| Acronym | NOAH |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2000 |
| Style | Modified King's Road (Ark Style) |
| Headquarters | Japan |
| Founder(s) | Mitsuharu Misawa |
| Owner(s) | Akira Taue |
Pro Wrestling NOAH (プロレスリングノア Puroresuringu Noa) (PW NOAH or NOAH) is a major Japanese professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2000 by former All Japan Pro Wrestling ace Mitsuharu Misawa. NOAH is broadcast weekly in Japan. NOAH has working agreements with Ring of Honor, World League Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Zero1, and Asistencia Asesoría y Administración.
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In January 1999, All Japan founder and promoter Giant Baba died, leaving the company in the hands of his widow Motoko Baba as owner and Misawa as president. However, disheartened with Motoko Baba's proposed direction for the company, Misawa departed the promotion on May 28, 2000 to form a new promotion called Pro-Wrestling NOAH. All but two native stars (Masanobu Fuchi and Toshiaki Kawada) followed Misawa. The promotion's name alludes to the Biblical story of Noah, in which the people and animals in the ark survive the flood and make a new beginning in the world, a story which was seen as a parallel to the wrestlers' departure from All Japan. NOAH's promotional symbol, an ark with a dove holding an olive branch, refers to this.
Pro-Wrestling NOAH is essentially a continuation of All Japan's promotional system in the 1990s, with a slight leeway to allow wrestlers from other promotions to compete, which is something that Giant Baba had forbid. NOAH also features a strong junior heavyweight division, which was something that All Japan had been relatively lacking in the 1990s due to lack of pushes for the younger stars (such as Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Kenta and Naomichi Marufuji, who quickly became NOAH's junior aces).
Despite not being considered the #1 promotion in Japan, NOAH has been able to outdo its rivals in many ways since 2005 and has managed to outdraw arch-rival New Japan Pro Wrestling in several key places (such as the Tokyo Dome). The Wrestling Observer also named NOAH as the best promotion in 2004 and 2005, as well as having the best weekly television show in 2003.
A spinoff league called Pro Wrestling SEM was recently launched. Similar to New Japan Pro Wrestling's "Young Lions" system, it will function as a training facility for rookies, with Naomichi Marufuji and Kenta acting as trainers. Pro Wrestling SEM is also a reference to the Biblical story of Noah, with Sem being Noah's eldest son.
On June 13, 2009, Misawa teamed with Go Shiozaki against Akitoshi Saito and Bison Smith at Hiroshima Green Arena. After taking a belly to back suplex from Saito, Misawa lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital. He was pronounced dead in the hospital at 10:10 p.m. JST due to spinal damage.[1][2][3] On June 27, 2009, Akira Taue was named as Misawa's successor and is the current President of Pro-Wrestling NOAH.
In 2010 Pro Wrestling NOAH announced a new 'Global League tournament' comprising twelve of NOAH's top heavyweight stars.[4]
The promotion will celebrate its 10th anniversary in summer 2010. They have a series of special events planned to commemorate the milestone.
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| Championship | Champion(s) | Defeated | Date Won | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GHC Heavyweight Championship | Go Shiozaki | Takashi Sugiura | July 10, 2011 | Tokyo, Japan |
| GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship | Katsuhiko Nakajima | Ricky Marvin | November 27, 2011 | Tokyo, Japan |
| GHC Tag Team Championship | Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson | Takuma Sano and Yoshihiro Takayama | June 18, 2011 | Osaka, Japan |
| GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship | Atsushi Aoki and Kotaro Suzuki | Kenta and Yoshinobu Kanemaru | October 16, 2011 | Tokyo, Japan |
| GHC Openweight Hardcore Championship | Kenta Kobashi | Makoto Hashi | June 8, 2009 | Hachiōji, Japan |
NOAH also holds annual tournaments to decide the top wrestler or tag team in the promotion:
| Tournament | Latest winner(s) | Date won |
|---|---|---|
| Global League Tournament | Takeshi Morishima | November 20, 2011 |
| Global Tag League | Akitoshi Saito and Jun Akiyama | April 29, 2011 |
| Junior League | Yoshinobu Kanemaru | October 31, 2009 |
| Nippon TV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League | Atsushi Aoki & Kotaro Suzuki | July 30, 2011 |
| Acronym | SEM |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2006 |
| Headquarters | Japan |
Pro Wrestling SEM is the junior associate of Pro-Wrestling NOAH, the name coming from the biblical figure Shem, the eldest son of Noah. SEM is headed by Naomichi Marufuji and KENTA, acting as coach for the rookie competitors. Mitsuharu Misawa's inspiration for the venture came from the German Westside Xtreme Wrestling promotion, where he wrestled in March 2005. The presentation and close proximity of the fans to the ring impressed Misawa enough to recreate them, thus matches in SEM take place on a pink ring mat and the audience seats are limited to a few hundred, so that all fans can sit close to the ring. The events of SEM usually take place in the Differ Ariake Arena in Tokyo.