By Farhan Daw@FarhanDaw
An Introduction
In the mid 2000’s, professional wrestling worldwide had experienced a decline due to the rise of Mixed Martial Arts. In Japan, All Japan (AJPW) and New Japan Pro Wrestling’s (NJPW) product was a very far cry from the extraordinary heights it had set in the 1990’s. The legends of that era were becoming bested by time, while a failed hybrid MMA/Wrestling project in NJPW and a vast loss of personal for AJPW saw two cosmic superpowers fall to their knees.
Lying deep in the centre of those murky waters however was salvation. A new movement, a new wrestling congregation, Pro Wrestling Noah. NOAH was formed by AJPW superstar Mitsuharu Misawa who following disagreements with the Board over the future direction of AJPW resigned and forged his own company, taking more than 70% of the roster with him. Within just a few years, NOAH became the most successful promotion in Japan and second to only WWE in attendance and revenue.
Their roster occupied an abundance of renowned performers such as Kenta Kobashi, Jun Akiyama, Kensuke Sasaki, Yoshihiro Takayama, Akira Taue and of course Misawa himself. Not to mention the freelance talent in the likes of Keiji Mutoh, Genichiro Tenryu, Toshiaki Kawada or the young, Junior Heavyweight rising stars including Takeshi Morishima, Naomichi Marufuji, Taiji Ishimori, KENTA, Takashi Sugiura and Yoshinobu Kanemaru.
With a roster so stacked, it is hard to conceive their fall from grace was so sweepingly uncompromising.
The Decline and Fall
The Wrestling Observer voted NOAH ‘Number 1’ for the best weekly television show in 2003 as well as winning ‘Best Promotion’ in 2004 and 2005, but waiting in a not so distant future was the revelation of a criminal scandal, tragedy, failing stars and a touch of karma that would dismantle the very foundation of the company.
With injuries to top stars including Kenta Kobashi, who was also diagnosed with cancer forced a strain on the promotion as the younger talents were not embraced by the crowd. Despite being well groomed to replace the old guard, the fans were simply not ready to wave goodbye to their golden generation.
The situation prompted company founder Misawa to keep battling on as the spearhead of the establishment despite intending to retire. Unfortunately, the toll proved too much and wrestling would suffer one of its greatest tragedies. Misawa tagged with protégé Go Shiozaki against GHC Tag Champions Bison Smith (who also died from heart complications in 2011) and Akitoshi Saito. Following a back suplex from Saito, Misawa lost consciousness and was rushed to hospital where he was later pronounced dead. While his death has not been made public information (due to his family invoking their rights to bereavement discretion), it is widely speculated Misawa suffered a cervical spinal cord injury which led to cardiac arrest. Arguably the greatest wrestler of all time had passed on and his company was in tatters.
Not too long after, NOAH lost their TV deal and when a former employee revealed the organisation had ties with the Yakuza, the corporation and its reputation suffered greatly. Over the years, NOAH did their best to paper over the cracks but lost several wrestlers due to injuries and ill health. They lost their status as Japan’s top promotion due to the rise of NJPW and their golden boy the ‘Once in a Century’ star Hiroshi Tanahashi.
To add to the ongoing misery, in a bid to save money a shocking announcement confirmed the release of Kenta Kobashi from his wrestling contract.
The decision did not go down well with many of the wrestlers who in protest decided against renewing their contracts. Just like 12 years before, there was an exodus out of a top Japanese promotion and Go Shiozaki, Jun Akiyama, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Atsushi Aoki, and Kotaro Suzuki all left for AJPW. Reluctantly NOAH had to also bid farewell to Takeshi Morishima who retired due to health problems while KENTA, Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste (TMDK) all left to join the WWE.
NOAH manufactured a relationship with NJPW who sent the entire Suzuki-Gun stable to NOAH as part of an invasion/take over storyline. While this angle did bring some much needed improvement to the show, the success was short lived. Poor booking and continuous Suzuki-Gun dominance damaged the product and it’s wrestlers as NOAH seemingly plunged further into the abyss.
The Resurgence
In November 2016, NOAH was sold to IT development company, Estbee Co LTD (Now known as Noah Global Entertainment) and former AJPW boss Masayuki Uchida was elected as the new President with Akira Taue (the former) working as an Advisor. Following souring relations with NJPW, New Japan withdrew all of their talent from NOAH leading to further diminishing attendance.
While this disrupted the economy of the company for several months, it was an onerous decision but one NOAH had to take to regain self-sustainability.
They reintroduced freelancers and announced the signings of Katsuhiko Nakajima and Junior Heavyweights YO-HEY, HAYATA and Hi69. Within the following months, they formed an alliance with Impact Wrestling and the two promotions exchanged talent and championships. Taiji Ishimori won the X-Division title while former Impact Wrestling Heavyweight Champion, Eddie Edwards defeated Katsuhiko Nakajima and was crowned the first gaijin to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship. This also aided NOAH in gaining more international exposure.
With these significant changes the product began to upgrade. The matches, which had long been oversaturated with Suzuki-Gun interference had moved towards decisive and balanced booking. The organisation began building towards a new age, centring their heavyweight division around former champions Go Shiozaki, current champion Takeshi Sugiura, the ace Naomichi Marufuji and NOAH’s two new heavyweight stars Kenoh and Katsuhiko Nakajima. The Junior division has also been under a resurgence with two-time champion Daisuke Harada leading the way, not to mention the prominence of Atsushi Kotage, Masa Kitamiya and Kaito Kiyomiya, who has a very bright future ahead of him.
The Future?
New reports claim the WWE have reached an agreement with NOAH and will form a partnership with the Japanese promotion. The statement also claims Hideo Itami (formerly known as KENTA) will be making an appearance for NOAH in late August. Wrestling Observer Newsletter Editor Dave Meltzer said:
“WWE has made a working agreement, at least at this point, with Pro Wrestling NOAH.”
“Not sure what it entails, but it is notable being the first time in decades that the company has worked with a Japanese promotion.
“Right now the first thing with the deal is Itami returning to NOAH for an 8/29 show.”
Hideo Itami spent 14 years working with Pro Wrestling NOAH, winning the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship, Jr Heavyweight Tag, Heavyweight Tag and GHC Heavyweight Championship. On September 1st 2018, NOAH will be honouring Naomichi Marufuji’s 20 years as a pro wrestler, teasing the possibility of the duo coming face-to-face with each other once again.
For the first time in a long time, NOAH fans have a reason to be optimistic. The company must continue to invest in their current stars and expand their international working relationships with other promotions. Kenoh stated his ambition is to take NOAH back to Nippon Budokan (Arena) where they last gathered 17,000 for Kenta Kobashi’s retirement show in 2013 and if the last 10 months is anything to go by, we can at least be sure the ark is sailing back in the right direction.
