lit green to raise glaucoma awareness. Both fans and Akitoshi Saito photographed it, as green still remains Noah's core color, even if the ring is now white. Had Saito looked over from him, he would have seen Naomichi Marufuji posting a picture of him to Twitter. In the picture, Saito is eating some frozen broccoli which he had bought in a convenience store. Marufuji asked him if he should be doing that, to which Saito said it was fine, the package said he could. This led Marufuji to term tomorrow's card as "young guys fighting, title match pre matches and a fight with frozen broccoli". 

Noah's next event: Sunny Voyage 2023, Saturday March 24th, Iwate Morioka Gymnasium (will be streamed at a later date) 

Picture credit: Pro Wrestling DX