(NOAH) NOAH WEEKLY NEWSLETTER VOL.143 ~ 30TH SEPTEMBER 2021

 With the Final Four figured out, the N-1 Victory is coming to a head! Who will be the next to challenge for the GHC Heavyweight Championship?

NEWS

N-1 VICTORY: Four finalists from each block revealed 

After a highly charged night at Korakuen Hall on the 26th September, the four finalists who will be fighting it out for the league championship, (with the winner going on to challenge Naomichi Marufuji for the GHC Heavyweight in Osaka), were revealed to be Kaito Kiyomiya (Block A), Kenoh (Block B), Katsuhiko Nakajima (Block C) and Masakatsu Funaki (Block D). Kiyomiya had advanced by a time limit draw with Keiji Mutoh that had given him that precious point just ahead of Mutoh which made him block winner, Kenoh had beaten Masaaki Mochizuki and as he was the winner of the match had gone on to finals night (he had also been helped by Daiki Inaba dealing with Kendo Kashin), Katsuhiko Nakajima got the result he wanted when Masato Tanaka was defeated by Kotaro Suzuki and he himself defeated Kazushi Sakuraba, and Masakatsu Funaki had felled the mountain which was Kazuyuki Fujita. All four faced off in the ring, Kenoh yelling at Kiyomiya.

The semi finals at Korakuen Hall on the 3rd October will be;

• Kenoh vs Kaito Kiyomiya
• Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Masakatsu Funaki

*The two winners from each match will fight in the finals on the same night.

Nakajima has said he is looking forward to the match with Funaki, but has warned that is going to be “a tense and brutal one, which will finish in one go” and says that he hopes for a Kongoh vs Kongoh final. Like Kenoh (who has gone so far to post himself as the winner of 2021’s league in a list of league winners), he says he will be the only one. Kaito Kiyomiya and Masakatsu Funaki haven’t said much, but Kenoh has started up his usual rant about Kaito Kiyomiya running along the track that the company have set for him, and since his current rage seems to be directed towards the “Legends” era in NOAH (namely anyone over 50) he says that Kiyomiya has come to the N-1 from defeating a bunch of old people and is now riding an “electric wheelchair from the old people’s home to NOAH”.

EVENT RECAPS & POST MATCH PROMOS

Event recap: N-1 Victory Night 5 (26th September Korakuen Hall)

Post match interviews: N-1 Victory Night 5 (26th September Korakuen Hall)

ELSEWHERE IN NOAH

– With infection rates falling in Japan, a semblance of the old days returned to NOAH when Naomichi Marufuji went out to Osaka to do some promotion. One of the places he stopped off at was the Harada family butchers. He said that both Akio Harada (Daisuke’s older brother) and their mother followed him on Twitter, but the younger Harada did not. Naturally, Daisuke Harada made no comment.

– Takashi Sugiura has been posting suggestive looking food. This means he has had to behave himself at some point in the day.

– Fans have said that since Kaito Kiyomiya did not defeat Keiji Mutoh, their battles are “to be continued”.

– Kendo Kashin is still stalking Kenoh over the NOAH retirement home, even going so far as to show him a logo he had created. Kenoh looked like he couldn’t quite believe him, before leaving yelling loudly about Kashin checking into a nursing home.

– A new camera will be introduced at the next NOAH show at Korakuen Hall on the 3rd October.

– Kotaro Suzuki has announced he will be reopening Bar Jin with some restrictions lifted.

– Naomichi Marufuji was trolled by Takashi Sugiura when he asked fans to send him pictures of anywhere called “Marufuji” (same spelling in either Japanese or Western characters) they found. Sugiura sent a picture of Kaito Kiyomiya pulling a face next to a sign. Marufuji said he didn’t want to be that kind of adult

CURRENT CHAMPIONS

• GHC Heavyweight Champion: Naomichi Marufuji
  Challenger: Winner of the N-1 VICTORY 2021,(GRAND SQUARE 2021 in OSAKA, Edion Arena Osaka 1st Stadium, October 10th)
• GHC Junior Champion: HAYATA
  Challenger: Daisuke Harada,(GRAND SQUARE 2021 in OSAKA, Edion Arena Osaka 1st Stadium, October 10th)
• GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: Masa Kitamiya & Kaito Kiyomiya
  Challengers: TBA
• GHC Junior Tag Champions: Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara 
  Challengers: Perros De Mal Del Japon (Nosawa RONGAI & Eita),(GRAND SQUARE 2021 in OSAKA, Edion Arena Osaka 1st Stadium, October 10th)
• GHC National Champion: Takashi Sugiura 
  Challenger: TBA

THIS WEEK IN NOAH

(Full October schedule)

Sunday, October 3rd: N-1 VICTORY 2021 Finals Night

Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

Start time: 11.30 am JST

Broadcast: ABEMA & WrestleUniverse

Tuesday, October 5th: Seiki Yoshioka debut anniversary (13 years)

Broadcast note

Hopefully the ABEMA broadcast will be a free and worldwide one, but please note that whether it is or isn’t, if you are outside of Japan you should not subscribe to ABEMA to watch the show as unfortunately you need to be a subscriber to watch replays or to watch the event from the beginning should you be tuning in half way through. Unless you are either in Japan, or have a VPN that you know is compatible with ABEMA, subscribing and the added difficulty of finding a VPN that works is not recommended. A far better investment would be a subscription to WrestleUniverse were the show will be put eventually. The new ABEMA will launch at midday on the 1st October, and while no one will be charged for the month, new subscribers will get until January 2022 free of charge. Make sure you sign up on the first of the month to take advantage.

LINKS

“The Supernova of Japanese wrestling” faces the N-1 with a new look. Has he finally escaped from the long tunnel? 

NOAH from The Vault

“Leave it to you” interview with Mitsuharu Misawa & Go Shiozaki (2009)

Picture credit: Takashi Sugiura