Sun on the sea: Pro Wrestling Noah's 2018
"In 2017 "Noah the Reborn" was given life and a new generation rose.
In 2018 "Noah the Live" is the word.
Noah is newly born again, and our burning soul is in the ring"
PROLOGUE, LATE 2017
Following the disaster of the Suzuki-Gun invasion\New Japan Alliance in 2016, Noah spent most of 2017 picking up the pieces which had left them with a 29% drop in their attendance figures, and bankruptcy proceedings in February. The Ark needed to be made seaworthy again, and after bouncing the belt between the usual champions, Takashi Sugiura and Go Shiozaki, Noah decided that new blood was needed, and it was placed in August on Katsuhiko Nakajima.
Noah then again made history, and it was time to rock the boat so to speak. They would place the belt on one of their own, but that "one of their own", was a gaijin wrestler from Boston, who had the added bonus of knowing Misawa, and being of "that generation", which was going to be so vital in Noah in 2018.
Never before had the GHC Heavyweight been put on a foreigner.
Eddie Edwards became GHC Heavyweight Champion in August.
Due to his schedule with IMPACT, Edwards couldn't be with Noah like a champion normally would, but this suited Noah as it meant that they could build up their next champion, Kenoh. Kenoh, much to everyone's surprise (as everyone was focused on Marufuji vs Shiozaki) won Global League 2017, announced to everyone he would change Noah, and challenged Edwards for the belt.
Edwards returned to Noah in December 2017, had a short but memorable and very intense feud with Kenoh for the belt, and dropped it to him at "Winter Navigation 2017" at Korakuen Hall on the 22nd December.
Virtually unrecognizable even to those who knew him well (and scared that people were going to boo him because everyone had gone so quiet), Kaito Kiyomiya (complete with bigger body and better hair) came out to challenge Kenoh for the title.
Kenoh (after asking what the hell he was doing here) granted him his request. The title had been won by someone who hadn't known Misawa, and challenged by someone who hadn't known him, which was good enough for Kenoh.
It also sparked their feud which Noah can run with for years. It is Misawa vs Kawada for a new generation.
Noah entered 2018 on a high, with President Uchida announcing that night that Noah was not now "The Reborn" it was "The Live".
JANUARY 2018
In early January, Noah held the GHC Heavyweight match signing between Kenoh and a somewhat nervous looking Kaito Kiyomiya. It was the first stirrings of the generational war, with Kenoh making statements like
"The first person not involved with Misawa has become the champion, and another man not involved with Misawa has become the challenger. I cannot imagine a match like this."
Kiyomiya agreed with Kenoh that that the older generation needed to be replaced.
Kiyomiya was helped up by a concerned looking Takashi Sugiura, but he lashed out, slapping Kenoh in the face, which caused the two to attack him. Go Shiozaki, furious with what was happening, came to the rescue. This set off a chain of events for 2018, but Kiyomiya himself would need to prove that he could do this on his own, and at first it didn't look promising, although he did start using the Tiger Suplex, and in February would do the Misawa Apron Dive.
Kenoh had a kind of rematch with Kiyomiya later in the month, but, said he didn't see the same look in his eyes that he did when he had challenged him in December.
Still very green, still very nervous, still prone to shaking, and taking deep nervous breaths, Noah pushed Kiyomiya into high profile singles matches which he wasn't ready for, and at that stage no one could believe his assertion that he wanted to finish the year as GHC Heavyweight Champion (although his wish to win "Rookie of The Year" at the Tokyo Sports Award was a little more realistic). The fans knew he wasn't ready, he didn't have the confidence, and by the end of the tour, Noah knew it. The best way to describe him at this stage was "floundering".
He was not ready for this without guidance, although he did get a victory over Hitoshi Kumano, which was his first when he came back.
He had a couple of high profile matches with Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura. Marufuji said, "I want him to be seen as a "top wrestler" as soon as possible, and I think he has that possibility, so by all means 100% or 100% or more, I would like Kaito Kiyomiya to do this".
Sugiura recalled the old days and said, "It is better to be by my side, but perhaps he will grow up fighting me."
For Kenoh, now Kiyomiya was pretty much out of the way, he was challenged by Noah outsider, Yuko Miyamoto (who was holding three championships at the time in other promotions). Kenoh was disappointed (and would remain disappointed) that Naomichi Marufuji (who he was developing an obsession with) did not come out and challenge him.
It was also round about this time, that Takashi Sugiura said that he too was interested in the belt.
The feud between Kenoh and Yuko Miyamoto, was almost a mirror of what had happened twenty years ago or so when their teachers Mr. Gannosuke (Miyamoto) and Jinsei Shinzaki (Kenoh) had
In the Noah junior division, Hajime Ohara had challenged Daisuke Harada for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship. He had done this through the company, not the champion as was the traditional route, and so Harada wasn't best pleased, and started whining that it wasn't done properly.
So Ohara beat him up, and then challenged.
Hajime Ohara vs Daisuke Harada under any situation, is always a technical and psychological masterpiece between two very skilled wrestlers, they both work on their techniques and they come up with new ones. Hajime Ohara wanted the belt for the good of his hometown, Kawasaki, and also for the good of Noah, as if both would unite, then he could do good for both, especially since in 2018 he would do a lot of work for public health in Kawasaki, from holding exercises classes for the elderly, for children, for dementia patients to being on the Prefecture Health Board.
Harada would retain the belt and defeat Ohara, but afterwards he was challenged by his RATELS unit member, HAYATA (who simply pointed at the belt), and Hitoshi Kumano. Harada admitted that he owed it to both of them, after all HAYATA was in RATELS and Kumano was the partner of Hajime Ohara, so he proposed they have a number one contenders match.
Taiji Ishimori was X-Division champion, and he defended the belt against Andrew Everett at Korakuen Hall. Later his tag-team XX (along with Hi69) challenged YO-HEY & HAYATA for the titles in Osaka later in the month and were successful. They were later challenged by Minoru Tanaka and Yoshinari Ogawa.
The heel tag team of Mitsuya Nagai and Maybach Taniguchi challenged 50 Funky Powers (Mohammed Yone and Quiet Storm) for the GHC Heavyweight Tag Titles (Nagai said he was glad to be hated and often got into arguments with the audience). The heavyweight tag division also saw the rise of the team of Katsuhiko Nakajima and Masa Kitamiya, "The Aggression".
President Masayuki Uchida started talking about Marufuji's 20th anniversary event (Marufuji had debuted in August 1998 in All Japan and the anniversary was coming up)
Jay Bradley came to Noah, and made Takashi Sugiura bleed in his first match, Sugiura saw this as a sign that the New Year had begun.
FEBRUARY
Kenoh defeated Yuko Miyamoto, and was challenged by Takashi Sugiura who had heard once too often from him that the "era of Marufuji and Sugiura is over". Sugiura got into the ring, and told Kenoh (who took a step back); "I may be 48 years old this year, but my time has not ended, I have not even started to build my era. Let me challenge you for that belt."
As he left the ring Kenoh (who still fixated on Marufuji challenging him), yelled that he could never fill out the Budokan, let alone take Noah there. Sugiura grinned and waved him away. Unlike Kenoh, Sugiura has been to the Budokan.
Kenoh threw a tantrum, banging his fists on the mat.
Sugiura, looked like a patient father who was used to this type of behavior, and he picked up the microphone and said, "Hey! Champion! I am surprised you lost this easily! Will you be okay in the big fight?"
He left the ring.
Kenoh continued to throw a fit.
After their last pre-match that month, Sugiura got on the microphone after Kenoh had taunted him about the usual things, and demanded a fifteen minute shotgun GHC Heavyweight Title match, there and then.
Kenoh hit Sugiura around the head with a kick so loud it was heard at the back of the arena, and they both managed to knock each other out, Kenoh growled from where he was lying on the mat, that Sugiura was not going to defeat him in March.
50 Funky Powers beat Mitsuya Nagai & Maybach Taniguchi and retained the titles, only to be challenged by The Aggression, who burst into the interview area and make their case (with Masa Kitamiya throwing in "so accept our challenge, assholes") for good measure.
In the pre-matches Nakajima knocked out both Quiet Storm and Yone with kicks to the head.
Naomichi Marufuji created an internet storm by announcing his participation in All Japan's "Champion Carnival", and in the same block as Jun Akiyama. This caused shockwaves as Noah and All Japan were not on the best of terms in February 2018, having had a long bitter history that went back to 2000 when Mitsuharu Misawa walked out taking with him most of the veteran talent, future talent, ring staff and backstage staff (including it was said a family member of Giant Baba's), and more recently the walk out to All Japan over Kobashi's release from Noah in 2012.
Kaito Kiyomiya said he did not feel comfortable dressing the same as Shiozaki in the same white shirt and jeans. Fortunately, this has never been repeated.
Hideki Suzuki turned up in Noah, and teamed with Jay Bradley against Naomichi Marufuji and Atsushi Kotoge. Kotoge and Suzuki seemed to have a feud going on, with Kotoge saying that he was "from a bygone era" and that he wanted to see some of his "retro" matches, but he didn't have a VHS player. Hideki Suzuki made a comment to Tokyo Sports that he was going to take over Noah using Cody Hall and Jay Bradley. This caused excitement at the thought of a proper invasion angle, but sadly Suzuki did not appear in Noah again in 2018, although he kept saying he wanted Kiyomiya (and he made a hysterical comment about Atsushi Kotoge's cape by asking "What is this?").
Speaking of Cody Hall and Jay Bradley, their tag team was so successful with the fans, they were nicknamed "The Gaijin Twin Towers".
KENSO made his debut and said to "expect a son of a bitch" for his first appearance in Noah. You could have mistaken him for being drunk, but the truth was, he was insane...especially in the later months when he was in Noah, when he went on Twitter and wrote tweets even more incoherent that YO-HEY'S, but the difference was that while YO-HEY may write confusingly about HAYATA growing daikon at the dojo using slang from every corner of Japan (and whatever universe he lives in), KENSO was posting about the bodily fluids of President Uchida.
KENSO'S main feud at this time was against old enemy, Mitsuya Nagai.
Despite his GHC Junior title challenge, HAYATA started having heavyweight matches (he also had one against Kenoh who was too busy shrieking about Sugiura and didn't know who he was).
Tsuyochi Kikuchi made his periodic appearance in Noah, it was his 30th debut anniversary, and he was given flowers. It is said that Kikuchi had the crazy beaten into him by various old vets in All Japan, and over the years had gotten more crazy.
MARCH
March was a month of big news and big problems.
Yoshinari Ogawa and Minoru Tanaka returned the belts with Ogawa saying, "I will return the junior tag title. I'm sorry for Tanaka, but I have decided to return it. I take no joy in taking a belt from someone who after the title match quit Noah. I guess he was thinking of quitting as he was drinking at a party the day before the title match. I am not interested in such a belt. That is all"
Ogawa also had hinted that Ishimori had been womanizing.
So to summarize, Noah had lost its lucha card (discounting YO-HEY), the belts were vacated a day after they had been won, and President Uchida had to announce a tournament that would be held in Sapporo to put them back on the two people that had lost them through no fault of their own. It made him look particularly bad, and for Noah, it was a waste of time and resource.
It was also bought up about the tough schedule of appearing in All Japan and Noah and working two leagues at the same time. Marufuji, ever stubborn, got slightly defensive about it, although time would show that he would suffer the consequences at a crucial moment later in the year, and would not be so lucky the second time round when he attempted to work two leagues at the same time.
HAYATA lost his title bid, and RATELS made up with HAYATA actually shaking hands with Harada to the applause of the other two. Harada would be challenged for the belt by Hi69, whom people were saying "was on fire since Ishimori left". This feud with Hi69, was going to be one for Harada, where he was going to experience things he hadn't before. For Hi69, it meant that he had to stir himself, as he had been very dependent on Ishimori. Minoru Tanaka was also trying to gently press him into a tag with him, but he refused for a while, and clung to the old XX.
50 Funky Powers lost the GHC Heavyweight Tag belts to The Aggression.
Takashi Sugiura beat Kenoh via referee stoppage as he choked him out (Kenoh will no doubt remember this at some point), and Sugiura made history by having a 4th title reign. The audience were stunned by what had happened, and so when Atsushi Kotoge came out, they booed him. Sugiura stood with his back to Kotoge when he made his challenge (cleaning out his ears), and when he turned around, Kotoge headbutted him and made him bleed.
Kotoge said about the booing, "It was frustrating, but I am not going to pretend it wasn't heart-breaking".
Global Tag League started that month, the teams were:
Takashi Sugiura & Kenoh
Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Kotoge
Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm (50 Funky Powers)
Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya (The Aggression)
Go Shiozaki & Kaito Kiyomiya (GoKai)
Maybach Taniguchi & Mitsuya Nagai
Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue
Cody Hall & KAZMA SAKAMOTO
Kaito Kiyomiya also suffered a concussion following the match with 50 Funky Powers, and was sidelined for a few days, which meant that GoKai were docked a point. There was a picture taken of a tired looking Go Shiozaki sitting at the airport, which he had accompanied by a tweet simply saying, "lets go home".
Naomichi Marufuji was somewhat grumpy through the early stages of the league, and didn't at first get along well with his partner, Atsushi Kotoge (telling him to try harder because they had lost, and unusually for him, using bad language during interviews, which was something Misawa would never have permitted from his generation).
Kenoh's tenth anniversary was held on March 2nd in his hometown of Tokushima, Shikoku (or according to Kenoh "this fucking countryside"), his teacher, Jinsei Shinzaki attended the event. Kenoh may have defeated Masa Kitamiya in it, but he said he was sad not to "have my belt", and promised to come back to the island with it.
APRIL
Hi69 had finally agreed to enter the GHC Junior Tag Team Tournament with Minoru Tanaka, although he said he wasn't emotionally over Ishimori, and would keep the old ringwear for now.
In Global Tag League, Marufuji and Kotoge where getting on better and Sugiura had to behave himself when his father in law and the mayor came to the Fuji City event (Sugiura also revealed on social media a very sad bit of family history, his mother had passed away when he was three years old).
The finals came down to GoKai vs Kenoh and Sugiura, when the two teams faced off, Shiozaki called Kenoh and Sugiura " a deficient tag team", Sugiura started laughing, and Kenoh said later in a promo that the only deficient thing was "Shiozaki's shaved head".
Global Tag League had been hard physically on Takashi Sugiura, he appeared with his calf taped, which then stretched to his shoulder which caused some fan concern. However, a trip to see President Kitai at the KO Gym (a private gym in Tokyo) soon sorted this out, and he appeared fit and well without any taping for the title defense against Atsushi Kotoge.
Global Tag League was won by GoKai, and they made their challenge to The Aggression. Go Shiozaki dedicated the title win and the subsequent title challenge to the memory of Mitsuharu Misawa, who he had been teaming with in Global Tag League when the terrible accident happened in June 2009.
It's best we don't dwell on Kiyomiya in his over-sized suit....
Eventually, and to the surprise of no one, Minoru Tanaka and Hi69 won the tournament, Harada told Hi69 he could have a title challenge, but he told him he couldn't win without the table he put him through at Korakuen, which got Hi69 thinking...and he proposed a hardcore match, which was a first for Noah. It wouldn't be for the title, but rather Hi69 wanted to show Harada just what he was capable of doing.
While in Sapporo, Noah were joined by Noriyuki Yoshida. Yoshida had been a Noah trainee who had become badly injured during training and had left to go and recover at his parents house. He did return to the ring, but did not stay with Noah.
The "Revolutionary Hero" made his debut when Kotoge wore a cape to the ring, and Naomichi Marufuji accompanied him as a second. Everyone knew what this meant, Kotoge would lose (despite the brutal match he had with Sugiura and the headbutts which put staples in Sugiura's head, Kotoge went dark on social media about his own condition), and Marufuji would challenge, which is what happened.
Loss for Kotoge or not, he had cemented himself as a credible solo heavyweight wrestler.
Prior to all of this, there had been some big events happening outside of Noah, but which had directly impacted on Noah, and it would bring relevance to both the future and this match. I will break away from the title match to discuss them.
Another break with the past came a few days later when the widow of Giant Baba, Mokoto, died of liver failure, like her marriage to Baba, her driving force behind Baba's All Japan, and the sheer difficulty of being a woman in that world in that period and heading up a promotion after his death, her own death, much like her husbands, was hidden for a few days.
Then came Toshiaki Kawada's first produce, "Holy War Vol.1", where he and Naomichi Marufuji sat down and talked like they never had in reality; Marufuji being Misawa's trainee, and Kawada usually fighting with Misawa, meant they could have no contact (plus Kawada was not the easiest person to get on with at the All Japan dojo, out of all the seniors, he had been the one that Marufuji said, "had taught fear"). The "Talk Battle" ended with them reconciled, and Marufuji inviting him to "Flight", where Kawada would sit next to Kenta Kobashi as a special guest commentator.
April was in many ways a spring of new beginnings for Noah, not only had a reconciliation with All Japan been bought about, but closer to home two important events were happening, and neither had happened for a long time; Noah announced their online merchandise shop was opening (it had shut in November 2016), and RATELS were holding their own produce on the 30th June. Noah had not held a produce show for about three years.
MAY
May was a quieter month in Noah after the turbulent April, but it was not without its own internal unending drama.
Hi69 took on Daisuke Harada at Korakuen Hall in a hardcore match. Harada, despite never having wrestled with ladders, barbed wire, and having paper stapled to his head, did this perfectly too, and Hi69 gave him praise for it.
Elsewhere in the juniors, Hajime Ohara announced he was involved in planning an event for the summer in Kawasaki.
MA says his ambition is to be GHC Heavyweight Champion.
Naomichi Marufuji failed in his Triple Crown challenge after winning Champion Carnival (Takashi Sugiura made the comment that he was greedy wanting both belts, and that "the man who chases two hares will only catch one", Marufuji said he was the one who was being chased). They held a match signing early in the month and discussed all that had gone before, Sugiura saying "I think that everyone knows it, but I did not enjoy the match last time. This time I want to show a match that only Marufuji and I can do".
Marufuji commented, "We have the same feelings, even when the young people in Noah say "It's Sugiura's time, it's Marufuji's time", but we both have a feeling for Noah which only we have, our stories that we share".
Although KENTA is generally considered to be Marufuji's oldest friend, Marufuji has actually known Sugiura for longer, its true Sugiura arrived in the dojo later than KENTA, but Marufuji and Sugiura had first crossed paths when Marufuji was a teenager in High School at a wrestling camp. Marufuji, although he didn't speak with Sugiura, was terrified of him, and when he turned up at the All Japan dojo, he was "that guy".
During their feud, they got into a chopping match, with Marufuji calling Sugiura an "Octopus" (perverted man with his hands on many women) and Sugiura telling him he had hair like a little girl, all pulled back into a ponytail.
GoKai faced off against The Aggression for the belts. The Aggression had been systematically working over GoKai, especially the stronger Shiozaki, who had his leg attacked repeatedly, causing Kaito Kiyomiya to come to the rescue, it was the same tried and tested formula that Misawa had used with Shiozaki in 2009.
Takashi Sugiura defended against Marufuji, except that it seemed that Marufuji barely got a shot in, he had previously described Sugiura as "a weapon", and he discovered just what that meant, especially in 2018. Afterwards, Sugiura was challenged by both Kenoh and Kaito Kiyomiya. An epic picture was taken of how the tide was turning in Noah of Takashi Sugiura standing in the corner, belt over his shoulder, while the two younger men from the next generation under him, argued about who was going to win the challenge for the belt.
Kenoh vs Kiyomiya was going to happen again, the audience were on fire for it.
Sugiura watched them and commented sadly, "the children have grown up, and Kenoh doesn't want to listen to the old man anymore."
And the "Generational Struggle" which would pit the veteran heavyweights against the younger heavyweights (and then by the end of the year start to spread to the juniors) would start to begin in earnest that evening.
JUNE
Toshiaki Kawada announced that Katsuhiko Nakajima would be his "Talk Battle" opponent for "Holy War Vol.2". He wasn't as closely associated with Nakajima as he was with Marufuji, his impressions of Nakajima had been as a little kid, stemming from his match with him (Kensuke Sasaki had asked him to go easy on Nakajima as he was a child, but this child ended up kicking Kawada in the face and giving him cataracts). At the end of the talk, the audience had the impression that Nakajima would have been his Marufuji or his KENTA, had he come to the All Japan Dojo. Unfortunately for Kawada, his trainee had been Masao Inoue (Sugiura's "weird old man" of Noah), who he said about with a sigh, the company had chosen for him, and his stomach went before everything.
Kotoge carried on his quest of getting someone other than Hajime Ohara to wear a cloak (they ran around the arena looking like giant bats), but no one else wanted it.
For Saito, like Noah, 2018 was the year of blooming after a thick frost in a dark night. After what had happened to Misawa in 2009, he had left Noah for a while, and when he returned he went into his shell pretty much (although he did have his moments at Christmas and Halloween shows), but pretty much he stayed in the opening card, so with the support of the promotion, he finally began to emerge and went out to do promotional events, autograph duties, and even had limited edition portrait photographs sold.
Cody Hall also joined a unit, as due to his size he was recruited by Mitsuya Nagai into his gang which now included KAZMA SAKAMOTO too, who Hall had teamed with at Global Tag League. During 2018 Hall lifted both Kiyomiya and Kumano together, piled up on his shoulders and slammed them, and that is a combined total of roughly 188 kgs. He also bulked up during the year, and fans found his presence, "menacing".
Seiya Morohashi also wanted to join a gang, but his membership had to be approved by Yoshinari Ogawa before he could join himself, Minoru Tanaka and Hi69, in what would become known as "Special 4". Yoshinari Ogawa is the most senior man in Noah, very highly respected backstage - he is an oracle to all, mostly works with the younger guys, and even Naomichi Marufuji, a twenty year veteran, still goes to him for advice on technique. Out of all the trash talking that ever goes on in Noah, no one ever says anything directly about him; kayfabe or not, it just is not done as it would not be about Misawa, Kobashi, Taue or Kawada.
The annual Misawa memorial show took place at Korakuen Hall. Noah held the usual remembrance ceremony and traditions (they hang a picture of Misawa up at the venue, and close the balcony area. No one is allowed up there during the show, but by far the most emotional is when his spirit is welcomed to the ring as the GHC Heavyweight Champion, his music plays, the crowd chant "Misawa! Misawa! Misawa!" with Spartan-X and streamers are thrown), and on this night, the "Generational War" started.
Kenoh beat Kiyomiya for the number one contendership, and after the main event which saw the vets vs the younger heavyweights, the two sides got in the ring.
Kaito Kiyomiya was really suffering due to a stinger he had picked up, and almost fainted. It was very touching that Kenoh broke character to hold out his arm to steady him. After declaring war on the senior heavyweights, the "Super New Generation Army" (as they would be known) turned to face Misawa. Shiozaki bowed deeply to him.The impression I got from it was that they weren't disrespecting him, they weren't defying him, they were asking for his permission and blessing to start a new era in Noah.
After this emotional moment, there was an interview backstage with the somewhat dysfunctional new generation. Go Shiozaki, the eldest, was in a grey area. He should have realistically been with the vets, given both his age and the fact that he was part of the "Misawa era", but due to Kaito Kiyomiya needing his input and still being somewhat dependent on him, he couldn't have been put anywhere else at the time.
Kotoge immediately blew out his cheeks, put his hands behind his head, then lowered his head and put his hands over the bridge of his nose, trying not to laugh. Shiozaki, notorious for giggling on camera too, almost started laughing.
Naomichi Marufuji and Akitoshi Saito announced that they would be challenging The Aggression for the GHC Heavyweight Tag Belts.
Noah's first GHC Heavyweight Tag Champion, Big Van Vader passed away, Noah held a tribute on June 21st 2018, with Naomichi Marufuji holding the picture of Vader in the ring while the gong was sounded in salute. Marufuji remembered Vader as a gentle giant. When he had a knee injury and was scared it would end his career, Vader gave him a hug and comforted him, and wouldn't let him go until the ambulance arrived. They also showed clips from Misawa vs Vader to jointly remember them both at the venues.
Then came Korakuen Hall.
The Chinese Athletes made their debut (but not MA) with an introduction from a dancer from Beijing Opera doing the "Dance of The Monkey King", they teamed with KENSO, who was quite toned down beforehand.
Sadly, this had the affect of unleashing a slew of rumors in the Western press, which I would like to address here, in the hope that someone, somewhere takes notice.
The agreement with WWE NXT for KENTA, (done via Triple H), was that KENTA could come to Noah for one night only under special circumstances, BUT, it must be done under the WWE banner, and he had to be known via his WWE persona.
There was no deal for Noah to be sold to WWE, WWE to purchase Noah's video library (which would have been done with the network, not Noah), no working agreement, not anything other than this was allowed under special circumstances. Despite all the Reddit posts claiming to know otherwise, the doctored paint pictures of NXT NOAH and photoshopped pictures of President Uchida shaking hands with Triple H, the deal was for a special circumstance, and nothing more.
Marufuji did say, however, that if Triple H wanted him to appear for WWE he would, but it would only be a one night thing to thank him for his kindness, and the deal did not extend beyond Marufuji appearing, IF they wanted it. The deal did not include selling Noah down the river just for a one night appearance.
The card for "Flight" was also announced, it was to be a proper "Golden Era" card featuring people who had meant a lot to Marufuji over the past twenty years, and that included old friends now reunited with Noah from the All Japan dojo. Only Yoshinobu Kanemaru was missing.
Kenoh was also unsuccessful in his title bid, and while he pulled out his special moonsault footstomp (which he saves for special matches), Sugiura once again drove him into the ground. Afterwards, Sugiura was challenged by Go Shiozaki. Sugiura made the comment afterwards that Shiozaki was "more docile" than Kenoh or Kotoge.
Shiozaki, in response to this went dark everywhere - he stopped posting on social media, he gave no interviews, he spoke no promos, he did no promotional activities (the last was unusual for him, especially given his role as Chairman of Noah's Wrestler Association who deal with things like that).
The day after this match (and with a splitting headache), Kenoh went to the airport, did an interview, and then flew off to the UK to appear for Will Ospreay's inaugural show for his new promotion "Frontline" where he faced Chris Ridgeway (whom a lot of fans would like to see in Noah).
JULY
Global Junior Tag League started the teams were:
Hi69 & Minoru Tanaka
Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke
HAYATA & YO-HEY
The Backbreakers
Seiya Morohashi & LEONA (Junta Miyawaki due to injury)
Hidaka & Sugawara (ZERO-1)
Ricky Marvin & El Hijo del Pantera
Ricky Marvin was part of Noah's "Golden Era" and as such as welcomed back by the excited fans.
RATELS (with YO-HEY & HAYATA winning it in 2017), were at each other over it, and there seemed to be friction between YO-HEY and Harada when the teams came out for the opening ceremony.
LEONA (Tatsumi Fujinami's son, who had appeared in the junior league periodically and had trained at the Noah dojo in between going to law school and wrestling for his father promotion), was originally meant to team with Seiya Morohashi. LEONA had become injured during training and hospitalized, and his place was taken by Junta Miyawaki. As of December 2018, I haven't head anything about LEONA returning to the ring.
During Global Tag League, Harada and Tadasuke, would take potshots at Hi69 over Taiji Ishimori by imitating Ishimori's "pistol pose" and with Harada complaining that Hi69 should really shut up about Ishimori, and stop saying what he was doing. Harada concluded that if he carried on like that, he was never going to progress.
The heavyweights were pushed to the side for Global Junior Tag League, which was certainly the weakest league of the year, not because of the talent, but because nothing seemed to happen during it save RATELS having one of their periodic squabbles with each other, and Harada after Harada and Tadasuke beat YO-HEY & HAYATA, Harada had his "perfect" face on after the defeat and his body language seemed to be the same.
YO-HEY declared when they went to the finals, he wanted to eat pumpkin
Hajime Ohara was plagued with neck problems during Global Junior Tag League, while in the heavyweight division, Marufuji's body was starting to feel the wear and tear it was being put through, and he was wearing shoulder supports on both sides.
Morishima had been AWOL since 2016, when he had been advised to retire due to diabetes (although it would later transpire this would only be part of the reason, Morishima was suffering probable depression and burnout), and had spent the last three years wandering from job to job hauling luggage, working in a flower shop, as a bartender, as concert security, but now he was back, and revealed that he planned to make his return to wrestling.
He didn't approach Noah directly though, and announced his return at Riki Chosu's "Power Hall". The event would be called "GENESIS".
Naomichi Marufuji hinted that he and Morishima may have met backstage at Korakuen Hall that day, although he didn't name anyone in particular, he says that they bowed, shook hands, he wished him well and said that Noah would be there if he wanted it.
Noah announced that their two trainees, Yoshiki Inamura & Kinya Okada were going to make their debut in August.
Afterwards, there was a real family feeling, with Kensuke Sasaki bringing them over for a barbecue, which gave the impression of a father trying to comfort his sons by having a family function (even if Nakajima was smiling as if he was about to shove someones head into the grill).
Masa Saito had trained Kensuke Sasaki, and had also been a father figure to him, just as Sasaki had been to Nakajima, Sasaki's own father passing away when he was very young, and Nakajima's father being absent since he was five years old.
Kaito Kiyomiya turned 22 in July, and got beaten with own birthday flowers by Maybach Taniguchi and Cody Hall, Kotoge of course, gave him a green cloak as a gift.
Kenoh called them "those decrepit men" and said "I think its funny that those old men have three belts. Like Nakajima said, this has only just begun and I will take back the belt and end this generation struggle."
Elsewhere, Mitsuya Nagai announced that his renegade group name was "The Hooligans". They didn't want to get involved in any "generational struggle", as they didn't care, they just wanted to whip everyone in Noah. Their next targets would be the new GHC Heavyweight Champions. Nagai had never forgiven Marufuji for calling him an "Octopus" at Global League in 2017.
A sizzling hot summer in Japan meant 38℃ of heat, meant that at one venue the ring crew and rookies had to carry all the equipment from the truck, up the stairs (roughly two flights) to the venue in Nagoya City as there was no access from the lower ground floor.
There were also no showers at one of the venues, and to make matters worse, the air conditioning broke down on the bus.
AUGUST
Another dove flew from The Ark, when Noah revealed that they were releasing a photograph book by their photographer, Miyaki Wakako. Noah had not released one of these for a long time, not since KENTA & Marufuji had done "Shin Uchi" back in "The Golden Era".
The exhibition was held in a gallery in Shibuya, Tokyo, in August. A sticker of Kenoh telling "you bastards" to go to the fourth floor was put in the lift (it changed to a different wrestler each day), and various Noah wrestlers came to visit and to do talks, in particular Kenoh, Masa Kitamiya, Atsushi Kotoge, Kaito Kiyomiya and RATELS.
The exhibition ran for a week, ending on the 26th August.
Akira Taue announced that he had been battling stomach cancer, and had undergone surgery and had most of it removed.
Marufuji talked about his injury in a news article ahead of flight, and revealed that his right arm is numb with no sensation, and he hinted at retirement at 40. He said he wanted to concentrate on his art and spend time with his family.
SEAdLINNNG'S Nanae Takahashi went to the Noah office with a "Letter of Challenge" for Go Shiozaki, she was told by an employee that Shiozaki was not in the office today, so President Uchida met with her. She apologized for interrupting him as she knew he was busy.
Uchida saw her letter and asked her to take a seat, asking what had happened and if anyone had done something to her?
Nanae said no, and she handed him the letter.
Uchida read it and saw that she was asking for a single match, which Nanae said she wanted to do on the 5th September at Korakuen Hall. Uchida was quite taken back by it and said it was very sudden and that Noah had never received such a request for such a match in this way (although Noah have done inter gender matches before, although it is rare, and they have never been done in a Noah ring on a Noah show).
Noah celebrated eighteen years, and at their "Departure" show, Yoshiki Inamura debuted, but much to his distress, Kinya Okada did not because of injury. Afterwards, Inamura said he wanted to be a heavyweight wrestler like Sugiura.
During the evening, Kenoh got the win over Akitoshi Saito using the cocky pin, afterwards he challenged for the GHC Heavyweight Tag and when asked where his partner was, Kiyomiya came out (almost colliding with a photographer on the way), after some provocation from Kenoh, Saito called them "fucking brats".
Kenoh now changed tactic, and wanted a singles match with Marufuji before the title match, Marufuji (addressing him as "Kenoh-kun" ("kun" is a Japanese honorific which is either used between males who know each other well, or a senior to a junior, which is was in this case) told him no, it doesn't work that way. He is the challenger, and he has no right to demand anything.
In the finals of Global Junior Tag League, YO-HEY & HAYATA beat the Backbreakers in the final and won for the second consecutive year. Hajime Ohara was suffering a lot due to his neck, and had almost been knocked out by The Headache (HAYATA'S move), Kumano was in tears over Ohara's neck. YO-HEY asked President Uchida if Noah could hold Global Junior League 2018, a show that had not been held since 2015 and then once before in 2009 (won by Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Daisuke Harada). President Uchida seemed enthusiastic about the idea, and said that if there was the demand, he would do it.
Noah's big event at Karatsu Kawasaki, was looming, it was the event that Hajime Ohara had helped to create in line with the anniversary of the Kawasaki Sports Association 70th anniversary show. It was the first time Noah had been to the venue, which was a beautiful one by all accounts with glass windows at the ceiling.
The venue gave a real old Budokan feel to Noah, and Sugiura and Shiozaki (whose speaking was done by chopping Sugiura unrelentingly for the duration of their feud, so much so Sugi must not have eaten for weeks, and Shiozaki would have gone through to the ribcage had the feud gone on any longer), put on a real Golden Era show.
Kiyomiya and Kenoh would face Marufuji and Saito in a final pre-match:
Q: Please give your thoughts on the Kawasaki event.
KIYOMIYA: I think that this is an important match for the opening era of a new Noah. We are looking forward to seeing you at the venue!
KENOH: Hey, fuckers, come and watch! You absolutely want to see this!
Ohara was a bit unhappy about the turn out for the pre-events, which included gymnastic classes for children, traditional arts by the University and a recruitment drive for the Fire Department (which unsurprisingly he is a honorary member of). There was a huge welcome for Ohara when he came out for his match.
Naomichi Marufuji released his autobiography, "Heir To The Ark", which covered his life in wrestling from his early years right up until "Flight". He signed copies for "Flight", of which I (thanks to Metal Noah) was able to obtain a copy from.
The book is currently being translated into English.
SEPTEMBER
"I made my debut at age of 18, there have been good things and bad things, but I am in this ring!
Hide ... ... KENTA Thank you!
Akiyama, free talent, all the wrestlers, thank you for fighting with full strength"
Naomichi Marufuji
September came, and it was time for the long awaited event of 2018, "FLIGHT".
Yoshinari Ogawa had been pulled from the event due to concussion sustained a few days before, which had required an MRI scan. The concussion had become immediately obvious following the match, and the doctor had tended to him straight away.
Takeshi Morishima was asked to take part, after all, he had been in the All Japan dojo with Marufuji, and had walked out to Noah, but Morishima's behavior caused both concern and anger. Placed on commentary for one match (Kenoh's) with Kenta Kobashi, when the match finished he called Kenoh over.
Kenoh thought he was going to hug him, but instead he asked for a microphone.
Kenoh, puzzled and worried (he said he felt like someone had kicked him), bought it over, worried about what the audience would think. He turned to go, because he couldn't hear what Morishima was saying and tried to discreetly withdraw, but Morishima caught him and called him by his real name (Nakae).
It was the first time they had been together in a venue since Morishima's retirement was announced in May 2015, a day when Morishima cried terribly. Kenoh said at the time he felt (for want of a better word), shaky, and he felt the same way at Sumo Hall.
The traditional way would have been for Morishima to talk about, and offer encouragement to,
KENTA vs Naomichi Marufuji, and this is what Kenoh thought he was talking about at first, but what Morishima was doing was challenging Takashi Sugiura for his return at "GENESIS". Then, seemingly not realizing that Kenoh was the last person to have given anything to Takashi Sugiura, he took his "GENESIS" t-shirt off and handed it to him.
I doubt Morishima was too happy when he found out that Sugiura had used Morishima's t-shirt as a towel to wipe the sweat away, and then just throw it aside.
Noah later revealed that they had waited before giving their answer to Morishima about Sugiura's participation, they had their reasons due to Morishima's past behavior.
GENESIS was cancelled soon after due to Morishima having to undergo septic arthritis surgery in his feet after collapsing in pain after running.
Elsewhere in the evening, fans wanted to see more of Quiet Storm vs Takao Omori ("the 50cm arm vs The Axe Bomber"), Deino tried to kiss Kobashi, Jun Akiyama (who wore the same gown to the ring that he had worn when Kenta Kobashi returned from cancer, told Marufuji that this gown would only do "for the very best") faced off against Takashi Sugiura and Daisuke Harada in a tag match with Atsushi Aoki. It went to a time limit draw, to which Sugiura said, it was not enough time to resolve anything.
The evening also saw the return of Kotaro Suzuki to Noah (albeit as a freelancer), it was Hajime Ohara who urged him to join global junior league; a decision the juniors would later regret.
"Mr. Suzuki, this is not the end. Please return to Noah's junior division. Please come to the Junior League which starts next week."
Suzuki, on the other hand, said "the Noah juniors are weak now, I will show you the real strength."
Some on the roster didn't take kindly to this, but it turned out that Kotaro Suzuki was going to be the breath of fresh air that the junior roster so desperately needed.
But he came to the aftershow party, as did old friends who didn't appear at the show due to retirement, such as Takeshi Rikio and Genba turned up too.
Hi69 said he got washed, dressed and then fell asleep before it.
Kenoh appeared suited and scowling.
Will Ospreay posted on Twitter his congratulations to Marufuji, and that there should be "no more drinking" (which probably means Marufuji was drunk texting him)
Things ramped up the next day at "THE ARKS NEW CHAPTER" between Kenoh and Marufuji over the GHC Heavyweight Tag Title, with a rare scuffle backstage between the two teams (involving Akitoshi Saito and Kaito Kiyomiya too), and Kenoh baiting Marufuji. It was up to the rookies to break up their seniors. Kenoh yelled at Marufuji asking where his energy had gone (I think that was obvious).
Harada, sadly, was going to have to eat his words.
Suzuki was highly uncomplimentary about the Noah juniors, even the freelancers in his opinion were "weak". Tadasuke, he said had too much hair treatment and his hair was "greasy", and Hitoshi Kumano was "heavy, and bulging with fat".
Sugiura defeated Masa Kitamiya and retained the GHC Heavyweight titles and was challenged by Katsuhiko Nakajima.
"Holy War Vol.3" was held, and Kawada chose Akira Taue as his opponent for the "Talk Battle". Kawada wanted to hear about Taue's time as Noah president, but its a difficult period that Taue does not often talk about, so they spoke of the old days; how Taue once turned up to a training session All Japan were holding at the beach in sandals, not running shoes, as Taue couldn't work out why you would want to wear anything else there, their businesses, Taue's health (Kawada asked him to stop smoking and drinking, which Taue refused) and the old All Japan days.
Toshiaki Kawada has announced that "Holy War Vol.4" will return in 2019.
Meanwhile back in Noah, Atsushi Kotoge was still trying to get people to wear his cloak.
Kotoge offered Go Shiozaki it.
Unsurprisingly he didn't want it.
So Kotoge offered it to Ally (the ring announcer).
Unsurprisingly he didn't want it either.
Nakajima gave his reasons for challenging for the GHC Heavyweight title as this; "The fans are wrong. I didn't mean to challenge. The veterans need to take it easy, and I will free them from their heavy responsibility"
Naomichi Marufuji and Akitoshi Saito defeated Kenoh & Kaito Kiyomiya for the GHC Heavyweight tag titles, and afterwards the Hooligans appeared to challenge them. Marufuji told them to get lost, he would only accept the challenge if "the Octopus" grew his hair to his shoulders", and if it didn't grow, then Nagai could and should get a wig. Marufuji remained very grumpy and complaining of lack of sleep and not being in the mood for their nonsense throughout the whole challenge, and unusually for him, using bad language.
Despite the grueling five consecutive days of events, there was a funny moment on tour; 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).
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.
This month, Global Junior Tag League also started:
Block A
Daisuke Harada
Tadsuke
Hajime Ohara
Hitoshi Kumano
Seiya Morohashi (free)
Kotaro Suzuki
Block B
Hi69
Minoru Tanaka
HAYATA
YO-HEY
Ikuto Hidaka (Zero One)
Junta Miyawaki
Tadasuke, ever the crafty villain, blindsided Harada during their match, as he left the ring and snuck out the door and then snuck up behind him, however when he announced to Kotaro Suzuki that "Hey, Fool! I am today's Noah Junior!", Kotaro Suzuki beat him down in ten minutes with the Tiger Driver. Tadasuke, who can be just as manic as Kotoge (albeit in a more sinister way), talked about poisoning the food of the winning candidates if he himself doesn't qualify.
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).
Naomichi Marufuji (ever on the move) came to the UK to face Doug Williams for the very last time for IPW. Their history was made in Europe, not Japan, and it was only fitting that their last match should take place there.
I would say that they have had better matches, but this should no way detract from the fact that this match would still rank among them. The action was fast paced, deliberate and well thought out with teased moves although sadly, we never got a Shiranui, although Doug took the gunshot sounding chops which had the audience recoiling.
At the end of the match, Doug got on the microphone and addressed the crowd and the IPW roster, most of whom had come out and stood around the ring, saying that he was honored to face Marufuji one last time in the "twilight of my career", they had been having matches for fifteen years.
Although Marufuji did not address the crowd, he did say later on Twitter that he would like Doug to come to Japan for one last time.
Getting to the UK wasn't too bad for him, but getting home was a nightmare, two hours into the flight the plane en route to Japan, turned around with engine troubles and bought everyone back to Thailand.
When Noah arrived at the next city for tour, Katsuhiko Nakajima went out for a late dinner with tag team partner, Masa Kitamiya, and two other members of the Super New Generation army, Atsushi Kotoge (who somehow managed to sit still) and Kaito Kiyomiya (who got very shy when asked to answer questions) and did a live Instagram video.
Naomichi Marufuji watched "the youngsters" going off together, and said "the old man is going to bed".
OCTOBER
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...
The UK'S IPW agreed with Noah to sell their merchandise, and unlike the official Noah site, they will deliver worldwide, however, unlike the official Noah site, they don't have the range of products.
Much to the displeasure of the others in Special4, Suzuki and Ogawa were spending time together. Suzuki posted a picture of himself and Ogawa out drinking (which is rare for Ogawa to be photographed doing so), and remarked that they were "planning strategy".
Kotaro Suzuki squared up with Daisuke Harada after the match, and they had this exchange:
Suzuki: Noah Juniors have collapsed, like I have said today's Noah juniors were weak...
Harada (snatches the mic away): Fight me again!
Suzuki: You are asking for defeat!?
Naomichi Marufuji took office on October 1st 2018 as the "Konosu Tourism Ambassador" for Konosu City, Saitama Prefecture (his hometown), which means that he will serve as the PR chairman of the city and promote tourism there for two years.
Minoru Tanaka was almost withdrawn from the Noah show due to emergency surgery on septic thumb, he was able to wrestle.
Kikutaro, who had returned to Japan for an operation on his ear, appeared in Noah and took on Atsushi Kotoge (I don't want to know why it is he squeezed Kotoge's balls). As Atsushi Kotoge was "The Revolutionary Hero", Kikutaro proclaimed himself "The Ace of SEM".
SEM was disbanded in 2015.
The Hooligans all came out for Marufuji's match against Maybach Taniguchi, there was the assist from Nagai to win (he pulled referee out of the ring after the Shiranui), while the ref was arguing with him, Cody Hall crept into the ring to assist Taniguchi.
Afterwards Maybach stood with foot on fallen Marufuji as the other Hooligans gathered round. Marufuji said that he's angry now, and he's had enough...
Naomichi Marufuji kept up his theme of being bad tempered, sleep deprived and not in the mood for "The Hooligans", but in the end following the defeat by them, he had to stop being stubborn (or waiting for Nagai to either wear a wig or grow hair to his shoulders) and permit Cody Hall and Maybach Taniguchi to face himself and Akitoshi Saito for the tag titles on the 14th October in Kobe.
On the 14th October, Marufuji and Saito managed to defend the belts against The Hooligans. Mitsuya Nagai got on the microphone afterwards and warned that he and KAZMA SAKAMOTO would be challenging for the belts after Global League 2018. Marufuji told him to get lost, he was not having a title challenge, and Saito agreed.
During one match on this tour the rookie, Yoshiki Inamura started off against Go Shiozaki, and touchingly Junta Miyawaki stepped in to protect him against Masa Kitamiya when the time came (and they double teamed him).
Katsuhiko Nakajima came strolling out to the ring for the title match, big smirk on his face, sinister new ring robe with faux wolfskin and sinister black pants, boots and kneepads. As soon as the bell rang, he lay down on the floor, resting his head on his hands and with his elbow bent, looking as if he were posing for a suncream or speedos advert.
Afterwards, most of the heavyweight roster (bar the veterans) came to the ring, and of course arguments and finger pointing broke out. It was the dawn of "Global League 2018".
Sugiura addressed them all and said that he would polish the belt and wait for the winner. Nagai announced that the Hooligans would also be aiming for the GHC Heavyweight, Kiyomiya told them they would not.
Sugiura slapped both sides down and basically told them to keep their pants on, Global League began on the 30th October, and until it wrapped up, there wouldn't be a winner, "so all you young people, you had better practice".
His sage adult veteran wisdom ended there, as after a quick check at hospital, he went out for dinner and drank alcohol (which he hadn't been allowed prior to the match). The next day he took great delight in telling Tokyo Sports that he had a "midnight explosion" (he means a wet dream...)
Minoru Tanaka made an open challenge re the tag belts, and it was answered by Koji Kanemoto and Hitoshi Yamato. Noah tried to take advantage of it by saying that if a wrestler wanted to challenge, then do it via Twitter. Problem was, not everyone followed Minoru Tanaka or necessarily any of the wrestlers who challenged, so it caused confusion. I don't think they will be doing it again.
"Wrestling All Star Battle" was also announced. This would be a multi promotional event featuring Noah, All Japan, New Japan, Big Japan and pretty much all major promotions. It was always Mokoto Baba's wish that an event honoring the 20 year anniversary of Baba's death be held. Despite some issues with the board ( Genichiro Tenryu has apparently resigned from it), it looks to go ahead, although no matches have been announced. It has been confirmed that Naomichi Marufuji will participate.
YO-HEY wore Atsushi Kotoge's cape inside out, and as if he were dressing a small child, Kotoge had to rearrange it for him
Global League 2018 began
BLOCK A
Naomichi Marufuji
Akitoshi Saito
Quiet Storm
Katsuhiko Nakajima
Kenoh
Masa Kitamiya
Mitsuya Nagai
Kohei Sato (ZERO ONE)
BLOCK B
Takashi Sugiura (current champion)
Mohammed Yone
Go Shiozaki
Atsushi Kotoge
Kaito Kiyomiya
Maybach Taniguchi
Cody Hall
Kazusada Higuchi (DDT)
Kenoh and Nakajima squared up due to the match last year, which had ended in a draw, Kenoh said he would beat Nakajima black and blue. Nakajima laughed and said he was persistent.
Everyone naturally was gunning for Sugiura, who said that he wanted to make history this year and be the one who wins the league, and become the first champion to do it.
The referee stopped the match due to the combined beat down by Ogawa and Suzuki, and so Harada and Miyawaki won by default. This is sadly, not the first official win for Junta Miyawaki. Suzuki held the blood covered belt up over Harada.
Q: That crack pretty much split your forehead
Harada: Yeah, its not my forehead that you need to worry about! He threw the belt, used it as a weapon, and stepped on it...the Noah junior...let's do this, fool! Don't think I am going to forgive that guy!
In the next match, Daisuke Harada did not wait for the bell to sound or to even to take his RATELS jacket off before attacking Kotaro Suzuki. The match was pretty much a brawl, and Harada went insane, the brawl went on even after the match, with Harada hammering on Suzuki.
When it came time for the signing ceremony, Kotaro Suzuki didn't turn up, and instead sent a message that he was busy and wouldn't be attending, leaving Daisuke Harada sitting and looking around. Suzuki started hinting that Harada was his puppet, a statement that Harada couldn't quite work out the meaning of, but it would become all too apparent in a few months...
The heavyweights had their own press conference for Global League. Kenoh sat between Marufuji and Sugiura, and alternated in growling at Sugiura how he would defeat him for the belt, and then challenge Marufuji to be his opponent, and then beat him.Sugiura just ignored Kenoh, he knows to deal with him.
Marufuji, however, took a different stance. Turning to Kenoh, and treating him as if he were a small child, he said in a light voice, "Kenoh-kun, why did you sit between Sugi and me?" and asked him if he thought his little game was scaring them.
Sugiura tried not to laugh.
Kenoh looked like he was a naughty child being told off.
Marufuji grinned.
Nakajima, who had been sitting behind them and saw the whole thing, smirked.
Global League was not going to start off how either of them expected, Kohei Sato ground Kenoh into the ground, and semi knocked him out with a kick (which like the headbutt that busted Kenoh open), could be heard all over the arena, and Marufuji fell before Katsuhiko Nakajima who loomed over him like a bird of prey.
NOVEMBER
People had been so let down by Morishima's behavior and the poor resulting impression of pro-wrestling that people who did not watch it could have, that Kenoh had said, "he was Noah's hope" in his speech at Korakuen Hall after he had attained his greatest wish, by beating Naomichi Marufuji in Global League 2018. However, for Kenoh, this still wasn't enough as had said that the match in that circumstance was wasted as he wanted it to be on a bigger stage, and he was still holding on to his title match dream.
The GHC Junior Heavyweight match started with a Tombstone piledriver to Daisuke Harada on the apron. Kotaro Suzuki was noted to be using Misawa's moves in an intense match, and Daisuke Harada was said to have been studying Suzuki's moves.
Suzuki ended up by beating Harada and ending his long title reign (he was just eleven days off beating the longest record), and then the others in RATELS got in the ring, HAYATA first so when deciding who would challenge, it went to him (of course YO-HEY probably knew it was better to give HAYATA his own way). HAYATA in many ways, was the perfect opponent for Suzuki. Suzuki likes to wind people up and get under their skin, and HAYATA doesn't react much to anything, lets face it, he has extensive experience with the annoying.
After the match, Kotaro Suzuki said that he wanted a title match with Marufuji (the fact that Marufuji is not a junior heavyweight didn't seem to bother him). Suzuki said that this was a request from "a younger brother to an older one" (he means a younger student to an older one, they both being Misawa's trainees, and Marufuji being the senior), but he realized that Global League was happening, and he was happy to wait until it finished.
However, Daisuke Harada's skin wasn't the only person that Suzuki was getting under, the other members of Special4 weren't too happy with his presence either, especially when it came to Ogawa, and as a result Special4 got into a physical fight over it, and split. Tadasuke got the sneak win on Ogawa while they were arguing, Kotaro Suzuki said he would pay for it.
During the tour, in usual Hooligan style, the fight went outside the ring, and Maybach Taniguchi made a little girl cry when he threw Yone into some chairs (apparently she got upset by Cody Hall beating up on Atsushi Kotoge too); Taniguchi got booed for it by the crowd, and he laughed. #
Kotoge has sworn revenge.
When Noah held the GHC Junior Heavyweight match signing, Kotaro Suzuki actually turned up, as did HAYATA (despite the fact it would have been very funny if he didn't like Suzuki did to Harada).
HAYATA being HAYATA, refused to say a word, and didn't even say "Same". However, he did in the match (much to the surprise of his tag partners), when he got on the microphone and told Suzuki very firmly (who he had just defeated), "Osaka...same".
HAYATA, was unsuccessful in his challenge, and Tadasuke immediately jumped into the empty spot, so Suzuki wasn't lacking a challenger. Suzuki said that it was too much to have "Noah's production line" challenge him so constantly, but Marufuji pointed out that it was no different from when he had himself held the belts, the juniors wanted their belt back, so tough.
Tadasuke was also unsuccessful in his challenge.
After the match, and despite that he had only lost the title a few weeks ago, Daisuke Harada asked Suzuki if he could challenge for the title. Suzuki said he could, but there would be a condition, if he lost then he must agree to disband RATELS.Harada agreed.
They would meet for the title at "Great Voyage in Yokohama Vol.2", which was Noah's end of year event.
Naomichi Marufuji announced that he would be taking part in DDT'S tag tournament, which started on the 28th October, and would run concurrently with Global League.
He had provoked fate and his own physical condition once, but now, with both shoulders needing strapping, a bad knee, and the fact that he wasn't able to jump over the rope by the end of Global League because of his injuries, and seemed physically in a lot of pain, which he didn't bother to hide, he was asked to rest. He got defensive and said that as he wasn't injured, he didn't have to.
Fate and his own exhausted body had other ideas, even if he was saying that one of his shoulders was getting better.
HAYATA fell to SUGI (not Takashi Sugiura) in the finals, and as HAYATA doesn't speak much (or rather, can't really get a word in), YO-HEY (who had been seconding him) made the challenge for ZERO-ONE to come to Noah and face them there.
"Weekly Pro" bought out the Wrestlers Directory, Kenoh looked at his entry and saw that President Uchida had cheekily written down that Kenoh's favorite historical celebrity was Ryōma Sakamoto, who was a rebellious Samurai who tried to overthrow the shogunate. Kenoh muttered that he wouldn't have joined Noah had Uchida been the president and not Taue.
Quiet Storm was on commentary speaking fluent Japanese for Mohammed Yone's match at Global League on the 8th November, it was also Noah's 2000th show; Yone said he was nervous, but his accent was perfect, and I kept thinking it was Kenta Kobashi, whose accent his was very similar to...not a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles loving gaijin from Brooklyn.
During Global League Kaito Kiyomiya got the fluke pin on Takashi Sugiura, (albeit not by knockout or anything, but via sneak roll up). After that he kind of spazzed out by rolling all over the ring in joy, while Sugiura complained to the ref, stared in disbelief and then stalked off.
Hitoshi Kumano, (a local bear), took charge of fundraising for the Heavy Rain Fund (Hiroshima was hit badly earlier in the year by floods, and the mascot got yelled at by Mitsuya Nagai). He has also debuted a new move called the "Bear Bottom". In addition, due to his wins in rumbles, fans have nicknamed him the"Grizzly Bear of The Elimination Match".
The Backbreakers challenged for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Titles when Minoru Tanaka and Hi69 defeated Hitoshi Yamato and Koji Kanemoto to retain the belts. Hajime Ohara, who had been made honorary police chief earlier in the day, threatened to arrest Seiya Morohashi for obstruction if he got in their way.
Seiya Morohashi had also spoken previously about challenging for the belts, but as he had no partner, his challenge was dismissed.
Minoru Tanaka had a pre-birthday party, and turned up the next day at the arena hungover. YO-HEY, however, passed out drunk at the table, and had to be taken back to the hotel by HAYATA.
Mitsuya Nagai announced that there will be a new member of "The Hooligans" to be introduced at the next Korakuen Hall. Fan theories ranged from Jay Bradley, Masa Kitamiya or Kinya Okada.
Marufuji said that he wanted to continue whatever his condition, but it was impossible, he had a (worsening) left shoulder contusion and now this and was walking with a limp. When the results came back from the clinic as to the extent of the injuries, President Uchida scolded him for letting it get this bad.
The tag titles also had to be vacated, and Akitoshi Saito carried them sadly to the ring. After the match, Shiozaki pointed silently to the belts.
Regarding Global League, Noah decided that they would hold a three way qualifying match between Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kohei Sato, with the winner going on to face Kaito Kiyomiya in the finals. Naturally in a final with all three being big kickers, this is what happened; Nakajima of course smirking all the way through it, and he ended up winning it, much to Kenoh's rage.
As for the vacant tag titles, Noah announced they would be holding a small tournament on the first night of "Winter Navigation 2018" at Korakuen Hall.
Kiyomiya, as polite as ever, asked for a title shot. Sugiura told him that he had won, and what choice did he have other than to grant him one? Sugiura had dismissed Kiyomiya at the beginning of Global League 2018 as not much of a threat, whom Kenoh would take care of for him.
Go Shiozaki raised some eyebrows by seconding Nakajima, and not Kiyomiya, who had been his tag partner. Shiozaki did hint earlier in the evening that he was looking for a tag partner...
Title match was set for "Great Voyage in Yokohama Vol.2" which was Noah's final event of 2018.
"Congratulations to Kiyomiya on winning.
And to the title match also.
In the past 20 years, both myself and the company have struggled on stormy seas.
I will be back soon to go that place again."
Naomichi Marufuji
DECEMBER
Before "Winter Navigation 2018" began, Noah went to China for "Eastern Heroes". As he was injured, Naomichi Marufuji didn't go much to his disappointment due to injury (he had never been). The show was sold out, and the Chinese crowd said in Japanese, "please come back". The Aggression had to team together, with Nakajima walking off at the end leaving Kitamiya alone. He commented that he only teamed with him as the card had been arranged that way.
Noah have not had a nomination for the Tokyo Sports Awards since 2016, but this year it was announced that Naomichi Marufuji had been nominated for "Outstanding Achievement" and Kaito Kiyomiya for "Fighting Spirit"
Kiyomiya was astounded, he thought someone was playing a trick on him at first.
By December, although he was not ready to return to the ring, Marufuji found he could walk easier, albeit with a slight limp and could now return to very light training. He had also been assisted in physiotherapy, by old AJPW dojo friend (and former Noah wrestler, now long retired), Makoto Hashi, who now works as a physiotherapist. They talked about old times during rehabilitation.
Noah have not announced when exactly Marufuji will return to the ring, but to hazard a guess, it probably won't be until Spring 2019.
Hajime Ohara, who had prepared Okada for his debut, stood and watched the match.
Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima entered the tournament to take the vacant GHC Heavyweight Tag Titles against 50 Funky Powers, Maybach Taniguchi & Cody Hall and Kenoh & Masa Kitamiya. The Hooligans were disqualified due to Taniguchi bringing out his Sasumata (a weapon that the Samurai used to use for apprehending criminals, and that he had used during his days in the Super Violent Army), and 50 Funky Powers failed to make it to the finals; so it came down to Kenoh & Kitamiya (who ironically Kenoh had ditched in 2017 for Sugiura) versus Shiozaki and Nakajima.
Shiozaki and Nakajima won the tag belts (Shiozaki with the lariat on Kitamiya), and then were immediately challenged by The Hooligans, and their newest member, Yuji Hino.
SUGI, Shoki Kitamura & Tatsuhito Takaiwa came to Noah following YO-HEY'S challenge, but lost to team Noah. Afterwards, YO-HEY got on the microphone and started babbling on in his own incoherent way, said something about Santa, and said that he wasn't finished with this yet, and wanted to take it further. SUGI (not so good on the microphone it was said, but probably more coherent) said he couldn't come to Yokohama on the 16th as there is a ZERO-ONE show.
Something will probably be re-arranged for the New Year, or in light of current events, maybe not.
Mohammed Yone was noted to be starting to use submission moves, and the same can be said of Mitsuya Nagai (who started to use them more in Global League than rely on thug tactics). Speaking of changes in style, Kotoge during the league, took to locking people such as Taniguchi and Sugiura in places in the building. Taniguchi made his way out and Zwei bombed him, Sugiura however was sneak attacked by Kotoge when he got back in the ring.Kotoge, however, has been scolded for his time keeping as he loses track of time when he rushes around the hall. Go Shiozaki was seen in the ring waiting for him and tapping his wrist, he was scolded for it when he manically got back in, and then was also scolded when Sugiura came out for afterwards too.
Noah ran a short "Winter Navigation 2018" and concluded the year at "Great Voyage in Yokohama Vol.2" where all the belts would be on the line.
Kumano dismissed them outright, but Hajime Ohara (ever the teacher), was a little more benign and said after some consideration that he would accept their challenge, only after he had assessed them.
The match will take place in 2019.
The Hooligans obliterated "The Mid Generation" for their belts, in a match in which they pulled out all the tricks in their book. Hino, probably didn't take kindly to Nakajima calling him the " Hooligans pet pig" and that he would stop his "noisy oinking". During the match Go Shiozaki was busted open by a shot with the belt, and bled so badly that when he was chopped, the blood came out of his mouth in a red mist.
Then "The Revolutionary Hero" came flying down the ramp to help, putting his cape on as he ran to help his friends (although no one actually asked Kotoge in or told him he could join them), I guess he saw an injustice going on and came to right it. Unfortunately for all, not being made of steel, he was quickly overcome by the enemies.
Because they lost the titles in such a shambolic way in a match involving referee interference and weapon attacks and outside interference, they will be given a chance to recover the belts in January 2019.
Daisuke Harada put on an epic match of his epic career against Kotaro Suzuki for the GHC Junior Heavyweight championship. Before the match and in all the matches leading up to it, Suzuki had hinted darkly that Harada had put more on the line that he realized and that he was his puppet. Suzuki was also jealous that Harada and the others in RATELS were considered to be more Noah born that he was, and that the fans had never forgiven him for leaving, and now looked to RATELS to protect Noah, none of whom were Noah born. These days sadly, only two of the juniors are Noah born (Hitoshi Kumano and Junta Miyawaki).
Daisuke Harada manged to get the belt back off of Suzuki, but just as RATELS could feel safe that they remained together, YO-HEY turned on them in what is known as "The Yokohama Incident" and aligned with Kotaro Suzuki and Yoshinari Ogawa.
Suzuki said that he had warned Harada that this title match came at a price. YO-HEY, the most loyal member of RATELS, the only one who had never challenged Harada for the title before, was the cruelest betrayal.It will be interesting to see how YO-HEY & HAYATA get along when they tag at Kushinbo Kamen's New Year Produce, and what happens when YO-HEY & Daisuke Harada come to IPW in January 2019.
YO-HEY has since removed RATELS from his social media.
Fans are heartbroken.
The big event of 2018 and of the evening, was Kaito Kiyomiya winning the GHC Heavyweight title from Takashi Sugiura. The match was an endurance test for him, and at times it seemed like he wouldn't get up, after all Sugiura had vowed to knock him down one way or another so that he wouldn't, but Kiyomiya fought back bravely and managed to capture the GHC Heavyweight Title, making himself the youngest champion to hold the heavyweight belt in Noah, and beating Naomichi Marufuji's record and also one of Go Shiozaki's.
Then in a reversal of December 2017, Kenoh got in the ring, and challenged him for the GHC Heavyweight title at the 6th January 2019 at Korakuen Hall, exactly a year since their title match.
It is going to take a real prodigy to beat that.
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