Grand Ship In Nagoya 2023

Promotional poster featuring various NOAH wrestlers

**Grand Ship In Nagoya 2023** was a professional wrestling event promoted by CyberFight's sub-brand Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah). The event took place on September 24, 2023, in Nagoya, Japan, at the Nagoya Congress Center. The event aired on CyberAgent's AbemaTV online linear television service and CyberFight's streaming service Wrestle Universe. This was the second event under the Grand Ship In Nagoya name.

The event featured eleven matches with all of Noah's five championships on the line. The main event featured Jake Lee defending the GHC Heavyweight Championship against 2023 N-1 Victory winner Go Shiozaki. Other top matches included El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. defending the GHC National Championship against Psycho Clown, HAYATA defending the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship against Seiki Yoshioka, Real (Timothy Thatcher and Saxon Huxley) defending the GHC Tag Team Championship against Good Looking Guys (Anthony Greene and Jack Morris) and Alejandro and Ninja Mack facing Los Golpeadores (Alpha Wolf and Dragón Bane) for the vacant GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.

## Background

### Storylines

The event featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

The Grand Ship In Nagoya 2023 will be main evented by Jake Lee defending the GHC Heavyweight Championship against 2023 N-1 Victory winner Go Shiozaki. On June 17 at Great Journey in Nagoya, after successfully defending the GHC Heavyweight Championship, Lee declared that he would become the first wrestler to enter to win all of his match in the 2023 N-1 Victory, as GHC Heavyweight Champion. However, in August, Lee finished the tournament with a record of four wins, two draws and one loss, with a loss against Kenoh on the final day costing him a spot in the finals of the tournament. Meanwhile, Go Shiozaki won his block and on September 3, Shiozaki defeated Kenoh in the finals to win the 2023 N-1 Victory and earn a shot at the GHC Heavyweight Championship. Following the win, Shiozaki was confronted by Lee, who had previously wanted to face him during their days at All Japan Pro Wrestling.

During the N-1 Victory in August, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. received a mysterious letter. On September 3 at N-1 Victory finals, Wagner was confronted by Psycho Clown, who told Wagner that he had come to NOAH to look for him. Clown, who is a third generation wrestler, stated that he was going to prove that the Alvarado wrestling family, were better than the Wagner family. Wagner proceeded to offer him a handshake, only to be attacked by Clown, who stood over him with the GHC National Championship belt. On September 18, in a tag team match, Wagner intentionally removed Clown's mask, causing the match to end by disqualification, before wearing it, to mock Clown.

Also on September 3, Real (Timothy Thatcher and Saxon Huxley) faced Good Looking Guys (Jack Morris and Anthony Greene) in a six-man tag team match. The match ended with Greene winning the match for his team by scoring a surprise direct pinfall over one half of the GHC Tag Team Champions Saxon Huxley. Afterwards, Morris and Greene challenged Real to a title match for the GHC Tag team Championship at Grand Ship In Nagoya.

At N-1 Victory finals, Los Golpeadores (Alpha Wolf and Dragón Bane) challenged Daga and Chris Ridgeway to a title match for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. However, on September 5, Ridgeway announced that he would be leaving NOAH to return to the United Kingdom for personal reasons, leading him and Daga to vacate the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. This led NOAH to announce that Los Golpeadores would face Alejandro and Ninja Mack for the vacant titles.

On September 9, HAYATA faced Seiki Yoshioka in a tag team match. The match ended with Yoshioka winning the match for his team by scoring a direct pinfall over GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion HAYATA. Afterwards, Yoshioka proclaimed himslef as the next challenger for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship. The two shared a common past with as they have known each other since they began their careers at Wrestle Gate.