40 Fun Facts About Pro Wrestling Noah

Pro Wrestling Noah's original logo paired an ark with which bird from the biblical flood story?

A dove with an olive branch marks a fresh start in the biblical flood story, which the founders saw as a mirror of their own walkout from All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Noah founder Mitsuharu Misawa spent much of the 1980s as the second wrestler to play which masked manga hero?

Tiger Mask was a character All Japan licensed for him, and Misawa played the part until May 1990, when he told his tag partner to pull the mask off in the middle of a match.

Which knee-strike finisher did Pro Wrestling Noah star Kenta invent before CM Punk popularized it in America?

Go 2 Sleep drops an opponent from a fireman's carry onto a rising knee, and Kenta later added a version from a backbreaker rack that he called the Ura Go 2 Sleep.

Which American, a three-time WCW world champion, joined Scorpio as the first GHC Tag Team Champions in 2001?

Big Van Vader and Scorpio won an 11-team tournament that October, then lost the belts six weeks later to Noah's founder and his regular partner.

Under which new ring name did Pro Wrestling Noah's top star Kenta perform after joining WWE in 2014?

Hideo Itami means 'Hero of Pain', a name he unveiled on NXT in September 2014 before moving on to the cruiserweight show 205 Live.

Mitsuharu Misawa became president of All Japan Pro Wrestling after which founder of the company died in 1999?

Giant Baba had run All Japan since starting it in 1972, and Misawa's clashes with Baba's widow over the company's direction led to the walkout that created Noah.

The letters GHC in the name of Pro Wrestling Noah's championships stand for which three-word phrase?

Global Honored Crown is Noah's in-house title authority, set up after the promotion's first shows in 2000 to oversee every belt it awards.

Which star of New Japan's 'Three Musketeers' generation became the oldest GHC Heavyweight Champion at 58 in 2021?

Keiji Muto was 58 years and 51 days old when he won the title, and he wrestled on for two more years before retiring in February 2023.

Which masked New Japan icon with a horned, anime-inspired costume held Noah's GHC Junior Heavyweight title in 2004?

Jushin Liger won the belt at a New Japan event on January 4, 2004, and made five defenses over six months before a Noah wrestler took it back.

Which baseball stadium hosted Pro Wrestling Noah's Departure show in 2004 and its Destiny show in 2005?

Tokyo Dome first welcomed Noah for Departure, headlined by a Kenta Kobashi title defense, and Destiny a year later was billed as the promotion's biggest event to date.

Mitsuharu Misawa beat which Pride cult hero in the 2001 final to become the first GHC Heavyweight Champion?

Yoshihiro Takayama lost that tournament final but took the belt himself in September 2002, only to drop it back to Misawa later the same month.

Which former sumo wrestler ended Kenta Kobashi's record 735-day GHC Heavyweight Championship reign in March 2005?

Takeshi Rikio pinned Kobashi with his Muso slam after the champion's 13 successful defenses, and he was seen sobbing as he accepted the belt.

Which founder of the Kongo faction held the GHC Heavyweight Championship for just one day in July 2025?

Kenoh won the belt on the first night of a two-night event and lost it to Kenta the next evening, the shortest reign in the title's history.

Which graduate of Noah's own dojo became the youngest GHC Heavyweight Champion in December 2018, aged just 22?

Kaito Kiyomiya had made his debut only three years earlier, and he went on to hold the belt for 384 days before losing it in January 2020.

Which junior heavyweight, Mitsuharu Misawa's regular tag partner, won the GHC Heavyweight Championship in a 2002 upset?

Yoshinari Ogawa was the first junior heavyweight to hold Noah's top belt, and he kept it for five months and two defenses.

Which future All Japan president ended Mitsuharu Misawa's first GHC Heavyweight Championship reign in July 2001?

Jun Akiyama became the second champion that night and reigned for more than eight months, and he took charge of All Japan in July 2014.

Which former soldier broke Kenta Kobashi's record with a 14th defense in one GHC Heavyweight Championship reign in 2011?

Takashi Sugiura made the record-breaking defense against Claudio Castagnoli in Oberhausen, Germany, during a reign that lasted 19 months.

Which protégé of Kenta Kobashi won his first GHC Heavyweight Championship in June 2009 after the title was vacated?

Go Shiozaki won the vacant belt in Fukuoka after a twenty-minute match, one day after teaming with Mitsuharu Misawa in the founder's final bout.

Which high-flyer, nicknamed the Genius of the Ark, was first to hold all five GHC titles that existed in 2006?

Naomichi Marufuji completed the set in September 2006, when he pinned the heavyweight champion with an inside cradle.

Which American became the first non-Japanese wrestler to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship in August 2017?

Eddie Edwards won the belt on a summer tour of Japan and defended it as far away as Canada before losing it that December.

In which Japanese city did Pro Wrestling Noah founder Mitsuharu Misawa suffer a fatal in-ring injury in June 2009?

Hiroshima was hosting a tag team match when Misawa lost consciousness after a suplex, and he was pronounced dead in hospital later that night.

What color was Pro Wrestling Noah's signature ring mat before a 2019 rebrand replaced it with white canvas?

Green was also the color of founder Mitsuharu Misawa's ring gear, and the switch came with the first major rebranding in company history, new logo included.

Which Tokyo arena, built for the 1964 Olympics, hosted Kenta Kobashi's retirement match in May 2013?

Nippon Budokan staged the farewell show, which journalist Dave Meltzer called the end of an era in Japanese wrestling, likening it to Pelé's retirement.

Which abbreviation marks New Japan Pro-Wrestling's main titles, the counterpart of Noah's own GHC governing body?

IWGP stands for International Wrestling Grand Prix, and Noah's GHC works the same way, as an in-house body whose name appears on its belts.

Kenta Kobashi stepped away in 2006 after doctors found a cancerous tumor on which organ, returning in December 2007?

Kidney surgery lasting five and a half hours, followed by chemotherapy, kept Kobashi out for about 18 months, and his return tag match was named a Match of the Year.

Kenta Kobashi's 2005 Destiny match against a Noah newcomer is remembered for long exchanges of which strike?

Knife-edge chops were Kobashi's trademark, thrown in rapid 'machine gun' bursts, and doctors later warned him the move was damaging the nerves in his arm.

Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste, who won Noah's tag titles as The Mighty Don't Kneel, come from which country?

Australia produced both men, who passed a Noah tryout held in the United States in 2010 and went on to win the GHC Tag Team Championship twice.

Noah's roster faced New Japan's on the third night of which New Japan event in 2022, held at Yokohama Arena?

Wrestle Kingdom had never before run for three days, and part of the proceeds from the joint night went to the Japanese Red Cross.

Which former Holy Demon Army tag star became Noah's president after Mitsuharu Misawa's death in 2009?

Akira Taue was appointed two weeks after the founder died and stayed in charge until the company was sold in November 2016.

Which New Japan veteran led his stable into Noah in 2015 and held the GHC Heavyweight Championship for nine months?

Minoru Suzuki and his Suzuki-gun stable attacked Noah's champions on arrival that January, and in December he lost the belt back to the man he had taken it from.

Which Japanese internet company, already the owner of DDT Pro-Wrestling, bought Pro Wrestling Noah in January 2020?

CyberAgent announced that July that Noah and DDT would merge into one company, CyberFight, with each still running shows as a separate brand.

Noah heavyweight Takeshi Morishima became the first non-American to hold which US promotion's world title in 2007?

Ring of Honor crowned him that February after he beat Homicide, and in July he defended the belt on the company's first show in Japan.

What forced Kazuyuki Fujita to give up the GHC Heavyweight Championship in April 2022, two months after winning it?

A positive COVID-19 test ruled Fujita out of a scheduled defense, so the title was declared vacant and a new champion was crowned three days later.

Which wrestler nicknamed 'Supernova', a professional from age 15, won the GHC Heavyweight Championship in 2016 and 2021?

Katsuhiko Nakajima first competed in a mixed martial arts bout at 15, winning by knockout in 95 seconds, and wrestled his first match a few months later.

Which wrestler won the 2001 tournament to become the first GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, a title he held seven times?

Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Juventud Guerrera in the final, and one of his later reigns with the belt ran for 400 days.

Which GHC singles title, announced by Riki Choshu in 2019, is open to junior and heavyweight challengers alike?

National gave Noah an openweight belt beside its two weight-class titles, and its first champion was crowned that November at a show called Noah the Best.

Which name has Pro Wrestling Noah used since 2019 for its annual round-robin singles tournament?

N-1 Victory awards two points for a win and one for a time-limit draw, and the tournament had run under another name for its first nine editions.

Which finisher did Kenta Kobashi hit to take the GHC Heavyweight Championship from Mitsuharu Misawa in March 2003?

Burning Hammer was a name coined by fans, and it ended a match in which Misawa had already suplexed Kobashi from the entrance ramp to the floor.

Which freelancer became the first to hold Japan's three major heavyweight titles by winning the GHC belt in 2008?

Kensuke Sasaki had already been champion of both New Japan and All Japan, and he ran his own small promotion, Kensuke Office, while holding Noah's belt.

Which arena, closed in June 2018, was known as Noah's home and housed its offices and training dojo?

Differ Ariake hosted Noah's first two shows in August 2000, and its scheduled closure is why the promotion announced in late 2016 that it was moving its offices.