(NOAH) Noah Weekly Newsletter Vol 130 ~ 2nd May 2021

NEWS

Takashi Sugiura defeats Kazuyuki Fujita, new GHC National Champion; Rock-Paper-Scissors decides the next challenger.

The monsters came out of the Showa cinema posters, and clashed in Nagoya for the GHC National Title on the 29th April. Towards the end of brutal fight full of punches, elbows, kicks, slams (and a submission move by Sugiura), Fujita was played when Sugi pretended to be dazed, and caught him off guard, punting his head almost to the roof and then putting him in the Olympic Slam. After the match there was a scary moment with Fujita as he lay on the mat, his eyes flickering and tongue lolling out. The seconds gathered round, with Kendo Kashin undoing his boots, as a stretcher was produced. To be honest, given the fact that the doctor didn’t come out and NOAH issued no statement on the matter, it was probably for show.

Takashi Sugiura’s next challenger soon revealed himself. Katsuhiko Nakajima was sitting at ringside looking sinister, but it wasn’t him. The next challenger was another Sugiura Army member, this time closer to Sugiura, Kazushi Sakuraba. Sugiura told him that if he wanted to challenge, then he beat him at Rock-Paper-Scissors. Sakuraba did, and Sugiura was bound by his word to give him a shot. Title match will take place at the Mitsuharu Misawa memorial show on the 30th May.

Mutoh, Masa and Marufuji

Keiji Mutoh defended the GHC Heavyweight title against Masa Kitamiya in Nagoya on the 29th April. He was full of praise for his young challenger, saying that he was worthy to inherit the name of “Masa”, and commenting that he still had some way to go to be physically like Masa Saito, who was heavier.

Naomichi Marufuji had been shown taking his seat at the commentary table, so fans knew it was going to be foregone conclusion as to the outcome of the match. Afterwards, Marufuji got in the ring with Mutoh and a couple of other members of The M’s alliance, and posed with Mutoh for the victory pictures. He then made his challenge, which was accepted by Mutoh (who had ignored his last two), with the title match being set for the CyberFight Festival on the 6th June at the Saitama Super Arena. Mutoh believes that this challenge has been blessed by Mitsuharu Misawa. For Marufuji, it’s a childhood dream.

NOAH Junior carnage

When things happen in the NOAH Juniors, it happens in a big way, and it’s never usually just one thing it it is many things involving many other people at the same time. What happened on the 2nd May stemming from the 29th in Nagoya was no exception, when YO-HEY and Seiki Yoshioka challenged STINGER (HAYATA and Yoshinari Ogawa) for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag titles, after the champions had seen off NOSAWA Rongai and Ikuto Hidaka the next challengers appeared, and much to the fans delight it was YO-HEY, who was with Seiki Yoshioka. YO-HEY made the challenge, and the mic was snatched up by HAYATA, who left without saying a word. Fans had hopes that since this was the first time in a year YO-HEY and HAYATA were in the same ring together, there would be a reunion of their tag team somewhere down the line (after all, it happened with Momo No Seishun).

But this is the NOAH Juniors. Nothing is ever that simple.

At Korakuen Hall on the 2nd May, FULL THROTTLE faced STINGER…when Seiki Yoshioka kicked YO-HEY in the head, which allowed HAYATA to get the win and then slicing Ohara’s heart in half, kicked him in the face and left the ring with his old WRESTLE-1 friends, HAYATA and Yuya Susumu. Worse was to follow for Ohara, when the other half of his heart was kicked against the wall, when NOSAWA Rongai and his gang materialized from thin air and offered YO-HEY their friendship against STINGER, he accepted and left. Backstage he said he cared nothing for FULL THROTTLE, Yoshioka had given his reasons as silly things like “Peron” and “Mui Bien” being said, none of which he knew the meaning of, and he didn’t see how they were going to help him get to the top of the NOAH Juniors.

So, what of Ohara?

Ohara was about to rescued himself, as while he was sitting with his hands over his face, Momo No Seishun came into the ring and offered to let him join them. Kotoge spoke on the microphone saying that they needed his ability and his strength to rouse the NOAH juniors, and praising his intuition with fans, the promotion and units alike. Ohara joined and said on his blog he was grateful for their kindness, but he was still heart sore over Yoshioka’s kick, although he no longer felt the pain in his face.

Kenoh’s return

NOAH fans were both delighted and surprised to see Kenoh when he made an appearance at Korakuen Hall on the 2nd May and addressed the cameras. Kenoh has been battling Coronavirus, which provoked in him a very high temperature (39 degrees) and hospitalization. The pneumonia he suffered was severe enough to make breathing difficult if he even moved just a little bit. You could tell when he stood in the ring just how ill he had been as his clothes were a little too big having lost 6-7 kg in weight, his cheeks were flushed and his eyes bloodshot, he also seemed to be exhausted by the time he left as just the effort of walking to the ring, standing and talking had taken it out of him. Nonetheless, he announced he would be returning, as would the other members of Kongoh, on the 15th May.

EVENT RECAPS & POST MATCH PROMOS

EVENT RECAP: “NOAH The Glory 2021” (Thursday 29th April 2021, Nagoya Congress Center)

POST MATCH INTERVIEWS: NOAH The Glory 2021 (Thursday 29th April 2021, Nagoya Congress Centre)

EVENT RECAP: The Ovation 2021 Day 1 (Sunday 2nd May, Korakuen Hall)

ELSEWHERE IN NOAH

~ Naomichi Marufuji has come up with a new move, the “Tiger King Zero”, which involves grabbing an opponent by the ears and driving a knee into their face as he drags them forward. He has been practicing on opponents.

~ In addition to lifting tires, Yoshiki Inamura is also tacking Atlas Stones. He can lift 150kg, but the 175kg is eluding him. He has made it his mission to overcome this.

~ If you sign up to WrestleUniverse, you get “Peron Points” according to YO-HEY. I have no idea what these are or what they go towards.

~ It is Masao Inoue’s turn to be pestered by Kendo Kashin, who appeared after Inoue had been beaten by Takashi Sugiura, to challenge him to a match. Sugi says he has never heard of such a challenge.

CURRENT CHAMPIONS

• GHC Heavyweight Champion: Keiji Mutoh
  Challenger: Naomichi Marufuji (6th June 2021, “CyberFight Festival”)
• GHC Junior Champion: Atsushi Kotoge
  Challenger: TBA
• GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: The AGGRESSION
  Challengers: TBA
• GHC Junior Tag Champions: STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA)
  Challengers: TBA
• GHC National Champion: Takashi Sugiura 
  Challenger: Kazushi Sakuraba ( Sunday May 30th, “Mitsuharu Misawa ~ Forever in Our Hearts 2021”)

THIS WEEK IN NOAH

Monday, May 3rd: “NOAH THE OVATION” DAY 2 (11.30 JST)

Saturday, May 8th: Akira Taue (60)

“NOAH THE OVATION” DAY 2 will be broadcast on WrestleUniverse. You must be a subscriber to view this event.

LINKS

“I want to show the result of sticking to the letters “MA-SA””, no hesitation in attacking Mutoh’s knees. GHC Heavyweight challenger Masa Kitamiya interview.

Aiming to be no.1 in the Pro Wrestling Industry through commercialization and video distribution – why DDT and NOAH participated in CyberAgent

“Masa will definitely come down to the venue”, April 29th in Nagoya, Mutoh and Kitamiya clash over the GHC Heavyweight. Masa Saito’s wife, Satoko, talks about her thoughts.

May 2021 events calendar

“When it comes to management, I have wrecked two companies” ~ how did Keiji Mutoh’s “sudden joining of NOAH” come true? 

“As someone who has a dream of martial arts, there is a possibility to achieve everything” ~ Naomichi Marufuji

GIFS taken from WrestleUniverse.