#Kaito Kitamiya

[joearlikelikeswrestling]

[pwrestlingxpress]

Pre-July 15th Interviews

As we countdown to "G1 Climax 33" and "One Night Dream", interviews were conducted in the last two weeks.

For the "One Night Dream" event; seven interviews were conducted in which six of them talk about the main event: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Kento Miyahara.

Both Miyahara and Nakajima were interviewed after their press conference back on June 19th when the match was made official. The other interviews were all conducted within the last week and in official order:

Go Shiozaki (Current Tag Partner of Katsuhiko Nakajima)

Masa Kitamiya (former wrestling training mate for both Nakajima and Miyahara)

Kyohei Wada (AJPW Referee) (Personal opinion: Guy is too slow of an official. His 3-counts way too slow)

Yu Owada (new wrestler for NOAH)

Naomichi Marufuji

Click here to watch Kento Miyahara's interview

Click here to watch Katsuhiko Nakajima's interview

Click here to watch Go Shiozaki's interview

Click here to watch Masa Kitamiya's interview

Click here to watch Kyohei Wada's interview

Click here to watch Yu Owada's interview

Click here to watch Naomichi Marufuji's interview

And note, Yu Owada is not picture because his interview is on his debut match while everyone else talked about the main event. "One Night Dream" airs on ABEMA (for free) with Japanese commentary and Wrestle Universe (subscription required) with English commentary Saturday July 15th at 5:30 AM Eastern/4:30 AM Central/2:30 AM Pacific

Meanwhile, interviews were conducted for G1 Climax 33 participants in which 6 of 8 A Blocks members were interviewed while 2 from C Block were interviewed and (as of typing) one for D Block was interview.

The following that were interviewed within the last 2 weeks for "G1 Climax 33" were

Shota Umino (A Block representative)

SANADA (A Block representative and reigning IWGP World Heavyweight Champion)

David Finlay (C Block representative and reigning NEVER Openweight Champion) [Not pictured above]

Ren Narita (A Block representative)

Kaito Kiyomiya (A Block representative and Pro Wrestling NOAH representative)

Hikuleo (A Block representative)

Yota Tsuji (A Block representative)

Eddie Kingston (C Block representative and AEW representative) [Not pictured above]

Tetsuya Naito (D Block representative) [His interview has yet to be put up on the official English website] [Not pictured above]

Go to the official G1 Climax 33 website (click here) to read all the interviews conducted within the last two weeks.

G1 Climax 33 starts Saturday July 15th from Sapporo. The event can be watched live on ABEMA (for free) with Japanese commentary and on NJPW World (also for free) with either English commentary or Japanese commentary. The event starts at 4:00 AM Eastern/3:00 AM Central/1:00 AM Pacific.

If your start time is not listed above, go to timeanddate.com, type in the city you currently live in to find the start time to the event in your area.

[pujoshi]

rumi @fagcrisis tagged me to do the wrestling 2024 tag meme... wrestling wrapped if you will... thank you this is very exciting for me as there are not many tag games for wrestling. but i like picking between things. and then sharing what i picked

⭐ mvp/wrestler of the year: kaito kiyomiya. i felt about his ghc run last year like i did about shiozaki's pandemic one (maybe not to that extent but the same general emotion). this is a big and good and hopeful emotion

⭐ match of the year: katsuhiko nakajima vs yuma anzai / ajpw dream power series [24/03/30] but honorable mention to masaaki mochizuki vs mochizuki jr / dragongate aggressive gate [24/07/05]

⭐ favorite feud: team noah vs burning. i like cross-promotion stuff. kenoh vs yamato was also great for much the same reason. you get to point at your screen and go "i know both of these guys"

⭐ favorite tag team/faction: tokyo yankees + saito brothers. the all japan tag division in general was just so good this year

⭐ favorite show: GO SHIOZAKI 20TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW

⭐ breakout(ish) star: yuma anzai + yu iizuka + ulka sasaki + ryohei oiwa... so on and so forth

⭐ horniest moment: from the aforementioned moty

⭐ most anticipated in 2025: masa kitamiya singles title run. which will one hundred percent happen

tagging: @kensukeoffice @busaikuknee @caranoirs @judolord @wunderwirker @schadentekkers

[romiswired]

Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Go Shiozaki (Pro Wrestling NOAH 20th Anniversary ~ NOAH The Chronicle Vol. 2)

30 minutes.

When you look back at the pandemic era of professional wrestling, you think about many promotions that stood up and had to change a lot of things to survive. You think of the big ones, like WWE and AEW, who changed their whole presentation for a more intimate and let's say creative approach. The Thunderdome was something straight out of a dystopia, but it was accurate to the times we were going through. I mean, the idea of a pandemic always sparks fear and intimidation for whatever happens to you or your loved ones, so the idea of wrestling in front of multiple screens with people watching over you ALL the time didn't feel like that much of a nightmare, although it was.

AEW had their own shows, and they made the talent the crowd so you could at least try and remember the times when real people were there, cheering or booing the wrestlers in the ring and making sure they have a reaction, or they don't. The thing about the AEW roster working as a crowd was that they reacted to everything and everyone. At the time we didn't question if that was practical or not because we were so needed of human interaction anything resembling our ordinary lives before this behemoth called COVID-19 struck in our world was appreciated, even if in its nature lied a blatant dishonesty with everything surrounding wrestling.

The first months of 2020 were weird looking at them in retrospective. It seemed like wrestling was going to continue a route of mediocrity at least in the United States, while in Japan the new guard was slowly building itself to be recognized, while the present stars were still shining through the darkness of this world. In promotions like DDT, you had the likes of Konosuke Takeshita and Tetsuya Endo running things and making sure you remember their names while Chris Brookes and Yuki Ueno were slowly becoming more and more important.

In New Japan Pro Wrestling you still had the likes of Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito to remind you they were the biggest stars in Japanese wrestling, but names like Jay White and Will Ospreay were starting to break through the mold, specially Ospreay who started his transition to a Heavyweight wrestler. In All Japan Pro Wrestling, Kento Miyahara was kicking it and bringing back Zen Nihon to the conversation once again, and while we had all of this, there were projects to be made in the sphere of Joshi wrestling, like STARDOM building the myth of Utami Hayashishita, and Miyu Yamashita becoming the definitive Ace in Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling.

Among all of this, lied a promotion with enough ups and downs to build a video-essay of three hours. Its name was Pro Wrestling NOAH, and in 2020 they were starting a new era. Long lost were the days of Suzuki-gun's invasion and NOAH's attendance issues, as CyberFight bought the company and was starting to build it almost from scratch, bringing a new logo, a new image, and of course, new stars and some established ones that had a lot in the tank. NOAH was a mix of everything you could imagine, and in a certainly interesting fashion, they became the home for the shooters and hoopers of the wrestling world.

In 2017, no one knew if NOAH could continue running things, as the promotion was going through a big crisis. In the beginning of 2020, a new roster was brought to fruition. Alongside the drawing power of Keiji Muto, the likes of Kenoh, Kaito Kiyomiya, Masa Kitamiya, Kazushi Sakuraba, Takashi Sugiura, Hideki Suzuki, Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kazuyuki Fujita built a roster of absolute monsters with something to prove. After defeating the young Kiyomiya, Go Shiozaki, the last disciple of Mitsuharu Misawa, became the GHC Heavyweight Champion and started a new chapter.

To understand Shiozaki's struggle we need to go back to 2009, when Misawa received a back suplex and was left in the middle of the ring gasping for air. In the biggest irony of all, the man that subjected himself to the sickest bumps in history was taken down by a mere, simple thing. As Misawa tragically died, Shiozaki was given the crown and was expected to get to inhuman heights for a guy his age and with his experience. He was a NOAH-born wrestler, but the fans were merciless with him and didn't settle for less than the best. The pressure was massive, and Shiozaki basically left NOAH in pursue of different opportunities.

Contrary to his master, Shiozaki continued his story in All Japan, the place that saw the myth of Misawa be born and brought to the spotlight. After winning the Triple Crown, and becoming one of the best wrestlers Japanese wrestling had to offer, he then returned to NOAH in 2015/2016, amidst the Suzuki-gun invasion and the Sugiura-gun angle. Shiozaki promised to protect NOAH from their invaders, but Naomichi Marufuji (potentially, THE NOAH guy you may think of) didn't believe in Go's intentions and doubted his loyatly because he left the company where things got tough.

After years of working his way through the ranks of the company, Shiozaki was building a status deserving of more opportunities. He formed AXIZ, a tag team with Nakajima that was really popular in the company and helped him build a resume of worth seeing matches, giving the company a new feeling. NOAH was no longer the promotion you could ignore, as they were building something big in the hands of Shiozaki and Nakajima. As I said, Shiozaki entered 2020 defeating Kiyomiya for the GHC Title, and was waiting for his contender to arise. What he couldn't predict nor control was the situation he was going to get involved in.

Kazuyuki Fujita was his first challenger. Fujita was the last disciple of Antonio Inoki, and the last son of Inokism, which meant his style was leaning on insane strikes and claustrophobic holds. Fujita was as stiff as they come, and he had a lot of accolades to fear him, more so when you consider he was part of Sugiura-gun, the "bad motherfuckers" group by excellence. He didn't sell for nobody, he bumped on his shoulders, and he was a stubborn S.O.B. as learned from his master who carried his philosophy to the biggest Puroresu company in the world today, this being New Japan.

While this match's significance was already in the table, being a clash between two of the most stubborn, narcissistic, egostistical and disruptive philosophies of professional wrestling who ran the 2000s clashing with each other for dominance, longevity and prestige (and were also literally contrary to each other in every single aspect) something else happened. A thing that was only permitted in the dystopical landscape we were living.

NOAH was forced to run their 20th Anniversary show in an empty Korakuen Hall, and the Main Event of this evening was Fujita vs. Shiozaki. Keep in mind what I already said. This was a match between the last of a dying breed, because Misawa-ism and Inoki-ism are no longer living as they did before. Marufuji can teach the young wrestlers the "Misawa way" but he'll never be that, he'll never reach that status. The same goes for someone like Katsuyori Shibata. You can't teach spirit. It's something that comes with you. You can't teach passion. It's something that lives within you. You can't teach like Misawa or Inoki because it goes further. It's not only "Misawa vs. Inoki" but part of it is "Baba vs. Inoki".

Part of what made NOAH characteristic was its evolution of King's Road methodology. Like it or not, All Japan's DNA lives in NOAH's first steps in the wrestling world, and the first arc of the company lies heavy on the stories that couldn't end in AJPW. The "Misawa vs. Kobashi" series, the "Misawa vs. Kawada" series, even the idea of Jun Akiyama being crowned GHC Champion when he couldn't be a Triple Crown holder is also proof of this. Therefore, this match has all of this significance behind.

Its setting just amplifies it.

If you never watched this match during the pandemic, there's a chance you will not understand why this is one of the best matches you could see in your life. It's all about the atmosphere to me. When you write on paper "30-minute staredown" it surely does not sound as interesting as it actually is in the match. I think the unique nature of it helps for that complex idea to be accepted and embraced. There's no one watching this. No one has to go anywhere. We're all stuck in our homes, fearing the death of our loved ones and ourselves.

Maybe we're going through some tough shit even, therefore why should we care about "time", when the world just stopped and doesn't seem to run accordingly? Why is "time" an imperative necessity for us to enjoy this match, when its setting just tells the story more so than 100 camera shots and a 20-minute speech? This match is actually a great exercise in how to use the limitations bestowed upon you to build something magical. Everything about this match feels natural because it's the only thing that you can think of. It also helps you understand the weight this has for someone like Shiozaki, because there's also something really profound hidden. This is the last challenge of Go Shiozaki's career to prove he has everything needed to run NOAH and carry it like Misawa once did. It's sink or swim, and the biggest shark wants a bite of him, so he has to fight through. He has to prove to ourselves and HIMSELF he can go, and he can carry that weight. The finishing stretch of this match just speaks louder than words. The final Gowan Lariat takes down the beast, and helps Shiozaki build his myth once and for all.

Watch this match. It's the best match in the pandemic era BY FAR, and it's also the best match in 2020. I've said this in 2020 when I first watched this, and I continue to think the same in 2025. After five years, I can say Shiozaki's reign with the GHC Title was so legendary it brought NOAH to heights that it didn't reach for a long time. While the current NOAH fails to catch my interest and has sincerely lost the plot, there's always this reminder of what a great company they were in the beginning of the decade, and how that short two-year run was a gift to NOAH fans around the world, and the NOAH-born wrestlers who had a lot of ghosts from their past, haunting at them and reminding them of their condition. For Shiozaki, those ghosts have disappeared, and he can finally stand in the middle of the ring and shout: "I am NOAH."

[puroresu-musings]

NOAH "THE NEW YEAR" 2024 Review (Jan 2nd, 2024, Ariake Arena, Tokyo)

1, GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Title 3-Way Elimination Match - Alpha Wolf & Dragon Bane (c) vs. Alejandro & Ninja Mack vs. YO-HEY & Tadasuke ***3/4

2, Jake Lee, Jack Morris & Anthony Greene vs. El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Titus Alexander & Vinnie Massaro **1/2

3, Masa Kitamiya vs. Tomohiro Ishii ****1/2+

4, Go Shiozaki vs. Satoshi Kojima ****

5, Great Sakuya & Nagisa Nozaki vs. Haruka Umesaki & Miyuki Takase **1/2

6, Takashi Sugiura vs. Ulka Sasaki ***

7, Hiroshi Tanahashi & HAYATA vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Yoshinari Ogawa ***1/2

8, GHC Jr. Heavyweight Championship - Daga (c) vs. Eita ***

9, NOAH/NJPW vs. House of Torture 12 Man Elimination Match - Kaito Kiyomiya, Shota Umino, Daiki Inaba, Shuji Kondo, Ryohei Oiwa & Junta Miyawaki vs. EVIL, Ren Narita, SHO, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo ***3/4

10, GHC Heavyweight Championship - Kenoh (c) vs. Manabu Soya ****1/2

11, Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kota Ibushi *

This was my first full NOAH show I've watched in forever and it was a great watch. They pulled in a great crowd of over 5K, it had very good matches up and down the card, two fantastic bouts, but unfortunately it ended with one of the worst matches you're likely to see all year...

Things started hot with the Jr. Tag Title 3-Way. You know what to expect here; lots of crazy spots, not much in the way of traditional "psychology", and 100mph action. The crowd loved this and it was a great way to kick things off. There was confusion over the elimination nature of this one, and had it ended after after the first fall, I think I'd have liked it more, but it was a great little opener with the GLG duo of YO-HEY and Tadasuke eliminating both opponents at 8:48 and 12:24 respectively to win the straps. Things cooled down a tad with the next match, which was decent enough but just your standard 6-Man, which saw the GLG were victorious again.

The next match was something of a Dream Match for me, one that's been teased for a good couple of years now as Ishii and Kitomiya, two of my favourite guys from their respective companies, had an absolute war that is a strong MOTYC only two days in! You know what to expect here, it was tsandard Ishii big match fair, which is always tremendous. They pounded each other with chops, Lariats, headbutts, forearms punches and suplexes for 15:04, before Ishii got the win with the Vertical Drop Brainbuster. Amazing. The next match too was excellent as Go Shiozaki went over ageless veteran Satoshi Kojima, in a battle of the Go-wan Lariats! This was great, and kept relatively short at 13:56. Shiozaki won after an exchange of Lariats. Go formed a new faction called Team NOAH in the post-match.

Next up we got a couple of interesting debuts. "The Great Muta's daughter" Great Sakuya (Riko Kawahata) debuted in a doubles clash which ended in a DQ after she blew the dreaded Dokukiri in poor Umesaki's face. This was very silly, and the crowd were dead for it, but whilst it certainly wasn't great, it certainly wasn't bad either. The next match was better as former MMA fighter Ulka Sasaki battled NOAH legend Takashi Sugiura in a nice little exhibition. Sasaki looked good here, and it featured some good sequences, before Sugiura naturally won at the 11 minute mark with the Olympic Yossen Slam.

After intermission we got the ZSJ/Ogawa vs. Tana/HAYATA tag match. This was really good, as you'd expect, though at nearly 18 minutes it was a little long. They teased a lot of stuff with Zack and Tanahashi for their TV Title match at the Dome tomorrow. Sabre Jr. won for his team when he submitted HAYATA with a crazy leg stretch. The GHC Jr. Title bout was decent enough, as Daga retained over Eita in exactly 13 minutes. I expected a bit more here, and it ultimatly came off as a bit of a squash as Daga dominated the whole thing, despite the crowd really wanting Eita to win. The 6 on 6 Elimationation match was actually a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it. Like everyone else, I'm at the end of my tether with this HoT stuff (and don't even get me started on Narita's inexplicably asinine inclusion in this nonsense), BUT, this match proves if done right, it can be pretty great. Obviously we got all the token House silliness like the never-ending stream of low blows, interference and incompetent refereeing, but it built really well as it boiled down to Kaito and EVIL, with Kiyomiya looking like a hero as he overcame the odds and sent EVIL to the floor with a Shining Wizard at the 26:14 mark to win for the babyfaces.

The first half of the Double Main Event; Kenoh's GHC Heavyweight Title defence against former tag partner Manabu Soya came next and it was another fantastic, hard-hitting war, and another early MOTYC. We all know Kenoh's great, and I've always been a fan of Soya since his All Japan days, but he's kind of lingered in the NOAH mid-card since arriving and gotten lost in the shuffle somewhat. Well this was a coming out party if ever there were one, both guys looked fantastic here, and I was worried someone was going to get legit KO'd at points, given how hard they were hitting each other. Kenoh missed a Moonsault knee drop by a considerable margin at the end there, but recovered well by devastating the big man with some headkicks and got the submission win at 28:36 with the Kenoh Special. Excellent, excellent match. Shiozaki came out in the post match and challenged Strong Fist to a title match, which will be happening on January 13th. Count me in as these two always have great matches together. And this is where I'd recommend everyone just turn this show off...

The Marufuji/Ibushi main event *sigh*... look I'm sure everyone already knows about this match, something that once upon a time was a dream match, but in the harsh realities of 2024, was an abject nightmare. This match was all kinds of bad, as Ibushi came into this thing banged up to oblivion and physically incapable of doing... anything, really. AND IT WENT 33:26!!! Which honestly felt like a good couple of hours watching live. Ibushi announced he was working through a broken hand and foot in the days prior, and when he made his entrance with tears streaming down his face, I feared the worst. The reality is this match shouldn't have happened, or if it did, have it go like 10 minutes maximum or something. And certainly don't have it be the main event! It was total insanity to book this to go north of 30 minutes. But even then, nobody made Ibushi try to do his signature spots in this thing. The guy couldn't even get himself up to go over the ropes on a backdrop, so what made him think attempting a Moonsault to the floor was a wise move? Well, he seemingly broke his ankle doing so, and the match only descended into more of a train wreck from there. The crowd were dead, almost like they were at a funeral, the "action" was a level lower than snail pace, and watching it was a profoundly sad experience. I never thought I'd see the day when the Keiji Muto of 2023 looked more mobile and having more business being in the ring than Kota Ibushi ever. Ibushi won with Kamigoye to put everyone out of their misery, none more so than the two guys in the match, then there was a totally bizarre post match where Kiyomiya and Jake Lee came out and seemingly banished Ibushi from NOAH. Ibushi could barely stand or walk on his way to the back, and this is a match I'll never watch again in my life. I had thought about giving this a DUD, but I couldn't be that harsh given the circumstances. Also, Marufuji did try his best out there, bless him. But the fact is Ibushi needs some time away from the ring to heal. I mean, this could be the end of his illustrious in-ring career, which is beyond heartbreaking, and he's looked a shadow of his former self since he returned to wrestling last Spring, but he wasn't even the same person out there on this show.

All in all, this was a great supershow from NOAH, marred slightly by a catastrophically bad main event, for obvious reasons. But I recommend everyone check it out up the fab Kenoh/Soya match, and just pretend the Ibushi/Maru match never happened.

NDT

[sana-yan]

here are the quick facts about axiz for those who want the lowdown but don't watch noah (go subscribe to wrestle universe!!)

this is katsuhiko nakajima, the "mad wolf"

he's a short king wild boy from a tumultuous childhood, and a genius at striking offense with a background in martial arts and MMA since he was literally 14 or something

it doesn't matter how tall you are, he's swingin

he's burned countless bridges before, one being his ex-tag team and now current tag team partner, mr. "i am noah" himself, go shiozaki

he's the tallest smol you'll ever meet with a real tragic past, loyal to a fault (and loves cute things like desserts and using cute emoticons, has 7 cats and a dog, and is unironically a kpop stan).

this is him in my favorite shirt of his that he likes to wear

anyway they were in a tag team called axiz and they used to be like this:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 中嶋勝彦 Katsuhiko Nakajima (@katsuhiko_nakajima)

and like this:

anyway, the main thing is that they were homies.

they also had three specially produced photobooks with lore.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 中嶋勝彦 Katsuhiko Nakajima (@katsuhiko_nakajima)

by the way, if you have twitter, give Hi5ame a follow; they are literally a godsend for the NOAH fandom.

as i mentioned, nakajima tends to burn bridges and the surrounding 50km radius. he turned on shiozaki when he believed that go had no "use" for him. in fact, nakajima turns on his partners when he feels they no longer rely on him.

he betrayed go to join kenoh's stable, kongo in august 2020. worth noting that the reason why he teamed with shiozaki in the first place was that he betrayed his ex-partner masa kitamiya earlier in 2018. anyway, no matter how kitamiya feels, nakajima is in kongo now.

at the time, it seemed like nakajima was the odd man out, the lone wolf of the group, but over 2 and half years, it appeared that the wolf had found his pack. there was even a haircut episode (iykyk)

in particular, he bonded with kenoh the most. nakajima and kenoh were rivals, but they had also become bros outside of just hating The Company and ragging on shiozaki

in a way, nakajima stumbled into what he needed the most. friends who understood him, who lived through the struggles of noah as he did. but the thing is, despite finally finding a faction that seemed to suit him and want him, nakajima couldn't be happy. not when he and kenoh's try at the tag belts failed. inadvertently rubbing salt in the wounds, kenoh's other tag belt endeavors with other members of kongo succeeded.

so, on may 4, 2023, during a 6-man tag between kongo (katsuhiko nakajima, kenoh, manabu soya) and noah's main unit team of kaito kiyomiya, yoshiki inamura, and go shiozaki, in what was go's comeback match after 8 months of being sidelined with injury, kongo utterly and thoroughly crushes the hope of the returning shiozaki.

further humiliating him in the ring, nakajima mocks shiozaki on the mic, wondering where the strong ace of noah's past went. before him is a weak and pathetic man.

and that's exactly why nakajima lifts up his hand to deliver the final blow...

...and offer to team up. because shiozaki needs nakajima. shiozaki would be nothing but dependent on nakajima. nakajima will be irreplaceable.

leaning on none other than shiozaki's surgically-repaired shoulder, nakajima poses, hearkening back to classic axiz. and shiozaki, a head taller than nakajima, nearly crumples to half his height, clinging to nakajima in a grateful and emotional embrace, so happy to have katsuhiko back.

(source: pro wrestling noah global twitter)

the thing about axiz's catchphrase is that they are "homies now and forever." and bless him and his loyalty, shiozaki took it to heart. in the two and half years axiz had broken up, go had never changed his twitter bio. he's always been repping AXIZ (and also bts lmao). he'd always been hoping that nakajima would return to his side.

(source: x)

and in the backstage, nakajima makes it clear, saying, "kongo doesn't need me anymore. kenoh doesn't need me anymore. i don't need him anymore either."

kenoh, of course, ain't happy. deeply hurt by this betrayal (and losing nakajima to go shiozaki!!! of all people!!!), he calls nakajima a "traitor." things are gonna get real spicy, especially as the fallout of axiz's reformation begins to settle.

if you're interested in what comes next:

subscribe to wrestle universe! things are just getting started!

[zsjbrightensday]

Pro Wrestling NOAH N-1 Victory 2024

4 August-1 September

A block

Kaito Kiyomiya

Josh Briggs

Ryohei Oiwa

Jack Morris

Masa Kitamiya

Dragon Bane

Go Shiozaki

Luis Mante

B block

Kenoh

Ulka Sasaki

Manabu Soya

Yoichi

Titus Alexander

Tavion Heights

Alpha Wolf

Hijo Del Dr. Wagner Jr.

[wheredoisign]

[miloloveswrestling]

Go Shiozaki & Kaito Kiyomiya vs Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya

[gdwessel]

Tsunami Hits Eastern Coast of Japan; NOAH Bumper Crop 2022 in Sendai 1/16/2022: 11 Wrestlers Pulled From Show; NJPW Strong Episode 74 - 1/15/2022; NJPW v. NOAH WK16 On NJPWWorld & Wrestle Universe; DG, STARDOM, DDT, TJPW Results

The single biggest piece of news today is a tsunami hitting eastern coast of Japan after the underwater volcanic eruption off the coast of Tonga sent tsunami towards Japan, Tonga, Hawaii, the West Coast of the USA, and other parts of the Pacific. Nearly 230,000 people were evacuated from the seaside parts of Iwate, Miyagi, Chiba, Tokushima, Kagoshima, Aomori, Kochi and Miyazaki Prefectures, with warnings in effect all the way from Hokkaido to Ogasawara and Okinawa as well. Boats were capsized and flights were cancelled as well. The warnings seem to be off now, and casualties & damage seem relatively few especially compared to the 2011 Tohoku tsunami. We wish everyone affected by this to be safe and unharmed.

 New Japan Pro Wrestling

This week’s edition of NJPW Strong continues the Nemesis tapings from LA from December.

Karl Fredericks & Kevin Knight d. Bateman & Misterioso [Stray Dog Army] (Fredericks > Misterioso, MD, 10:04)

Brody King [AEW] d. Dave Dutra (Gonso Bomb, 6:31)

JONAH d. David Finlay Jr. (Tsunami, 8:20)

The New Beginning USA ran last night in Seattle, but I won’t be listing those results here, as I normally do not, opting instead to wait until the shows air on NJPWWorld.

Wrestle Kingdom 16 in Yokohama Arena is now on both NJPWWorld AND Wrestle Universe, with each promotion’s own commentary teams on each feed, Japanese and English. Check this out if you missed it last weekend live on ABEMA.

Pro Wrestling NOAH

NOAH ran in Sendai today, apparently unaffected by the tsunami. You can see it now on Wrestle Universe. Two title matches headlined this show. Several matches were affected by positive COVID-19 tests, or exposure to said cases. NOAH did not specify who on this list tested positive or were merely exposed, save to say Masato Tanaka was absent due to “poor physical condition” although a PCR test was negative. Kaito Kiyomiya, Yoshinari Ogawa, Junta Miyawaki, Yoshiki Inamura, Super Crazy, Tadasuke, Daiki Inaba, Kinya Okada and Yasutaka Yano were listed as being dropped today for COVID-related reasons.

Bumper Crop 2022 in Sendai - 1/16/2022, Sendai Sunplaza Hall (Wrestle Universe)

NOSAWA Rongai, YO-HEY & Kotaro Suzuki [Perros del Mal de Japon] d. ALEJA, Hao & Nio [Kongo] (YO-HAY > Nao, Dropkick, 8:56)

Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara d. HAYATA & Yuya Susumu [STINGER] (Kotoge > Susumu, Kill Switch, 11:50)

Daisuke Harada d. Seiki Yoshioka [STINGER] (Katayama German Suplex Hold, 12:07)

Daisuke Harada & Hao [Kongo] d. Nio & ALEJA [Kongo] (Harada > ALEJA, Katayama German Suplex Hold, 9:59)

Takashi Sugiura, Kazushi Sakuraba, Kendo Kashin & Kazuyuki Fujita [Sugiura-gun] d. Go Shiozaki, Masakatsu Funaki [M’s Alliance], King Tany [Funky Express] & Muhammad Yone [Funky Express] (Fujita > Tany, Powerbomb, 18:54)

GHC Tag Team Championship: Keiji Muto & Naomichi Marufuji [M’s Alliance] © d. Kenoh & Manabu Soya [Kongo] (Muto > Soya, Frankensteiner, 20:55) - Muto/Marufuji succeed their 2nd defense

GHC Heavyweight Championship: Katsuhiko Nakajima [Kongo] © d. Masa Kitamiya (Vertical Spike, 28:40) - Nakajima succeeds his 4th defense

Nakajima wins, and declared “WE (Kongo) ARE NOAH.” Kazuyuki Fujita challenged Nakajima to be his next defense, and that match is booked for Gain Control in Nagoya 2/23/2022 in Aichi Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall. Yuck, Fujita.

Muto pins Soya, and suddenly it’s early 2010s AJPW or Wrestle-1 all over again. I do not know the circumstances behind the tag match that followed Harada v. Yoshioka, save that they probably needed to do something to fill the card what with 11 wrestlers out.

NOAH next runs on Saturday 1/22/2022 from Osaka EDION Arena 2nd Arena. I won’t list the card here as I am planning an Upcoming Events post tomorrow, however with EVERYTHING going on, maybe safe to assume not all matches going forward are going to be happening as scheduled. Year Three of this pandemic, and we really should all expect this now.

Dragon Gate

Dragon Gate ran some spot shows the last couple of days.

Open The New Year Gate 2022 – Final Burst Out! K-Ness Forever Night 6 - 1/15/2022, Ishikawa Kanazawa Distribution Center

YAMATO, Dragon Kid & Keisuke Okuda [HIGH-END] d. Kzy, U-T & Jacky “Funky” Kamei [Natural Vibes] (YAMATO > Kamei, Galleria, 11:47)

BxB Hulk [R.E.D.] d. Ryu Fuda (Facelock, 4:53)

Susumu Yokosuka [Natural Vibes], Big Boss Shimizu [Natural Vibes] & Takuma Fujiwara d. Ultimo Dragon, Jason Lee & Takumi Hayakawa [Shimizu > Hayakawa, Big Boss Press, 13:13)

Riki iihashi TLD Ishin Iihashi (10:00)

Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka d. Ben-K & Kagetora [HIGH-END] (Dia > Kagetora, Reptillian, 12:05)

2 v. 3 Handicap Match: Takashi Yoshida & Kota Minoura d. KAI, Shun Skywalker & HYO [R.E.D.] (Yoshida > HYO, Pineapple Bomber, 12:15)

The main ended up being a handicap match due to Naruki Doi registering a fever before the show. However, it seems that Kota Minoura now has fallen in with Doi/Kong’s new nascent unit. Prior to the show, Eita & Kaito Ishida, recently removed from R.E.D., were boycotting the event and stormed out fo the area. You can watch it here.

Open The New Year Gate 2022 – Final Burst Out! K-Ness Forever Night 7 - 1/16/2022, Shizuoka Act City Hamamatsu

Kzy, U-T & Jacky “Funky” Kamei [Natural Vibes] d. Dragon Kid, Ben-K & Keisuke Okuda [HIGH-END] (Kzy > Okuda, Running Elbow Smash, 11:20)

Kagetora [HIGH-END] & Takuma Fujiwara d. Riki & Ishin Iihashi (Kagetora > Ishin, Brainbuster, 9:22)

Shun Skywalker [R.E.D.] d. Ryu Fuda (Moonsault Knee Drop, 5:00)

Big Boss Shimizu [Natural Vibes] & Shoya Sato d. Ultimo Dragon & Takumi Hayakawa (Shimizu > Hayakawa, Big Boss Press, 9:06)

Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka d. Susumu Yokosuka & Genki Horiguchi [Natural Vibes] (Yoshioka > Hiroguchi, Frog Splash, 12:03)

Takashi Yoshida, Kota Minoura & Jason Lee d. KAI, BxB Hulk & HYO [R.E.D.] (Yoshida > HYO, Pineapple Bomber, 11:07)

Kong keeps up his winning streak on his way to challenging for KAI’s Open The Dream Gate title. Jason Lee and Kota Minoura continue to partner up so no animosity there post-MASQUERADE! R.E.D. are not in good shape since the beginning of the year, and especially after what happened Wednesday. Shun Skywalker had to beat up a rookie to get his first win as an R.E.D. member. Doi was kept off today’s show.

The next show is another spot show, in Nagoya tomorrow.

DDT / Tokyo Joshi / GANBARE Pro

DDT was in Hiroshima yesterday.

DDT Sweet Dreams! 2022 Tour In Hiroshima - 1/15/2022, Hiroshima Marina Hop (Tape delay on Wrestle Universe)

MAO d. Yuki Ishida (8:12)

Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Paul d. Naomi Yoshimura & Toi Koyama (11:00)

Danshoku Dino & Yuki Ino d. Antonio Honda & Rey Paloma (12:46)

Yuji Hino, Chris Brookes & Akito d. Kazusada Higuchi, Hideki Okatani & Toru Owashi (13:27)

HARASHIMA & Soma Takao d. Kazuki Hirata & Kenshin Chikano (12:03)

Konosuke Takeshita, Shunma Katsumata & Yuki Ueno d. Jun Akiyama, Tetsuya Endo & Yuya Koroku (20:47)

Tokyo Joshi also ran, which featured matches for the Futari No Princess Max Heart Tournament 2022.

TJPW Tokyo Joshi 2022 Winter - 1/15/2022, Tokyo Shinjuku FACE (Wrestle Universe)

Moka Miyamoto d. Kaya Toribami (5:08)

Nao Kakuta d. Arisu Endo (7:08)

3-Way Match: Hikari Noa d. Haruna Neko & Suzume (8:28)

Nodoka Tenma, Yuki Aino, Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi d. Miyu Yamashita, Maki Itoh, Mahiro Kiryu & Pom Harajuku (12:41)

Futari No Princess Max Heart Tournament 2022 First Round: ASUKA & Yuki Kamifuku d. Kobashi & Raku (8:50)

Futari No Princess Max Heart Tournament 2022 First Round: Hyper Misao & Shoko Nakajima d. Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki (14:53)

 STARDOM

STARDOM ran shows this weekend as well.

- 1/15/2022, Tajimi City Industrial Culture Center

Mina Shirakawa [Cosmic Angels] d. Waka Tsukiyama [Cosmic Angels] (Figure-4 Leglock, 8:09)

3-Way Match: Utami Hayashishita [Queen’s Quest] d. Mai Sakurai [Cosmic Angels] & Saki Kashima [Oedo Tai] (Hayashishita > Sakurai, German Suplex Hold, 8:32)

Tam Nakano & Unagi Sayaka [Cosmic Angels] d. Saya Kamitani & Lady C [Queen’s Quest] (Sayaka > C, Taigi De Atta, 13:23)

Mayu Iwatani, Koguma & Hazuki [STARS] TLD Giulia, MIRAI & Thekla [Donna del Mundo] (20:00)

Syuri, Maika & Himeka [Donna del Mundo] d. Ruaka, Starlight Kid & Momo Watanabe [Oedo Tai] (Syuri > Ruaka, Buzzsaw Kick, 17:29)

- 1/16/2022, Aichi Toyohashi Loisir Hotel

1 v. 3 Handicap Match: Syuri [Donna del Mundo] d Waka Tsukiyama [Cosmic Angels], Mai Sakurai [Cosmic Angels] & Ruaka [Oedo Tai] (Syuri > Tsukiyama, Zanshu, 7:48)

Tam Nakano & Mina Shirakawa [Cosmic Angels] d. Giulia & Thekla [Donna del Mundo] (Shirakawa > Thekla, Gloria Collection Mina, 12:01)

Mayu Iwatani, Koguma & Hazuki [STARS] d. Saki Kashima, Starlight Kid & Momo Watanabe [Oedo Tai] (Koguma > Kashima, Rollup, 14:43)

Unagi Sayaka [Cosmic Angels] TLD MIRAI [Donna del Mundo] (15:00)

Maika & Himeka [Donna del Mundo] d. Utami Hayashishita & Saya Kamitani [Queen’s Quest] (Maika > Kamitani, Michinoku Driver II, 18:47)

Lady C suffered an injury yesterday, so the 6-woman tag main event was changed to the current one and then Syrui was put into a handicap match against Cosmic Angels and Oedo Tai members.

The next show is on Saturday 1/22/2022.

Other News

Michinoku Pro ran two shows this weekend, as did Gatoh Move ChocoPro and Ice Ribbon.

Big Japan and 2AW ran a joint show in Chiba.

A-TEAM, Prominence, WAVE and YMZ also all ran this weekend.

Upcoming Events post coming tomorrow.

[keepingthespiritalive]

NOAH results for June 19, 2018

Pro-Wrestling NOAH “Navig. with Emerald Spirits 2018”, 6/19/2018 [Tue] 18:30 @ Aizu Wakamatsu City Bunka Center in Fukushima 302 Spectators (crowded)

(1) Cody Hall vs. Junta Miyawaki ◆Winner: Hall (4:50) following a Sitdown Side Chokeslam.

(2) Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara & Hitoshi Kumano vs. Maybach Taniguchi, Tadasuke & Masao Inoue ◆Winner: Kotoge (12:50) with the Kakumei Manto (Revolutionary…

[joearlikelikeswrestling]

[pwrestlingxpress]

Match Card for July 9th NOAH Event

After the events of "Star Navigation 2023: Kenoh vs. Go Shiozaki"; we have the official match card for the July 9th event taking place in Hachioji as part of the "Sunny Voyage" series.

At this time, with the exception of the main event, match card is not finalized. It is expected to be finalized after June 24th where most of the NOAH wrestlers will be competing in an event to celebrate Kenoh's 15th year in professional wrestling. With that said...here's the official match card.

Atsushi Kotoge vs. Hiroki

Super Crazy and Kai Fujimura vs. Yoshinari Ogawa and LEONA

Shuji Kondo and Hajime Ohara vs. Alejandro and Seiki Yoshioka

Naomichi Marufuji, Mohammed Yone, Masa Kitamiya, and Yoshiki Inamura vs. Saxon Huxley, Kazuyuki Fujita, Hideaki Suzuki, and Shuhei Taniguchi

Stallion Rogers and Dante Leon vs. Ninja Mack and Adam Brooks

Kenoh and Manabu Soya vs. Kaito Kiyomiya and Daiki Inaba

HAYATA, Eita, Go Shiozaki, and Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Tadasuke, YO-HEY, Jack Morris, and Jake Lee

GHC National Championship: AMAKUSA (Challenger) vs. Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. (Champion)

A very intriguing match set for July 9th that could change pending on these 2 matches taking place this Saturday (June 24th):

June 24, 2023: Match #4: Go Shiozaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Mohammed Yone, and GAINA vs. Saxon Huxley, Timothy Thatcher, Kazuyuki Fujita, and Shuhei Taniguchi

June 24, 2023: Semi-Main Event: Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Kaito Kiyomiya, HAYATA, and Eita vs. Jake Lee, Jack Morris, YO-HEY, and Tadasuke

Should AXIZ (Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima) pin the champions (Timothy Thatcher or Saxon Huxley) this Saturday in 8-man tag action, their match for July 9th along with another 8-man tag match could be changed. Please keep your eyes out on social media for any match card changes to the event.

Now...if this card is the official final card, be interesting to see how Jake Lee and Jack Morris will interact with each other. Same thing with Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima as the N-1 Victory inches closer to reality. Both GLG Members as well as the team of AXIZ are slated to face each other (Lee vs. Morris) (Shiozaki vs. Nakajima) in block competition this year.

Lastly...this event will be Kaito Kiyomiya's last match for Pro Wrestling NOAH until September 3rd due to him appearing in NJPW's G1 Climax Tournament starting on July 15th. It'll be interesting to see if anyone else from his block besides Yota Tsuji makes a surprise appearance. After this Sunday, all but Kiyomiya will be free from competing until G1 Climax begins on July 15th in Sapporo. At the same time, this will also be the Pro Wrestling NOAH debut for Adam Brooks who is slated to be a part of the N-1 Victory Tournament starting on August 6th.

"Sunny Voyage 2023 in Hachioji" comes to Wrestle Universe on July 9th at 4:00 PM Local Time/3:00 AM Eastern/2:00 AM Central/12 Midnight Pacific. Go to timeanddate.com and type in the city you're currently live in to find the start time to the event in your area.

[wrestlingisfake]

The New Year 2023

I still don't follow Pro Wrestling Noah but they're doing they're biggest show of the year, so I caved in and signed up for Wrestle Universe. (It's 900 yen for a month, which works out to $6.86 US, so that seems like a good deal.) The show starts at 2am EST tonight, with English commentary, so after Americans ring in the new year they can stay up late watching wrestling.

All I really know about the show is the main event: the Great Muta vs. Shinsuke Nakamura. Muta (aka Keiji Mutoh) is a living legend in Japan and he's winding down his retirement tour. WWE has given Nakamura special permission to come in for one of Muta's final matches. It's not exactly like Shinsuke returning to New Japan, but it's about as close as we're going to get anytime soon. Mutoh is 60 years old so I'm not expecting a five-star classic, but the fact this matchup seemed impossible a couple of months ago should fill it with drama.

Here's the rest of the card:

GHC heavyweight champion Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Kenoh

GHC junior tag champions YO-HEY & Kzy vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Eita

GHC heavyweight tag champions Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima vs. Naomichi Marufuji & KENTA

GHC junior champion AMAKUSA vs. Junta Miyawaki

Timothy Thatcher vs. Jack Morris

Masakatsu Funaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya & Hajime Ohara vs. Kazuyuki Fujita & Kendo Kashin & Rongai NOSAWA & ?

Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. & Atsushi Kotoge & Seiki Yoshioki vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Susumu Mochizuki & Mochizuki Jr.

Ninja Mack & Dante Leon & Alejandro vs. Shuji Kondo & Tadasuke & HIROKI

Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura vs. Muhammad Yone & Akitoshi Saito & Shuhei Taniguchi

Yasutaka Yano vs. Taishi Ozawa

[internationalwrestlingnews]

#NOAH La empresa anuncio los cuadros para el torneo N1 Victory que comenzará el próximo 12 de septiembre Grupo A: Keiji Muto Takashi Sugiura Kaito Kiyomiya Manabu Soya Grupo B: Kenoh Mazaaki Mochizuki Kashin Kendo Daiki Inaba Grupo C: Katsuhiko Nakajima Kasushi Sakuraba Masato Tanaka Kotaro Suzuki Grupo D: Kitamiya Masa Akitoshi Saito Masakatsu Funaki Kazuyuki Fujita https://www.instagram.com/p/CS8ISEXAkup/?utm_medium=tumblr

[puroresuspirit]

~NOAH R-village PARTY ~ BATTLE LIVE SP ~, 10/17/2019 [Thu] Kanagawa – Kawasaki Club Citta

1. 50 Funky Powers (Muhammed Yone & Quiet Storm) vs Sugiura Army (Hajime Ohara & Kinya Okada) Winners: 50 Funky Powers (11:41) Muhammed Yone pinned Kinya Okada with a Funky Buster Bomb.

2. RATEL’S (HAYATA, Daisuke Harada, Tadasuke & YO-HEY) vs Hi69, Hitoshi Kumano, Junta Miyawaki & Sonico Winners: RATEL'S (14:58) HAYATA pinned Junta Miyawaki with a Moonsault Press.

3. Kaito Kiyomiya, Naomichi Marufuji & Shuhei Taniguchi vs Kengoh (Kenoh, Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura) Winners: Kiyomiya, Marufuji & Taniguchi (16:29) Kaito Kiyomiya pinned Yoshiki Inamura with a Tiger Suplex Hold.