Tag: noah_ghc

A surprise announcement at Pro Wrestling NOAH’s first Monday Magic event yesterday that is now official-former wrestler NOSAWA Rongai, the producer of the events, has revived the GHC Hardcore Championship. Also known as the Global Hardcore Crown, it was active from 2004-2009 and was even a tag team championship for a time. The first champion of this new era will be determined on 10/23 in a match between Ninja Mack & TBA.

More as it becomes available.

Pro Wrestling NOAH kicked off MONDAY MAGIC today, a new experiment featuring 5 events in a serialized format to be held every couple weeks over the rest of the year on Mondays.

Today’s event was held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTE UNIVERSE FOR FREE! No signup or login required! Click below to watch (the full event runs 1 hour 53 minutes):

https://www.wrestle-universe.com/en/lives/pLkUUJXfo97Y5jGuCYkv9V

The paid attendance has not yet been announced.

Match 1: Ninja Mack beat Terry Yaki. Yaki is an American wrestler making his NOAH debut. Questionable ring name though.

Match 2: Go Shiozaki, Kazuyuki Fujita & Junta Miyawaki beat Manabu Soya, Masa Kitamiya & Kai Fujimura. Miyawaki pinned Fujimura after Falcon Arrow.

Match 3: Jake Lee & Anthony Greene beat LJ Cleary & Ryohei Oiwa. Greene pinned Oiwa. Cleary is a wrestler from Iteland also making his NOAH debut today.

Match 4: Takumi Iroha & Mio Momono beat Yuu & Rigo Kawabata. Iroha pinned Kawabata after Running 3.

Match 5: YO-HEY & Tadasuke beat Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf and Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69 in a 3-way when YO-HEY pinned Bane.

Main Event: Kenoh beat Satoshi Kojima.

Episode 2 is 10/23. After the event, it was announced The Great Muta (Keiji Muto) will appear at that event.

The next event is Saturday at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama, continuing the never-ending SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 12;30 AM PT/3:30 AM ET.

UPDATE: The promotion announced the free replay of this event will only be available until 10/23 at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET. So watch quickly if you’re not a subscriber!

Major news from Pro Wrestling NOAH coming out…Katsuhiko Nakajima is now done with the promotion. He is terminating his contract at the end of the week and will only have 2 dates left-10/20 and 10/28. No hints yet as to why or where Nakajima may go next. He joined NOAH at the beginning of 2016 after Diamond Ring closed and will mark 20 years active early next year.

More as it becomes available.

GRAND SHIP 2023 in NAGOYA, Pro Wrestling NOAH’s major event today, is now in the books.

Today’s event was held at Nagoya Congress Center in Nagoya and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English. The live broadcast was only in English due to ABEMA exclusives.

The announced paid attendance was 940.

Match 1: Pre-show match: Akitoshi Saito, Atsushi Kotoge, Stallion Rogers & Taishi Ozawa beat Mohammed Yone, Daiki Inaba, Hi69 & Yu Owada. Rogers pinned Owada after a backdrop.

Match 2: YO-HEY & Tadasuke beat Shuji Kondo & Hajime Ohara. YO-HEY pinned Ohara after a dropkick.

Match 3: Takashi Sugiura, Manabu Soya & Masa Kitamiya beat Kazuyuki Fujita, Hideki Suzuki & Shuhei Taniguchi. Soya pinned Taniguchi after a jumping DDT.

Match 5: Daga beat Junta Miyawaki.

Match 6: Kenoh & Lance Anoa’i beat Katsuhiko Nakajima & Adam Brooks. Kenoh pinned Brooks after PFS.

Match 7: Kaito Kiyomiya, Ryohei Oiwa & Eita beat Naomichi Marufuji, Yoshinari Ogawa & LEONA (Dradition) by DQ. LEONA DQ’d. Ref assault.

Match 8: Jack Morris & Anthony Greene beat GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Timothy Thatcher & Saxon Huxley to win the titles. Morris & Greene become the 66th GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Morris pinned Thatcher after a tiger driver.

Match 9: Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf beat Ninja Mack & Alejandro to win the vacant GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Bane & Wold become the 58th GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Bane pinned Alejandro after Twisterbane.

Match 10: GHC National Champion Hijo De Dr. Wagner Jr. beat Psycho Clown to retain the title. V6 for Wagner Jr. Next up: Morris. That match will happen on 10/28 at Fukuoka International Center.

Match 11: GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion HAYATA beat Seiki Yoshioka to retain the title. V4 for HAYATA. Next up: Daga. That match will happen on 11/4 at Niigata City Gym.

Main Event: GHC Heavyweight Champion Jake Lee beat Go Shiozaki to retain the title. V4 for Lee. Next up: Kenoh. That match will happen on 10/28.

In other post–event news/fallout, it sounds like Seiki Yoshioka may be leaving the promotion at the end of the year. It was announced that after 10/28, the last of 4 scheduled October dates for him, he will be taking a break from the promotion to prepare for new challenges. This suggests his contract may be expiring and he will look to sign elsewhere. Updates to follow.

The next event is a special NOAH THE HOME DELUXE event on 10/7 at SKIP City Multipurpose Hall in Saitama. This event is open only to NOAH’s Ark fan cclub members only and will not be broadcast.

The next regular event is MONDAY MAGIC Episode 1, the debut of a new short series of 5 Monday night events, on 10/9 at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 3 AM PT/6 AM ET.

Pro Wrestling NOAH has a rare morning matinee event on tap today, a Naomichi Marufuji 25th Anniversary event presented by sponsor LEC Cleanpa! I remember seeing Marufuji in person early in his career when NOAH and US independent promotion Ring OF Honor had a working agreement and I attended an ROH event in person in the mis-late 2000s, now some 20 years later he remains active both as a wrestler and an Executive Vice-President of NOAH, and still one of the coolest cats in the business. Today he has a dream match of sorts to celebrate as New Japan Pro Wrestling star Will Ospreay comes over for a cross-promotion main event, while the undercard is mainly tag and multi-man matches although New Japan Young Lion Ryohei Oiwa makes another appearance in NOAH today as well. Based on the current listing and news updates it also appears Alejandro will return after missing ths past week due to potential concussion symptoms.

Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in English only. Japanese commentary will be muted or dubbed over because this is an ABEMA exclusive broadcast in Japan (the Japanese commentary version will be available on demand once the event is over). Keiji Muto will be a special guest on Japanese commentary. You can also watch the first 3 matches FOR FREE on YouTube via the Pro Wrestling NOAH YouTube channel. The event is a legit advance sellout and it was a very quick one at that, with maybe only some standing room only tickets made available today. There are no title matches today but with 8 matches and a main event that could easily go long, the running time will depend largely on time limits but I’m anticipating the event’s total runtime being about 3 hours. (Show beginning update: With time limits for matches, the longest the event could go is 4 hours)

Today’s lineup:
Dragon Bane, Alpha Wolf & Seiki Yoshioka vs Ninja Mack, Alejandro & Hajime Ohara
Takashi Sugiura, Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito vs Kai Fujimura, Taishi Ozawa & Yu Owada
Junta Miyawaki vs Ryohei Oiwa
Saxon Huxley, Timothy Thatche, Hideki Suzuki & Shuhei Taniguchi vs Kazuyuki Fujita, Manabu Soya, Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba
Kaito Kiyomiya, HAYATA & Eita vs Yoshinari Ogawa, Daga & Stallion Rogers
Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. & Lance Anoa’i vs Psycho Clown & Kenoh
Jake Lee, Jack Morris, Anthony Greene, YO-HEY & Tadasuke vs Go Shiozaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Adam Brooks, Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69
Naomichi Marufuji vs Will Ospreay

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 7:15 PM PT/10:15 PM ET.

7:15 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has just begun. We’ll be going to the venue shortly.

7:30 PM PET UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Your hosts are Stewart Fulton & Mark Pickering. NOAH English host/announcer G-Man starts by hyping up the crowd. Seriously, that dude’s got some kind of enhanced chin. He will also be on commentary.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event but it’s a legit advance sellout, and was a very fast one at that. The actual number will depend on configuration and standing room only tickets sold today, but based on recent Korakuen events that were sellouts it should be anywhere from just over 1300 to maybe near 1500. The venue’s full capacity pre-pandemic, which it hasn’t yet returned to, is 2100-2350 depending on the setup. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 1532, a legit advance sellout, but some empty seats were visible during the broadcast)

The matches will begin shortly after the opening video package and card rundown.

The matches begin at 7:35 PM PT/10:34 PM ET.

Match 1: Dragon Bane, Alpha Wolf & Seiki Yoshioka vs Ninja Mack, Alejandro & Hajime Ohara. 15 minute time limit
Result: Ninja Mack, Alejandro & Hajime Ohara beat Dragon Bane, Alpha Wold & Seiki Yoshioka. Alejandro pinned Wolf.

Match 2: Takashi Sugiura, Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito vs Kai Fujimura, Taishi Ozawa & Yu Owada. 20 minute time limit
Result: Takashi Sugiura, Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito beat Kai Fujimura, Taishi Ozawa & Yu Owada. Sugiura beat Ozawa.

Match 3: Junta Miyawaki vs Ryohei Oiwa (New Japan) (Side note: Commentary noted that Oiwa is on his traditional Young Lion excursion from New Japan, but he went to NOAH which is interesting because normally they go overseas, often to Mexico or Europe although Yuya Uemura went to the USA to Impact Wrestling). 20 minute time limit
Result: Ryohei Oiwa beat Junta Miyawaki. First singles win in NOAH for Oiwa.

The YouTube broadcast ends here. It is now available on demand (53 minutes).

Match 4: Saxon Huxley, Timothy Thatcher, Hideki Suzuki & Shuhei Taniguchi vs Kazuyuki Fujita, Manabu Soya, Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba; 20 minute time limit
Result: Kazuyuki Fujita, Manabu Soya, Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba beat Saxon Huxley, Hideki Suzuki, Timothy Thatcher & Shuhei Taniguchi. Soya pinned Taniguchi after a jumping DDT.

Match 5: Kaito Kiyomiya, HAYATA & Eita vs Yoshinari Ogawa, Daga & Stallion Rogers. 30 minute time limit
Result; Kaito Kiyomiya, HAYATA & Eita beat Yoshinari Ogawa, Daga & Stallion Rogers. Kiyomiya beat Rogers with a figure 4.

Akitoshi Saito joins Japanese commentary.

Match 6: Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. & Lance Anoa’i vs Psycho Clown & Kenoh. 30 minute time limit
Result: Psycho Clown & Kenoh beat Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. & L:ance Anoa’i by DQ. Wagner Jr. DQ’d. Ripping off Clown’s mask. Drew rather rare boos from the Japanese fans as Wagner Jr. seemingly turned heel.

Match 7: Jake Lee, Jack Morris, Anthony Greene, YO-HEY & Tadasuke vs Go Shiozaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Adam Brooks, Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69. 30 minute time limit
Result: Jake Lee, Jack Morris, Anthony Greene, YO-HEY & Tadasuke beat Go Shiozaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Adam Brooks, Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69. Lee beat Hi69.

Main Event: Naomichi Marufuji vs Will Ospreay (New Japan). 1 Hour time limit
Result: Will Ospreay beat Naomichi Marufuji

A faster event than I expected with all the matches from start to finish going just under 2 1/2 hours. After the main event, Ospreay addressed the crowd following his first and maybe only career appearance in NOAH. He put over the NOAH roster and Marufuji in English and a little Japanese before leaving and turning the microphone over to Marufuji. He thanked Ospreay in English before thanking everyone in Japanese for coming today. He said he lost today but he will continue to aim for the top and thanked everyone for their support to end the show.

The next event is 9/23 at Shimada City Sports Center Sub Arena in Shizuoka. There will be no live broadcast.

Pro Wrestling NOAH continued the SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour today with a house show in Saitama.

Today’s event was held at Kasukabe Fureai Cube in Saitama and may be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 420.

Match 1: Taishi Ozawa beat Yu Owada.

Match 2: Saxon Huxley, Timothy Thatcher & Shuhei Taniguchi beat Jack Morris, Anthony Greene & Tadasuke. Thatcher beat Greene with a Fujiwara armbar.

Match 3: Masa Kitamiya & Mohammed Yone beat Naomichi Marufuji & Junta Miyawaki. Kitamiya beat Miyawaki with Prison Lock.

Match 4: Katsuhiko Nakajima, HAYATA & Eita beat Daiki Inaba, Atsushi Kotoge & Kai Fujimura. Nakajima pinned Fujimura after Vertical Spike.

Match 5: Ninja Mack beat Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf in a 3-way by pinning Bane.

Match 6: Shuji Kondo, Seiki Yoshioka & Hajime Ohara beat Yoshinari Ogawa, Daga & LEONA (Dradition). Yoshioka pinned LEONA after Crash Driver.

Match 7: Kaito Kiyomiya & Ryohei Oiwa (New Japan) beat Adam Brooks & Stallion Rogers. Kiyomiya pinned Rogers after a transformed Shining Wizard.

Match 8: Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. & Manabu Soya beat Kenoh & Lance Anoa’i. Soya pinned Anoa’i after a jumping DDT.

Main Event: Go Shiozaki & Hi69 beat Jake Lee & YO-HEY. Shiozaki pinned YO-HEY after Go Lariat.

The next event is LEC Cleanpa! Presents Naomichi Marufuji 25th Anniversary on 9/17 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in English ONLY will begin Saturday at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET. Live results will be posted. This is an ABEMA-exclusive broadcast in Japan. The event is a legit advance sellout.

Pro Wrestling NOAH resumed the never-ending SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour today with a house show in Tokyo.

Today’s event was held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The announced paid attendance was 402.

Match 1: YO-HY & Tadasuke beat Taishi Ozawa & Yu Owada. Tadasuke pinned Owada after a brainbuster.

Match 2: Adam Brooks & Mohammed Yone beat Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69. Brooks pinned Hi69 after Aussie Buster.

Match 3: Yoshinari Ogawa, Daga & LEONA (Dradition) beat Hajime Ohara, Junta Miyawaki & Kai Fujimura. LEONA beat Fujimura with a Texas cloverleaf.

Match 4: Saxon Huxley beat Anthony Greene.

Match 5: Kaito Kiyomiya & Ryohei Oiwa (New Japan) beat Timothy Thatcher & Shuhei Taniguchi. Kiyomiya pinned Taniguchi after a transformed Shining Wizard.

Match 6: Manabu Soya, Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba beat Kenoh, Lance Anoa’i & Stallion Rogers. Soya pinned Rogers after a jumping DDT.

Match 7: Shuji Kondo & Seiki Yoshioka beat HAYATA & Eita. Yoshioka pinned HAYATA after Crash Driver.

Match 8: Psycho Clown, Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf beat Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Ninja Mack & Alejandro. Clown pinned Wagner after Spanish Fly.

Main Event: Jake Lee & Jack Morris beat Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima. Lee pinned Shiozaki after FBS.

The next event is tomorrow at Kasukabe Fureai Cube in Saitama. There will be no live broadcast. The promotion also has announced last-minute changes for tomorrow as Alejandro is now off. Suspected concussion suffered today. Status uncertain.

DEVELOPING: Pro Wrestling NOAH has announced the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is now VACANT. Previous champions Daga & Chris Ridgeway have vacated the titles because Ridgeway had to leave Japan and return home for personal reasons. They were supposed to defend the titles on 9/24 vs. Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf. Bane & Wolf will now face Ninja Mack & Alejandro on that day for the titles. It’s not known when Ridgeway will be able to return.

UPDATE: In a statement on social media, Ridgeway confirmed the situation and thanked NOAH for being professional and allowing him to return home to deal with these issues. Ridgeway did not elaborate as to the reasons and requested privacy but assured fans that he will be back once everything is resolved.

Pro Wrestling NOAH held a special fan event ahead of the N-1 VICTORY Tournament opener today, which included a battle royal with all the tournament participants.

Today’s event was held at Hotel Metropolitan Edmont in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on the Pro Wrestling NOAH Japanese YouTube channel. It also streamed on ABEMA.

The paid attendance was bot announced.

Match Result: Manabu Soya won a 16 man N-1 Rumble battle royal, last eliminating Jack Morris. Order of elimination: Timothy Thatcher, Yoshiki Inamura, Adam Brooks, Daiki Inaba, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Saxon Huxley (DQ’d), Yuki Yoshioka, Masa Kitamiya, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Jake Lee, Lance Anoa’i, Kenoh, Go Shiozaki, Yuma Anzai, Morris. The match went over 53 minutes with the first elimination coming just over 30 minutes in.

The next event is the N-1 VICTORY 2023 Tournament beginning tomorrow at Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in English Only will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET. This is an ABEMA-exclusive broadcast in Japan and ABEMA has the Japanese commentary.

Pro Wrestling NOAH wrapped up July with the last SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour event for a couple months today.

Today’s event was held at Ishikawa Industrial Exhibition Hall 3 in Ishikawa and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date (likely Wednesday). There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 1125, a full house/near sellout. Keiji Muto attended this event, which no doubt helped bring a lot of fans in.

Match 1: Kai Fujimura beat Yu Owada.

Match 2: Akitoshi Saito & Super Crazy beat Mohammed Yone & Taishi Ozawa. Crazy pinned Ozawa after a moonsault press.

Match 3: Ninja Mack beat Hajime Ohara.

Match 4: Stallion Rogers, Seiki Yoshioka & Alejandro beat Anthony Greene, YO-HEY & Tadasuke. Yoshioka pinned YO-HEY after Crash Driver.

Match 5: Daiki Inaba beat Shuhei Taniguchi.

Match 6: HAYATA & Eita beat Yoshinari Ogawa & LEONA (Dradition). HAYATA pinned LEONA after 403 Impact.

Match 7: Kenoh, Adam Brooks & Lance Anoa’i beat Masa Kitamiya, Manabu Soya & Yoshiki Inamura. Brooks pinned Inamura after Aussie Buster.

Match 8: Naomichi Marufuji, AMAKUSA & Junta Miyawaki beat Kazushi Sakuraba, Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69. AMAKUSA pinned Kotoge after Opening Of The Country.

Main Event: Jake Lee & Jack Morris beat Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima. Lee pinned Shiozaki after FBS.

The next event is an N-1 VICTORY 2023 Eve Festival Saturday at Saturday at Hotel Metropolitan Edmont in Tokyo, This will include autograph sessions, merchandise sales and an N-1 Rumble, a 16 man battle royal with all tournament participants. The match will be broadcast live on ABEMA and the Pro Wrestling NOAH Japanese YouTube channel beginning at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET.