NOAH WEEKLY NEWSLETTER VOL.111 ~ 29TH NOVEMBER 2020

Hisame notes the historical significance of Suigura vs Shiozaki, as well as giving us a primer for December! Resonate with the Emerald Flow of information!

NEWS

Takashi Sugiura wins the first pre-match, Daisuke Harada winds up Tadasuke

Following his GHC Heavyweight title challenge to Go Shiozaki, the first pre-match between the two took place on the 27th November in Ibaraki. The four man tag (which was a card of Hajime Ohara & Go Shiozaki vs Takashi Sugiura and NOSAWA Rongai) ended in a referee stop, when Sugiura used the front neck on Shiozaki. In the ring, Sugiura said that he expected Shiozaki to have given him more, backstage he said that in both his and NOAH’s 20th anniversary, it would be the highlight of his wrestling career so far to win the belt. Sugiura also alluded to the fact that just like the anniversary of their first ever title match in December 2009 (which falls on the 6th, so it will be eleven years to the day), everything but the venue will be the same.

Elsewhere in the juniors, Daisuke Harada took the opportunity in Ibaraki to wind up Tadasuke by saying that he didn’t know what he wanted to do, and that he was unmotivated, and that even “today’s match was unsatisfactory”. Tadasuke jumped him and a fight broke out. Once Tadasuke had been pulled away, Harada taunted him further by wondering just what number (i.e. where Tadasuke stood in the pecking order) he stood at in the Kongoh juniors. Tadasuke rushed in screaming, and yes, because this is the NOAH juniors, yet another fight broke out that had to be broken up. The heavyweights rarely fight like this backstage, the juniors (who are far more volatile), however often do.

Tadasuke and Harada managed to stay apart at NEW HOPE, but Tadasuke did say that Harada seems to have a need to look down on people, and was he going to go on about this “number” thing forever? No matter, Tadasuke would do his own thing as he wanted, and leave Harada to whatever it is he does.

 Three new trainees to join NOAH

NOAH held an open audition for new trainees on the 28th December before the NEW HOPE event began. The audition attracted sixteen people from various careers (office workers to police officers, which is ironically what Go Shiozaki had once wanted to be), but only three were assessed to have passed. The invigilators were Go Shiozaki and Kaito Kiyomiya. Kiyomiya is very excited by the new arrivals (two of whom at seventeen will join the dojo after High School graduation, the third at twenty, will join after arrangements are completed), with Go Shiozaki saying that physically there was nothing outstanding, but he could see the potential in the three who come from backgrounds such as rhythmic gymnastics (Haruto Ogawa, 17), baseball and judo (Yosuke Sasaki, 17) and amateur wrestling (Ari Najima, 20).

The audition will be broadcast on December 1st on WRESTLEUNIVERSE.

 Kenoh announces all cards for The Kongoh Produce “Diamond 3“

 Q: In order to join Jinsei with the belt, you have to first go through the battle with Sakuraba? 

KENOH: That’s true. Three people have worn this belt so far, but who do you think suits it best?

Q: Each of them…

KENOH: WHO DO YOU THINK?

Q: I think it looks best on the person who leads the red unit.   

• Junta Miyawaki vs Yasutaka Yano
• Manabu Soya vs Tadasuke
• Go Shiozaki & Naomichi Marufuji vs The Anti Wrestlers Alliance (Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue)
• Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya vs Yoshiki Inamura & Kinya Okada
• Haoh vs Nioh
• Kenoh & Jinsei Shinzaki vs Kaito Kiyomiya & Daiki Inaba

After ranting about Kazushi Sakuraba daring to have fun drinking with Takashi Sugiura, Kenoh spoke at length about the card, although he said he didn’t care about the first match. Like everyone else, Kenoh wants to see what will happen when the former “Aggression” (Katsuhiko Nakajima and Masa Kitamiya) reunite, especially as Kitamiya has said that he “really hated” Nakajima. Kenoh has called this match the “Saitama Showdown” as both the NOAH dojo and the Kensuke Office dojo are and where in Saitama.

Jinsei Shinzaki will also be taking part in the event, teaming with Kenoh against Kaito Kiyomiya and Daiki Inaba. Kenoh had very little to say about Inaba, but he really wanted to see what would happen when Kiyomiya met Shinzaki, but although he did admit that he wants to face Shinzaki one day, but that story is for another time. At “Diamond3” he wants him to see him with a championship and to know how much he, Kenoh, has grown.

The event will be broadcast live on the 26th December on WRESTLEUNIVERSE.

NOAH’s big announcement; Tokyo Dome or The Budokan? 

Pro Wrestling NOAH have announced that they will be making a major announcement on the 6th December when they run their show in Yoyogi. Fan speculation has it that they will announce either The Budokan, or else an event at the Tokyo Dome.

ELSEWHERE IN NOAH

~ Despite the fact that they were getting on so well, Hajime Ohara said that they should have another 3-way match to decide who out of them was “The Leader”. Event will be broadcast on the 1st December on WRESTLEUNIVERSE just after the trainee audition broadcast.

~ Kai Fujimura hinted that he would like to come back to NOAH following his match with Atsushi Kotoge at NEW HOPE.

~ GHC Heavyweight tag champions, Kazushi Sakuraba and Takashi Sugiura, did a couple of YouTube videos of them drinking in an Izakaya. This is the basis of Kenoh’s “two old men in a tavern having fun”. Funniest is Takashi Sugiura’s reaction to Sakuraba’s repeated requests to “stop” when pouring him Shochu.

~ Kotaro’s Suzuki says he has two objectives in the GHC Junior Heavyweight tag title match against STINGER; to get the belts, and more importantly, Yoshinari Ogawa’s head.

~ Naomichi Marufuji took part in a tug-of-war in Saitama.

~ Go Shiozaki and Shuhei Taniguchi appeared in an online merchandise signing. Shiozaki teased Taniguchi, and Hideki Suzuki turned up in the chat and then complained that they were ignoring him.

~ Although he didn’t get so drunk he took his clothes off (unlike Takashi Sugiura), Go Shiozaki seemed to be just as drunk at Steak Izakaya.

~ Naomichi Marufuji hinted that an M’s Alliance produce may take place early 2021.

EVENT RECAPS & POST MATCH PROMOS

Event recap: PREMIUM PRELUDE (27th November 2020, Tsukuba Capo, Ibaraki)

Post match promos: PREMIUM PRELUDE

Event recap: NEW HOPE (28th November 2020, Club Citta, Kawasaki)

Post match promos: NEW HOPE

CURRENT CHAMPIONS

• GHC Heavyweight Champion: Go Shiozaki
  Challenger: Takashi Sugiura (6th December 2020, Yoyogi National Gymnasium (No. 2 Gymnasium)
• GHC Junior Champion: Daisuke Harada
  Challenger: Tadasuke (19th December, The GIFT 2020 in NAGOYA)
• GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura and Kazushi Sakuraba)
  Challengers: None
• GHC Junior Tag Champions: STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA)
  Challengers: Kotaro Suzuki & Sarubahe de Orient (6th December 2020, Yoyogi National Gymnasium (No. 2 Gymnasium)
•  GHC National Champion: Kenoh
  Challenger: Kazushi Sakuraba ((6th December 2020, Yoyogi National Gymnasium (No. 2 Gymnasium)

THIS WEEK IN NOAH

Tuesday, 1st December: PREMIUM PRELUDE 2020, Korakuen Hall (starts 18:30 JST)

Sunday, 6th December: NOAH the BEST ~ FINAL CHRONICLE 2020 (starts 15:00 JST)

BROADCASTS

30th November 2020: Broadcast of PREMIUM PRELUDE 2020 from 27th November 2020 in Ibaraki (WRESTLEUNIVERSE)

1st December 2020: Broadcast of the trainee auditions, which should also be combined with FULL THROTTLES “Who is The Leader”, although NOAH may put this up seperately. Either Way, the event will be available from 21:00 JST on WRESTLEUNIVERSE.

1st December 2020: PREMIUM PRELUDE will be a free live worldwide broadcast on ABEMA

6th December 2020: NOAH the BEST ~ FINAL CHRONICLE 2020 will be broadcast on ABEMA (this should be free and worldwide)

LINKS

“Isn’t Sugiura ignoring Bombing Koshien?” ferocious Atsushi Onita about the 29th November

“Sakuraba in the Pride Era”, surpassing teacher Jinsei and making a tag: Kenoh announces all cards for the December 26th Kongoh produce

“I will take Kazushi Sakuraba back to the time of PRIDE”, Kenoh declares “Legend Hunting”

Noah Tour Dates: January 2021

*Please note that while ABEMA may be free, you will need to subscribe to WRESTLEUNIVERSE to view the broadcasts (First month free then 900 yen per calendar month.)

Picture & GIF credits: Pro Wrestling NOAH.