Sick of NOAH’s lack of consistency?
I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, but I feel like the current Pro Wrestling NOAH has a tendency to disregard its own traditions and continuity.
Take the Global Tag League (GTL), for example. It had been running since 2008, and they even found creative ways to keep it alive with empty-arena shows during the pandemic. But then, they just didn’t hold it from 2021 to 2023. In 2024, they suddenly introduced this random "Victory Challenge League," making us think that was the new direction—only to put it on hiatus for another year and bring back the "NEO Global Tag League" this year. Look, we got the unexpected gift of "Jonetsu MAX" this year, so things turned out happy in the end. But this attitude of changing things constantly on a whim is not a good look.
Even if they had to change GTL to a tournament format instead of a round-robin, or hold it in smaller venues like Shinjuku FACE or Shinkiba, they should have kept its history alive. The same goes for the Junior Tag League.
Look at NJPW's G1 Climax or AJPW's World's Strongest Tag Determination League. They are widely anticipated by wrestling fans across Japan as the "Midsummer Festival" and the "Year-End Tradition," respectively. Of course, that's partly because they are the flagship series for both promotions, but their long, unbroken history plays a massive role in that prestige.
Meanwhile, NOAH's N-1 Victory shifts between summer and autumn, and the finals venue changes constantly.
At this point, what events in NOAH's annual calendar are actually locked into a specific time and place? The only ones that come to mind are the Ryogoku Sumo Hall show at the beginning of May, the Kawasaki show in August (Hajime Ohara's hometown), and the New Year's Day Nippon Budokan show.
And even that Budokan tradition is breaking next year because they couldn't book the venue. Instead, they've set up a New Year's Eve show in Yokohama and a New Year's Day show at Korakuen Hall as replacements. Come to think of it, there was also that year they ran Ariake Arena on January 2nd instead of January 1st. (Apologies to anyone who wiped that nightmare from their memory for bringing it back up).
I've heard that even when NJPW's popularity dipped and the Tokyo Dome was empty, they kept running Wrestle Kingdom—even prepared to take a financial hit—just to protect the brand value and maintain their track record of using the Dome.
Next year's New Year's Day slot at the Budokan was given priority to a massive Japanese singer's anniversary concert, so I guess it can't be helped. Still, it's incredibly disappointing because "New Year's Day = NOAH at the Budokan" was finally starting to establish itself.
They should be focusing more on locking down and building up massive successful traditions. For instance, Kenoh's hometown shows in Tokushima, held in June of 2023 and 2024, were successes two years in a row. They should really make things like that a permanent fixture.
On a smaller note, there's also the issue of series theme songs. I absolutely loved the N-1 theme songs from 2023 and 2024, but it seems like they won't be used anymore, which is sad. When you hear NJPW's January 4th theme song, for example, it instantly creates that atmosphere where everything is building toward the Tokyo Dome.
What do you all think? Does this kind of stuff not bother you that much, or do you feel the same way?