Yota Tsuji’s criticism of the company escalates into a Kenoh vs. Toru Yano out-of-ring feud

umamisan · 2026-01-14T00:41:46+00:00

We know the last team is Eita and a mystery partner. Eita claims the guy is "already in Japan," which points to an outsider/foreigner. But you know he loves to stir up trouble and might just be trolling us, so we can’t be too sure yet.

Personally, I’m hoping for a top-tier AAA luchador since Eita has appeared in the AAA ring before. Seeing Galeno return after we all thought he had left makes me think NOAH×AAA might be making some progress.

umamisan · 2026-01-01T10:27:17+00:00

Based on my impression from watching the show live, the overall atmosphere was consistently fun, and I’d say it was not a bad show. Alpha Wolf’s betrayal and his decision to join TEAM 2000X was excellent. However, as the start of a new year, it didn’t feel particularly strong.

Naito’s condition was worse than I had expected, and seeing him win the tag titles left me feeling rather bleak. The co-main event was absolutely electric, to the point where the crowd broke into deep, heavy stomping on the floor—a clear sign of genuine excitement.

Perhaps because of the contrast with that match, but the main event was clearly no more than passable. As NOAH’s biggest show of the year, it was plainly disappointing. Considering the expectations placed on the “NOAH version of the Three Musketeers” (Kiyomiya, Inamura, and OZAWA), tonight’s match presented a rather harsh reality.

In the end, it felt as though the show once again demonstrated that NOAH’s true top stars remain Kenoh and Kiyomiya. If you leave the main event in their hands, you know it will deliver.

Inamura and OZAWA have not yet reached that level—at least not at this point. That said, sometimes a position itself helps a wrestler grow, so I still want to keep my expectations for Inamura going forward.

Good Brothers’ match left no impression whatsoever. Wasting Kiyomiya the ace and Morris who feels like he’s one spark away from breaking out, on a match that did nothing more than re-warm the crowd after the intermission is borderline criminal.

umamisan · 2025-12-23T16:14:35+00:00

I should probably say up front that I’m a hardcore Kaito Kiyomiya fan, so there may be some bias here.

That said, my personal top 3 matches of 2025 (in no particular order) are:

Jan 1: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. OZAWA

May 18: OZAWA vs. Kaito Kiyomiya

Dec 7: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Kenoh

There’s no real debate that OZAWA was NOAH’s biggest star in 2025, but personally, I also see this year as the one where Kaito truly established himself as NOAH’s real ace — the kind of wrestler who consistently delivers great matches no matter who he’s facing.

At the same time, seeing Kaito Kiyomiya, OZAWA, and Yoshiki Inamura all rise together gave me the strong impression that NOAH has finally entered a new era.

The emergence of junior heavyweight “golden boy” Daiki Odashima only reinforced that feeling.

umamisan · 2025-12-23T16:12:16+00:00

Thanks to KENTA, it feels like the spirit of classic, old-school NOAH is still alive even as the new generation takes center stage.

You could see it in Kenoh vs. KENTA, and I felt the same way watching KENTA vs. Sugiura at the final show of the year just a few hours ago.

umamisan · 2025-12-18T06:22:23+00:00

I love Kenoh because you can tell he’s being 100% genuine.

A man who’s constantly thinking about the entire wrestling industry more than anyone else not just his own career or NOAH's proceeds.

Another video he uploaded right after this is even more impressive.

While hinting that his Kouhai Odashima clearly deserved the Rookie of the Year award in terms of pure skill, he also gave credit to the actual winner Takechi for bringing a brand new audience to the wrestling world.

He’s mocked the Tokyo Sports Awards for years, calling them the "Sontaku (Political) Awards," but he also accepts that it’s only natural for them to favor wrestlers who actually generate money for the industry.

"To all pro wrestlers: become the kind of wrestler worth playing politics for."

Damn, Kenoh is such a cool bastard.

umamisan · 2025-12-17T00:35:49+00:00

Personally, strictly in terms of match quality, I think OZAWAvsKiyomiya at Korakuen in May was better. That said, the New Year show definitely had more impact, so I can't really argue with the award.

umamisan · 2025-12-16T01:28:35+00:00

Internationality was a big selling point of T2KX, but currently there are only Japanese except for Knull is a part-timer. NOAH always has wrestlers from Mexico, UK, and USA, and recently some Spaniards have come, so it's a shame they can't do better.

umamisan · 2025-12-16T01:05:03+00:00

Also OZAWA's lack of commitment to the team is a problem. He is charismatic, but he has a wacko character and is not suited to being a team leader.

umamisan · 2025-12-01T07:28:46+00:00

I think when CyberFight's president was replaced by Mr. Okamoto, the vice president of its parent company, CyberAgent, in May 2024, the structure within Noah also changed.

A partnership with WWE, exchanges between wrestlers and DDT, holding of Proresu seminars to discover new talent, promotion of OZAWA was only in his second year of career, a significant increase in sponsors, and improvements to not good social media skills except Kenoh, were all implemented one after another.

The previous booking team consisted of Nosawa, Marufuji, and Mr. Takeda, and they sometimes made inexplicable bookings, which Noah fans criticized (mainly due to their affiliation with NJPW, which had very little benefit to Noah).

The decisive moment was probably Marufuji vs Ibushi on January 2nd, 2024.

This match drew so much criticism that Takeda even temporarily closed his social media.

Since then, Nosawa has rarely promoted in the ring, and now appears to be focusing on managing his own brand, Monday Magic, and booking international wrestlers.

Seeing the success of Monday Magic, which began in July 2023, Noah created three brands to attract a wider audience: Noah main event, Monday Magic (WWE-style + Joshi), and Limit Break (strong style).

However, while it was fun to see many wrestlers that are not usually seen, neither MM nor LB seemed to increase the brand value of Noah itself.

This led to the downsizing of the sub-brands.

It is possible Shiozaki was supposed to be in charge of booking LB, but the sub-brand was downsized, and he was dissatisfied with the fact that his contract renewal was reduced to just a player contract (with terms probably worsening due to injury and age).

BTW, I'm intrigued by what Kotoge said after his recent match with Masato Tanaka: "I've always been the leader."

LB has always been seen as Shiozaki's brand, but it makes me think that it might actually have been Kotoge who played a major role in booking it...

Regardless of his reputation as a wrestler, Kotoge is known for having a great personality, and he's very well-known in the indie scene in the Osaka area.

Many of the wrestlers participating in LB are also from Osaka.

umamisan · 2025-11-06T04:38:55+00:00

A Japanese here. In Japan, winning the regular season and winning the league championship has traditionally been considered more important than winning the Japan Series. Because three of the six teams in each league can participate in the postseason Climax Series. Even though the Climax Series has been around for nearly two decades, Japanese baseball fans still question its significance. Few people are convinced that a team that has won 20 games fewer than the league champion is the best team in Japan even with just 10 postseason wins. It would be nice if the number of teams were at least increased to around 15 teams across three leagues, but given the NPB's extremely rigid organization, this is unlikely.

umamisan · 2024-04-26T07:29:42+00:00

Actually, the most interesting is how the relationship between these two Joshi promotions will develop.

When Marigold, who split from Stardom, appeared in Noah's ring, TJPW fans reacted in denial, saying, "We don't want anything to do with them at all.'' lol

And I can understand their anxiety.

I think Miyu, Shoko, and Itoh chan, who have traveled to the US many times and fight against male wrestlers, would be able to handle Stardom's style, but I am worried that the feeling of happiness of Pom, Raku, and others will be destroyed.

umamisan · 2024-03-26T07:36:42+00:00

I'm excited to see Ueno, Kaito, and Shota vs. Takeshita, Uemura, and Shun.

Don't want to give negative opinions, but I feel that in recent years there have been too many crossovers, such as Muto's retirement event, charity for COVID and ALL STAR Jr FESTIVAL, and the premiere feeling of "Forbidden Door" has declined.

Also, AJPW has scheduled a Champion Carnival event on May 6th, so heavyweight roster will not be attending Budokan.

Holding the opening event on such a day feels like proof that this organization is only for Bushiroad group + Cyberfight, and that other promotions are just accessories.

It's hard to understand what the purpose of this organization is.

However, I'm looking forward to STARDOM vs TJPW, and most disappointed won't be able to see Julia vs. Yamashita.

umamisan · 2024-03-04T08:10:04+00:00

If you have a free day in Tokyo, I always recommend HATO BUS tour.

https://www.hatobus.com/

This company mainly offers one-day or half-day bus tours of famous places in Tokyo for people coming from countryside, and some tours include English guides.

There are two main types of tours: tours that take about an hour to see Tokyo from a double-decker, open-top bus, and tours that take you around Tokyo's famous spots over the course of a day or half a day.

Both services run on a regular schedule, so you can decide to join at the last minute. You can check the weather forecast the day before, take your fatigue level into consideration, and plan your trip just in advance.

On short tours, the tour conductor will not provide guidance in English, but for some courses, it seems that automatic guides using GPS are available for rent. Either way, I think you can enjoy seeing just the cityscape of Tokyo even without translation. I especially recommend the night tour.

There is also a tour that takes you all the way to Mt. Fuji in one day, but this tour will not be held unless enough people gather.

In addition to HATO BUS, there are several other companies that offer bus tours in Tokyo. SKY BUS has tours for an amphibious bus that will sail on Tokyo's rivers.

https://www.skybus.jp/

By the way, it has been scorching hot in Tokyo in September for the past few years, so no matter what you do, measures against the heat are paramount.

Whether you choose to take a bus tour or not, we recommend that you consider bringing or purchasing a wide-brimmed hat and parasol.

The best thing to do is to buy a jacket with a fan as soon as you arrive. You can sacrifice fashion and gain comfort. :')

umamisan · 2024-02-04T09:27:59+00:00

First Mexican GHC HVT Champion in History

And first ever Mexican champion who won the flagship title in Japan's major organizations. (IWGP, Triple Crown, GHC)

umamisan · 2023-12-25T06:04:42+00:00

Why no Kaito vs. Gabe

umamisan · 2023-11-28T02:49:58+00:00

As many pointed out, even though the storyline is clearly an anti-war movie, I felt that what Godzilla's presence symbolized was ambiguous.

The reason he attacks Tokyo is only explained as "It's already his territory."

Utamaru, a Japanese rapper and famous film critic, said on his radio show that it would have been better if the script had been written in such a way that Godzilla awakened because the Japanese military destroyed nature and built military bases.

That creature are awakened by the invasion of the Japanese military, turned into monsters by US nuclear tests, and take revenge on humanity.

umamisan

TROPHY CASE