(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 (Ishikawa Prefectural Industrial Exhibition Hall No. 3, Sunday July 30th)

Noah announced an attendance of 1125 people today in Kanagawa. Fans queued up under what was described as the "scorching sun". The venue was not much better, and Jake Lee quipped about this when he closed out the show.  Kenoh signed autographs, looking more cross than usual. Jake Lee was also on autographs, and fans asked him to do his "shooting" pose at them. 

As this is Kanagawa Prefecture, you can usually expect Hiroshi Hase (the prefecture governor) to make an appearance. Hase was an old friend of Mitsuharu Misawa's and very almost was part of the walkout to Noah, had he not been concentrating on politics at the time, he might have gone. Governor Hase was here tonight, as was Keiji Mutoh (more on that later) and NOSAWA Rongai was also spotted watching from the balcony with Mutoh at one point, and Naomichi Marufuji at others. Governor Hase did not open the show though, that was done by Isao Nakamura, who is a member of the Ishikawa Prefectural Assembly. Noah made him the "supreme advisor" of the event tonight. 

MATCH ONE

Kai Fujimura vs Yu Owada

Winner: Kai Fujimura with a Boston Crab on Yu Owada (5 minutes, 30 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Mohammed Yone & Taishi Ozawa vs Akitoshi Saito & Super Crazy

Winner: Super Crazy with a Moonsault Press on Taishi Ozawa (10 minutes, 34 seconds)

MATCH THREE

Ninja Mack vs Hajime Ohara

In a very fast paced match, Hajime Ohara got somewhat aerial, which is unusual for him. 

Winner: Ninja Mack with the Ninja Bomb (7 minutes, 58 seconds)

MATCH FOUR

Good Looking Guys (Anthony Green, YO-HEY & Tadasuke) vs Stallion Rogers, Seiki Yoshioka & Alejandro

Winner: Seiki Yoshioka with the Crash Driver on YO-HEY (11 minutes, 12 seconds)

Tadasuke and Stallion Rogers helped YO-HEY out of the ring, with Tadasuke pointing at Yoshioka and gesticulating wildly. 

MATCH FIVE

Daiki Inaba vs Shuhei Taniguchi

Winner: Daiki Inaba with the DDD (11 minutes, 10 seconds)

With a wild look in his eyes, Daiki Inaba said that the people who thought that the N-1 was going to be easy, he was going to make regret thinking that. 

MATCH SIX

HAYATA & Eita vs Yoshinari Ogawa & LEONA

On the way to the ring, Eita whispered something to Noah's English announcer, G-MAN, and then went backstage. When Eita came back he was holding a bouquet of flowers, which had been sent to HAYATA for his 17th anniversary debut, which was today. The flowers had been sent by a fan, Karin. While Eita paraded around the ring with the flowers, HAYATA smiling as he was touched, but because he is shy, he was pulling his hair and touching his face. G-MAN even held the mic to HAYATA, expecting him to say something, but maybe this was expecting a little too much, as HAYATA ducked away. 

Then Eita, HAYATA (who should have stood in the middle, but initially stood to the side of G-MAN, but they did manage to get him into the middle) and G-MAN posed for pictures. Yoshinari Ogawa, who had been watching all of this and probably thinking "Foolishness!" decided to attack along with LEONA, who beat HAYATA with a sunflower. The ref frantically indicated for the seconds to get these flowers out of here.

WINNER: HAYATA with the 403 Impact on LEONA (9 minutes, 4 seconds)

Backstage, HAYATA walked off without a comment, and Eita asked if anyone heard what he said?!

Before the next three matches took place, Governor Hiroshi Hase and Keiji Mutoh had a short talk in the ring. Mutoh, who has been appointed Tourism Ambassador for Kanagawa (by Hase), was asked by Hase if he had a match here today. Mutoh said he was retired. Hase asked why then was he still practicing each day (I think he probably means working out at the gym), Mutoh said it was for his health. Hase didn't quite believe him and asked the crowd as to whether he and Mutoh should have one final match. Hase told Mutoh that he hoped that they could have a match again one day. Mutoh made no further comment, and handed Hase the donation money that had been raised for earthquake relief in the prefecture. Personally, I don't think Mutoh is physically capable of wrestling again, and Hase faced backlash from some of his councilors and constituents who thought that "the Governor rolling around half naked" was undignified. 

MATCH SEVEN

Kenoh, Adam Brooks & Lance Anoa'i vs Manabu Soya & THE TOUGH (Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura)

The rivals Lance Anoa'i and Manabu Soya started the match. This was like watching two beasts go to war as they butted heads and screamed at each other and then ran into each other with shoulder tackles. Soya managed to knock Lance out of the ring, who reacted by yelling and shaking the barriers before getting into the ring. This was the rivalry that dominated the match. Yoshiki Inamura threw Adam Brooks around the ring, who had just told him, "You ain't nothin! This is my moment!", Brooks returned the favor

WINNER: Adam Brooks with the Aussie Buster on Yoshiki Inamura (14 minutes, 8 seconds) 

After the match, Adam Brooks was treated to Kenoh yelling at him. Not that he had done anything wrong. Kenoh was in the usual grumpy mood and with the N-1 VICTORY starting in August, he gave Brooks a tongue-lashing, not least because Brooks was his first official opponent. While this was going on, Soya and Anoa'i were in each others faces.      

MATCH EIGHT

Naomichi Marufuji, AMAKUSA & Junta Miyawaki vs Kazushi Sakuraba, Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69

Maru and Saku started, Maru telling Saku to take off his shirt so he could chop him. Saku refused. 

MMA style lock up between Naomichi Marufuji and Kazushi Sakuraba. Sakuraba later got dog eared into the corner and chopped, he would stop the chop competition to take his shirt off and throw it aside and by the end of the match Sakuraba's chest had a purple patch. While Marufuji spent most of the match chopping Sakuraba about, junior chaos broke out between the two feuding teams. AMAKUSA and Hi69, the former Haoh and Nioh of Kongoh, know each other very well.

WINNER: AMAKUSA with the Kaikoku on Atsushi Kotoge (17 minutes, 36 seconds)

AMAKUSA seemed more pleased with Junta today as he gave him a strong (but stern) handshake and backstage said intimated that he was more confident now about their team, while Naomichi Marufuji was encouraging to the Noah Juniors. 

MATCH NINE

Good Looking Guys (Jake Lee & Jack Morris) vs AXIZ (Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima)

Winner: Jake Lee with the FBS on Go Shiozaki (23 minutes, 27 seconds)

Jake got on the mic after the match and asked Noah management that when the next time they rented this place out, to please make sure that the temperature was lowered a little more. Jake then spoke about having an intense fight and then closed with saying, how could he, a mere wrestler, say something like that? It was because he was at the helm of The Ark now.

Picture credits: Weekly Pro, Pro Wrestling DX

Noah's next event: N-1 VICTORY, Sunday August 6th (Broadcast live on ABEMA)

With thanks to: Kei, Nori & Shogapro