(NOAH) Challenging New Japan from an "equal" standpoint, Director Narihiro Takeda talks about his approach.
14th December 2021
Since the announcement of New Japan vs Noah, the response to New Japan's 8th January Yokohama Arena event has been amazing. The tickets are selling closed-seat seating* etc, as the rivalry between major promotions is always strong. Noah is the form of riding into enemy territory, but since they have a strong pride that has continued to evolve even in corona, they will face New Japan on an "equal" position. We asked Director Narihiro Takeda, about the fight from Noah's side.
There are only two weeks left of this year. Even though the year end and New Year holidays are customary in pro wrestling, the number of events at larger venues has increased since Corona, among them the big match match aggression of New Japan is particularly eye-catching, and by next year the two consecutive events on the 4th & 5th at the Tokyo Dome will be the third year in a row, and three days later in 2022, the Yokohama Arena event will be held. The venue is not as big as The Dome, but it has a larger capacity than the Nippon Budokan and Ryogoku Kokugikan (Sumo Hall). On November 20th, New Japan held a press conference about the event, and announced suddenly that Noah would be participating, therefore the rivalry between the two became a hot topic.
In recent years, New Japan has been active in expanding overseas, and has had little interaction with other Japanese promotions. The global strategy has achieved great results, but as it well known, the influence of Corona has been a factor in progression up until that point. New Japan has given surprises to fans over the past few years, such as the participation of world famous superstar, Chris Jericho, The Martial Arts Hall of Fame, and the advancement to New York's Madison Square Garden, have been mainly worldwide. Corona disrupted these plans, but the effect was that the door to the fight with Noah was opened. The development is not a bad story for Noah to enter New Japan. Director Narihiro Takeda, talks about the process as follows.
"The trigger was in September by Hiroshi Hase. In September, I went with the management of New Japan, All Japan and Noah to talk about a new foreign visa via the Japan Sports Agency. Following the Olympics, it was around the time when I was beginning to see how to bring in new foreigners. For Noah, the big matches have been increasing since the Cyber system, and foreign wrestlers want to take part. However, the entry of foreign wrestlers continues to be difficult. Even if signs of easing appear, it is difficult to make progress, such as the recent confirmation of a mutant strain of Omicron. Wrestlers who originally had a visa can repeatedly enter and leave the country and wrestle with a visa extension in Japan. However, the wrestlers to have come to Noah have had their visa's expire, and even if I want to invite them, it's difficult to get a new one."
As Director Takeda said, the fact that the circumstances of participation due to immigration differ depending on the national polity, is largely related to the visa. In order to overcome this, the top executives of major promotions set up a place to talk internally between them in secret negotiations.
This was the beginning of NEW JAPAN vs NOAH.
"When I was in discussion with the Japan Sports Agency, I was asked various questions like "Is pro wrestling of public interest?" and "What is a cohesive industry group?" Even if there are no problems in a normal time, I thought it would be difficult to deal with each promotion in an emergency."
Corona was the catalyst for the opportunity for Noah and New Japan to come into contact. This is a good example of a contact outside the ring connecting to it.
"In discussions with the government, I also talked with the chairman of New Japan, Naoki Sugabayashi, and thought that it would be necessary to show that pro wrestling is a genre of public interest. At that time the Yokohama Arena was hosting New Japan's big event, and it became a discussion about worldwide pay-per-view and how to make profits for charity. I remember that in recent years, as a large scale charity performance in pro wrestling, "ALL TOGETHER" was held following the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 (held twice in August and then again in February 2012). The event had a cause for the pro wrestling world to join hands to support the reconstruction of the affected areas."
This time as well, the purpose is to recover from Corona, but Takeda explains that the meaning is different from "ALL TOGETHER".
"Corona has caused suffering for us, as well as for the whole pro wrestling industry. Of course, pro wrestling fans are also suffering. Rather than helping someone for something, even in this kind of situation there is still more "power of pro wrestling". With confidence be a pro wrestling fan, and we will get the job done with confidence. I think this will be an event where you can be a pro wrestler with confidence."
Of course, in the ring New Japan vs Noah is a harsh battle, but the power of ripe wrestling is born there. It would be ideal if that power could be used as a detonator to lift the entertainment world, which has suffered deep damage during Corona. However, the relationship between New Japan and Noah is rather complicated. The first half of the 2000s, when Noah was first launched, was a period of financial difficulties for New Japan, which was called "The Dark Period". Noah launched as a promotion, and succeeded in the starting race. Some even said that they had taken the position of industry leaders from New Japan. At that time, top wrestlers such as Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi participated in New Japan's Tokyo Dome events. It seemed as if Noah was giving a helping hand to New Japan, who were struggling to organize Dome cards.
The position was reversed in the 2010s.
In the years before 2017, when they had their last exchange, The Suzuki Army nearly invaded Noah, which showed that New Japan was taking the initiative. Looking back in detail, in New Japan and Noah, various causes were jumbled in and outside of the ring. After this era, both promotions for the past five years have not been involved with each other, and during this time New Japan took the lead in Japanese wrestling. Noah repeatedly changed ownership a few times, but joined the CyberAgent group in January last year. Based on the stable foundations of the parent company, Noah are regaining momentum with an aggressive stance. For Noah now against New Japan, it is a chance for them to accelerate the updraft after joining CyberGroup.
"I don't know in detail why the interaction ended five years ago because I was not in Noah at the time. Right now, both promotions are not in a position to rely on each other independently, but on an equal footing. I think in the past one has relied on the other. But this time, it's only for one night. I don't know for how many years it will be done again in the future, but it's charity for the company and big business. The ring is a competitive battle, and I hope the wrestlers can do as they want."
Whatever the cause of the event, it's just a matter of what the wrestlers do in the ring. However, Director Takeda gives a birds eye view of the event and offers another perspective. "There may be sparks in a pro wrestling rivalry, but I hope that a new star will be born like in J-CUP. I wish Kiyomiya could leave an impact like Hayabusa at that time, and there is a possibility that young New Japan wrestlers too."
"I want Kiyomiya to become the new leader of Noah. If you train the leader for the position, the quicker it is. That is why I went to that meeting. Specifically, I want him to be like Tanahashi. When Tanahashi was leading the company before, both he and New Japan grew. I want Kiyomiya to act with the intention of increasing Noah, like Tanahashi who was fighting to transform New Japan."
Originally, more than a year before the rivalry was decided on, Kiyomiya appealed for a match with Kazuchika Okada at the ABEMA broadcast "NEW HOPE"*. The ripples caused by mentioning the name of the top wrestler from New Japan by another promotion were not small, but no progress has been made since then. It is not clear whether Kiyomiya's appeal influenced the realization of New Japan vs Noah now, but Kiyomiya's premonition has become a living thing. However, as Takeda says now the higher priority for Noah is the 1st January Nippon Budokan event, rather than the Yokohama Arena event. Noah has continued to take on various challenges due to Corona, but next year when it seems likely to settle down, it will be a jump forward and for that reason the success of the Nippon Budokan is the challenge.
"We have a specific goal to aim to mobilize a full 5,000 people to the Nippon Budokan (the number of people is regulated and tickets were released before this was relaxed), but I don't know what will happen in today's world and with that in mind, WrestleUniverse can be watched no matter what. Increasing the number of members is the base of business stability. The target number of members is 50,000. If we can reach that point then we will be able to create an unshakeable business foundation, and we can take on various challenges."
Versus New Japan is important, but first comes New Year's Day at The Budokan.
The Budokan has regular Noah members with Noah Born and competitive cards, and a week later they will go to New Japan and prove the evolution of the ark.
Translated from Weekly Pro
Picture credit: Weekly Pro
*Closed seats: You can't see part of the stage
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