Coverage

NOAH WEEKLY NEWSLETTER VOL.136 ~ 20TH JUNE 2021

Hisame let’s us know who Marufuji’s first challenger is in his 4th GHC Heavyweight reign; and the Great Muta has chosen his first victim!

Published

3 years ago

June 21, 2021

Hi5ame

Hisame let’s us know who Marufuji’s first challenger is in his 4th GHC Heavyweight reign; and the Great Muta has chosen his first victim!

NEWS

Takashi Sugiura challenges Naomichi Marufuji for the GHC Heavyweight title

Takashi Sugiura won the right to challenge Naomichi Marufuji after making him tap out to the front neck lock at the Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial event at Korakuen Hall on the 13th June. Sugiura challenged by telling Marufuji (who had dragged himself to the corner) that

“For the first time in five years, congratulations on the GHC. But, you understand the circumstances, right? I want to challenge for the GHC belt that Naomichi Marufuji has”

Marufuji has accepted Sugiura’s challenge, and set it for the event in Sendai on the 11th July. It will not be title vs title as Marufuji has no interest in the GHC National for now and wants to concentrate on defending the GHC Heavyweight. Backstage, Sugiura said he didn’t apologize for “ruining Marufuji’s” first match as champion, but the simple fact was that he wanted two belts, and Marufuji had one. He also admitted that neither of them were any younger, and he did not know how much longer they would be able to do it.

As for Marufuji, he confirmed that he was concentrating on the GHC Heavyweight and was not interested in the GHC National, and that the match would not be title for title. Takashi Sugiura was the perfect challenger to make his first defense against. He also admitted that there was no middle ground with Sugiura, he was either with him and when he thought he was on his side, Sugiura would stand in his way. Marufuji also admitted, there was the up and coming new generation of NOAH to consider too.

Great Muta chooses his challenger

We discovered exactly who Great Muta had in mind for his challenger at the Mitsuharu Misawa memorial show. Kenoh (after destroying Masao Inoue in 4 minutes, 53 seconds) got the microphone and looked to start a typically long angry rant. Half way through about growling about it being a year since NOAH started empty arena matches, he stopped as he suddenly got the feeling that something or someone was watching him. Turning around slowly he saw Great Muta had materialized in the ring (and here NOAH worked the empty arena to their advantage by having a camera angle that made it look like he had appeared suddenly), Kenoh jumped and got a face full of green mist. After that Muta decided to spit red mist at the new camera drone, which sank slowly to the floor.

Backstage, Muta said he was going to make Kenoh bleed, while a grumpy looking Kenoh (no change here, except he was covered in green), growled he would take on Muta’s challenge. The match will take place at “MUTA THE WORLD” on the 27th June.

DragonGate’s Eita comes to NOAH

After hinting he had met a “Luchadore”, NOSAWA made good his promise and bought Eita into NOAH. All the cards at the Misawa Memorial show were surprise, so it was the perfect time to do it. Eita (looking a far better fit into what is unofficially known as “The NOSAWA Army” than YO-HEY), had his first clash with STINGER (HAYATA, Seiki Yoshioka and Yuya Susumu), which ended with Eita beating Susumu. Then Eita was welcomed into the NOAH Junior division in traditional manner; a mass brawl. Eita would later confirm that he would be entering the NOAH Junior rumble, and this was nothing to do with his division in DragonGate (R.E.D), where he would remain active and come to NOAH as a freelancer. Where this leaves YO-HEY, will remain to be seen.

NOAH THE HOME

With Coronavirus causing both empty arena and a lack of shows, NOAH have begun to broadcast what is known as “NOAH THE HOME”, which are dojo matches with mainly the younger roster. There is no theme music, lighting etc, only a static cam trained on the ring. You can find these on NOAH’s official YouTube, and they will continue for seven days from Friday the 18th.

At the end of each show, fans are asked to vote for a match MVP, which so far has been won by Yasutaka Yano and Kai Fujimura, with the winners getting small prizes at the end of the series. Fans can contribute money while they watch the live feed, proceeds will go to maintaining the dojo, the dormitories and towards awards for the MVP winners.

“LEGACY”

To celebrate 70 years of Pro Wrestling in Japan, the Japanese Wrestling Hall of Fame (headed by LEONA, Tatsumi Fujinami’s son, and featuring Genichiro Tenryu), a two day super show has been planned for September 14th & 15th at Korakuen Hall. The event will take place to commemorate the anniversary of the “Father of Pro Wrestling”, Rikidozan’s debut. Further details such as card, broadcast have naturally not been announced, but what is known is that the event will feature pretty much every promotion in Japan from what was once known as “The Big Three” of NOAH, New Japan and All Japan to DragonGate, DDT, Big Japan, ZERO1 etc. Indie promotions and even small local groups will be invited to attend.

Naomichi Marufuji commented on behalf of NOAH,

“It has been 70 years since the pro wrestling of the master Rikidozan, the father of Japanese wrestling, took root in Japan. I have only been involved in pro wrestling for a small part of it’s long history, receiving direct guidance from Giant Baba, and for a little while Jumbo Tsuruta and Mitsuharu Misawa, who founded Pro Wrestling NOAH. I would like to pass on what I have inherited from many great seniors to the next generation and further enliven Japanese pro wrestling. That is why both myself and Pro Wrestling NOAH would like to co-operate with the “70th Anniversary of Japanese Pro Wrestling” event. Pro wrestling fans, pro wrestling NOAH fans, please look forward to it.”

NOAH Junior Rumble Participants

Ten NOAH Juniors will take part in the Junior Rumble to confirm the number one contender to Atsushi Kotoge’s GHC Junior Heavyweight title on the 26th June at “CAGE WAR”, they are; Daisuke Harada, Hajime Ohara, Junta Miyawaki, Seiki Yoshioka, Haoh, Nioh, Tadasuke, NOSWA Rongai, Ikuto Hidaka and Eita.

The challenger will meet the champion on the 27th.

EVENT RECAPS & POST MATCH PROMOS

EVENT RECAP: “That day will never be forgotten” ~ Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial (13th June 2021)

POST MATCH PROMOS: “That day will never be forgotten” ~ Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial (13th June 2021)

ELSEWHERE IN NOAH

~ An article in Yahoo Japan revealed that Mitsuharu Misawa was full of plans for his retirement. He was drawing up blueprints for a “NOAH Building”, which would have been multistory, an Izakaya (where he would drink with his old friends and tell of color stories), and even have a gym\bar.

~ Masa Kitamiya has said very little about the upcoming cage with loser loosing hair match, but Katsuhiko Nakajima has been theatrically maudlin about it, saying that he was delighted when Masa Kitamiya made his debut, and how hurt he has been about Kitamiya’s recent behavior.

~ Atsushi Kotoge said that “NOAH at HOME” has been good for the seniors as well as the youngsters, as he can see what bad habits he himself is falling into.

~ Takashi Sugiura is back to posting rude food with sexual connotations (this means he’s had to behave himself at some point)

~ Daisuke Harada omitted any mention of Naomichi Marufuji in the match at the Misawa Memorial, concentrating only on Takashi Sugiura and Atsushi Kotoge. When Marufuji said that Harada had put up such a fight he couldn’t get past him, Harada replied frostily “thank you for your hard work”. Marufuji responded with the expressionless emoji.

~ The new Sugiura Army member will be revealed at Korakuen Hall on the 30th June. NOAH will be returning to an audience then (hopefully).

CURRENT CHAMPIONS

GHC Heavyweight Champion: Naomichi Marufuji
Challenger: Takashi Sugiura (11th July 2021, Sendai Sunplaza Hall)
GHC Junior Champion: Atsushi Kotoge
Challenger: TBA following the NOAH Junior Rumble on the 26th June
GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: The AGGRESSION (Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya)
Challengers: TBA
GHC Junior Tag Champions: Daisuke Harada & Hajime Ohara
Challengers: TBA
GHC National Champion: Takashi Sugiura
Challenger: TBA

THIS WEEK IN NOAH

Saturday 26th June: “CAGE WAR” (19:00 JST)

Sunday 27th June: “MUTA the WORLD” (19:00 JST)

*Both events will be broadcast on WrestleUniverse and ABEMA. Subscribers will be able to watch the WrestleUniverse broadcasts, but I am unsure as to whether ABEMA will be broadcasting the events free and worldwide, or due to the use of “Premium” in their names, they will be for subscribers only. If you are outside of Japan I do not recommend that you subscribe to ABEMA due to the difficulties in getting a VPN that works, please subscribe to WrestleUniverse which is a guaranteed VPN free worldwide service.

CAGE WAR

MUTA the WORLD

LINKS

The young ace who supports NOAH wanders off course, deserted by rivals of the same generation, will he escape from the bottom?

Excerpt from “Inheritance of the soul of Misawa-ism”

Lifting the 350kg tire! The challenge of a “strong and big body” ~ Yoshiki Inamura’s strongman training (part 1)

Tires are the origin of German Suplexes without bumps ~ Interview with Yoshiki Inamura (part 2)

For Mitsuharu Misawa, Naomichi Marufuji was “the only attendant who he was never angry with”

“It’s best to take the belt from Naomichi Marufuji, who has returned to be the face of NOAH” ~ Takashi Sugiura’s special battle in Sendai on the 11th July

At the tip of the retirement plan…”Legendary Man” Mitsuharu Misawa’s thirteenth anniversary

Nine promotions including New Japan, All Japan and NOAH will participate in the “Japanese Pro Wrestling 70th Anniversary Event”

Naomichi Marufuji’s comment on “LEGACY”, the 70th anniversary of Japanese Wrestling event.

Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Masa Kitamiya, 26th June Cage Match with loser loses hair underlies a ten year drama

With thanks to: Metal-NOAH

Picture credits: Pro Wrestling NOAH, Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima.

Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!

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Coverage

Andrew’s TNA iMPACT! Results & Match Ratings: 4.18.2024

Motor City Machine Guns either go out on their backs, or head to Rebellion as champs! Lets see how they finish their current run in TNA!

Published

48 mins ago

April 18, 2024

Andrew Balaz

No burying the lead here! The Main Event is The System versus Motor City Machine Guns, and it’s the Go Home episode before Rebellion! So we’re guaranteed a damn good tag match, and we should get either new wrinkles, or ways to keep the storylines cooking going into the Pay-per-View.

With all the rumors and innuendo about the Guns being on their way out, I think we all assume that MCMG is losing, but my inner fanboy is still excited.

Part Three: Acceptance @TheJonGresham #TNAiMPACT pic.twitter.com/NE9FPzCCz2

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) April 19, 2024

Ratings:

Little Guido w/New FBI vs Hammerstone: Hammerstone wins via Torture Rack – SQUASH
LSG vs Joe Hendry: Hendry wins via Standing Ovation – SQUASH
Mustafa Ali & GYV vs Cody Deaner, Jake Something & Rhyno: Ali wins via 450 Splash – ** 3/4
Rosemary w/Havok vs Jody Threat w/Dani Luna: Rosemary wins via Spear – ***
Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) vs The System (Eddie Edwards & Brian Myers) w/Alisha Edwards: System wins via Roster Cut + Knee Party – *** 1/4

Results:

So we kick off the match with Josh coming out to commentary again to watch Hammerstone’s match. They really need a new way to try and keep heat without reusing the same tired gimmick of “ring side seat” to a Squash match.

Little Guido w/New FBI vs Hammerstone

Guido tries to shoot the half, but Hammerstone shrugs him off, lifts him like a child and runs him into a corner, few short shots and then just tosses him across the ring. Hammer gets a little distracted talking smack to Josh and eats a foot, but then tosses Guido with the ole Sack of Shit move and keeps working over Guido.

Hammer shoves Clayton, and provokes him to push him back right in front of the referee. She ejects them, Guido tries to take advantage but when he goes for the pinfall Hammer kicks out immediately and presses Guido out of thing through the ropes. Continues to dog walk Guido, puts the head gear on the ECW Original and then Torture Racks him while staring directly at Josh, and of course picks up the submission victory.

.@XiaBrookside and @Ashamae_Sebera face off NEXT WEEK on #TNAiMPACT! pic.twitter.com/Q0S3wSRpeu

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) April 19, 2024

LSG vs Joe Hendry

Hendry cuts a little promo, mentioning the Fat Uncle Phil joke…something about shopping at the TOP Dollar Store. Solid mic work.

LSG is a damn good local talent, he’s been seen in ROH and AEW in the past (perhaps others, but that’s what comes to mind immediately for me), but we all know this is an enhancement match. A few nice chain wrestling spots early, but Hendry uses his power to stop the smaller wrestler, Sack of Shit into Standing Ovation and the match is over quickly.

Mustafa Ali & GYV vs Cody Deaner, Jake Something & Rhyno

Well okay, having Deaner ask the crowd if they wanted a 3v2 or their third member…RHYNO…is pretty much a no brainer in Philly. But at least the gimmick isn’t quite as cringe as I expected.

Jake starts with Zack Gibson and throws him around. Jake goes for the tag and Deaner asks the crowd who Jake should tag, and the crowd picks Rhyno. Rhyno Whips Gibson into a corner, Drake actually softens the impact, allowing Gibson to fire back, tag out, but Rhyno levels both GYV members and then even knocks Ali off the apron. Rhyno tries to call to the crowd to tag in Deaner and that goes over like a fart in church. He tags him in anyway, and the crowd is kinda dead and doing whatever it wants after the obvious ECW chants when Rhyno tagged in.

GYV take a couple lumps but they of course start to work over Deaner and capture some momentum. Solid tandem work from GYV, they cut off Deaner from making a tag and goad Jake a little to cause the ref to block off the babyfaces so the heels can take a few shortcuts. Cody eventually makes the tag to Rhyno, hot tag, he tries to set up the Gore but the GYV manage to stop him in his tracks and hit an Enzuigiri to daze the Man Beast, he falls to his corner and Jake tags himself in. Jake literally runs them all over, tags in Cody and Launches him from the Top Rope into Zack Gibson. Ali makes the save and Jake tries to get his hands on Ali, but the GYV keep throwing themselves at him, literally. The triple team finally gets the best of Jake, they hit 3 Dives and then post Jake, so they gather around Cody like hyenas.

They forgot about Rhyno, he’s set up for a Gore, he Gores Drake, Gibson and Ali take out Rhyno, but then Cody starts to fight back. Ali stops Deaner’s offense with an Avalanche Sunset Bomb, then hits his 450 Splash. Jake barely misses being able to break up the pin.

.@TheEricYoung channels "The Sickness" as he prepares for FULL METAL MAYHEM with @FrankieKazarian at #Rebellion! #TNAiMPACT pic.twitter.com/tm1TqxZBLo

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) April 19, 2024

Rosemary w/Havok vs Jody Threat w/Dani Luna

Jody tries to start quickly with Shoulder Tackles, Lariats and Scoop Slams, and it does seem somewhat effective. Rosemary is having trouble finding offense against the intensity, but she keeps kicking out. Shotgun Dropkick finally gives Rosemary an opening, she goes into full mount and rains down strikes. Rosemary shoves Jody into a corner and Bites her in the corner. Jody tries to fight out, they go across and Rosemary catches her with the legs and puts her in the Upside Down. Splash in the corner from Rosemary, Exploder Suplex and Jody is eating a lot of offense.

Rosemary looks like she’s caught after she gets tripped up into the ropes and Jody goes for her Rope Knee into the German, but Rosemary dodges. Rosemary hits her own suplex and pulls out a beautiful Last Chancery! I haven’t seen her do that in a long time. Jody manages to fight to the ropes, Rosemary is a little slow to capitalize and eats a Pump Kick. Rosemary goes flying into the ropes, Jody hits the Double Knees into the German this time for 2, and they trade a few haymakers after that. Jody folds Rosemary with a low Lariat, Zombie rise spot a few times, Jody goes for a pinfall and Rosemary kicks out.

Havok jumps up on the apron, Dani meets her and they decide to step down, but the distraction was enough. Jody turns around and eats a Spear. Rosemary wins!

Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) vs The System (Eddie Edwards & Brian Myers) w/Alisha Edwards

Eddie and Shelley start off, and its a very simple slow start. Mostly an early stalemate, the typical Japanese style the TNA seem to love to employ. Starters tag out, but then Shelley with the blind tag, Sabin Baseball Slides out, picks Eddie’s ankle and sends his face bouncing off the apron, while Shelley sneaks up being Myers and they hit a tandem move before we cut to commercial. Off of the commercial it looks like Eddie and Myers regained control. But a nice Jawbreaker from Shelley sends Eddie falling back into the MCMG corner. Dragon Screws to both legs from Sabin and Shelley, and we get the Dragon Screw dissection spot for the Guns.

Myers gets sick of things, tries to get involved, but Simultaneous Figure Fours from the MCMG makes The System look silly. Alisha does the classic “push the rope forward” gimmick to assist Eddie in breaking the hold. She keeps chirping at Shelley until she finally grabs his foot. Shelley doesn’t take kindly, tries to grab her by the hair but she gets away, Shelley eats a strike and falls back to the ropes so Lish can just throttle him with the rope, Sabin walks over and acts like he’s going to PK her and the look of disgust on her face is hilarious, like “how dare he threaten to kick her”. Would I be mad is Masha decides to team with Lish and they win the Knockouts Tag titles? No, because the Knockouts Tags are trash. But I still prefer Lish as valet/manager.

Shelley starts fighting back after another commercial break, Eddie tries to cut him off, but Sabin clocks Eddie and Shelley manages to make the tag and Sabin comes in. Lights up both System members, Kick off Tornado DDT, into a Running Gamengiri. Eddie tries to counter but Shelley assists, tandem strikes, Double Baseball Slide into the classic MCMG spot 5 Hole Dive! Keeping up with the classics Shelley stacks the System members on each other and hit the Missile Dropkick/Flatliner spot. As the Guns are rolling, Sabin accidentally catches Sabin with his foot and The System take control! They hit their pieces of the System Overload spot, but Sabin kicks out. Roster Cut attempt from Myers, but Shelley is back. High Speed Dirt, Machine Gun Sandwich, but Lish grabs Shelley’s foot when they’re setting up Skull and Bones. Shelley gets dropped on the turnbuckle and thrown out, Sabin eats the Roster Cut followed up with Boston Knee Party and System retains!

Its a little weird to have had the two commercial cuts and the fact there’s still Nic Nemeth to follow. So it feels a little flat, I hope this wasn’t their swan song match, because it was nice to see some classic spots, but it was entirely too abbreviated.

Nemeth comes out, goes into the crowd and finds a kid with a kendo stick and borrows a beer from someone, so he does a bit of a Sandman tribute. Moose cuts off his promo basically immediately. He throws out the “can’t beat the system” line again, and Nic rolls with the punches well. Moose uses a few cute analogies about Nic having a failure laden past, but Nemeth bites back and its really damn good. He says he can see it in Moose’s eyes that he thinks he’s getting in the ring with Dolph Ziggler, but no, there is no more old Dolph Ziggler, just the new Nic Nemeth. And Moose’s cool seems to be slightly shaken after those words. Good promo.

Overall Score: 6.5/10

So this was okay, if it didn’t end as strongly as it did, I would’ve rated this much lower. Two squash matches in the beginning, reusing the Josh comes out to the announce table to watch trope is boring, hell even Clayton’s shove to Hammerstone was super lame looking. The Deaner match was luke warm at best, but things picked up around the Rosemary match.

Lets also not overlook the segments with ASH & Xia, Jonathan Gresham’s whole deal and EY having to return to the violence/sickness/world class maniac, whatever you want to call it, were all great building blocks. This definitely wasn’t what I would call a strong Go Home, but it didn’t hurt things for Rebellion. The whole injury of Cardona was addressed, which honestly sounded weird since Jordynne basically said she was expecting them to have a backup plan so she has a backup plan. I don’t really like how that video package came across.

But who knows, all I know is, this wasn’t an awful episode, it just wasn’t really strong either. Here’s to hoping Rebellion Saturday is still strong.

Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!

Coverage

Mitchell’s ROH Results & Report! (4/18/24)

Time to Man Up!

Published

4 hours ago

April 18, 2024

Steven Mitchell

Will the Ivy League MVP earn a title shot?

The NEW ROH World Champion, Mark Briscoe, is here to step onto the Proving Ground with one of Maria Kanellis’ baby boys, Griff Garrison! Will Griff make Maria proud? Or will he reach for the sky?

OFFICIAL RESULTS

Bryan Keith VS Aaron Solo; wins.
The Infantry VS The Iron Savages w/Jacked Jameson; win(s).
The Dark Order VS ???
Six Woman Tag: Diamante, Leila Grey & Taya Valkyrie VS Kiera Hogan, Leyla Hirsch & Trish Adora; win.
Lady Frost VS Marti Belle; wins.
Beast Mortos VS Nick Comoroto; wins.
Abadon VS Allysin Kay; wins.
ROH World Championship Proving Ground Match: Mark Briscoe VS Griff Garrison w/ Cole Karter & Maria Kanellis; wins and
Lee Johnson VS JD Drake; wins.