(NOAH CHRONOLOGY) STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki) ~ GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Championship

Won: 24th February 2019, "Navigation for The Progress", Korakuen Hall
Number of title reigns: Yoshinari Ogawa (4) Kotaro Suzuki (4)
Number of defenses: 6
Lost: "NOAH THE BEST", Sumo Hall, 2nd November 2019
Total number of days held: 252

Challengers
1. HAYATA & Tadasuke
2. Hi69 & Minoru Tanaka
3. Global Junior Tag League 2019 and YO-HEY & HAYATA
4. Hi69 & Minoru Tanaka
5. RATELS & The Sugiura Army
6. RATELS (Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke)

Chronology

Vs Tadasuke & HAYATA
HAYATA had originally ditched RATELS (now Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke) for YO-HEY, Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki, but at the end of this match, he turned back to RATELS by kicking YO-HEY in the face (YO-HEY apparently made a "aaaa" sound) and Kotaro Suzuki, before rejoining with his old friends.
Daisuke Harada (who had taken care of hated rival, Yoshinari Ogawa), got on the microphone and made the challenge on behalf of Tadasuke & HAYATA.
Match has been set for the 10th February at Korakuen Hall.

The fifty-two year Yoshinari Ogawa kept pace with the two opponents in their thirties, and the forty year old Kotaro Suzuki.
It is well known that HAYATA (despite having done hardcore matches in the past), has a somewhat low pain threshold when it comes to submission moves, and Ogawa (who can instantly detect these things as he's got some kind if natural sonar which means he instantly knows a weak spot) made it worse by removing one of his shoes (HAYATA wears trainers), and locking in a submission that way.
The match lasted only 11 minutes and 36 seconds.

At Noah's last ever event at Hakata Stalene; Hi69 challenged Kotaro Suzuki for the tag belts. Kotaro Suzuki told him that the challenge was reasonable, but he would have to check the weight limit. Suzuki is referring to the fact that Hi69 is a lot more thicker in build than the other juniors.

In the post match interview, Hi69 said that he was 2 kgs over the weight limit for the juniors (ideally they should be at 100kgs), but had no worries about making weight. He did, however, want to be told before the scales came out (and preferably the day before).

Despite having athletic tape thrown at him by Yoshinari Ogawa (who commented not so politely on his weight), Hi69 (except when he fell off the wagon so to speak and confessed that he had eaten grilled meat), worked diligently to lose weight. Match was set for Korakuen Hall on Friday 29th March 2019, which was the final night of "Spring Navigation 2019").

Stinger didn't demand a public weighing (although they were perfectly capable of being spiteful enough to do it), and Hi69 (looking somewhat more toned), triumphantly made his way to the ring holding high above his head, some electric scales. He didn't, however, call the cameras over to have a look, instead he got some fans to watch as he stepped on them, while Minoru Tanaka looked over his shoulder.

At the start of the match Hi69 walked round the ring, and pulled out a table from under it. Later he would set it up and with Seiya Morohashi (who had come out to second his friends) watching, leaped from the top turnbuckle and put Kotaro Suzuki through it. Sadly, it was not enough for them to win the match, and Minoru Tanaka fell to Kotaro's "Requiem".

After the match, Kotaro Suzuki challenged Minoru Tanaka for the GHC Junior Heavyweight.

GLOBAL JUNIOR LEAGUE 2019
Yoshinari Ogawa nominated Kotaro Suzuki to talk for them both during the league, and Suzuki stated that they planned to win the league as it would mean that they wouldn't have to defend the belts. Not because they couldn't be bothered, but because they felt contempt for the other Noah juniors. However, much to their horror, things did not turn out as they wished.
At the beginning of the league when the teams traditionally come out to the ring, Stinger refused to attend with the others. Their opponents for the first night were YO-HEY (who had defected back to RATELS after announcing he would be teaming with HAYATA for the league, which didn't impress Stinger at all), and of course HAYATA. Despite the two teams pitching into each other, and YO-HEY (who had just returned from a collapsed lung) diving on Kotaro Suzuki from outside the ring via somersault from the top turnbuckle, nothing was resolved between the two teams, as the match went to a count out.

Stinger continued their dominant streak and finished the league as they wished, top of the table with seven points, and in the process walking away in contempt from the team of young Junta Miyawaki and Seiya Morohashi, and on the final night putting arch rival Daisuke Harada away in just a couple of minutes with the sneak schoolboy pin via Yoshinari Ogawa (who for good measure had also thrown water over them first).
The finals in Osaka on June 13th came down to Stinger vs their first night opponents, and former stable mates, YO-HEY & HAYATA.

VS YO-HEY & HAYATA
There was a lot on the line for both teams on the night of the 13th June.
YO-HEY & HAYATA wanted their third consecutive win in Global Junior Tag League (and therefore breaking the record held by Taiji Ishimori & KENTA), and while the 13th was an important night for Noah (the 10th year of Misawa's death), it was especially so for Stinger, both of whom had known Misawa.

The match was hard fought, with both teams pulling everything out of every drawer that they had in an attempt to win the league championship (with YO-HEY using the rarely seen Bamboo Dragonfly). The match ended on a poignant note, with Yoshinari Ogawa getting the win with the Tiger Driver 91.
HAYATA & YO-HEY might not have gotten their wish, but Stinger did - there was to be no automatic challengers to the belts.

As they stood in the ring after their victory, Ogawa spoke on the microphone and addressed the crowd asking everyone to "please never forget, that there was once a wrestler called Mitsuharu Misawa".

VS HI69 & MINORU TANAKA

Hi69 and Minoru Tanaka made a challenge for the belt at Noah's 19th Anniversary at Kultz Kawasaki on the 27th July, although they never said anything verbally on the microphone, but made belt gestures towards the champions. Noah have announced that the match will take place on 18th August.

I am afraid at the time of writing I don't have much information on the match, other than the fact that Kotaro Suzuki defeated Minoru Tanaka with the Tiger Driver.

After the match, Yoshinari Ogawa said that if no challengers for the belt came forward, a match with fellow STINGER members Kotaro Suzuki and Chris Ridgeway would be interesting...

RATELS & THE SUGIURA ARMY

Unfortunately for Yoshinari Ogawa, the next challengers to the belt were not fellow Stinger members, Chris Ridgeway and Atsushi Kotoge (Ridgeway had just failed in his attempt to take the IPW Junior Heavyweight from Daisuke Harada, and Atsushi Kotoge had been nominated by fans to challenge), but The Sugiura Army's junior members, NOSAWA Rongai and Hajime Ohara.

It all started in Yokohama on the 7th September, when Yoshinari Ogawa offered his hand to NOSAWA after the match. When Ogawa does this, it is not a display of sportsmanship, but rather a sign that the fly is going to step into the spiders parlor. NOSAWA (despite Ohara's objections), took Ogawa's hand, shook it, and then attacked him. After Ohara had thrown out Suzuki (who will not forget this insult to his senior) and Kotoge, NOSAWA challenged the fallen Ogawa for the tag titles. 

Objecting to this, Daisuke Harada and Tadasuke got into the ring. Tadasuke told NOSAWA that if anyone would be challenging for the titles, then it would be RATELS, having been fighting long enough with STINGER.
NOSAWA told Tadasuke he was "bothersome" and called him a "blonde pig asshole" and Harada a "mini gorilla", but yes, if they wanted, they could have a number one contenders match. Tadasuke pointed out that he was not a champion and only the title holder and the company could authorize such a thing, "asshole" (NOSAWA later said the "company dogs" could do as they wanted), and a fight broke out.

Naturally, after being drop-kicked to the knees, and then given the Shining Wizard, the tag champs were not too pleased when after watching the match from the back of the hall, The Sugiura Army got into the ring at the end of the match. I am unsure of what was said, and what happened, but NOSAWA seemed to be baiting Suzuki and Ogawa, and RATELS were left in the ring at the end. NOSAWA then backtracked, saying that he wanted to think about it for a day or so (much to RATELS annoyance), and then he came back saying that the only reason why he was doing it, was to face Yoshinari Ogawa. Tadasuke said that he was going to write 100 letters to LIDET (Noah's parent company), while Daisuke Harada (who had told him to "calm down") said maybe they should just talk to them.
RATELS got their own way, and the company intervened. It was announced that The Sugiura Army would challenge for the belts in Imesse Yamanashi on the 23rd September. Tadasuke and Daisuke Harada will get their shot at the winners on 3rd October at Korakuen.

After periods of NOSAWA and Ohara storming the ring after matches, and so getting up Yoshinari Ogawa's nose that he yelled at them as he held up the title (shouting is rare for him as his generation didn't really get into verbal rows on ring aprons with their opponents, preferring to do their speaking in the ring), the title match came on the 23rd September in Imesse Yamanashi. I am afraid I don't have too many details on the match itself, except that Ogawa won with the Ultra High School La Mahistral submission on NOSAWA.
After The Sugiura Army had slunk away defeated, RATELS came to the ring. Tadasuke cut a crazy promo about winning the tag titles, and waving his fist around and yelling "OH!" while Harada watched from the corner.

VS RATELS (DAISUKE HARADA & TADASUKE)

STINGER defended the GHC Junior Heavyweight tag titles against Daisuke Harada and Tadasuke on 3rd October 2019 at Korakuen Hall. The match went to a count out (14 minutes and 1 second) when Tadasuke and Kotaro Suzuki were on the floor outside the ring, and Yoshinari Ogawa grabbed hold of Daisuke Harada's trunks (and revealing a little more than was probably intended) to the world.
After the match, Tadasuke got on the microphone and said that it couldn't be resolved like this, and asked for a rematch.
STINGER (who were already walking off), told them (as per Kotaro Suzuki "who speaks for us", as like HAYATA, Ogawa hates doing interviews - but is much less reluctant), that a draw counts as a defeat, and as per champions prerogative, they were not getting another match.
After a punch up had broken out, Tadasuke and Harada took their grievances to management, who granted them a rematch at Sumo Hall on November 2nd.

Yoshinari Ogawa was up to his usual tricks during the build up to the title match in November, and caused the match on the 9th October in Oyama to be counted out, as he pulled Harada out of the ring at the last second, and then got in himself. In the brawl which followed, he kneed Harada repeatedly in the crotch. Ogawa became more grumpy by each event, complaining not only that Sonico was wearing a mask, RATELS got special treatment, the match order, the juniors being neglected for the heavyweights, and the fact that seconds were not bought to the ring in heavyweight title matches. Kotaro Suzuki was absent on 13th, which meant that Ogawa came to the ring wearing both the belts, and he pinned Tadasuke following a backdrop. After the match STINGER and RATELS had a standoff.

Kotaro Suzuki's next line of attack was to undermine Tadasuke by saying that he was not ready to challenge for or hold a championship. Tadasuke is the only one of the four of RATELS who has not yet held a belt in Noah, although he has challenged for both the GHC Junior Heavyweight and the GHC Junior Tag before, but never failed to capture them. He calls himself for this reason, "The Dark Horse of RATELS" or "The Fourth Wheel".
On 14th October, after submitting to Kotaro Suzuki's Boston Crab, Tadasuke had to be held back by Daisuke Harada from attacking STINGER, but at Korakuen Hall he got the win via lariat on Yoshinari Ogawa. Naturally, Tadasuke being Tadasuke, went mad in the post match promo, and even the others in RATELS backed away from him (and they are used to crazy people).

In Hamamatsu on the 22nd October, the clash between the two teams came to a draw with Daisuke Harada and Kotaro Suzuki as the legal men. In the interview afterwards, Yoshinari Ogawa said that once they defeated RATELS at Sumo Hall, he and Kotaro Suzuki would be challenging for the GHC Heavyweight tag. It is unusual for a junior to challenge a heavyweight for the belts, but it has happened, and Ogawa has held two heavyweight championships in his career (GHC Heavyweight and the GHC Heavyweight tag with Mitsuharu Misawa). In the event of things, Yoshinari Ogawa and Kotaro Suzuki did not challenge for the GHC Heavyweight tag titles.

Noah held the match signings for the outstanding titles (except for the GHC Heavyweight, which had already been signed for), on the 1st November. STINGER (true to their heel persona) did not show up. Daisuke Harada said that there wasn't much point in a match signing today, but Tadasuke (while he said he felt the same way) was a lot angrier.
STINGER might have ducked out on the championship signing, but they couldn't duck out of the actual match itself, and so in an emotional hard fought match they faced an angry RATELS at Sumo Hall. Tadasuke won after 10 minutes 58 seconds with the Outcast on Kotaro Suzuki.

NEXT CHAMPIONS: RATELS (Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke)

Links
Misawa's three forever - interview with Yoshinari Ogawa and Kotaro Suzuki
Tadasuke & HAYATA mini interview