(NOAH) CARD PREVIEW: GRAND SHIP 2023 IN NAGOYA (Sunday 24th September, Aichi/Nagoya International Conference Center)

START TIME & BROADCAST DETAILS

Doors open: 14:00 JST

Event begins: 16:00 JST

Event will be broadcast live on WrestleUniverse (English commentary available, subscription service) and ABEMA (Japanese commentary only, no replay viewing if missed. Please note that it is not recommended that viewers outside of Japan subscribe to ABEMA, WrestleUniverse is a much better investment.) If you are unable to watch either, you can watch the first few matches for free on Noah's official YouTube.

ABOUT THE EVENT

With this event, the N-1 VICTORY 2023 comes to a close as the winner (Go Shiozaki) faces the champion, Jake Lee, for the GHC Heavyweight. Fans are of the opinion that Kenoh will challenge the winner. All the titles will be on the line tonight from the vacant GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag to the emotional GHC National. 

TITLE FRONT

GHC Heavyweight Champion: Jake Lee

Challenger: Go Shiozaki

"Jake sees Noah from the outside, understands it, and is personally implementing what Noah should be, Shiozaki feels this from within, and is trying to show how Noah should go."    

Akitoshi Saito

Go Shiozaki and Jake Lee have not gotten the win directly over each other in any of the pre matches, but Jake has come up against someone who is almost as tall as he is, weighs as much as he does, and they share a past in All Japan, although Shiozaki was only there for a short while after Jake returned. After blazing through Noah's seniors, Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura, Jake now faces their heir. Jake has warned Shiozaki that his arms are going to hurt very very badly, Shiozaki says that Jake can take his arms, but he will take his belt.  

GHC Heavyweight Tag: REAL (Saxon Huxley & Timothy Thatcher)

Challengers: Good Looking Guys (Jack Morris & Anthony Green)

REAL have threatened (actually Thatcher said this, Saxon was kept at bay by listening to The Pixies apparently) that The Good Looking Guys will after this match, will become pretty ugly guys. Anthony Green has not done well in the pre matches however, being defeated by both Huxley and Thatcher. He says he feels the pressure in the title match, which will no doubt be heightened by the presence of Hideki Suzuki at ringside. 

GHC National Champion: El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr 

Challenger: Psycho Clown

"This is not just about the championship. Restoring the Honor of one's family. Be prepared to watch a war unfold before us."

Modesta M. (Noah fan)

El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr's nightmare rose up and became flesh, when Psycho Clown appeared in Osaka, and challenged him for the GHC National. This was no ordinary title challenge however, Psycho Clown had sent an anonymous warning to Noah, saying it was from "someone whose blood is better than you", by which he meant the war between his family, Brazos, and the Wagner family, which had been ignited when Psycho Clown took the mask of Wagner's father. Wagner's father had said to him, "It is your job to take this revenge & protect what the Wagner family has built. I want you to get revenge for your father someday". So far pre-matches have included defeats by Psycho Clown and El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr ripping off Psycho Clown's mask, to which Psycho Clown has sworn that if the Wagner family thought what happened in the match when he took Wagner's fathers mask was bad, the title match is going to be even worse. Should he win, El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr seems to be considering doing a mask (as in a loser loses mask) match. 

GHC Junior Heavyweight: HAYATA

Challenger: Seiki Yoshioka

There isn't really too much to say about this match, except that the one and only pre match between them (23rd September) ended with HAYATA getting the win over Seiki Yoshioka. His usual laconic comment was, "Tomorrow will be the same". HAYATA has acknowledged Yoshioka's speed (before he stopped the press conference that was because he was said he was tired of talking about the title match, not that he had said much anyway), while Yoshioka has hinted that he will be working on finishers along the line of the Crash Driver, which got him the right to challenge. Looking beyond the title match, and the fact that Seiki Yoshioka is having his first match in Nagoya in ten years of wrestling, he and HAYATA have known each other since they were teenagers, having grown up together in Wrestle-1. They were also part of the trio of champions in STINGER, which (along with Yuya Susumu) called themselves, "The Hiroshima Boys". Should he win, HAYATA says he wants to defend the belt overseas. 

GHC Junior Tag Championship: Vacant

(This will be fought for between Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf and Ninja Mack and Alejandro after STINGER (Daga and Chris Ridgeway) were forced to vacate the belts due to Chris Ridgeway having to return to England due to personal issues)

Los Golpeadores (Dragon Bane and Alpha Wolf) have been acknowledged to be the superior team here, not to mention the fact they are biological brothers and are already holding three tag titles, and are looking to add a fourth, while Alejandro and Ninja Mack are what Noah like to call a "sudden" team, who haven't been together very long. However it does seem to be the more sudden tag team who have done better in the pre matches, with Ninja Mack capitalizing on the fact that the brothers become competitive when they have to be rivals, but tonight only one team can take the belts.  

ELSEWHERE IN NOAH

~ Hideki Suzuki says that tonight the "Red Viper Beast", Kazuyuki Fujita, is teaming with REAL. Let us hope that Manabu Soya, their opponent, does not get his hands on Fujita's tonic again as it turned him into a hepped up wildman last time. 

~ Kenoh and Katsuhiko Nakajima bring the kickfight from Hell to Nagoya, while in the same match Noah bids farewell to Lance Anoa'i and Adam Brooks (for the time being) 

~ Kaito Kiyomiya faces both of his seniors, Naomichi Marufuji and a highly unimpressed Yoshinari Ogawa, while it is Ryohei Oiwa who will receive Marufuji's calling card of a nice red chest. In the same match, LEONA gets to square things with Eita. 

FULL CARD

MATCH ONE

(Dark match)

Mohammed Yone, Daiki Inaba, Hi69 & Yu Owada vs Akitoshi Saito, Atsushi Kotoge, Stallion Rogers & Taishi Ozawa

MATCH TWO

Good Looking Guys (YO-HEY & Tadasuke) vs Shuji Kondo & Hajime Ohara

MATCH THREE

Takashi Sugiura, Manabu Soya & Masa Kitamiya vs REAL (Kazuyuki Fujita, Hideki Suzuki & Shuhei Taniguchi)

*Note, Kazuyuki Fujita is kind of an unofficial member

MATCH FOUR

Daga vs Junta Miyawaki

MATCH FIVE

Kenoh & Lance Anoa'i vs Katsuhiko Nakajima & Adam Brooks

MATCH SIX

Naomichi Marufuji, Yoshinari Ogawa & LEONA vs Kaito Kiyomiya, Ryohei Oiwa & Eita

MATCH SEVEN

GHC Heavyweight Tag Championship

REAL (Saxon Huxley & Timothy Thatcher) vs Good Looking Guys (Jack Morris & Anthony Green)

MATCH EIGHT

GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Championship

Los Golpeadores (Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf) vs Ninja Mack & Alejandro

MATCH NINE

GHC National Championship 

El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr vs Psycho Clown

MATCH TEN

GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship

HAYATA vs Seiki Yoshioka

MATCH ELEVEN

GHC Heavyweight Championship

Jake Lee vs Go Shiozaki

Picture credit: WrestleUniverse