(NOAH) NOAH WEEKLY NEWSLETTER VOL.144 ~ 7TH OCTOBER 2021

The N-1 Victory has concluded! We have a number one contender for Marufuji’s GHC Heavyweight Championship and much more! Hisame gives us all the emerald updates!

NEWS

N-1 VICTORY 2021: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Naomichi Marufuji

The final four of Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kenoh, Kaito Kiyomiya and Masakatsu Funaki, faced each other to fight to be the winner of the N-1 VICTORY 2021 on the night of the 3rd October at Korakuen Hall.

Kenoh had said he wanted to see for himself this new Kaito Kiyomiya, and he got a full first taste when Kiyomiya flew across the ring at him, not even waiting for the bell it seemed, and attacked. Kiyomiya went for the quick pins to try and catch Kenoh off guard, but after a fierce fight in which Kenoh had to figure out this stranger, it was Kenoh who walked away the victor. A furious Kaito Kiyomiya angrily stalked off (after slamming his fists against the ring, shaking the iron barrier in rage and pulling the curtains apart angrily), backstage he refused to be filmed.

Both Katsuhiko Nakajima and Masakatsu Funaki had said they were looking forward to their singles match. Nakajima had said it would be short, and while it wasn’t as short as he perhaps thought, (it was 8 minutes, 38 seconds), it was a brutal with a long hangtime on the vertical spike for the win by Katsuhiko Nakajima, meaning that the finals were now Kenoh vs Nakajima, the Kongoh showdown that Nakajima had wanted. When the main event started, you could feel the air being sucked out of Korakuen with expectation as the two of them faced up in the ring prior to the match. There was a handshake, and then it was on. Kicks, vicious slap war, chokes, they bought them out to wear each other down. There was a moment of comedy however when Kenoh did his own “Shutter Chance” on Nakajima, but the night was not to be his past defeating Kiyomiya, it belonged to Katsuhiko Nakajima who won with the Diamond Bomb after 20 minutes. Wrapping himself around the trophy for the second year in a row, Nakajima spoke on the mic and caused Marufuji to leave the commentary booth and come down to the ring.

“I won it this year too! Naomichi Marufuji, after winning the harsh league called the N-1, at last I have come to you. I am not going to finish there. On the 10th October, I am going to take Naomichi Marufuji’s belt in Osaka. Please polish it for then.”

Marufuji  congratulated him on his win, and said;

“I will shatter the confidence, the motivation & the chance to succeed that you gained by winning the league. I am going to break you into small pieces. I will break you so much you won’t even understand the meaning of winning the league. It’s victory or defeat, Katsuhiko”

The title match will take place on the 10th October in Osaka, but the match signing will take place on the 8th October at 17:00 JST on NOAH’s official YouTube (also expected will be the signing of the GHC  Junior Heavyweight and the “Special Tag in Osaka” between Keiji Mutoh and Kazushi Sakuraba vs Kenoh and Kaito Kiyomiya).

Eita humiliates Atsushi Kotoge

Pre-matches during the N-1 haven’t been easy for the juniors as NOAH held some events as empty arena  and attended matches have tended to be N-1 cards only. The pre-matches GHC Junior Heavyweight tag title challenge between Perros Del Mal De Japon (NOSAWA and Eita) and Atsushi Kotoge and Hajime Ohara haven’t happened too often as a result due to that, and Eita’s outside schedule. With only two NOAH junior matches on the card at finals night at Korakuen, Eita obliterated Kotoge in the first and last one. Eita’s tactics included hiding under the ring and emerging the other side to jump his opponent, attacking Kotoge when Kotoge broke the cardinal rule of never ever shaking hands with another NOAH Junior, and even throwing him over the barrier.

Eita’s true humiliation (as Kotoge described it) came at the end of the match when Eita poured water on Kotoge and then left, knocking him with his knee as he did. Backstage, Eita threw even more oil on a division that is ready to erupt at any moment at the slightest provocation, by proclaiming that he was the NOAH Juniors.

Daisuke Harada vs HAYATA

Daisuke Harada and HAYATA clashed in their final pre-match at Korakuen Hall on the 3rd October, and again it was inconclusive and for Daisuke Harada at least (HAYATA is usually emotionless) it was frustrating as the first match ended in a double pin when both HAYATA and Harada had their shoulders down and therefore pinned each other, and when Harada demanded a one on one fight with HAYATA, HAYATA simply left after a few seconds. The title match will take place in Osaka (Daisuke Harada’s hometown and a significant place for HAYATA) on the 10th October.

NOAH Halloween

While there hasn’t been a NOAH Halloween show announced, NOAH are releasing Halloween themed merchandise. Sadly the badges will only be venue only, but fans will be able to purchase a towel, a t-shirt and keyrings with these designs via the online NOAH shop from 22.00 JST on the 10th October. Overseas fans please use a carrier like WhiteRabbit as NOAH cannot deliver internationally. Unsurprisingly HAYATA the pirate and YO-HEY the jester have proved very popular subjects for fan art…but the question must be asked, why those two together in particular been released as designs?

EVENT RECAPS & POST MATCH PROMOS

Event recap: N-1 VICTORY 2021 Finals Night (Sunday October 3rd 2021, Korakuen Hall)

Post Match Interviews: N-1 VICTORY 2021 Finals Night (Sunday October 3rd 2021, Korakuen Hall)

ELSEWHERE IN NOAH

– Naomichi Marufuji says that Kaito Kiyomiya is undergoing training with Yoshinari Ogawa.

– Yuya Susumu has termed his team as “The Hiroshima Boys” in the match on the 15th October in Yokohama. This is himself, Seiki Yoshioka and HAYATA. Not Yoshinari Ogawa. Interestingly, Ogawa has an singles match on that night against Kotaro Suzuki. It’s very rare that Ogawa has singles matches.

– Some brave mosquitos attacked Takashi Sugiura as he sat on a park bench after walking his dogs

– Referee Shu Nishinaga (along with long suffering referee Keigo Yoshino) where travelling in an elevator from an office on the 7th floor of a building when the lift stopped due to the earthquake which hit Tokyo on the 7th October. Both had to navigate a pitch black emergency staircase.

– Kenoh says he climbed Mount Fuji this summer, and did it in four hours.

– Kendo Kashin has decided that Manabu Soya should order a bed for his NOAH care home as he did an advert for nursing beds. Soya told him that if he wanted one, then he should approach the company directly. Akitoshi Saito said he wants a king sized bed with a water mattress.

– Naomichi Marufuji visited Takuma Sano recently at Sano’s restaurant. Sano has the old design of him made a few years ago, when the NOAH roster at the time where characterized as animals.

– Kenoh says that the picture on the front of Weekly Pro this week of himself and Katsuhiko Nakajima after the match was “Kongoh pride”

– HAYATA got into a fight with the gate when attempting to walk off from the match at Korakuen Hall.

– Arch rivals Kaito Kiyomiya and Kenoh not only have to team on the 10th October in Osaka (Kenoh’s reaction was one of shocked fury, while Kiyomiya has made no comment), but also are slated to attend the press conference on the 8th.

CURRENT CHAMPIONS

• GHC Heavyweight Champion: Naomichi Marufuji
  Challenger: Katsuhiko Nakajima, (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 10th: GRAND SQUARE 2021 in Osaka

Osaka EDION Arena, 1st Stadium

Start time: 4pm JST

Broadcast: ABEMA & WrestleUniverse

*Broadcast Note

WrestleUniverse will have English commentary.

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 as at the time of writing, you will not be charged until January 2022.

LINKS

“I’m the only one!” Kenoh’s law, domination of the N-1 and putting Marufuji on notice for the taking of the GHC

“I wanted to get rid of the glitzy look, and focus on professional wrestling” – the full resurrection of NOAH’s Supernova, Kaito Kiyomiya confesses the true intention of his image renewal

“The Best Fresh Feeling” Naomichi Marufuji aspires to a “same unit confrontation” with Funaki, a request for the 10th October Osaka event

With thanks to: Metal NOAH

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse

Picture credit (badges) NOAH GHC