(NOAH) NOAH NEWSLETTER VOL.189 ~ 23RD OCTOBER 2022

NEWS

NOSAWA’S Retirement

Following the tag match in Nagoya, NOSAWA Rongai announced that he would wrestle his final match at The Tokyo Dome on February 21st 2023. NOSAWA (and this does sound suspiciously like Keiji Mutoh’s situation) says that due to his physical condition, the doctor has made him retire. Unlike Mutoh who can pinpoint the issues are with his hip (he needs a replacement) and the strain it is putting on his knees, NOSAWA gave a vague answer saying that the issue was generally with the condition of his body. Mutoh is almost sixty, NOSAWA is in his mid forties, but has had a career of over twenty years, having been wrestling since he was about sixteen. In order not to take away from Mutoh, NOSAWA has announced he will be holding a final Tokyo Gurentai show at Korakuen Hall towards the end of the year, and just like Mutoh, he will be working less dates.

The Mark of The Beast

Kaito Kiyomiya failed to overcome Kazuyuki Fujita in their final pre match, which took place in Fukuoka on the 16th October. After the match, Fujita again hauled Kiyomiya to his feet and rubbed his head against him. Backstage he said this “marking” was to make him his prey. Since then, Kiyomiya has been taking instruction in MMA from Shinya Aoki, who is both a MMA fighter and a wrestler (DDT). Aoki was asked who he thought would win, basically whispered he wanted Kiyomiya as he was young, and then got on his bike and pedaled away. Fast.

Farewell Fukuoka 

Keiji Mutoh made a pitstop on his retirement road in Fukuoka, where he teamed with Ninja Mack (who he was fascinated by, so much so he stood in the middle of the apron to watch him) and Satoshi Kojima to face Naomichi Marufuji, HAYATA and Jack Morris.

The match was won by Ninja Mack, who defeated HAYATA in their last pre match before the big event at Differ Ariake on the 30th, with a little help from Mutoh who gave HAYATA the Shining Wizard. As HAYATA is a big Keiji Mutoh fan, this was probably more of an honor to him than a loss.

The Handshake

For the past few events, Yoshinari Ogawa has been offering a handshake to Eita. Eita accepted it in Kumamoto (much to the dismay of his team), NOSAWA prevented it the next day in Sendai and the day after that in Fukuoka, much to Ogawa’s glee, they shook hands after the match. While NOSAWA and Super Crazy in a somewhat dramatic fashion begged Eita not to turn on them and join STINGER, Eita was playing Ogawa at his own game and kicked him in the groin. Eita got on the mic soon after that and told Ogawa that he was never going to join with him, he was a member of Perros Del Mal, and if anything, at the Ariake Stadium on the 30th, he was going to destroy him.

HAYATA out of STINGER? 

Yoshinari Ogawa had this to say about HAYATA on October 14th;

“I’m starting to wonder if it’s okay to team up with HAYATA. Well, I’ll continue working with Chris, but I feel uncomfortable with HAYATA being called the “strongest champion”. HAYATA is called that because he’s teamed up with me and Chris, and he can’t be called the “strongest champion” unless he fights us and wins, right?”

YO-HEY made an odd comment following the elimination match in Fukuoka. He said he was distracted by HAYATA who “did something strange”. He did not elaborate on what exactly this was, but YO-HEY has had his own problems with STINGER as he has been attacking Ogawa (with Perros getting involved as they are usually fighting STINGER), following the torture he was put through previously, added to that NOAH have released a mysterious poster for the 3rd November event in which the only juniors shown are YO-HEY and HAYATA.

GHC Junior Tag Title Pre Matches

Seiki Yoshioka and Atsushi Kotoge managed to turn their run of bad luck around when they overcame their challengers; Yoshioka defeating HI69 in Sendai and Atsushi Kotoge winning the elimination match in Fukuoka (Fukuoka was no contest as Kaito Kiyomiya defeated Tadasuke), but Yoshioka’s knee remains in a bad state due to repeated attacks on it, requiring treatment via acupuncture.

The Dangerous Detectives fail in final pre match

The final pre match between Kenoh and Katsuhiko Nakajima and Satoshi Kojima and Takashi Sugiura ended in Sendai on a particularly brutal note when Nakajima did the Vertical Spike on Satoshi Kojima and Kenoh followed it up with the PFS.

Sakuraba’s Secret Weapon

Kazushi Sakuraba won the final pre match between himself and Masakatsu Funaki ahead of the GHC National title challenge on the 30th October, when he used the Scorpion Leglock on Funaki and made him tap. The match itself (Fukuoka on the 16th) was done under the same special rules that the title match will be fought under (no pins, submission, knock out or total knock out, yellow card will be presented for fouls such as groin kicks, eye rakes, escaping the ring, with three meaning the match gets thrown out) and featured Kenoh and Masakatsu Funaki vs Kazushi Sakuraba & Hideki Suzuki. Suzuki summed up the upcoming title match as being about outsmarting each other, not about accumulating damage.

Kumamon & Masked Kumamon

Seiki Yoshioka was behind the collection done over a few events to raise money for his hometown, Kumamoto, and so when he was at a meeting with city counsellors, Kumamon (the city’s beloved bear mascot) mysteriously left the room. A few minutes later, a masked bear entered and announced that he would “participate” in the event. The Kumamoto Land of Fire Mask Kumamon did not actually get in the ring and fight anyone, but at the start of the event, he accepted the charity money that had been raised from Seiki Yoshioka and then he and the NOAH Junior Regulars did a kind of dance that seemed very ad hoc.

The real Kumamon (who claimed to have been delayed) turned up at the end of the event to present Seiki Yoshioka with flowers. Both times, the bear had trouble getting in and out of the ring.

ELSEWHERE IN NOAH

– Akitoshi Saito said that Tamon Honda had given him permission to use his move “Dead End”. Mohammed Yone said that with in their arsenal, the day they go to the tag front is not far away.

– Hideki Suzuki’s Jun Akiyama like humor came to the fore when he said that Kazushi Sakuraba vs Masakatsu Funaki was done even before he debuted. Then he got Kazushi Sakuraba, to buy him a hotpot. This was despite the fact that Sakuraba was the one who had won the match.

– HAYATA and Kaito Kiyomiya were seen calling out instructions to Yasutaka Yano at the Sendai event.

– As the match winner, the sponsor of the Sendai event gave Kenoh a giant tuna in lieu of the actual product (GET Tuna) as it was too big for NOAH to lug around the country and would be sent directly to the dojo. It made Kongoh look a little funny to be posing with a fish.

– DragonGate’s KZY and Dragon Kid will be joining the NOAH Juniors on their weekly Twitter Space chat.

– Kaito Kiyomiya teased Masa Kitamiya over his fear of heights when he visited the Ariake Arena and told him that the third floor was too scary for him and that he had better not go up there.

– Takashi Sugiura and Naomichi Marufuji visited the Ariake Arena, and reminisced about the days when Differ Ariake was there (for the newer fans, this is where NOAH had their dojo and office complex for about sixteen years, when they first moved in, there was a rat infestation thanks to an old bread factory nearby shutting down and the rats relocating). The old site has been completely torn down now and the area turned into a “legacy venue” complete with restaurants etc. As if they were on a date, Sugiura and Marufuji strolled through it hand in hand taking in the sights, and pointing out what there was to do!

EVENT RECAPS AND POST MATCH PROMOS

– SUNNY VOYAGE 2022 (FRIDAY OCTOBER 14TH)

Event recap

Post match interviews

 – SUNNY VOYAGE 2022 (SATURDAY 15TH OCTOBER)

Event recap

Post match interviews

 – ABEMA PRESENTS DEMOLITION STAGE 2022 IN FUKUOKA (SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16TH)

Event recap

Post match interviews

CURRENT CHAMPIONS

• GHC Heavyweight Champion: Kaito Kiyomiya
  Challenger: Kazuyuki Fujita, [Muto Retirement Road] ABEMA presents Ariake Gaisen-THE RETURN-PRO-WRESTLING LOVE FOREVER . 3 ~TRIUMPH~ Sunday 30th October, Ariake Arena, Tokyo
• GHC Junior Champion: HAYATA
  Challenger: Ninja Mack, [Muto Retirement Road] ABEMA presents Ariake Gaisen-THE RETURN-PRO-WRESTLING LOVE FOREVER . 3 ~TRIUMPH~ Sunday 30th October, Ariake Arena, Tokyo
• GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: KojiSugi (Satoshi Kojima & Takashi Sugiura)
  Challengers: Kongoh (Kenoh and Katsuhiko Nakajima), [Muto Retirement Road] ABEMA presents Ariake Gaisen-THE RETURN-PRO-WRESTLING LOVE FOREVER . 3 ~TRIUMPH~ Sunday 30th October, Ariake Arena, Tokyo
• GHC Junior Tag Champions: The NOAH Junior Regulars (Atsushi Kotoge & Seiki Yoshioka)
  Challengers: Kongoh Juniors (Tadasuke & Hi69), [Muto Retirement Road] ABEMA presents Ariake Gaisen-THE RETURN-PRO-WRESTLING LOVE FOREVER . 3 ~TRIUMPH~ Sunday 30th October, Ariake Arena, Tokyo
• GHC National Champion: Masakatsu Funaki
  Challenger: Kazushi Sakuraba, [Muto Retirement Road] ABEMA presents Ariake Gaisen-THE RETURN-PRO-WRESTLING LOVE FOREVER . 3 ~TRIUMPH~ Sunday 30th October, Ariake Arena, Tokyo

THIS WEEK IN NOAH

• Sunday, October 30th

Ariake Triumph-THE RETURN-PRO-WRESTLING LOVE FOREVER.3 ~TRIUMPH~ – Ariake Arena

Time: 16:00 JST

Broadcast: Both ABEMA and WrestleUniverse (English commentary will be provided on WrestleUniverse)

• Thursday, 27th October: Masa Kitamiya birthday (27)
• Friday, 28th October: Yasutaka Yano debut anniversary (2)

ARTICLES

Return to The Holy Land! Biggest Pro Wrestling NOAH Autumn! 30th October, Ariake Arena: 5 Major GHC Title Matches & Keiji Mutoh retirement road

“Heartwarming service”, “Moved to tears” – Keiji Mutoh moved deeply by flight attendants gratitude

Keiji Mutoh, who will retire next year on February 21st at The Tokyo Dome, promises Shunputei Shota that after retirement he will “Never Go Up”

GHC Heavyweight Champion Kaito Kiyomiya learns how to deal with “Wild Beasts” from Shinya Aoki, who has well established groundwork

The day when professional wrestling boy Kaito Kiyomiya was “absorbed” into Ariake Arena

A masked wrestler that looks like Kumamon? “Participation” declared at the pro wrestling event to support the reconstruction of Kumamoto

WEEKLY PRO ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS

“Follow Me You Bastards” – Kenoh’s column (20th September 2022)

Scot Pro Wrestler – Interview with Jack Morris

BOOK CORNER

“Donmai, Donmai” – Mitsuharu Misawa’s diary

GIF credit: WrestleUniverse, NOAH Official Twitter, NOAH Official YouTube

Picture credit: NOAH Official Twitter