(NOAH) NOAH NEWSLETTER VOL.190 ~ 6TH NOVEMBER 2022

NEWS

Shinsuke Nakamura vs Great Muta announced

NOAH announced during the Ariake Arena event on October 30th, that The Great Muta would be appearing at their New Year’s Day event on January 1st at The Nippon Budokan, with his surprise opponent being Shinsuke Nakamura, who is currently overseas in WWE. As Nakamura said himself, he has had matches with Keiji Mutoh, but this will be his first and last time with Great Muta.

NOAH had shortlisted Shinsuke Nakamura as a possible opponent for either Keiji Mutoh or Great Muta somewhere along the line, and had to be very persistent in their request, which paid off in the end.

NOSAWA’S final battle

NOSAWA has been preparing for his retirement by wrapping up loose ends; namely by his own produce, “Tokyo Dream Final: The Last Festival”, that will take place at Korakuen Hall on the 20th December and finishing things with STINGER, namely Yoshinari Ogawa. This will not take place at the produce in December. NOSAWA says for the final battle, which will take place on the November 23rd show main event at the Yoyogi National Stadium he will bring Kotaro Suzuki and Ikuto Hidaka as seconds. The final battle will be a somewhat one sided match of NOSAWA Rongai, Eita and Super Crazy against Yoshinari Ogawa, Yasutaka Yano and Kai Fujimura. Unfortunately for Ogawa he is currently the only person left in STINGER with any substantial experience, as HAYATA and Yuya Susumu are injured (both NOSAWA and Yoshinari Ogawa have seemingly forgotten about Susumu, which probably won’t sit well with him when he returns), and Chris Ridgeway has now returned to England for the time being, but that said, Ogawa and Yano were very successful against Perros the last time they fought them.

Kiyomiya retains, Thatcher challenges

Kaito Kiyomiya made a desperate effort to win against Kazuyuki Fujita after a match which saw him try and wear Fujita down only for Fujita to bounce back, and which Kiyomiya had to win by taking Fujita by surprise. After the match, Timothy Thatcher came to the ring and challenged for the GHC Heavyweight title.

Due to the short time (and shows) between Ariake Arena on the 30th October and the title match on the 10th November, there has only been one pre-match, which was won by Timothy Thatcher over Kaito Kiyomiya via the dreaded Fujiwara Armbar on 3rd November. As Thatcher pointed out, and as Kiyomiya well knows, he is undefeated in NOAH.

AMAKUSA

A mysterious masked man made an appearance in NOAH at The Ariake Arena on the 30th October, to rescue Seiki Yoshioka and Atsushi Kotoge from an attack made by The Kongoh Juniors, following the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag match. The masked man unmasked himself, revealing himself to be Haoh who had both a new look and new move-set.

The man said his name was AMAKUSA, and he was going to go to the top of NOAH, which started by crushing Tadasuke. It has since been discovered (credit Metal NOAH), that the reason why Haoh seemingly vanished, was that he had joined Junta Miyawaki in Mexico, which also explains the new techniques he is using.

Funky Express challenge for the GHC Heavyweight Tag Belts

With Masao Inoue not returning to NOAH for the time being and Shuhei Taniguchi leaving the unit, Funky Express has been Mohammed Yone and Akitoshi Saito. A few weeks ago, Saito revealed that NOAH alumnae, Tamon Honda, had gifted him the use of his finisher, “The Dead End”. Yone said with that, they could go to the top, and so after Takashi Sugiura and Satoshi Kojima had defeated Kongoh’s Kenoh and Katsuhiko Nakajima, they came and challenged for the belts.

At the press conference on the 1st November, it became apparent that the real competition was between Takashi Sugiura and Akitoshi Saito, while Satoshi Kojima said his battle with Mohammed Yone would be over the name “Satoshi”, which happens to be Yone’s real first name. At the only pre match between them on the 3rd November, Saito and Sugiura kept fighting even after the bell had rung.

From Kongoh to Kongoh

Not to lose the chance of their team holding gold, the Kongoh Junior’s Hajime Ohara and Shuji Kondo challenged The NOAH Junior Regulars (Seiki Yoshioka and Atsushi Kotoge) for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Belts, after Tadasuke and HI69 had failed in their attempt. As this is the NOAH Junior Regulars, things got rough and this of course was broken up by AMAKUSA. During the press conference/match signing that followed, Shuji Kondo threw the champions a bone and what he called a “test” for his quaking pupil, Hajime Ohara. Kondo told them that if they wanted to defeat them, then they should attack Ohara’s legs as they were in very bad condition. The champions didn’t take them up on this, as they didn’t know whether Kondo was leading them on or not, but in any event they lost their one and only pre match (Kondo via King Kong Lariat), which led Kondo to say they should have listened to him. Title match will take place at the big all titles defended night at Korakuen Hall on the 10th November.

HAYATA injured, Ninja Mack new GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, Dante Leon challenges

Unfortunately the GHC Junior Heavyweight title match between HAYATA and Ninja Mack at the Ariake Arena on the 30th October did not go as planned, as HAYATA suffered an injury during the match which led to Ninja Mack being awarded the title as HAYATA could not continue. NOAH later announced that HAYATA’S injury was a dislocated fracture of the left elbow joint, which means the dislocation occurred the same time as the fracture. Chris Ridgeway said that his elbow was popped back in in “real time” by the paramedics and that HAYATA was “one tough motherfucker”.

Dante Leon had said earlier in the evening that he would be challenging the winner of HAYATA and Ninja Mack, and so it was to his old rival that he made the challenge. As Ninja Mack warned him at the press conference/match signing that followed he was “the favorite” and that if anyone was going to be bringing the belt back to their native Texas, it was going to be him. The only pre match they had was inconclusive as Xtreme Tiger pinned YO-HEY, but it didn’t stop them fighting after the match.

Masakatsu Funaki retained, a challenger of a different style steps forward

The fight with the fifteen year story, and refereed by the man who had refereed their match back then (Yuji Shimada), was over in three minutes and nineteen seconds, when Funaki used the Ninja Choke, which Kazushi Sakuraba had warned against. Funaki was challenged backstage by El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr. Funaki noted that Wagner Jnr had lots of advantages over him, from being much younger, to being much bigger (Funaki joked that he may have an accident should Wagner Jnr dive on him) and of course being a Luchadore, which Funaki had no experience in. Wagner Jnr said he has had tag success in NOAH, but now he is looking towards the singles gold. The match will take place on the night when all the GHC titles will be defended, the 10th November at Korakuen Hall.

Great Muta appearance & Keiji Mutoh passes his “test”. 

Keiji Mutoh noted that 2022 was over for him, but it wasn’t for Great Muta who will be returning to New Japan on the 20th November. The Great Muta made his appearance on the 26th October when he appeared in the ring to spit green mist at The Great O-Khan. Backstage, he announced that he would team with Toru Yano and Kazuchika Okada. As for Keiji Mutoh, Hiroshi Tanahashi announced after the tag match at Ariake Arena, that Mutoh had passed the test he had asked Tanahashi to put him through, and he was inviting him to come to a big match in New Japan for one last time. In his “Dragon Note” column in “Weekly Pro”, Tanahashi described his duty towards Mutoh as one of “Filial piety of a child towards a parent”.

Further New Japan and NOAH conflict

Following Keiji Mutoh’s retirement road match at Ariake Arena, Keiji Mutoh and Hiroshi Tanahashi sat on the ramp together and discussed how impressed they were by Yoshiki Inamura, who was fighting Togi Makabe. Makabe had dismissed Inamura prior to the match, but Inamura had vowed that he wasn’t going to leave without knowing who he was. After the match, Makabe vowed further interaction with Inamura, saying that either he came to New Japan or he would come to NOAH and beat him up, either way, NOAH needed to make something between them happen. In the match Mutoh fighting Tanahashi, Inamura and Makabe, left Naomichi Marufuji and Tomoaki Honma. Honma has vowed revenge on Naomichi Marufuji for the chopping he got, which busted him open, while Marufuji huffed at some footage of Honma that the move he was doing was one he did when he was a trainee.

Katsuhiko Nakajima and Naomichi Marufuji to go overseas

Katsuhiko Nakajima and Naomichi Marufuji will be appearing in San Francisco for King of Indies 2022. There will also be a dojo assessment with one person chosen to participate in NOAH.

NOAH vs Dragon Gate

Because HAYATA has been injured, the card for NOAH vs Dragon Gate on the 11th November, has been changed slightly. Yoshinari Ogawa has been removed from the card, with Dante Leon and Atsushi Kotoge taking his and HAYATA’S place teaming with Yosuke Santa Maria (who will probably be chasing Atsushi Kotoge around) against UT, Jason Lee and Strong Machine J. Stalker Ichikawa has also been added to the card, and he will face a mystery opponent. Fans are speculating this could be Junta Miyawaki, Daisuke Harada or even Yoshinari Ogawa. Whoever it is, Ichikawa will no doubt be annihilated in very short time.

Go Shiozaki

Go Shiozaki made an appearance at the Ariake Arena event and led the crowd (who could now cheer) in “I AM NOAH”…”WE ARE NOAH!”. He hasn’t given a date for his return, but he and NOAH are saying that it will be very soon.

 ELSEWHERE IN NOAH

– At the fan event in Shizuoka, Naomichi Marufuji was teasing Daiki Inaba, who unlike himself and Masa Kitamiya, grinned and stood with his hands by his side rather than pose.

– When STINGER failed to come to the ring on time, NOSAWA and Super Crazy went on a hunt for them. This involved looking under the ring and even under the steel barriers.  NOSAWA then decided to count them out.

– El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr was the only roster member to dress up for Halloween, by wearing a pumpkin colored mask complete with stalk. Hideki Suzuki told the referee to check the stalk…

– Keiji Mutoh joked that he found Hiroshi Tanahashi’s look too flashy! He also let Honma hug him once, but then batted him away when he tried again. Honma kind of chased him around the ring with Mutoh telling him to go away!

EVENT RECAPS AND POST MATCH PROMOS

[MUTO RETIREMENT ROAD] ABEMA PRESENTS ARIAKE GAISEN-THE RETURN-PRO-WRESTLING LOVE FOREVER . 3 ~TRIUMPH~ (SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30TH)

Event recap

Post match interviews

 SUNNY VOYAGE 2022, KIRAMESSE NUMAZU (THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3RD)

Event recap

Post match interview

CURRENT CHAMPIONS

• GHC Heavyweight Champion: Kaito Kiyomiya
  Challenger: Timothy Thatcher, GLOBAL2days WRESTLE UNIVERSE presents Global Honored Crown, Thursday November 10th 2022, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
• GHC Junior Champion: Ninja Mack
  Challenger: Dante Leon, GLOBAL2days WRESTLE UNIVERSE presents Global Honored Crown, Thursday November 10th 2022, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
• GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: KojiSugi (Satoshi Kojima & Takashi Sugiura)
  Challengers: Funky Express (Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito), GLOBAL2days WRESTLE UNIVERSE presents Global Honored Crown, Thursday November 10th 2022, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
• GHC Junior Tag Champions: The NOAH Junior Regulars (Atsushi Kotoge & Seiki Yoshioka)
  Challengers: Kongoh Juniors (Shuji Kondo & Hajime Ohara), GLOBAL2days WRESTLE UNIVERSE presents Global Honored Crown, Thursday November 10th 2022, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
• GHC National Champion: Masakatsu Funaki
  Challenger: El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr, GLOBAL2days WRESTLE UNIVERSE presents Global Honored Crown, Thursday November 10th 2022, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

THIS WEEK IN NOAH

(Full November schedule)

– GLOBAL2days WRESTLE UNIVERSE presents Global Honored Crown

Date: Thursday, November 10th

Venue: Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

Start time: Doors open 17:30 JST, event starts 18:30 JST

Broadcast: WrestleUniverse (live)

– GLOBAL2days WRESTLE UNIVERSE presents Global Honored Crown

Date: Friday, November 11th

Venue: Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

Start time: Doors open 17:30 JST, event starts 18:30 JST

Broadcast: WrestleUniverse (live)

– Sunday 13th November: Daisuke Harada (36)

ARTICLES

“Hey! Shall I train my body from today!?” Riki Choshu names himself in Keiji Mutoh’s Tokyo Dome Retirement Match?

My Name is G-MAN

GHC Junior Tag Match Signing Ceremony: Kondo challenges his partner, Ohara, by exposing his weaknesses? 

GHC Junior Match Signing Ceremony: Ninja emphasizes “I’m the favorite”, Leon emphasizes “Get the belt of my dreams”

GHC National Match Signing Ceremony: Funaki defines “Heterogenous Professional Wrestling”, Wagner Jnr to “Make Achievements” with his first single title

GHC Heavyweight Signing Ceremony: “Undefeated” Thatcher – “Kiyomiya is a pretty boy”, Champion Kiyomiya reveals “Top Awareness”

GHC Tag Match Signing Ceremony: Dangerous Detectives vs Funky…Kojima’s “Satoshi Competition” proposal creates chaos

“Tomorrow is the Ariake Arena Event. Ariake Triumphant Return” – note by Yoshiki Inamura

“Day of Fate” – Note by Kaito Kiyomiya

“HAHAHAHA!” Fujita’s beastly provocation with red viper drink, Kiyomiya is steadfast…

GHC National Match Signing: Funaki “I want to beat myself of 15 years ago”, Sakuraba “Tohoku Number One Deciding Match at the same time”

GHC Heavyweight Tag Signing Ceremony: Sugiura rejects Kojima’s declaration of “Defense until 62 years old”…Nakajima has a view to attack other promotions.

GHC Junior Tag Signing Ceremony: HI69 “Win with the new special move “La Pas”, Tadasuke “any means”

GHC Junior Match Signing: Ninja vehemently refutes HAYATA’S “Aerial Techniques Only”

Retirement Announcement, NOSAWA Rongai looking to switch to “M Leaguer”

Keiji Mutoh speaks about Hiroshi Tanahashi

Great Muta makes a surprise appearance and attacks O-Khan, forms a trio with Okada and Yano on the 20th November Ariake

Akitoshi’s Tsurezuregusa

WEEKLY PRO ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS

Kenta Kobashi Post Match Interview (March 1st 2003, NOAH Navigate For Evolution)

Follow Me You Bastards! Kenoh’s Weekly Pro Column (27th September 2022)

BOOK CORNER

“Donmai, Donmai” – Mitsuharu Misawa’s diary

GIF credit: WrestleUniverse