NOAH WEEKLY NEWSLETTER VOL.83 ~ 10th MAY 2020

NEWS

KATSUHIKO NAKAJIMA, NEW GHC NATIONAL CHAMPION
Katsuhiko Nakajima became the 2nd GHC National Champion when he defeated Takashi Sugiura for the belt at "NOAH STAY TOGETHER: Sugiura vs Nakajima".

Katsuhiko Nakajima came out with the usual smirk, and started winding Sugiura up right from the start. Nakajima got his comeuppance after "The Shutter Chance" when Sugiura took out Nakajima's biggest and main weapons, his legs, attacking his knee and wrapping them round the steel barrier and working on his knee throughout the match, Nakajima sold this well, limping and often smacking it to try and get the feeling back into it.

Stiff match as was expected, and although Nakajima's cockiness caught up with him at times, it did not cost him the match as it has done in the past. This is something Nakajima seems to have realised now, but in any case he and Sugiura know each other very well due to past title matches and Sugiura watching Nakajima grow up partially in Noah.

As part of his taking Nakajima down, Sugiura locked in the dreaded ankle lock twice, with Nakajima managing to make it to the ropes the first time. The second time, Sugi dragged him back so Nakajima had to resort to punches until he let him go, despite Sugiura tightening the hold. Nakajima even grabbed hold of the ref at one point.

The end came in sequence; Nakajima with a massive kick on Sugiura when he went for the Olympic slam, and I mean massive, Sugiura crumpled to the mat. When he revived he was groggy, so Nakajima followed this up with further stiff kicks and the terrible soccer ball kicks which echoed around the arena.
Not enough for the pin, Sugi kicked out and went for the neck choke when Nakajima went for the Vertical Spike. Nakajima locked it in, but Sugi still kicked out.
Second ankle lock, followed by a slap war. Nakajima got the upper hand, and with a big Cheshire Cat grin hit the Vertical Spike with a long hang time.

Nakajima sat staring at the belt when it was offered to him by the referee, and he didn't take it for a few moments. I half feared that he was going to throw it out of the ring like the W-1 belt, but Nakajima has an analytical mathematical brain, and he just wanted to think about it and what he was going to say and do. When he did take the belt, he put it down on the mat, sat down behind it, propped it up and then spoke on the microphone. He said that this belt opened up a chapter two and a new phase, and he could not wait to consider the possibilities that this belt would bring. Naturally, his first message on social media was to Go Shiozaki. Now they had two singles belts, were two singles champions, and they could stand together side by side.

"FULL THROTTLE"

After their tag match on the 10th May 2020, Atsushi Kotoge turned on Kotaro Suzuki, headbutting him when they went to shake hands, and then hitting him with the Killswitch. Speaking on the microphone Kotoge told Kotaro that he wasn't going to be in STINGER with HAYATA, no one had even told him about it (see below), and neither had anyone even told him that STINGER had gotten back together. He then turned to Hajime Ohara and Seiki Yoshioka, and asked them if he could join The Sugiura Army. 

NOSAWA Rongai appeared out of thin air, and said that Kotoge looked "too shady" to be in The Sugiura Army (this coming from a man who no one will sit next to on the train), and was attacked by Yoshioka, who knocked him out with a kick. The three of them then banded together, after some hesitation by Hajime Ohara, and then posed triumphantly on Kotaro and NOSAWA, who were lying in the ring. Backstage, Atsushi Kotoge announced their team name "FULL THROTTLE" and said they would breathe new life into the Noah juniors. 

HAYATA BETRAYS RATELS, JOINS STINGER
The long suspected and half forgotten mystery of HAYATA shaking hands with Yoshinari Ogawa after dropping the belt to him in January 2020, was revealed when HAYATA &YO-HEY defended the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag belts on 9th May against Kotaro Suzuki & Yoshinari Ogawa. HAYATA turned on YO-HEY during the match, and in the process vacated the tag belts by saying "Belt...return" and walking off with STINGER after a ring brawl which caused a no contest when Ogawa kicked the ref. Tadasuke grabbed the mic and screamed after them that he and YO-HEY would challenge them for the belts. Title match was set for "Muta Fantasia", the next day on the 10th May.

Backstage, Ogawa gave no information as to why HAYATA had chosen to betray RATELS (and lets face it, HAYATA is never going to say it either), but RATELS themselves were in shock. Tadasuke and Harada were angry, with YO-HEY in shock at being betrayed by "Wife" and said they were getting a divorce.

On the 10th May, YO-HEY was not his usual bouncy self in the match, although HAYATA seemed more cold and sadistic than usual, but this time towards YO-HEY, even throwing him into a wall at one point. As soon as the bell rang, YO-HEY & Tadasuke attacked, and as the brawl went outside the ring, it led to a no contest. At the request of YO-HEY & Tadasuke, the match was restarted, but after several near heart in mouth pinfalls, HAYATA pinned YO-HEY for the belts.

There was confusion in the ring afterwards, as Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara and Seike Yoshioka got into the ring, and everyone started squaring up to each other and shoving each other (Kotaro snatched Kotoge's hat off of his head at one point, and YO-HEY was clinging on to HAYATA'S leg), then the rapidly changed junior division withdrew into their three separate units and stared at each other. Harada, glaring daggers at HAYATA, was one of the last to leave. 

Backstage Daisuke Harada said they would no longer be calling themselves RATELS. HAYATA had betrayed them one too many times now, and he would never be allowed back.

KENDO KASHIN
NOSAWA Rongai announced that The Sugiura Army were cutting Kazuyashi Fujita (no one can get hold of him), Dick Togo, KAZMA SAKAMOTO, Hideki "Shrek"Sekine and Hideki Suzuki from the unit temporarily, but he had recruited into it Kendo Kashin. Knowing that Sugiura "The Boss" had told him repeatedly, no more members, NOSAWA knew he had to bide his time and chose an appropriate moment to tell him.

Sensibly, NOSAWA did not bring up the matter after Sugiura had lost the belt to Katsuhiko Nakajima, but rather the next day after the Sugiura Army had defeated Kongoh (Nio and Yoshiki Inamura). Sugiura listened to his list of people that had cut, but he wasn't too pleased at a new member.
Rene Dupree saved the situation by suggesting that everyone go out for beer.

EVENT RECAPS & POST MATCH PROMOS
Post match promos: 3rd May - "SHOWDOWN, The Sugiura Army vs Kongoh"
Event recap: 9th May - "Sugiura vs Nakajima"
Post match promos: 9th May - "Sugiura vs Nakajima"
Event recap: 10th May - "Muta Fantasia"

You can watch "Muta Fantasia" and past events free and worldwide for the next seven days from the time of writing (10th May) for the next seven days on ABEMA.

SCRAMBLE HISTORIES
Toshiaki Kawada vs Akitoshi Saito
Kotaro Suzuki vs Takeshi Rikio
Kaito Kiyomiya vs Seiya Morohashi

ELSEWHERE IN NOAH
~ Tadasuke's latest drunken Instagram video ended with him singing Anime songs, and then passing out drunk with the feed still playing. YO-HEY turned up to laugh at him, and Naomichi Marufuji asked "What is that noise?" It was Tadasuke's air con that kept on shorting out when it sped up. Despite Tadasuke doing nothing but snore, people kept tuning in to watch. Tadasuke has promised another drunken Instagram, especially in light of HAYATA;S betrayal.
~ After being rushed to hospital with acute appendicitis, which has kept him off the recent Noah shows (and probably will until June), Go Shiozaki has gone back to doing some light weight training, and as the weather is good, it is outside in his outdoor gym.
~ Naomichi Marufuji's incarnation "Magical Immortality" (in Japanese the Hiragana spell out "MA RU FU JI") debuted on May 10th at "Muta Fantasia"." He is a black and white demon. Great Muta was excited and said that he had "found a friend" in the Noah ring, so this probably means that he will be back.
~ Kenoh has sworn to make the Noah GHC Twitter pay, as he thought their apology for messing up the Kanji in a word that he likes to say and changing the meaning, was sarcastic (thanks to Metal Noah for explaining this one).

CURRENT CHAMPIONS

GHC Heavyweight Champion: Go Shiozaki

GHC Junior Champion: Kotaro Suzuki

GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: The Sugiura Army International (El Hijo de Dr Wagner Jnr & Rene Dupree)

GHC Junior Tag Champions: STINGER (HAYATA & Yoshinari Ogawa)

GHC National Champion: Katsuhiko Nakajima

IPW Junior Heavyweight Champion: Daisuke Harada
NOSAWA Rongai has announced an open challenge for the belt. Harada is screaming that he won't do it, but no one as of yet has come forward to challenge for it.

THIS WEEK IN NOAH
Monday 11th May: Kenoh will be appearing for Samurai TV in their "Samurai Archives" series (expect to see him talk about his matches in Michinoku Pro, and his obsession, Kaito Kiyomiya after footage plays of both)
Wednesday 13th May: Hajime Ohara debut anniversary (2004)
Thursday 14th May: Go Shiozaki is doing an online merchandise signing session on the official Noah YouTube channel (18.00 JST). Kinya Okada will assist him, and says he will do his best to look after Shiozaki.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Noah have announced two further TV match events in May (24th & 31st), called "New Hope" These will most likely broadcast via ABEMA, and hopefully be free for all to view.

The events will be mainly the younger roster, Kenoh naturally isn't pleased as it seems to centre on Kiyomiya, who "isn't champion anymore".

LINKS
"Front teeth disappear"...fan uproar.."Wanderer" Manabu Soya's head on match with Takashi Sugiura
"Ideal belt for me" Katsuhiko Nakajima on the National Championship
"Now Noah can take the lead again" ~ continuing the empty arena, and the true intention of Noah's rebel, Kenoh
Yoshinari Ogawa, "A lonely technician born from solitude and hardship"
"A Resident in The Demon World, in which immortal blood flows" ~ Interview with Naomichi Marufuji regarding "Magical Immortality"
"The day when a new speciality wrestling commentator was born" Kuniko Yamada's commentary on Noah
"Accept anyone's challenge", Nakajima takes down Sugiura and seizes the GHC National Championship

GIF Credit: Samurai TV
Picture of HAYATA & YO-HEY: PKDX
"New Hope": Noah.co.jp
The drunk Tadasuke picture was screenshotted by me.