NOAH WEEKLY NEWSLETTER VOL.112 ~ 9TH DECEMBER 2020

NEWS

The road to The Budokan

“No matter where your interest lies, you will not be able to accomplish anything unless you bring your deepest devotion to it.”

― Matsuo Bashô

It’s finally happened. NOAH are going back to The Budokan.

The news was announced at the Yoyogi gymnasium on the 6th December, to thunderous applause from the audience. When NOAH announced they would be making an announcement there was lots of speculation as to what is was going to be; was it to be the Tokyo Dome or else another big venue? I think everyone knew, however, it would be The Budokan. The event will take place on Friday 12th February 2021, and will be streamed live (free and worldwide) on ABEMA.

NOAH were last at the Budokan in 2010, where they held one of the night’s of the Joe Higuchi memorial tour. Prior to this they had been running it almost habitually for the past ten years, Naomichi Marufuji commented that they ran it so often that it was just something he saw as normal. Looking back at it, he said how great it had been, which wasn’t something he had realised at the time. Two things caused NOAH to stop running the venue; the first was the ticket scandal that cost NOAH in every conceivable way, and combined with that was the loss of audience due to it, and also the fact that NOAH couldn’t afford it. The Budokan remained an unspoken dream of better days during the dark years of NOAH when they faced the aftermath of the scandal, severe money worries, loss of audience, loss of talent, and even loss of their TV. Clawing their way back from the disaster of BUSHIROAD and Suzuki Gun, it was Kenoh who in 2018 started talking about the dream of returning to Budokan, although he didn’t phrase it so politely. To Kenoh it was a case of “taking you bastards back to Budokan”, which led Takashi Sugiura to quip that Kenoh was talking as if he was going to be doing a solo there. Kenoh says that now his dream is taking shape, he wants to see the Budokan overcrowded, and himself winning the main event, and being the last to walk along the walkway. However, Kenoh is not in the main event. NOAH’s executive director, Narihiro Takeda, was the one who booked the venue, he says he saw they had some vacancies for 2021, and thought “I’ll do it”.

Go Shiozaki’s new challenger

Following being choked out by Takashi Sugiura, Go Shiozaki wasn’t going to be taken out as easily in the final pre-match on the 1st December at Korakuen Hall, despite the attacks his arms and hands were receiving from Takashi Sugiura and Hideki Suzuki. Shiozaki won the match with the Gowan lariat. He would win the title match with a series of lariats, in a brutal match that lasted 51 minutes and 44 seconds. Kenta Kobashi who was on commentary, remarked about the pain that Shiozaki must have been in (and it’s a pain he knows only too well), by saying “The champion does not complain, no matter how much it hurts. He has to keep standing in the ring”

After Shiozaki had won the match (and Sugiura helped out by Junta Miyawaki, but not before he had paused to give Shiozaki a thumbs up), the one person who had been hinting that he would challenge, and who all fans expected to challenge, limped towards the ring.

Keiji Mutoh, the man who has held both the IWGP (New Japan) and the Triple Crown (All Japan), but never the GHC Heavyweight, came to challenge.

Referring to himself as an “old man” but an “old man with a dream”, Mutoh addressed Go Shiozaki (who was so hot that the cold of the belt touching his skin caused puffs of smoke), who accepted his challenge and made it for The Nippon Budokan. Shiozaki said that Mutoh may be “an old man” but that “Keiji Mutoh was Keiji Mutoh”, and he was not going to underestimate him.

Kenoh retains against Kazushi Sakuraba

Kenoh is always enraged by his opponents, especially if they are people who like to have a good time. Kaito Kiyomiya going on a date was enough for Kenoh to spit venom, but this turned to fire when a video of Kazushi Sakuraba and Takashi Sugiura daring to enjoy a few drinks in an Izakaya, was posted to YouTube. Branding Kazushi Sakuraba as basically an “old man who likes to get drunk in bars (under bridges)” Kenoh vowed he would bring Kazushi Sakuraba back to the intensity of his PRIDE Era. Kenoh’s volatile mood was made even worse (and naturally his paranoia) when after screaming at Sakuraba on the 1st December at Korakuen Hall, Sakuraba went to answer back, but mic was off. Kenoh decided it was deliberate, and outside the ring, NOSAWA Rongai thought this was very funny.

Kenoh turned up at the match signing in one of his signature bad moods, and erupted in fury when Sakuraba seemingly ignored his question, attacked him, knocked him down with the GHC National belt and then gave him the foostamp from the table. In leather shoes. Kenoh stormed off afterwards, and Sakuraba showed Takashi
Sugiura the mark that Kenoh’s feet had left. Sugi looked as if he was saying, “Yeah, he used to try to kill me too”.

No challenger for the GHC National has come forward yet.

About Kotaro, his new friend, and the “Ogawa magic”

Kotaro Suzuki won the final match against STINGER on the 1st December, but he didn’t pin either HAYATA or Yoshinari Ogawa, instead he pinned Yoshinari Ogawa. Naomichi Marufuji was also in the match, and didn’t seem overly pleased with Ogawa or how he had treated Kotaro.

At the match signing that Noah held on the 4th December, Kotaro was the only person to turn up. STINGER made another of their non believable excuses, by claiming that it was a “traffic jam” that prevented them from going to something they had no intention of turning up to, but fans knew better than Kotaro was was going to happen when his partner, Sarubahe de Oriente, also claimed to be delayed by “traffic”.

Fans were proved right, when Sarubahe attacked Kotaro during the title challenge in Yoyogi on the 6th December, and was unmasked to be HAYATA’S former tag partner from FREEDOMS and WRESTLEGATE, Yuya Susumu.

NOSAWA Rongai appeared at ringside once again to protect Kotaro from the STINGER beat down, along with his masked friend, who was still covered up and still does not have a name (aside from NOSAWA calling him a “part time guy”). NOSAWA went to offer STINGER a handshake, which Ogawa accepted, and then posed with them as Kotaro crawled off to the corner. NOSAWA was being devious however, and STINGER were knocked down. Kotaro knew then when NOSAWA offered him a handshake, that he had no choice as he had no one left to help him destroy STINGER, and “take the head” of Yoshinari Ogawa. Kotaro will get his chance to revenge himself against Susumu on the 19th December in Nagoya, which will be NOAH’s last full show before the two produce shows finish an eventful 2020.

In true STINGER style, Susumu had little to say backstage about what had happened, only saying that he had joined STINGER and had a lot of ties to various NOAH wrestlers.

Yoshiki Inamura’s first win, heavyweight tag title challenge

Yoshiki Inamura and Kaito Kiyomiya announced their intention to challenge for the GHC Heavyweight Tag, with the match made for the 19th December 2020 in Nagoya. As mentioned above, this is NOAH’s last proper show of 2020, and so if they win they will be going into 2021 as champions.

There was more good news for Yoshiki Inamura as on the on the grand stage of Yoyogi on the 6th December, he got his first big win, by pinning Yuko Miyamoto by using Takeshi Rikio’s “Musou” (a slam). Backstage, bolstered by his win, Inamura promised to train harder than ever before so he and Kiyomiya would win the tag belts.

Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke

Tadasuke defeated Daisuke Harada in 10 minutes and 32 seconds in a tag match on the 1st December at Korakuen Hall, by using a lariat to the back of the head. Afterwards he told Harada that if HE Tadasuke was “Number four”, then Harada was “Number eighteen”, which meant that he was the very bottom of the NOAH juniors, and even below Junta Miyawaki and Yasutaka Yano. Harada laughed this off and said that Tadasuke was misinformed, “Number eighteen” was “the number of an ACE”, and proceeded to beat Tadasuke at their final pre match in Yoyogi on the 6th December by using a Katayama German hold, and then leaning through the ropes to hold up four fingers at him.

Tadasuke couldn’t quite believe that Harada had seemingly pulled a move he had never seen in all the years he teamed with him out of nowhere.

Backstage, storm clouds look to be forming on the Momo No Seishun horizon, as Harada spoke only of himself and Tadasuke’s challenge, while his teammates Atsushi Kotoge and Junta Miyawaki tried to steer the conversation to The Budokan. Sadly for Harada, this is the same single minded behavior that caused both Tadasuke and YO-HEY to turn on him.

ELSEWHERE IN NOAH

~ NOSAWA thinks its about time that Takashi Sugiura gets back on Twitter (I bet Masao Inoue does not agree)

~ YO-HEY knew that FULL THROTTLE could not match the heavyweight might of Kongoh (Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masa Kitamiya and Manabu Soya), so he concentrated on his hair color.

~ Kenta Kobashi turned pink after Jurina Matsui made a Kobashi support board

~ Hajime Ohara hinted at a FULL THROTTLE online merchandise signing.

~ Naomichi Marufuji hinted at a singles match at some point with Masakatsu Funaki

~ Go Shiozaki chopped a iron shield and then started laughing

~ One lucky lottery winner will get to attend an online “tea party” with members of NOAH

~ Yoshiki Inamura posted some socks which are presumably his, which featured a cat motif and a statement about loving sushi.

~ The Sugiura Army will hold a PPV after their produce; it will feature alcohol and fan questions.

~ NOAH have been on the cover of “Weekly Pro” twelve times in 2020

~ Mohammed Yone was given a surprise anniversary party at his restaurant, Yoneya, among the guests was Shuhei Taniguchi grappling with a small child

~ Kinya Okada has hinted he may be challenging for a title.

EVENT RECAPS & POST MATCH PROMOS

Event recap: Premium Prelude 2020 (Tuesday 1st December, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo)

Post match promos: Premium Prelude 2020 (Tuesday 1st December, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo)

Event recap: Noah The Best ~ Final Chronicle (6th December, Yoyogi 2nd Gymnasium, Yokohama)

Post match promos: Noah The Best ~ Final Chronicle (6th December, Yoyogi 2nd Gymnasium, Yokohama)

THIS WEEK IN NOAH

Sunday 13th December 2020: Nioh (39)

CURRENT CHAMPIONS

• GHC Heavyweight Champion: Go Shiozaki
  Challenger: Keiji Mutoh (12th February 2021, Nippon Budokan)
• 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: Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura (19th December, The GIFT 2020 in NAGOYA)
• GHC Junior Tag Champions: STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA)
  Challengers: None
• GHC National Champion: Kenoh
  Challenger: None

BROADCASTS

NOAH have not announced a broadcast (either live or to be shown at a later date) for “THE GIFT 2020 in NAGOYA” on the 19th December.

LINKS

Vader & Morishima, finishing move explosion! The determination of the young Okada who swore revenge! Looking back on the year of the rock-solid GHC Heavyweight champion, Go Shiozaki.

“At the end, I will become the face of Noah” Takashi Sugiura’s declaration of victory to Go Shiozaki

GHC Heavyweight title match signing: Takashi Sugiura & Go Shiozaki

“I feel alive”, Keiji Mutoh challenges the GHC Heavyweight Go Shiozaki at the Nippon Budokan on the 12th February 2021

“Technique performed with tension”, angry at Sakuraba, Kenoh’s brutality! The 6th December National Championship Challenge

GHC National title match signing: Kenoh vs Kazushi Sakuraba

GHC Junior Heavyweight tag title match signing: Kotaro Suzuki

Noah returns to “The Sacred Place”…the Nippon Budokan event will be held on February 12th, 2021! Thoughts revealed by wrestlers and others

The Green Guide to “Destination 2021 ~ Back to the Budokan” (Friday, February 12th, 2021)

With thanks to: Metal Noah

Picture credit: Noah GHC, Kazushi Sakuraba

GIF taken from Fite TV