![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.noah.co.jp\/lib\/uploads\/news\/556_image_d1.jpg?w=696&ssl=1\")
A BLOCK:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Naomichi\nMarufuji<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pro Debut: 1998<\/p>\n\n\n\n At this point of his career, Marufuji is the\nspiritual successor of Misawa to NOAH. He is without a doubt still the\ncompany’s biggest draw and is able to pull off great matches as well despite\nnearing 40. I think the perfect comparison for him would be Hiroshi Tanahashi\nto NJPW. Both men have seen the twilight years of their respective promotions,\nbut they persevered through it all and seen the light again. In the case of\nNOAH they are far from their peak in the early 2000’s but at least they are\ngaining traction again from the fans, especially outside of Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marufuji has a long history of tournaments in his career. He has participated in every Global League with the exception of 2011. Also one of the few to compete for the Global League, G1 Climax, and Champion Carnival, even winning the latter in 2017. He is arguably NOAH’s greatest wrestler since the Pillars and has loads of accolades to back him up such as being a 3x GHC Heavyweight Champion and 6x GHC Tag-Team Champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My personal favorite to win this year’s tournament too, at the very least for the A Block. Kaito has defended his title against almost everyone but it’s been a while since his defense against Marufuji, plus if they want a guaranteed sellout for the Sumo Hall event, a Kaito vs. Marufuji main event would do them a solid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Takashi\nSugiura<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pro Debut: 2000<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many men in professional wrestling can\nclaim that they are legit tough acts but only few can prove it to be true,\nTakashi Sugiura is one of those men. Just looking at him, Sugiura is far from\nMarufuji being a flashy wrestler, he is just a straight up no non-sense fighter\nwho is out to destroy anyone in his path. A man of few words, but a man full of\nstrikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Statistically, Sugiura is the greatest GHC Heavyweight Champion ever. Holds all kinds of records with it: 1,064 days combined across 4 reigns and a total of 23 different defenses. Sugiura’s latest run with the belt with him being billed as a “final boss” type character, helped in the recent resurgence of NOAH. The crowning moment of Kaito Kiyomiya when he finally defeated the seemingly unbeatable beast in Sugiura.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re a fan of wrestlers like Minoru Suzuki and\nYoshihiro Takayama, then you’ll probably enjoy a Sugiura match as well. In fact\nhe even became a Suzuki-Gun member when they invaded the company way back but\nit is better we not talk much of those awful years. Sugiura now leads his own\nfaction however, Sugiura-gun with members such as Hideki Suzuki, Nosawa Rongai,\nand Kazma Sakamoto just to name a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t think he will be winning it this year, but\ncheck out his matches anyway, Sugiura is one of the best veterans in pro\nwrestling today especially if you like brutal, hard hitting matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Go\nShiozaki<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pro Debut: 2004<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Marufuji is the spiritual successor to Misawa,\nthen Shiozaki is the successor of Kenta Kobashi. Being trained by the man\nhimself, Shiozaki emulates a lot of his wrestling repertoire to Kobashi\nespecially the machine gun chops. Shiozaki, unlike many of his peers who\noriginally came from All Japan to transition in NOAH, is actually a product of\nthe NOAH Dojo and the only wrestler to graduate from his class in 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He first mainly started teaming up with his mentor\nKobashi until finding his own in singles action. In the 2000’s, while Marufuji,\nKENTA, and Morishima were finding success in the US too especially in ROH,\nShiozaki wrestled for the most part in Japan and became a staple part of NOAH\nas one of its young core. He first won the GHC Heavyweight Championship in 2009\ndefeating Takeshi Rikio for the vacant belt and has won it two more times since\nthen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nowadays Shiozaki is mainly a tag-team wrestler and\nis now on the veteran side of the roster. He is currently 1\/2 of the GHC\nHeavyweight Tag-Team Champions with Katsuhiko Nakajima as AXIZ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The chances of Shiozaki winning are pretty slim, he\ncould still bust out a great match every once in a while though so don’t sleep\non him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Masa\nKitamiya<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pro Debut: 2011<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kitamiya is a fairly young wrestler trained by two\nJapanese legends in Kensuke Sasaki and Masa Saito, the latter whom he really\nemulates a lot in his career with the looks, moves, and everything. He first\nstarted in Kensuke Office and made his way to NOAH in 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still trying to find his footing as a singles\ncompetitor as so far he has only won the GHC Heavyweight Tag-Team titles three\ntimes, once with KENOH and twice with Nakajima.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unless NOAH are planning some grand push for\nKitamiya, he might be taking a lot of the losses in his block. There is\npotential in him being a top champion at some point but I don’t think this year\nis the right time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alexander\nHammerstone<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pro Debut: 2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just a few weeks ago as of the writing of this\narticle, it was announced that Major League Wrestling (MLW) and NOAH have\nformed a partnership. This is great for both sides as the rosters of each\npromotions are stacked and can help in the exposure of the wrestlers involved,\ngaining experience in the process as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the announcement of N-1 Victory, many\nspeculated if any MLW wrestler would be involve and it’s been confirmed that\nreigning MLW National Openweight Champion: Alexander Hammerstone will be\ncompeting in his first ever tour of Japan. (a part from that one match with\nINOKI ISM in 2017.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n He is a member of the “Dynasty” faction in MLW along with MJF and Richard Holliday. Been watching a lot of MLW myself and while I prefer someone like a Davey Boy Smith Jr. or Tom Lawlor to compete representing the promotion, I think this is great for Hammerstone as he is still fairly young and will be able to gain lots of experience wrestling against the top talent of NOAH and performing in front of an international crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n B BLOCK:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Katsuhiko\nNakajima<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pro Debut: 2003<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nakajima began his wrestling career at the young age of 14, being a protege from the get-go and being discovered by the legendary Riki Choshu himself. He would later learn under the wing of Kensuke Sasaki and wrestled with the Kensuke Office banner. Nakajima began actively competing in NOAH in 2008, mainly as a tag partner to Sasaki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He became GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion for the first\ntime in 2009 and won the belt two more times later on. In 2016 Nakajima\nofficially became the “ace” of NOAH by becoming GHC Heavyweight\nChampion and had a run of 307 days defeating a plethora of challengers before\nlosing the belt to the first ever gaijin to hold it in Eddie Edwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The problem with Nakajima though was that he may be a good wrestler but lack in the personality department. Recently however, the bland babyface got an overall makeover and you wouldn’t even know it’s the same person with how different he looks than before! It’s not just his look too but his entire personality changed, having a more brash and cocky attitude. Through this Nakajima became an even bigger star and only time will tell on when he regains the GHC Title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He is the latest defense of Kaito in the belt though\nso I don’t think they will be doing a re-match of that, it will be way too soon\nbut Nakajima will probably end up as one of the favorites in his block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shuhei\nTaniguchi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pro Debut: 2005<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shuhei Taniguchi fka Maybach Taniguchi is another\nproduct of the NOAH Dojo, being on the same class with Atsushi Aoki and Akihito\nIto. I think most fans know him better wrestling as a villanous masked wrestler\n“Maybach Taniguchi” but recently he has lost it and began wrestling\nas himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taniguchi has challenged for the GHC Heavyweight\ntitle before but he is yet to capture it. Mainly a tag-team wrestler in his\ncareer, being a 5x holder of the GHC Heavyweight tag belts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He works in a slower pace in comparison to his contemporaries. Kind of like a big man style, but less monstrous. Maybe a later age Giant Baba for comparison, which isn’t bad, but not great either. I think Taniguchi works well in the role he is in though. Could be a good spoiler in the block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KENOH<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pro Debut: 2008<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of my absolute favorite wrestlers in the world\nright now is KENOH. The man just exudes superstar charisma, him along with\nKaito Kiyomiya are certainly the future of NOAH if booked properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KENOH began his career in Michinoku Pro Wrestling\nand wrestled the bulk of his early years there. Trained by Jinsei Shinzaki (aka\nHakushi in WWF) he has carved a path of being one of the best heels in NOAH\ntoday since he joined in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While I’m a fan of technical and highflying\nwrestling, I still prefer a good ol’ fashion strike fest and that is why I’m a\nbig fan of guys like Kobashi, Ishii, and Shibata just to name a few. Obviously\nKENOH isn’t on that level yet but he will be eventually, still has a lot of\nyears in him and he already got a taste of the gold too by becoming GHC\nHeavyweight Champion for the first time in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It symbolized a new era for NOAH as he is the first\nchampion to never have a match with Mitsuharu Misawa. If Kaito is aiming to be\nthe next Misawa, then KENOH would be his Kawada. The two are shaping up to be a\ngreat rivalry just like their predecessors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If not for Nakajima or the next wrestler, then KENOH\nis surely the top favorite to win the B Block and possibly the entire\ntournament too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Masaaki\nMochizuki<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pro Debut: 1994<\/p>\n\n\n\n Admittedly I have not watch enough Dragon Gate. It\nis only recently where I really got into seeing a lot of matches of the\npromotion thanks to PAC’s return. For the sake of this article, I have dive in\nto the hole that was Masaaki Mochizuki’s matches and count me in on the hype\ntrain!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ve only seen matches from recent years and for someone his age, he has no business wrestling just as good if not probably better than his early years. Usually with veteran wrestlers they work a slower pace style, more inclined to use strikes and their signature moves. (i.e. the New Japan dads such as Nagata and Kojima, as well as Minoru Suzuki.) But Mochizuki is an entirely different beast and could still hang with the much younger wrestlers today, it’s like he never lost a step which is pretty amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like I said, Kaito has pretty much faced almost everyone\nin the field and successfully defended the GHC title from them, I personally\nwouldn’t mind if Mochizuki would go on to win the tournament and eventually\nchallenge for the belt for a fresh matchup. The only thing that’s keeping me\nfrom going all in on that prediction is that he is not a NOAH wrestler and\nDragon Gate is still his home promotion so I’m not sure if NOAH is willing to\npush an outsider that far nowadays but we’ll have to wait and see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His matches against Nakajima and KENOH would be must\nwatch material for sure though!<\/p>\n\n\n\n El\nHijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pro Debut: 2009<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last but not the least we got the third generation\nwrestler of the Wagner lucha dynasty: El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. (the son of Dr.\nWagner Jr.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Wagner dynasty is one of the most revered families in Lucha Libre. The original Dr. Wagner is an icon of the industry and his son Dr. Wagner Jr. is one of the greatest wrestlers in modern day wrestling. In fact Wagner Jr. just recently main evented TripleMania couple days ago, losing in a lucha de apuestas<\/em> (hair vs. mask) match against Blue Demon Jr. and has said himself that he’ll be going on a retirement tour soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is a tradition in lucha to continue wrestling in the mask of the fathers, so El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. is the third generation to don the mask of his grandfather. He is still fairly young at 27 years old and a solid wrestler who has tons of potential. It is pretty hard to live up to the careers of his predecessors although slowly but surely, he could get there eventually. I’ve only seen a few of his matches such as his MLW debut with his father where they took on LA Park and El Hijo de LA Park. Luchadors have a long history in Japan with greats such as Mil Mascaras and Dos Caras exposing Japanese audiences to the Lucha Libre style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was pretty surprised when I saw his name on the field, certainly the last wrestler I’d expect but I guess the MLW partnership helped him get here. Wrestling in Japan is a big help in honing his craft so hopefully he’ll be able to make the most of this opportunity despite probably going to be on the losing end a bunch of times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.noah.co.jp\/lib\/uploads\/news\/556_image_d2.jpg?w=696&ssl=1\")