(NOAH) Monthly Noah! Kiyomiya & Oiwa win the VC Tag League! GHC Heavyweight Champion Wagner defeats Jake Lee in his first defense!! Looking back on March, a month full of fierce battles!

4th April 2024

Noah.co.jp

Noah's March started during the "Victory Challenge Tag League" (hereinafter referred to as the "VC Tag League"), which started on February 24th in Yokohama. 

The 2nd March Nagoya show, was held as a big event, with the eight participating teams fiercely competing for points, with the first singles match being set up between Jake Lee and Kazuyuki Fujita. 

The two faced off for the first time in a six man tag match held on February 4th at the Sendai Sun Plaza show. It was a dynamic battle between the super heavyweights. In the main event, Jake announced his challenge for the GHC Heavyweight Champion, El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr. In response to the champion leaving Japan immediately after the show, he proposed a singles match in Yokohama on February 8th. "Kazuyuki Fujita is the perfect opponent for me as I have a lot of free time. Nagoya is the best place for the decisive battle."

The match, titled "GREAT VOYAGE Special Singles Match", was a was a heated battle that exceeded the expectations of a pre-match. Even when faced with the wild beast fight of Fujita, Jake didn't back down and put up a fight that was more than equal. After the match could not be concluded in thirty minutes, Jake said, "I've decided right now, if I win the belt, I will nominate him first". 

The VC Tag League, which continued to be hotly contested, ended the official schedule in Kumamoto on March 10th with REAL's Saxon Huxley & Timothy Thatcher in first place, and Kaito Kiyomiya and Ryohei Oiwa in 2nd place, advancing to the championship match.   

The composition was very easy to understand, with a young and lively new generation duo facing off against a big, strong, and violent foreign tag team. In the end the team of Kiyomiya & Oiwa won. 

Oiwa earned the first laurels of his career, (which includes New Japan Pro Wrestling), and has carved his name into the history of Noah during his domestic cross promotion training. 

It was decided that Kiyomiya and Oiwa were to challenge for the GHC Tag Team Championship held by Jack Morris and Anthony Green at the March 17th Yokohama show but surprisingly, Kiyomiya had to withdraw due to a spinal cord concussion sustained during practice the day before. In the main event of the March 17th show, instead of Kiyomiya and Oiwa, the VC Tag League runners up Huxley and Thatcher, challenged for the title. After a close battle, Morris and Anthony successfully defended the GHC Tag Titles for the fourth time. 

On the tag front, Kiyomiya returned at the March 31st Korakuen show, and together with Oiwa, defeated Kenoh and Yu Owada, who they had drawn with in the VC Tag League match in Shinjuku on February 28th. They will challenge for the GHC Tag Team titles on April 7th in Osaka. 

In the midst of all of this, a singles between Kenoh and Kiyomiya, whose grudges have flared up, will take place at Korakuen on April 11th. Presently for Kiyomiya, sparks continue to smoulder even outside of Noah's title front saying, "I'll really end this at the next Korakuen. I don't want anything to do with him". Then, Kenoh, the stalker declared, "If I win, I will do this forever with you". 

Furthermore, the rapid growth of Owada, who went through the VC tag league as Kenoh's partner, is also a topic for March. In the league match on the 9th March in Fukuoka, he managed to bag a win from Ulka Sasaki with a backslide. He also defeated Hi69 in Yokohama on March 17th, and in the aforementioned match on the 31st March at Korakuen Hall, he showed his tenacity and caused a huge explosion in the venue. 

Not only Owada, but Ulka has been steadily gaining experience in the VC Tag League, and has been on par with top Noah wrestlers such as Kenoh in Yokohama on the 17th March, and Marufuji at Korakuen on the 31st. Combining his skills as a mixed martial artist with his innate wrestling sense, he has continued to show amazing fights in the three months of his professional wrestling career. 

Oiwa, Owada, Ulka...the VC Tag League has allowed the young and energetic wrestlers to stand out, and to revitalize the promotion, which is of huge benefit. 

Also, on the singles title front, Wagner successfully defended his GHC Heavyweight title for the first time by defeating Jake's challenge at Korakuen on March 31st. The GHC National Champion Jack Morris was rocked by HAYATA during the VC Tag League, who eventually won by pinfall in a 6-man tag team match at Korakuen Hall on March 31st. He has decided to take on his challenge at Korakuen on April 11th. 

On the junior front, GHC Junior Champion Daga is in command. On the 2nd March in Nagoya, he rejected Tadasuke's challenge, and on the 10th March in Kumamoto, he teamed up with Yoshinari Ogawa to challenge YO-HEY and Tadasuke for the GHC Junior Tag Championship, but lost. On March 17th in Yokohama, he rejected YO-HEY'S challenge, and increased his number of defenses to five. 

Daga, who is now without a challengerm boasted, "The strongest champion, is me. If anyone wants this belt, come and get it". As of March 31st, no one has announced a challenge, and "Stop the Daga" has become a major theme for the Noah Juniors. 

In addition, TEAM NOAH, which started in February, hosted their second show in Yokohama on the 20th March. A match was held against DDT, with Dotonbori Pro Wrestling's young tag team champions, Yuto Kikuchi and Haruto Nozomi, also showed their presence. Akitoshi Saito of TEAM NOAH defeated Chris Vise at ZERO1's Yasukuni show on March 31st, and was delighted with his first singles title in 34 years of career. 

The March 31st Korakuen show was a hotly contested event from the first match to the main event, as the course of the internal revitalization blossomed. From April, "MONDAY MAGIC Season 2", which was held from October to December last year, and became a big topic, will begin. There is no doubt that Noah's fight will accelerate in preparation for the May 4th Ryogoku Kokugikan show!

Translated from Noah.co.jp

Picture credit: Noah.co.jp