(NOAH) THE GHC HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP, THE SOUL OF NOAH'S FOUNDER, MITSUHARU MISAWA

18th May 2020
Nikkan Sports

Due to the Coronavirus infection, the situation in which pro wrestling cannot be performed continues. The history of major belts in the world of pro wrestling and their value are explored in the third of the series, which is the GHC Heavyweight Championship of Pro Wrestling Noah.

Founded in 2001 by the promotions founder, Mitsuharu Misawa, the GHC is an abbreviation for "Global Honored Crown", which stands for a global noble championship. The first belt has been used since 2001, but it was renewed at the Sumo Hall tournament on November 2nd 2019. The back of the belt is green, which is the image color of Misawa.

Kenta Kobashi, the absolute champion, defeated Mitsuharu Misawa on March 1st 2003, and became the 6th GHC Heavyweight champion. He went on to defend the belt 13 times. Jun Akiyama named him the "absolute champion", when he defeated Yoshihiro Takayama in his eighth defence in April 2004. Kobashi, is still loved as "The Iron Man" who survived kidney cancer, and repeated injuries, and continued to show an intense fight.

The oldest champion is Takashi Sugiura at 47 years and 10 months. He defeated Kenoh at at the Yokohama event on March 11th 2018, and crowned his fourth reign with being the oldest on record. Responding to Kenoh's words that "the days of Marufuji and Sugiura are over", he had made his challenge. Withstanding the intense kicks and sumo slaps, the match went to a referee stop when the front neck lock was used which caused Kenoh to faint. Displaying his youth he declared, "I will create an era".

As the 16th generation champion, Sugiura made 14 defences. On May 13th 2011 in the United Kingdom he embarked upon an unusual three day battle, which saw him defeat Dave Mastiff and Kotaro Suzuki in the UK, and then on the 15th defeating Claudio Castagnoli in Oberhausen, Germany. This put him in line with Kenta Kobashi's defense record.

The youngest champion is Kaito Kiyomiya at 22 years and 5 months, who became the 32nd champion when on the 16th December 2018, he defeated Takashi Sugiura by unleashing a fierce tiger suplex, and becoming the youngest champion in history. Declaring, "I am the new face of Noah", he wore a green costume representing Misawa, and led the promotion as the young ace. At the Sumo Hall event on November 19th, which was the first time for Noah since December 2012, he defeated Kenoh in the main event by unleashing the Tiger Suplex, and succeeded in defending for the sixth time. He promised the fans, "I want to go to Number 1 in the industry, not be Number 2. Lets all go to Number 1 together".

Takashi Sugiura (16th, 25th, 27th and 31st generation champion) and Go Shiozaki (15th, 17th, 26th and 33rd generation), both tie at four reigns. Both have been fighting at the top of Noah for more than ten years, and are still going strong. The current champion, Go Shiozaki, took the championship from Kaito Kiyomiya on January 4th 2020.
At the Korakuen event held on March 29th with no audience, he made his first defense when he defeated Kazuyuki Fujita. It was an unusual match in which at the start of the match, they stared at each other for 30 minutes. Finally, they locked up and Shiozaki won the match with a powerful lariat, and said "I am Noah" to the camera. His second defense is not yet decided as the box office continues to be cancelled.

Link to original article from Nikkan Sports 
Picture credit: Nikkan Sports