NOAH WEEKLY NEWSLETTER VOL.162 ~ 27TH FEBRUARY 2022

NEWS

KAZUYUKI FUJITA IS THE NEW GHC HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION, MASATO TANAKA CHALLENGES.

Following a press conference involving the usual beer, which Katsuhiko Nakajima poured over Kazuyuki Fujita, Fujita brutally destroyed Nakajima to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship in Nagoya on the 23rd February in twenty one minutes and eleven seconds. Soon after this, he was challenged by Masato Tanaka. Last year Fujita and Tanaka had wrestled to a time limit draw, and to Tanaka this was the perfect chance to both defeat Fujita and get a belt in the process. The title match has been set for March 21st at “Great Voyage in Fukuoka 2022”.

As this is Fujita, his championship celebration involved copious amounts of beer, much of which was poured over him, and also Junta Miyawaki who was standing nearby.

Fans were initially confused as to why Miyawaki was there as he is not a member of The Sugiura Army, but it turns out that Fujita’s daughter is a big fan of his. Miyawaki, covered in beer, chugged from a bottle in tandem with Fujita.

NOAH JUNIOR TAG CHAMPIONS: YO-HEY AND ATSUSHI KOTOGE 

Ignoring Yuya Susumu’s Ogawa like mind games who repeated Hajime Ohara’s warning to Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada to not trust YO-HEY (Ohara said he changes unit on whim), YO-HEY and Atsushi Kotoge defeated STINGER to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Belts. YO-HEY defeated Yuya Susumu for the win. Not HAYATA. A few minutes later, their new challengers came to the ring – Kotaro Suzuki and NOSAWA Rongai. Their challenge statement was brief; Kotaro said he was going to destroy YO-HEY, and while he was at it, Kotoge too. Backstage the two of them stated that they both saw YO-HEY tap out to Yuya Susumu, which the referee missed, and therefore they were not going to accept YO-HEY and Kotoge as legitimate champions. Yoshinari Ogawa, would probably agree with them, as he stated he doesn’t feel that Kotoge is a legitimate champion. The title match has been set for 21st March at “Great Voyage in Fukuoka”.

The pre match for The NOAH Junior Regulars did not gone well, with YO-HEY on the losing side when Eita and NOSAWA defeated himself and Daisuke Harada, but Yoshinari Ogawa is playing mind-games with Kotaro Suzuki. Prior to the title match, Ogawa had used NOSAWA and Kotaro against each other, something which Yasutaka Yano also assisted him in. Ogawa started the match by complaining to Kotaro about NOSAWA at the beginning, then using tactics throughout the match like moving when being held so NOSAWA hit Kotaro and vice versa, pushing them into each other etc. After the match, NOSAWA and Kotaro had a slight spat, which was soothed over by NOSAWA. NOSAWA smoothed this over backstage saying that everyone had thought they where going to split up, and so sorry to disappoint. Ogawa burst it soon after and threw water at NOSAWA and slapped Kotaro. In the following match, Ogawa wasn’t so blatant in his attempts to cause discord, but everything he did in the ring, he kept his eyes firmly on Kotaro.

EITA CHALLENGES DAISUKE HARADA

Daisuke Harada overcame Super Crazy to retain the GHC Junior Heavyweight in Nagoya on February 23rd. He was challenged for the GHC Junior by Eita, who took him out with the Trauma. Eita said;

“Hey! Do you remember, Harada? You lost to me the other day, and today you lost again! Next is a bet* on that belt. Harada, the next challenger is me, Eita!”

*Means kind of “bet my abilities”

Backstage, while Harada swore to defeat Eita, Eita said that he thought that Harada had been ducking him. If he wanted to stand at the top of the GHC Juniors, then he had to get past him first, and he was Harada’s wall. Harada stated on social media that he will win “at any cost”. Problem is, so will Eita.

Title match will take place at “Great Voyage in Yokohama” on March 13th.

KAZUYUKI FUJITA JOINS NOAH

The day after the title challenge, NOAH announced that Kazuyuki Fujita has signed with the promotion. The press conference was both typical and untypical Fujita. Untypical that he drank water instead of beer when announcing he had signed, but typical in that he soon went back to beer and then drank three. Fujita had said that he wanted to fight as himself, not as “The Beast”. Tokyo Sports have speculated that this may be Fujita looking for some stability, as NOAH may well turn out to be his last ring.

NOAH also announced at the press conference that they are considering having a training program called “NOAH’s Ark”. Title is tentative, as this is what the fan club is called after all. What this would mean is that they would have a training centre separate to the NOAH dojo, where athletes worldwide, who do not necessarily have a background in wrestling, could come and train for their eventual debut in NOAH. NOAH would like Kazuyuki Fujita to oversee it, but Kendo Kashin has stated that Yoshinari Ogawa would also naturally be involved.

KATSUHIKO NAKAJIMA INJURED

Following the title match with Kazuyuki Fujita, Katsuhiko Nakajima (like Go Shiozaki before him) has been diagnosed with having a traumatic perforated ear drum. NOAH have announced his absence at the Yokohama Budokan on the 13th March. 

HIDEKI SUZUKI’S RETURN

Fan speculation was rife as to who Takashi Sugiura’s mystery partner was going to be for the GHC Heavyweight Tag Title challenge at the Yokohama Budokan. Many people guessed it would be Hideki Suzuki, but others hoped it would KENTA. It was, however, Hideki Suzuki. Who announced his return at the Nagoya event on the 23rd. Suzuki said that he was ashamed to return to the Sugiura Army (not because they embarrass him but because he is returning with no results) and will be Takashi Sugiura’s partner. As well as losing employment with NXT, Suzuki had other stresses whilst overseas; namely his card being used fraudulently and his car being involved in a hit and run accident, when another driver crashed into him and drove off.

 GHC HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TOURNAMENT

With Hideki Suzuki returning to ream with Takashi Sugiura; the other members got down to fighting. Kenoh and Kaito Kiyomiya, who aren’t even in the same block, kicking off as per usual with each other. Masakatsu Funaki joined in, shoving Kiyomiya and Daiki Inaba around.

In Yokohama, Daiki Inaba teamed with Naomichi Marufuji and Masaaki Mochizuki, against Takashi Sugiura, Masa Kitamiya and Yoshiki Inamura. Inaba got the win via submission on Inamura, and then proceeded to celebrate in Marufuji’s face. Marufuji clapped him sarcastically, and then later claimed that his win was a fluke.

 ALEJA LEAVES KONGOH

Following Tadasuke’s bullying of Kai Fujimura, when after a match he pulled him up and lariated him again, Aleja was not going to stand for the same thing happening again and turned on Tadasuke at Yokohama Radiant Halls on the 25th February. Tadasuke, who had seen Haoh leave and now Aleja, was furious and attacked him, tearing off his mask and leaving him stranded in the middle of the ring. Atsushi Kotoge came to the rescue, and Aleja entered the NOAH Junior Army. Tadasuke screamed that Aleja was “expelled” from Kongoh, and on his way out, shoved one of the trainees. Aleja, speaking for the first time ever in NOAH, explained that he never came to NOAH to act in that way. He will now go by the name “Alejandro”, which he was originally known as.

ABID HAROON TO COME TO NOAH

On the same day as Kazuyuki Fujita announced he was joining NOAH, NOAH announced they would be having a young man named Abid Haroon join the promotion in 2024. Abid Haroon is a relative of famous Pakistani wrestler, Akram Pahalwan, who fought worldwide during the sixties and mid seventies. His career ended in 1976 due to an arm injury caused by Antonio Inoki. A few years ago, Inoki visited Pakistan and met with the family, a result of this visit was sponsoring Haroon to study in Japan. Haroon has been studying at the Nippon Sport Science University Wrestling Club, and is aiming to represent Pakistan at the 2024 Paris Olympics. After this, he will enter NOAH. With his entry, NOAH are hoping to attract more worldwide athletes.

EVENT RECAPS AND POST MATCH INTERVIEWS

GAIN CONTROL 2022 IN NAGOYA (Wednesday February 23rd)

Event recap

Post match promos

STEP FORWARD 2022 (Friday 25th February)

Event recap

Post match promos

ELSEWHERE IN NOAH

– Kendo Kashin was given a taste of his own medicine, when Masato Tanaka threw him off of a balcony.

– King Tany’s new accessory is a pink bag. The referee stood wondering what fresh hell this was, while Go Shiozaki remained highly unimpressed. Tany put his possessions in the bag, and handed it to the second. After the match, in which Tany had attempted to get Shiozaki to dance with him (and failed) which included practically chasing him backstage, Shiozaki told Tany basically to go away. Tany had no choice but to do as he was told.

– To remember old friend Hayabusa, who passed away in March 2016, Naomichi Marufuji will be entering the match in Kumamoto (Hayabusa’s hometown), in a Hayabusa mask.

– YO-HEY said he needed six stitches after the chair attack by NOSAWA

– Tadasuke stole Aleja’s mask after tearing it from him, and then proceeded to speak to it backstage.

– Keiji Mutoh, “an old man from the Showa Era”, tried to hook up new M’s alliance member, Rina Matsui, with his son! Mutoh, who was on commentary at the Nagoya show was highly entertaining, at one point he joked that he should charge Kiyomiya royalties for his finisher on Manabu Soya.

CURRENT CHAMPIONS

• GHC Heavyweight Champion: Kazuyuki Fujita
  Challenger: Masato Tanaka, “Great Voyage in Fukuoka 2022”, Fukuoka International Centre, March 21st
• GHC Junior Champion: Daisuke Harada
  Challenger: Eita, “Great Voyage in Yokohama 2022”, Yokohama Budokan, March 13th
• GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: Tournament will take place at “Great Voyage in Yokohama 2022” between M’s alliance (Naomichi Marufuji & Masaaki Mochizuki), Daiki Inaba & Kaito Kiyomiya, Kongoh (Kenoh & Masakatsu Funaki) and The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura & Hideki Suzuki)
• GHC Junior Tag Champions: The NOAH Junior Regulars (Atsushi Kotoge & YO-HEY)
  Challengers: Perros Del Mal De Japon (NOSAWA Rongai & Kotaro Suzuki), “Great Voyage in Fukuoka 2022”, Fukuoka International Centre, March 21st
• GHC National Champion: Masakatsu Funaki
  Challenger: No challenger as of yet

THIS WEEK IN NOAH

(March schedule)

Wednesday, March 2nd: Kenoh debut anniversary (14 years)

N-INNOVATION

Saturday March 5th

Yokohama Radiant Hall, 17:30 JST

Broadcast: WrestleUniverse

Sunday, March 6th: Masao Inoue (52)

LINKS

“Cheap Lie” – ahead of the junior tag decider match, Susumu cuts down Kotoge and YO-HEY

Harada “Spreading NOAH Junior to the world” – GHC Junior signing ceremony with Super Crazy counter attack

With thanks to Metal-NOAH

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse