The second half of NOAH’s doubleheader today, REBOOT 2023, consisted of the Semifinals and Finals of the Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament, with other matches not announced in advance and matchups only revealed when entrances began.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese.
The announced paid attendance was 570. Vocal cheering was allowed. This was lower than the early event number but they were also running right after the opening day of the January 2022 Grand Sumo Tournament wrapped up.
Match 1: Shuhei Taniguchi beat Taishi Ozawa.
Match 2: Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament Semifinals: Katsuhiko Nakajima & Seiki Yoshioka beat Manabu Soya & Atsushi Kotoge. Nakajima pinned Kotoge after Vertical Spike. As a result, Nakajima & Yoshioka advance to the Finals.
Match 3: Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament Semifinals: Satoshi Kojima & Shuji Kondo beat Masakatsu Funaki & YO-HEY. Kojima pinned YO-HEY after Western Lariat. As a result, Kojima & Kondo advance to the Finals.
Match 4: Dante Leon beat Yasutaka Yano.
Match 5: Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba beat Takashi Sugiura & Timothy Thatcher by ref stoppage. Kitamiya beat Sugiura with a head cutting Prison Lock. (Which probably means it included Kitamiya’s devastating headbutts)
Match 6: AMAKUSA & Ninja Mack beat Tadasuke & Hi69. AMAKUSA pinned Tadasuke after Firebird Splash.
Match 7: Kenoh & Hajime Ohara beat Masato Tanaka (ZERO1) & Shoki Kitamura. Kenoh pinned Kitamura after PFS.
Match 8: Naomichi Marufuji, Junta Miyawaki & Alejandro beat Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Yoshinari Ogawa & Eita. Miyawaki pinned Eita.
Match 9: Jake Lee & Jack Morris beat Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura. Morris pinned Kiyomiya after a Tiger driver. Significant as will be noted later below.
Main Event: Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament Finals: Katsuhiko Nakajima & Seiki Yoshioka beat Satoshi Kojima & Shuji Kondo to win the tournament. Nakajima pinned Kojima after Vertical Spike.
The next event is tomorrow at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama, beginning the 2023 portion of the never-ending SUNNY VOYAGE Tour. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 12:30 AM PT/3:30 AM ET.
Now the significance of earlier-Morris has earned a GHC Heavyweight Championship match against Kiyomiya because of what happened. That match will happen on 2/12 at GREAT VOYAGE 2023 in OSAKA at Osaka Prefectural Gym. Also announced for 2/12 is GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima vs. Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba for the titles.
The full card for the Great Muta Final Event on 1/22 at Yokohama Arena has also been announced:
Atsushi Kotoge & Seiki Yoshioka vs. Hajime Ohara & Hi69
Saori Anou & Jungle Kyona vs. Sumire Natsu & Maya Yukihi
Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Timothy Thatcher
Yoshinari Ogawa, Eita & NOSAWA Rongai vs. Junta Miyawaki, Alejandro & Yasutaku Yano
Jake Lee, Jack Morris & Anthony Greene vs. Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Hideki Suzuki in a GHC Martial Arts Rules Match
AMAKUSA, Ultimo Dragon & Ninja Mack vs. YO-HEY, Kzy & Dante Leon
Kaito Kiyomiya, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima vs. Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masakatsu Funaki & Manabu Soya
The Great Muta, Darby Allin (All Elite Wrestling) & Sting vs. Hakushi, AKIRA & Naomichi Marufuji
The event will be an ABEMA-exclusive broadcast in Japan, but will be available outside Japan in English only on WRESTLE UNIVERSE for subscribers and also is available now for pre-order as a PPV on FITE for $19.99.
