With a thirteen-match card (two dark matches and eleven main card matches), NOAH THE NEW YEAR was so robust that much like Keiji Muto’s retirement show, it required an intermission. This does include the pre-show, intermission, and post-match. Even with the ability of watch at double speed, NOAH kicked off the year with a very beefy show.
- Venue: Ariake Arena
- Attendance: 5,135
- Availability: Wrestle Universe & ABEMA
- Show Length: 6 Hours 32 Minutes 33 Seconds
- Japanese Commentary: Junji Shiono (Play-by-Play), Hikaru Inoue (Commentary), Rina Matsuki (Guest), Shuhei Taniguchi (Guest), Katsuya Ichikawa (Play-by-Play), Akiyoshi Saito (Guest) Keiji Muto (Guest), Takeru Segawa (Guest)
- English Commentary: Stewart Fulton & Mark Pickering
Akin to last year’s show NOAH THE NEW YEAR (1/1/2023), NOAH THE NEW YEAR 2024 was a star-studded affair (both in-ring and on commentary), but also celebrates all the great things about Pro-Wrestling NOAH.
Highly Recommended Matches
- GHC Championship: KENOH vs. Soya – KONGO truly is the friends we’ve made along the way.
- Ishii vs. Kitamiya – The Fans are the true winners
- Shiozaki vs. Kojima – a lovely CyberFight Festival 2022 rematch
- GHC Jr. Championship: Daga vs. Eita – Once upon a time in Mexico…
NOAH x NJPW Crossover
Unlike the previous two years, where NOAH vs. NJPW clashed in an additional night of Wrestle Kingdom, NOAH THE NEW YEAR served up several cross-promotional matches with matches and angles that were built up over November and December to close out 2023. Honestly, I loved this approach, and while I admittedly had some reservations, most of the crossover matches were quite good, including the tag with Ogawa/SZJ and Tanahashi/HAYATA. This felt more balanced in terms of wins/losses exchanged between the companies, more so than both of the Wrestle Kingdom NJPW x NOAH events (2022 & 2023).
Note: For those suffering along the House of Torture Pain Train, please be advised that today’s journey will take over twenty-five minutes as it’s a 6-on-6 Elimination Match.
Free Pre-Show
Dark Match 1: Yu Owada defeated Taishi Ozawa (5:24) – via Japanese Leg Roll Clutch
A great opening showcase of NOAH’s rookie talent. This was Owada’s first win, so it was a great way to kick off the new year!
- Verdict: Definitely Worth a Watch
Dark Match 2: Yone Mohammed, Atsushi Kotoge, Super Crazy & TERRY YAKI defeated Akitoshi Saito Hajime Ohara, HIROKI (Hi69) & Kai Fujimura (7:22) – with Kotoge pinning Fujimura after a Moonsault Press
With the main card stacked with special matches, including four New Japan co-branded matches and Ibushi x Marufuji in the main event, it was nice to see NOAH include as much talent as possible on their pre-show, to ensure fans didn’t miss out on seeing all their favorite wrestlers at the company’s biggest show of the year. This was simply a fun tag match to help close out the pre-show.
- Verdict: Worth a Watch
- Medical Update: Kai Fujimura Fractured Right Wrist
Main Card Part I
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Championship 3-Way Match: YO-HEY & Tadasuke defeated Ninja Mack & Alejandro and Dragón Bane & Alpha Wolf (3:36) – with YO-HEY pinning Ninja Mack after a Missile Drop Kick to become the 59th GHC Jr. Tag Champions
A fast-paced and pleasantly chaotic NOAH Juniors match. While the allegiance map of the NOAH Juniors tends to change like the weather, the quality control in the division is consistent. The Champions lose out when YO-HEY pins Ninja Mack, meaning there is likely a rematch on the horizon as the new champs yanked the rug out from under the former champs.
- Verdict: Worth a Watch
International Sensation 6-Man Tag Match: Jake Lee, Jack Morris & Anthony Greene defeated El Hijo de Dr. Wagner, Jr, Vinnie Massaro & Titus Alexander (9:44) – with Morris pinning Massaro after an M-83
NOAH has consistently featured many of these wrestlers in the last two years, both before and after the establishment of GLG and EHdDWJ’s monster run with the GHC National Championship. I do love that fresh faces like Massaro and Alexander are also now in the mix. With all of GLG, minus leader Jake Lee, now shouldering GHC Gold, it could be a matter of time before he’s preparing to claw his way back into the main event, or potentially against fellow stablemate, Morris, for the GHC National Championship.
- Verdict: Worth a Watch With foreign wrestler showcases like this in NOAH, I do hope that it leads to more talent international exchanges in the future.
- What’s Next? Jack Morris will defend the GHC National Championship against Titus Alexander at SUNNY VOYAGE 2024 (1/17; Shinjuku FACE).
Special Singles Match: Tomohiro Ishii defeated Masa Kitamiya (15:04) – Vertical Drop Brainbuster/Pin
When it comes to sleeper hits that could steal the show, Kitamiya making overtures to Ishii sent my imagination into overdrive and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Take everything you love about a hard-hitting singles match and distill it into a concentrate. They did so much with only fifteen minutes and the fans were behind both of them the entire time.
- Verdict: HIGHLY Recommended! I like it. I love it. I want more of it. I sincerely hope that this isn’t a one-off either. Is it too early to name it my match of the night?
- What’s Next? I would love to see Ishii in the N-1 VICTORY or even tagging with Kitamiya in the future.
Special Singles Match: Go Shiozaki defeated Satoshi Kojima (13:56) – via Gowan Lariat/Pin
This Lariat versus Lariat showdown immediately reminded me of their Cyberfight Festival 2022 main event championship match, where Kojima defeated Shiozaki for the GHC Championship to become a Triple Crown champion. Although this match was shorter than their GHC match, after the 2022 Summer of Kojima and Shiozaki taking time off, for those who enjoyed their voyage together in NOAH or those new to NOAH, this was an all-the-hits sampler.
With his victory, Shiozaki announced the arrival of TEAM NOAH – including Atsushi Kotoge, HIROKI, Akiyoshi Saito (who abandoned the commentary booth), and Mohammed Yone. With all the shifts in alliances, departures (like Harada and Yoshioka), and dissolution of popular factions like KONGO, it’s been a little unclear where everyone’s loyalties lay.
- Verdict: Recommended I loved it when Kojima beat Shiozaki last summer and I loved seeing Shiozaki get his win back.
- What’s Next? Go Shiozaki announced TEAM NOAH, but for Mr. I AM NOAH, that alone truly isn’t enough. How soon before he makes another bold declaration and pushes ahead to the front of the GHC Championship queue?
The Debut of The Great Sakuya Tag Match: Miyuki Takase & Haruka Umesaki defeated Nagisa Nozaki & The Great Sakuya (13:46) – via Referee Stoppage/DQ
Note: Keiji Muto joins commentary as a third neutral-party guest commentator, and yet has a lot of Great Muta and Great Sakuya lore at the ready.
One of the interesting moves by CyberFight and NOAH is the use of freelance women’s wrestlers for their showcases over working with Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling or Ganbare ProWrestling. However, I do not necessarily think this is a bad idea as it protects TJPW’s roster and doesn’t feed into the “TJPW and GanJo are NOAH’s ‘Women’s Division” rumors. With veterans like Nozaki and Takase and a hot rising star in Umesaki, Sakuya has a great support system in place for her debut match.
For a debut match, Sakuya stopped that ring-in chair-slide by Nozaki too smoothly! Takase got blessed by Sakuya’s inherited red poison mist, but it was Sakuya smashing the referee with a chair that caused the bell. Despite the loss, Sakuya hit Muto’s Moonsault Press with Nozaki officiating the three count.
- Verdict: Worth a Watch While NOAH typically showcases women’s wrestling on occasion, the selection of talent they’ve brought in are a who’s who of Dream Slam Monthly, with many notable names in the freelance market, some of which have made their way to international shows as well. I love that NOAH is celebrating women’s wrestling, and their fans seem receptive to supporting it as well.
- What’s Next? The emergence of The Great Sakuya came with NOAH’s Monday Magic, which also featured Nozaki’s first match post-op and as a freelance wrestler. According to NOAH’s schedule, MM Season two is to start in April, so there is the possibility that Sakuya’s journey will continue there.
Ulka Sasaki’s Pro-Wrestling Debut: Takashi Sugiura defeated Ulka Sasaki (11:02) – Olympic Slam/Pin
Closing out the first half of the main card was Ulka Saksaki’s debut match with an exceptionally high wall in Takashi Sugiura. The placement of this match above Ishii/Kitamiya, Shiozaki/Kojima, and the debuting Great Sakuya could mean that high hopes are in store for Sasaki. For a debut, it was quite good and his MMA background definitely shows in his foundation. Sugiura didn’t go easy on him at all but did sell convincingly for him. With them leaving together after the match, I am curious to see if Sasaki will be aligning himself with Sugiura moving forward.
- Verdict: Worth a Watch For his first foray into pro-wrestling after MMA and UCF, Sasaki held his own against Sugiura. Sugiura didn’t go easy on him at all and really made him work for the spotlight.
- What’s Next? Not quite sure, but if Ulka Sasaki continues under Takashi Sugiura’s guidance, his star could rise rapidly.
Main Card Part II
Wrestling Symphony Tag Match: Zack Sabre, Jr & Yoshinari Ogawa defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & HAYATA (17:36) – Orienteering with Napalm Death (SZJ submitted HAYATA)
More than anything, this match definitely felt like a preview match for Zack’s championship defense against Tanahashi at WK18. While there was teamwork between SZJ/Ogawa and Tanahashi/HAYATA, the undercurrent of this long-running feud on the New Japan side bookends nicely with the bad blood between Ogawa who dispatched HAYATA from Stinger in 2023. The match was good, but five minutes could have easily been shaved off to tighten it up a little bit.
- Verdict: Worth a Watch There is just something special about ZSJ returning to his NOAH roots and tagging with Ogawa.
- What’s Next? Zack Sabre, Jr. will defend his NJPW WORLD Television Championship against NJPW’s new president, Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 18 on Thursday. SZJ defeated Ren Narita at WK17 last January to become the inaugural champion and has had one of the best runs with it in 2023.
GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship: Daga (c) defeated Eita (13:00) – Diablo Wings/Pin; 54th Champion’s V2
While I am unfamiliar with the scope of Daga’s career, simply knowing the connection between him and Eita during Eita’s time in Mexico was more than enough to pique my interest. I’d certainly add this match to the shortlist if you are cherry-picking matches from this card
- Verdict: Highly Recommended For those who love Junior Heavyweight wrestling, file this one into your viewing queue as soon as possible.
- What’s Next? No challenger has been announced yet for Daga’s next defense.
6-on-6 Elimination Tag Match: Kaito Kiyomiya, Shota Umino, Ryohei Oiwa, Daiki Inaba, Shuji Kondo & Junta Miyawaki defeated NJPW’s House of Torture (EVIL. Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Dick Togo) (26:14) – Kiyomiya eliminated EVIL… for today.
NJPW Referee Kenta Sato had his hands full in a full-on HoT melee. This match was a great showcase for Oiwa and NOAH’s Miwawaki, Kondo and Inaba and a precursor to Umino/Kiyomiya vs. EVIL/Narita at Wrestle Kingdom 18. While I love seeing Kanemaru return to his NOAH and Heel Master roots, this match was twice as long as it needed to be when the card was so long to begin with. For those wishing to watch all the carnage, but are pressed for time, double-speed is also available on WU.
Order of Elimination
- SHO eliminated Junta Miyawaki – Shock Arrow/Pin
- Shuji Kondo eliminated SHO – OTTR
- Yoshinobu Kanemaru eliminated Kondo – OTTR (w/ assistance from SHO)
- Kanemaru eliminated Daiki Inaba – OTTR (w/ ref interference from Yujiro Takahashi & a little Suntory Surprise*)
- Shota Umino eliminated Kanemaru – OTTR (using the ring rope for leverage with a springboard)
- Umino eliminated Dick Togo – Deathrider/Pin
- Ren Narita eliminated Umino (and himself) – OTTR with Umino in a chokehold (and eventually dragged Umino backstage)
- Yujuro Takahashi eliminated Ryohei Oiwa – OTTR (after a low-blow and assist from EVIL)
- Kaito Kiyomiya eliminated Yujiro Takahashi – Pin
- Kaito Kiyomiya eliminated EVIL – OTTR
House of Torture tried spoiling NOAH’s post-match celebration, but they were dispatched quickly. The match was a great way to get more of the NOAH talents on the card, but I wish it would have been a sub-15-minute time commitment.
- Verdict: I watched it, so you don’t have to… unless you really want to see Kiyomiya’s return to his Supernova-era costume and to support the NOAH guys. If you aren’t keen at House of Torture let alone nearly half an hour of their shenanigans, this might not be your cup of tea.
- What’s Next? Shota Umino and Kaito Kiyomiya will band together against EVIL and Ren Narita (and likely the rest of House of Torture). I do hope that Umino gets that desired singles match against Kiyomiya in the future. Oiwa continues his domestic excursion in NOAH alongside Kiyomiya.
GHC Heavyweight Championship: KENOH (c) defeated Manabu Soya (28:36) – via KENOH Special (submission); 43rd Champion’s V1
As KENOH assembled KONGO, Manabu Soya was one of the acquisitions that helped strengthen the group the most. Naturally, KENOH credits himself for recruiting Soya and helping Soya find purpose, including winning the AJPW Tag Team Championships together, Soya has residual frustration from working so hard in KONGO without leaving an indelible mark on NOAH in the championship department. When KENOH announced the dissolution of KONGO, Soya shocked the world by being the first to tear up at the announcement. For those following KENOH’s costuming, he intentionally wore his KONGO Red version for this match, instead of his latest rendition in blue.
The pacing was an intentionally slow endurance trial, which forced both competitors to get creative and to dig deep into their wheelhouses. The tricky thing about wrestling a former tag partner is that one knows all the strengths, but exposing the weaknesses can sometimes hurt more than the heaviest strikes. Soya may have lost via submission, but he will always have the collective stolen breaths of Ariake after launching himself at KENOH through the ropes in a massive tope suicida, and the crowd screaming his name after!
As the semi-main event, I am glad they gave KENOH and Soya nearly 30 minutes, especially since it was a GHC Championship match. Again, as the company’s top championship, this should have closed the show. This is KENOH’s third reign as top champion, and he’s consistently proved his value as a top star in the company. The challenge now is to continue elevating the championship and new contenders, and start toppling old rivals and former champions…starting with Go Shiozaki!
“Before I give you a response, please let me say something…Manabu Soya, you’ve become really strong!! Tonight I was thrilled to be able to have an outstanding match with Soya. Thanks so much for that!!” KENOH declares, fanning the crowd chant for Soya.
“As for my answer for you? Well, it’s no. Putting this belt on the line for you as you are right now, the answer is no… however…I really do want your ‘I AM NOAH’ catchphrase, so if you are expecting me to put up this belt, you’d better come prepared to put the words that mean the most to you as collateral. If you’re willing to do that, meet me at Korakuen Hall on January 13th, and we’ll put everything up for grabs… and starting January 14th, 2024, I’ll have everyone following the new Mr. I AM NOAH…Me.” – KENOH
- Verdict: Highly Recommended Be still my KONGO-loving heart. Though they walk different paths now, I’m confident that KENOH and Soya’s paths will cross again.
- What’s Next? KENOH will make his second GHC Championship defense against Go Shiozaki at STAR NAVIGATION 2024 (1/13; Korakuen Hall). KENOH is currently in his third reign with the GHC Championship and celebrated his 39th birthday on New Year’s Day.
Main Event DESTINY 2024: Kota Ibushi defeated Naomichi Marufuji (33:26) – via Kamigoe/Pin
In the first and last singles meeting, Kota Ibushi and Naomichi Marufuji clashed in the main event. I am certain that this was a bucket list tier match-up for both competitors. From a historical standpoint, the match has gravity due to the decorated histories of both Marufuji and Ibushi, which is understandable, but in this particular instance quantity doesn’t equate to quality. It was a good match, but I’ve seen both have much better.
I understand both competitors’ desire to send the fans home with the best possible match they could each have as it could be the only time they share a ring like this, but they might have pushed themselves too hard. They could have carved off eight to ten minutes and still communicated everything they wished to. It just makes it hard to watch when it looks like the competitors are legitimately forcing themselves through the pain to complete the match as planned instead of trimming parts for the sake of self-preservation. There was an emotional handshake between Ibushi and Marufuji as they looked at the ceiling lights of Ariake together.
Closing remarks were provided by Jake Lee and Kaito Kiyomiya. Lee recapped his 2023 with his arrival in NOAH from AJPW, relieving Kiyomiya of the GHC Championship and having a great run with it for the bulk of the year. Kiyomiya is prepared once more to put NOAH on his back and work his way back to the center spotlight as well.
- Verdict: Recommended I understand that the dream match ambiance, thirteen years in the making and the international acclaim due to ties with AEW all swirling around this main event. That being said, this match could have easily swapped places with the GHC Championship match without any loss of star power or notoriety.
- What’s Next? Naomichi Marufuji will continue steering the Ark as he always has.
- Medical Update: Kota Ibushi Taken to Hospital
Overall, NOAH THE NEW YEAR starts the 2024 calendar off strong. The ambitious card worked to include as many full-time roster members as possible without resorting to a timed entry rumble or battle royal.
My only caveat is that this is the second year in a row where the GHC Championship took second billing to a special dream main event. Last year, Kiyomiya and KENOH played second fiddle to The Great Muta/Shinsuke Nakamura and this year KENOH and Soya did the same to Marufuji/Ibushi.
Also, props to Abema for putting a giant fabric backdrop behind the commentary team for the post-show comments. It helped stave off the stragglers who detracted from the broadcast by distracting the audience.
Upcoming Schedule (Full 2024 Schedule)
- STAR NAVIGATION 2024 (1/13) Korakuen Hall
- STAR NAVIGATION 2024 (1/17) Shinjuku FACE
- WRESTLE MAGIC 2024 (5/4) Ryogoku Sumo Hall – PPV
- TBA (6/16) Yokohama BUNTAI
- TBA (7/13) Nippon Budokan
