(NOAH) Sanrio "Save Our Pro Wrestling"

1st July 2020

It's a rare thing when Noah is in the same room as New Japan, but that is just what happened today in Tokyo when the president of a company called G-Mix (they produce craft items for Sanrio characters, the best known in the West being "Hello Kitty") announced a collaboration t-shirt between Sanrio and six pro wrestling promotions who sent representatives; Noah (Go Shiozaki, the current GHC Heavyweight Champion), New Japan (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima), Stardom (Mayu Iwatani), All Japan (Suwama), DDT (Tetsuya Endo) and Tokyo Joshi (Yuka Sakazaki). The t-shirts were created to introduce people who don't normally watch wrestling to Puroresu, especially since the majority of promotions have suffered due to the Coronavirus pandemic (hence the tagline "Save Our Pro Wrestling), and to mix "cuteness with toughness". 

Each t-shirt has been created differently for each promotion. Noah's is green (Mitsuharu Misawa and Noah's true color, even if the ring has now changed to white), with All Japan being the traditional blue. The t-shirts themselves will go on sale via each individual promotion's website (and that of G-Mix) on the 3rd July. In the case of Noah, if you are outside of Japan you will need to use a carrier like "White Rabbit Express" as the online shop cannot deliver internationally.    

Go Shiozaki (who somehow kept a straight face), spoke briefly on the collaboration and said Sanrio had always been a supporter of pro-wrestling, and "I will do my best so that pro wrestling can empower you".

Looking at the picture of everyone together at the end of the live YouTube broadcast, Naomichi Marufuji said that it was amazing that everyone was together in the same room. He meant not only the social distancing that has been going on due to the Coronavirus, but he was also alluding to the difficulties (or past difficulties) between them. It is also hoped that this collaboration will be the first step on the road towards Kazuchika Okada's dream show of uniting all the promotions together when the Tokyo Olympics happen in 2021.