NOAH WEEKLY NEWSLETTER VOL.166 ~ 6th April 2022

NEWS

Kyohei Wada, STINGER & Perros Del Mal De Japon

All Japan referee, Kyohei Wada, took charge of the NOAH Juniors during one of the most chaotic pre matches, which then turned into a singles match, which then turned into a Sumo Hall grudge match. What had happened was that while in Gunma for Referee Fukuda’s retirement, he had been utilized to referee a match between STINGER (HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa, Yuya Susumu & Yasutaka Yano*) and Perros Del Mal De Japon (NOSAWA Rongai, Eita, Super Crazy and Kotaro Suzuki). NOSAWA caused the first problems by complaining about the slowness of Wada’s count, and then the traditional melee brawl broke out and everyone got counted out. Back in the ring, Kotaro Suzuki and Yuya Susumu briefly joined forces to complain to Wada. It got heated and Susumu was seen butting heads with Wada. Eventually the match was restarted but as a singles match between Susumu and Kotaro, which went to a double fall.

Backstage, Kotaro said he would humiliate Susumu at Sumo Hall. Susumu (after calling Wada an old man) said he would finish it there. As for Eita and HAYATA, Eita has vowed to revenge himself for the wound on his forehead, the pain he feels each day making him remember the humiliation. NOAH have released the poster for HAYATA vs Eita. Eita has claimed that the pure white background that he is on, represents his innocence.

*Yano is now considered a member of STINGER

Name vs Name

After defeating Haoh in Gunma, Nioh revealed that he is sick of Haoh using his old Kongoh name while not being a member of Kongoh anymore. So, he came up with a stipulation. At Sumo Hall on April 29th, a singles match would be fought between them, with the loser giving up his Kongoh name. I believe that this is the first time that NOAH have had a stipulation match in this way. Haoh accepts, and Nioh has bound himself by oath that he will change it if he loses. But he says he won’t lose, so there is no issue.

NOAH Junior Regulars retain the GHC Junior Tag belts, Ogawa challenges. His partner is…

 The NOAH Junior Regulars, Atsushi Kotoge and YO-HEY, retained the GHC Junior Tag Championship when YO-HEY turned one of his beautiful dropkicks into a dropkick/kick to the head, and pinned Tadasuke. As Kongoh left, their next challenger arrived. Looking like a shadow that had emerged from the floor, Yoshinari Ogawa got in the ring, and got on the microphone.

Targeting YO-HEY (who had won) and ignoring Atsushi Kotoge (who he has only ever had scant regard for), Ogawa told YO-HEY in HAYATA style, but using more words, that “Next is me. I’ll take my belt back”. YO-HEY accepted his challenge, but both he and Kotoge wondered who his partner would be.

Ogawa announced it would be Chris Ridgeway. He also said, and this will possibly sew the seeds for resentment in STINGER (the only unit so far untouched by the tornado that blows through the division from time to time), that he felt that Ridgeway was better than HAYATA as a tag team, and that when it came to tags “Chris has a similar attack and a way of thinking”. When YO-HEY and Kotoge found out who was partnering Ogawa, Kotoge said he knew that he was facing a very strong opponent. Title match has been set for Sumo Hall on the 29th April.

All Roads Lead to Baba: Referee Fukuda’s retirement

Referee Akihiro officially retired as a referee in Gunma on the 3rd April. His last match was between NOAH’s seniors, Go Shiozaki, Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura vs Kaito Kiyomiya, Masa Kitamiya and Daiki Inaba. The match was won by Go Shiozaki. Afterwards, the retirement ceremony was held with Kyohei Wada giving a speech about his pupil “Fuka-chan”. It’s not only the wrestlers in NOAH who can trace their lineage back to Giant Baba, the referees can too as both Shu Nishinaga and Akihiro Fukuda came from All Japan, where they too had trained under Kyohei Wada and Joe Higuchi, who of course refereed along Baba lines. Toshiaki Kawada, representing the Four Pillars, appeared via video link to thank Fukuda for his hard work. Akira Taue and Kenta Kobashi did not appear.

After some of the roster assembled for the group picture (Perros and STINGER did not participate, and Kongoh watched from afar), Referee Fukuda was lifted into their air in the traditional manner of wishing someone goodbye and good luck on their retirement.

He then made a symbolic last walk from the ring to the curtain, where he bowed to the ring and to the crowd, and had his arms lifted in victory by Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura, who then opened the curtain for him revealing the darkness of the backstage world, which would be his sphere from now on. Fukuda says he wants to work just as hard to support NOAH there.

Daisuke Harada’s training camp

Daisuke Harada’s training camp plan, which would utilize the power of nature, came to fruition on the 5th April.  Harada, Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY, Junta Miyawaki, Alejandro and Haoh all assembled early in the morning on a sandy beach to begin the day’s training.  A little too cold for swimming, they nonetheless incorporated Four Pillars style exercises such as sand jogging (not as easy as it looks), the piggyback squats and the use of driftwood as a weight. The driftwood also caused scratches on arms. After two hours of this, and being covered in sand and splinters, they went to a temple in Tokyo where the Sōtō Zen Sect instructed them in “Silent Mediation”. This differs from the concentration of breathing from other sects and focuses more on the mind.

The hardest part of the day came at the famous temple, Ikegami Honmonji (where Rikidozan is buried), when they ran up the ninety-six steps, five times. This meant that they ran up four hundred and eighty steps in total.

Daisuke Harada was photographed giving them what looked like a pep talk to do more. YO-HEY looks horrified, Haoh like he’s thinking “seriously”, Kotoge saying “Now, wait a minute…”, and Miyawaki looks as if he is going to pass out. Alejandro kind of stares at the camera. It was no wonder that YO-HEY said he felt exhausted in a way he hadn’t before, all over, and spent the longest time in a hot bath. Harada (who kind of gave off the vibe that after running up these stairs, he went on a four mile mountain jog), said that he felt that “cohesion and morale” had improved for everyone.

The training session will be put on NOAH’s YouTube.

EVENT RECAPS AND POST MATCH INTERVIEWS

Real Overture 2022 (G Messe Gunma, Sunday April 3rd)

Event recap

Post match interviews

ELSEWHERE IN NOAH

– Only Yoshiki Inamura would film a bug and upload it to his Instagram. He’s also gone back to playing with various cats he finds around Tokyo, many of which want to play with him.

– Mohammed Yone is not very familiar with the term “Bling”

– Tadasuke has hinted he will be “calling that guy”. Hajime Ohara knows who he means, but everyone else has no idea.

– Takashi Sugiura has gone back to photographing obscene looking food, suggestive of anatomy. This probably means he has been in meetings most of the day, and had to behave himself.

– Chris Ridgeway is looking to enter Sumo Hall as Progress champion, and naturally leave as GHC Junior Tag Champion.

– King Tany said that Referee Fukuda was the only one to remove his chains.

CURRENT CHAMPIONS

• GHC Heavyweight Champion: Kazuyuki Fujita
  Challenger: Go Shiozaki, “MAJESTIC 2022”, Sumo Hall, Saturday 30th April
• GHC Junior Champion: Eita
  Challenger: HAYATA, “MAJESTIC 2022 – N-Innovation”, Sumo Hall, Friday 29th April
• GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura & Hideki Suzuki)
  Challengers: Kongoh (Kenoh and Katsuhiko Nakajima), “MAJESTIC 2022”, Sumo Hall, Saturday 30th April
• GHC Junior Tag Champions: The NOAH Junior Regulars (Atsushi Kotoge & YO-HEY)
  Challengers: STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway), “MAJESTIC 2022 – N-Innovation”, Sumo Hall, Friday 29th April
• GHC National Champion: Masakatsu Funaki
  No challenger as of yet

THIS WEEK IN NOAH

(April schedule)

Friday, April 8th 2022

REAL OVERTURE 2022, Korakuen Hall (Tokyo)

Starts: 18:30 JST

Broadcast: ABEMA

Saturday, April 9th 2022

REAL OVERTURE 2022, Korakuen Hall (Tokyo)

Starts: 18:30 JST

Broadcast: WrestleUniverse

Monday, April 11th 2022: Manabu Soya debut anniversary (15 years)

LINKS

A great veteran with a forty year industry history: Referee Akihiko Fukuda’s story

“Follow Me You Bastards!” Kenoh discusses Akihiko Fukuda’s retirement and the unsung contribution of referees

“Follow Me You Bastards!” – Kenoh talks Stardom & Tokyo Joshi

“As you like it” – Interview with Mitsuharu Misawa (2001)

Roster Guide 2022

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse

Picture credit: NOAH Official Twitter, Weekly Pro