(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: STAR NAVIGATION 2023 (Wednesday December 20th - Korakuen Hall, Tokyo)

Noah celebrated their final Korakuen Hall of 2023 in front of a loud audience of 688 people (Metal-Noah said that a lot of people seemed to arrive later on in the evening) and the sound remained an ever growing wall of noise throughout the whole evening. Flowers were in the lobby for YO-HEY'S 15th anniversary in wrestling, which will be on the 22nd December. Subscribers can view the event on WrestleUniverse. English and Japanese commentary is available. 

MATCH ONE

LEONA & Kai Fujimura vs Taishi Ozawa & Yu Owada

Winner: Kai Fujimura with the Swan Dive Elbow on Yu Owada (7 minutes, 25 seconds)

LEONA of course spoke about his obsession, Eita, and hinted that if Eita wins the GHC Junior Heavyweight, then he may well challenge him, and of course he wants to continue coming to Noah in 2024. 

MATCH TWO

Hajime Ohara vs Hi69

Hi69 was merciless in attack, he seems to shine the most in singles matches, especially against an opponent like Hajime Ohara, who has an ability to get good matches out of anyone almost.

Winner: Hajime Ohara with the Mui Bien (8 minutes, 12 seconds)

MATCH THREE

Go Shiozaki & Funky Express (Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito) vs REAL (Saxon Huxley, Timothy Thatcher & Shuhei Taniguchi)

Shuhei Taniguchi did a very slow rope run (think old man jog) due to his knee, but he seemed pretty much healed when Timothy Thatcher threw him into the opposition, and the usual melee brawl broke out. When everything had calmed down, Mohammed Yone attempted to halt Saxon Huxlet with the Disco Fever, Huxley was stricken with fear temporarily (in reality, Huxley said one of his heroes was Jeff Buckley), but bounced back. Thatcher's arm-bar was twice foiled by Yone, who the first time rescued Go Shiozaki, and the second time he himself got to the topes. Funky Express, who were originally conceived as a comedy team (now it's an easy payday for them), can have a serious fight when they have to, and they come to the fore as a serious team in these situations, and seem to genuinely enjoy it. Go Shiozaki, however, didn't seem too happy and chopped Taniguchi.

Winner: Go Shiozaki with the Gowan Lariat on Shuhei Taniguchi (10 minutes, 40 seconds)

Backstage, Go Shiozaki said that he had something he wanted to tell Satoshi Kojima, and he had a message to everyone else. His message to Satoshi Kojima was that he would defeat him without a shadow of a doubt at Ariake Arena on the 2nd January, and his message to everyone else was that, "I AM NOAH". 

MATCH FOUR

X-Treme Tiger vs TERRY YAKI

*Card was changed due to Alejandro being ill

Winner: TERRY YAKI with the Avalanche Style DDT (5 minutes, 3 seconds)

MATCH FIVE

Yoshinari Ogawa, Super Crazy & Vinnie Massaro vs HAYATA, Eita & Titus Alexander

HAYATA wanted to start against Yoshinari Ogawa, but Ogawa wasn't going to give him that, so HAYATA tagged in Titus Alexander and Super Crazy tagged in Vinnie Massaro, and then everyone started tagging in everyone else and so the first lock up was between Ogawa and Alexander. Ogawa made sure that Alexander was not going to outfox him by causing him to dive on one of the seconds, and then when back in the ring tapped his head. Message was clear; Don't fuck with the Jedi Master, son. 

Throughout the match, Ogawa continued at his spiteful best, throwing Eita on to the timekeepers table and then choking him with the black tablecloth when back in the ring. Ogawa's focus was of course HAYATA (who before he got Ogawa, had Massaro doing Italian mannerisms at him), and was booed for attacking Ogawa from the apron. HAYATA also has a new slingblade kind of move, according to the commentators, but he didn't pin Ogawa with it however, although he tried.

Winner: Titus Alexander with the Big Ugly on Vinnie Massaro (15 minutes, 13 seconds)

MATCH SIX

Naomichi Marufuji vs Atsushi Kotoge

Despite Naomichi Marufuji saying that Daisuke Harada should second Atsushi Kotoge, and Hitoshi Kumano saying he too would like to watch the match from the position of a second, Kotoge actually entered alone today. Daisuke Harada was in the arena however (he had been to the Noah's Ark FanClub booth and was photographed holding a plastic figure of Kotoge), and the one picture he took of the event was of Kotoge. Kotoge alone. Marufuji was not in the ring. Touchingly, Kotoge bought out moves Harada himself had used, although inevitably he was chopped around outside of the ring and ended the match with a sunburnt chest,

Winner: Naomichi Marufuji with the God/Tiger King (12 minutes, 53 seconds)

Naomichi Marufuji spoke on the mic and addressed Harada, who probably wasn't impressed, especially when he told him to follow him on X. Later, he had a picture taken with Harada, and told Kotoge to talk Harada into following him. I don't think Kotoge was successful. 

MATCH SEVEN

Good Looking Guys (Jake Lee, LJ Cleary, YO-HEY & Tadasuke) vs Kaito Kiyomiya, Ryohei Oiwa, Shuji Kondo & Junta Miyawaki

Good Looking Guys came out wearing YO-HEY'S t-shirts once again. A "Kaito" chant erupted, which even had girls screaming during it. Jake Lee walked around the ring conducting, and then, like The Fonz, the chants stopped when he said. There was also a loud Oiwa chant too...which did make me wonder if there were some people in the crowd, who knew what was coming...There was also a huge scream for YO-HEY, which seemed like the loudest Good Looking Guy chant of the evening. 

As well as dissing Kaito Kiyomiya by refusing a handshake and then attacking him, Jake no sold Junta Miyawaki, and then put him in a Boston Crab right in front of Shuji Kondo. Kondo stopped Kiyomiya and Oiwa from getting into the ring to break the hold, and then went to scare Miyawaki into not tapping. Miyawaki could probably feel Kondo's eyes boring into him. Jake kept pulling Junta back from the ropes, and Kondo got in to scare him even more. Kondo (moving along the apron) and the screaming crowd got Junta to the ropes, but however, before he could get there, GLG burst in and put a four man sub on him, with Tadasuke acting like a playground bully twirling his fists on the side of Junta's head. 

Winner: Jake Lee with a Backdrop on Junta Miyawaki (15 minutes, 55 seconds)

As everyone gathered around Junta, New Japan's House of Torture came to the ring. This wasn't just the Differ Ariake opponents however, this was the whole team of six men, which included Noah's long estranged Yoshinobu Kanemaru, former Sugiura Army member, Dick Togo, and another Kiyomiya New Japan nemesis, Ren Narita. Kiyomiya had gotten what he had been asking for, but as was to be expected, they started beating up on himself, Oiwa and Junta. Junta had nothing to do with them, but this drew him in as we will see, especially when Kiyomiya was dragged up by the hair, and EVIL put the microphone to his mouth to get his response as Junta was attacked by Dick Togo, Kiyomiya could do nothing by groan. 

EVIL told Kiyomiya that since he was from Noah, a "mouldy sinking ship" and he shouldn't therefore, "get cocky". The arena filled with boos and calls for EVIL to "Go Home" (he told the crowd to "shut up" as they were people of very low moral fibre)  as chairs were thrown into the ring and used on Kiyomiya, with EVIL guillotining him. EVIL then addressed Kiyomiya;

"You two aren't good enough, and there is no way we would do a Lumberjack. Instead, all six of us will destroy you. Be grateful, man. Prepare some heads. You understand? Remember that".

H.O.T finally left in triumph. Shuji Kondo had stuck around to help Junta (who was holding his crotch) out of the ring, while Kiyomiya left screaming in rage, and pushing away the second to walk by himself. Backstage, Kiyomiya found that he had two members already; Shuji Kondo and Junta Miyawaki. As for H.O.T, SHO commented that anyone in Noah must be a daredevil, as everyone was riding on this sinking ship without lifejackets. Once he had admired their pluck, but now he thought they were just idiots. Yujiro felt sorry for Oiwa as he had come to Noah instead of going overseas to train and therefore the "poor guy" was finished. But it was Yoshinobu Kanemaru whose remark got anyone in Noah's attention, in particular, that of Takashi Sugiura. Kanemaru said, "It's been a while since I've been to Noah, but the atmosphere is as bad as ever." Sugi (in a tweet that now appears to have been deleted) asked "Nobu" something like was that what he really thought? 

MATCH EIGHT

Kenoh, Takashi Sugiura & Kazuyuki Fujita vs Manabu Soya, Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba

Kazuyuki Fujita handed out bottles of the RED VIPER tonic, and after Kenoh had finished squaring up to Manabu Soya, he even offered a bottle to him. Takashi Sugiura looked on as very suspiciously, Kenoh accepted, and joined in the small toast, even though this look of suspicion never left Kenoh's face. The crowd chanted for Kenoh to drink it, and he chugged it down without flinching. 

Kenoh humiliated Soya throughout the match, even using chairs piled on him for a PFS from the bleachers at one point. Soya did indeed come close to the win despite this, but Kenoh managed to steal the win following an escape from the Dragon Sleeper. 

Winner: Kenoh with the Samson Clutch on Manabu Soya (21 minutes, 35 seconds)

Fujita was clapping, and even told Soya (who yelled at him) to get out of the ring with the other losers. Soya let out a howl of rage as he walked backstage. Kenoh closed out the show.

"Even before today's match, some strange guys showed up. When you look at the card for Ariake Arena, you don't know which promotion's card it is, but this belt is real! The GHC heavyweight championship match where this belt is on the line is Noah! Listen carefully. Marufuji and Ibushi! New Japan Pro Wrestling! On the 2nd January at Ariake Arena, Soya and I will have a fight called "This is Pro Wrestling Noah."  All you bastards out there, come watch the match."

With thanks to: Metal-Noah & Abeshin

Picture credit: Naomichi Marufuji

Noah's final event of 2023: THE GIFT 2023 in MAKUHARI ~KEIJI MUTO HAPPY BIRTHDAY~ (Saturday December 23rd - Makuhari Messe Hall 6, Chiba) - this will be broadcast at a later date.