(Noah) Weekly Newsletter Vol.9 ~ 9th November 2018

CURRENT TOUR RECAP
The second night of Global League took place at Korakuen Hall on the 9th November 2018. Noah drew a good, if not a sold out crowd of 1,217 people. Go Shiozaki said in a Twitter post he was very pleased with the attendance, as it showed an upsurge for Thursday night.
It was not only Noah's 2000th show, but also the eighth anniversary of Joe Higuchi's death.

The GHC Junior Heavyweight title match signing took place prior to the show starting (and after Takashi Sugiura had made a rare appearance for the Noah's Ark Fan Club), and Kotaro Suzuki actually attended it.
HAYATA, of course, naturally refused to say a single word, which unsettled Kotaro Suzuki, who likes to provoke reactions from his opponents.
The two clashed in a six man tag (which oddly Noah didn't bill as a "pre-championship match"), with HAYATA repeatedly getting the upper hand over Suzuki. After defeating him with The Headache, to the surprise of his partners and referee Hakuda, he told Suzuki, "Hey! Same in Osaka!"

Hitoshi Kumano won the fourteen man Battle Royale (in which Daisuke Harada was eliminated by Tadasuke, and Harada screamed and charged at him), and won a gift voucher for Hotel & Spa, which gave him an en-suite room and half price breakfast.
Lets hope it allows pets.

In Global League, "The Afro" (which is what Mohammed Yone has taken to calling himself) defeated "The Cloak" (Atsushi Kotoge who has taken to wearing his Dracula cape complete with huge collar and neck buckle), Masa Kitamiya defeated Mitsuya Nagai and Go Shiozaki faced probably the hardest hitting opponent he had faced in Noah since Kenta Kobashi, Kazusada Higuchi. Afterwards, Shiozaki said that if he wanted to do it again, he would be up for it.
Kohei Sato destroyed Katsuhiko Nakajima, who appears to have reached new levels of cocky smug behavior by smirking and sticking out his tongue, doing the cocky pin with his foot, and then doing the cocky pin with his knee.
However, the night belonged to Kaito Kiyomiya who took the sneak pin on Takashi Sugiura and beat him, thereby surprising everyone and turning a corner for himself. Kiyomiya, (who lets say, celebrated like a kid on Christmas morning and threw himself all over the ring), gave an excitable promo afterwards in which he grounded himself for the next match.

Kenoh got his wish, to prove to everyone and Marufuji himself (but not himself as he had been shrieking at everyone for a year about it), that he could beat him a singles competition, and he did so at Korakuen Hall after a seventeen minute match, in which Marufuji treated Kenoh as a senior taking on a junior. Kenoh beat him with the the rolling moonsault stomp. Afterwards he told Marufuji (who just waved him off) that everyone just seen him beat him, then he turned back to the audience and told them that he would become Noah's "ray of hope".

Full recap of Global League so far, can be found here.

Noah will be back on Sunday 11th November (gong sounds at 5pm). Card is not as strong as Korakuen Hall, and the boys from Ehime Pro will be having a post event match.
You will be able find a full event recap on my site after the event.

NEWS

"COME AT ME YOU BASTARDS"

Kenoh issued another "Come At Me You Bastards" column this week for Weekly Pro.
This weeks topic was a reasonably gentle one and he spoke about his hobbies which all involve the sea or water, (he didn't shriek about Marufuji being corrupt, although he did say that he probably mentioned the Shiranui Curry as self promotion, and that he would never have come to Noah if President Uchida was the boss. Fortunately for us all, Kenoh joined when it was Akira Taue), and it was about the "Wrestlers Directory". According to Kenoh "a lot of fuckers look forward to it", and as well they should, its a directory which lists all the wrestlers from major promotions, and I understand this year, from smaller ones too.
Naturally, Kenoh refused to answer questions like what is favorite food was or who his favorite celebrity was (probably "Jaws"), and President Uchida answered for him (he said Kenoh's favorite "celebrity" was a warlord called Ryōma Sakamoto who lived in the 19th century, who was a prominent personage in the fight to overthrow the Shogunate).
Kenoh did not see the funny side.

ARTICLE
Traces to Nowhere

Takeshi Morishima was arrested on November 4th in Kabukichō, Tokyo for punching a taxi driver and breaking his cheekbones, in a row over fare.
Fare he didn't have by the way, which came to about 18,000 yen. It wasn't just a case of him leaving his wallet at home, he had deliberately gotten a cab without it.
Details later emerged about Morishima's disturbing state of mind and sequence of behavior leading up to the event, but we need to look further back to see the roots of the problem.

The majority of wrestlers enter the dojo system very young; usually about seventeen or eighteen. The rules are they must be healthy in body and mind, and have a High School Diploma. They usually go from the closed world of High School sports, into the cloistered world of the Dojo. They go straight from their parents houses too. In the dojo they devote themselves to training, and they are only allowed out perhaps for an hour or so on a Saturday, and then only to a local convenience store, and if there are enough people to wait in the dojo on the seniors, they may even be allowed out to the cinema.
Nightlife, drinking, women, socializing, are all forbidden, and in many ways they are like Geisha, they wait on their elders and the people of their own age they do meet, they find they have little in common with.
In the Dojo their days are regimented, and even when they make their debuts and are allowed a little more freedom, their lives are still controlled and although they don't have the cooking\cleaning\waiting on senior in the dojo schedule anymore or knocking on doors in the morning in hotels to get hungover, bruised and battered, exhausted wrestlers out of bed, they have tours and promotional duties, and people are on hand to tell them where they should be. The same thing happens with touring bands, some people get so used to it, they wind up taking their families shopping at 4am.
The lucky ones (and this is most of them) adjust well to their freedom, some marry and have a support network of partners and children or else family, others leave and still stay in the wrestling business in some way, they become trainers, start their own promotions, promote events, open restaurants, write books.
Others do not adjust (although it is rare), and very sadly Takeshi Morishima seems to have been one of these people, who did not, although he did try, to get some experience for later life. It also didn't help that he seemed to be pathologically lonely, a small fragmented family, who he didn't seem particularly close to, which is why in later years he clung to Kenoh, whom he used to call at midnight to chat.
Kenoh always said that Morishima was a generous person, who never let him pay for anything. Morishima's kindness was such that when he made his debut, he bought young Hitoshi Kumano a steak dinner.
Kenoh credits him with teaching him how to live as a wrestler, and it is a shame that Morishima could not ultimately take his own advice. 

In 2016, Takeshi Morishima started his downward spiral, probably caused by a depressive condition and burnout (he was an active wrestler and had corporate duties as well following the shake up after Misawa's death), but maybe there was an underlying condition as well that emerged at that time. His diagnosis of diabetes hit him hard its true (and Kenoh said he cried bitterly both in the ring and outside of it), and his mental health deteriorated under the shock of being advised to retire, but at the same time he was posting odd things on social media, like rambling crazy statements about things which made no sense. Wrestling was all he had ever known, aside from High School Judo.
He left Noah under a cloud, and vanished for three years. In the three years he was missing he bounced from job to job, concert security, bartender, pizza maker, deliveryman for fast food, luggage porter, flower-shop employee, the list goes on.

In July 2018 he announced out of the blue that he was returning to wrestling, and he would hold his comeback event at Korakuen Hall in October on his 40th birthday, which he would call "GENESIS". He didn't look comfortable being there, his body language showed how nervous he was, he spoke with his eyes shut and brushed hair out of his face. Afterwards he practically fled the arena. A feature with BATTLEMEN served to highlight how fragile he was.
"GENESIS" was never going to happen.

On the 10th September, he was rushed to hospital after suffering severe pain in his feet, which was later diagnosed as "septic arthritis" and he underwent emergency surgery. The event was called off and it was announced it would be rescheduled at a later date.

No replacement date was ever announced, as it seemed Morishima's behavior was becoming not just erratic, but dangerous. When he appeared at "Flight" fans expressed concern at his behavior, Kenoh (it seemed) was also worried by it, but Takashi Sugiura was angered by it and blasted him for being rude as to go so far to plug his own event, make a challenge to him and then leave.
Morishima, didn't stay around for the aftershow party (although Kenoh had hoped he would), but left to drink with Takeshi Rikio and post comments like "I am not interested in Uchida's Noah, I am only interested in Misawa's Noah".
An odd comment to make for a man who had been invited to a 20th anniversary for someone he had a rocky relationship with about a promotion he had arranged to fight the champion of.

After the cancellation of the event, everything went quiet on Morishima, and people assumed that aside from the "naked drinking with DDT" (usual wrestler antics that no one takes much notice of), that he had gone back to training for his eventual return.
His odd behavior of turning up at Puro Weekly unannounced and in a Halloween Mask, and then posing with an issue, raised eyebrows, but the people of Kabukichō told a different story.
After his arrest it was discovered that Morishima had spent the days, not training, but drunk and wandering around the district, telling everyone he was "a star".
It was later revealed that he would take a taxi to the district, and then ask people in the bars and any wrestlers he recognized who where there, for money for the taxi. This led to several establishments banning him due to the harassment of their patrons, and, as his behavior was less than exemplary, he soon gained a reputation as a mean drunk.
Housing also appeared to be an issue for him at this time (he used to have a beautiful apartment during his Noah days and he kept a box of candy when he settled down to watch films), but now it seemed he was virtually homeless, sleeping at the homes of people he had known for a few hours, one time even as a live in employee in a restaurant he worked in. He also used to go and visit indie promotions and beg money from the younger wrestlers, at one time making them collectively cough up 500 yen for his taxi.
There were days when he couldn't even change his clothes.

On the night in question he came into "The Stanley Bar" which is run by professional wrestler, Naoshi Sano, and tried to borrow money from him. The store manager told him that Mr. Sano wasn't there, and as he cleaned the store, Morishima made strange comments to him like "I'm a pro wrestler, and your sweeping the floor", playing with his phone, playing with the mail that had come to the store and eating sweets. In the past he had begged for drinks, only having what amounted to £10.00 or $12.00 in his pocket.
He left saying something like he had a few sweets left, and would be back with friends. During his visit, he apparently grabbed the managers arm, and left a huge bruise.

It is proposed that Morishima took a taxi, and drove around looking for people who he could beg fare off. The driver, realizing that the fare was already very high, stopped the cab and told him to pay, and that is when the row broke out.
Morishima claims he was not drinking; but his reputation is against him, and the manager of "The Stanley Bar" says he has never seen him sober.

News on Morishima has gone very quiet since his arrest, but I don't think that prison would be the right choice, and neither would giving him his freedom. Morishima needs to be court ordered somewhere to deal with his issues. Noah offered to help him once, and he wouldn't take it.
He is only going to get help if he has no other choice, left to his own devices, he is like Takashi Sugiura says, "a child".

The reaction from the puro world has been one of disappointment, on Noah's side, Naomichi Marufuji has said that for his own sake and that of society, Morishima needs to sort himself out. Old friend, Makoto Hashi (long retired and making a good living as a physiotherapist), said that Morishima needs to make a choice as to what he wants to do, he needs to grow as a person, and not as a wrestler.

And that has been Morishima's problem; he has never managed to escape his own celebrity. It would have been better for him that when he came back, he announced that he was returning as a trainer, any number of promotions would have snapped him up, who wouldn't want to say that they had been trained by Takeshi Morishima, who was once known as "Noah's Monster" and was one of the greatest and most memorable Ring of Honor champions, who holds the distinction of being the only Japanese one? It would have given him an income, he could have lived at the dojo, his food would have been prepared for him by the trainees, and he would have had a support network in place.
But now sadly with this assault charge and odd behavior, who is going to want to be in the ring with him, let alone be trained by him?
 
GHC BELT NEWS
GHC Heavyweight Champion: Takashi Sugiura
GHC Junior Champion: Kotaro Suzuki
GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: Naomichi Marufuji & Akitoshi Saito
GHC Junior Tag Champions: Minoru Tanaka & Hi69

The winner of Global League 2018 will earn the right to challenge Takashi Sugiura for the GHC Heavyweight title, if he himself wins, Sugiura says that he will nominate Masato Tanaka as his challenger.
Kotaro Suzuki will defend the GHC Junior Heavyweight title against HAYATA on the 17th November at Edion Arena, Osaka.
The GHC Heavyweight Tag titles have not had a challenger as of yet, and probably won't until after Global League wraps up.
The GHC Junior Tag Championship will be challenged for by Koji Kanemoto and Hiroshi Yamato on the 25th November at Korakuen Hall. Seiya Morohashi has also challenged for them, his partner at this time is as yet unknown, but it is thought it will either be TAMURA or Kouki Iwasaki.

TOUR TIDBITS

• HAYATA actually shook hands with someone (twice, once before the match and once after it), AND spoke on the microphone.  What is going on here? 
• Kenoh was teased by the "Weekly Pro" journalist that given his love of the ocean, he was probably a fish. The species Piranha or Barracuda come to mind...
• Eddie Edwards was put on the front cover of "The Wrestler Digest" next to Kenoh, despite not being in Noah in 2018. Weekly Pro have said this because the issue runs from late December, and Edwards of course was GHC Heavyweight Champion, and lost it after the issue came out. They also stated that he had stated he wanted to appear in Noah again. 
• YO-HEY made a post about HAYATA in ZERO-ONE, which doesn't translate well, but basically he is saying that "wife" is Noah and everyone better remember that. 
• Noah wrestlers will be appearing on the catwalk for a fashion show by "BE Vint-Age 2018" involving Yuki-Hero Pro-wrestling. Names to be announced. 
• Hajime Ohara continues to give lectures in Kawasaki for the medical board on diet and health.
• Koji Kanemoto will be making more appearances in Noah, other than the 25th. 
• Quiet Storm was on commentary speaking fluent Japanese for Mohammed Yone's match at Global League on the 8th November; Yone said he was nervous, but his accent was perfect, and I kept thinking it was Kenta Kobashi...not a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles loving gaijin from Brooklyn.

According to Masao Inoue's Twitter, someone has plaited Tadasuke's hair....

KING SHAMELESS CORNER 
None. He's been good, which is surprising as he had to behave himself for an hour or so when meeting the Noah's Ark Fan Club Members. However, he did do a interview with Weekly Pro; "The more things change, the more they stay the same"

BROADCASTS
Although it is likely that the last night of Global League and "Great Voyage in Yokohama Vol.2" (Noah's last event of the year bar NOAHFUL Gift, a comedy show) will be televised, nothing has been announced so far.

LINKS

Articles on Takeshi Morishima's arrest
Taxi driver beaten by Pro-Wrestler
Bartender says he has never seen Morishima sober
Morishima's eccentric lifestyle

Other
Enjoy what I do? Want to help me do it full time? Please consider donating to me on Patreon
For those outside of Japan, IPW are now the official sellers of Noah merchandise
"Heir to The Ark" ~ Naomichi Marufuji's biography, work in progress translated into English
Green Guide to Global League 2018