Majestic 2023

Promotional poster for the first night of the event, featuring various NOAH's wrestlers

## Information

### Sponsor(s)

Abema
OSG
The Reeve

### City

Tokyo, Japan

The **Majestic 2023** was a professional wrestling event promoted by CyberFight's sub-brand Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah). The event took place on May 4, 2023, in Tokyo, Japan, at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan. The event aired on CyberAgent's AbemaTV online linear television service and CyberFight's streaming service Wrestle Universe.

Fourteen matches were contested at the event, including three on the pre-show, and four of Noah's five championships were on the line. The main event saw Jake Lee defeat Naomichi Marufuji to retain the GHC Heavyweight Championship. Other top matches included El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. successfully defending the GHC National Championship against Hideki Suzuki, HAYATA defeating Ninja Mack to retain the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship, and Real (Timothy Thatcher and Saxon Huxley) defeating Takashi Sugiura and Shuhei Taniguchi to win the GHC Tag Team Championship.

## Production

### Background

The Majestic 2023 was officially announced on January 8, 2023 at New Sunrise and Reboot. The event is one of NOAH's biggest in the promotion's calendar and began being held annually since 2022. Majestic aired live on AbemaTV online linear television service and CyberFight's streaming service Wrestle Universe, with English commentary being provided by Mark Pickering and Stewart Fulton.

### Storylines

Majestic 2023 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.

The event was headlined by Jake Lee defending the GHC Heavyweight Championship against Naomichi Marufuji. On April 16, 2023, at Green Journey in Sendai, Lee successfully defended the GHC Heavyweight Championship against Katsuhiko Nakajima. Afterwards, as Lee was closing off the show, Marufuji came to the ring, and challenged him to a title match, as part of the 25th anniversary of his wrestling career, which Lee accepted, stating that he was now at the "helm of Noah". In a interview on April 22, Lee credited Marufuji for NOAH's existence, but he wanted to dispel "Noah = Naomichi Marufuji". This was Marufuji first title challenge for the GHC Heavyweight Championship in two years.

At Green Journey in Sendai, after HAYATA defeated AMAKUSA to regain the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship, he nominated Ninja Mack as his next challenger. During his fourth reign as champion, HAYATA lost the title to Mack, on October 30, in his seventh title defense, after the referee was forced to stop the match, due to HAYATA legitimately dislocating his left shoulder, which sidelined him for four months. On April 23, after defeating HAYATA in one of the pre-matches for the event, Mack taunted him with the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship belt before handing it back to him, stating that next time he would become the new champion.

   At Green Journey in Sendai, Saxon Huxley and Timothy Thatcher began teaming with each other, and the two developed a good chemistry with one another. Later that night, Hideki Suzuki on the behalf of Huxley and Thatcher challenged Shuhei Taniguchi and Takashi Sugiura to a title match for the GHC Tag Team Championship. After the relationship between Sugiura-gun members had just fizzled out over the previous months, Suzuki stated that Sugiura-gun wasn't working and was over, leading Sugiura to confirm that the stable had disbanded. Later that night, after former Sugiura-gun stablemate El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. successfully defending the GHC National Championship, due to Sugiura-gun disbanding, Suzuki challenged Wagner to a title match.