The History Of Pro Wrestling NOAH – Part 3

Last time: I left off last month with Mitsuharu Misawa coming to America and inviting Mike Modest & Donovan Morgan to Japan.

Modest & Morgan jumped at the chance to go to Japan. It had long been their dream and they’d always had so much respect and admiration for the “strong style” of Japanese wrestling. Before they made their debuts, NOAH held a tournament for the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title during their June 2001 tour. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, a fighter who had not yet reached his twenty-fifth birthday, outlasted everyone by beating former WCW Cruiserweight Champion Juventud Guerrera in the finals. On that same night, Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa suffered a very rare defeat as a tag team when Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito got the better of them, with Akiyama pinning the GHC Champion, Misawa. This made a match between the two mandatory, especially after their controversial semi-final match of the tournament to decide the first champion. If you recall, Misawa defeated Akiyama with a surprise roll-up, only after the match had been restarted when it was initially being called a
double-countout.

There was only one logical event to showcase the title match- the one-year anniversary show in July planned for Budokan Hall. It was NOAH’s first venture into the building, a place that can be likened to a Japanese version of Madison Square Garden. It holds about 17,000 people for wrestling, an attendance that would shatter the company’s attendance record if they were able to sell it out. It would be held on July 27th, capping off NOAH’s July “Accomplish Our First Navigation” tour, the same tour where Mike Modest & Donovan Morgan would make their
NOAH debuts. Modest & Morgan’s first match in NOAH was held on July 14th of 2001 at the Tokyo Messe Akishima and they were successful, defeating Akitoshi Saito & Kentaro Shiga in 12:03 when Modest pinned Shiga with the “Reality Check.” The duo continued to impress throughout the tour, remaining undefeated. Morgan caught the eye of NOAH management and was chosen to receive the first title shot against new Jr. Heavyweight Champion, Kanemaru, at the anniversary show at the Budokan. Modest, who was equally impressive, was granted a high-profile match against Yoshinari Ogawa on the same show. Ogawa’s tag team with Mitsuharu Misawa had been one of the most successful during the first year of the company and he had also established himself as a good singles wrestler over the years in Japan.

The Budokan show was very successful, especially given the attendance, which was over 16,000, a sell-out in one of the world’s most famous arenas. Mike wrestled a terrific match with Ogawa until eventually falling to a cradle cutback in 13:09. Donovan, challenging for a Japanese championship on one of the biggest shows in Japan that year, came up short while facing Kanemaru, but not before 17:22 of action, making it the second longest match of the show. The two matches were regarded by most of the press as two of the best on the show, if not the two best. Meanwhile, Akiyama did manage to defeat Misawa in the main event that night to become the second GHC Champion. Pro Wrestling NOAH would go into their second year with he, not the legend Misawa, as the man representing the organization.

He did a tremendous job as well. He successfully defended the championship against Tamon Honda in September and Vader in December. Akiyama also received a challenge from New Japan’s Yuji Nagata, one of the best wrestlers in the world. Akiyama accepted, never being one to back down from a challenge. The match was held at New Japan’s annual January 4th Tokyo Dome Show, New Japan’s version of Wrestlemania. Akiyama won the match and successfully defended the title in front of over 50,000 people. He managed to bring even more attention and recognition to NOAH and the GHC Title, and again, this is a company that was less than eighteen months old. Other things happened in the company during this period as well. The promotion introduced tag team titles and held a tournament to crown the first champions in October. Vader & Scorpio outlasted all teams in the field, becoming the first American wrestlers to wear company gold. However, they quickly lost them to Misawa & Ogawa in November, who surrendered them to “No Fear” (Takayama & Omori) only about a week later. Takayama & Omori were more dominant than any team in NOAH and probably all of
Japan.

Mike & Donovan had continued to impress as a team. They earned a spot in the tag team tournament after winning nearly all of their matches up until that point. They were successful in the first round, defeating Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio, a team that was good enough to end up winning the titles about six months later. However, they were eventually eliminated in the quarterfinals by Akiyama (still GHC Champion) & Akitoshi Saito. Modest & Morgan remained on the winning side of most matches as time went on. They established themselves as one of the company’s better tag teams. That was their main focus. Mark “Bison” Smith joined them in the company by August of 2003. “Bison” impressed Misawa in the same try-out in Hayward and was brought over the month after Mike & Donovan. Bison worked mostly tag matches and drew comparisons to a young Vader from some. His muscular physique wowed the Japanese audience and he became very popular as a result. Despite challenging for the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title early on, Donovan never really continued in the division. By the beginning of 2002, Naomichi Marufuji was wearing the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title. Marufuji had become one of the best young cruiserweights in the entire world at only twenty-one. In addition to being an awesome wrestler, he was also wildly popular with the fans. February would be a huge month for NOAH, as it would feature the second Budokan show. But how could the company make this one more special than the first? Easy. By showcasing the return of one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of this sport.

Part Four coming soon…

Mike Veloza can be read at www.prowrestlingiron.com.