(NOAH) Noah is the first to hold a "New Year's Day Nippon Budokan" show in the history of puroresu! The director reveals a miracle thanks to the "collapse of tradition"...
Yahoo.co.jp/Number Bunshun JP
Pro Wrestling Noah's long awaited "New Big Announcement" was finally revealed at the 15th August Culttz Kawasaki event. The content that was ignited by "Fans will be the happiest in history" and "an announcement of gold medal class" was revealed to be that on January 1st 2022, "a Nippon Budokan event will be held".
"I have never heard of a big event on New Year's Day in Puroresu"
Pro Wrestling Noah, one of the most energetic pro wrestling promotions, has launched a series of innovative projects since joining the umbrella of CyberAgent, a major IT company in January last year. On February 12th of this year, the "Holy Land" of the Nippon Budokan event was held for the first time in about eleven years, but this time it will be the first time in the history of Puroresu to hold a big event on New Year's Day at the Nippon Budokan. Speaking of big events over New Year, New Japan's Tokyo Dome event is completely established, but to Noah will make their debut at their "Holy Land" on the most special of days, New Year. Narihiro Takeda, director of CyberFight Co. Ltd, which is the company which operates Noah, explains how running The Budokan on New Year's Day happened.
"In the first place, big arenas like the Nippon Budokan cannot be easily obtained without the credibility of being a entertainment business. In Noah's case it was difficult because of the interruption, but on February 12th this year we were able to run the Budokan for the first time in 11 years via a concert promoter called H.I.P. The 12th February Budokan event was evaluated by H.I.P as "an event where the fans behaved well and infection control measures were done properly." The Director of The Budokan remarked, "It was good to have Noah after a long time". So, I asked H.I.P to hold the Budokan again saying, "I look forward to working with you next year". I then recieved a message saying, "Takeda-san, it may be possible to run the Budokan on a great day next year...". I asked "When?" and was told "On New Year's Day". I had never heard of any big event being held on New Year's Day in Puroresu, so I was a little puzzled. When I consulted with President Takashi (Sanshiro) of CyberFight (who run Noah), he said "Well, let's do it!" and so it was officially decided to hold it".
New Japan's 4th January Tokyo Dome is similar to WWE'S Wrestlemania
It seems that the drawn out Corona disaster was the reason why Noah were able to obtain the special New Years Day at the Nippon Budokan, a popular venue which is difficult to book.
"On special days like New Year's Day, the same thing is held almost every year and in many cases it is an annual event. However, due to Corona events have been postponed or canceled at various venues since last year, and there have been quite a few incidents where the "custom" was broken. I think that the Budokan on New Year's Day was miraculously vacant for that reason. Because there has been so much effort and we have been able to do this, I don't want to do this just once. I want to run the Nippon Budokan every year on New Year's Day. I hope that the 1st January event will become a symbolic event like New Japan's 4th January Tokyo Dome and WWE's Wrestlemania. I think that since MMA at the Super Saitama Arena on New Year's Eve has become an annual event, it's getting bigger and bigger".
"Synergistic effect rather than Box Office war"
However, even if the Nippon Budokan event is held on New Year's day, it could be a Box Office war with New Japan at the Tokyo Dome. What are your thoughts on that?
"We are thinking of a synergistic effect rather than a Box Office War. Before the Corona pandemic many overseas pro wrestling fans came to Japan to go to the Tokyo Dome event, and many other pro wrestling events held at Year End and during the New Year holidays. It wasn't only foreigners, but of course many Japanese fans living in rural areas also came to Tokyo. If there is a Budokan show in close schedule to the Tokyo Dome event, then I think that more fans will want to see both. Therefore, I think that the quality of the event must be as good as the Tokyo Dome, but there isn't much sense of a Box Office war."
Will New Year be the "Pro Wrestling Golden Week?"
Each year in the spring at WWE'S biggest event of the year, WrestleMania, many indie groups hold big and small events of their own in the schedule surrounding it. It is understood that pro wrestling fans from all over the world will play "ladders" going from one show to the next each day. With the decision of Noah to run The Budokan on New Year's Day, pro wrestling fans from all over Japan and around the world will gather in Tokyo to watch the end of year and New Year holiday shows of various promotions. Thus, a Japanese version of "WrestleMania Week" may occur. This means that the Japanese New Year may be the "Puroresu Golden Week".
"I would like to not only run the Nippon Budokan, but also eventually the Tokyo Dome and from next year onwards I want to aggressively advance to larger venues that we have not been able to do so far. For example, in Kansai I want to try to run Osaka Castle Hall and as Noah hasn't held a major event in Hokkaido for a while, I would like to run a show in Sapporo as well. For all of those reasons, we must first make the New Year's Day Nippon Budokan a great success. I want the wrestlers and the staff to come together and make it more exciting for January 1st next year. I think that Noah's big matches in the second half of the year will all be meaningful events that will lead to the 1st January Budokan".
The first big event on New Year's Day, the 1st January Nippon Budokan event, is likely to inspire not only Noah but the entire pro wrestling world.
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