(NOAH) NOAH WEEKLY NEWSLETTER VOL.150 ~ 21ST NOVEMBER 2021

With their own big Budokan event coming up, and the huge crossover news, Hisame tells us all about the events in Pro Wrestling NOAH!

NEWS

New Japan vs NOAH

On November 18th NOAH and New Japan both announced that they would be making a press conference on both of their respective YouTube channels on Saturday 20th November. Kaito Kiyomiya fueled further speculation by posting a picture of himself holding a picture of Kazuchika Okada, which had appeared on the front of Weekly Pro in June 2020, and captioning it “The Future”. At the press conference on the 20th, New Japan announced that as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations, they would be holding a joint Wrestle Kingdom show on January 8th 2022 at the Yokohama Arena. No mention was made of either side about the disaster of the “Suzuki Gun” era when Bushiroad owned NOAH, which indicates that both companies want to wipe the slate clean for the sake of the future. NOAH are not the company they were in 2015 and New Japan too have undergone a lot of changes.

The press conference was attended by Kaito Kiyomiya (ironically the only person in the room who was part of the fight against the Suzuki Army) and Hiroshi Tanahashi. A VTR was shown of three New Japan wrestlers (Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada and current champion, Takagi Shingo) and three NOAH wrestlers (Kaito Kiyomiya, Keiji Mutoh and current champion, Katsuhiko Nakajima). Shingo said he had two names in mind, Naomichi Marufuji and Katsuhiko Nakajima, Nakajima whom he debuted the same year as and had lost to twice in the past, so “it’s time for some revenge”. Nakajima said he had no idea who their champion was, and Okada said he had no idea who was even in NOAH, and that if Kiyomiya really had wanted “to experience the Rainmaker”, he should have been more persistent. After Kiyomiya and Tanahashi had their say to the press with Kiyomiya vowing to make New Japan regret competing against NOAH, and Tanahashi saying he wanted to fight the one who represented NOAH the most, the two squared up before leaving the stage. Kiyomiya says that his original goal was Okada, but now he has a new focus, Tanahashi. No card has been announced as of yet, but KENTA has posted a picture of himself as GHC Heavyweight champion saying “See you there”

“The biggest announcement in history ever made”

For the New Year’s day event at The Nippon Budokan, NOAH have said they have five to make, with number four being what they are calling “the biggest in history”. This will be announced at this Tuesday. Kenoh says that the fifth announcement will be him walking out of The Budokan as a double champion.

Perros Del Mal De Japon vs STINGER; No Touch Tag Rules

In a recent interview, Yoshinari Ogawa verified that he never actually intended to challenge for the GHC Junior Heavyweight tag belts with Yasutaka Yano. He had told Yano to return the belts to NOSAWA Rongai and Eita as a way of humiliating them, but Yano had gotten a little carried away. Ogawa says that Yano needs more experience in the ring before he can start challenging for titles. He did feel sorry for him though being attacked and drenched in water. Ogawa stated that if he was going to challenge for the tag titles, then it was going to be with HAYATA and HAYATA only, but he also had a proposal for Eita. Why wasn’t the tag done under the DragonGate No Touch rules? What this basically means is that a tag partner does not have to tag in, he can get legally in the ring once his opponent is at ringside. Perhaps both NOSAWA and Eita should have thought more about accepting, as Ogawa rarely comes up with anything like this that will seemingly benefit his opponents and not himself, without having some kind of plan in mind. Title match will take place on the 28th November, with a handicap match between Ogawa and Yano vs NOSAWA taking place on the 23rd.

ELSEWHERE IN NOAH

– Kaito Kiyomiya endured a bit of teasing online due to appearing at the New Japan vs NOAH press conference in an oversized green jacket. Takashi Sugiura almost echoed Giant Baba when he wondered about the fashions of young people these days.

– Keiji Mutoh says he has an ambition to be GHC National Champion for his 60th birthday.

– Kenoh is convinced that by “this time next week” he will be heading to The Nippon Budokan as both the GHC National and the GHC Heavyweight Champion

– Hirooki Goto said he wanted to fight Takashi Sugiura at Wrestle Kingdom. Sugiura said he wanted anyone but Goto.

– Naomichi Marufuji was at an appearance/talk recently, and said that red used to be his color but he had to change it due to Kongoh, which meant that fans were still using the red penlight color for him. He was kind of irritated that he’d had to change!

– Yoshiki Inamura has resumed prowling Tokyo and photographing dogs and cats.

– Hitoshi Kumano hinted that he will be returning to the ring.

– Money raised from NOAH THE Home has bought some new equipment to the dojo. However, Yoshiki Inamura still seems to be used as weight by Daisuke Harada.

CURRENT CHAMPIONS

• GHC Heavyweight Champion: Katsuhiko Nakajima
  Challenger: Kenoh – LEC Cleanup! presents NOAH the BEST 2021, Yoyogi National Stadium Second Gymnasium, Sunday, November 28th
• GHC Junior Champion: HAYATA
  Challenger: Tadasuke – THE WARROAD 2021 in NAGOYA, Aichi / Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall, Sunday, December 5th 2021
• GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: The M’s alliance (Naomichi Marufuji and Keiji Mutoh)
  Challengers: TBA
• GHC Junior Tag Champions: Perros De Mal Del Japon (NOSAWA Rongai & Eita)
  Challengers: STINGER (HAYATA & Yoshinari Ogawa) – LEC Cleanup! presents NOAH the BEST 2021, Yoyogi National Stadium Second Gymnasium, Sunday, November 28th
• GHC National Champion: Kenoh
  Challenger: Katsuhiko Nakajima – LEC Cleanup! presents NOAH the BEST 2021, Yoyogi National Stadium Second Gymnasium, Sunday, November 28th

THIS WEEK IN NOAH

(Full November schedule)

Monday, November 22nd: Hitoshi Kumano (30)

Monday, November 22nd: Bison Smith memorial (2011)

PREMIUM PRELUDE 2021

Tuesday, November 23rd

Niigata / Bandaijima Multipurpose Plaza Large Kama

Start time: 17:30 JST

Broadcast: TBA

LEC Cleanup! presents NOAH the BEST 2021

Sunday, November 28th

Yoyogi National Stadium Second Gymnasium

Start time: 3pm JST

Broadcast: ABEMA, WrestleUniverse

LINKS

Guide to New Japan vs NOAH

NOAH vs New Japan: Press conference transcript

“Breaking the impasse in the world with the power of pro wrestling” – fighting against NOAH at the Yokohama Arena Event on January 8th next year

“I will match you” – Yoshinari Ogawa proposes a no touch rule to Eita in GHC Junior Tag Battle

Keiji Mutoh’s three promotion “Grand Slam” achieved. Next year is 60th birthday, New Year ambition is to “aim for the red belt”

With thanks to: Nodapooh

GIFS taken from NOAH Official YouTube