Pro Wrestling NOAH ran their monthly STAR NAVIGATION 2024 event in Tokyo today, this one a special PREMIUM event as it would be the last such event for Akitoshi Saito before his retirement next month.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in English. Japanese may not be available yet and the English version is edited because it was an ABEMA exclusive broadcast in Japan. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.
The announced paid attendance was 1302.
Pre-show match: HAYATA beat Daiki Odashima.
Match 1: Shuhei Taniguchi & Eita beat Galeno Del Mal & Alpha Wolf. Taniguchi pinned Wolf after Maybach Bomb Zwei.
Match 2: Junta Miyawaki, Tadasuke, Kai Fujimura & Yu Owada beat YO-HEY, AMAKUSA, Dragon Bane & Yuto Kikuchi. Miyawaki pinned YO-HEY.
Match 3: Jack Morris & Daga beat Anthony Greene & LJ Cleary. Morris pinned Greene after a tiger driver.
Match 4: GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura beat Kenoh & Alejandro to retain the titles. Sugiura pinned Alejandro after an avalanche Olympic Yosen Slam. V3 for the champs.
Match 5: Masakatsu Funaki & Kazuyuki Fujita beat Josh Barnett & Ulka Sasaki. Funaki beat Barnett with a heel hold.
Match 6: GHC National Champion Manabu Soya beat Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. to retain the title. V1 for Soya.
Match 7: Akitoshi Saito Final Korakuen Match: Akitoshi Saito, Shiro Koshinaka & AKIRA beat Go Shiozaki, Mohammed Yone & Atsushi Kotoge. Saito pinned Kotoge after Death Brand.
Main Event: GHC Heavyweight Champion Kaito Kiyomiya beat Masa Kitamiya by submission to retain the title. V5 for Kiyomiya.
The next event is Saturday at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 12:30 AM PT/3:30 AM ET.
The post-event news/fallout:
For the second straight year, former New Japan icon and current WWE wrestler Shinsuke Nakamura will return to Japan for NOAH THE NEW YEAR 2025 on Janiuary 1, 2025. Last year he faced Keiji Muto, this year he’ll face Ulka Sasaki.
It was announced that Saturday’s event, the first half of a doubleheader that day at Club eX in Shinagawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo, will now be an ALL REBELLION produced event. The second event is a LIMIT BREAK ex. event. Both events that day will be live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE with the first event beginning Friday at 8 PM PT/11 PM ET. The second event will begin Saturday at 12:30 AM PT/3:30 AM ET.
Nest up for Kiyomiya: The winner of a determination match between Marufuji & Sugiura. That match will happen on 11/6 at Korakuen. The title match will be on 11/17 at the Akitoshi Saito Retirement Event.
Next up for Soya: Shiozaki. That match will happen on 11/9 at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka.
