{"id":13604,"date":"2019-10-30T15:09:31","date_gmt":"2019-10-30T15:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/?p=13604"},"modified":"2019-10-30T15:09:40","modified_gmt":"2019-10-30T15:09:40","slug":"noah-the-best-2019-at-sumo-hall-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/30\/noah-the-best-2019-at-sumo-hall-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"NOAH The Best 2019 at Sumo Hall – Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by: Super Mastodon (@SuperMastodon<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are mere days away from the biggest event in the\ncalendar year for Pro Wrestling NOAH: NOAH The Best 2019. A year’s worth of\nstorylines and rivalries will all find their conclusions as well as other\nexciting match ups we will be witnessing in this historic event!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s been 15 years since NOAH’s largest and most\nsuccessful show: Destiny in the Tokyo Dome back in 2005 which was headlined by\neternal rivals: Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada. Now the promotion makes\ntheir way to the Sumo Hall at November 2 in what should be a night to remember\nfor the company that has seen some resurgence lately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So without further ado, let us take a rundown to the whole card!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Match #1 – Six Man Tag Team Match:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muhammad\nYone, Quiet Storm, Hitoshi Kumano vs. KAZMA SAKAMOTO, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner\nJr., Kinya Okada<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To officially start us off we got a six man tag\nfeaturing the 50 Funky Powers teaming up with Hitoshi Kumano against\nrepresentatives of Sugiura-gun. The one to truly watch out for in this match is\nKinya Okada, a bright young prospect of NOAH who only made his pro debut this\nyear. El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. (the son of Dr. Wagner Jr.) also made his debut\nin Japan this year by participating in the inaugural N-1 Victory tournament.\nKAZMA SAKAMOTO used to wrestle in the WWE way back but has since returned to\nvarious Japanese indies after his departure from the company. Yone and Storm\nare always a fun tag-team to watch, it’s nice to see Yone still go at it, he’s\nbeen with NOAH since the beginning. Should be a nice warm up for the rest of\nthe show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Match #2 – NOAH The Classic (Tag Team Match):<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Akitoshi\nSaito & Masao Inoue vs. Tamon Honda & Mitsuo Momota (Mighty Inoue –\nspecial guest referee)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year Akitoshi Saito and Masao Inoue have\ndecided to reunite as the two active veterans of the NOAH roster reformed their\nold faction “Dark Agents” way back in the 2000’s. They had a great\nmatch against AXIZ for the tag-team titles in August, Inoue really showcased\nthat if he gets serious, he could still go at it with the best of them. For\nthis event however, they’ll be facing two returning legends in Tamon Honda and\nMitsuo Momota. Honda used to be a former GHC Tag-Team Champion himself with\nKenta Kobashi, one of the best tag-teams in NOAH history. Momota is the son of\nthe legendary Rikidozan and was a regular competitor for the company in its\nearly years, being a former member of the AJPW roster, notably as a Junior\nHeavyweight Champion. The combined age for this match up alone is 300 as it\nwill also feature the great Mighty Inoue as special guest referee!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Match #3 – Six Man Tag Team Match:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kazushi\nSakuraba, Hajime Ohara, NOSAWA Rongai vs. Osamu Nishimura, Hi69, Junta Miyawaki<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Match #4 – Six Man Tag Team Match:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eddie\nEdwards, Atsushi Kotoge, Chris Ridgeway vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Minoru Tanaka,\nSuper Crazy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final six man tag of the night we got a bunch of\nwho’s who that made their mark in NOAH history whether all the way since the\nbeginning or just recently. Eddie Edwards, the first non-Japanese wrestler to\never become GHC Heavyweight Champion and a graduate of the NOAH Dojo makes his\nreturn to the company in their biggest event to team up with Atsushi Kotoge who\nrecently won the IPW:UK Junior Heavyweight Championship from Daisuke Harada in\nthe N-1 Victory Finals and with Chris Ridgeway, who has been doing well in his\ntour in Japan. Masaaki Mochizuki, Dragon Gate’s veteran, will be leading the\nopposite corner. He made his NOAH debut this year by partaking in the N-1\nVictory tournament and will team up with one of the greatest junior\nheavyweights in recent history: Minoru Tanaka and another returning star: Super\nCrazy! Some of you might know him best for his stints in the US such as in WWE\nand ECW, but Super Crazy also had a pretty decent career in Japan particularly\nfor NOAH being a former GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag-Team Champion with Ricky\nMarvin. Out of all the multi men tags, this is definitely the one I’m looking\nforward to the most. A lot of exciting match ups we could see here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Match #5 – Singles Match:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shuhei\nTaniguchi vs. Kazuyuki Fujita<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is basically a battle of the present against\nthe past, in a way NOAH vs. NJPW as well. Taniguchi is a product of the NOAH\nDojo and has remained loyal to the company since 2005. He has been on different\ngimmick variations through the years, he used to wrestle in a silly looking\nmask and then having some “dark overlord” vibes gimmick going for him\nlater on as “Maybach Taniguchi” but in recent years decided to just be\nhimself to keep things simple. Taniguchi is a pretty good talent but often gets\novershadowed by his contemporaries who are much more flashier and grittier with\ntheir styles such as Marufuji, Sugiura, Nakajima, Shiozaki, and the rest. He is\na 5x GHC Tag-Team Champion but is yet to win the big one so far. Maybe he would\nbe getting the chance if he scores a victory over Kazuyuki Fujita. One of the\nmost polarizing figures in the Puroresu scene, Fujita represents a dark\ntimeline for Japanese wrestling as a whole. He dominated New Japan during the\n“Inokism” years wherein wrestlers with MMA backgrounds or straight up\nreal fighters were favored over the traditionally trained professional\nwrestlers. He is a 3x IWGP Heavyweight Champion and also a former IGF Champion.\nHe made his debut for NOAH at the N-1 Victory finals with a win over Yoshiki\nInamura which lasted for 3 minutes. He has joined the Sugiura-gun faction and\nduring the Prelude Premium tours has tagged with Sugiura.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Match #6 – GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag-Team Championships:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yoshinari\nOgawa & Kotaro Suzuki (c) vs. Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first of five title matches, first off the GHC\nJr. Heavyweight Tag-Team Championships. The champions: Yoshinari Ogawa and\nKotaro Suzuki, representing STINGER will take on RATEL’s members Daisuke Harada\nand Tadasuke. Another past vs. present match up here, Ogawa and Suzuki are\nrespected veterans at this point of their careers. Ogawa has been by Misawa’s\nside since their days at AJPW and later on moving to NOAH, he is the first\njunior heavyweight to become GHC Heavyweight Champion. Suzuki also has a lot of\nMisawa influence within him, being trained and mentored by the legend himself.\nEarlier this year, Ogawa and Suzuki defeated the team of Hajime Ohara and\nHitoshi Kumano for the belts and they’ve successfully defended them five times\nalready in their ongoing 248 days reign as champion. However, this could be\ntheir toughest challenge yet as Daisuke Harada and Tadasuke would have another\nshot at those prestigious junior tag belts. Last year Daisuke Harada had one of\nthe greatest runs as GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion, in his second reign, he held\nthe belt for an amazing 394 days with seven successful defenses before losing\nit to Kotaro Suzuki. Tadasuke on the other hand is somewhat the “forgotten”\nmember of RATEL’s, having not accomplished much yet but he could change the\ntides for his career to finally win his first championship in NOAH by defeating\nthe veteran duo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Match #7 – GHC Jr. Heavyweight Championship:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HAYATA\n(c) vs. YO-HEY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A re-match from the N-1 Victory Finals where HAYATA successfully\ndefended the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Championship from his long time tag partner\nYO-HEY. Now the two will square off once again to finally settle the score.\nBoth men are relatively young and are at the prime of their respective careers.\nThis will be the biggest match they will have thus far, they’ve been successful\nin the junior tag-team division and have been one of the best teams in the\nentire pro wrestling world in general today. But now all of that will be put to\nthe side. The two members of RATEL’s will faceoff for the prestigious title\nthat YO-HEY has been chasing ever since he got into Pro Wrestling NOAH. For him\nto finally get it, he has to defeat his closest friend. This isn’t some form of\ngrudge match, but a respectful war between two of the best in the junior\nheavyweight division of NOAH right now. The future of said division lies within\nthis very match and I cannot wait for them to top their previous outing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Match #8 – GHC Tag-Team Championships:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katsuhiko\nNakajima & Go Shiozaki (c) vs. Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Match #9 – Special Singles Match:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naomichi\nMarufuji vs. The Great Muta<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first time ever, two masters of professional\nwrestling will faceoff. The best of their respective generations that\ncaptivated audiences for decades. “Mr. NOAH” himself, Naomichi\nMarufuji against the dark side of The Great Muta. Keiji Mutoh has made his fair\nshare of appearances throughout NOAH, the most notable one back in 2005 wherein\nhe faced Mitsuharu Misawa for the first time in a dream match at the Tokyo Dome,\nalso involving Yoshinari Ogawa and Taiyo Kea as their respective tag partners. However,\nthis will be the first time The Great Muta will be having a match at NOAH. The\nman in his path though is someone who has represented the company his entire\ncareer, the man that was passed the torch onto and continues to blaze it to\nthis day: Naomichi Marufuji. The 3x GHC Heavyweight Champion has wrestled all\nover the world, but NOAH will forever be his home. The Great Muta has seen all\nforms of opponents in his many decades of fighting in the ring, but he is yet\nto face someone with the determination as Marufuji, who has somewhat been on a\nslump this year, especially at the N-1 Victory, not getting a single win. Will\nthe redemption for Marufuji continue or will it be derailed by a persona he has\nnever faced before?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Match #10 – GHC National Championship:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takashi\nSugiura vs. Michael Elgin<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This next match up, NOAH will be crowning its\ninaugural GHC National Champion in what should be a hard hitting affair between\nTakashi Sugiura and Michael Elgin. The belt will be presented by the recently\nretired, Puro legend Riki Choshu. Statistically, Sugiura is the greatest pro\nwrestler in NOAH. He has the longest combined reigns as GHC Heavyweight\nChampion: 1,064 days in his four runs with the belt. He has held all four\nactive championships and once he wins this one as well, would be the most\naccomplished wrestler in company history. He has also maintained his spot as\none of the top competitors, especially now by being the leader of the\nsuccessful Sugiura-gun faction. His opponent, “Big Mike” Michael\nElgin is also a decorated wrestler himself. Having found majority of his\nsuccess with NJPW and ROH. Recently however, Elgin has departed from New Japan\nand is competing in a plethora of promotions around the world. He will be\nmaking his NOAH debut at this show and will take on a first time opponent in\nSugiura. The GHC National Championship will be like NOAH’s version of the\nIntercontinental belt, the secondary title before the main championship, which\nis nice and adds something to various storylines that don’t involved the GHC\nTitle itself. Like I’ve said, this match should be stiff as hell, should be\nvery reminiscent of the roots NOAH has taken its voyage from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Match #11 – GHC Heavyweight Championship:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaito\nKiyomiya (c) vs. Kenoh<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last but certainly not the least, the main event of\nthe evening for the prestigious and historic GHC Heavyweight Championship,\npresented by the greatest champion ever Kenta Kobashi, between Kaito Kiyomiya,\nthe defending champion against the challenger, winner of the inaugural N-1\nVictory and former champion himself: Kenoh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These two men symbolize the present and future of\nPro Wrestling NOAH. They are the only two GHC Champions so far that have never\nfaced Mitsuharu Misawa. I’m not usually a man to compare but it’s just way too\nobvious for me to not notice, this rivalry really reminds me of Misawa vs.\nKawada. The quiet babyface against the heel full of emotion. Those two have\nbattled through the years and it’s an eternal rivalry filled with both hate but\nalso respect as competitors. I feel the same vibe with Kiyomiya and Kenoh.\nObviously they are far from the levels of their predecessors yet, but if they\ncontinue on with this rivalry and deliver amazing matches, they could reach\nthat one day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaito is very much the Ace of NOAH right now, just\nlike Kazuchika Okada is to NJPW and Kento Miyahra is to AJPW. The young bright\nprospect who is a product of the NOAH Dojo. He has only made his debut in 2015\nbut it wouldn’t take long before he finds himself near at the top, battling for\nsupremacy against some of the veterans in the roster. 2018 was his biggest year\nas he won the Global League (now known as the N-1 Victory) which really toppled\nhis career to superstardom. On December 16, 2018, Kiyomiya ended Takashi\nSugiura’s dominant 280 day reign as GHC Heavyweight Champion, capturing the\nbelt for the very first time and has since then become a successful champion of\nhis own, currently at 317 days with 5 defenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Kaito is the marketable babyface of NOAH, then\nKenoh is the brash young heel. All Kenoh cares about his being successful and\nhe will go through any challenge to get there. He already won the GHC Title\nbefore in 2017, only had a short run with it though at 79 days before dropping\nit to Sugiura, which in turn as aforementioned, dropped it to Kiyomiya. The two\nof them have actually tagged early this year but only for a short time as the\ncompetitive nature between both men is too strong, it would’ve added to the\nstory of them being former tag-team champions but we never got to that point.\nKenoh is currently leading his own stable: Kongoh with Kitamiya and Inamura.\n2019 has been great for him thus far, winning the N-1Victory finals and will\nnow headline Sumo Hall with a chance to capture the gold once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is certainly far from being their last match against\none another, but a mark will certainly be left in this rivalry that could last\nfor ages. The future of NOAH will be determined in this main event. Legacies\nwill be affected, but in the end only one shall prevail and become GHC\nHeavyweight Champion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":13606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,205],"tags":[401,212,1129],"class_list":["post-13604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured","category-noah","tag-japan","tag-noah","tag-sumo-hall"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9jnWd-3xq","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/4z4M8mo.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13604"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13607,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13604\/revisions\/13607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}