(NOAH CHRONOLOGY) GHC JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT TAG CHAMPIONSHIP: STINGER
Number of title reigns (as a team): 3
Number of defenses: 2
Lost: 19th January 2022 - Noah stripped the belts from them when Yoshinari Ogawa could not defend.
Total number of days held: 53
Challengers
1. The winner of Momo No Seishun (Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge) vs Perros Del Mal De Japon (YO-HEY & Kotaro Suzuki) - Perros Del Mal De Japon won
2. Noah Junior Regulars (Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara)
The winner of Momo No Seishun (Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge) vs Perros Del Mal De Japon (YO-HEY & Kotaro Suzuki)
With the belts back in the Noah camp (albeit STINGERS, the team who have held the GHC Tag titles three times in 2021 alone and who vanished from the arena as soon as possible), a crowd of Noah Juniors were immediately attracted to the ring. Namely Momo No Seishun (or the "Expired Peaches" as Kotaro Suzuki called them), and YO-HEY and the aforementioned Kotaro. This led to a few seconds of mic snatching and finger pointing, with the champions slinking off and leaving the others to sort it out between them.
Daisuke Harada took the initiative and proposed a number one contenders match to be fought at the first night of the "N-Innovation" at Korakuen Hall on the 25th December in Yokohama. Then somehow, four Noah Juniors left the ring without fights breaking out, although YO-HEY left yelling (which is unusual for him but then again he has developed a streak almost as nasty as HAYATA'S), Harada left making belt motions. In a very rare interview backstage, Ogawa (alongside a worried looking HAYATA two belts), said that he didn't think either team were really worthy, but what remained unsaid was that both Ogawa and HAYATA would probably prefer Momo No Seishun to Perros Del Mal De Japon. Harada and Kotoge come without the emotional baggage that YO-HEY and Kotaro Suzuki do.
THE WARROAD 2021 in NAGOYA (Aichi/Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall, Sunday December 5th)
A spanner in the works
Daisuke Harada vs YO-HEY
Part one of an increasingly escalating situation, which by the end of the evening would culminate in Noah announcing YO-HEY and HAYATA would team together (again) against Yoshinari Ogawa and Daisuke Harada, but lets get back to the beginning.
YO-HEY is evolving and has started to introduce submission moves into his repertoire, which is rare for him and not something he ever did before. This hasn't stopped the flamboyant lock up (YO-HEY even imitated Harada), which resulted in Harada getting him into a lock.
YO-HEY'S submissions worked so well that Harada was forced to go for a flash win in order to catch YO-HEY off guard, but YO-HEY was resilient and not even an elbow from the top turnbuckle could pin him. If he couldn't wear him down and YO-HEY with the lightning quick YO-ROLL reversal which caught Harada off guard, meant that Harada would have to resort to catching him off guard and so he did when he anticipated YO-HEY would go for the Face G, which he caught and turned into the Katayama German Suplex. Round one to Momo.
WINNER: Daisuke Harada with the Katayama German Suplex Hold (13 minutes, 47 seconds)
Following HAYATA'S win over Tadasuke for the GHC Junior Heavyweight, and Yoshinari Ogawa challenging him for the the title (plus attacking him backstage), Noah have arranged a complicated pre-match on the 7th December where YO-HEY teams with HAYATA, and Daisuke Harada teams with Yoshinari Ogawa. Ogawa is challenging HAYATA for the GHC Junior (title match to take place on the 1st January at the Nippon Budokan) and YO-HEY and Daisuke Harada will clash on 25th December in a number one contenders match for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag titles, that are held by Ogawa and HAYATA.
MAN CRUSH 2021 (TUESDAY 7TH DECEMBER, KORAKUEN HALL)
Atsushi Kotoge vs Kotaro Suzuki
Atsushi Kotoge has been on a downspin recently, and very sadly although he put up an epic fight against Kotaro Suzuki who wore him down with abdominal jabs and sternum attacks to wear him down, and who was cocky enough to no sell him and kick him in the head, tonight again he was going to be on the losing side. Kotaro was relentless.
WINNER: Kotaro Suzuki with the Tiger Driver (11 minutes, 35 seconds)
Hajime Ohara (who had been at ringside) had got in the ring to see to Kotoge and hold an ice pack to his neck, but Kotaro kicked him away and dragging Kotoge up, threw him out of the ring. He even threw the ice pack out too! The bell even started ringing as things looked to be getting physical.
YO-HEY & HAYATA vs Yoshinari Ogawa and Daisuke Harada
No one entered with their "partners", and while YO-HEY and HAYATA were a tag for a long time, it is the first time that Daisuke Harada and Yoshinari Ogawa have probably tagged like this. HAYATA ignored YO-HEY and immediately attacked Ogawa. The two Noah Juniors left in the ring, just looked at each other, shrugged and went to their corners. Each time HAYATA fell (or rolled) outside the ring, Harada threw him back in. Ogawa was surprised that Harada would help him like this, but Ogawa later discovered that Harada's doing this was a way to irritate him and keep the match from disintegrating.
As for YO-HEY and HAYATA, they pretty much ignored each other, although YO-HEY did look at him thoughtfully. Which he had done the last time they tagged.
Then the moment, a tandem move.
Fans clapped loudly in anticipation and they managed half of one before HAYATA threw YO-HEY into Ogawa as Ogawa halted on the ropes knowing what they were going to do.
The match fell apart when Ogawa decided he wasn't interested however in Harada tagging him in against YO-HEY and walked off allowing YO-HEY to get the upper hand. Harada then forcibly tagged Ogawa in and they started fighting, HAYATA took advantage and YO-HEY pinned Ogawa in the melee. The three of them had just worked together to defeat Ogawa. It was just like old times.
WINNER: YO-HEY with the Facial G on Yoshinari Ogawa (18 minutes, 19 seconds)
Daisuke Harada stood over Yoshinari Ogawa furious as YO-HEY and HAYATA had their arms raised. Fans were on an emotional rollercoaster at this point, as YO-HEY turned and kicked HAYATA down before he was punched out by Harada's Rolling Elbow. Harada collected up the tag belts and held them up before draping one over Ogawa and one on HAYATA and then standing with a demonic look on his face, one fist raised in triumph before leaving.
MAN CRUSH 2021 - SHIZUOKA / KIRA MESSE NUMAZU (SUNDAY DECEMBER 12TH 2021)
PERROS DE MAL DEL JAPON (NOSAWA Rongai, YO-HEY & Kotaro Suzuki) vs Noah Junior Regulars (Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara)
After his defeat at the hands of Kotaro Suzuki in the last pre match, Atsushi Kotoge started the match with him. Everything went fine until NOSAWA Rongai started sneaking around on the apron and PERROS did their double team. Daisuke Harada was even more focused today than usual, he had won the last pre matches pretty much, and he was going to win this one in his quest to be the Ace of the Noah Juniors again. Harada was not going to put up with YO-HEY'S wind up lock ups, and when everyone got counted out due to a mass brawl after 4 minutes 59 seconds, and PERROS decided to leave, he had the match restarted. Long suffering referee, Shu Nishinaga, had to call NOSAWA back for the match to restart, which it did in another mass brawl. NOSAWA was not the only one being obstructive, Kotaro refused to remove his leg from the ropes when standing on the apron and had to be asked repeatedly.
As PERROS pegged Kotoge as the weaker one, he took the brunt of their attack. Kotaro was even seen outside the ring at one point doing a nasty move which involved practically shoving Kotoge's head into the ring post and then twisting his neck around it. This meant his neck and shoulder was then the focus of their attack. Fans said his "moans echoed around the hall".
WINNER: Daisuke Harada via Katayama German suplex (Kotoge helped via knee to Kotaro's face) (11 minutes, 38 seconds)
The Noah Junior army did their pose as PERROS rolled Kotaro out of the ring, as fans said, it's unusual for Kotaro to lose in a six man tag.
MAN CRUSH 2021 (Saturday December 25th, Yokohama Radiant Halls)
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Championship Number One Contender Match
Momo no Seishun (Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge) vs Perros Del Mal De Japon (YO-HEY and Kotaro Suzuki)
In a way YO-HEY and HAYATA have once again mirrored each other; if HAYATA has Ogawa, then YO-HEY has Ogawa's pupil, Kotaro. Perros were dominant today, and NOSAWA who was lurking at ringside stayed out of it.
Perros had long ago pegged Atsushi Kotoge for being the weakest in the team, and worked to keep Daisuke Harada away, rather than down. YO-HEY even stepping over Kotoge and slapping him lightly while staring at Harada. Kotoge fought for a long as he could, but the moment came when the crowd screamed when he was pinned. He had lost the titles originally to Perros, he had now lost them the number one contendership to them too.
WINNER: YO-HEY with the FACE G on Atsushi Kotoge (23 minutes, 53 seconds)
To the surprise of completely no one, the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag champions failed to appear. Any other team would, but then again, any other team would turn up to match signings. The title match will take place on the 4th January 2022 at Korakuen Hall.
STINGER defending the tag titles was not going to be an easy thing as Yoshinari Ogawa challenging HAYATA for the GHC Junior Heavyweight title at the Nippon Budokan on the 1st January complicated the issue. After the match HAYATA did a very rare thing, and offered a handshake. Ogawa refused to take it and threw his tag belt at his open hand and walked off leaving HAYATA alone standing awkwardly in the ring. When HAYATA betrayed YO-HEY, he had Ogawa to turn to, but now there was no one. He had no choice but to look awkward, gather up all the belts and leave. The tag title match is on the 4th January. Fans would agree with Kotaro Suzuki's statement of having no idea how they are going to work together.
TITLE MATCH: NEW SUNRISE 2022
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, January 4th
Fans had been speculating about the apparent STINGER split and wondering if Yoshinari Ogawa was even going to turn up to the match. He did. Just following HAYATA at a distance. They seemed to have patched things up at first glance, albeit with an air of coolness between them. Ogawa set the tone by kicking the ref to come and check him.
Ogawa and Kotaro Suzuki started the match. It remained civil, which is odd as Ogawa usually sees red whenever he sees, speaks about or thinks of Kotaro. Kotaro knows how to wind Ogawa up. We see no bottles of water here. He doesn't need them. All Kotaro needed to do was humiliate him in other ways; tread on him, kick him in the head lightly, celebrate to the crowd. Perros, who were outside the ring, had other ideas. Normally in Noah title matches are sacred and seconds do not interfere. Not today when Ogawa had his legs pulled by Eita and then Perros attacking him at other intervals. Fortunately it was done in moderation and never reached Suzuki Army proportions where entire matches were disrupted constantly. HAYATA complained about this, but was kept back by the ref. I wonder if Ogawa will arrive at the conclusion somewhere down the line that he didn't come to help him?
HAYATA nipped YO-HEY'S irritating lock up in the bud. YO-HEY was very much targeted with his arm, elbow and even his hand being worked on. HAYATA smiled as he nonchalantly walked across the ring and trod on YO-HEY'S wrist. Sadly for fans, the reunion between HAYATA & YO-HEY (or Yoshinari Ogawa and Kotaro Suzuki) did not come. At least not yet. With Ogawa and YO-HEY fighting outside the ring, it was HAYATA who got the win.
WINNER: HAYATA with the Headache on Kotaro Suzuki (19 minutes, 47 seconds)
Neither HAYATA or Ogawa at first wanted to take their belts. They did in the end and allowed the ref to lift their arms. Perros by this time had slunk off and Ogawa left after giving HAYATA a small pat.
HAYATA was again left alone in the ring after the main event with people expecting him of all people to close out the show. Please bear in mind that HAYATA'S not wanting to speak isn't just a gimmick, he is in fact chronically shy, and so steeling himself he got on the microphone and simply said, "Happy New Year" before briefly posing with the belts (a new thing for him) and leaving.
vs The Noah Junior Regulars (Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara)
Higher Ground 2022
January 22nd, Edion Arena 2nd Stadium, Osaka
Atsushi Kotoge made the title challenge at Night 2 of THE LEAVE Presents N-Innovation U Cup which took place at Yokohama Radiant Halls on the 22nd January. The Noah Junior Regulars had won the unit cup, and Kotoge challenged for the belts. None of STINGER had made it to the finals, despite having the initial lead. HAYATA is being challenged for the GHC Junior Heavyweight on the 10th January by Daisuke Harada.
THE LEAVE presents N-INNOVATION Night 3 (10th January 2022 Yokohama Radiant Halls)
"BUMPER CROP 2022 in Sendai" (16th January, Sendai Sunplaza Hall)
Due to Coronavirus affecting the Noah Dojo, Noah were ten wrestlers down as Yoshinari Ogawa, Junta Miyawaki, Kaito Kiyomiya, Yoshiki Inamura, Kinya Okada, Yasutaka Yano, Super Crazy, Tadasuke and Daiki Inaba had to miss the event as they were either infected or quarantining. Yoshinari Ogawa was reported to have a fever, but he was recovering, which is a relief as Ogawa is a man in his mid fifties, has a predisposition to influenza and throat problems, and he doesn't eat much. The card was also changed with Seiki Yoshioka taken out of this match.
Yuya Susumu and Hajime Ohara had a technical battle proving that if Ohara can outsmart Susumu, then Susumu can do just the same to him. Kotoge, however, was the one who got the brunt of Susumu and the former GHC Junior Heavyweight champion, who while he looks a little less stressed on losing the title, it hasn't made him any less sadistic, especially towards his challengers. Touchingly, HAYATA brought Ogawa's belt to the ring.
WINNER: Atsushi Kotoge with the Killswitch on Yuya Susumu (11 minutes, 50 seconds)
Yuya Susumu says that he and Seiki Yoshioka will challenge the winners.
19th January 2022: Belts vacated
Despite Yoshinari Ogawa giving an interview on his condition, and saying that he felt better and was ready to wrestle as soon as possible, the issue does not seem as clear as that and on the 19th January Noah announced they were stripping STINGER of the tag belts. Fans are upset as it makes Ogawa look like he's done something wrong and that it is punishing HAYATA for no reason.
The tag title match was due to take place on the 22nd January in Osaka, but as Yoshinari Ogawa cannot compete, Noah have made it a fight for the vacant titles between STINGER (Seiki Yoshioka and Yuya Susumu) and The Noah Junior Regulars (Atsushi Kotoge and Hajime Ohara). Atsushi Kotoge had defeated Yuya Susumu for the right to challenge in Sendai. The defeat had led Susumu to mutter that they would be challenging the winners, but the new title match has led him to say that regardless of whether the belts were taken from STINGER, this was a championship match and he would be going for it. Like Ogawa, Susumu wants a "STINGER vs STINGER showdown".
With the tag belts now taken from them, fans are wondering if Ogawa will seize this opportunity to challenge for the GHC Heavyweight tag belts with HAYATA. The belts are currently being held by Keiji Mutoh and Naomichi Marufuji (M's alliance), and Ogawa has been saying for a while that he wants to challenge one day. The M's alliance are also without challengers having retained the belts in Sendai against Kongoh's Kenoh and Manabu Soya.
Title match: The Noah Junior Regulars (Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara) vs STINGER (Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu)
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