Written by: Super Mastodon (@SuperMastodon)
We are mere days away from the biggest event in the calendar year for Pro Wrestling NOAH: NOAH The Best 2019. A year’s worth of storylines and rivalries will all find their conclusions as well as other exciting match ups we will be witnessing in this historic event!
It’s been 15 years since NOAH’s largest and most successful show: Destiny in the Tokyo Dome back in 2005 which was headlined by eternal rivals: Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada. Now the promotion makes their way to the Sumo Hall at November 2 in what should be a night to remember for the company that has seen some resurgence lately.
So without further ado, let us take a rundown to the whole card!
Match #1 – Six Man Tag Team Match:
Muhammad Yone, Quiet Storm, Hitoshi Kumano vs. KAZMA SAKAMOTO, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Kinya Okada
To officially start us off we got a six man tag featuring the 50 Funky Powers teaming up with Hitoshi Kumano against representatives of Sugiura-gun. The one to truly watch out for in this match is Kinya Okada, a bright young prospect of NOAH who only made his pro debut this year. El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. (the son of Dr. Wagner Jr.) also made his debut in Japan this year by participating in the inaugural N-1 Victory tournament. KAZMA SAKAMOTO used to wrestle in the WWE way back but has since returned to various Japanese indies after his departure from the company. Yone and Storm are always a fun tag-team to watch, it’s nice to see Yone still go at it, he’s been with NOAH since the beginning. Should be a nice warm up for the rest of the show.
Match #2 – NOAH The Classic (Tag Team Match):
Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue vs. Tamon Honda & Mitsuo Momota (Mighty Inoue – special guest referee)
This year Akitoshi Saito and Masao Inoue have decided to reunite as the two active veterans of the NOAH roster reformed their old faction “Dark Agents” way back in the 2000’s. They had a great match against AXIZ for the tag-team titles in August, Inoue really showcased that if he gets serious, he could still go at it with the best of them. For this event however, they’ll be facing two returning legends in Tamon Honda and Mitsuo Momota. Honda used to be a former GHC Tag-Team Champion himself with Kenta Kobashi, one of the best tag-teams in NOAH history. Momota is the son of the legendary Rikidozan and was a regular competitor for the company in its early years, being a former member of the AJPW roster, notably as a Junior Heavyweight Champion. The combined age for this match up alone is 300 as it will also feature the great Mighty Inoue as special guest referee!
Match #3 – Six Man Tag Team Match:
Kazushi Sakuraba, Hajime Ohara, NOSAWA Rongai vs. Osamu Nishimura, Hi69, Junta Miyawaki
This was originally supposed to be a 12 man tag including men from the first match up in a Sugiura-gun vs. everyone else ordeal but has been changed. MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba made his debut for NOAH this year and has joined the top faction. Ohara and Rongai would join him in their match against the returning Osamu Nishimura, who will team up with Hi69 and another young prospect: Junta Miyawaki who had his first pin victory this year as well. Nishimura’s most prominent match in NOAH was way back in 2007 when him and Tatsumi Fujinami took on the tag-team of Mitsuharu Misawa and Go Shiozaki, which was actually a pretty good match and I recommend you checking it out if you haven’t yet on YouTube.
Match #4 – Six Man Tag Team Match:
Eddie Edwards, Atsushi Kotoge, Chris Ridgeway vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Minoru Tanaka, Super Crazy
The final six man tag of the night we got a bunch of who’s who that made their mark in NOAH history whether all the way since the beginning or just recently. Eddie Edwards, the first non-Japanese wrestler to ever become GHC Heavyweight Champion and a graduate of the NOAH Dojo makes his return to the company in their biggest event to team up with Atsushi Kotoge who recently won the IPW:UK Junior Heavyweight Championship from Daisuke Harada in the N-1 Victory Finals and with Chris Ridgeway, who has been doing well in his tour in Japan. Masaaki Mochizuki, Dragon Gate’s veteran, will be leading the opposite corner. He made his NOAH debut this year by partaking in the N-1 Victory tournament and will team up with one of the greatest junior heavyweights in recent history: Minoru Tanaka and another returning star: Super Crazy! Some of you might know him best for his stints in the US such as in WWE and ECW, but Super Crazy also had a pretty decent career in Japan particularly for NOAH being a former GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag-Team Champion with Ricky Marvin. Out of all the multi men tags, this is definitely the one I’m looking forward to the most. A lot of exciting match ups we could see here.
Match #5 – Singles Match:
Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Kazuyuki Fujita
This is basically a battle of the present against the past, in a way NOAH vs. NJPW as well. Taniguchi is a product of the NOAH Dojo and has remained loyal to the company since 2005. He has been on different gimmick variations through the years, he used to wrestle in a silly looking mask and then having some “dark overlord” vibes gimmick going for him later on as “Maybach Taniguchi” but in recent years decided to just be himself to keep things simple. Taniguchi is a pretty good talent but often gets overshadowed by his contemporaries who are much more flashier and grittier with their styles such as Marufuji, Sugiura, Nakajima, Shiozaki, and the rest. He is a 5x GHC Tag-Team Champion but is yet to win the big one so far. Maybe he would be getting the chance if he scores a victory over Kazuyuki Fujita. One of the most polarizing figures in the Puroresu scene, Fujita represents a dark timeline for Japanese wrestling as a whole. He dominated New Japan during the “Inokism” years wherein wrestlers with MMA backgrounds or straight up real fighters were favored over the traditionally trained professional wrestlers. He is a 3x IWGP Heavyweight Champion and also a former IGF Champion. He made his debut for NOAH at the N-1 Victory finals with a win over Yoshiki Inamura which lasted for 3 minutes. He has joined the Sugiura-gun faction and during the Prelude Premium tours has tagged with Sugiura.
Match #6 – GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag-Team Championships:
Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki (c) vs. Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke
The first of five title matches, first off the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag-Team Championships. The champions: Yoshinari Ogawa and Kotaro Suzuki, representing STINGER will take on RATEL’s members Daisuke Harada and Tadasuke. Another past vs. present match up here, Ogawa and Suzuki are respected veterans at this point of their careers. Ogawa has been by Misawa’s side since their days at AJPW and later on moving to NOAH, he is the first junior heavyweight to become GHC Heavyweight Champion. Suzuki also has a lot of Misawa influence within him, being trained and mentored by the legend himself. Earlier this year, Ogawa and Suzuki defeated the team of Hajime Ohara and Hitoshi Kumano for the belts and they’ve successfully defended them five times already in their ongoing 248 days reign as champion. However, this could be their toughest challenge yet as Daisuke Harada and Tadasuke would have another shot at those prestigious junior tag belts. Last year Daisuke Harada had one of the greatest runs as GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion, in his second reign, he held the belt for an amazing 394 days with seven successful defenses before losing it to Kotaro Suzuki. Tadasuke on the other hand is somewhat the “forgotten” member of RATEL’s, having not accomplished much yet but he could change the tides for his career to finally win his first championship in NOAH by defeating the veteran duo.
Match #7 – GHC Jr. Heavyweight Championship:
HAYATA (c) vs. YO-HEY
A re-match from the N-1 Victory Finals where HAYATA successfully defended the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Championship from his long time tag partner YO-HEY. Now the two will square off once again to finally settle the score. Both men are relatively young and are at the prime of their respective careers. This will be the biggest match they will have thus far, they’ve been successful in the junior tag-team division and have been one of the best teams in the entire pro wrestling world in general today. But now all of that will be put to the side. The two members of RATEL’s will faceoff for the prestigious title that YO-HEY has been chasing ever since he got into Pro Wrestling NOAH. For him to finally get it, he has to defeat his closest friend. This isn’t some form of grudge match, but a respectful war between two of the best in the junior heavyweight division of NOAH right now. The future of said division lies within this very match and I cannot wait for them to top their previous outing!
Match #8 – GHC Tag-Team Championships:
Katsuhiko Nakajima & Go Shiozaki (c) vs. Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura
For the GHC Tag-Team Championships, the defending champions AXIZ in their third and longest reign: 125 days will be taking on a familiar duo in Masa Kitamiya and Yoshiki Inamura representing Kongoh. Nakajima and Shiozaki are proven as two of the best individually. They are former World Champions themselves and have rejuvenated their careers recently, when combined as a tag-team though, they are even more unstoppable! On the other hand, Kitamiya and Inamura are a young team. The former used to tag with Nakajima and even winning the tag-team belts twice last year but have since then split up. Inamura is a young prospect who is finding his groove recently in NOAH. They have since then both sided with Kenoh to form the talented and young faction of Kongoh, with Atsushi Kotoge being a former member as well but has left since moving down to the junior heavyweights. Kitamiya and Nakajima will certainly be at each other’s throats once again, but the reigning champs are on a great momentum thus far, it may be too much of a challenge for the much younger team to dethrone them but if they do, their careers will certainly be on a much better path afterwards.
Match #9 – Special Singles Match:
Naomichi Marufuji vs. The Great Muta
For the first time ever, two masters of professional wrestling will faceoff. The best of their respective generations that captivated audiences for decades. “Mr. NOAH” himself, Naomichi Marufuji against the dark side of The Great Muta. Keiji Mutoh has made his fair share of appearances throughout NOAH, the most notable one back in 2005 wherein he faced Mitsuharu Misawa for the first time in a dream match at the Tokyo Dome, also involving Yoshinari Ogawa and Taiyo Kea as their respective tag partners. However, this will be the first time The Great Muta will be having a match at NOAH. The man in his path though is someone who has represented the company his entire career, the man that was passed the torch onto and continues to blaze it to this day: Naomichi Marufuji. The 3x GHC Heavyweight Champion has wrestled all over the world, but NOAH will forever be his home. The Great Muta has seen all forms of opponents in his many decades of fighting in the ring, but he is yet to face someone with the determination as Marufuji, who has somewhat been on a slump this year, especially at the N-1 Victory, not getting a single win. Will the redemption for Marufuji continue or will it be derailed by a persona he has never faced before?
Match #10 – GHC National Championship:
Takashi Sugiura vs. Michael Elgin
This next match up, NOAH will be crowning its inaugural GHC National Champion in what should be a hard hitting affair between Takashi Sugiura and Michael Elgin. The belt will be presented by the recently retired, Puro legend Riki Choshu. Statistically, Sugiura is the greatest pro wrestler in NOAH. He has the longest combined reigns as GHC Heavyweight Champion: 1,064 days in his four runs with the belt. He has held all four active championships and once he wins this one as well, would be the most accomplished wrestler in company history. He has also maintained his spot as one of the top competitors, especially now by being the leader of the successful Sugiura-gun faction. His opponent, “Big Mike” Michael Elgin is also a decorated wrestler himself. Having found majority of his success with NJPW and ROH. Recently however, Elgin has departed from New Japan and is competing in a plethora of promotions around the world. He will be making his NOAH debut at this show and will take on a first time opponent in Sugiura. The GHC National Championship will be like NOAH’s version of the Intercontinental belt, the secondary title before the main championship, which is nice and adds something to various storylines that don’t involved the GHC Title itself. Like I’ve said, this match should be stiff as hell, should be very reminiscent of the roots NOAH has taken its voyage from.
Match #11 – GHC Heavyweight Championship:
Kaito Kiyomiya (c) vs. Kenoh
Last but certainly not the least, the main event of the evening for the prestigious and historic GHC Heavyweight Championship, presented by the greatest champion ever Kenta Kobashi, between Kaito Kiyomiya, the defending champion against the challenger, winner of the inaugural N-1 Victory and former champion himself: Kenoh.
These two men symbolize the present and future of Pro Wrestling NOAH. They are the only two GHC Champions so far that have never faced Mitsuharu Misawa. I’m not usually a man to compare but it’s just way too obvious for me to not notice, this rivalry really reminds me of Misawa vs. Kawada. The quiet babyface against the heel full of emotion. Those two have battled through the years and it’s an eternal rivalry filled with both hate but also respect as competitors. I feel the same vibe with Kiyomiya and Kenoh. Obviously they are far from the levels of their predecessors yet, but if they continue on with this rivalry and deliver amazing matches, they could reach that one day.
Kaito is very much the Ace of NOAH right now, just like Kazuchika Okada is to NJPW and Kento Miyahra is to AJPW. The young bright prospect who is a product of the NOAH Dojo. He has only made his debut in 2015 but it wouldn’t take long before he finds himself near at the top, battling for supremacy against some of the veterans in the roster. 2018 was his biggest year as he won the Global League (now known as the N-1 Victory) which really toppled his career to superstardom. On December 16, 2018, Kiyomiya ended Takashi Sugiura’s dominant 280 day reign as GHC Heavyweight Champion, capturing the belt for the very first time and has since then become a successful champion of his own, currently at 317 days with 5 defenses.
If Kaito is the marketable babyface of NOAH, then Kenoh is the brash young heel. All Kenoh cares about his being successful and he will go through any challenge to get there. He already won the GHC Title before in 2017, only had a short run with it though at 79 days before dropping it to Sugiura, which in turn as aforementioned, dropped it to Kiyomiya. The two of them have actually tagged early this year but only for a short time as the competitive nature between both men is too strong, it would’ve added to the story of them being former tag-team champions but we never got to that point. Kenoh is currently leading his own stable: Kongoh with Kitamiya and Inamura. 2019 has been great for him thus far, winning the N-1Victory finals and will now headline Sumo Hall with a chance to capture the gold once again.
This is certainly far from being their last match against one another, but a mark will certainly be left in this rivalry that could last for ages. The future of NOAH will be determined in this main event. Legacies will be affected, but in the end only one shall prevail and become GHC Heavyweight Champion.
