{"id":109770,"date":"2022-02-09T18:53:04","date_gmt":"2022-02-09T23:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=109770"},"modified":"2022-02-09T18:53:04","modified_gmt":"2022-02-09T23:53:04","slug":"masakatsu-funaki-vs-masaaki-mochizuki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2022\/02\/09\/masakatsu-funaki-vs-masaaki-mochizuki\/","title":{"rendered":"Match Point: Masakatsu Funaki vs Masaaki Mochizuki, NOAH STEP FORWARD 2022 (2\/10\/22)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Match Point is an ongoing series at Last Word on Pro Wrestling, where we look at intriguing matchups in indie wrestling and beyond. They may be dream matches, first-time matchups, or hotly anticipated rematches. Take a deep dive into this upcoming GHC National Championship bout, as <strong>Masakatsu Funaki<\/strong> defends the title for the first time against <strong>Masaaki Mochizuki<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>Pro Wrestling NOAH<\/strong> is back with their second straight night at Korakuen Hall. Once again, they have a big marquee title match of epic proportions lined up. <strong>Masakatsu Funaki<\/strong> looks to make his first defense of the GHC National Championship against former fellow <strong>M\u2019s Alliance<\/strong> member, <strong>Masaaki Mochizuki<\/strong>, who is aiming for a double recapture going into this match.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\uff0f<br \/>\ud83d\udce32.10\u5f8c\u697d\u5712\u3010GHC\u30ca\u30b7\u30e7\u30ca\u30eb\u9078\u624b\u6a29\u3011\u958b\u50ac\ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25<br \/>\uff3c<\/p>\n<p>\u300cSTEP FORWARD 2022\u300d<br \/>\ud83d\udcc52\u670810\u65e5(\u6728) 18:30\u958b\u59cb\/17:30\u958b\u5834<br \/>\ud83c\udfe2\u5f8c\u697d\u5712\u30db\u30fc\u30eb<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udc51\u30e1\u30a4\u30f3\u30a4\u30d9\u30f3\u30c8\u30fbGHC\u30ca\u30b7\u30e7\u30ca\u30eb\u9078\u624b\u6a29\u8a66\u5408<br \/>\u8239\u6728\u8aa0\u52dd\uff08\u7b2c8\u4ee3\u738b\u8005\uff09<br \/>vs<br \/>\u671b\u6708\u6210\u6643\uff08\u6311\u6226\u8005\uff09<\/p>\n<p>\u203b\u7b2c8\u4ee3\u738b\u8005\u306e\u521d\u9632\u885b\u6226<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/noah_ghc?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#noah_ghc<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/wrestleUNIVERSE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#wrestleUNIVERSE<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qhEhJOviYt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/qhEhJOviYt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u30d7\u30ed\u30ec\u30b9\u30ea\u30f3\u30b0\u30fb\u30ce\u30a2 \uff5cPRO WRESTLING NOAH (@noah_ghc) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/noah_ghc\/status\/1491393472431075328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 9, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Masakatsu Funaki vs Masaaki Mochizuki &#8211; What to Know<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Masakatsu Funaki Joins KONGO <\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Masakatsu Funaki was a member of the M\u2019s Alliance alongside Masaaki Mochizuki, <strong>Masato Tanaka<\/strong>, <strong>Jurina Matsui<\/strong>, <strong>Yuko Miyamoto<\/strong>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2022\/02\/08\/ghc-heavyweight-tag-team-championship-vacated\/\" target=\"_self\"><strong>Naomichi Marufuji<\/strong>, and <strong>Keiji Muto<\/strong><\/a>. They were supporting him heavily ahead of his challenge for the GHC National Championship. Funaki made his second attempt at <strong>Kenoh<\/strong>, and the red belt, and did not disappoint. Funaki defeated Kenoh in a matter of three minutes to become the GHC National Champion. This wasn\u2019t a shock, as Funaki is no stranger to winning belts in quick fashion; he gets one opening and he strikes immediately.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The shocking portion of this came after the belt was wrapped around Funaki&#8217;s waist by his teammates. The new champion grabbed the microphone and expressed his desires to exit the M\u2019s Alliance and enter <strong>KONGO<\/strong>. He wished to team up with Kenoh, to which Masato Tanaka and Naomichi Marufuji approved. Thus, Funaki was able to start a new chapter in his career.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Masaaki Mochizuki Strikes Back Against Funaki<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In Masakatsu Funaki\u2019s first outing in KONGO, Masaaki Mochizuki spoiled the occasion. The Ironman of <strong>Dragon Gate<\/strong> pinned Funaki before expressing his desires to take the GHC National Championship back and return it to the M\u2019s Alliance. In a later interview, Mochizuki expressed that he wanted Masakatsu Funaki to also return to the M\u2019s Alliance should he be victorious. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Prediction<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">While the story of Mochizuki vanquishing Funaki and bringing him and the National Championship back to the M\u2019s Alliance would be good, we think it\u2019s too soon. Funaki will not only retain the belt but this will lead to something greater regarding challenges from other M\u2019s Alliance members. Yet, the GHC National Championship is still searching for an identity. Another title change here wouldn\u2019t be off-brand for the belt.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em><span class=\"s1\">Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\"><span class=\"s2\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can watch Pro Wrestling NOAH as well as DDT, TJPW, and more on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ddtpro.com\/universe\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0Wrestle Universe<\/span><\/a> and ABEMA.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Match Point is an ongoing series at Last Word on Pro Wrestling, where we look at intriguing matchups in indie wrestling and beyond. They may be dream matches, first-time matchups, or hotly anticipated rematches. Take a deep dive into this upcoming GHC National Championship bout, as Masakatsu Funaki defends the title for the first time [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3712,"featured_media":109777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,6975,24,2192],"tags":[7026,6814,1927],"class_list":["post-109770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-international-wrestling","category-noah","category-wrestling","tag-ghc-national-championship","tag-masaaki-mochizuki","tag-masakatsu-funaki"],"modified_by":"Robbie Sutter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3712"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}