“NOAH TV”
With the cancellation of all shows until the 21st March (NOAH have also taken the decision to cancel the 28th March); NOAH had a special treat in store for fans. Not only did they announce that they were releasing new merchandise; and everyone who spent more than 5,000 yen on the store would get a free random autograph with their purchase, they would also be releasing a special themed show from roster members each day, so from 3rd March until the 8th March, we had the following videos per day;
The five days of NOAH (all videos can be found via the official NOAH YouTube channel)
- 3rd March: The training of the Kick King, Katsuhiko Nakajima
- 4th March: Daisuke Harada’s Boot Camp, feat Tadasuke
- 5th March: Shuhei Taniguchi’s Life Advice (while drinking)
- 6th March: Kongoh Fan Meeting 2020 (this was the cancelled fan event from the 29th February)
- 7th March: Atsushi Kotoge’s “What a day!”
Katsuhiko Nakajima’s video gave us a look at the NOAH dojo and a look into the varied training of a wrestler; and so I highly recommend this video for those who are thinking of training, or who are starting to train. Please do not be put off by the language barrier; what you see will be useful enough…and if you just want to ogle Nakajima, this will definitely be of interest.
Shuhei Taniguchi presented a video in which he drank (he drank before it too) and gave advice to people who sent in questions via Twitter. He was joined on the show by his wife (a former wrestler) and young son. Teased by the others in NOAH for being taciturn and known to be somewhat staid; people said they were jokingly puzzled by this, but it went well.
Kongoh’s Fan Meeting was held at Megarage in Kawasaki; and rather than Kenoh screaming at his enemies, it was all smiles and laughter. Yoshiki Inamura spoke about his pets, Kenoh about the formation of Kongoh, Haoh about how he shouldn’t be trusted with the money that was being donated; and it reached RATELS levels of silliness, when they started comparing themselves to potatoes.
The last video of the week was Atsushi Kotoge’s “What A Day” in which he was joined by Naomichi Marufuji; they spoke of hobbies (Kotoge plays the drums, so Marufuji handed Kotoge some pens to play on the table, and Kotoge shyly began to play and then dropped them); answered questions from Twitter and produced a “Correlation chart” with the roster grouped into categories like “No girlfriends”, “Pets”, and “Smokers”. Warning: This video may induce motion sickness as Atsushi Kotoge cannot stay still.
I will be writing more about each video in due course.
The videos had three outcomes; the first being that the next day; Kinya Okada announced he was leaving The Sugiura Army (Sugiura is yet to comment), and was going solo. He didn’t have anything negative to say about his time with the unit, on the whole he was grateful to Sugiura (although Sugiura never let him officially join); but he hadn’t been getting any results and now he wanted to go solo. Okada said that he wanted to learn kicking techniques; and will now be taught them by Nakajima.
The second outcome of the videos, especially the Harada BootCamp; is that fans are suggesting that NOAH look into making a DVD and maybe an accompanying book advising people on how to exercise at home.
The third outcome is that the week of NOAH videos was such a success that fans are asking for more; and indeed it seems that NOAH have hinted that there may well be more.
NEWS
Junta Miyawaki injured
Junta Miyawaki dislocated his shoulder during training and so will miss some dates when NOAH do eventually return later in the month as the injury requires surgery. Kinya Okada has asked Katsuhiko Nakajima if he can take his place against All Japan on the 27th March. Nakajima granted his wish but said that he had only one job, to win.
Global Tag League
Global Tag League will return on April 4th with the opening night being in Osaka; and run for six dates with the final night being on the 18th at Korakuen.
Teams to be announced.
N-1 Victory will return in September
“I want you to stop using “Best In The World” ~ Mini Interview with Yoshinari Ogawa (Part 1)
Yoshinari Ogawa gave an interview regarding Harada’s decision not to put the IPW Junior Heavyweight on the line at Korakuen Hall. Ogawa says he is disappointed in Harada (as well as throwing in some rare expletives about his conduct); for changing his mind, and angry at the company for not consulting him. Ogawa’s plans for having the belt where to go to England and challenge Chris Ridgeway (which I think is NOAH’s plan along the line somewhere whether it be in England or Japan); but as far as Ogawa is concerned Harada wants to keep the belt to pose with it.
ELSEWHERE IN NOAH
- Kenoh is convinced the company are still harassing him; by apparently drawing his face on his fist in the cartoon version of him on the newest NOAH towel.
- NOAH will distribute hygiene masks at their shows on the 27th and 29th March.
- Yoshiki Inamura lost his first “Strong Climb” match in Big Japan (vs Daichi Hashimoto)
- Masaaki Mochizuki has expressed a desire to have a singles match with Takashi Sugiura
- Naomichi Marufuji will appear in DDT on April 2nd as a run up to their “Peter Pan 2020” show.
CURRENT CHAMPIONS
NOAH have announced that they will hold a small show on March 29th at Korakuen Hall for the title matches only – these being the GHC Heavyweight, the GHC National, the GHC Junior and the GHC Junior Tag. The GHC Heavyweight Belts will be held in Dragon Gate at a date to be announced.
- GHC Heavyweight Champion: Go Shiozaki
Challenger: Kazuyashi Fujita (29th March, Korakuen Hall) - GHC Junior Champion: Yoshinari Ogawa
Challenger: Daisuke Harada (29th March, Korakuen Hall) - GHC Heavyweight Tag Champions: MM (Naomichi Marufuji & Masaaki Mochizuki)
R.E.D (Takashi Yoshida and Diamante) (TBA) - GHC Junior Tag Champions: STINGER (Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Kotoge)
Challengers: RATELS (YO-HEY and HAYATA) (29th March, Korakuen Hall) - GHC National Champion: Takashi Sugiura
Challenger: Minoru Tanaka (29th March, Korakuen Hall) *Due to shows being cancelled because of the Coronavirus; we now get some pre-matches, which we didn’t have before (i.e. Tanaka vs Sugiura) - IPW Junior Heavyweight Champion: Daisuke Harada
BROADCASTS
G+ will broadcast 27th March four title match show from Korakuen Hall on March 30th.
As NOAH shows are being uploaded to DDT Universe, please consider subscribing. Please do this on the 1st of the month as you will be charged twice otherwise.
THIS WEEK IN NOAH
- Katsuhiko Nakajima: March 11th (32)
- Eddie Edwards debut: March 11th (18)
- KENTA: March 12th (39)
- March 13th: YO-HEY one day manager of YoneYa (unsurprisingly this was booked within half an hour)
- NOSAWA & Takashi Sugiura fan dinner: March 14th
LINKS
Katsuhiko Nakajima on “Hiru Pochi”
Kinya Okada withdraws from The Sugiura Army, and makes a direct request to “Fight All Japan”. Nakajima agrees to request.
“W-1 Fans please send cheers and support him.” Interview with Katsuhiko Nakajima
GIF credit: Noah GHC, Samurai TV
Picture credit: PKDX
