NOAH WEEKLY NEWSLETTER VOL.127 ~ 21st MARCH 2021


NEWS
(You can watch the Noah show from the 21st March on WrestleUniverse, but you must be a subscriber. Subscription details are given later in the newsletter)

Kazuyuki Fujita wins his first Noah title, challenged by Takashi Sugiura
Kenoh had a feeling that he had bitten off more than he could chew after the first pre-match with Kazuyuki Fujita, and even when he was going to the ring for the match, he knew that even if he could chew it, he could never swallow it. Aside from the parody of the infamous Go Shiozaki vs Kazuyuki Fujita stare down from Korakuen Hall in spring 2020, and Fujita's humor in seeing how long he could get Kongoh to hold their pose, the match was all business, and Kenoh was obliterated in 19 minutes and 14 seconds following a facekick. He pinned Kenoh with the cocky pin.


After the match, Fujita tried to rope Kendo Kashin and NOSAWA Rongai into posing with their boots on Kenoh, but Kongoh shoved him aside and snatched Kenoh away. Fujita was soon to have more pressing concerns than humiliating the former champion, as someone was already digging a new hole for a new challenge, and that person was none other than the self proclaimed "Company Dog", Takashi Sugiura. Sugiura congratulated Fujita on winning his first Noah belt, but he was going to challenge for it. They shook hands, and you could practically see the sparks leaping out from it. The title match will take place on the 29th April in Takashi Sugiura's hometown of Nagoya, additionally they will have a pre-match on the 18th at Korakuen Hall. This is the first time that anyone in The Sugiura Army has challenged anyone else for a belt, so it will be interesting to see what, if any, cracks appear. 

What this loss of Kenoh's means to Kongoh is that Katsuhiko Nakajima and Masa Kitamiya are the only title holders currently, and as Kitamiya tends to give way to older brother Nakajima, this means that Nakajima has now a certain amount of sway...

Nioh challenges for the GHC Junior Heavyweight title 
Tadasuke had hinted that he was interested in challenging Atsushi Kotoge, but in any event, Nioh got there first when after the match on the 21st he challenged for the title. The challenge was not made verbally in the ring, as Nioh pointed to the belt and left, but stated his intentions in an interview backstage. Kotoge says he will take on all comers. Title match has been set for 18th April at Korakuen Hall. If Nioh can defeat Kotoge, he will bring home the first junior belt to Kongoh. 

Junta Miyawaki's break out match, and new challengers for STINGER
Although Junta Miyawaki was unsuccessful in his GHC Junior Tag Title challenge, fans are calling the match he had at "NOAH THE INFINITY 2021" at Korakuen Hall on the 21st March, his breakout match. Despite being held to little account by STINGER, and treated with anger for daring to challenge, he kept them on their feet by unveiling not just aggressive submission moves, but also with his use of ring psychology, which probably did his seniors proud (Yoshinari Ogawa in a non kayfabe way included), especially when he feigned being knocked out to lure HAYATA in to a submission hold. Despite the loss of the match (he tapped out to HAYATA, who basically used Miyawaki's own arm to choke him), Daisuke Harada said this was not the end. I get the feeling that Miyawaki will be back somewhere in the future to face STINGER again. 


But before Miyawaki can return, there is the matter of the next challengers for STINGER to deal with, as Kotaro Suzuki's friends, NOSAWA Rongai and Ikuto Hidaka came forward to challenge. The challenge was made in the typical Noah Junior\NOSAWA Rongai way with fights breaking out, HAYATA having to speak (the poor man had to do it twice, although he rarely deviated from the usual formula of "You next" or "Next NOSAWA and Ikuto"), and NOSAWA and Hidaka stealing the belts, posing with them and then returning them to the champions. The title match has been set for the 29th April in Nagoya, but before that NOSAWA has to run the gauntlet by having singles matches with both Yoshinari Ogawa and HAYATA, which seems to have become a STINGER standard of  pre-matches.  

Funky Express
The 21st March saw both an end to Kenoh's title reign, and the end of a unit; namely The Anti Wrestlers Alliance, who have been together since the spring of 2020. With their loss today at Korakuen Hall to Mohammed Yone & Shuhei Taniguchi, a "promise is a promise" as Mohammed Yone reminded Akitoshi Saito, they must now lay their Hakama aside, and become "Funky". Akitoshi Saito made a very sad post about it as he laid aside his old costume, in which he thanked Masao Inoue for everything. Inoue I think is going to be a little more happy with it than Saito, who I am not sure is going to continue being "funky" for too long. I am also thinking of Masao Inoue's teacher, Toshiaki Kawada, who once wondered what Inoue was doing in Hakama when as he stated, "he has never done martial arts", and what his reaction will be. 

The new "funky" four man team will make their first appearance on the 3rd April at Yokohama Radiant Halls. 


Kaito Kiyomiya concussed, Kotaro Suzuki also misses time
Kaito Kiyomiya was announced to have a concussion following the title match with Keiji Mutoh (I think the flying headbutt had something to do with it), and therefore missed in ring action on the 21st March at Korakuen Hall. Kiyomiya, however, did make an appearance to announce in a very subdued fashion that he would be returning to the ring on the 3rd April in Yokohama, and his participation in ZERO-1'S charity festival would also go ahead. He also mentioned in his brief speech that he would be working his way back up to the top of Noah, and then without a trace of his former exuberance, left the ring. 

Kotaro Suzuki was also absent from Korakuen Hall as he has been suffering an attack of gallstones. Kotaro does suffer gastric troubles as drinking gave him a bout of pancreatitis a few years ago, and he had to quit for a while. However, he will be back in Noah on the 3rd April. 

Noah's newest debut and youngest roster member, Yasutaka Yano, gave his first interview to Tokyo Sports this past week. Yano has always wanted to be a wrestler, with two of the big coincidences in his life being that his father was a big Noah fan, and he himself was born on the very same day that Noah ran their first show, so you could say he is "Noah Born" from birth. In his interview he discusses how he got into wrestling through home entertainment (computer games and home video), his entering Noah and the culture clash between his quiet home of Ehime, Shikoku and the big city culture of Tokyo (maybe it's best that Noah is not based in Osaka), and his homesickness. He lost weight and found training tough, but it was his dream and he stuck at it. There was no happier day of his life than the one when Yoshinari Ogawa told him they had decided on a date for his debut. 

EVENT RECAPS & POST MATCH PROMOS

ELSEWHERE IN NOAH
~ Yuya Susumu did something very rare when he made Hajime Ohara tap. Susumu later commented that he had found a "new rival". 
~ Takashi Sugiura accused Kendo Kashin of trying to smother him with the plastic perspex which was meant for Naomichi Marufuji, on purpose. On Twitter, Sugi parodied Kenoh's (typical) reaction when it happened to him, by claiming that the company were only showing this to be malicious, he had been with Noah for twenty years and would quit if this behavior went on. 
~ YO-HEY and old Dove friend, Naoki Tanizaki, had a brief conversation on Twitter about YO-HEY dying his hair blue, which turned into Tanizaki asking YO-HEY if he was going to "Gin-Gin". Now, this expression in Japan means to get excited...if you have ever seen The Gin-Gin boys, you will know what that means. 

CURRENT CHAMPIONS

GHC Heavyweight Champion: Keiji Mutoh
Challenger: Masa Kitamiya ("NOAH THE GLORY 2021", 29th April 2021)

GHC Junior Champion: Atsushi Kotoge
Challenger: Nioh ("NEO BREEZE 2021", 18th April 2021)

GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: The AGGRESSION
Challengers: TBA

GHC Junior Tag Champions: STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA)
Challengers: NOSAWA Rongai & Ikuto Hidaka  ("NOAH THE GLORY 2021", 29th April 2021)

GHC National Champion: Kazuyuki Fujita 
Challenger: Kazuyuki Fujita (21st March, "NOAH THE INFINITY 2021")

THIS WEEK IN NOAH
Friday 26th March: Keiji Mutoh & Jun Akiyama appear on the "Versus" series at 11pm JST on Samurai TV. This will be a talk between the GHC Heavyweight and the DDT KO-D Openweight Champion.
Saturday 27th March: Kenta Kobashi (54)
Saturday 27th March: Noah wrestlers will take part in ZERO-1 at their "Pro Wrestling All Star Great Charity Festival" (Kaito Kiyomiya & Junta Miyawaki vs Yoshiki Inamura & Kinya Okada)
Sunday 28th March: Katsuhiko Nakajima holds his birthday event online "Birthday Summit 2021" at 3pm JST. You will need to buy a ticket to participate, if you are outside Japan, I suggest you purchase the bronze as there may be an issue with shipping the auction goods and\or autographs to you.
Sunday 28th March: Keiji Mutoh vs Masahiro Chono talk battle.

BROADCASTS
Please note, unless stated it is a free stream, you must be a subscriber to WRESTLEUNIVERSE to view events. Subscription is free for first month, then 900 yen per calendar month. You can sign up from anywhere in the world, but please do this at the first of the month to avoid being charged twice. All ABEMA shows are eventually put on WRESTLEUNIVERSE, with the exception of the PPVs. 

Noah's next event on April 3rd at Yokohama Radiant Halls, "NEO BREEZE 2021", will be broadcast live on WrestleUniverse at 17:30 JST. 

LINKS

GIF'S taken from WrestleUniverse 
With thanks to: Metal-Noah 

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