Tag: ghc heavyweight champion

NOAH’s Kazuyuki Fujita vacates GHC Heavyweight Championship

Posted on by Ian Carey

Kazuyuki Fujita has vacated the GHC Heavyweight Championship. 

He had been scheduled to defend the title on the second night of NOAH’s Majestic 2022 on Saturday, April 30 against Go Shiozaki. At a press conference on Wednesday, it was revealed that Fujita has tested positive for COVID-19 and has been removed from the show.  

Shiozaki will compete for the vacated title on Saturday. Kaito Kiyomiya issued a challenge to Shiozaki to be his opponent but the match has yet to be made official. 

Fujita won the title by defeating Katsuhiko Nakajima at NOAH Gain Control on February 23. He would later successfully defend the championship against Masato Tanaka at NOAH Great Voyage In Fukuoka 2022 on March 21. 

The updated lineup for NOAH’s Majestic 2022 night two event on Saturday, April 30 is as follows:

  • Go Shiozaki vs. TBD for the vacant GHC Heavyweight Championship
  • Takashi Sugiura & Hideki Suzuki defend the GHC Tag Team Championships against Kenoh & Katsuhiko Nakajima
  • Naomichi Marufuji & TBA vs. Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura
  • Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY, & Junta Miyawaki vs. Dragon Bain, Alpha Wolf, Extreme Tiger, & Ninja Mack
  • Masakatsu Funaki defends the GHC National Championship vs. Simon Gotch
  • Masa Kitamiya vs. Michael Elgin
  • Masato Tanaka & Daiki Inaba vs. Rene Dupree & Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr
  • Kazushi Sakuraba & Kendo Kashin vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii
  • NOSAWA, Lita, Texano Jr., Kotaro Suzuki vs. HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa, Chris Ridgeway, Seiki Yoshioka, & Yuya Susumu
  • King Tani, Muhammad Yone, Akitoshi Saito vs. Manabu Soya, Tadasuke, & Hajime Ohara
  • SLEX & Kawei Fujimura vs. Kinya Okada & Yasutaka Yano

Kazuyuki Fujita wins GHC Heavyweight Championship at NOAH Gain Control

Posted on by Bryan Rose

A new GHC Heavyweight Champion was crowned this morning in Nagoya.

Kazuyuki Fujita defeated Katsuhiko Nakajima to win the championship for the first time, pinning Nakajima after connecting with a soccer kick and a beast bomb. After the match, Masato Tanaka came out and poured beer over Fujita, challenging him for the championship.

This marks the end of Nakajima’s 136 day reign as GHC Heavyweight Champion, defeating Naomichi Marufuji at Grand Square 2021 back on October 10. He had successfully defended the championship twice during that period, defeating Masato Tanaka on October 30 and Masa Kitamiya on January 16.

Also on the card, Daisuke Harada successfully defended the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship against Super Crazy. New GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions were crowned, as Atsushi Kotoge and YO-HEY defeated HAYATA and Yuya Susumu.

Hideki Suzuki, who was released from WWE back on January 5, appeared in a video during tonight’s show and announced he would be teaming with Takashi Sugiura in a future GHC Heavyweight Tag Team title tournament.

Keiji Mutoh signs two-year contract with Pro Wrestling NOAH

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Keiji Mutoh has signed a two-year contract with Pro Wrestling NOAH after winning the GHC Heavyweight title.

During a joint press conference with new DDT KO-D Openweight champion Jun Akiyama, Mutoh confirmed that he has joined the NOAH roster full time for the next two years. When the contract ends, Mutoh will be 60 years old. 

Akiyama, 51, announced that he has joined the DDT roster on a full-time basis. He won the KO-D title Sunday morning at Kawasaki Strong 2021, pinning champion Tetsuya Endo. NOAH and DDT are under the same parent company, CyberAgent.

Mutoh won the championship at Budokan Hall on February 12th, pinning Go Shiozaki to win the championship for the first time. Kaito Kiyomiya came out and challenged Mutoh after the match. The match has now been announced for the March 14th Great Voyage in Fukuoka show.

With his GHC Heavyweight title win, Mutoh has become the third person to win the IWGP Heavyweight, AJPW Triple Crown, and GHC Heavyweight titles, the other two being Kensuke Sasaki and Yoshihiro Takayama.