The Majestic 2022 was a two-day professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event promoted by Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah). The two shows took place on April 29 and 30, 2022, in Tokyo, Japan at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan. The first night was the first NOAH event to feature only junior heavyweight wrestlers, as part of their junior heavyweight sub-brand N Innovation. This was the first event under the Majestic name.
The first night of the show was headlined by Eita defending the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship against HAYATA, while the second night was headlined by Go Shiozaki facing Kaito Kiyomiya for the vacant GHC Heavyweight Championship. As part of a partnership between NOAH and the Dragon Gate (DG), wrestlers from the promotion also appeared for the event.
Due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the event had some restrictions in attendance, following the declaration of the State of Emergency in Japan. The event aired live on AbemaTV online linear television service and CyberFight's streaming service Wrestle Universe.
Production[]
Background[]
On January 29, 2021, NOAH announced that the promotion would celebrate its 20th anniversary in the Ryōgoku Kokugikan. However, in June, NOAH was forced to cancel the event, due to the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). The following January, during the 2022 NOAH The New Year, NOAH announced the event, marking their return to the Ryōgoku Kokugikan. On February 9, Daisuke Harada co-founder of the N Innovation sub-brand and wrestler, announced the first night would be the first NOAH event to feature only junior heavyweight wrestlers. On March 7, it was announced that Takuya Sugawara, Jason Lee and Andy Wu would be taking part of the event.
Following the mitigation of the COVID-19 travel restrictions, on March 23, it was announced that Chris Ridgeway, Rene Dupree and El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. would be returning to the promotion for the event. On March 27, it was announced that MLW wrestler and former WWE superstar, Simon Gotch would make his debut for the promotion at the event. On April 8, announced the participation of various wrestlers for the event, including Michael Elgin, who would be making his return to Noah at the event. Shortly after, the decision to book Elgin for the event, was received by various criticism due to Elgin's previous allegations against him.
Storylines[]
Majestic 2022 featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portray villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.
Eita, who faced HAYATA for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship
The first night was headlined by Eita defending the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship against HAYATA. On March 21 at Great Voyage in Fukuoka, Eita and his Los Perros del Mal de Japón Super Crazy faced Stinger (HAYATA and Yoshinari Ogawa). The match ended with Eita and Crazy being disqualified, after Eita attacked Ogawa with the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship belt. Afterwards, Eita proceeded to humiliate HAYATA, after lathered him up with shampoo, that Eita had on a bag. Two days later, HAYATA went on his revenge, attacking Eita during a match against YO-HEY, before challenging him to a title match. On March 24, Eita was defeated by HAYATA in a six-man tag team match, in less than two minutes, leading Eita to reflect on his recent humiliation.
In the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match, Atsushi Kotoge and YO-HEY will make their third title defense against Stinger (Chris Ridgeway and Yoshinari Ogawa). On April 3, Kotoge and YO-HEY made their second sucessful title defense against KONGOH (Hajime Ohara and Tadasuke). Afterwards, Yoshinari Ogawa challenged Kotoge and YO-HEY to a title match at Majestic. In a backstage interview, Ogawa confirmed that Chris Ridgeway, who had recently returned to NOAH, would be his partner.
Z-Brats (SB KENTo, Shun Skywalker and H.Y.O), who faced Alejandro, Daisuke Harada and Junta Miyawaki
The first night also included a singles match between former partners Haoh and Nioh. On December 14, 2019, at KONGOH self-produced event, the stable was joined by Hi69 and Yuki Sato, with the duo renaming themselves to Nioh and Haoh, respectively as part of their addition to the stable. On January 16, 2022, Haoh quit the stable and defected to the NOAH juniors, leading to a feud between former stablemates Nioh and Tadasuke. On April 3, Nioh challenged Haoh, who continued to carry with his ring name after KONGOH, to a name vs. name match, where the loser being forced to rename himself. After losing all of his pre-matches to Haoh, on April 17, Nioh offered to also put his hair on the line in the match, which Haoh accepted.
The first night also featured an intrepromotional match between NOAH and Dragon Gate. On March 23, Z-Brats (H.Y.O, SB KENTo and Shun Skywalker) under the disguise of Metal Warrior, made their debut in NOAH, attacking Alejandro, Daisuke Harada and Junta Miyawaki, during a match, before challenging them to a match at Majestic. On April 25, Alejandro, Harada, Miyawaki made their debut in Dragon Gate confronting Z-Brats.
Kaito Kiyomiya, who faced Go Shiozaki for the vacant GHC Heavyweight Championship
The second night was headlined by Go Shiozaki against Kaito Kiyomiya for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. After Shiozaki unsuccessfully challenging Katsuhiko Nakajima for the GHC Heavyweight Championship on January 1, at Noah The New Year, Go Shiozaki underwent a 4 match trial series to challenge for the GHC Heavyweight Championship, but lost all 4 matches. After defeating Manabu Soya on March 13 at Great Voyage in Yokohama, Shiozaki began his true road to the GHC Heavyweight Championship. On March 23, after avenging his loss to Katsuhiko Nakajima, Shiozaki called out Kazuyuki Fujita, challenging him to a title match for GHC Heavyweight Championship at Majestic, which accepted, after mocking Shiozaki's catchphrase of "I am NOAH". On April 27, Fujita vacated the GHC Heavyweight Championship after testing positive for COVID-19. Afterwards, in a press conference, Kaito Kiyomiya demanded NOAH's Executive Officer Narihiro Takeda to include him in the main event for the vacant title, being restrained by staff and made to leave, as he forced Takeda to accept immediately his request. The following day, it was announced that Kiyomiya would face Shiozaki for the vacant title.
Also on March 23, Kenoh submitted one-half of the GHC Tag Team Champions Takashi Sugiura during a six-man tag team match. Afterwards, Kenoh who had defeated Sugiura, and won the right to challenge. Taking the tag belt, Kenoh, who was frustrated that the veterans were holding NOAH's titles, challenged Sugiura and his Sugiura-gun stablemate Hideki Suzuki to a title match for the GHC Tag Team Championship at Majestic, with his partner being KONGOH stablemate Katsuhiko Nakajima.
Results[]
Night 1[]
| # | Matches | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ikuto Hidaka defeated Kai Fujimura | Singles match | 6:37 |
| 2 | Slex defeated Yasutaka Yano | Singles match | 8:37 |
| 3 | Kotaro Suzuki and Yuya Susumu wrestled to a time limit draw | Singles match | 20:00 |
| 4 | Los Perros del Mal de Japón (Nosawa Rongai, El Texano Jr. and Super Crazy) defeated KONGOH (Hajime Ohara, Shuji Kondo and Tadasuke) | Six-man tag team match | 10:46 |
| 5 | Haoh defeated Nioh | Singles match Lucha de Apuestas, hair and name vs. hair and name match | 16:03 |
| 6 | Extreme Tiger defeated Seiki Yoshioka | Singles match | 11:31 |
| 7 | Z-Brats (H.Y.O, SB KENTo and Shun Skywalker) defeated Daisuke Harada, Alejandro and Junta Miyawaki | Six-man tag team match | 25:00 |
| 8 | Ninja Mack defeated Dragón Bane and Alpha Wolf | Three-way elimination match | 18:03 |
| 9 | Stinger (Yoshinari Ogawa and Chris Ridgeway) defeated Atsushi Kotoge and YO-HEY (c) | Tag Team match for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship | 33:41 |
| 10 | HAYATA defeated Eita (c) | Singles match for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship | 28:08 |
| |||
Night 2[]
| # | Matches | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kai Fujimura and Slex defeated Alejandro and Yasutaka Yano | Tag team match | 10:22 |
| 2 | KONGOH (Hajime Ohara, Manabu Soya and Tadasuke) defeated Funky Express (Akitoshi Saito, King Tany and Muhammad Yone) | Six-man tag team match | 12:55 |
| 3 | Stinger (Chris Ridgeway, HAYATA, Seiki Yoshioka, Yoshinari Ogawa and Yuya Susumu) defeated Los Perros del Mal de Japón (Eita, El Texano Jr., Kotaro Suzuki, Nosawa Rongai and Super Crazy) | Ten-man tag team match | 9:28 |
| 4 | Sugiura-gun (Kazushi Sakuraba and Kendo Kashin) defeated Masaaki Mochizuki and Don Fujii | Tag team match | 6:47 |
| 5 | Sugiura-gun International (El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and René Duprée) defeated Daiki Inaba and Masato Tanaka | Tag team match | 10:51 |
| 6 | Michael Elgin defeated Masa Kitamiya | Singles match | 12:33 |
| 7 | Masakatsu Funaki (c) defeated Simon Gotch | Singles match for the GHC National Championship | 9:47 |
| 8 | Alpha Wolf, Dragon Bane, Extreme Tiger and Ninja Mack defeated Atsushi Kotoge, Daisuke Harada, Junta Miyawaki and YO-HEY | Eight-man tag team match | 16:33 |
| 9 | Naomichi Marufuji and Satoshi Kojima defeated Kinya Okada and Yoshiki Inamura | Tag Team match | 15:01 |
| 10 | Sugiura-gun (Takashi Sugiura and Hideki Suzuki) (c) defeated KONGOH (Kenoh and Katsuhiko Nakajima) | Tag Team match for the GHC Tag Team Championship | 23:36 |
| 11 | Go Shiozaki defeated Kaito Kiyomiya | Singles match for the vacant GHC Heavyweight Championship | 30:02 |
| |||
Three-way elimination match[]
| Elimination | Wrestler | Eliminated by | Elimination move | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alpha Wolf | Dragon Bane | Pinned after the Twister Bane | 15:17 | ||
| 2 | Dragon Bane | Ninja Mack | Pinned after the Ninja Bomb | 18:03 | ||
| Winners: | Ninja Mack | |||||