(NOAH) Weekly Newsletter Vol.2 ~ 21st September 2018

CURRENT TOUR RECAP
Noah finished up their mammoth five day in a row event (14th September to the 18th September), fortunately no-one was injured, but both Hajime Ohara (neck) and Hi69 (knee) seem to be carrying injuries.

After losing the GHC Heavyweight Tag Title challenge against Naomichi Marufuji and Akitoshi Saito, Kaito Kiyomiya intimated that he would be interested in challenging for them again, but with another partner (i.e. Go Shiozaki). Shiozaki was seen watching Kaito Kiyomiya in the tag match against 50 Funky Powers in Hakata Stalene. Later in the tour he mentioned on Twitter about "shutting them up" and their GHC Heavyweight Tag Challenge. 
Speaking of Go Shiozaki there was a very sweet moment that took place in Hakata, involving both himself and Atsushi Kotoge. When they made their entrance in their match against The Hooligans (Cody Hall and Maybach Taniguchi), a little boy could be seen dressed in a homemade "Revolutionary Cloak". When Kotoge appeared the little boy and the little girl next to him (most probably his sister), did the revolutionary fist pumps (to the delight of Kotoge who joined in), and when he had gone, Shiozaki noticed, did it for half a second, and then went bright red (Shiozaki gets very shy when he has to do physical comedy, he also has a tendency to start giggling as well when others do it).
During the match, the brawl went into the crowd, and a little girl was upset by it and started crying. Go Shiozaki, gave her a hug to comfort her, and once back in the ring got The Hooligans in the corner, pointed to her and said "this is for you", and proceeded to chop them.
Despite his claim to "bring the revolution to Hakata, and defeat the villians!", Atsushi Kotoge took the Zwei Bomb from Taniguchi.

Naomichi Marufuji is still not accepting the challenge of The Hooligans, and gave a somewhat bad tempered promo in Ehime saying they were "a fool, a baldie" and "even though I am an asshole with a lack of sleep, I am going to crush you all. Come and line up with your heads bowed. I am not going to accept your challenge! I'm not in the mood!"

Marufuji is still being obsessively hated by Kenoh, and he certainly has taken it from him on this tour, but the person the five days really belongs to, is Katsuhiko Nakajima, who utterly obliterated Takashi Sugiura and did the cocky pin on him.
I don't think anyone has ever at any time or anywhere ever done this...

Nakajima, being Nakajima, wasn't finished there as he draped the belt over him, and then threw Sugiura out of the ring. When Sugiura had recovered and scraped himself off of the floor, Nakajima had gotten the microphone, and standing on the turnbuckle he told him that he would continue to plague him like he did today, he would plague him again tomorrow and the day after that and forever afterwards.

At the end of the five day tour, having been thoroughly battered by Nakajima, Takashi Sugiura said tiredly he couldn't keep up and says that he has had no choice but to get better, and rethink his strategy.
I can only imagine that Sugiura is playing the spider and the fly...

"Black or white, this is a league."
(Hi69) 

The Noah Juniors, despite being divided over Junior Global League, are all gunning for Kotaro Suzuki (Hitoshi Kumano says that he is going to "crush the beat so no sound comes out").
Kotaro Suzuki has dismissed even the freelancers amongst the Noah Juniors as being "weak". The biggest build so far is Daisuke Harada vs Kotaro Suzuki, which will take place in Yokohama (Suzuki has already lost to the other "elder" of the Juniors, Hajime Ohara). Daisuke Harada in Kochi, delivered the message to Suzuki that he would beat him down, and then he would "tell you this"...Harada spoke silently to the camera and walked off. Kotaro Suzuki later said that he had no idea what he was saying, but would find out before they faced each other. 

Suzuki has made unflattering comments about various Noah juniors, Hitsohi Kumano is "heavy" and "bulging with fat", and Tadasuke, due to "too much haur treatment" is "greasy".
Kotaro Suzuki, known for being just as "slippery" as Tadasuke (maybe even more) has promised something special for his "vision of Korakuen" (he also posted a picture of himself and Yoshinari Ogawa out drinking and said they were "discussing strategy"), well, whatever he has planned, it is probably a lot better than what Tadasuke has promised, he says that he may have to "poison the rice of the winning candidates" if he doesn't win. 
Suzuki and Harada clashed in a tag match on the 18th September on the last day of tour with Harada getting in his face with the belt, and Suzuki playing the innocent after attacking him while standing on the ring apron.

There has been no rift between The Backbreakers, with Hitoshi Kumano defeating Hajime Ohara. Kumano said he had to win, even though Ohara's neck was very bad. Part of his reasons for wanting to beat Ohara was due to the comments made by Daisuke Harada when he was aiming for the GHC Junior Heavyweight championship a few months ago, Harada had basically said that Kumano was "below Ohara" or that he was his "subordinate". Between RATELS, Daisuke Harada is too busy to comment on Tadasuke beating him, and YO-HEY and HAYATA still appear to be friends (better description might be master and pet).

Junta Miyawaki is still to get his first win, but the boy has earned a lot of accolades with people praising him and saying he was "insanely good" in his matches. Noah are really teasing his first win with many near pinfalls.  He has also been likened to a young Kenta Kobashi, which means that now in Noah we have almost the Four Pillars for a new generation with Misawa (Kiyomiya) and Kawada (Kenoh) - now we just need a Taue.

Noah have had very good attendances out in the provinces for this tour, not all venues have been sold out, but attendances have been very high.
The promotion has a policy whereby they travel outside of the metropolitan areas (i.e. Tokyo, Osaka) and the big city areas and bring the show to the "provinces" (i.e. the countryside or the more rural areas on the edge of the suburbs). While this doesn't always result in a full house (something a lot of people don't seem to understand and they think its a reflection on Noah), what it does do is bring a company who unlike New Japan, All Japan, Big Japan etc doesn't have a streaming service and\or a TV show, to people who wouldn't see them otherwise.
They have also attracted a lot of new fans too.

Global Junior League Scores (as of 18th September 2018)

YO-HEY: 7
Ikuto Hidaka: 6
Daisuke Harada: 6
Kotaro Suzuki: 6
Hitoshi Kumano: 4
Tadasuke: 4
Hi69: 4
Minoru Tanaka: 4
HAYATA: 3
Hajime Ohara: 2
Seiya Morohashi: 2
Junta Miyawaki: 0

Noah are back on the 29th September at Radiant Hall, Yokohama, bell sounds at 17.30

NEWS

QUIET STORM CELEBRATES 20 YEARS
Quiet Storm has celebrated his own twenty years in wrestling on the 16th September, he debuted in 1998 (about a month after Naomichi Marufuji did) at roughly the age of seventeen, and while in America had spells with Ring of Honor, PWF and NYWC.
Quiet Storm made his debut in his hometown of New York (he's a Brooklyn boy I think). He came to Japan and trained with KAIENTAI DOJO, but had to return home due to a family situation. Aside from Noah, his other affiliation is with Osaka Pro.
He has been with Noah since 2014.
His tag team partner, Mohammed Yone, presented him with flowers in the ring. 

GHC BELT NEWS

Current champions
GHC Heavyweight Champion: Takashi Sugiura
GHC Junior Champion: Daisuke Harada
GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: Naomichi Marufuji & Akitoshi Saito
GHC Junior Tag Champions: Minoru Tanaka & Hi69

OTHER NEWS
Atsushi Kotoge will be holding his own fan event, further details to be announced (this is not a produce)

Comedy wrestler Kikutaro (who returned to Japan to have ear surgery), announced that before he leaves for America, he wants to appear in Noah (he was once a regular in SEM, where he memorably teamed with KENTA, who had him thrown out of the building afterwards, Kikutaro made his way back in though), and a match has been arranged against Atsushi Kotoge for the 4th October at Korakuen Hall.
Kotoge has asked Kikutaro whether he wants to join the "Revolutionary Army".
What should be a very funny match, will be broadcast on Samurai on the 11th October (FYI: Fuji TV no longer exists, it is now "ForJoyTV")

Naomichi Marufuji and Doug Williams will be having what will be their last match ever in IPW on Sunday the 23rd September. Their history was made not in Noah or even in Japan, but in Europe. You can read about their history in an article I have written, "Farewell Europe"

Hajime Ohara, (who quite rightly is called "Noah's treasure"), has taken part in more municipal activities in Kawasawki by lecturing the Staff Hygiene Committee about exercise that can be done at the office and at home.

Thanks to Metal-Noah who very kindly sent me a copy of "Heir to The Ark", Naomichi Marufuji's biography, English translation has started, and can be found here.
This is a work in progress, and I hope to update it daily.
The book is ranked #3 on the Japanese book charts.

TOUR TIDBITS

• Tadasuke used a chair on Seiya Morohashi (which is unusual for him). 
• Whilst in Shikoku, a big crab turned up on Hi69's cigarette packet (its probably HAYATA shape-shifting)
• The ceiling was so low in Hakata Stalene that people's feet and heads grazed it. 
• Naomichi Marufuji watched "the youngsters" going off together after Noah arrived in Kochi, and said "the old man is going to bed"
• Tadasuke announced to Kotaro Suzuki "Hey, Fool! I am today's Noah Junior!" (and Kotaro Suzuki beat him down in ten minutes with the Tiger Driver)
• Naomichi Marufuji wrapped Yoshiki Inamura in Atsushi Kotoge's cloak, and forced him to do the "Revolution Pose", right in front of Kotoge. 
• YO-HEY'S rambling promos include him having all his teeth knocked out (he hasn't), and likening himself to a 16th century Japanese warlord, a champion stallion racehorse which was put out to stud (don't ask) and then forgetting what he was talking about. He is still convinced that he will be facing Yoshiki Inamura in the finals of Global Junior League, despite the fact that Inamura isn't in Global Junior League.
• Yoshinari Ogawa took Atsushi Kotoge's cape and used it to wipe his boots, much to Kotoge's horror. 
• Ehime Pro did an opening exhibition at Noah's show at TEXPORT Imbari
• Yoshiki Inamura getting good reviews. 
• Go Shiozaki went to shake hands with Kotoge, but Kotoge drew his hand back, wiped his head and walked off (Shiozaki, notorious for giggling, couldn't keep a straight face)
• Noah have had a crack down on people filming at the event, Atsushi Kotoge said "Heroes obey the rules". 
• Masao Inoue is holding another bowling event, wrestlers participating will be Atsushi Kotoge, Kaito Kiyomiya and Tadasuke
• On September 17th, Atsushi Kotoge, Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima and Masa Kitamiya went to a sports bar and spent until the early hours watching classic Four Pillars era All Japan (the match Kotoge photographed on the TV was Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi on the 21st October 1997. When this match took place, Kotoge and Kenoh would have been 12, Kitamiya 14 and Nakajima 9). 
• Cody Hall and Maybach Taniguchi now have a finisher called "The Hooligans Bomb".

• On the long drive back from Tottori to Tokyo, (about nine to eleven hours), Takashi Sugiura photographed Masao Inoue at the urinal (twice), and then predictably, things got even worse when Marufuji filmed Inoue eating an ice cream on the bus, and then pausing to look briefly at a passing woman. Between Marufuji and Sugiura, this turned into Inoue thinking about "licking" women...

Lets just end this newsletter here until next week.