 Pro Wrestling Noah logo since February 2021 | |
| Founded | June 16, 2000 |
|---|---|
| Style | Royal Road with Ark[1] |
| Headquarters | Shinjuku, Tokyo,Japan |
| Founder | Mitsuharu Misawa |
| Parent | CyberFight (CyberAgent) |
| Sister | DDT Pro-Wrestling Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling |
| Split from | All Japan Pro Wrestling |
| Website | noah |
Pro Wrestling Noah (プロレスリング・ノア,Puroresuringu Noa) (stylised asPro Wrestling NOAH) is aJapanese professional wrestlingpromotion, founded in 2000 by formerAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) wrestlerMitsuharu Misawa after he had led amass exodus in which 24 of AJPW's 26 contracted wrestlers left the promotion to form Noah.
Noah held its first shows in August 2000, and established theGlobal Honored Crown as the in-house governing body for its collection of championships. Throughout its25-year history, Noah has had working relationships withNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW),All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW),Ring of Honor (ROH),TNA (Formerly Impact Wrestling),Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA),All Elite Wrestling (AEW),Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) andWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), in which the latter now has a working relationship with its wrestlers from theNXT brand. In January 2020, the company was purchased byCyberAgent, parent company ofDDT Pro-Wrestling, with DDT's executives taking over Noah's operations and Noah's content appearing on DDT's streaming serviceWrestle Universe.[2]
In January 1999, AJPW founder and promoterGiant 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 andToshiaki Kawada) and eightgaijin (Maunakea Mossman,Johnny Smith,George Hines,Mike Barton,Jim Steele,Mike Rotunda,Stan Hansen and"Dr. Death" Steve Williams) followed Misawa. The promotion's name alludes to the Biblical story ofNoah, 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 AJPW. Noah's original logo, an ark with a dove holding an olive branch, referred to this.
Pro Wrestling Noah is essentially a continuation of AJPW'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 strongjunior heavyweight division, which was something that AJPW had been relatively lacking in the 1990s due to lack of pushes for the younger stars (such asYoshinobu Kanemaru,Kenta andNaomichi Marufuji, who quickly became Noah's junior aces).
October 12, 2007 Baseball Magazine Sha, the publisher of Puroresu Shukan released Noahtrading cards.[3]
TheWrestling Observer named Noah as the best promotion in 2004 and 2005, as well as having the best weekly television show in 2003.
On June 13, 2009, Misawa teamed withGo Shiozaki againstAkitoshi Saito andBison Smith atHiroshima Green Arena. After taking abelly 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 tospinal damage.[4][5][6] On June 27, 2009,Akira Taue was named as Misawa's successor, taking over as President of Pro Wrestling Noah. Also in 2009, Noah lost their weekly television show onNippon TV.
In March 2012, it was revealed that Noah management had ties to ayakuza crime syndicate, which resulted in the promotion demoting General Manager Ryu Nakata and CounselorHaruka Eigen and enforcing new anti-yakuza protocols; Noah also lost its TV show as part of the fallout.[7]
On December 4, 2012, Noah releasedKenta Kobashi from his contract, reportedly leading toAtsushi Aoki,Go Shiozaki,Jun Akiyama,Kotaro Suzuki andYoshinobu Kanemaru all announcing that they were not going to re-sign with the promotion after their own contracts expired in January 2013.[8][9] On December 19, Noah confirmed that the five men had indeed refused to re-sign with the promotion and would be wrestling their final matches for the promotion on December 23 and 24.[10] The following month, all five men joined AJPW.[11] Kobashi returned to wrestle his retirement match in a Noah ring on May 11, 2013, atFinal Burning in Budokan.[12][13]
On May 12 at Noah's "New Chapter" show held atKorakuen Hall inTokyo, Akira Taue announced the signings ofDaisuke Harada,Mikey Nicholls andShane Haste ofThe Mighty Don't Kneel (TMDK) as full-time members of the promotion.[14] Taue also announced his retirement from in-ring competition to focus on his duties as the Chairman of the promotion and his retirement match would take place on December 7, 2013 at theAriake Coliseum.[15] On April 30, 2014, Noah's arguably biggest star and ace Kenta announced his resignation from the promotion to sign withWWE.[16][17][18]
In early 2015, NJPW wrestlerJado took over as the new head booker of Noah.[19] On April 21, one of Noah's bigger stars,Takeshi Morishima, was forced to retire from professional wrestling due to issues with his blood.[20][21] On December 24, 2015, Noah announced the signing of freelancerKatsuhiko Nakajima.[22] Four days later, Noah announced the departures of Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste and Takeshi Morishima, following their contracts with the promotion expiring at the end of the year.[23] On June 13, 2016, freelancer Go Shiozaki officially re-signed with Noah, three and a half years after his resignation from the promotion.[24]
On November 1, 2016, it was announced that Noah had been sold to IT development company Estbee, Co, Ltd. As a result, former AJPW president Masayuki Uchida took over as the new Noah president.[25] On November 7, Estbee officially changed its name to "Noah Global Entertainmentkabushiki gaisha".[26] On December 27, Noah announced the relocating of its offices fromAriake, Tokyo toKanda-Misakichō due toDiffer Ariake's scheduled closing in June 2018.[27] At the end of 2016, NJPW pulled all of its wrestlers, including the entireSuzuki-gun stable, from Noah with reports stating that the relationship between the two promotions had turned "extremely sour".[28] Having lost the NJPW relationship, Noah's attendance numbers went down by 29% during the first four months of 2017.[29] On February 7, 2017, Noah announced a business alliance with American promotionTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA),[30] which was extended in July, after TNA had been renamed Global Force Wrestling (GFW).[31] In March 2017, Noah formed another partnership with Canadian promotionBorder City Wrestling (BCW).[32]
On February 1, 2019, Noah was purchased by Lidet Entertainment, acquiring a 75% stake in the company.[33] This was followed the next month by the first major rebranding in company history. Pro Wrestling Noah not only changed their logo but also replaced the green mat with a white canvas.
On July 26, 2019,Major League Wrestling announced a working agreement with Pro Wrestling Noah, which would include a talent-exchange agreement and content collaboration between the two promotions.[34][35]
On December 5, 2019, it was announced that Noah and the Mexico-basedInternational Wrestling Revolution Group had entered into a talent-sharing partnership.[36]
In January 2020, Noah was acquired byCyberAgent, parent company ofDDT Pro Wrestling. DDT's President Sanshiro Takagi was named the President of Pro Wrestling Noah and Naomichi Marufuji the Vice President. Noah's events began airing on DDT's streaming serviceDDT Universe starting with Noah Global Jr. League 2020 on January 30.[37][38] On July 27, 2020, it was announced Noah and DDT would merge in a new company,CyberFight.[39] Both companies would run as separate brands under the CyberFight banner.
On November 19, 2021 Noah re-established its relationship with NJPW with Noah wrestlers being involved at the third night of NJPW'sWrestle Kingdom 16 event, with a portion of proceeds donated to the Japanese Red Cross.[40]
On December 15, 2023, Noah was announced as one of the founding members of theUnited Japan Pro-Wrestling alliance, a joint effort to further develop professional wrestling in Japan through promotion and organization, withSeiji Sakaguchi being named as the chairman of the project.[41]
Similar to New Japan Pro-Wrestling's International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP), Noah has its own title governing body, the Global Honored Crown (GHC) system.
| Championship | Current champion(s) | Reign | Date won | Days held | Successful defenses | Location | Notes | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GHC Heavyweight Championship |  | Yoshiki Inamura | 1 | November 8, 2025 | 15 | 0 | Tokyo, Japan | DefeatedKenta atStar Navigation 2025. | [42] |
| GHC National Championship |  | Dragon Bane | 1 | October 16, 2025 | 38 | 0 | Tokyo, Japan | DefeatedGaleno atStar Navigation 2025. | [43] |
| GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship |  | Hiromu Takahashi | 1 | September 8, 2025 | 76 | 2 | Tokyo, Japan | DefeatedYo-Hey at 2025 N-1 Victory Night 1. | [43] |
| GHC Hardcore Championship |  | Hayata | 1 | June 30, 2025 | 146 | 0 | Tokyo, Japan | DefeatedShuji Ishikawa at Noah Wrestle Magic 2025. | [42] |
| Championship | Current champion(s) | Reign | Date won | Days held | Successful defenses | Location | Notes | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GHC Tag Team Championship |   | Team 2000X (Masa Kitamiya andTakashi Sugiura) | 2 (9, 12) | November 21, 2025 | 2 | 0 | Sendai, Japan | Defeated Hank and Tank (Hank Walker andTank Ledger) atCross Over in Sendai 2025. | [43] |
| GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship | .jpg) | Daga andDaiki Odashima | 1 (2, 1) | October 11, 2025 | 43 | 0 | Tokyo, Japan | DefeatedLos Golpeadores (Alpha Wolf andDragon Bane) atWrestle Odyssey. | [43] |
| Championship | Current champion(s) | Reign | Date won | Days held | Successful defenses | Location | Notes | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GHC Women's Championship |  | Takumi Iroha | 1 | June 2, 2025 | 174 | 3 | Tokyo, Japan | DefeatedKouki Amarei at NOAH Monday Magic. | [44] |
Noah also holds annual tournaments to decide the top wrestler or tag team in the promotion:
| Tournament | Latest winner(s) | Date won |
|---|---|---|
| N-1 Victory | Masa Kitamiya | September 23, 2025 |
| Victory Challenge Tag League | Kaito Kiyomiya andRyohei Oiwa | March 10, 2024 |
| N Innovation | Dragon Bane | November 6, 2024 |
| Junior Tag League | Amakusa andJunta Miyawaki | March 2, 2025 |
| Founded | 2006 |
|---|---|
| Defunct | 2015 |
| Headquarters | Japan |
Pro Wrestling Sem was the junior affiliate of Pro Wrestling Noah launched in 2006. Its name came from the biblical figureSem, the eldest son of Noah. Sem was originally headed by Naomichi Marufuji and Kenta, acting as coaches for the rookie competitors. Mitsuharu Misawa's inspiration for the venture came from the GermanWestside Xtreme Wrestling promotion, where he wrestled in March 2005. The seats are limited to a few hundred, so that all fans could sit close to the ring. Sem events usually took place in the Differ Ariake in Tokyo. No Sem events have been held since 2015.
Domestic:
Worldwide:
The only company down is Noah, which is down 29 percent after losing its affiliation with New Japan and losing Suzuki-gun as the regular top heels. For as much as the Noah fans hated Suzuki-gun and blamed them for the bad business, and they didn't pick business up the way hoped for, Noah has fallen significantly without them.
The card will air live on Abema pay-per-view and have an English language option for the broadcast. The cost will be 3960 Yen. The show will be made available on NJPW World and Noah's Wrestle Universe streaming service one week after the air date. A portion of proceeds from the event and PPV will be donated to Japanese Red Cross.
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