Kobashi retirement show, fate of ex-NOAH guys

[Steveweiser]

Kenta Kobashi's retirement show will be with Pro Wrestling NOAH, on May 11th at Budokan Hall. It's named "FINAL BURNING IN BUDOKAN". Kobashi has said he's dedicating February-April to getting fit for the match. Hopefully the name of the show means that we'll finally get that 8th and last Burning Hammer.

Dave Meltzer confirmed that Jun Akiyama, Atsushi Aoki, Go Shiozaki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Kotaro Suzuki, the five wrestlers who all left NOAH out of loyalty to Kobashi, will appear at All Japan's show on Saturday night at Ota Ward Gymnasium, the show that Ric Flair is appearing on.

[Sin Cara Tres]

I hope Akiyama and co. sign with All Japan full time. New Japan's President said it would be a good idea as it could ignite a NJ/AJ feud.

[Deleted]

I wonder who his final opponent will be.

[greatmuta]

Jan 23, 2013 8:51:13 GMT -5 @blazinman5 said:

I wonder who his final opponent will be.

It will be a tag match, most likely with Akiyama. Mutoh might be a decent bet too.

[froggyfrog]

So other than that one new guy has NOAH debuted any new talent to replace these guys?

[Sin Cara Tres]

Nah, they just brought in a bunch of outsiders for their tour.

[Deleted]

Kobashi vs Mutoh would be awesome even though this will end up being a tag match. Would be cool if he returned to the full Orange Crush colors for one last time.

[________ has left the building]

Jan 23, 2013 8:29:27 GMT -5 Sin Cara Tres said:

I hope Akiyama and co. sign with All Japan full time. New Japan's President said it would be a good idea as it could ignite a NJ/AJ feud.

All Japan could use the boost for their roster and New Japan don't have to worry about a one-sided feud with a lack of box office excitement.

[greatmuta]

Jan 23, 2013 12:16:54 GMT -5 froggyfrog said:

So other than that one new guy has NOAH debuted any new talent to replace these guys?

They debuted someone recently, but getting people to be wrestlers isn't that easy of a sell. Guaranteed salary? Unlikely. Transportation and room? Sometimes. Holidays and weekends off? Hah. Retirement? Even funnier. Benefits and healthcare? Hah.

[dragonzombie]

Noah's dojo is notoriously hard to graduate from. Also there is the fact Noah don't have many sponsers nor draw well.

So new rookies are rare

[Kick Your Face]

Jan 25, 2013 12:46:36 GMT -5 dragonzombie said:

Noah's dojo is notoriously hard to graduate from. Also there is the fact Noah don't have many sponsers nor draw well.

So new rookies are rare

True story.

This happened a couple years ago. A few rookies joined the dojo after passing the tryout. None of them came back the next day. Since then, they have lightened up with Marufuji taking over as the main trainer, to allow more rookies to debut, since they were extremely desperate for younger stars.

There were also several graduates under Misawa, Kobashi, and Akiyama, but after they stepped down as full-time trainers, there were no graduates until when Marufuji stepped in as the main trainer.

[happhazzard]

Who was the trainer before Marafuji?

[crowwreak was WRONG]

Looking who's on Noah's current roster, KENTA would make most sense, though I'm not ruling out there being some one off appearance for a dream match

[Steveweiser]

The NOAH Five debuted today in All Japan as BURNING, on March 17th, Jun Akiyama and Go Shiozaki will challenge GET WILD (Takao Omori and Manabu Soya) for the All Japan Tag Titles.

[Andrew is Good]

f***. I'm in Japan right now, and the All Japan show is sold out. Oh well, I got tickets to the red hot New Japan Pro Wrestling show on February 3rd.