(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: STAR NAVIGATION 2023 (Korakuen Hall, Sunday May 14th)

Tonight was another frenetic, florid and wild night at Korakuen Hall. Titles were challenged for, pre matches were made, the juniors (and the heavyweights) went wild, which means that the whole roster is somewhat out of control, (and I am amazed that in one match at least, the ring didn't break), new teams formed and somehow the table at ringside survived the first match.

MATCH ONE

AMAKUSA, Junta Miyawaki, Alejandro & Lanzelot vs Dragon Bane, Alpha Wolf, Xtreme Tiger & Super Crazy

Super Crazy came to the ring wearing a Lucha mask. As he is not a masked wrestler he removed it, but it was a nice touch as he was teaming with three other masked wrestlers. Naturally, the match started in a melee brawl, and I think the referee (poor young Tsukagoshi) just gave up in the end as bodies flew everywhere, even on to the ringside table.  Junta showed off his Lucha moves, but unfortunately slipped the first time.

Winner: Alpha Wolf with the Wolf Driver on Junta Miyawaki (8 minutes, 21 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Shuhei Taniguchi vs Stallion Rogers

Stallion Rogers offered a handshake, which Shuhei Taniguchi seemed to take stiffly. I can imagine his seniors were watching, but Taniguchi didn't have anything to worry about, this was probably one of his best singles matches for a while and the monster awoke with chop fests, marks on his chest and even bounced back from being felled by a massive headbutt. 

WINNER: Shuhei Taniguchi with the Half Nelson Suplex (7 minutes, 48 seconds)

MATCH THREE

STINGER (Chris Ridgeway & Daga) vs Kongoh (Hajime Ohara & HI69)

Someone must have struck a flint, because immediately sparks flew between the technicians, Chris Ridgeway and Hajime Ohara. Their first bout ended with Ohara looking angry and stalking off to tag HI69 in. The second time round, Ridgeway changed tactics, and kicked him around the ring. His attack was so sustained, that part of Ohara's costume fell off. HI69 wasn't talking any crap from anyone, especially not his opponents, who seemed to gel well as a team right from the beginning. The camera did an effect whereby it did a zoom in and out quickly effect when he had his wild expression and pulled his fingers across his throat, this effect was used again when he was chopping Ridgeway. If anything, it was Ohara who got the brunt as he was put in a simultaneous ankle lock, a chin-lock and then Ridgeway let go and kicked him in the head.

Winner: Daga with a pile driver on HI69 (8 minutes, 41 seconds)

STINGER are back. 

MATCH FOUR

Real (Saxon Huxley, Timothy Thatcher & Hideki Suzuki) vs Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura

Saxon Huxley charged to the ring, his t-shirt in his mouth and knocking Hideki Suzuki out of the way. During the match, he and Yoshiki Inamura went one on one. Inamura might not have Huxley's size (Inamura is 21 inches smaller), but he has his power and he had the strength to not only slam him, catch him in middair and ram him into the turnbuckles, but also deliver a massive Musou for the win.

WINNER: Yoshiki Inamura with the Musou on Saxon Huxley (11 minutes, 32 seconds)

No one had so far challenged for the GHC Heavyweight Tag, and Inamura had won the right, so he got on the mic and said; 

"Next myself and Kitamiya-san, THE TOUGH will challenge for that belt!"

He added in English that they would be the next challengers. This caused Huxley and Thatcher to go berserk, and they attacked the challengers, Inamura getting Huxley's Hanging Neck Bomb. Inamura had been Huxley's target since Huxley came to Noah, now this was on a whole other level. Title match has been set for 17th June at "Green Journey 2023 in Nagoya". 

MATCH FIVE

Naomichi Marufuji & HAYATA vs Sean Legacy & Dante Leon

Naomichi Marufuji attempted to shake hands with his partner, HAYATA. HAYATA was not interested and completely ignored him. Noah Juniors do not usually shake hands, and HAYATA doesn't like to any way. Marufuji kind of smacked his arm, but HAYATA still refused and Marufuji slunk off to sulk on the apron. 

When HAYATA (who started the match against Dante Leon, who had an eerie smile), Marufuji refused to let him tag, so HAYATA had to force the issue. Marufuji and Sean Legacy had instant rapport. After the crowd chanted for Marufuji, they had a chest flickering face off, and then Legacy revealed that he was strong enough to carry Marufuji around the ring, and give him knees from time to time. Then they had a chop war, which Legacy challenged Marufuji to. 

Dante Leon found that the best way to wear down HAYATA was with aerial maneuvers and kicks, but it wasn't Dante who HAYATA won the match against, meaning that the first pre match was not conclusive. HAYATA took it as a win over him though, even if it wasn't him personally and the two butted heads after the match. 

WINNER: HAYATA with the small package on Sean Legacy (12 minutes, 34 seconds)

MATCH SIX

Yoshinari Ogawa vs Eita

Eita was not his usual self when coming to the ring, no bag, no merchandise, no smile, no wasting time. He looked like he did when he stalked to the ring to face HAYATA for the GHC Junior. Focused and angry. Yoshinari Ogawa came out accompanied by Daga and Chris Ridgeway. Daga was carrying a chair. I'm not sure who he expected to show up to help Eita, as at this point in the evening, Eita had no friends. Eita attacked the moment that Ogawa entered the ring, and then to the Korakuen crowd chanting "Eita!", beat him up outside the ring. Daga joined in and got booed, and threw him headfirst into the bleacher barriers. The crowd would remain firmly behind Eita.

Despite giving the impression that he was wrestling on an island surrounded by crocodiles as Daga and Ridgeway interfered, distracting the ref, and Daga even delivering a driver, Eita refused to quit. During the chaos, Daga bought the chair into the ring and Eita then fought all STINGER by himself, but the problem was that when he hit Ogawa with Imperial Uno, there was no ref. Then, just as things were getting even more out of hand (somehow) HAYATA came to the ring wearing his STINGER jacket when Eita went to hit Ogawa with the chair and stood in front of Ogawa as if to protect him, but then turned on Ogawa and kicked him. At this point the bell finally rang to throw this match out.

Result: No contest (12 minutes, 41 seconds)

Not that anyone probably heard the bell, because by this time both Ridgeway and Daga had been kicked down by HAYATA and Eita, and HAYATA and Eita were facing each other. HAYATA stood awkwardly with his hands on his hips, and Eita slowly offered him his hand. 

The crowd cheered for HAYATA to shake, which he did and he and Eita formed an unlikely team. Backstage, HAYATA said that Ogawa's era was over, while Eita promised revenge which he likened to "oceans of blood". 

MATCH SEVEN

Good Looking Guys (Jake Lee, Anthony Green, YO-HEY & Tadasuke) vs Kaito Kiyomiya, Takashi Sugiura, Atsushi Kotoge & Seiki Yoshioka

Kaito Kiyomiya stood staring at Jake Lee as he got into the ring, Jake kind of gave him the side eye. While Kiyomiya started against Jake, the GHC Junior Champions (YO-HEY and Tadasuke) were targeted by Atsushi Kotoge and Seiki Yoshioka (no mishaps today), with Yoshioka kicking YO-HEY around. Regarding the GHC Heavyweight, all the fans were aware, that Jake had hinted as much the next challenger would be Takashi Sugiura, so fans were interested to see how this played out. Jake vs Sugi was very different from any of Jake's fights before, and when Sugi trapped Jake in the front neck lock, Jake preferred to fade rather than tap. Sugi refused to let go and just when it looked as if the referee was going to stop the match, Tadasuke (to a chorus of boos), broke the hold. This did not stop Sugi's onslaught however, but, Jake was not going to let him slip away so easily when Atsushi Kotoge won the match. 

WINNER: Atsushi Kotoge with the Killswitch on YO-HEY (18 minutes, 23 seconds)

Atsushi Kotoge got on the mic and challenged YO-HEY for the GHC Junior Tag titles, saying that the Noah Juniors were moving at "a dizzying pace" and that he and Yoshioka (who he was challenging with for the belts) couldn't afford to stand by and watch. Kotoge threw down the mic and Jake picked it up as by this time, Sugiura was leaving and was almost backstage. Kiyomiya stood in front of him, and Jake waved him away by telling him that he wasn't going to be the next challenger. The next challenger was going to be Takashi Sugiura. Sugiura turned round as if in surprise and said, "Me?"

 Back in the ring, Jack said that simply put, the next challenger he wanted to fight was Sugi. Sugi still sounded surprised and said, "It's not Kaito? It's me? Marufuji-san lost..." he then thanked Jake for the (coming) match. Sugi told him, "Two defenses, right? I don't want you to feel that you understand Noah because of that. I'll teach you that there is someone like me". Jake reflected that with Katsuhiko Nakajima he had learned Noah's strength, against Naomichi Marufuji he had learned Noah's history. Now it was Takashi Sugiura, the man who embodied Noah's magnificence. Backstage, Sugi said he was honored to be nominated, as he is "not the most popular hostess". This is a reference to the gentleman's clubs that Sugi frequents, where the clientele ask for their favorite girl. GHC Heavyweight title match has been set for 17th June at "Green Journey 2023 in Nagoya", with the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag set for the 31st May at Shinjuku FACE.

MATCH EIGHT

AXIZ (Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima) vs Kongoh (Kenoh & Manabu Soya)

AXIZ came out to the ring, picking up where they left off; with their old music and wearing the same costumes they had worn the night Katsuhiko Nakajima turned on Go Shiozaki and joined Kongoh. Not the most auspicious of costumes. They even wore their old coats with the feathered hoods over their eyes. When Nakajima took his hood down, he looked to have regressed in age about ten years as he had not only cut his hair, but he had also shaved his goatee off, which made him look much younger. Nakajima and Kenoh started, Nakajima immediately started winding Kenoh up by ducking his lunge, and then doing the Misawa flash tag. Kenoh was enraged (nothing new there), especially as Nakajima waved him away. Nakajima would pay for this as Kenoh and Soya set on him as soon as possible. Kenoh could be heard shrieking at Nakajima when he (Kenoh) was fighting Shiozaki about tagging him in (Kenoh was baiting him, holding Shiozaki in a position he couldn't tag Nakajima in). 

WINNER: Kenoh with the PFS on Go Shiozaki (17 minutes, 5 seconds)

Kenoh stood with his arm raised as Nakajima faced up to him and then he kept up his shrieking as Nakajima helped Shiozaki from the ring, even stalking them round it and shouting loudly (you could hear him on the video feed over his music and the crowd), and then he went on a rant. This rant included asking Nakajima what the hell he wanted to do with AXIZ revival? (He had likened their reunion to getting back with your girlfriend in his weekly column). He had a lot to say to Suwama.  His All Together opponents (Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kento Miyahara and Kaito Kiyomiya)...and also to Kazuchika Okada, who is on his side, "I have a lot to say to you bastards". He then finished up with DragonGate and said he was glad that he had so many enemies. This bodes well for team co-operation at All Together, as he considers Okada his enemy, and did not even mention Yuma Aoyogi. 

Attendance: 935 

Picture credits: Pro Wrestling DX

Noah's next event: SUNNY VOTAGE 2023, Kobe Sambo Hall (Sunday May 21st)