(NOAH) The Man Who Saved The Ark - The meaning of the three brand event (part two)
1st January 2025 (Issue no 2334)
The day after this issue goes on sale, on the 19th December, Noah will hold their final Korakuen event of the year. As previously reported, all three current Noah brands will be gathering together. The card will feature two "MONDAY MAGIC sponsored matches", and two "LIMIT BREAK sponsored matches". Although not labeled as "sponsored by the main event," two matches are lined up with an eye toward the New Year's Day event at the Nippon Budokan: Kaito Kiyomiya vs Yoshi-Tatsu and Manabu Soya & Kazuyuki Fujita vs Masa Kitamiya and Daiki Odashima.
Furthermore, the final two matches, the main and semi-main, will be tag team matches titled "NOAHful GIFT." The match-ups will be decided by lottery among fans on the day of the event. The wrestlers included in the lottery have yet to be announced, but the cards can be considered a "bonus track" type that transcends the boundaries of the brand. "This was an idea from an employee, but in the past, Noah would hold Christmas events and other events where the cards were decided by lottery among customers. We're bringing that back. I think this will also be a part of the brand's identity."
As pointed out last time, Director Takeda predicts that the main event will be the most difficult to replicate in a three-brand event. MONDAY MAGIC and LIMIT BREAK are separate brands created to differentiate themselves from the main event, so it's only natural that they have their own unique appeal. Since the original Noah show will be the main event, when asked what it means to be a main event, that leads to the big question: "What is Noah!?!?!"
"The current Noah main event has evolved, so I can't say that the old Noah-ness will become the current main event. I think that what the main event will offer from now on will become the 'new Noah-ness.'" Next year will mark 25 years since the founding of Noah. The promotion has undergone numerous changes in structure over its quarter-century history, and each time these changes have been described as a "rebirth" or a "new start." However, since becoming part of CyberFight and focusing on increasing the number of wrestlers and developing new talent, Noah has begun to fundamentally rebuild its identity. Although it's still early days, creating a separate brand within the Noah brand is also a way to pursue the Noah identity.
While it may seem paradoxical to have a separate brand that extracts and specializes a part of the original, it represents what Noah is. In that sense, the more separate brands we create, the more the original may become apparent."
So, is there a possibility that more new brands will be born next year and beyond? Director Takeda offered the following opinion on this matter: "I don't think that's the case at the moment. However, events for other brands are a good opportunity for wrestlers to experience a different approach to pro wrestling. While the wrestlers don't inherently bear the risk or responsibility, for example, since LIMIT BREAK is centered around TEAM NOAH, I think the members are very concerned about ticket sales and audience reactions. They feel more like it's their own show. With MONDAY MAGIC not only NOSAWA Rongai (assistant director) but also the regular wrestlers feel the same way. Separate brands have the effect of making wrestlers more conscious of the question, 'What is a show?' But at the same time, if we keep breaking it down into smaller and larger events, the main event will end up feeling empty (wry smile)."
At a normal event, there are few opportunities for individual wrestlers to be conscious of the show, but with the fragmented separate brands, the number of participating wrestlers will simply be reduced, and since events like Limit Break are clearly promoted as being run by TEAM NOAH, it will naturally foster a sense of responsibility in the wrestlers towards the show. There are good examples of separate brands from the past in wrestling. One such example is "WrestleLand," an event centered around Hiroshi Tanahashi, before he became an absolute ace. The other was "Lock Up" which was rugged and match focused, and led by coach Riki Choshu. The time when New Japan hosted these two events at small venues, Shinjuku FACE and Shinkiba 1stRING, separate from the main event, was right in the middle of what's known as the "dark period."
However, considering what happened to New Japan afterward, these two brands have great significance. WrestleLand's Tanahashi brought air guitar and other techniques to the main brand, and on top of that he gained support with the content of his matches and his words and actions, becoming a key figure in New Japan's recovery. The style of pure physical clash that was at the heart of the "lockup" has been carried over to the current NEVER line of matches, and if we take this example, it's not a stretch to think that Noah will also thrive in the future in the current era of three brands, including the main brand. "I'll just say I took that as a reference (laughs). LockUp is LIMIT BREAK and MONDAY MAGIC is WrestleLand. Even if it's not a separate brand, there's the possibility that in the future, young wrestlers might want to plan a show just for themselves. We've done things the ALL REBELLION events as an irregular initiative, even without going as far as branding. When it comes to the main event, it's difficult unless it's produced in one place. Like an orchestra, if there isn't one conductor, the group will fall apart. Even among those, I'd be happy if a wrestler with the spirit to take on challenges emerged. A separate brand event is exactly the kind of environment in which such wrestlers can take on challenges."
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