NOAH WEEKLY NEWSLETTER VOL.88 ~ 23RD JUNE 2020

A few championship match updates and NOAH announces their first date for fan attended wrestling since quarantine!

NEWS

TITLE NEWS

After a grueling tournament, Manabu Soya emerged the victor after defeating fellow Kongoh member, Masa Kitamiya, in the finals to face Katsuhiko Nakajima. However, after a hard fought match which Nakajima described as “intense”, Soya was unsuccessful in his challenge. No new challenger has come forward next for the GHC National, but Katsuhiko Nakajima has said that he is looking forward to all possibilities, even changing the rules of a match or having another tournament.

While the GHC Heavyweight and the GHC Heavyweight tags remain unchallenged for (although Keiji Mutoh says he is aiming for a belt), Daisuke Harada and Tadasuke have challenged STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa and HAYATA) for the GHC Junior tag belts, and YO-HEY has challenged Kotaro Suzuki for the GHC Junior, after Kotaro made a successful defense against Kaz Hayashi. The title matches will take place on the 19th July.

KONGOH PRODUCE: DIAMOND 2

Kongoh will hold their second produce “Diamond 2” on the 24th July at Korakuen Hall. Although the full card has not been announced, Haoh has challenged Kenoh to a singles match for the main event. Despite Kenoh’s initial irritance about it (and the fact that he looked like he was going to tear Haoh apart), Kenoh accepted admiring Haoh’s tenacity.

HITOSHI KUMANO’S FAREWELL

Hitoshi Kumano will make his farewell to NOAH on the 19th July when he teams with his hero, Takashi Sugiura, against Naomichi Marufuji and Kinya Okada. Kumano is leaving NOAH to have an eye operation due to worsening vision problems which he has had since he was a trainee. Kumano will not know if he will be able to return to wrestling until after the operation, which has had to be delayed by the Coronavirus.

EVENT RECAPS & POST MATCH PROMOS

Event recap ~ ALL FOUR SIDES, DAY 1 (19th June 2020)

Post match interviews (Day 1)

Event recap ~ ALL FOUR SIDES, DAY 2 (20th June 2020)

Post match interviews (Day 2)

Event recap ~ “NOAH GO FORWARD, DAY 2” (21st June 2020)

Post match interviews

ELSEWHERE IN NOAH

~ Rene Dupree came to the ring with his belt upside down at Day 1 of “ALL FOUR SIDES” and not noticing, raised it the same way. I think he has probably been teased about it, as Mohammed Yone (his opponent) certainly mentioned it and seemed to tease him about it before their match at night 2.

~ Hajime Ohara had to separate Seiki Yoshioka and Atsushi Kotoge who were squabbling over a seat at their merchandise signing. Kotoge is still convinced he’s leader of FULL THROTTLE, when everyone else knows it is the infinitely more sensible Ohara. Kotoge says he needs to get a belt to force the other two into respecting him, and accepting him as their leader.

~ Yuko Miyamoto was revealed to be the mystery member of the “M Alliance”

~ Junta Miyawaki hinted in his online column (as did Hajime Ohara on his blog) that he may not be returning to wrestling. He has not appeared on any of the July cards, and was not at ringside as a second. NOAH are yet to make any formal announcement.

~ Mohammed Yone has started to open Yoneya up to small fan events, starting with the girls from TeensHeaven. No word on when “Satoko’s Room” or the one day manager events will begin again.

~ Tadasuke says he is going to be getting drunk on Instagram on the 24th June at 10pm JST.

CURRENT CHAMPIONS

• GHC Heavyweight Champion: Go Shiozaki
• GHC Junior Champion: Kotaro Suzuki
  Challenger: YO-HEY (19th July)
• GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: The Sugiura Army International (El Hijo de Dr Wagner Jnr & Rene Dupree)
• GHC Junior Tag Champions: STINGER (HAYATA & Yoshinari Ogawa)
  Challengers: Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke (19th July)
• GHC National Champion: Katsuhiko Nakajima
• IPW Junior Heavyweight Champion: Daisuke Harada
  NOSAWA Rongai has announced an open challenge for the belt. Harada is screaming that he won’t do it, but no one as of yet has come forward to challenge for it.In addition, IPW have announced that now they are under new ownership, they will be reopening their doors.

THIS WEEK IN NOAH

Friday 26th June 2020: Go Shiozaki will be hosting a gatcha party via NOAH’s official YouTube at 18:00 JST.

NOAH have not announced any shows until July 18th when they return to Korakuen, and no tournaments or fan events\appearances at the time of writing.

 BROADCASTS

It is likely that the July events will be broadcast either on ABEMA, Samurai TV and\or WRESTLE UNIVERSE, but NOAH have not announced any details as of yet.

LINKS

“It’s Showa” praise for a promising rookie’s classical attacks

“After all, it’s breathtaking”…Kenta Kobashi talks scathingly with affection for junior Masao Inoue

GHC National Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima, interested in two people

The symbology of Kongoh

Kotoge’s resurrection of the GHC National Championship

The Sumo Story – exploring Yoshiki Inamura’s background

“Rules can be changed”, Katsuhiko Nakajima defeats Manabu Soya for his second defense, and speaks on the next one

“I’m burning for one man alone now” claims Kaito Kiyomiya! 18th July Korakuen Hall rematch with Keiji Mutoh

GIFS taken from Samurai TV & NOAH official YouTube