Trilly-Verse Explained: NOAH

The third of seven(?) rosters on this nerdy Firepro excursion

Introduction:

In a world without the behemoth New Japan Pro-Wrestling at the forefront of the Japanese wrestling scene, Pro Wrestling NOAH has risen up to become the Trilly-Verse’s premiere wrestling promotion in Japan. While other Japanese companies still exist (we have an alternative coming up later), NOAH is the clear head of the class as far as attendance, coverage, recognizable talent and journalist talk. The NOAH in this universe, like the promotions we have talked about before is unbound by time and features some of the biggest stars of today mixing it up with some future stars AND those that have long left their prominent positions. The promotion philosophy is more akin to the early days of real-world Pro Wrestling NOAH, focusing on hard-hitting, breathtaking action, but is able to also blend in some of the flash of modern NJPW and long-term storytelling of 90s AJPW. It does feature more “multi-man” matches on the undercard than most promotions, pitting factions against one another in order to build out feuds, but has a bit more singles matches than most real-world modern puro companies today. Many “pundits” consider it the best promotion on the planet in the ring and it has established a sizable following in the United States. Much of the talent has worked a show here and there in the US, though NOAH itself has not ran it’s own show…yet.

The Rules:

There is nothing here to alienate the common wrestling fan. If you’re familiar with the NWA, you can adapt to NOAH very easily. Matches are won by Pinfall, Submission, or knockout. Time-limit draws occur, though less than in the NWA, as NOAH has a bit more flexibility in regards to television - carrying all of their programming on their own streaming service. Repeated interference, use of illegal objects and failure to adhere to the referee’s instructions can result in disqualification, and the refs are pretty strict. The outside count is 20 and most matches have a 30-minute time limit, though some title matches have a 60-minute limit (or no limit)! Like many Japanese companies, the separation between a “Junior” and “Heavyweight” wrestler is adhered to more than in many other parts of the world, though that line is beginning to blur. Gimmick matches involving structures or weapons rarely take place, but matches like submission matches, Texas Death, Ironman and more do show up from time to time.

The Titles:

• GHC Heavyweight Championship - The biggest singles title in Japan, and often considered to be held by the best wrestler in the world from respected journalists. Title reigns are not flippant and can last into double digit defenses. It is at this time, strictly a HEAVYWEIGHT title, and no “Junior” has held or challenged for it.

• GHC National Championship - The secondary singles title. This is a heavyweight title, though the “rules” about a successful junior wrestler challenging for it are a bit more lenient. It is defended more often than the top belt and more frequently in gimmick matches (though still rare).

• GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship - As the name implies, this is the title strictly for junior heavyweight wrestlers, no special rules, just a different weight class.

• GHC Tag Team Championship - Unlike some real-world puroresu companies, the GHC Tag Team Championship in the Trilly-Verse is a highly sought after, highly prestigiuous title. It is behind only the Heavyweight Championship in importance. Title matches are fought in a 60-minute time limit with traditional tag rules.

The Roster:

I always wanted a “Top Puro” promotion in my game and initially I started with it as NJPW, as the titles, rings, branding etc are all in the game. However, I wanted to get away from some of the trappings NJPW naturally bring to mind and instead went back to Green Ring NOAH. We can pretend that Misawa started NOAH here, that it is the result of a big-time AJPW exodus or whatever we want, it doesn’t matter. As you’ll see below, this version of Pro Wrestling NOAH features MANY of the top wrestlers in Japan today. In fact, it probably has too stacked of a roster and some real-world main eventers are cycled down into secondary, tag team or junior roles here. I’ve also done away with keeping it strictly modern wrestler and instead opted to have some legends from the 80s, 90s and 00s mixing it up with people barely out of their Dojo days. Like all promotions in the Trilly-Verse, the roster is broken up into factions and these factions are actually used a bit more than most promotions due to some of the undercard multi-man pairings. The Babyface/Tweener/Heel dynamic is present, as well as a semi-hierarchy of importance in my head, but it is a bit fluid. I don’t have a plan for it yet, but down the road, I may explore Unit Disbandment matches similar to Dragongate.

I kept the roster reveal designs a little bit more uniform here, something I think I will continue with the rest of the promotions moving forward.

Babyfaces:

FLYTE

Entrance Theme: “Torn from the Heavens (FFXIV)” by Masayoshi Soken

Hiroshi Tanahashi
Kaito Kiyomiya
Yoshiki Inamura
Yuki Ueno

The top babyface unit in NOAH is led by none other than the Ace of the Universe, Hiroshi Tanahashi. In this world, Tanahashi’s star still burns brightest, his body is still a bit more spry and he’s the top star in Japan. With this group I wanted to create this feeling of “youth” and excitement without it just being a daredevil group. People who could be “aces” in their own real-world companies some day, who the crowd loves, who are sympathetic, but who are legitimately very GOOD wrestlers above all else. Kiyomiya and Inamura are a big part of the Tag Team division here, as I love how they play off one another. Both are also part of the National title scene. In this world, I have Ueno as one of the top junior heavyweights, with the idea of him putting on banger after banger on the undercard, but moving up a division is definitely in his future.

BURNING

Entrance Theme: “Grand Sword” by Osamu Suzuki

Kenta Kobashi
KENTA
Daisuke Sekimoto
Yuji Okabayashi
Hikaru Sato

I had to make my own version of BURNING for this NOAH. I love Kenta Kobashi and putting him as NOT the top babyface of the top babyface stable is a risk, but whatever. I gave him a whole new team, with one-time protege KENTA at his side, ready to takeover if need be. KENTA works in the National title scene, despite techincally being a Junior. Strong BJ, the team of Sekimoto and Okabayashi are hugely popular with the NOAH fans, and as of this moment are focused on their work as a tag team above chasing singles gold. I toyed with who I wanted the junior to be for a long time with this stable before realizing that Sato really checked all the boxes I wanted. This is more serious, “shooter” Hikaru Sato, so BURNING gets their babyface cred by being believable, gutsy, super tough fighters.

Diamond Ring

Entrance Theme: “Black Diamond” by Stratovarius

Kensuke Sasaki
Kento Miyahara
Hideyoshi Kamitani
Masa Kitamiya

I just love Kensuke Sasaki. I fully realize that he isn’t one of the greatest of all time compared to some of his contemporaries, but he’s just so cool. Built like a brick-shithouse, tough as anyone ever, super hot wife - he rules. I also love his promotions Diamond Ring and Kensuke Office, and though I don’t think they really have an aesthetic style I was trying to emulate here, somehow I knew the 3 wrestlers I wanted with him immediately. All 3 are great talents, all 3 participated in real Kensuke promotions, and the team of Kitamiya & Kamitani seems so natural to me. Despite his dominance in the real world, Miyahara here is at the National Title level, though there could be storyline where he moves up.

CHAOS

Entrance Theme: “Swagger Like Us” by T.I.

Kazuchika Okada
Masato Yoshino
Big R. Shimizu
Solo Sikoa
Bandido

I wanted to go back to when CHAOS mattered, when they were “edgy” and were ostensibly a heel stable that the fans cheered. That’s what I tried to do here, with Okada going back to his golden boy persona and everyone kind of being an asshole (not Yoshino of course, he’s too pure). Okada is the leader and he’s one of the top guys in NOAH, of course, and he’s backed by two of my favorite DG guys in Yoshino and Shimizu. Sikoa is one of the few WWE prospects that seems genuinely cool and that I enjoy watching and for some reason he just seemed to FIT here. Bandido is the main junior representative. CHAOS are babyfaces, but they are not afraid to cut a corner here or there or go a bit further than most of the other babyfaces groups.

VIVID Power

Entrance Theme: “Top of the World” by Van Halen

Hiroshi Hase
Zeus
Shigehiro Irie
Shuji Kondo
Katsuya Kitamura

The original idea behind this unit was basically “surround Satoshi Kojima with buff wrestlers in bright colors” but down the road, Kojima became a major part of the (as of yet unmade) 8th promotion, so I substituted him out for Hiroshi Hase, one of my favorite wrestlers (and now I’m cancelled). Zeus, Irie and Kondo were shoe-ins. The 5th member was solidified after the very sad recent passing of Kitamura, a man who I (and many others) absolutely adored for the short stint he was in NJPW. I’ve upped his stats and gear in the game with the idea of a “what if?” and making him an actual player. Anyway, these guys rock - sort of the Japanese equivalent to the Neon Riffs in my NWA - just fun, buff dudes beating people up.

The Ark

Entrance Theme: “FUSE” by Hudson Mohawke

Go Shiozaki
Konosuke Takeshita
Ben-K
Koji Iwamoto

To be completely honest, I don’t know how I feel about this unit. At different times, all 4 of these guys were in different units, but I didn’t want Go to be second fiddle to anyone, I didn’t want Takeshita in the same unit as Miyahara, I replaced Ben-K with Kitamura in Diamond Ring and Iwamoto was somewhere else too. They make sense in a way, as they are all super hard workers in the ring and all with pretty incredible offense. They are the lowest ranking babyface unit in NOAH, despite their name. I’m selling them short, but I don’t want to get rid of any of them. Eventually it’ll probably change - Takeshita starting to level up, much to Go’s chagrin.

Tweeners:

EXTERMINATE

Entrance Theme: “Thunder in your Heart (From Rad)” by John Farnham

Shinya Hashimoto
Katsuyori Shibata
Scott Norton
Shinjiro Otani

The name is fitting - this team just wants to fuck you up and the crowd loves them for it. They are tweeners due to some of the antics of Shibata and Norton, two people who couldn’t give a shit about the audience and just want to murder, but they lean babyface because of Hashimoto and Otani, two of the easiest guys to root for ever. There isn’t a natural tag team here, and they work in any combination, but Hashimoto is the unquestioned leader and along with Tanahashi and Kobashi, the face of this universe’ NOAH. Shibata was an easy add, as was Otani - to keep it all sort of “Old school New Japan but people who left”. Norton was a late inclusion, but came after watching a bunch of random Norton squashes. He doesn’t seem to fit, but he’s kind of the big heavy for the group and he IS brutal, so it’ll work.

Eruption

Entrance Theme: “Lords of Karma” by Joe Satriani

Takashi Sugiura
Yukio Sakaguchi
Kazusada Higuchi
Tetsuya Endo

It’s hard to mess with one of the coolest real-world units in the world like Eruption, but I did. Initially I added Endo as the replacement for Saki Akai, where he would be one of the stars of the junior division here - which is still there, but then I realized I wanted a clear LEADER of the group, rather than kind of a 3-headed beast and my main dude Sugiura fit the bill perfectly. He’s well dressed, he’s kind of suave, and he’s tough as hell. Placing them on the card is a little tricky. Sugiura is a contender for the GHC Heavyweight Title, Higuchi for the National Title, Endo for the Junior title and Saka/Gooch for the tag titles, but they aren’t necessarily favorites in any division. They have super dedicated fans in this world, as they just ooze a cool factor that most other units can’t touch.

Creeping Death

Entrance Theme: “Creeping Death” by Metallica

Shotaro Ashino
Great-O-Khan
Naoya Nomura
Ren Narita
Kenichiro Arai

I’m a big fan of Shotaro Ashino, or at least the promise of Ashino. There is no doubt that he has both been underused since the closure of Wrestle-1 AND that he has likely fumbled the bag, but I still remain very into the idea of him. A smaller, somewhat pudgy, but very dapper and cool dude who throws sick suplexes? Tremendous stuff. I wanted to build the stable out of other “next generation” type talents, that may have a bit of a darker edge, and also a “real wrestling” feel. Great-O-Khan is my favorite guy in New Japan, both the silliness and the seriousness, he’s so unique. Nomura is a guy who I still feel could carry a company, and Narita is just such a badass since coming back to Japan. I’ve had Arai linked up in this group in sort of a Gedo role for some time- a little bit of humor, a little bit of badass.

Heels:

STERNNESS

Entrance Theme: “Sternness” by Unknown

Jun Akiyama
Yoshihito Sasaki
SUWAMA
Shuji Ishikawa
Atsushi Aoki

There are some real heavy hitters on the heel side of the NOAH roster, but I knew I wanted Uncle Jun as my top dawg from the get go. The first year-ish of NOAH, with the (near) elevation of Akiyama is one of my single favorite arcs in the history of pro wrestling, and I wanted to recapture that feeling here. Following him in STERNNESS is former BJW star Yoshihito Sasaki, who fits the NOAH aesthetic to a T. Violent Giants are one of the top tag teams here, and both guys can veer into singles runs, and then one of my absolute favorites of the 2000s and 2010s that left us entirely too early: Atsushi Aoki. I needed him on the roster and placed here, he becomes one of the top Juniors on the roster. Totally badass unit.

Holy Demon Army

Entrance Theme: “Holy War” By D.D.T.

Toshiaki Kawada
Akira Taue
Taichi
Isami Kodaka
Yuko Miyamoto

It would be really easy to have the Holy Demon Army - now fleshed out into a full unit - as the top heel faction in NOAH, and they aren’t far behind STERNNESS, but what is for sure is that Kawada and Taue, the only co-leaders of a faction, are THE top tag team here. Obviously legendary, they dominate here in NOAH as well. Taichi, once Kawada’s protege, and geniunely fantastic over the last handful of years fills that secondary title division role and Yankee Two Kenju can work solo as juniors or as a really solid undercard tag team, really just heeling it up as two of the only members of the roster that constantly try to use weapons.

VerserK

Entrance Theme: “Shut ‘Em Down” by Onyx & DMX

Shingo Takagi
Yuji Hino
T-Hawk
El Lindaman

Shingo in New Japan has been really good on the whole, but Shingo during his last 2-3 years in Dragongate as the top heel of multiple factions was a next level bully and carried some of the best years of that company’s history. I wanted to put him in charge of another kind of scary, mercenary-like group by creating a new, small VerserK. With Hino as the big, scary heavy and the key members of Stronghearts as both mid-card title and tag team title contenders. It’s only a group of 4, but they get get off on intimidation and great, dominant performances in the ring.

Los Ingobernables

Entrance Theme: “200 MPH” by Bad Bunny & Diplo

Tetsuya Naito
Rush
Hirooki Goto
El Desperado
SB KENTo

I personally feel like the real world LIJ (and the various Ingobernable factions around the world) have sort of worn out their welcome and feel stale, but here is basically my ideal pairing. Bringing Naito and Rush back together, adding the silent killer in Goto, a legit Junior contender with Despy and then a future star in SBK. The group isn’t at the top of the card here, though they do cycle in and out of it, but they are stalwarts in the mid-card and do have a “dangerous” attitude more reminiscent of the Mexican version.

Brain Damage

Entrance Theme: “Not Fucking Fodder” by Tragedy

Katsuhiko Nakajima
Eita
Sanada
Kohei Sato
Daisuke Sasaki

The real assholes of the promotion, Brain Damage are just the scum of the fuckin’ world in this version of NOAH, aiming to legit injure their opponents. Nakajima is a real player here, vying for the GHC Heavyweight Title. Eita is one of the few who can alternate between the Junior and National division with ease, SANADA is a quiet creep who fits because of SKULL END. Kohei Sato here is the Sato of a handful of years ago that still throws the meanest elbows in all of wrestling and Sasaki is here to just wreck shit and annoy everyone.

Like all the other promotioins in the Trilly-Verse, NOAH also has a Legends pool of unaffiliated wrestlers that will show up from time to time, though rarely in a title match. Below are some examples, though more can show up at any time.

Stay tuned after the Holidays for the reveal of Total Nonstop Action.