Tag: Pro Wrestling NOAH

NXT wrestlers win championships at NOAH Star Navigation 2025

Posted on by Ian Carey

Three wrestlers that NXT fans are familiar with won gold today at Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Star Navigation 2025 event in Korakuen Hall.

Yoshiki Inamura is the new GHC Heavyweight Champion after he defeated KENTA in the show’s main event, finishing the former champion off with his patented splash from the top rope. After the match, Inamura was confronted by Kaito Kiyomiya for his first title defense.

Also, Hank Walker and Tank Ledger are the new GHC Tag Team Champions, having defeated Team 2000X’s Masa Kitamiya and Takashi Sugiura for the belts. They were immediately confronted and challenged to a future title match by Naomichi Marufuji and Kenoh.

NOAH published Hank and Tank’s backstage comments from the show:

“I’ll keep this short and straight to the point. No matter where we are, no matter who the opponent is, we’ll hype it up to the max,” Max said.

“That’s right, that’s right. We’ll make a big noise, build up the momentum, and hype it up,” said Tank.

WWE NXT female wrestlers expected to travel overseas in 2026

Posted on by Josh Nason

The female wrestlers from WWE NXT will need to get their passports ready for next year according to our Bryan Alvarez.

Alvarez is reporting that the tentative plan is that like with the male NXT talent working in Pro Wrestling NOAH, the women will also be doing tours of Japan in 2026. He didn’t specify whether that meant NOAH, Marigold or potentially both.

WWE and NOAH have had a working partnership for several years that has seen several main roster talents head to Japan including Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles and Omos (who held the GHC Tag Team titles).

The NXT men have had increased representation over the last year.

Upcoming appearances include former NXT Tag Team Champions Hank Walker & Tank Ledger against Masa Kitamiya and Takashi Sugiura on November 8 at Korakuen Hall for the GHC Tag Team titles. The duo debuted this past Sunday with a win over Alpha Wolf and Dragon Bane to set up the match.

Charlie Dempsey and Harlem Lewis debuted in NOAH last month while Josh Briggs and Tavion Heights took part in last summer’s N1 Victory tournament.

Conversely, Yoshiki Inamura debuted in WWE NXT last November, competing in the promotion through this past August.

WWE NXT tag team to challenge for NOAH’s GHC Tag Team titles

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Hank & Tank are already getting a shot at the GHC Tag Team titles.

Pro Wrestling NOAH confirmed that the former NXT Tag Team Champions will face Masa Kitamiya and Takashi Sugiura on November 8 at Korakuen Hall.

It comes after the two made their debut on Sunday morning, defeating Alpha Wolf and Dragon Bane. They later confronted the tag team champions on the same show, issuing a challenge backstage that the champions later accepted.

The two began their tour of Japan after they were written off NXT on last week’s show, having been taken out by the returning OTM.

NOAH has seen an uptick of NXT talent on their cards in the last month. Charlie Dempsey and Harlem Lewis made their debut back on October 4 in Nagoya, facing each other in a singles match. Most recently, they teamed with Yoshiki Inamura to defeat KAYATA, KENTA, and Ulka Sasaki on October 21. Inamura has recently made his return to Japan after spending most of the year wrestling on NXT television.

Hiroshi Tanahashi match official for Pro Wrestling NOAH

Posted on by Joseph Currier

On his retirement tour, Hiroshi Tanahashi will be competing at a big event for Pro Wrestling NOAH.

NOAH has confirmed that Tanahashi & Kaito Kiyomiya will be teaming up on October 11, facing off against Naomichi Marufuji & KENOH at Wrestle Odyssey. The match was set up at NJPW Destruction in Kobe when Kiyomiya showed up and invited Tanahashi to team with him.

Tanahashi — one of NJPW’s greatest-ever wrestlers — will conclude his in-ring career at Wrestle Kingdom 20 on January 4, 2026. NJPW has yet to name Tanahashi’s opponent for his retirement match.

Though he’s retiring from the ring, Tanahashi will still be heavily involve in NJPW with his behind-the-scenes role as company president.

NOAH Wrestle Odyssey 2025 is airing live on ABEMA in Japan. The card also includes two NXT wrestlers: Charlie Dempsey & Harlem Lewis. They will be facing Jack Morris & Sasaki Yuruka in a tag bout.

Pro Wrestling NOAH Wrestle Odyssey (Saturday, October 11) —

  • GHC Heavyweight Champion KENTA defends against Masa Kitamiya
  • GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi defends against Eita
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Naomichi Marufuji & KENOH
  • Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Minoru Suzuki
  • GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf defend against Daga & Daiki Odashima
  • Takashi Sugiura & Shun Skywalker vs. Tetsuya Endo & Hayata
  • Jack Morris & Ulka Sasaki vs. Charlie Dempsey & Harlem Lewis
  • Galeno & Harutoki vs. Manabu Soya & Yuto Kikuchi
  • Junta Miyawaki vs. Kai Fujimura

Longtime Pro Wrestling NOAH star leaving company

Posted on by Bryan Rose

A longtime Pro Wrestling NOAH star is departing the company.

NOAH announced Tuesday morning that Go Shiozaki, who aside from a few years spent most of his career with the company, will be leaving as of September 30.

“Following discussions initiated by Go Shiozaki, it has been decided that his contract with PRO WRESTLING NOAH will not be renewed. As of today, the contract has officially expired,” the company wrote on social media.

Shiozaki’s last match was during the N-1 Victory tour on September 23, where he teamed with Atsushi Kotoge, Kazuyuki Fujita, and Mohammed Yone to defeat Harutoki, Kaito Kiyomiya, Naomichi Marufuji, and Shuhei Taniguchi.

Graduating from the Pro Wrestling NOAH dojo in 2003, Shiozaki has spent most of his career in the company, where he held the GHC Heavyweight title on five different occasions and won the N-1 Victory tournament in 2023. He briefly left the company in 2013 to join All Japan Pro Wrestling, where he held the Triple Crown title once before returning to NOAH in 2015, where he remained up until Tuesday.

NJPW Destruction in Kobe notes: New champions crowned, NOAH, King of Pro Wrestling

Posted on by Bryan Rose

News and notes stemming from Sunday morning’s NJPW Destruction in Kobe.

New IWGP Tag Team Champions were crowned at Destruction, with The Knockout Brothers (Yuto-Ice & OSKAR) defeating Tomohiro Ishii and Taichi to win the titles for the first time. They pinned Ishii after they hit their finish, the KOB. After the match, Shota Umino and Yuya Uemura came out and confronted the new champions, setting up a potential title match down the road.

Other matches were also set up during the show. After Boltin Oleg defeated Don Fale to retain the NEVER Openweight title, EVIL attacked him and made his claim for the title by laying out Oleg with the Everything is Evil. After the opening bout, DOUKI made it clear he wanted the next shot at Desperado’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight title. The two had a match earlier this year at Wrestle Kingdom, but it ended early after DOUKI suffered an elbow injury early into the match.

In the co-main event, Gabe Kidd defeated Shingo Takagi to retain the IWGP Global Championship. After the match, Yota Tsuji, who was successful against David Finlay in the previous match, came out and challenged Kidd for the title at King of Pro Wrestling on October 13.

Pro Wrestling NOAH stars also appeared to promote the group’s upcoming Wrestle Odyssey event on October 11 at Sumo Hall. After Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Great-O-Khan, Kaito Kiyomiya came out and asked to team with him at the upcoming show, which Tanahashi accepted. Later in the night, NOAH’s Eita superkicked Hiromu Takahashi after he successfully retained the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship against Taiji Ishimori. The two are planned to square off for the title at Sumo Hall.

The main event saw Zack Sabre Jr. successfully defend the title against House of Torture’s Ren Narita. Despite the usual interference from the group, Sabre pinned Narita with the Zack Driver for the win. That makes his upcoming title match against Konosuke Takeshita official for King of Pro Wrestling.

NOAH title to be defended at NJPW Destruction in Kobe

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Junior Heavyweight Championship will be on the line this weekend at an NJPW event.

NJPW star Hiromu Takahashi became the new GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion earlier this month. He’s now set to make his first defense at NJPW Destruction in Kobe this Sunday, where he will face off against Taiji Ishimori. The match was made after Ishimori scored the fall over Takahashi in a six-man tag on NJPW’s Road to Destruction tour.

“The bout represents the first time the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship has been defended in an NJPW ring since April 27, 2004, when then champion Jushin Thunder Liger defended against Kotaro Suzuki in Hiroshima,” NJPW wrote.

“Hiromu already had a first defense scheduled against NOAH’s Eita for the promotion’s October 11 Ryogoku card. Addressing the impromptu title bout, Hiromu said that the winner of himself and Ishimori would be the one to face Eita, yet Ishimori has accepted this title match on the condition that should he win, he will only defend the belt in New Japan. Hiromu’s capturing of the gold was already controversial, and his unilateral actions have drawn sharp criticism from the NOAH roster online.”

Ishimori, a star for NOAH before he joined NJPW, has held the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship three times. His most recent reign took place in 2017.

As far as NJPW’s Junior Heavyweight title is concerned, DOUKI has set his sights on a future match against champion El Desperado. They will meet in 10-man tag team action at Destruction in Kobe.

Destruction in Kobe will stream live on NJPW World starting at 3 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday. Here is the updated card

NJPW Destruction in Kobe (Sunday, September 28) —

  • IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. defends against Ren Narita
  • IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion Gabe Kidd defends against Shingo Takagi
  • Yota Tsuji vs. David Finlay
  • GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi defends against Taiji Ishimori
  • IWGP Tag Team Champions Tomohiro Ishii & Taichi defend against OSKAR & Yuto-Ice
  • NEVER Openweight Champion Oleg Boltin defends against Don Fale
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Great-O-Khan
  • El Desperado, YOH, Shota Umino, Yuya Uemura & YOSHI-HASHI vs. DOUKI, SHO, EVIL, SANADA & Dick Togo

WWE NXT wrestlers appear at Pro Wrestling NOAH show, future matches set

Posted on by Bryan Rose

NXT stars made their presence felt at Korakuen Hall.

Charlie Dempsey and Harlem Lewis made their debut on Wednesday morning at Korakuen Hall during the N1 Finals. Dempsey announced that they will have at least two matches in NOAH. The first will take place on October 4 in Nagoya when they face each other in a singles match. A second match will then take place on October 11 when they team together to face a Pro Wrestling NOAH team at the Wrestle Odyssey event in Ryogoku Sumo Hall. Dempsey seemingly confirmed a third match at Korakuen Hall, though a date wasn’t given.

NOAH announced the arrival of the two wrestlers during the weekend. On last week’s NXT, Dempsey told Wren Sinclair that he was heading to Japan for a month and to hold the fort down, despite them being the only members of the No Quarter Catch Crew left.

Harlem Lewis hasn’t made NXT television yet but has been making appearances during the second season of LFG and has also wrestled on NXT Level Up. 

Two WWE NXT wrestlers set to appear at upcoming Pro Wrestling NOAH event

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Charlie Dempsey’s Japan arrival has officially been confirmed.

Pro Wrestling NOAH announced on Sunday that the NXT star, along with Harlem Lewis, will be making an appearance on their September 23 show at Korakuen Hall. It hasn’t been announced if they will be wrestling on the card.

On last week’s NXT, Dempsey announced that he was leaving for a month to go to Japan and trusted Wren Sinclair in keeping the fort down while he was gone. This is despite a recent storyline where most of the No Quarter Catch Crew has abandoned Dempsey, with Myles Borne and Tavion Heights both leaving to branch out on their own as singles stars.

Dempsey, the son of William Regal, has made many appearances outside of WWE during his tenure with the company. Last year he unsuccessfully challenged Katsuhiko Nakajima for AJPW’s Triple Crown Championship. He has also competed at GCW’s Bloodsport events, beating Matt Makowski and Tracy Williams.

Lewis has been wrestling for WWE since March of 2024. He has made appearances on WWE LFG’s second season as well as NXT Level Up. He also wrestled a match on Raw back in August of last year, losing to Odyssey Jones.

Big Audio Nightmare: Stardom, Marigold, NOAH, NJPW, more

Posted on by Adam Summers

The Big Audio Nightmare is back as Adam Summers & Mike Sempervive talk about everything happening in NJPW, Stardom, Pro Wrestling NOAH, AJPW, and throughout the very busy world of Japanese wrestling.

Available now, only for subscribers at f4wonline.com.

NJPW wrestler wins GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship

Posted on by Ian Carey

Hiromu Takahashi is the new GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion.

He defeated YO-HEY to win the title on the first night of Pro Wrestling NOAH’s N-1 Victory tournament today at Korakuen Hall.

“Hiromu has done it! Hiromu Takahashi is the NEW @noahglobal GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion!” NJPW wrote on X.

Following YO-HEY’s successful title defense at NOAH New Departure in July, Takahashi came out and challenged the champion to a future title match. The bout was originally scheduled for August 11 in Kawasaki, but was postponed after YO-HEY suffered an orbital fracture.

Leading up to the bout, Takahashi had said that if he failed to win the title, he’d remain full-time in NOAH, even potentially reducing his NJPW schedule.

“I’ll stay in NOAH. I’ll be here full-time, and it would even be to the point where I’d have to take a break from New Japan’s series,” Takahashi said to Monthly Puroresu.

Takahashi is now the 59th champion in the title’s lineage and the 29th wrestler to ever win the belt. YO-HEY’s title reign concludes after 124 days and four successful title defenses.

Following Takahashi’s win, he was confronted by several members of NOAH’s Junior Heavyweight division, who Takahashi assumed had come out to be his seconds.

“Everyone, you came as seconds, right? Isn’t your job to put the belt on the champion? Kotoge-san? Odajima-san! …What was your name again? Could you please leave for today? There’s someone I want to face.”

Takahashi was later confronted backstage by Eita, seemingly establishing him as Takahashi’s first challenger.

December 10, 2007 Observer Newsletter: Kenta Kobashi returns to wrestling, TNA Turning Point recap

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Image: Pro Wrestling NOAH

For about a half hour this past weekend, Japanese pro wrestling was back like the old days, with a dream main event of superstars, and a hot, turnaway crowd.

However, the circumstances that led to the reprieve of a declining industry will hopefully never be duplicated. It would be great if it’s a sign that, maybe not that the glory days will ever be back, but perhaps at least a turnaround is coming.

But it could just be one of the final isolated moments.

Kenta Kobashi, one of the greatest in-ring performers in the history of the business made his long-awaited return on 12/2 at Tokyo Budokan Hall before the largest wrestling crowd in the history of the arena. Knocked out of the ring 18 months ago due to cancer which required the removal of one of his kidneys (that fact has been largely unpublicized), NOAH announced the attendance at 17,000 fans. In fact, there may have been more people than that.

Subscribers can read this issue here.

KENTA wins GHC Heavyweight Title at Pro Wrestling NOAH 25th Anniversary Show

Posted on by Ian Carey

KENTA is the new GHC Heavyweight Champion.

He defeated Kenoh on night two of Pro Wrestling NOAH’s 25th Anniversary show on July 20 at Korakuen Hall to win the title for the second time in his career. His first reign lasted from January 27, 2013, to January 5, 2014.

Kenoh’s fourth reign with the title ended after just one day. He had defeated Taishi Ozawa for the belt via referee stoppage on Friday’s show, then immediately accepted a challenge from KENTA for night two.

Similarly, KENTA received a challenge shortly after his win when he was confronted by longtime rival Naomichi Marufuji. Marufuji and Daiki Odashima defeated KENTA and Junta Miyawaki in a tag team match on night one. Marufuji and KENTA have wrestled five championship matches previously, including two for the GHC Heavyweight Title: Marufuji successfully defended it against KENTA in 2006, and KENTA successfully defended it against Marufuji in 2013.

NOAH wrestlers including The Great Muta encourage Yoshiki Inamura on WWE NXT

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Some familiar faces encouraged Yoshiki Inamura ahead of his NXT title match.

During NXT, a video package aired showing Inamura defeating Jasper Troy on last week’s show to become the number one contender for Oba Femi’s NXT Championship, with the two set to square off at Saturday’s Great American Bash. Pro Wrestling NOAH stars The Great Muta, Naomichi Marufuji, Ulka Sasaki, and Kaito Kiyomiya were then seen showing messages of encouragement, as well as current WWE Women’s Champion IYO SKY. The video ended with Muta telling Inamura in English that he can become a champion.

Inamura has been part of NXT since November of last year, taking an excursion from NOAH to train at the WWE Performance Center. He quickly formed a tag team with Josh Briggs and has seen some success, though the two have yet to win the NXT Tag Team titles.

In storyline, there was a brief period where Inamura had to head back to Japan as Briggs feuded with The Culling. But Inamura made his return at Battleground, helping Briggs and Hank & Tank to defeat The Culling in a six-man tag match.

KENTA rejoins Pro Wrestling NOAH, removed from NJPW roster page

Posted on by Ethan Renner

KENTA has returned to Pro Wrestling NOAH, signing a contract with the promotion.

After a five-plus year run in NJPW, the Japanese legend is returning to the company where he made his name in the 2000s and 2010s. The company held a press conference to announce the contract signing with NOAH wrestler and EVP Naomichi Marufuji sitting alongside his former rival. The presser streamed live on YouTube.

KENTA wrestled primarily for NOAH from 2000 to 2014, first starring in the company’s junior heavyweight division and capturing the GHC Junior Heavyweight title on three occasions. He later moved to the heavyweight division and held the GHC Heavyweight title once.

He left the promotion in 2014 to join WWE NXT as Hideo Itami, but would return to NOAH for a one-off against Marufuji in 2018.

KENTA left WWE in 2019, and joined NJPW making a surprise debut at Dominion that June, joining Bullet Club. He also made four guest appearances for NOAH while with NJPW. He has been removed from NJPW’s roster page.

The press conference is embedded below.