(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: GREAT VOYAGE 2024 IN YOKOHAMA (17th March - Yokohama Budokan)

Today's card was changed almost at the last moment due to Kaito Kiyomiya suffering a spinal injury. It's kind of hard to explain what he had is (a spinal concussion), but basically this meant he would have shown symptoms of back pain (usually extreme), movement problems, and probably numbness. Fortunately, symptoms usually resolve within forty-eight hours, and he was on autographs and commentary today. It goes without saying that Kiyomiya tends to have the worst timing when it comes to injuries. Elsewhere, El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr returned to Noah today, and took part in the autograph/photo session, with children who came to the show dressed in miniature versions of his mask. The seniors, Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura, were also on autographs and fans did the usual pose of kneeling before them. One fan wrote that they were a like a villager offering tax to "General Marufuji and General Sugiura". 

Event can be viewed (with English Commentary) on WrestleUniverse.

MATCH ONE

HAYATA, Ninja Mack & Alejandro vs Los Golpeadores (Dragon Bane, Alpha Wolf) & Super Crazy

"I got Lucha's!"

Ninja Mack

Super Crazy entered with the Mexican flag wrapped around him, with his back to the camera so the TV got the full view of it. HAYATA followed his team at a distance, and Ninja Mack it appears, will never give up asking for a handshake. 

The match was typically wild, energetic and entertaining, with Ninja Mack (and Alejandro who were by far the loudest participants) doing things like walking on his hands when DragonBane threw him out of the ring. By the time Super Crazy decided he was going to join in the moonsault competition, and did one off the top turnbuckle, the ref had already given up trying to keep control. 

WINNER: Ninja Mack with a diving footstamp on DragonBane (who was hanging in the corner) (11 minutes, 21 seconds)

I will mention this here, as I don't think I will get a chance to later. HAYATA did not challenge for the GHC National tonight, not backstage or in the ring after either his match or come out at the main event and challenge. He and Jack Morris have a tag match on the 31st March at Korakuen Hall, so most likely he may challenge then. 

MATCH TWO

Daiki Inaba vs Shuhei Taniguchi

Shuhei Taniguchi ("Big Shu") was like the wall that Daiki Inaba kept colliding with in an effort to break through. Put him in a singles match, and he like Inaba, will usually deliver. I don't think anyone was expecting Inaba to win however...

WINNER: Daiki Inaba with the DDD (8 minutes, 44 seconds)

MATCH THREE

Hajime Ohara vs LJ Cleary

Hajime Ohara began the match in usual fashion, as in tying LJ Cleary into all sorts of shapes, but this did not deter Cleary from trying to pin him (at least once) with his knee pressed into Ohara's chest, while pulling Vogue poses. 

WINNER: LJ Cleary via momentum pin (7 minutes, 22 seconds)

MATCH FOUR

El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr & Shuji Kondo vs Good Looking Guys (Jake Lee & Tadasuke)

This was the first pre match between the champion (El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr) and the challenger (Jake Lee). Jake has been preparing to fight El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr by fighting Noah's bigger wrestlers, so today was about how well that paid off. Tadasuke of course came to the ring in usual unhinged fashion (big wild grin, and for some reason two strands of his hair sticking up), and was told by Jake to "Kick Butt!". Ever the gentleman (although as we have seen, he does have a very vicious streak when crossed), El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr offered Jake a handshake, which Jake politely declined. Soon after this, Jake did his gunshot motion after a rope break, and El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr walked up to him, and put the barrel to his head...

Tadasuke lightened the tension between the two, and Jake even joined in with the "GLG Chant", and then slammed Tadasuke on to Kondo. By this time, Tadasuke was completely out of control, but Shuji Kondo soon cooled his fires, and enjoyed doing it. Even at one point laughing evilly, no selling him and keeping him away from Jake who was yelling hoarsely, "Tadasuke! Tadasuke!". 

WINNER: El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr with the Wagner Driver on Tadasuke (15 minutes, 1 second)

Jake, who hadn't managed to win over his rival, was determined to assert his dominance. He got back in the ring, did his elaborate bow to El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr (I always think of Jake as kind of like an Edo gentleman when Japan opened itself to the rest of the world, as he combines both East and West), and then kicked him in the face, knocking him down. Jake then made his shooting motion at the prone champion, and then walked off with Tadasuke and did not even glance back. El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr was helped out of the ring by Tadasuke and the young trainee. Kondo, realizing that the trainee was struggling with El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr, took over taking him to the back.

MATCH FIVE

3 WAY MATCH

Manabu Soya vs Masa Kitamiya vs Ryohei Oiwa

This was a tangle of a match that was made almost at the last moment due to Kaito Kiyomiya's injury. Ryohei Oiwa, one of the team that won the Victory Challenge Tag League, was naturally targeted with both Masa Kitamiya and Manabu Soya stealing the win from each other, and being very focused on defeating each other.  They fall into the category of fans loving it when they team and also when they fight

WINNER: Masa Kitamiya with the Diving Senton on Manabu Soya (11 minutes, 51 seconds)

After the match, Noah announced on the official site that Soya would be taking time off to have surgery for cubital tunnel syndrome. This isn't an injury, more a condition that needs to be treated, so Soya was probably putting it off until after the tag league. 

MATCH SIX

Kenoh vs Ulka Sasaki

Kenoh had promised to give Ulka a "baptism of pro wrestling", but Ulka had a few surprises for him too. 

In an issue of Weekly Pro a few weeks ago, Ulka revealed that the Tengu mask that he usually enters with, had been broken (the nose had snapped off) backstage by persons unknown. He has vowed to find the culprit. In the meantime, he made his usual entry, and even offered Kenoh a handshake. He didn't get one. Kenoh's lesson today was in ring psychology, teaching Ulka not to rely on submissions, especially when your opponent is near the ropes, but he also realized that Ulka was no pushover, when he discovered that not only was he going to give up working on Kenoh's legs and making him quit, he also wasn't going to let go when Ulka locked in the sleeper, and even when he and Kenoh rolled out of the ring (Kenoh tried to pin him by rolling him onto this back), he wasn't going to let go. Once he had freed himself, Kenoh gave Ulka one of his PFS from the top turnbuckle to outside the ring. Ulka managed to get to the apron, or one arm on it, by the count of 20.

WINNER: Kenoh via count out (11 minutes, 38 seconds)

MATCH SEVEN

Elimination Match

Naomichi Marufuji, Takashi Sugiura, Yoshinari Ogawa, Junta Miyawaki & Yu Owada vs TEAM NOAH (Go Shiozaki, Mohammed Yone, Akitoshi Saito, Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69)

Prior to this match, Takashi Sugiura had said that this was NOAH vs TEAM NOAH, and as far as he was concerned, everyone was Noah. So, with the seniors determined to nip this group in the bud, Yu Owada sped to the ring (and was met with HI69), Naomichi Marufuji came out with a sneer, and Yoshinari Ogawa was cold as ice. The match started in a mass brawl, with Ogawa (the most senior), being ganged up on. 

Eliminations

Hi69 elimininated Yoshinari Ogawa with the Stuka Splash (29 seconds)

Takashi Sugiura choked out Mohammed Yone with the front neck lock (referee stop, 8 minutes, 40 seconds)

Junta Miyawaki eliminated Atsushi Kotoge (much to Miyawaki's delight at 11 minutes, 52 seconds)

Akitoshi Saito was eliminated by Takashi Sugiura (over the top rope, 14 minutes, 13 seconds)

Takashi Sugiura was eliminated by Hi69 (over the top rope, 14 minutes 25 seconds)

Go Shiozaki eliminated Junta Miyawaki with the Strong Arm Lariat (15 minutes, 40 seconds)

Yu Owada eliminated Hi69 (momentum pin, 17 minutes 18 seconds)

This now left two on one, the rookie Yu Owada and his senior, Naomichi Marufuji, versus Go Shiozaki. Owada fought back like a lion, even kicking out of a huge Shiozaki lariat and a backdrop. The crowd were in frenzy, as the plucky rookie took Shiozaki out with dropkicks, and managed to tag in Marufuji. Shiozaki almost had the match won, but Owada broke the pin, which enabled Marufuji to defeat Shiozaki with the Toraoh, by doing something he did to win Global League in 2018, by using the bare metal on his brace in Shiozaki's face. 

WINNER: Naomichi Marufuji with the Toraoh on Go Shiozaki (22 minutes, 17 seconds)

Yone glared daggers at Marufuji, while Kotoge blew out his cheeks, and then helped Shiozaki out of the ring. As for the winning team, they stood with their arms raised in unity, watching TEAM NOAH leave. Backstage, Sugi said he was very pleased with the young NoahBorn in the match.

MATCH EIGHT

GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship

Daga vs YO-HEY

Yoshinari Ogawa was at ringside, as was Tadasuke, who still had his wild grin on. The crowd (even the DaGirls it appeared) were behind YO-HEY very much, as a YO-HEY singles run has been hoped for for a while now. Despite his suffering due to the attacks that had been done on his back, YO-HEY wouldn't give in, and this had Daga screaming in rage. Much to his credit, Daga did not cheat (there were no low blows, cheating with the ropes, or intrusion by Ogawa), and he won fair and square. 

WINNER: Daga with the Diablo Wings (14 minutes, 49 seconds)

No challenger has come forward, but he may well get a challenger on the 31st at Korakuen when he faces Ninja Mack, Alejandro and Junta Miyawaki. 

MATCH NINE

GHC Heavyweight Tag Championship

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

Naomichi Marufuji praised this match, which had been put together quickly. He didn't have anything to say about Shuhei Taniguchi however, who had helped in taking out GLG, and was sent to the back. Tani left telling "Ganbatte! Ganbatte!". Kaito Kiyomiya, who was on commentary, looked on at the action as Anthony Green came flying off the top turnbuckle, clearing the barrier and into the VIP section. 

WINNER: Jack Morris with the Shooting Star Press on Saxon Huxley (21 minutes, 30 seconds)

Kaito Kiyomiya stood up an pointed at the winners, which made Jack yell, "Sit on your arse, and shut your face!".

Kiyomiya did. 

Jack took the mic and spoke Japanese, and then said in Engish "I will keep this short...we said we would walk in as champs, and walk out as champs, and here we are, still your GHC Heavyweight tag team champs". He turned to AG and asked him if he wanted to "address the elephant in the room" (Kiyomiya, or the one thing that everyone had been ignoring). AG said that anytime Kiyomiya and Oiwa wanted a title shot, they would give them one. Jake then took the mic and closed out the show talking about the title match against El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr, and how could he say that? Easily. He was the one steering Noah. On the way out the champs baited Kiyomiya, with AG holding up the belts and blowing a kiss. Backstage, after reflecting on how they had to adapt to their sudden new challengers quickly, Jack called them the "greatest tag team in this decade".

With thanks to: mi151002

Attendance: 977

Noah's next event: STAR NAVIGATION 2024 (Sunday March 31st, Koraken Hall) - live on WrestleUniverse.