This is the last big show of 2021. Yes, there are Five shows in December, Two of them in Korakuen Hall. But the last big Pro Wrestling NOAH show of this year, NOAH The Best 2021, takes place this Sunday the 28th of November.
There are Seven matches and Two of them are GHC Title matches. The main event has Two GHC Title matches at stake alone!
And what a main event it is too. Katsuhiko Nakajima puts his GHC Heavyweight Title on the line against Kenoh’s GHC National Title. The two Kongo members are putting it all on the line before the Nippon Budokan show on January 1st 2022.
Plus there’s also the fact that January 8th will see a NJPW vs NOAH special as part of NJPW’s three night Wrestle Kingdom 16. Both men will aim to enter not only the Budokan but the NJPW vs NOAH show as GHC Heavyweight Champion.
The GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title’s are also being defended as Los Perros del Mal de Japon, Eita & NOSAWA Rongai make their second defense against STINGER, Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA.
Airing live on Wrestle Universe with English commentary, you can get the rest of November and December for FREE if you sign up now. You only pay from January 1st 2022. Which means you’ll get the Budokan show and the NJPW vs NOAH show, but that show will be uploaded with a week delay.
Starting at 3pm in Tokyo, that’s 6am in England, 1am East Coast USA and 11pm Saturday 27th November West Coast USA. Don’t know about you guys but I’m glad Wrestle Universe has their shows up to replay not long after the show ends.
It’s a Seven match card so let’s get right into it!
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MAIN EVENT
GHC Heavyweight Championship & GHC National Championship
Katsuhiko Nakajima (c) vs Kenoh (c)
Not going to lie, I expected this match to headline Nippon Budokan on January 1st. I did not see Kenoh ending Masaaki Mochizuki’s GHC National Title reign in his first defense. And I didn’t see Kenoh challenging Nakajima to a Double Title match coming either.
This is not the first time the GHC Heavyweight Title and GHC National Title have been on the line in the same match either. Kenoh, who had only just won the GHC National Title back then ironically challenged the then GHC Heavyweight Champion, Go Shiozaki to a Double Title match.
That was August 2020. Just Six days after beating Nakajima for the GHC National Title, Kenoh and Shiozaki faced off. And, if you have an hour to spare, you can watch the match for free on YouTube from NOAH’s channel with Japanese commentary.
And I say hour for a good reason. These two wrestled to a 60 minute draw. The very first time the GHC Heavyweight Championship had gone to a draw in it’s 19 year history. Only the second 60 minute draw in NOAH history after Naomichi Marufuji and KENTA defended their All Japan World Junior Heavyweight Title and GHC Junior Heavyweight Title respectively against each other.
It’s the biggest match NOAH could put on right now. The GHC Heavyweight Title. The GHC National Title. The opportunity to be the first person to hold both belts at the same time. The opportunity to head into Nippon Budokan while holding both belts. To potentially go into Yokohama Arena on January 8th and be the top man in NOAH for the NJPW vs NOAH show.
Plus you have the intrigue that Kenoh and Nakajima are both part of the same stable, Kongo. Kenoh has been the leader of Kongo since it’s inception although he holds the “lesser” of the GHC singles titles contested between the heavyweights in NOAH.
This is definitely not the first time these two have wrestled each other either. On October 3rd this year, the N-1 Victory 2021 Finals, Nakajima beat Kenoh. This victory led to Nakajima beating Marufuji for the GHC Heavyweight Championship a week later and starting his second reign with the belt.
NOAH have very kindly uploaded that match to YouTube too. And this one has English commentary too. It genuinely is one of the best matches to happen this year. These two beat the absolute crap out of each other for 20 minutes, and this was after they’d both wrestled earlier in the night. Fantastic match. Give it a watch now.
That was their Ninth match against each other. Nakajima has won Five. Kenoh Three. And they’ve gone to a 30 minute draw.
Their first match took place in February 2014. By this point Nakajima was a 10 year veteran who had already held the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship, the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship and had moved up to heavyweight. Kenoh had 6 years under his belt and was a three time Michinoku Pro Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Champion, which is their main belt, and had only just joined the NOAH roster in January.
It was an unusual NOAH show as it contained nothing but singles matches. You had juniors against juniors. Heavyweights against heavyweights. And, like this match, juniors against heavyweights. Kenoh was a part of Cho Kibou-Gun while Nakajima was a member of BRAVE.
Taking place in Korakuen Hall, third to last match on the card, Nakajima won. But not how you’d expect a heavyweight to beat a junior. He won via DQ after Kenoh’s then stable mate Hajima Ohara interfered and attacked Nakajima after under 13 minutes. So NOAH were keeping their new signing strong by having him not lose clean.
We had to wait Three years before they had a rematch. January 2017, again in Korakuen Hall. And this time it was the main event too.
Nakajima had beaten Takashi Sugiura for the GHC Heavyweight Championship in October 2016 so entered this match as the reigning Champion. But not defending as this match was non-title. Kenoh was only just beginning his move from junior to heavyweight and Nakajima was only two days removed from successfully defending his belt for the third time in a rematch against Sugiura.
It was 17 minutes of hard kicks and intense wrestling. They went back and forth and either man could have won the match. It truly was Kenoh very loudly, as became his character, announcing his move up to heavyweight. But Nakajima hit his vertical spike brainbuster to pin Kenoh with.
They would have another two matches back to back almost in the Autumn of 2017. September 23rd, again at Korakuen Hall, another main event between the two. Nakajima had just lost the GHC Heavyweight Title to Eddie Edwards in August. The Global League was going to start in mid October which Kenoh was already confirmed for.
And the result was the same again. Nakajima won. This time in just over 12 minutes via referee’s decision. That set up their next match on the first night of the Global League. And the result was different this time. Although Kenoh still did not get a win. Instead they wrestled to a 30 minute draw.
Kenoh would go on to win their Block. And beat Go Shiozaki in the Finals. And then beat Edwards to win the GHC Heavyweight Title for the first time in December.
By Global League 2018, Kenoh had lost the GHC Heavyweight Title to Sugiura in March 2018. Him and Nakajima would end up in the same Block again. Unfortunately this match was not taped. So Kenoh getting his first victory over Nakajima was not recorded.
That win was all for naught as neither man would win the Block. However the Block winner, Naomichi Marufuji would suffer an injury and have to withdraw from competition on the final day. Kenoh, Nakajima and Kohei Sato would have a three way match to determine the Block winner in Marufuji’s absence. Nakajima would win the match, pinning Kenoh after a hurricanrana into a pinfall. He would fail to defeat Kaito Kiyomiya in the Finals however.
N-1 Victory would end up replacing the Global League and for the third year in a row, Kenoh and Nakajima would be in the same Block. It was the final night of the Block stage. A win for either man would determine the Block winner. And for the second year consecutively, Kenoh beat Nakajima in just over 15 minutes via KO. It was another match in Korakuen Hall and Kenoh’s victory was taped this time.
After beating Nakajima to win the Block, Kenoh would go on to beat Sugiura to be the first person to win two Global League’s/N-1 Victory’s. However the leader of the new faction, Kongo, would fail to defeat Kiyomiya for the GHC Heavyweight Championship.
The GHC National Title was created at the end of 2019. Sugiura was the first person to hold that belt but in May 2020, Nakajima would take it from him in an amazing match. After making two successful defenses, Nakajima named his next challenger himself – Kenoh.
AXIZ, Nakajima & Shiozaki were riding high at this time. Yes they’d lost the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Title’s in early 2020 but now they held both of NOAH’s singles titles for the heavyweights. Shiozaki had beaten Kiyomiya for the GHC Heavyweight Title the day before they lost the tag belts.
However the cracks in AXIZ began to form in early August when Kenoh beat Nakajima for the GHC National Championship. It was Korakuen Hall, it was another main event between the two, and it went almost 25 minutes. Their longest match against each other to date. And for the second match in a row, Kenoh knocked Nakajima out with a kick to the head to win the match via KO.
Kenoh would become the third GHC National Champion and brought the red belt into the red stable, Kongo. So Kongo looked like a strong, unified stable and a bigger threat than what they were before. And at the end of August, after AXIZ were unable to reclaim the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Title’s, Nakajima turned on and attacked Shiozaki. Even more shockingly, Nakajima decided to join Kongo.
I don’t think anyone saw that coming. Yeah AXIZ splitting up was always going to happen. But Nakajima joining Kongo? Two alpha’s in the same stable? It seemed like a recipe for disaster.
When they announced that on the first night of the N-1 Victory 2020 that Kenoh and Nakajima would face each other in the main event, you thought that Kongo as we knew it was going to be irreparably changed.
Nakajima beat Kenoh after just over 17 minutes. Avenging his loss of the GHC National Title and winning by bringing back an old finisher in the form of the Diamond Bomb. But post-match, Nakajima showed respect to the Kongo leader by shaking his hand. It seemed like Nakajima was comfortable in his position as a member instead of leader.
He would go on to win the N-1 Victory, beating Kiyomiya in the Finals. But failed to beat former partner Shiozaki for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. And it was Kenoh and Kongo who consoled him after the loss.
For the past year, we’ve all waited with baited breath for Nakajima to attempt to usurp Kongo from underneath Kenoh. When Masa Kitamiya turned on Nakajima, it was a surprise that Kitamiya was the one to leave Kongo. The red group rallied behind and supported Nakajima after he was betrayed by a Kongo founding member.
After Kitamiya beat Nakajima in NOAH’s first ever steel cage match and, as per the stipulation, the loser had to have his head shaved. Kenoh watched the match from ringside impassively and was there in the ring as Kitamiya took the razor to Nakajima’s glorious curls. Kitamiya walked off after doing a half assed job so Kenoh stepped in and helped Nakajima by finishing the shaving at his request.
Kitamiya’s defection actually strengthened Nakajima’s position and role in Kongo. So when the two men reached the Finals of the N-1 Victory 2021 to face each other, both wore Kongo t-shirts. All of Kongo was ringside. Both men showed respect to the other before the match began.
During the match however there was no allegiance. This was two men who wanted to win. Who were desperate to win. Both had won Global League’s/N-1 Victory’s before. Both had only the one reign as GHC Heavyweight Champion before and were craving another.
If you haven’t already watched the match linked earlier in the article then I do implore you to give it a watch. And to sign up to Wrestle Universe while it’s free for the rest of 2021.
But after exactly 20 minutes of a hard hitting, hard kicking fight, in fact, WAR, Nakajima beat Kenoh to win two N-1 Victory’s back to back.
And this time he was not to be denied as he beat Marufuji to win the GHC Heavyweight Title for the second time in his career.
So far he’s made the one successful defense over Masato Tanaka on October 30th. I thought Nakajima’s next challenger would be Masakatsu Funaki or Kazuyuki Fujita as both were put in prominent positions on the card.
On November 13th, Kenoh beat Masaaki Mochizuki to win the GHC National Championship for the second time. No one came out to challenge for his newly won belt. Instead, Kenoh did what Nakajima did to him in July 2020 – He nominated Nakajima to be his next challenger.
But not just a GHC National Title match. Like when Kenoh challenged Shiozaki in August last year, he proposed a Double Title match. GHC Heavyweight Title vs GHC National Title. Winner takes all.
More pressing to Kenoh’s challenge is that he wants to enter Nippon Budokan as GHC Heavyweight Champion. I felt for sure this was a potential Budokan main event match. This felt like the biggest match NOAH could do for their Budokan show and have the biggest crowd engagement as both men are well loved by the NOAH audience.
But Kenoh’s reasoning does make sense. He doesn’t want to go into the Budokan, even if it is the main event, as the challenger. He wants to enter those hallowed grounds as the GHC Heavyweight Champion.
For Nakajima, the idea of being the first person to hold both belts at the same time is tasty to him too. Like a ravenous wolf always hunting prey, this would establish him as the dominant alpha in Pro Wrestling NOAH. This would mean he is the biggest and the baddest animal. And that very much appeals to him.
This is their Tenth match since Kenoh joined NOAH in early 2014. They’ve had Eight matches since Kenoh moved up to heavyweight in early 2017.
Nakajima has won Five, one via DQ, one via referee stoppage and three via pinfall.
Kenoh has won Three. Two via KO and one via pinfall.
And they’ve wrestled to a 30 minute draw.
The last two matches were won by Nakajima. The two before that by Kenoh. The only time they’ve faced each other for a title belt, Kenoh beat Nakajima for the GHC National Title.
And now this is the biggest match between them. The biggest match for NOAH in 2021. And I can’t wait to see it.
M’s Alliance (Keiji Muto, Naomichi Marufuji & Masato Tanaka) vs Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura, Kazushi Sakuraba & Kazuyuki Fujita)
Muto & Marufuji dethroned Kiyomiya & Kitamiya to become the new GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions on November 13th. No challengers came forth for the new champions but I’d be surprised if that was still the case by the end of this match.
Sugiura & Sakuraba started 2021 as the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions but they lost the belts to The Aggression, Nakajima & Kitamiya, in March. They have not had a rematch for those belts.
Although since March, the two have had a mixed bag of wins and losses. They lost to Fujita & Kendo Kashin before Sugiura challenged Fujita for the GHC National Title. They beat the DDT Team of Danshoku Dino & Super Sasadango Machine at the big Cyber Fight show. They lost to Marufuji & Tanaka. Beat Marufuji & Yuko Miyamoto. But lost to Marufuji & Tanaka again. Beat Mochizuki & Tanaka. And in their most recent tag match beat Momo No Seishun (Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge).
Seven tag matches since March. Would you be surprised to discover that this is more times than the new GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions have ever teamed together?
Because their Title win was only the Fourth time they have teamed together. In saying that, former Champions Kiyomiya & Kitamiya had teamed together the exact amount of time. So, actually, they were at the same level. It just took the experience of Muto & Marufuji to give them that extra edge.
Now if Sugiura & Sakuraba are the next challengers, they have been teaming for well over a year now. They won the then vacant GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Title’s from AXIZ, Shiozaki & Nakajima, at the end of August. And they were able to beat tough opponents like Manabu Soya & Kitamiya, Marufuji & Masakatsu Funaki and Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura.
Speaking of challengers, no one has yet to step up to challenge Sugiura from the ZERO1 World Heavyweight Championship he won from Tanaka in August. Sugiura has not appeared in or been announced for a ZERO1 show since he won the belt.
I have a feeling that Tanaka will get a rematch. Whether he wins that or not I don’t know. But, if it was me, if I was going to do a rematch between these two I’d do it at Nippon Budokan. Because, still hoping we get Kiyomiya vs Muto IV at the Budokan, I’d have the Tag Title match happen at the Sugiura Army show on December 27th.
However I won’t be shocked if Muto & Marufuji vs Sugiura & Sakuraba, if it actually happens, takes place at Nippon Budokan. Meaning my hopes for Kiyomiya getting the big win on the biggest stage will be completely dashed.
As for the other person in this match, Fujita, he never comes out to just play. He comes out to win so will be throwing his weight around. Fujita and Tanaka have had two Six man tag team matches against each other in October so this will be their third.
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
Los Perros del Mal de Japon (Eita & NOSAWA Rongai) vs STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA)
The issue between Eita and Ogawa got personal and it got personal fast. Eita joined NOAH and Los Perros del Mal de Japon in June this year and success came quickly as he and NOSAWA took the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title’s from Kotoge & Ohara in under 4 minutes on October 10th.
But sparks flew when he and Ogawa shared the ring. The former Dragon Gate Open The Dream Gate Champion wanted to prove his superiority over a wrestling veteran and future legend. Remember Dragon Gate was born from Toryumon Japan/Mexico and Ultimo Dragon. Ogawa started his career before Ultimo did so Ogawa is the longest reigning veteran that Eita has ever faced.
After Los Perros del Mal de Japon had beaten STINGER (with Yasutaka Yano) in an Eight man tag team match, Eita poured an entire bottle of water down on Ogawa’s head. Los Perros del Mal de Japon having earlier singled out the STINGER leader for a beat down after the match but Eita had to turn that beat down into a humiliation.
Eita & NOSAWA Rongai made their first successful defense of their belts in a Dragon Gate ring on November 5th over Jason Lee & Kota Minoura. While they made mention of making more defenses against the younger wrestlers in Dragon Gate, you just knew that Ogawa was not going to wait long for his revenge. He was going to get his hands on Eita.
And a pissed off Yoshinari Ogawa is a dangerous thing. He rarely loses his cool but when he does, he bears a grudge and things get chaotic and wild. Ironically it’s only been three wrestlers in the past year who have brought Ogawa to this point and all of them are in Los Perros del Mal de Japon. Kotaro Suzuki, NOSAWA and Eita.
His issue with Suzuki is long outstanding and has been ongoing the longest. His feud with NOSAWA began in March this year and, like everyone who meets NOSAWA, Ogawa hates him.
HAYATA may have to ground Ogawa from letting his emotions run away from him and get the better of him. That is where Ogawa can be at his weakest. So it may need the GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion to keep the veteran focused and on task.
The two held these tag team belts together between two reigns from May 2020 and May 2021. They spent almost a calendar year as Champions and notched up victories over Tadasuke & YO-HEY, Harada & Tadasuke, Kotoge & Ohara, Harada & Kotoge, Suzuki & Susumu, Haoh & Nioh, Suzuki & Hidaka, Harada & Miyawaki and Hidaka & NOSAWA.
Their hasn’t been a reign as long as theirs (even with the belts changing hands for a month) since Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru held the belts from 2008 into 2010 and had to vacate them due to injury.
So Ogawa & HAYATA are the most successful GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions in the past decade. And they’ve not had a rematch for those belts since they lost them.
Plus HAYATA is the current GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion in his third reign. This is his longest and most successful reign to date as he’ll have held the belt for 154 days by this show, tieing and guaranteeing to beat his second reign and he’s made Six defenses which breaks his old record of Three.
He’s beaten 4/5ths of Los Perros del Mal de Japon in this reign with victories over Hidaka, YO-HEY, Suzuki & NOSAWA. He only has Eita yet to challenge him and I have a feeling that if HAYATA gets past Tadasuke on December 5th that Eita may be his challenger at the Nippon Budokan.
Which means that I could see Los Perros del Mal de Japon retain here. Although, with NOSAWA’s mindset, I am often wrong. However I do see this match being chaos and would not be surprised if other members of each unit get involved. That’s not something NOAH do often.
Kongo (Manabu Soya, Tadasuke, Aleja, Haoh & Nioh) vs Kaito Kiyomiya, Momo No Seishun (Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge), Hajima Ohara & Yasutaka Yano
With the two Title holders in Kongo busy in the main event, the rest of Kongo face a team of NOAH born and Momo No Seishun and friends.
Kiyomiya is coming off yet another disappointing loss to Muto. You’d think by now that I must have that sentence written down ready to be copied and pasted. But I still don’t. Each time I am still writing it out and shaking my head.
He and Kitamiya lost the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Title’s in their first defense. He reached the semifinals of the N-1 Victory 2021 but came up short against Kenoh.
Back in 2019, he had it all. The 2018 Global League winner. The youngest GHC Heavyweight Champion in history. The ace of NOAH and he’d only started his wrestling career in December 2015. He had a year plus long reign before he lost the belt to Shiozaki in January 2020.
But 2020, like for many of us, was horrible for him. He suffered set back after set back. Heart break after heart break. And 2021, for the first half of it, he fared little better.
It seemed like the tides were turning when he and Kitamiya won the Tag belts in July. But then, with the N-1 Victory on the horizon, the focus for both men shifted to singles glory and the belts were largely forgotten.
Kiyomiya decided to change up his look, dyed his hair black, tried to move forward as a different person. And it was somewhat successful with victories over Soya and Sugiura. But he only managed a draw with Muto and then lost to Kenoh.
Neither man got the success they wanted out of the N-1. And then they lost the tag belts in their first defense.
At the press conference that announced the NJPW vs NOAH show, Kiyomiya was front row centre. He reiterated the challenge he made to Kazuchika Okada he first made last year. And he squared off with Hiroshi Tanahashi to tease that match.
But here, at the final big show before the Budokan, he’s in a meaningless tag match. That must feel incredibly frustrating for him and hopefully spur him on to make a big challenge for the Budokan.
Speaking of frustration, Soya is showing himself to be very frustrated as of late. Fed up of being on the losing end and very infrequently being the one to gain the winning pinfall in any matches his team does win, Soya is allowing over a year and a half of frustration since joining the NOAH roster to build up.
The guy is a former two time Wrestle-1 Champion and Big Japan Strong Heavyweight Champion so could easily slot into the upper midcard in NOAH. With the NJPW vs NOAH show, Soya has to look over to the other side and see the position that former All Japan tag team partner, SANADA is in.
So Kiyomiya and Soya both have something to prove in this match. And the juniors have the same. Tadasuke is challenging HAYATA for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship on December 5th so wants to enter that show with as much momentum as possible.
Aleja failed in his challenge for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Title so needs to regain some momentum of his own. Momo No Seishun and friends plus the rookie Yano seem to be left out in the cold right now as the focus in the NOAH junior division is around Los Perros del Mal de Japon, STINGER and Kongo.
So the juniors will be very motivated to make themselves stand out and put them in good position before not only the Budokan show on January 1st but the NJPW vs NOAH show a week later on the 8th.
Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura vs Funky Express (King Tany, Muhammad Yone & Akitoshi Saito)
The story in this match is loss. Kitamiya has lost the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Title’s and performed poorly in the N-1 Victory before that, especially when he entered with such momentum beforehand.
Inaba made his return after a quiet break from injury but has not made much of an impact since he returned. He’s lost singles matches to Kiyomiya, Kitamiya, Mochizuki, Kenoh and Sugiura.
Inamura made a more high profile return after a lengthier absence. And, as is customary in the tradition of returning wrestlers, he’s lost to Soya and Fujita. He’s looking to regain the form and momentum he had built before he was injured in July.
And Funky Express know all about loss. They are the loveable losers of the NOAH roster. And I say that with no malice. Tany, Yone and Saito are all good wrestlers in their own right. They’ve all had tag team success in NOAH in the past and are all former GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions with different partners.
But Funky Express as a unit has been disco dancing in the losing column more often than not. That hasn’t dampened the audiences enthusiasm for them. And just when you think they are down and out they can pull off the surprising victory, much like how Sugiura Army found out to their chagrin.
You’d think the team of Kitamiya, Inaba & Inamura, three people who should be the present and future of NOAH would have this in the bag. However just when you think that, Funky Express will pull off the upset and dance the night away.
STINGER (Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu) vs Los Perros del Mal de Japon (Kotaro Suzuki & YO-HEY)
On paper this is going to be a great tag team match. Yoshioka & Susumu are former GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions and have over a decades worth of experience teaming together.
Suzuki & YO-HEY are relatively new stablemates and have a lot more experience as opponents rather than partners. But Suzuki is a junior heavyweight tag team master as his lengthy title reigns with Ricky Marvin and Yoshinobu Kanemaru can attest.
Plus you have the history between Yoshioka and YO-HEY. The two were members of FULL THROTTLE for over half a year together but Yoshioka put an end to that group when he attacked YO-HEY mid match to join STINGER and reunite with Susumu and HAYATA.
They’ve had two singles matches since the split and Yoshioka has won both of them. However YO-HEY has pinned Yoshioka during tag matches and taunted him afterwards.
So it will be fast paced whenever Yoshioka and YO-HEY are in the ring as they are two of the quickest members of the NOAH roster. In fact I’d say the competition for fastest is between them and Haoh. And it will be heated as they have a point to prove against each other.
It will be slower and more grounded when Susumu and Suzuki face off. They are two technical wrestlers who can throw some pretty mean strikes when they need to. These two could have a very underrated chemistry together.
I know it’s only the second match on the card but this could end up being a banger if it gets the time. You know these four should make the most of it.
Kinya Okada vs Kai Fujimura
Ah Kinya Okada. The young lad who every single preview I write about how he should be establishing himself more by now and moving up the card.
How he should be officially moved up to heavyweight and should have been a part of this year’s N-1 Victory. Yeah he would have lost every single match, much like Inamura did the year before, but it would have shown that he was ready to step up.
But here he is. Almost three years into his career and the best he can do right now is beat rookies in the opening matches. Any time he advances up the card he is always the fall guy.
Are these two going to have a match full of heart and determination? Of course they are. Fujimura is still yet to sign a contract with NOAH and he is very deserving of one. The former Wrestle-1 graduate has definitely made a good impression but NOAH are officially yet to make him a full time member.
Surprisingly this is a first time singles for the two. They’ve faced off in tag team matches and teamed together (never won a match teaming together) but even with the amount of shows NOAH run and with NOAH The Home putting the focus on the younger, less experienced NOAH roster members, this is still a first time singles match.
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And that’s your lot.
If you’re checking out Pro Wrestling NOAH now in preparation for the big NJPW vs NOAH show then I thank you for giving me your time in reading this.
I hope I have done well to explain the ongoings in Pro Wrestling NOAH and get you up to speed a little. If this article enhances your experience in watching the show only a little then it’s well worth it.
