*There hasn’t been a newsletter since June 20th as I have had computer issues, which have now been resolved. I am going to briefly recap here what happened and is happening in NOAH since that time as a catch up for this week’s edition, and continue as usual next week.

Title news

GHC Heavyweight Champion: Naomichi Marufuji

Naomichi Marufuji defeated Takashi Sugiura to retain the GHC Heavyweight title in Sendai on the 11th July, after this he was challenged by Kazushi Sakuraba. Sakuraba, was defeated on the 1st August. Marufuji has announced that he will not be entering the N-1 Victory in September, and will face the winner of the league as his next challenger.

GHC Junior Champion: HAYATA

HAYATA won the belt from Atsushi Kotoge by winning the NOAH Junior Rumble (which he wasn’t billed to be in), on the 27th June at “MUTA the WORLD”. Challengers so far have been Ikuto Hidaka (22nd July, Korakuen Hall) and YO-HEY (1st August 2021, Hiroshima). His latest challenger is Kotaro Suzuki, who wants the belt to enter the N-1 Victory with, Title challenge will take place on the 3rd September at Yokohama Radiant Halls.

GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: Masa Kitamiya & Kaito Kiyomiya

The issue of the GHC Heavyweight Championship was resolved on the 22nd July when Masa Kitamiya and Kaito Kiyomiya defeated Katsuhiko Nakajima and Manabu Soya. As of yet no challengers have come forward (and Kiyomiya is still sulking).

GHC Junior Tag Champions: STINGER (Yuya Susumu & Seiki Yoshioka)

STINGER won the belts from Daisuke Harada and Hajime Ohara on the 1st August in Hiroshima. They have been challenged by Kongoh Juniors (Tadasuke and Aleja). This is the second time in two months that Tadasuke has challenged, albeit with a different partner. Title match has been set for 15th August at KAWASAKI GO!!

GHC National Champion: Takashi Sugiura 

Takashi Sugiura defended the GHC National title against Kazushi Sakuraba on the 30th May, and was challenged by Masato Tanaka on the 15th August. Masato Tanaka will put the ZERO1 World Championship on the line, making the title match a double one.

Current news

YO-HEY ill with Coronavirus

After “DEPARTURE DAY 1” on the 5th August, YO-HEY ran a fever and later took a PCR test which was positive. As they have been in contact with him Eita, NOSAWA Rongai, Junta Miyawaki, Daisuke Harada and referee Shu Nishinaga have all had to self isolate. At the time of writing nothing further is known of YO-HEY’S condition, or when the others will be returning. They are still advertised for NOAH’s next show on the 15th however, but in the case of YO-HEY this will most likely change.

Yoshiki Inamura injured

Yoshiki Inamura has had to pull out of ZERO1’s Fire Festival (he was on a massive roll defeating Hartley Jackson, Fuminori Abe and Tsugutaka Sato), due to a fractured pelvis. NOAH have not announced any details of his return at the time of writing.

N-1 VICTORY

N-1 VICTORY 2021 has been announced in full with dates and competitors. The league will run from September 12th with the winner taking on Naomichi Marufuji in Osaka on the 10th October. Due to COVID there where no gaijin announced nor any other wrestlers from other promotions, bar the freelance regulars that often appear in NOAH. The league has been divided up into four blocks of fifteen heavyweights, and one junior heavyweight. which is a first. It is thought that Kotaro Suzuki has been included as there was no one else to get due to Yoshiki Inamura being injured, whose spot he has now taken. In NOAH itself there are only three heavyweights who are not entering and none of which are suitable – Mohammed Yone does not do leagues anymore and is not interested in chasing titles (Funky Express is an easy payday for him, and he has more than earned it), Shuhei Taniguchi, now the over the top “King Tani” is not suitable due to his gimmick, and Masao Inoue (a freelancer) is out of the question.

BLOCK A

• Takashi Sugiura
• Kaito Kiyomiya
• Manabu Soya
• Keiji Mutoh

BLOCK B

• Kenoh
• Daiki Inaba
• Masaaki Mochizuki
• Kazunari Murakami

BLOCK C

• Katsuhiko Nakajima
• Kazushi Sakuraba
• Kotaro Suzuki
• Masato Tanaka

BLOCK D

• Masa Kitamiya
• Akitoshi Saito
• Masakatsu Funaki
• Kazuyuki Fujita

This week in NOAH

 Sunday, August 8th: Akitoshi Saito (56)

Tuesday, August 10th: Yasutaka Yano (21)

Thursday August 12th: Junta Miyawaki debut anniversary (4)

Sunday, August 15th: KAWASAKI, GO!

Cultz Kawasaki, Kawasaki

Starts: 16:00 JST

Viewing: ABEMA, WrestleUniverse and FITE TV

*Please note that with ABEMA you can only watch live, you must be a subscriber to view any replays or past events, which I do not recommend if you are outside of Japan due to the issues in getting a VPN that gets past their firewall. WrestleUniverse you must be a subscriber to, and FITE TV you can view PPV with English commentary (as will be the case on WrestleUniverse) for $19.99. FITE is not available for those based in Japan. I would recommend a subscription to WrestleUniverse.

Picture credit: NOAH.co.jp

GIFS taken from ABEMA