On Saturday, November 20th, Pro Wrestling NOAH and New Japan Pro Wrestling held a joint conference to announce that on January 8th 2022, Night 3 of NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 16 will be a special NJPW vs NOAH show.
That sent ripples through the wrestling world, in both the East and the West. NJPW vs NOAH isn’t a brand new thing, but they haven’t had a working relationship together in five years.
So, with January 8th not that far away, I want to bring attention to the history of NJPW vs NOAH. There is a lot of ground to cover, so I am going to turn this into a weekly mini-series. Feel free to catch up on the previous instalments below:
This week, we will cover the second NJPW vs NOAH war, which took place between 2009 and 2012. NJPW began assisting NOAH after this period, and the two began to move more towards a collaborative relationship.
As it turns out, I was wrong in Part 2. I said that no NJPW vs NOAH matches took place in 2006, 2007 or 2008. That was only correct for 2006 and 2007.
The War Restarts | Wrestle Kingdom III
On September 6th 2008, No Limit of Tetsuya Naito & Yujiro Takahashi from NJPW made their NOAH debuts, issuing a challenge to GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki.
No Limit faced and beat Suzuki & Genba Hirayangi on a Ring Of Honor Japanese show. ROH was partnered with both NOAH and Dragon Gate at the time; the NJPW partnership wouldn’t start until 2014. On September 27th, No Limit would fail to beat Kanemaru & Suzuki.
So that’s the forgotten start of the second NJPW vs NOAH war. However, everyone remembers Wrestle Kingdom III on January 4th 2009 in the Tokyo Dome. NOAH returned to NJPW for two NJPW vs NOAH matches. Jun Akiyama, arguably the instigator of the first NJPW vs NOAH feud, beat Manabu Nakanishi in a rematch of their encounter in the 2003 G1 Climax.
And in the semi-main event, before Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Keiji Muto to regain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, the NJPW team of Shinsuke Nakamura & Hirooki Goto beat the NOAH team of Mitsuharu Misawa & Takashi Sugiura.
This was Sugiura’s second loss in the Tokyo Dome on January 4th after losing the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship to Jushin Thunder Liger in 2004. But now he was a heavyweight and taking on NJPW’s heavyweights.
Sugiura had to do a lot of the work and heavy lifting in that match. Misawa was not in the best shape but did his best to bring the energy he could into this match as he was still the face of NOAH. Nakamura would end up pinning Sugiura, and with Tanahashi pinning Muto, NJPW stood tall at the end of the show.
If you have a NJPW World subscription you can watch the match here.
March 1st, Nakamura made his NOAH debut to continue his feud with Sugiura. This time it was Nakamura & Milano Collection A.T vs Sugiura & Go Shiozaki. Shiozaki himself was returning from a year wrestling in America and was poised to be NOAH’s future ace. So it was him that pinned Milano after a lariat.
It’s crazy to think that Shiozaki debuted in July 2004, after the NJPW vs NOAH war had ended. But here he was at almost 5 years a pro and was about to be the man to carry NOAH.
May 5th, NJPW’s Divergence show featured two NJPW vs NOAH matches. In the first Sugiura & Atsushi Aoki beat Goto & Kazuchika Okada. Yes, that Kazuchika Okada. Back in his rookie days and his days were almost numbered when Sugiura nearly killed him. And Takeshi Morishima & DDT’s Kota Ibushi beat Tanahashi & Koji Kanemoto.
The very next day, NOAH’s Budokan show featured another two NJPW vs NOAH matches. Liger & Kanemoto beat Kanemaru & Hirayangi. And then poor Okada was murdered two days in a row when him and Hiroyoshi Tenzan lost to Kenta Kobashi & Akihoki Ito. Okada being pinned after Kobashi’s legendary lariat.
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi and Aoki both entered NJPW’s Best Of The Super Juniors tournament that ran from end of May to mid June.
Best Of The Super Juniors 2009
Kikuchi finished on 6 points after victories over Kanemoto, Taichi and YAMATO but losses to Kota Ibushi, Ryusuke Taguchi and Liger. Aoki on the other hand did better as he finished with 8 points.
He started with losses to Tiger Mask IV and Prince Devitt but beat AKIRA, Black Tiger, Jado and Milano Collection A.T to reach the semifinals. However he lost to eventual winner Kanemoto there.
NJPW’s Japanese YouTube channel uploaded Aoki’s matches with TM IV, Devitt, Milano & Kanemoto. Unfortunately, none of them are on NJPW World. But I have made a playlist of the matches, available here.
After Misawa’s Passing
At NJPW Dominion on June 20th, we had two NJPW vs NOAH matches. NOAH had just suffered a massive tragedy when Misawa passed away the week prior. So brand new GHC Heavyweight Champion Shiozaki faced young rookie Okada. Yeah, Okada got murdered. Again. And Sugiura beat Goto in their first singles match.
After the BOSJ, Aoki was taking part in a Shining Magic 10 Match Series, a series of matches pitting a rookie against their seniors. Match 8 on 22nd of June, Aoki lost to Liger.
Between 2002 and 2005, we had three GHC Heavyweight Title matches between NJPW and NOAH talent, but no IWGP Heavyweight Title matches. That changed on July 20th when Sugiura challenged then-IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Tanahashi. Sugiura would ultimately come up short.
G1 Climax 2009
Sugiura was then announced for the 2009 G1 Climax. He started off with losses against Tenzan and Nakamura and a draw against Yuji Nagata. Wins over Nakanishi, Takashi Iizuka and Goto saw him reach the semifinals. But he was beaten by eventual winner Togi Makabe.
If you have a NJPW World subscription you can watch the match here.
To celebrate Gedo & Jado’s 20th Anniversary at the end of August, they beat Kanemaru & Hirayangi. You can watch this match on the NJPW Japanese YouTube channel below.
This lead them to challenge Kanemaru & Suzuki at a NOAH show on October 3rd for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles, but they couldn’t get the job done.
Masahiro Chono was also celebrating an anniversary. 25 years for him as a wrestler. So on October 12th, the all-star team of Chono, Muto & Kobashi beat Nakanishi, Satoshi Kojima & Akiyama. NJPW, NOAH and AJPW all mixed up to face each other.
Liger took part in NOAH’s 1st Junior Heavyweight League tournament that same month and GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, KENTA, had to vacate the belt due to a knee injury near the end of the tournament. Therefore the finals became a defacto GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship match.
After a victory over Taiji Ishimori and a 30-minute draw with Aoki, he beat Kanemaru and had a double countout out with Hirayangi, which secured his place in the semi-finals. There he beat ROH wrestler Delirious but lost in a 2004 GHC Junior Heavyweight Title rematch to Kanemaru.
Super J Cup
NJPW brought back the Super J Cup at the end of 2009. And we had wrestlers from NJPW, NOAH, DDT, Dragon Gate, Michinoku Pro, Osaka Pro and FREEDOMS.
Marufuji & Aoki represented NOAH. Aoki lost to Devitt again in the first round. But Marufuji beat Liger in the first round, Tigers Mask from Osaka Pro in the second, Taguchi in the semifinals and then Devitt in the Finals.
None of those matches are on NJPW World. However, the NJPW Japanese YouTube channel does have all four of Marufuji’s matches which I’ve created a playlist for here.
New Champions | Wrestle Kingdom IV
2010 began with Wrestle Kingdom IV in the Tokyo Dome on January 4th. And we had four NJPW vs NOAH matches! Makabe beat Muhammad Yone. Marufuji beat Tiger Mask IV to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. Tanahashi beat former GHC Heavyweight Champion, Shiozaki. And the new GHC Heavyweight Champion, Takashi Sugiura, beat Hirooki Goto in their third singles match.
If you have a NJPW World subscription you can watch all four matches:
Makabe & Tomoaki Honma would enter NOAH’s Global Tag League just a few days later. They would start with a win over Bison Smith & Keith Walker. But then losses to Sugiura & Shuhei Taniguchi and Yone & Takeshi Rikio would see them joint last in their block. However this tour did reignite the feud between Sugiura and Makabe.
January 31st saw Marufuji return to NJPW to make his first defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title over Prince Devitt. Marufuji and Devitt had incredible chemistry together. Again, this match isn’t on NJPW World, but is on the NJPW Japanese YouTube channel:
February saw Makabe come after Sugiura’s GHC Heavyweight Title. He and Honma beat Sugiura & Aoki in the preview tag match. But on the 28th, Sugiura avenged his loss in the G1 Climax semi-finals and beat Makabe to retain his belt for the second time.
Marufuji’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title reign continued when he was able to beat Kanemoto on March 5th. Again, this isn’t on NJPW World but is on the NJPW Japanese YouTube channel. Feel free to watch below:
He would make yet another successful defense over Liger on April 4th. Disappointingly this match is on neither NJPW World or YouTube. Shame as it was one of Liger’s final great singles matches. However Marufuji’s victory over Taguchi on May 3rd is on NJPW World so if you have a subscription you can watch it here.
Before the Best Of Super Juniors took place, Marufuji beat Tiger Mask IV on May 8th. The BOSJ would be the time for a challenger to step up. But, representing NOAH, Ishimori also threw his hat into the ring.
Best Of The Super Juniors 2010
Ishimori beat Taguchi, lost to AKIRA, beat YOSHI-HASHI, lost to Kanemoto, beat Kenny Omega and beat Tama Tonga to reach the semifinals. His run would come to an end following a loss to Prince Devitt, who also went on to beat Ibushi in the finals.
Devitt would be the man who dethroned Marufuji on June 19th. This would be the last in their trilogy of matches and if you are subscribed to NJPW World, get it watched here.
That would not be the only NJPW vs NOAH match to take place that night. Earlier in the show Yone beat Honma. And, in the main event, Makabe was supposed to defend his IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Rikio but Rikio had to pull out due to injury.
Shiozaki was drafted in as a last minute replacement for that Title match. And, despite a valiant effort, the man who was supposed to be NOAH’s ace lost to the Unchained Gorilla.
If you have a NJPW World subscription you can watch the match here.
Just a week later, Tanahashi returned to NOAH along with Taguchi to face Shiozaki & Aoki. Tanahashi here was everything he wasn’t back in 2005 – He finally learned how to play the heel and be the invader.
July 10th Shiozaki finally got his win over Tanahashi and he did so in a NOAH ring. Also on that show we saw Devitt’s one and only appearance in a NOAH ring as he and Taguchi beat KENTA & Eddie Edwards.
The very next day, Aoki went back to NJPW to challenge Devitt for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title. This would be their third and final match together but once again Devitt beat Aoki. And you can watch it on NJPW’s Japanese YouTube channel below:
July 24th saw another two NJPW vs NOAH matches on a NOAH show as Nakamura & Gedo beat Marufuji & Aoki. And then, Main Event, Nagata & Taguchi lost to Akiyama & KENTA. The two men in the very first NJPW vs NOAH match. And KENTA squaring up against Nagata is everything you hoped for and more.
G1 Climax 2010
With him finally beating Tanahashi, Shiozaki entered the G1 Climax (although he originally wasn’t supposed to go alone. Marufuji had to pull out due to injury and was replaced by Devitt). And he started well with victories over Takahashi and Wataru Inoue. But then lost back to back against eventual winner Satoshi Kojima and Nagata. Wins over Giant Bernard and Goto put him in good position before the finals but a 30 minute draw against Nakamura eliminated them both.
The two would have a rematch just a week later, this time in a NOAH ring. And Shiozaki would gain another big victory over NJPW by beating Nakamura here.
More New Champions
However earlier in the night, NJPW scored an equally big victory when Kanemoto & TM IV took the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title’s from Ishimori & Ricky Marvin. This was the first time that a NJPW team had held those belts after several challenges.
Six days later Kanemoto & TM IV would make their first successful defense over Kanemaru & Hirayangi on another NOAH show.
October would see Shiozaki & Aoki return to NJPW on the 10th but they would lose to Nagata & Kanemoto. KENTA & Aoki would win NOAH’s Junior Heavyweight Tag League but would be unable to dethrone Kanemoto & TM IV on November 23rd. This was where KENTA met his Dad and Kanemoto is a mean Father.
On December 23rd, Shiozaki & Aoki would beat Nakamura & Gedo on a NJPW show to set up a third match between the two. And then on the 24th, the final NOAH show of the year, Aoki finally did it when him and Marufuji took the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title’s from Kanemoto & TM IV.
Wrestle Kingdom V
2011 again started on January 4th in the Tokyo Dome with Wrestle Kingdom V. Only two NJPW vs NOAH matches on this show as Sugiura & Yoshihiro Takayama beat Goto & Okada. I have a vague memory of Okada doing his best to try and attack Takayama in the build up to this match. Most likely on the December show. Takayama made him pay for it here.
If you have a NJPW World subscription you can watch the match here.
And Nakamura finally beat Shiozaki on his third attempt. Honestly it was the weakest of their matches but it’s still worth a watch. So if you have a NJPW World subscription you can watch the match here.
Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson would make their NOAH debuts on February 16th with a win over Sugiura & Akitoshi Saito. This set up a GHC Heavyweight Title match between Sugiura and Bernard on March 5th in which the Champion retained.
The next NJPW vs NOAH match didn’t happen until May 5th on a NJPW show where Sugiura again faced Goto. This was a tag match where Goto & Tonga beat Sugiura & Makoto Hashi.
NOAH put on shows in Europe the same weekend that NJPW was touring USA. So at home in Japan, NJPW put on a smaller show with Nagata & Tenzan beating Akiyama & Tamon Honda in the main event.
Double Champions
On the 18th of June, IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, Bernard & Anderson beat GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, Takayama & Takuma Sano in a Double Title match to win both tag belts.
If you have a NJPW World subscription you can watch the match.
Bad Intentions would make their first defense of the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Title’s over Morishima & Yutaku Yoshie on the 23rd of July.
Back in March, Japan was hit by a natural disaster when an earthquake caused a tsunami. So in August, NJPW, NOAH and AJPW all worked together to put on a joint show in the Nippon Budokan on the 17th. ALL TOGETHER.
It’s not strictly NJPW vs NOAH but it was such a big show with combinations we never thought we would ever see. Including IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tanahashi, GHC Heavyweight Champion Shiozaki and Triple Crown Champion Suwama all teaming together in the main event.
In a Nagata produced NJPW show on August 30th, Nagata & Akiyama teamed up together to beat Nakamura & Toru Yano.
It would take until October 31st when Bad Intentions returned to NOAH to beat Shiozaki & Taniguchi to make their second defense.
That would be the last NJPW vs NOAH match of 2011. With the tragedy in March and all the promotions working together to make ALL TOGETHER, the interpromotional feuds didn’t seem to matter as much anymore.
Wrestle Kingdom VI
For the fourth year in a row, Wrestle Kingdom VI again featured NJPW vs NOAH. Sugiura and Goto faced off for the fourth time and it was indeed fourth time lucky as Goto finally beat Sugiura. Since the January 8th 2022 show was announced, Sugiura has joked that he will face anyone in NJPW except for Goto.
If you have a NJPW World subscription you can watch the match here.
And Shiozaki & Marufuji beat Nakamura & Yano. This would be Shiozaki’s last Wrestle Kingdom appearance until most likely 2022 and he wouldn’t be in a NJPW ring for another four years.
If you have a NJPW World subscription you can watch the match here.
The third NJPW vs NOAH war/feud would come to a close on January 22nd when Akiyama & Saito took the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Title’s back into NOAH by beating Bad Intentions. Bernard was not long to leave Japan and sign back to the WWE.
So the back and forth war was pretty much done. ALL TOGETHER 2 took place on February 19th and saw the Champions in NJPW, NOAH & AJPW all team up again. Tanahashi and Suwama remained Champions but Morishima replaced Shiozaki as GHC Heavyweight Champion.
No Longer A War, Just Pride
Marufuji entered the G1 Climax to make up for missing it in 2010. He beat Kojima. Lost to Shelton Benjamin and Nagata. Beat Tanahashi. Lost to Minoru Suzuki. Beat Anderson and Takahashi but lost to Yano.
The Kojima, Yano and Tanahashi matches are all up on NJPW World. However I strongly recommend you watch the Tanahashi match and you can watch it here.
With that victory over Tanahashi, Marufuji had just pinned the current IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Okada would win the G1 that year and start the January 4th Title challenge. Therefore Tanahashi needed a challenger on September 23rd.
But before that, Nagata produced another NJPW show on September 9th where he teamed with Akiyama & Masaaki Mochizuki to beat Nakamura, Okada & Takahashi. And Marufuji & Yone beat Naito & Tonga on the 7th. Plus on a NOAH show on the 17th, Nagata would team up with Shiozaki & Akiyama as part of the latter’s 20th Anniversary match to beat Takayama, Suzuki & Taniguchi.
We would have the third NJPW vs NOAH IWGP Heavyweight Championship match as Marufuji faced Tanahashi. However much like in December 2003 when these two wrestled for the U-30 Title, Tanahashi retained.
If you have a NJPW World subscription you can watch the match here.
After the loss to Tanahashi, Marufuji faced Kojima on a NOAH show on the 29th where Kojima won after a lariat.
Nagata entered the 2012 NOAH Global League in November. On opening night Kojima & Tenzan also beat Sugiura & Yone. And Nagata beat Shiozaki.
He would finish on 8 points with further victories over Kento Miyahara, Mikey Nicholls and KENTA. But losses to Yone and Morishima would take him out of winning his Block.
Kojima would challenge Morishima for the GHC Heavyweight Title on December 9th but would lose to the big lad and fail to become the third person to hold the top belts in NJPW, AJPW and NOAH.
So 2012 started with the end of the NJPW vs NOAH war that started in late 2008/early 2009. Then it became more about individual glory as Marufuji entered the G1 Climax and challenged for the IWGP Heavyweight Title. And Nagata entered the Global League but it was Kojima who challenged for the GHC Heavyweight Title.
Rocky Seas For The Ark
Now the two promotions were in completely different state of affairs in 2013. Permit me just a minute to recap the past but 2002 to 2005, NJPW were struggling largely due to the decisions made by Antonio Inoki (Inoki-ism) and they were not the powerhouse they once were. NOAH had pretty much gut AJPW so NJPW would be stronger than them regardless, but NOAH had carried a lot of momentum forward and was a promotion on the rise and would be NJPW’s biggest competition so working with them kept NJPW relevant.
But between 2005 and 2009, the promotions did things very differently. NJPW had suffered under Inoki’s leadership, the Musketeers were either gone or all but finished in-ring so they had to look to the future by creating new stars out of Tanahashi, Nakamura, Makabe, Goto and then later Naito, Okada, etc. They had to take risks, some of them big, but fortunately they all paid off for the most part.
NOAH however was stuck in the past. Misawa, Kobashi & Taue were the stars and through ineffective booking and planning no other stars were going to reach those heights. NJPW made Nagata a big deal in 2002 to 2005 but NOAH botched Akiyama’s Title reign so he never got to look like the star he should be. They put too much pressure on Rikio to be the man who ended Kobashi’s reign when he did and how he was booked after that failed him completely. Marufuji was given the Title win out of nowhere but NOAH had largely enforced that junior heavyweights were beneath heavyweights so his reign was not able to gain any momentum before it was ended. Taue was done in-ring. Kobashi had his body breaking down before he even got cancer. And Misawa was really hurting but kept the belt on him, kept putting himself through gruelling main events because he thought the crowds would drop without him.
There was a glimmer of hope when Misawa dropped the belt to Morishima in March 2008. But after Morishima didn’t have anyone else built up to a level to share the main events with him, NOAH panicked and put the belt on Kensuke Sasaki in September. Sasaki being a proven draw as he was already an IWGP Heavyweight Champion and Triple Crown Champion. Winning the GHC Heavyweight Title made him the first man to have held all three.
When NJPW and NOAH entered into their second feud/war, NJPW was reaping the benefits of cultivating the next generation and were making positive movements forward. NOAH on the other hand were sinking lower as they’d just lost their TV deal and when tragedy stuck and Misawa died in the ring in June 2009, NOAH was in an incredibly bad way.
NOAH was rocked by the news of Yakuza involvement in 2012. The Yakuza had bolstered ticket sales and helped put on live shows from 2003 to 2010. Several NOAH staff members were demoted and would eventually leave the promotion in shame.
NOAH had to cut costs and let go several older roster members. This would have been unheard of during Baba and Misawa’s leadership as wrestlers tended to have jobs for life. Crucially the inactive and unlikely to wrestle full time ever again, Kobashi was released. This sparked a chain reaction as Akiyama, Shiozaki, Kanemaru, Suzuki & Aoki all resigned in protest at the end of 2012.
By 2013, NOAH was struggling very badly. So NJPW got involved to help them by continuing to loan them talent. And even financially although the details on that are understandably kept more under wraps.
NJPW young lion, Takaaki Watanabe (the future EVIL), Liger, TM IV, Kojima & Nagata would all be involved in NOAH’s January tour. Captain New Japan, Iizuka & Yano joined their February tour.
On the 10th of March, Iizuka & Yano beat Marufuji & Sugiura to become GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. The second time a NJPW team had held those belts and a decade apart. CHAOS had arrived in NOAH and on 31st March, Iizuka, Yano & Takahashi beat KENTA, Takayama & Hirayangi.
April saw the Global Tag League which Iizuka & Yano took part in and Takahashi teamed with NOAH’s Taniguchi. Neither team would win. KENTA & Takayama would after beating Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima.
Final Burning, Kenta Kobashi’s retirement show would take place on May 11th. To honour the career that Kobashi had had, NOAH, NJPW and AJPW all provided talent to make the biggest show possible for the legend. And the main event saw Kobashi, Muto, Sasaki & Akiyama beat Shiozaki, KENTA, Kanemaru & Taniguchi.
The next day TMDK of Nicholls & Shane Haste were unsuccessful in taking the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Title’s from Yano & Iizuka. The Australians were firm favourites with the NOAH audience but it wasn’t enough to topple the CHAOS team.
Yano amassed enough wins to challenge KENTA for the GHC Heavyweight Title. And as part of winning the Global Tag League, KENTA & Takayama were still owed a GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Title match. On June 2nd, KENTA retained his belt over Yano. But on the 8th, Yano & Iizuka retained as well.
They finally lost the belts on July 7th to TMDK. This was a big show for NOAH, their biggest of the year to date – and headlined by a GHC Heavyweight Title match between KENTA and Marufuji – so it was a big sign of faith in TMDK that they would win the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Title’s in the semi-main event.
Liger & TM IV would enter the Junior Heavyweight Tag League where the winners would be crowned the new GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions after the previous holders had to vacate them due to injury.
They beat Roderick Strong & Slex, Shiori Asahi & Hiro Tonai (K-DOJO), Daisuke Harada & Hitoshi Kumano and Yoshinari Ogawa & Zack Sabre Jr to reach the Finals. There they beat Atsushi Kotoge & Ishimori to become the new GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions on July 28th.
Liger & TM IV made their first defense over Hirayangi & SUWA Jr (Hajima Ohara) on August 24th. That same show Nakamura returned to NOAH after 3 years to partner Marufuji in his 15th Anniversary match in a loss to KENTA & Sugiura.
This would in turn inspire Marufuji to challenge Nakamura for his IWGP Intercontinental Championship after Nakamura had beaten Benjamin at a NJPW show on the 29th of September.
But before we get there on the 16th of September, Liger & TM IV made another successful defense over Harada & Kumano.
October was all about Marufuji vs Nakamura. At a NOAH show on the 5th, Marufuji & Yone beat Nakamura & YOSHI-HASHI. That same show Liger & TM IV beat Kotoge & Ishimori.
And then on the 14th, Marufuji and Nakamura faced off in a first time ever singles match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. This truly was a dream match that got overshadowed by that night’s incredible main event (Tanahashi vs Okada) but is still a great match to watch.
If you have a NJPW World subscription you can watch the match here.
That would be the one and only NJPW vs NOAH match to take place in a NJPW ring. 2013 was all but contained in a NOAH ring to help keep people interested in NOAH.
Nagata would enter the Global League for the second year in a row. He beat Saito but lost to Sugiura and Taniguchi. Beat Nicholls, Ryouji Sai (ZERO1) and Marufuji to win his Block. Then Morishima in the Finals.
The same tour Liger & TM IV made their fourth successful Title defense over Super Crazy & Pesadilla.
At the end of November, Nagata & Daisuke Sekimoto beat KENTA & Sugiura in an incredible tag team match. I believe you can still find it on YouTube so do so now.
On the final big show for NOAH of the year on December 7th, Liger & TM IV lost the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title’s to Ogawa & Sabre Jr. And in an amazing main event, KENTA retained his GHC Heavyweight Title over Nagata.
I’m actually going to put an end to Part 3 here.
I had originally intended to cover all of 2014 and stop at the end of 2014, before the Suzuki-Gun invasion started in early 2015.
However I am conscious that this part has gone on long enough as is, plus there’s stuff in 2014 that I think has parallels to 2015.
Thank you very much for reading this.
I know this was a lengthy one but, for me personally, I’d been a fan of NOAH (and Dragon Gate) since only 2006 so I missed all of the first NJPW vs NOAH war.
This I got to watch pretty much in real time (or at least a day or two later when the shows/matches were uploaded). This feud turned me into a fan of NJPW as I hadn’t started watching them show by show until this point.
Mentioning and linking these matches have truly been a walk down memory lane for me and I am sure this will resonate well with others.
Part 4 will drop next week and cover the dark days of NOAH. But I am hopeful it will finish optimistic enough to put a good light on the potential of the two promotions working together again.
