(NOAH) The Juniors Tournament

23rd June 2019

Global Junior League (or Junior Heavyweight League as it was then known) started in October 2009, and out of the eight competitors, only two (Kotaro Suzuki and Katsuhiko Nakajima), are still with Noah. The league was won by Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and Kotaro Suzuki had to relinquish his spot in second place to Delirious as he had been sidelined with flu.
With all the upheavals in Noah since Mitsuharu Misawa died in 2009, the league (now renamed Global Junior Heavyweight League) didn't return for six years and was held next in summer 2015 (although in 2011 there had been a mixed tournament open to wrestlers of both weights). There were six people in it, who are still with Noah, with two of those people (Kenoh and Atsushi Kotoge, now being heavyweights), the league was won by Daisuke Harada.
The league, with the intervening years of scandal, money troubles, loss of TV, loss of audience and the disastrous Suzuki-Gun invasion, was again put on hold and didn't return until 2018. This was done at the suggestion of YO-HEY after he and HAYATA had won "Global Junior Tag League", with Noah's president at the time, Masayuki Uchida, saying that if there was a demand for it, he would think about it. President Uchida eventually gave it the green light, and it was won by Kotaro Suzuki (who had returned to Noah, and had been somewhat misguidedly, asked to join the league by Daisuke Harada, and who immediately set about causing trouble among the juniors, just like he had always used to).
The league will return again in 2019, and with the new Noah heading in a new direction, looks to become a permanent fixture. Interestingly, each block this year has its own powerhouse, its own technician, its own Noah veteran, its own newbie and its own high flyer.

BLOCK A

Minoru Tanaka
The current GHC Junior Heavyweight champion will enter the league for the second year. He finished with 6 points in 2018, losing out to YO-HEY at the final moment. Rather than wanting revenge on Yoshinari Ogawa for bailing out on the "SPECIAL4" group of himself, Seiya Morohashi and Hi69 earlier this year, he is looking forward to facing him as they have never had a singles match, and he wishes to learn something of the skills handed down by Giant Baba.
Tanaka's targets for the league this year are against YO-HEY (who as mentioned above knocked him out of the league last year), and young Junta Miyawaki who's career of two years and a half took the pin on Hi69 during Global Junior Tag League this year, and therefore cost them (careers spanning 40 years plus all together) some precious points

Daisuke Harada
Daisuke Harada (the winner of 2015's league), is going to have his hands full this year, and aside from Junta Miyawaki, he has an issue with everyone else in Block A; Minoru Tanaka defeated him for the GHC Junior Heavyweight title (and Tanaka knows that Harada is coming for him), YO-HEY & Tadasuke are RATELS stablemates (although this can be called a friendly rivalry, which will have no long lasting repercussions between them), and Yoshinari Ogawa is his mortal enemy, whom very nearly broke up RATELS earlier this year, and cost himself and Tadasuke the finals at "Global Junior League" by sneak pinning him. 

YO-HEY
YO-HEY came very close to winning the league in 2018, but lost out to Kotaro Suzuki in the finals. Like Daisuke Harada, his league is going to be a full one for the block he is in. RATELS naturally have to contend with each other, but YO-HEY has different reasons for wanting to defeat the others; Minoru Tanaka will be looking for revenge for last year, and of course Yoshinari Ogawa is his former stablemate in Stinger, who turned on him when YO-HEY announced he was teaming with HAYATA for Global Junior League, and of course, YO-HEY got the pin on him on the last match before the league starts. YO-HEY says he wants to win for two reasons, the first to get revenge on Kotaro Suzuki (the other member of Stinger, whom he says he hopes to meet) and revenge the loss of Global Junior Tag League at the hands of Stinger.

Yoshinari Ogawa
Yoshinari Ogawa is the veteran of Noah, the oldest in the league, and despite being with Noah since the beginning, this is his only his second appearance in Global Junior League (he did not participate in either 2009 or 2018). Although he has not spoken on it (and may not, as Ogawa does not often give interviews), it is probably a good bet to make that Ogawa is indifferent to his opponents, partly because he hates them all the same (aside from Kotaro Suzuki, who is in Block B), and will crush everyone in his path. For Junta Miyawaki in particular, this is going to be a real test of endurance.

Tadasuke
Tadasuke is the powerhouse of the block, a junior who has the strength of a heavyweight, with Tadasuke's specialty being his devastating lariat. Calling himself "the dark horse of RATELS" (when he is not referring to himself as "the fourth wheel") and last year "the dark horse of Global Junior League", Tadasuke is not one to be underestimated. The more manic he gets, the more excited, the stronger he gets. Tadasuke has not specifically named his targets for this year as of yet, but to hazard a guess it would be the champion Minoru Tanaka, and RATELS leader, Daisuke Harada. 

Junta Miyawaki
This will be twenty-two year old Junta Miyawaki's first entry into Global Junior League, and as such as the youngest, and with a career of only a couple of years, he has the most to prove. Not on anyone's list (other than Minoru Tanaka's) as someone they want to defeat, Miyawaki may well be underestimated by his seniors as he starts on his own journey in his first single league.

BLOCK B

Kotaro Suzuki
2009 is a very special year for Kotaro Suzuki, it is not only the ten year anniversary of the passing of Mitsuharu Misawa, he won Global Junior League last year, and Global Junior Tag league this year. He had to drop out of the league in 2009 due to flu, so it is reasonable to expect that he will be looking to rectify what happened then. 

Hajime Ohara
2019 saw a new Hajime Ohara when he aligned with Takashi Sugiura and joined "The Sugiura Army" wanting to experience a new way of wrestling that combined his own technical know-how with a more brutal way of wrestling. Ohara has completely changed his look, adopting a brooding somber (and slightly menacing) demeanor and wearing darker clothing. Ohara has entered the league to prove how much he has changed, and take down his former partner, Hitoshi Kumano.

Hitoshi Kumano
Known as "Noah's Growing Bear", Hitoshi Kumano is Tadasuke's equivalent in the block, in that he is a junior with the strength of a heavyweight, and unlike Tadasuke he wants the body to go with it, albeit in a junior form. No doubt his main targets in the block will be a mutual reciprocation of Hajime Ohara to have a match with him, and the mutual request of former partner, Chris Ridgeway, to have a singles match.

HI69
Hi69 entered Global Junior League in 2018. His tag partner, Minoru Tanaka, is in Block A, and both have the ambition to face each other. As far as the others in the block are concerned, Hi69 is like Yoshinari Ogawa in that respect, indifferent and with one goal in mind to get to the finals; however, if he does have an match in particular in mind, then it will be most likely against Kotaro Suzuki, whom he and Minoru Tanaka indicated that they would be challenging for the GHC Junior Heavyweight tag belts at some point.

Chris Ridgeway
Not at all a rookie like Junta Miyawaki, Ridgeway can be considered his equivalent in that he too is new, and he too has something to prove. A member of Stinger, his teammate Kotaro Suzuki is in the league, and as a technician, the match against Hajime Ohara in particular is bound to be a masterpiece, and as now as he has come under Yoshinari Ogawa's guidance, expect further psychological maneuvers to be added to his repertoire.

HAYATA
Lets get this straight, this entry on HAYATA is going to be short as he doesn't speak, and therefore no one knows what he wants, except to win the league and go to the championship like everyone does ultimately. HAYATA has been GHC Junior Heavyweight champion once, he has challenged for it since losing it (and he is possibly the only person to frighten Kotaro Suzuki as a challenger as he couldn't irritate him as HAYATA didn't respond).
HAYATA will go coldly and quietly towards his goal. If he faces one of RATELS in the final and has to destroy them. So be it.

Global Junior League opens on Thursday 27th June 2019 at Korakuen Hall.