(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 (Kira Messe Numazu, Shizuoka - Sunday, December 10th)

Prior to the event starting, Noah held a big autograph session. Takashi Sugiura was very happy (in his own words) to see a little boy had come to his booth, dressed in some autographed pants by Sugi (albeit too big for him), which the little boys father had won. Sugi even remembered the item. Noah were delighted that the number of small children coming to their shows had increased. Elsewhere, Masa Kitamiya wore short shorts in December, HAYATA looked awkward, and Naomichi Marufuji and Go Shiozaki joked with fans,  even doing a picture with Shiozaki and fan with hands clasped looking at Marufuji, who stood with his arms crossed. Although it has gone unsaid, today was also Referee Nishinaga's birthday. After the show Noah did another autograph session with fans commenting on how kind Jake Lee was, and even doing the bounce with REAL.

I think Noah have taken into account the fact that five out of eight shows held in November, were not streamed live, and so today's was done through YouTube. Hopefully this will be an ongoing thing. I am not sure how long this will remain on YouTube, but the show will be put on WrestleUniverse eventually. You will need to be a subscriber to view. 

MATCH ONE 

Hajime Ohara & Kai Fujimura vs Super Crazy & Yu Owada

Winner: Kai Fujimura with the Boston Crab on Kai Fujimura (10 minutes, 4 seconds)

Hajime Ohara got into the ring and congratulated Fujimura on his win, naturally for Ohara as this is a submission it means more. 

MATCH TWO

X-Treme Tiger vs TERRY YAKI

Winner: TERRY YAKI with a jumping avalanche style DDT (7 minutes, 20 seconds)

MATCH THREE

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

Funky Express made a rare tag today, and pretty much left everything to their young teammate, Taishi Ozawa. REAL came to the ring in usual chaotic style; Shuhei Taniguchi squaring up to his former unit, with Timothy Thatcher walking Saxon Huxley outside the ring. When they got into it, Thatcher encouraged the Saxon/Taniguchi rope bounce, and Mohammed Yone got into the act, encouraging the fans to applaud to see how long their opponents could keep it up before they got puffed. Then REAL attacked and the bell rang, and everyone save young Ozawa and a slightly unhinged Taniguchi, were in the ring. Ozawa got the brunt of REAL, with Tani getting slammed on to him by Huxley and at one point, Saxon Huxley tapped Timothy Thatcher's foot to tag in, much to the delight of the crowd. 

WINNER: Timothy Thatcher with the Fujiwara Armbar on Taishi Ozawa (12 minutes, 10 seconds)

REAL celebrated in usual wild style, bouncing, roaring, and chest beating. 

MATCH FOUR

Tadasuke vs Alejandro

Winner: Alejandro with the Jacknife (9 minutes, 19 seconds)

Notch up another win for the team of Alejandro and Ninja Mack in the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag pre match wars, as Alejandro stole the win from Tadasuke, who left glaring at him and kicking the barrier. 

MATCH FIVE

Good Looking Guys (Jake Lee, LJ Cleary & YO-HEY) vs Takashi Sugiura, Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69

During the match, YO-HEY was taunting Atsushi Kotoge from outside the ring, the crowd laughed as YO-HEY scattered as Takashi Sugiura got down from the apron, and advanced menacingly towards him. I think as no one really had any reason to be in the ring with anyone else, they just had fun as Hi69 gave up with Jake Lee tried to challenge him to a test of strength, and as he couldn't reach his hands, he poked him in the eyes and then tagged Sugi in, and Jake kind of mimicked Sugi when he advanced menacingly on Kotoge, no selling his shots.

Winner: YO-HEY with the Super Face G on Hi69 (13 minutes, 37 seconds)

MATCH SIX

HAYATA & Eita vs Shuji Kondo & Junta Miyawaki

Shuji Kondo (Junta Miyawaki's "Demon Instructor"), left Junta to start off against HAYATA, and stood there when Eita had him in a sub. Tonight he was spared the worried seniors who would have got into the ring right away, but when he saw Junta wasn't going to get to the ropes, and he has been forbidden to tap, stormed in and broke the hold and stamped on Junta on the way out. HAYATA however caused Kondo to be ripped off the apron and the two of them (HAYATA and Eita) double teamed Junta for the win.

WINNER: Eita (11 minutes, 38 seconds)

(Noah haven't given a name for this move, but it involves a dropkick to the face. If anyone does come up with a name, however, it will most likely be Eita). 

Backstage, spoke briefly to say "Ariake, Tanahashi-san, I'm looking forward to it", while Shuji Kondo once again blasted Junta for losing. 

MATCH SEVEN

Kenoh, Naomichi Marufuji & Go Shiozaki vs Manabu Soya, Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba 

Kenoh's focus was first to shove the belt in Manabu Soya's face and then in Naomichi Marufuji's, shouting angrily about the main event at the Differ Arena in January 2024. Kenoh started as he meant to go on and then got into a row with Marufuji about starting the match, telling him that since he was the main eventer, he (Marufuji) should go first and show him how strong he was. Then he refused to shake hands with Marufuji when Marufuji offered and stayed at the far end of the apron, away from Go Shiozaki to begin with. Kenoh is not the easiest person to tag with if he doesn't like you, and so while Shiozaki was in the ring, Marufuji seemed happier walking around outside or leaning on the apron and watching. But the two couldn't avoid a clash for long, Marufuji held the ropes open for Kenoh following a long tirade after Kenoh tagged in him by slapping his shoulder, Marufuji then chopped Soya while staring at Kenoh, who stood watching outside the ring with his arms crossed. Things even got physical as Kenoh later attacked Marufuji, who was saved by Soya. Shiozaki evidently was staying out of this trainwreck. Kenoh then decided that he was not going to let Marufuji tag him in, and then things went quiet as Kenoh fought Soya and the seniors left the match to the younger wrestlers. Then, Marufuji tagged Kenoh in when he went for the PFS, Kenoh in fury took this up with the ref, and as he was the legal man, Marufuji stole the win.

WINNER: Naomichi Marufuji with God Tiger King (19 minutes, 36 seconds)

(Marufuji confirmed the name backstage, and said he had been working on it, and he would be using it at the Ariake Arena against Kota Ibushi. He also warned Kenoh not to lose just because he let his guard down over a footstamp). 

Kenoh's rage grew as Marufuji celebrated in front of him, then he went to chase Marufuji with the belt, but Marufuji clapped and left. In full fury with smoke almost coming out of his ears, Kenoh got on the mic

"HEY, MARUFUJI! Don't just always take the best! You will be retiring in five years, so will this be Noah's biggest match of the year? That's right! This is why Noah can't reach the top!"

Then Masa Kitamiya got into the ring and spoke on the mic, after snatching it from Kenoh, who had his back turned, and had just told Marufuji and Ibushi to get ready, he would be the one to fight in the main event where the GHC would shine the brightest. Kitamiya said that he was aiming for the GHC, but before all of that, he had received Tomohiro Ishii's response, and there was nothing to do now but fight. 

 Then Go Shiozaki got into the ring and spoke on the mic, after snatching it from Masa Kitamiya. He said that he too was also aiming for the GHC, but before all of that, he wanted to fight Satoshi Kojima at the Ariake Arena. So Kojima, "Come on out and fight me!"

Then Manabu Soya got into the ring and spoke on the mic, and asked everyone that if they thought that was "Kenoh's belt?", he said no, that was his belt and the belt he would be wearing on January 2nd at the Ariake Arena. He would be the one to create that spectacular view. 

Kenoh faced his challenger and the two others who were chasing the belt and told them that he was going to be wearing that belt forever, and "show Noah a spectacular view". He then closed out the show with the declaration that from the 2nd January 2024, he would start his reformation of Noah. Kenoh then went around showing the GHC Heavyweight to everyone in the crowd, and shaking hands with everyone in the front row. 

With thanks to: Kuroaya16 & Metal-Noah

Attendance: 412

Noah's next event: SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 - Saturday December 16th (Yokohama Radiant Hall) - live on WrestleUniverse