(NOAH) NOAH NEWSLETTER VOL.202 ~ 3RD JUNE 2023
Kongoh retain the All Japan World Heavyweight, but lose both the TwinGate and Hi69
Kongoh have had an interesting couple of weeks. Kenoh and Manabu Soya retained the All Japan World Heavyweight Tag against Suwama and Rei Saito on the 29th May. Kenoh won via PFS. After the match, Suwama was kicked out of Voodoo Murders. Kenoh had said before that he wanted Kyohei Suwama, the executive, to join Kongoh, as he wants control over the belts and Suwama can help transfer the rights to Noah. He also thinks that due to the poor attendance at Korakuen Hall for the match, that All Japan will go bankrupt, and he is therefore protecting the belts. Kenoh has also said that Suwama (the wrestler) could join Kongoh and even had a series of positions lined up for him - he could be Kenoh's right hand man, a plaything or he could carry Kenoh's bags. Suwama, (who fans notice has not changed from wearing red, but has shed the "VM" logo), has naturally not responded to Kenoh. No team in All Japan or elsewhere, has come forward for the All Japan World Heavyweight Tag.
As well as wins, there are losses and Kongoh have lost the DragonGate TwinGate tag championships on the 2nd June when Shuji Kondo was pinned by M3K's Kanda. Prior to that at SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 on the 31st May at Shinjuku Face, HI69 announced he was leaving Kongoh. Following a six man tag when Daga defeated him, Hi69 spoke on the mic and told his stunned colleagues, Hajime Ohara and Shuji Kondo, that he was leaving the unit. He gave his reason as being that he had been in the unit for three or four years, but he had not gotten any substantial results. Kenoh has let him go and ironically the remaining two juniors have also let him go, but he himself has requested a singles match with each to clear the air, and because he knows what they are like. With Hi69 gone, this now leaves Kongoh with only two juniors and three heavyweights (Kenoh, Manabu Soya and Masakatsu Funaki). Fans are expecting the unit will dwindle further.
Kenoh's produce
Kenoh announced the card for his produce via The Kenoh Channel on June 1st.
Hi69 vs Taishi Ozawa
Masa Kitamiya, Mohammed Yone & Super Crazy vs Daiki Inaba, Stallion Rogers & Kai Fujimura
Ninja Mack vs Dante Leon
Saxon Huxley, Timothy Thatcher & Kazuyuki Fujita vs Shuhei Taniguchi, Yoshiki Inamura & GAINA
STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa, Chris Ridgeway & Daga) vs Atsushi Kotoge, Seiki Yoshioka & Kai Fujimura
Good Looking Guys (Tadasuke, Jack Morris, YO-HEY & Jake Lee) vs HAYATA, Eita, El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr & Kaito Kiyomiya
Kongoh (Kenoh, Masakatsu Funaki, Manabu Soya, Hajime Ohara & Shuji Kondo) vs AMAKUSA, Alejandro, Kazushi Sakuraba, Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura
ALL TOGETHER AGAIN
ALL TOGETHER AGAIN appear to have announced the full card for the event on the 9th June. There will be an autograph session and press conference on the 8th. Participating Noah wrestlers in the event are:
THE TOUGH (Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura)
Daiki Inaba
Chris Ridgeway
Sean Legacy
AXIZ (Katsuhiko Nakajima & Go Shiozaki)
Junta Miyawaki
Takashi Sugiura
Naomichi Marufuji
HAYATA
AMAKUSA
Kenoh
Kaito Kiyomiya
You can find the full card on Noah's official site. Unlike the last ALL TOGETHER events, the three champions from Noah and New Japan are not appearing. Neither Jake Lee (GHC Heavyweight) or Sanada (IWGP) are on the card, I believe in Sanada's case this may be due to injury, but Jake was not on the last Noah card either, so this may be due to something light that he is carrying that Noah do not want exacerbated. Despite the absence of the these two champions, Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura will go up against Minoru Suzuki (a lot of unresolved issues there from Sugiura's defection and the disaster of the Noah invasion years), Chris Ridgeway fights Zak Saber Jnr in a tag, Yoshiki Inamura and Masa Kitamiya open the show with a hoss fight against Hirooki Goto and Tomohiro Ishii, and then there is the chaotic main event. The main event is Kenoh, Kazuchika Okada and Yuma Aoyagi vs Kaito Kiyomiya, Kento Miyahara and Hiroshi Tanahashi. Kaito Kiyomiya has said he is only focusing on Okada, and will be taking the main role in the match. Kenoh has spat the usual fire at his opponents and his teammates, by saying he has a message for "you bastards" which includes Okada, and Yuma Aoyagi has declared that he will be the one to bring everyone together as everyone else is about "I am me". He also says that Kiyomiya has no idea what this event is about. Kenoh seems to have forgotten that Aoyagi even exists, and Okada has said nothing about anyone at all.
Noah announce they have parted ways with Yasutaka Yano and Kinya Okada
On April 16th in Sendai, Noah announced very suddenly that Kinya Okada and Yasutaka Yano would not be appearing on the card and therefore the first and second matches had been changed. Whatever had happened was so sudden, that Akitoshi Saito was drafted in, and he had to wrestle barefoot and in jeans as he didn't have his gear with him. Noah did not give a reason and Yano and Okada were not put on any subsequent cards. Fans thought they may have gone to Mexico, but Noah announced on the 1st June that with the mutual agreement of both Yano and Okada, they had cancelled their contracts. No reason has again been given, and Naomichi Marufuji commented that it was a real shame, and there was nothing more he wanted to say about it.
TITLE NEWS
GHC Heavyweight
Jake Lee has found out first hand just why Takashi Sugiura warned him that he was going to show him that there were people like him in Noah. Over the past three Noah events (Kobe, Bandaijima and even Shinjuku Face), Sugiura gave him an up close and personal experience. Jake lost his temper with Sugiura, following an elbow which floored him in the match, and afterwards when Sugiura held the belt up to him and another fight broke out, the two had to be separated and he left screaming in rage. In Bandaijima, Jake found himself locked in the Front Neck Lock again after Jake had kicked him to let go of Anthony Green (who Sugi choked out to win the match) and had to be pried off by Shuhei Taniguchi. Afterwards, Sugi sarcastically threw the belt back to Jake telling him he had "forgotten something".
Although Jake was not in a match in Shinjuku, the heavyweights ran almost as wild as the juniors, you could tell that Sugiura was sending a message to him. Their final pre match will be on the 10th June in Yokohama.
GHC Junior Heavyweight
HAYATA and Dante Leon have yet to get a win over each other, and so far they are taking the wins they pick up in the pre matches as a win over the other. Dante has been using some heel tactics though to wind HAYATA up, such as stealing the belt and wearing it over his shoulder. This always seems to irritate HAYATA.
GHC Heavyweight Tag
Saxon Huxley and Timothy Thatcher will not be taking part in ALL TOGETHER (AGAIN) and will not be returning to Noah until the title match on the 17th June.
GHC Junior Tag
Tadasuke picked up the win for Good Looking Guys by using a piledriver which he calls "The Good Looking Piledriver", this is actually modified from a move he used to use in Dove, and pinning Atsushi Kotoge to retain. Their new challengers appeared almost immediately as STINGER'S Chris Ridgeway and Daga emerged from their habitual shadows. Daga sarcastically congratulated them on their defense, but said that they were better and therefore they would be challenging for those belts. Tadasuke granted their request and acknowledged that "a very very strong team" had arrived. Ridgeway was not as complimentary, backstage he said "Good Looking Guys? Tadasuke always looks like he's drunk, and YO-HEY looks like a goat", and if anyone was "Good Looking Guys", then it was them. Title match has been set for Korakuen Hall on the 22nd June.
GHC National
El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr returns to Noah on June 17th in Nagoya. He will team with El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr, Yoshinari Ogawa and Kai Fujimura (who returned in May from neck injury) against Kaito Kiyomiya, AMAKUSA and Junta Miyawaki. Out of these three, Kaito Kiyomiya is the most likely challenger.
EVENT RECAPS AND POST MATCH PROMOS
SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 (BANDAIJIMA MULTIPURPOSE PLAZA "OOKAMA", SUNDAY MAY 28TH)
ELSEWHERE IN NOAH
- Kenoh says that the black garbage bag that Suwama used to put over his head in the All Japan World Heavyweight Tag in Noah belonged to him, and Suwama stole it.
- Shuhei Taniguchi demanded that Takashi Sugiura get in the ring so he could do "The Sugi Bomb", and then he demanded the same from Naomichi Marufuji. Afterwards, when Tani was roaring at Akitoshi Saito to do the same, Marufuji could be seen taking the matter up with Sugiura.
- Masa Kitamiya and Yoshiki Inamura did one of their eating videos. Inamura genuinely jumped when Kitamiya stuck a skewer of fried meat in his face.
- Despite his in ring persona and the fact that he was known for street fighting when in High School (he went to a very tough one), Akitoshi Saito is a gentle soul. He has taken up pottery and produced some beautiful bowls.
- Dante Leon blew a kiss to HAYATA during one of the pre matches.
- Following Chris Ridgeway's statement that Tadasuke "looks like he's always drunk", YO-HEY said that it "wasn't always".
- Eita said something rarely heard or said, or perhaps has never been said before, when he said he wasn't going to be doing the speaking, as HAYATA was doing it.
- Dave The Clown from AAA made a surprise appearance in Noah on the 21st May in Kobe.
- Go Shiozaki has challenged Kenoh to a singles match following Kenoh's full time draw against Katsuhiko Nakajima. After accusing Go Shiozaki of lazing around at home while he (Kenoh) was leading Noah and comparing AXIZ to a "Boys Love" romance novel, Kenoh accepted.
CURRENT CHAMPIONS
GHC Heavyweight Champion: Jake Lee
Challenger: Takashi Sugiura
GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in NAGOYA (Nagoya International Conference Center Event Hall - Saturday, June 17th)
GHC Junior Champion: HAYATA
Challenger: Dante Leon
GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in NAGOYA (Nagoya International Conference Center Event Hall - Saturday, June 17th)
GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: REAL (Saxon Huxley & Timothy Thatcher)
Challengers: THE TOUGH (Yoshiki Inamura & Masa Kitamiya)
GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in NAGOYA (Nagoya International Conference Center Event Hall - Saturday, June 17th)
GHC Junior Tag Champions: Good Looking Guys (YO-HEY & Tadasuke)
Challengers: STINGER (Chris Ridgeway & Daga)
STAR NAVIGATION 2023 (Korakuen Hall - Thursday, June 22nd)
GHC National Champion: El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr
Challenger: TBA
THIS WEEK IN NOAH
There will be no Mitsuharu Misawa memorial show, but Noah has announced that the whole month will be dedicated to him with special merchandise, and video tributes that will be played at certain venues. June 18th when Noah are in Osaka would have been Misawa's 61st birthday, so I would imagine something special will happen there.
ALL TOGETHER AGAIN (If you have the energy, you can do anything!)
Date: Friday June 9th
Venue: Ryogoku Kokugikan
Start times: 18:00 JST (doors 16:30 JST)
Broadcast: New Japan World (this will be held as PPV)
SUNNY VOYAGE 2023
Date: Saturday June 10th
Venue: Yokohama Radiant Hall
Start times: 16:30 JST (doors open 15:45 JST)
Broadcast: WrestleUniverse
NOAH FROM THE VAULT
Donmai Donmai - Mitsuharu Misawa's diary
Motoko Baba's letter to the Japanese sports press regarding Mitsuharu Misawa's resignation from All Japan...wow...just wow...
Picture credits: Noah.co.jp, Pro Wrestling DX
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