Pro wrestling NOAH
Pro wrestling NOAH | |
---|---|
shape | promotion |
Establishment date | 2000 |
Location | Tokyo , Japan |
Territories | Japan |
founder | Mitsuharu Misawa |
management | CyberAgent |
Branch | Pro wrestling |
Further information | |
Website | www.noah.co.jp |
Pro Wrestling NOAH is a Japanese wrestling organization and was founded in 2000 by the Japanese wrestler Mitsuharu Misawa .
history
Misawa was the booker of All Japan Pro Wrestling in 2000 , which was previously under the direction of Giant Baba . After Baba's death, all of Japan was ruled by his widow, Motoko Baba. According to the rumors of the time, Misawa wanted to revolutionize the often traditionalist and old-fashioned booking of All Japan, which Baba spoke out against. Misawa, his co-booker Mitsuo Momota and with very few exceptions almost all Japanese wrestlers and office members went to the new Pro Wrestling NOAH project.
Wrestlers in the promotion are therefore former All Japan Pro Wrestlers such as Mitsuharu Misawa, Akira Taue, Kenta Kobashi , Yoshinari Ogawa or Jun Akiyama as well as the ex-all Japan wrestlers Takeshi Morishima, Takeshi Rikio, Naomichi Marufuji , KENTA and many more who have now risen . Wrestlers like Go Shiozaki and Takashi Sugiura come from the NOAH Dojo.
NOAH refers to the biblical story about Noah and his ark. The name was not chosen by chance, but is intended to indicate a new beginning in Japanese wrestling. The shows and tours are often titled "Navigation" to allude to the Ark.
Like the competition New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), All Japan Pro Wrestling etc., NOAH awards titles in individual and tag team matches, in both heavyweight and junior heavyweight categories. The titles are called Global Honored Crown (GHC). While not considered the largest organization in Japan due to the history and financial resources of NJPW, NOAH was considered a "true leader" in 2005 and 2006 as the only major Japanese organization in the black.
The well-known wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer from the Pro Wrestling Observer rated NOAH a few years ago as the strongest of all wrestling organizations worldwide. For example, the matches Mitsuharu Misawa against Kenta Kobashi on March 1, 2003 and Kenta Kobashi against Jun Akiyama on July 10, 2004 were rated with five stars, which is the highest rating in wrestling. Especially the Tokyo Dome Shows 2004 and 2005 attracted worldwide attention to NOAH with their high quality and legendary matches such as Akiyama / Kobashi and Sasaki / Kobashi.
NOAH works closely with the American leagues Ring of Honor and World League Wrestling . Thanks to collaborations with European promotions such as Westside Xtreme Wrestling (Germany), the International Catch Wrestling Alliance (France) and IPW-UK (England), many NOAH stars are in Europe every year, including Misawa, Kobashi, Marufuji, Minoru Suzuki and Akiyama already in German wrestling rings. In return, European wrestlers like Ares, Zack Saber Jr. and Murat Bosporus have also been to Japan.
In spring 2006, NOAH also founded a second (mini) promotion called Pro Wrestling SEM , another allusion to the biblical story of Noah, whose eldest son was called Sem. Only the younger wrestlers NOAHs appear there.
Misawa, who ran NOAH's business, died on June 13, 2009 in Hiroshima after a match of cardiac arrest. Akira Taue has been running the business ever since, supported by Kenta Kobashi, Go Shiozaki, Jun Akiyama and Naomichi Marufuji.
Current title holders
Championship (s) | Reigning champion | Date of title win |
---|---|---|
GHC Heavyweight Championship | Go Shiozaki | 4th January 2020 |
GHC National Championship | Katsuhiko Nakajima | May 9, 2020 |
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship | Stinger ( Yoshinari Ogawa and HAYATA ) | May 10, 2020 |
GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship | Kotaro Suzuki | April 19, 2020 |
GHC Tag Team Championship | Sugiura-gun International ( El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. & René Duprée ) | April 19, 2020 |