Pro Wrestling NOAH ran this month’s STAR NAVIGATION 2024 event today, saying farewell to Ryohei Oiwa before the Young Lion returns to New Japan upon completion of his traditional training excursion, which he chose to spend in Japan instead of going overseas like most do.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English. The live broadcast was English only due to ABEMA exclusives in Japan. Former NOAH wrestler Tamon Honda was a special guest on Japanese commentary. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.
The announced paid attendance was 1391.
Match 1: Daiki Odashima Debut Match: Yu Owada beat Daiki Odashima by submission. Odashima was trained by Honda so he got to watch his latest protege begin his pro career.
Match 2: Shuji Kondo & Eita beat Shuhei Taniguchi & Kai Fujimura. Eita pinned Fujimura after Imperial Uno.
Match 3: Naomichi Marufuji, Takashi Sugiura & Masa Kitamiya beat Kenoh, Alejandro & Cristobal. Kitamiya pinned Cristobal after Saito suplex.
Match 4: Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Galeno Del Mal & Daga beat Dragon Bane, Alpha Wolf & Super Crazy. Del Mal pinned Crazy after Galeno Special.
Match 5: HAYATA, YO-HEY, Tadasuke & Yuto Kikuchi beat AMAKUSA, Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara & Junta Miyawako. YO-HEY pinned Kotoge after a dropkick. This was the first official NOAH match for Kikuchi as a member of the promotion (he previously competed on some LIMIT BREAK events, he previously was a member of Dotonbori Pro Wrestling but joined NOAH on 9/1 on the recommendation of Daisuke Harada).
Match 6: Manabu Soya beat GHC National Champion Ulka Sasaki to win the title. Soya becomes the 13th GHC National Champion.
Main Event: Ryohei Oiwa Final NOAH Match: Kaito Kiyomiya beat Ryohei Oiwa by submission. The match went over 27 minutes. As noted earlier, Oiwa is now headed back to New Japan although when he will resume competing there is not yet known.
The usual post-big event news/fallout:
First up for Soya: Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., the most dominant GHC National Champion to date. That match will happen on 10/14 at Korakuen
GHC Heavyweight Champion Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Masa Kitamiya for the title is also now official for 10/14.
10/14 will be the final Korakuen match for Akitoshi Saito before his retirement in November. That match will be Saito, Shiro Koshinaka & AKIRA vs. Go Shiozaki, Mohammed Yone & Atsushi Kotoge.
The 4th match now set for 10/14 is Josh Barnett & Ulka Sasaki vs. Masakatsu Funaki & Kazyyuki Fujita.
Daiki Odashima, after his debut today, faces AMAKUSA tomorrow then gets quite the step up after that in his third career match-Kenoh. That match will happen on 9/21 at Shinjuku Face.
The next event is Monday at Kasukabe Fureai Cube in Saitama. There will be no live broadcast.
UPDATE: In outside-the-ring news, congratulations to NOAH semi-regular LJ Cleary on his announcement of becoming engaged to current WWE wrestler Lyra Valkyria, which was made on Cleary’s Instagram.
