NOAH WEEKLY NEWSLETTER VOL.160 ~ 13TH FEBRUARY 2022

Keiji Mutoh and Seiki Yoshioka injured, the GHC Heavyweight tag and the GHC Junior Heavyweight tag vacated. 

NOAH held a sudden press conference on the 8th February, where Keiji Mutoh announced that due to a hip lip injury, he and Naomichi Marufuji would be vacating the heavyweight tag belts. Mutoh’s injury had flared up at the Nippon Budokan, although he had been feeling a sense of discomfort from around late 2021. He needed a shot of painkillers to get through NOAH vs New Japan. This worked for a while, and then stopped. Mutoh was told by his doctor that the injury is probably being aggravated by his prosthetic knees, and he must be absent from the ring for a while. Mutoh does not know for how long this will be, but he is determined to win the GHC National before his 60th birthday in December. The GHC Heavyweight Tag belts have been returned, but no challengers for the vacant titles have come forward as of yet.

Seiki Yoshioka was discovered to have a broken ankle bone following NOAH’s event on February 10th, and was noted to be limping during the match, possibly it occurred following the moonsault outside the ring. He will be absent for about three months. Due to the team being unable to defend the belts, they too have been vacated. The belts will now be challenged for by STINGER (HAYATA & Yuya Susumu) and The NOAH Junior Army (YO-HEY & Atsushi Kotoge). Details of what happened to cause YO-HEY to leave Perros Del Mal De Japon can be found below.

Daisuke Harada defends, Super Crazy challenges

Daisuke Harada successfully defended the GHC Junior Heavyweight against Tadasuke at Korakuen Hall on the 9th February. Although Harada was victorious, it’s becoming harder and harder to defeat the rapidly growing stronger and increasingly belt hungry Tadasuke. Harada was challenged soon after by Super Crazy who told him “Champion, champion…please let me challenge for the belt”. Harada did a good translation to the crowd, asking if everyone would like to see him defend against Super Crazy. Match has been set for the 23rd February in Nagoya. Super Crazy won their first pre match in Shimada on the 12th February, and stood holding the belt over Harada. He says when he wins the championship, he will take it back to Mexico.

Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kazuyuki Fujita, the one and only pre match

The one and only pre match between Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kazuyuki Fujita took place at Korakuen Hall on the 9th February. Unfortunately for Nakajima, he was defeated by Fujita following a kick to the head, and then pinned with one knee. After the defeat, Fujita paraded around the ring holding the belt up and then left the ring with it. He even did his post match interview with it. Following the defeat, Nakajima went back to the drawing board to evaluate how to defeat Fujita quickly. Nakajima has a naturally analytical mind and said in his post match interview after NOAH’s final night in Shimada, that there was “always a way to win”, no matter the size and strength of the opponent.

Masakatsu Funaki retains the GHC National
Masakatsu Funaki retained the GHC National against Masaaki Mochizuki at NOAH’s second night at Korakuen Hall on the 10th February in nine minutes and one second. No one has come forward to challenge him yet.

All change: YO-HEY thrown out of Perros Del Mal De Japon, joins NOAH Junior Regulars. 

It’s not secret that since making the title challenge to STINGER and nominating NOSAWA Rongai as his partner, things have not been easy between YO-HEY and NOSAWA. NOSAWA said he only had interest in challenging HAYATA and Yoshinari Ogawa for the titles, but not Yuya Susumu and Seiki Yoshioka. He wanted YO-HEY to show him more in the match, and when YO-HEY did by pinning one of the champions, he initially seemed pleased. Backstage he backtracked on this, saying that he was only challenging with YO-HEY as YO-HEY had no one else, and in any case he kind of felt sorry for HAYATA, and the look he thought he had when he saw the belts. NOSAWA could not keep up this pretense on the 11th February at Korakuen Hall, despite the fact that he initially once again seemed enthusiastic and following a duck from Yuya Susumu which meant YO-HEY kicked him accidentally in the face and Yasutaka Yano once again pinned him, he turned on YO-HEY after the match. Perros Del Mal beat up on YO-HEY en masse, NOSAWA using a chair which caused a gash to YO-HEY’S head.

Atsushi Kotoge ran in and threw himself over YO-HEY, with the rest of The NOAH Junior Regulars following on behind. Perros were chased from the ring, and in a silent Korakuen Hall, YO-HEY dragged himself to his feet and thanked Kotoge. Kotoge welcomed YO-HEY into the NOAH Junior Regulars following consent from the others that he could join, but Hajime Ohara was not so welcoming and refused YO-HEY’S handshake. Backstage, YO-HEY asked Atsushi Kotoge to team with him, to which Kotoge agreed and the title challenge for the vacant titles will take place in Nagoya on the 23rd February. However, HAYATA defeated YO-HEY in the first pre match at Shimada on the 12th. Fortunately, there seems to be no lasting ill effects from YO-HEY’S head injury.

Go Shiozaki loses all matches in his “Road to GHC” series

Defeated by Takashi Sugiura at the start was the beginning of Go Shiozaki’s difficult path. Over three nights he faced singles matches with Masato Tanaka, Naomichi Marufuji and Kenoh, and lost all of them. Naomichi Marufuji had spoken of bringing out new and unexpected things in the match, and he did so as a lesson to Shiozaki that one could evolve and not lose who they were. Kenoh, however, was not so clear cut and in his usual mercurial style (and after Shiozaki taking two PFS before Kenoh pinned him as Kenoh wasn’t going to trust just one), he praised Shiozaki for doing what he did, although he said he found him tired and had previously called him “battered”, and said that no one could deny Shiozaki’s heart. But, the fact was also that he hated him. Kenoh bought up Go Shiozaki’s return to NOAH in December which ruined the title vs title match for him, and the fact he challenged Nakajima for the title which Kenoh said stole the main event of the Nippon Budokan from him. This was Kenoh’s dream, but now with the Budokan coming up again in July 2022, he could renew it again. It won’t be that easy however, as Go Shiozaki says he will raise himself from here with the Budokan as his goal. Kaito Kiyomiya has also stated something similar.

N-Innovation at Sumo Hall

The N-Innovation set to take place in April 2022, has undergone a massive upgrade. Daisuke Harada has stated that he would like to bring some gaijin over, although he understands that it is going to be difficult, and closer to home he wants to make it an event for junior wrestlers all over Japan. There has already been some hints about possibly taking part from New Japan. Night one will belong to the junior wrestlers, with night two belonging to the heavyweights. Harada has very firmly stated that the heavyweights will not be taking part (or be welcome) at the junior event. Having said that, he seems to tolerate Kaito Kiyomiya who is appearing at the N-Innovation in Yokohama on the 17th February, and taking on Aleja.

ZERO1 title match delayed

Due to the Coronavirus situation, Takashi Sugiura’s ZERO1 World Heavyweight title match with Takuya Sugawara on the 12th February has been cancelled. Funky Express, Yoshiki Inamura and Masa Kitamiya where also scheduled to appear at the event. The date has been rescheduled for the title match to the 6th March. It has not been announced as to whether other NOAH wrestlers will once again take part in the event.

EVENT RECAPS AND POST MATCH INTERVIEWS

STEP FORWARD 2022

Wednesday February 9th (Korakuen Hall)

Event recap 

Post match interviews 

Thursday February 10th (Korakuen Hall)

Event recap

Post match interviews

Friday February 11th (Korakuen Hall)

Event recap

Post match interviews

Saturday February 12th (Shimada City General Sports Centre Sub Arena)

Event recap

Post match interviews

ELSEWHERE IN NOAH

– Takashi Sugiura has been complaining that no one ever responds to him on Twitter, and thinks that after trolling people over Viagra, generally being obscene, trolling KENTA (who ignores him), wishing YO-HEY “Happy Birthday” to no response, and trolling Eita over speaking Spanish when Eita was not even speaking to him, the company has a gag order against him. Naomichi Marufuji seems to be the only one who interacts with Sugi on social media.

– Kaito Kiyomiya shook HAYATA’S hand when HAYATA was not in a position to resist, i.e. when he was lying on the mat following their singles match. Naomichi Marufuji was not as lucky as HAYATA refused to shake hands with him both before and after the match.

– Kai Fujimura got his first win by making Yasutaka Yano tap

– Yoshinari Ogawa attacked Eita backstage, and the two of them got into a fight with water bottles. They will have a singles match at the N-Innovation.

– Kaito Kiyomiya went 40 minutes and 14 seconds with Yoshinari Ogawa at NOAH’s final night in Shimada. Kiyomiya won by making Ogawa tap, and after the match was full of emotion, calling Ogawa his “textbook” and “The coolest teacher”. The roster were also seen gathering around for the match, most visibly NOSAWA Rongai and Kotaro Suzuki.

– With Keiji Mutoh absent due to injury and Masakatsu Funaki left for Kongoh, Naomichi Marufuji, Masato Tanaka and Masaaki Mochizuki remain in the M’s alliance. Naomichi Marufuji said that if Yuko Miyamoto doesn’t come back soon, he will call in Akira Maeda.

CURRENT CHAMPIONS

• GHC Heavyweight Champion: Katsuhiko Nakajima
  Challenger: Kazuyuki Fujita, “GAIN CONTROL 2022 in NAGOYA”, February 23rd, Aichi / Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall, Nagoya
• GHC Junior Champion: Daisuke Harada
  Challenger: Super Crazy, “GAIN CONTROL 2022 in NAGOYA”, February 23rd, Aichi / Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall, Nagoya
• GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: Vacated by The M’s alliance (Naomichi Marufuji and Keiji Mutoh) due to Keiji Mutoh’s injury
  Challengers: No challengers as of yet
• GHC Junior Tag Champions: Vacated by STINGER (Yuya Susumu & Seiki Yoshioka) due to Seiki Yoshioka’s injury.
  Challengers: STINGER (HAYATA & Yuya Susumu) vs The NOAH Junior Regulars (YO-HEY & Atsushi Kotoge) ,”GAIN CONTROL 2022 in NAGOYA”, February 23rd, Aichi / Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall, Nagoya
• GHC National Champion: Masakatsu Funaki
  Challenger: No challenger as of yet

THIS WEEK IN NOAH

(February schedule)

Thursday, 17th February

N Innovation – Yokohama Radiant Hall

Start time: 18:00 JST

Broadcast: WrestleUniverse (Live)

LINKS

“My goal is to exceed “I AM NOAH” Interview with Go Shiozaki towards the three Korakuen single matches

With thanks to: Mark Pickering

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse & NOAH Official YouTube