NOAH WEEKLY NEWSLETTER VOL.161 ~ 20TH FEBRUARY 2022

The High School drama of the NOAH Juniors continues! Shifting alliances and new challengers appear! Hisame gives us all the Emerald News!

NEWS

Hajime Ohara joins Kongoh

Fans had long suspected that with the coldness he displayed towards YO-HEY when he joined The NOAH Junior Regulars, that Hajime Ohara would leave. Normally this happens after a while, but Ohara did not want to wait that long, and was out of the unit by the N-Innovation on the 17th February. The match had been normal, Ohara and Atsushi Kotoge entered normally, there where no spots were Kotoge and Ohara accidentally hit each other, and Ohara even won when he defeated Tadasuke. After the match, Ohara and Tadasuke squared up. Getting in each others faces. Ohara then spoke on the microphone, and announced he was joining Kongoh. Kotoge tried to stop him, but brushing him off, Ohara left the ring with Tadasuke and Nioh.

Backstage, Ohara stated his reasons. He had fought next to Kotoge for a long time, but the moment YO-HEY joined, Kotoge chucked Ohara and their ambition to hold the belts together for YO-HEY. There was also another reason why Ohara didn’t want to team with YO-HEY again. He did not trust him. Ohara stated “I can’t believe him by changing units. Be careful Harada and Kotoge, you don’t know when YO-HEY will change depending on whim.”

STINGER vs Perros Del Mal De Japon

Eita finally got his long awaited singles match with Yoshinari Ogawa, but as ever it turned into the characteristic brawl, with NOSAWA Rongai intruding into the ring which got the match thrown out. Eita demanded a three on three (Ogawa, HAYATA & Yuya Susumu vs Eita, NOSAWA & Kotaro Suzuki), which ended with HAYATA defeating NOSAWA. This was not the end of things though, as after NOSAWA attacked the ref and threw him out, more fights broke out which culminated in Eita being tortured by Ogawa and Susumu. When the dust had settled, a roughed up Eita (hair askew, and shirt ripped) crawled to the side of the ring and said he wanted a singles match with Ogawa. STINGER walked off and made no comment.

N Innovation: STINGER, NOAH Junior Regulars, Harada & Super Crazy

The N Innovation wrapped up the final pre matches between STINGER (HAYATA & Yuya Susumu) and The NOAH Junior Regulars (YO-HEY & Atsushi Kotoge). The match between YO-HEY & Yuya Susumu was won by Susumu. HAYATA threw YO-HEY out of the ring afterwards. Susumu said backstage that all it would take in Nagoya was the crossface for them to wear the belts again.

Daisuke Harada and Super Crazy faced off in the main event, which saw Super Crazy defeat Haoh with the Liger Bomb. Harada faced up to him holding the belt up, but Super Crazy got in the last shot for good measure and gave him a power bomb too. Harada was helped out by Yoshiki Inamura, but was stopped by Super Crazy. Super Crazy told Harada that he was going to win that championship.

EVENT RECAPS AND POST MATCH INTERVIEWS

N Innovation (February 17th 2022, Yokohama Radiant Hall)

Event recap

Post match interviews

ELSEWHERE IN NOAH

– Naomichi Marufuji attempted to shake hands with HAYATA. HAYATA refused before the match, and then ignored Marufuji’s attempts after it. Marufuji even clapped at him to get his attention.

– Kaito Kiyomiya has hinted that he may take part in the N Innovation league itself as it presents more challenges to him.

– In a recent interview, Keiji Mutoh spoke of his eventual retirement. Although he has no plans for it now, when the day does come he wants it to be against Masahiro Chono, who he made his debut against.

– Eita complained that Yoshinari Ogawa had dirtied his new shoes. NOSAWA’S solution was to suggest that “dogsbody” Kotaro Suzuki clean them. I wonder how long Kotaro is going to put up with these gibes.

– In his weekly column, Kenoh this week spoke about the new Pro Wrestling themed coffee cans (he is a black coffee lover), and while he suspected that money had been greasing palms for the covers chosen, he joked that by drinking Masakatsu Funaki’s can you would raise your strong belief level by 1.

– Keiji Mutoh will be the special guest commentator for Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Kazuyuki Fujita on the 23rd February.

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)

*NOAH will hold the championship match signings on Monday 21st February2022, live on their official YouTube at 18:00 JST. Attendees are advertised as Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kazuyuki Fujita, STINGER (Yuya Susumu & HAYATA) and The NOAH Junior Regulars (YO-HEY & Atsushi Kotoge). I am wondering if King Tany will turn up and give the press more gossip about his personal life, only to be plagued by Kendo Kashin masquerading as a report from the “Kashin Times”.

Wednesday, February 23rd 2022

GAIN CONTROL 2022 in NAGOYA – Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall, Aichi

Start time: 15:00 JST

Broadcast: ABEMA & WrestleUniverse*

*English commentary

Wednesday 23rd: Mohammed Yone birthday (46)

Friday, February 25th

STEP FORWARD 2022 – Yokohama Radiant Hall, Yokohama

Start time: 18:00 JST

Broadcast: WrestleUniverse (Live)

Saturday 26th: Kenta Kobashi debut anniversary (34)

LINKS

Naomichi Marufuji appears on Shibuya Cross FM

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse