(NOAH) Return to the Holy Land! Biggest Pro Wrestling Noah Autumn! 30th October Ariake Arena: 5 Major GHC title matches & Keiji Mutoh Retirement Road.

22nd October 2022

Noah.co.jp

The 30th October Ariake Arena event will be the biggest show of Noah's autumn. After about six years, the Ark will return to Ariake, the "origin" and the "home" of the company. Ariake Arena is a legacy venue* created by the Tokyo Olympics which were held after Noah left. By chance, Noah will perform as the opening ceremony for pro wrestling and martial arts. Also, the prohibition on cheering has been lifted for the first time in about two and a half years. The atmosphere of cheering has returned. 

Cards have been made for all the GHC title matches (5 major GHC battles), and a Mutoh Retirement Road has also been set up, where Keiji Mutoh and Hiroshi Tanahashi of New Japan face off. Looking back at Noah's origins and Mutoh's path while experiencing the "now" in all GHC matches, you can feel the future of Noah at the new Ariake venue. This will be a big event with a message that mixes the past, present and future.

The main event is the GHC Heavyweight Championship match for major title. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kaito Kiyomiya, the standard-bearer of Noah's new era, accepts the challenge of The Beast, Kazuyuki Fujita. This year, the new-era ace, who this year surpassed Keiji Mutoh at the Nippon Budokan, won the "N-1 VICTORY 2022" and regained the GHC Heavyweight Championship, nominated Fujita, who he has not yet faced in a single, as "a wall that still needs to be overcome" and declaring a breakthrough with the positive theme of "strength". However, in the pre match, his "strength" was clearly shown and he suffered two defeats in a row. Moreover, Fujita repeated the "marking act" of rubbing body odor, showing The Beast's former "Declaration of Humanity", to be a lie. This will be a challenge right after the death of his teacher Antonio Inoki,      and far from restraining himself, he has escalated the "Wild Beast" even further and devoured the young champion. Is it possible for Kiyomiya, who is promoting the establishment of the values of Noah's new era as "our professional wrestling", to turn around the misfortune he has bought upon himself into good fortune? At the same time, the theme is whether this can be the starting point of a new "Ariake Legend".

Round 4 of Mutoh's Retirement Road will be held in the semi finals. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma from New Japan will participate in a six man tag match. Tanahashi is an attendant from the New Japan era, and Honma the All Japan*. 

"I want to fight Mutoh before he retires". Tanahashi, known as the "Mutoh freak" from the fan era, made this appeal. In response to Tanahashi's appeal, Mutoh looked ahead to landing in New Japan and said humbly, "I want you to assess me"...however, Mutoh who is famous for "taking everything and anything", and Tanahashi also warned that, "I have no intention of letting Mutoh-san carry all the laurels". To this Mutoh replied, "We will stand out from everyone". 

The card, in partnership with young Yoshiki Inamura, certainly has the possibility of producing unexpected by products because of the composition of the confrontation of Noah vs New Japan. 

The GHC tag champions Taka & Satoshi (Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima), enhancing their strange aura, have been challenged Kenoh and Katsuhiko Nakajima. Their teamwork is not so good and they repeatedly make mistakes, but they win with an explosive power. Even in the comments, Taka has retorted to Satoshi's stupidity. Theirs is a mysterious team, where the parts that don't fit are perfectly meshed.

Kenoh and Nakajima are the best kick duo in wrestling, which the rebel group Kongoh are proud of. Having failed to take the titles at the Ryogoku event in April of this year, they are aiming for the belts this time. In the pre match, Nakajima's Vertical Spike which led to Kenoh's PFS completely destroyed Kojima. Together, they showed an explosive power which was as good as the champions. 

The famous match between Masakatsu Funaki and Kazushi Sakuraba, for the first time in about fifteen years, will take place in a pro wrestling ring. The two great men, who livened up New Year's Eve living rooms with "Dynamite!!" in 2007, will clash for the GHC National Championship. Last time it was done under MMA rules, and although this will be the first confrontation in pro wrestling, "GHC Martial Arts Rules" have been adopted for the first time in Noah. No pinfall, submission, KO and TKO only. A yellow card will be shown for eye poking or escaping outside of the ring. Three yellow cards will result in a loss due to fouls. These are rules which mix UWF, which is the origin of both men, with normal pro wrestling rules. In the pre match (October 16th, Fukuoka), which was held under the same rules, Sakuraba won by submission from the champion Funaki, with his secret technique the Scorpion Leglock. Anyway, you have to keep an eye on it, as it will be decided in the blink of an eye. This will be a unique match that will clearly stand out from the other GHC matches. 

The GHC Junior Champion, HAYATA, who has turned into the Noah Junior's "Absolute Champion", has been challenged for the first time by Ninja Mack, who has gained popularity and even signed a yearly contract with Noah. A daredevil super acrobatic fighter, his deadly Ninja Bomb (Phoenix Splash-type Senton) boasts a 100% win rate. 

However, in the pre matches, HAYATA took the pin three times from the first. In one of them, he took the pin by simply letting the Ninja Bomb self destruct. The "double-edged-sword" of the high risk Ninja Bomb was exposed, but in the final pre match of October 16th in Fukuoka, the Ninja Bomb was used and he took the win directly from HAYATA (note, what they don't mention is that HAYATA had been given The Shining Wizard by Keiji Mutoh beforehand). Whether or not the Ninja's deadly bullet connects, is the key to victory or defeat. 

The GHC Junior Tag Championship held by Atsushi Kotoge and Seiki Yoshioka has been challenged for by the Kongoh Junior duo of Tadasuke & Hi69. Tadasuke, aiming for Kongoh's long cherished wish for a title, seized the right to challenge by any means and in the pre matches he won every fall from Kotoge and Yoshioka. Following this, the champions made a comeback in Yoshioka's hometown on the Kyushu tour, but he is paying the price with an injured left knee.  

NOSAWA Rongai, who announced his retirement at the Tokyo Dome on February 21st next year, will also fight for the first time after the announcement. In the Perros Del Mal De Japon trio with Eita & Super Crazy, he will face Yoshinari Ogawa, also known as "Senior Ogawa". During the previous Kyushu tour, Ogawa kept asking Eita for a handshake. Just when Eita finally shook hands back, he kicked Ogawa in the crotch and deceived him. After this he said, "Even in Ariake, I will destroy you thoroughly." It is predicted that this development will be closely watched as it is coupled with NOSAWA'S "Retirement Road".

Translated from Noah.co.jp

Picture credit: Noah.co.jp

 

Notes

*Honma: Mutoh said he couldn't understand a word that Honma was saying when he was his attendant and asked Tanahashi how he did. Tanahashi said it was like learning a language via speed learning and thanks to being on tour with Honma, now could understand about 80% of what he was saying.