(NOAH) A quarrel over the group name is settled by a bribe? Noah's Manabu Soya held a "Passionate RATELS Merger Press Conference" on the 12th on his YouTube channel, "Soya Soya TV-kun"

13th February 2025

BBM Japan.com

The press conference, which was not released to the media beforehand and was suddenly made public, was attended by the GHC National Champion, the "Passionate Leader" Soya, HAYATA, YO-HEY, Tadasuke and Yuto Kikuchi of RATELS.

At Korakuen Hall on February 11th in Noah, Soya took the GHC National Championship from Tetsuya Endo of TEAM2000X. It was RATELS who assisted in the victory by preventing TEAM2000X's intervention. 

So far, Soya had been practicing with the "blonde couple" (HAYATA & YO-HEY) in public, and has declared them to be the "blonde family". Soya will not join RATELS, but rather, "We don't want to destroy the RATELS brand, so we will work together in a win-win situation", so it looks like the merger will be on equal footing. However, during the press conference, YO-HEY said, "I'm all for working together as a team, but "Passionate RATELS"...that's so lame. I can't agree. Isn't enough for the group name to be RATELS, and for Soya to have passion in his heart?" 

A majority vote was held to decide whether the team name should be "Passionate RATELS" or "RATELS". The results were two votes for "Passionate RATELS" from Soya and Kikuchi, and two votes for "RATELS" from YO-HEY and Tadasuke. HAYATA said "Either is fine", and his vote was invalid. So the name of the group was left up to Daisuke Harada, the founder of RATELS. When YO-HEY called Harada to confirm, he was surprised to hear, "Passionate RATELS" would be fine", and with this "Passionate RATELS" was officially launched. 

After the press conference, Soya secretly handed Kikuchi a gift envelope that was thought to contain a bribe, which raised some concerns, but the GHC National Champion, who is due to face the GHC Heavyweight Champion, OZAWA, in a double title match at the Yokohama Budokan on March 2nd, has gained a reliable ally. 

 

Translated from BBM Japan

Picture credit: BBM Japan