(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: SUNNY VOYAGE 2024 (Yokohama Radiant Hall, Saturday February 24th)
Noah's shows at Yokohama Radiant Hall have a reputation for being wild, as if a permanent storm is raging in the venue, and today with the start of the Victory Challenge Tag League, pre matches and just general chaos, was no exception. Things started normally enough, fans (total attendance was 309) arrived to see Yoshinari Ogawa finishing a classroom with Ulka Sasaki and Ryohei Oiwa, with the usual autograph and photo sessions. And then the bell rang for the first match, and everything kicked off.
MATCH ONE
Hajime Ohara vs Junta Miyawaki
Although Shuji Kondo did not accompany Junta Miyawaki to ringside, Junta probably knew he was watching, and kept to his promise not to tap. Hajime Ohara was aware of this and sadistically pulled back his arm right before Junta got to the rope. He came very close to winning however, and this frustrated Ohara, who pulled out another of his nasty submissions, and seeing that Junta was not going to quit (or even get to the ropes), the referee wisely stopped the match.
Winner: Hajime Ohara with the Tres Fleur (8 minutes, 1 second)
MATCH TWO
Good Looking Guys (Jake Lee, Jack Morris & LJ Cleary) vs HAYATA, Ninja Mack & Alejandro
The far more outgoing Alejandro and Ninja Mack ran around the outside of the ring, slapping hands with fans, while the less outgoing HAYATA just got in the ring. When the match started, HAYATA (the tallest member of the team) found much to his dismay, that he was facing Jake and forcibly tagged Alejandro (the smallest member of the team, who would later get Gorilla Pressed by Jack Morris and thrown onto a teammate) in. HAYATA (who kept jumping off the apron if anyone attempted to tag him in against Jake) had little interest in anyone other than Jack Morris, and Jack also seemed to be interested in HAYATA. HAYATA wanted to be tagged in against him, and Jack even called him into the ring. However, no GHC National challenge was made by HAYATA or anyone else.
Winner: LJ Cleary with the Cow Killing on Alejandro (9 minutes, 38 seconds)
MATCH THREE
VICTORY CHALLENGE TAG LEAGUE
Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba vs Los Golpeadores (Alpha Wolf & Dragon Bane)
There was a rare moment of lightheartedness for Masa Kitamiya, as both he and Dragon Bane played up to the crowd, which was already vocal, but grew even louder when Alpha Wolf launched his brother over the ropes with his feet. Smaller than the others, Dragon Bane fought like a heavyweight and was in no way at any disadvantage.
Winner: Dragon Bane with the TwisterBane on Daiki Inaba (10 minutes, 33 seconds)
Los Golpeadores start the league on a high with a win that brings them 2 points, while Masa Kitamiya and Daiki Inaba go home tonight with none.
MATCH FOUR
VICTORY CHALLENGE TAG LEAGUE
Kenoh & Yu Owada vs Manabu Soya & Shuji Kondo
Kenoh kept a firm eye on Yu Owada, often pushing him forward and shouting encouragement at him. No one went easy on the boy, and Manabu Soya (usually a fan favorite) was even booed. Kenoh has kept things simple for Owada, again using their tandem move of Kenoh throwing Owada into both opponents while they were in the corners, with Owada following up with a diving punch. Fans where at a fever pitch behind the Kenowada team as they have named them. Kenoh rallied Owada, and Owada did almost pin Kondo, and even kicked out of his lariat. However, Kenoh was taken out and the wolves turned and ripped him to shreds.
Winner: Shuji Kondo with the King Kong Lariat on Yu Owada (13 minutes, 6 seconds)
(Shuji Kondo and Manabu Soya 2 points, Kenoh & Yu Owada 0 points)
Owada left to Kenoh throwing him out of the ring, and then hauling him up, as the crowd chanted for him. Backstage, Kenoh told Owada not to get disheartened and give up at this point.
MATCH FIVE
STINGER (Daga & Yoshinari Ogawa) & Super Crazy vs Good Looking Guys (Anthony Green, YO-HEY & Tadasuke)
This was the wildest match on the card.
Tadasuke (the challenger for the GHC Junior) and Daga (the GHC Junior champion) started the match. Daga got a taste of just how strong Tadasuke is when he shoved him and Tadasuke shoved him back and on to the canvas. YO-HEY then got involved when Super Crazy was attempting to calm Daga, by diving over the ropes at them. This set the tone for the match, but things were about to get much worse. Following the usual "GLG" showboating chant, Super Crazy did his own parody, which soon after led to Yoshinari Ogawa ripping YO-HEY'S t-shirt off. The t-shirt was defiled by Super Crazy who used it to buff Daga's boots, and then wipe his underarms, after which he choked YO-HEY. This however was not the worst that was going to happen, as the match got thrown out (to the boos of fans), when Daga hit Tadasuke with the belt, and then roughed up the referee. Tadasuke started bleeding heavily.
Match thrown out after 13 minutes, 28 seconds
Regarding the GHC Junior tag title challenge, YO-HEY said backstage that they would be accepting the challenge because of "what they did to my Taddy!". Noah announced on social media after the event that it would take place on the 10th March, which is after Tadasuke challenges Daga on the 2nd, so either Tadasuke or Daga could enter or leave a double champion.
MATCH SIX
VICTORY CHALLENGE TAG LEAGUE
Kaito Kiyomiya & Ryohei Oiwa vs REAL (Saxon Huxley & Timothy Thatcher)
REAL attacked as per usual and then proceeded to throw the young team around the ring who had come out beaming and showing off their t-shirts. They also appealed to the crowd with their tandem flip ups, not that Kaito Kiyomiya really needed to as the volley of sound was primarily for him. Oiwa (probably under Ogawa's influence) pulled out some submissions on Timothy Thatcher (easier to do than on Saxon Huxley), but fell very quickly to the Fujiwara Armbar, and tapped in a heartbeat.
Winner: Timothy Thatcher with the Fujiwara Armbar on Ryohei Oiwa (12 minutes, 54 seconds)
(REAL 2 points, Kaito Kiyomiya & Ryohei Oiwa 0 points)
The match descended into chaos as Thatcher's ominous theme sounded around the arena as he wouldn't let go of Oiwa. Kaito Kiyomiya posted this very apt photo later.
MATCH SEVEN
TEAM NOAH (Go Shiozaki & Atsushi Kotoge) vs Takashi Sugiura & Ulka Sasaki
Atsushi Kotoge and Takashi Sugiura went gunning for each other after the scramble match at Korakuen Hall on Friday the 23rd, and unfortunately he did another headbutt on Sugiura, which is the second one in as many days. Someone made a comment on social media the other day about Kotoge being more of an openweight than a junior, and I think this is a good description (especially as he switched between using heavyweight to fight Sugiura, to junior to fight Ulka Sasaki), and could also be applied to those who don't fit into either division. As expected, Sugiura and Go Shiozaki had a brutal fight, with Sugiura following up the machine gun chops with elbows, and even busting open Shiozaki's nose. The cameras even caught the sickening thuds between them as Royal Road style (even though Baba never referred to it as that, and Misawa disliked the term) pulls no punches.
Winner: Ulka Sasaki with the Shining Triangle on Atsushi Kotoge (15 minutes, 44 seconds)
(Ulka Sasaki & Takashi Sugiura 2 points, TEAM NOAH 0 points)
Sugiura gave the mic to Ulka to close out the show. Ulka said that the Triangle had once again decided the outcome of the match, but it wasn't a move unique to him, it was something that everyone could do and with its power, plus the power of Sugiura, he thought their team could win. He ended by urging everyone to watch the league, which he said would be a lot of fun.
With thanks to: pw_ota & Kei
Picture credit: Kaito Kiyomiya & Pro Wrestling DX
Noah's next event: SUNNY VOYAGE 2024, Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo - Wednesday February 28th (live on WrestleUniverse)
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