(NOAH) The Man Who Saved The Ark - The meaning of the three brand event (part one)
25th December 2024 (Issue no 2333)
With less than a month left in the year, major pro wrestling promotions are stepping up preparations for big matches over the New Year period. Noah will be running the Nippon Budokan on January 1st, early in the new year. The first New Year's Day Budokan event in two years will be the promotion's biggest event of the year. As published in this week's issue, Kenoh will be attending New Japan's Satsumasendai event on December 6th to appeal to KENTA for a match. A singles match at Budokan was confirmed that same day, meaning the full card is now complete.
Now preparations are complete for the New Year's Day Budokan event, but there are still two events remaining on the schedule for the year. In particular, December 19th is the final Korakuen Hall event of the year. All promotions consider shows at Korakuen Hall, a sacred ground for professional wrestling, to be very important, but Noah will be competing with a special plan befitting the final Korakuen event of 2024. The event will be called "STAR NAVIGATION 2024 ~TRIPLE SUMMIT~." "Triple Summit" represents the main purpose.
Noah currently hosts regular events under separate brands: "MONDAY MAGIC," which began last October, and "LIMIT BREAK," which began in February of this year. The final Korakuen Hall event of the year will feature matches from these three, including the regular main event. Director Takeda explains, "The reason we did this was largely due to a request from our sales department to make this event, the last major show of the year at Korakuen Hall, feel like a "fan appreciation day" event. Since it's the final show of the year at this iconic venue, we wanted to create a lively, festive atmosphere. We wanted to create an event that all our regular fans of the three different brands could enjoy. We haven't officially called it a 'fan appreciation day,' but we wanted to give our fans the feeling of a special event by combining these three brands. In other countries, it's not uncommon for different wrestling brands to hold their events on the same day and at the same venue, and even broadcast them together." However, this Noah event is unique in that it combines different wrestling brands into one single event.
While the nuance might be slightly different, this event is similar to the "CyberFight Festival" that CyberFight, the parent company to which Noah belongs, has held twice in the past (in 2021 and 2022). The festival bought together all the affiliated promotions at the time (Noah, DDT, Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, and Ganbare Pro Wrestling). The fact that this is now possible is due to each brand having established itself as a strong, independent entity. "The customer base for each brand is completely different. To put it another way, it's more distinct than we initially anticipated. We started both MONDAY MAGIC and LIMIT BREAK with a trial-and-error approach, but now we can clearly see that the types of customers for each brand are much more distinct than we expected."
MONDAY MAGIC, which began last autumn and concluded its third season with the "Autumn" event in October-November of this year, is a weekly event held every Monday at Shinjuku FACE. Each season runs for 1-2 months, and includes guest appearances by foreign wrestlers and participants from other promotions, including women's wrestling like MARVELOUS and MARIGOLD - all seperate from Noah's regular events. Generally, the match card is announced on the day of the event (with some exceptions, such as title matches), and while the number of seats available for live audience attendance may be limited for VOD purposes, the event consistently attracts a steady number of viewers, even on Mondays. Perhaps it's because there are many foreign wrestlers participating, which is unusual for Noah, or maybe it's due to the atmosphere of Kabukicho, but the entire event had a positive, international indie wrestling vibe. There were also many foreign fans in the audience. I think the eight-man tag match between the American and Mexican teams on November 25th (the recent event) perfectly represented the brand's overall vision.
"Even without announcing the match lineup in advance, the fans come prepared to have a great time, creating a positive atmosphere from the very beginning. The audience themselves contribute to making it a wonderful event." MONDAY MAGIC has succeeded in attracting a unique audience with its fresh, new style, something different from what Noah had previously offered. In contrast, LIMIT BREAK appeals to the fans who prefer the traditional Noah style. The core of this event is TEAM NOAH, the new unit established at the beginning of the year by Go Shiozaki. While none of the members except Shiozaki are homegrown talent, they all came together because they understood the meaning behind the unit's name, which naturally leads to a unified style in their matches. "There are still many people who believe that Go Shiozaki is the true heir to Noah's legacy. That's precisely why they call themselves TEAM NOAH". The hard-hitting, physical style of wrestling, with Shiozaki as the main attraction, is what makes Noah shows stand out. Fans who have been following Noah for a long time often say, "This is what Noah is all about!" It's a simple, classic style that leaves the audience feeling enthusiastic, saying, "We saw an amazing match!" The fact that this kind of intense action can be seen in smaller venues like Shin-Kiba or Radiant Hall (Yokohama) is also becoming a selling point. MONDAY MAGIC and LIMIT BREAK are positioned as complementary events to the main event. Regarding this, Director Takeda says, "The most difficult part might be the main event itself. What kind of show will truly represent the essence of the main brand?" He believes that this three-brand joint event will ultimately define the true meaning of the main brand.
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