(NOAH CHRONOLOGY) GHC HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: GO SHIOZAKI VS KAITO KIYOMIYA

Kazuyuki Fujita vacates the belt

Due to Kazuyuki Fujita testing positive for Coronavirus, Noah have stripped him of the belt. At the press conference on the 27th, Kaito Kiyomiya burst in and demanded that a decision be made there and then, that he would face Go Shiozaki for the empty title. He was removed from the premises (no Noah Born takes "No" for an answer), and spent the next day sulking about it. He even went so far as to say he was going to do a poll in which the fans would say they agreed that he would challenge and this would force the company into agreeing with his demands. Fortunately for Kiyomiya, his case was given consideration, and as he was the first challenger to put his name forward, he and Go Shiozaki signed the match contract on the 29th April. Kaito Kiyomiya says that he must win this belt for the sake of the next generation in Noah, of which he wishes to build a new era for. Go Shiozaki, while he can see where his young opponent is coming from (he said he would have been the same as Kiyomiya at the press conference if it was him), but has warned him that he is not going to be handing the belt to him. The waist it is going around, is his own.

Kaito Kiyomiya entered wearing a new black and grey robe, there was no smiling and pointing to the crowd this time. He knew chances like this did not come up often and so he was all business. There was a handshake before the match, a lingering one which meant that neither where going to hold anything back. Kiyomiya went initially for the quick pins. These are not going to work on Shiozaki at this stage, he needs to be worn down first. Shiozaki dealt with the young man firmly, no selling his chops and countering with his own which floored Kiyomiya. Two stubborn Noah Born fighting over a title was never going to end so easily. 

This was everything you could ever have wanted in a title match - generation, drama, emotion, and even history, with shades of Misawa and Kobashi, and just like any good Misawa Kobashi match or any Four Pillars, as GHC Heavyweight titles are still run along Baba lines, you had your bump moments, your moments where you truly believed that the match would finish and your moments where you wondered what they would do next. Misawa is still here in spirit and always will be as long as Noah have GHC Heavyweight matches like this, and with him the people who gave him the tools to build The Ark. Neither Kiyomiya or Shiozaki came from that era, neither ever experienced it, but both are Noah Born and they carry the DNA of Baba era All Japan, Jumbo Tsuruta, Genichiro Tenryu, and The Four Pillars. 

WINNER: Go Shiozaki with the Strong Arm Lariat (30 minutes, 2 seconds)

The fact that Shiozaki won, suggests to me that he was meant to defeat Kazuyuki Fujita. A few minutes after Kaito Kiyomiya was helped from the ring, he spoke on the microphone, letting loose his pent up cry, "I am NOAH!".

Next champion: Go Shiozaki