Pro Wrestling NOAH (NOAH)

[10.0] "The matches are excellent and of exceptional quality. They have a magnificent roster. You always want to see more matches. One of the best wrestling companies in the world."

[6.0] "[6.2] Pro Wrestling NOAH 2025 could be described as stagnant. NOAH has fallen from it's pinnacle in the early to late 2000's but seems to moving along quite nicely. They never really found someone to fill the shoes left by stars like Kenta Kobashi and Mitsuharu Misawa. Going into 2026, NOAH's booking problems seemed to be more prevalent than ever! Booking the main event stars in meaningless matches. The New Year show absolutely BOMBING and OZAWA's momentum not being fully seen through. Overall, NOAH to me is like the TNA of Japan because they keep shooting themselves in the foot!"

[10.0] "The first decade of NOAH is among some of my favorite wrestling of all time. All though I haven't enjoyed much from them in the 15 years does not detract from all the great matches and moments they did have."

[10.0] "NOAH's catalog of all-time classic matches just goes on and on and on, it's right up there with ROH and NJPW in terms of match quality in my opinion. There's really something for everyone, whether it be the high-flying from Naomichi Marufuji and Yo-Hey, the powerhouses like Kensuke Sasaki and Takeshi Morishima, or the thinkers like Mitsuharu Misawa and Katsuhiko Nakajima. At it's peak, around 2003-2007, I don't think there was a single promotion better than Noah. Even still, over 20 years later, Noah is one of the best eastern promotions out there!"

"I really like Japon style and that's all I want in pro Wrestling ! NOAH is the Best in Japan. Good wrestlers and very good promotion."

[9.0] "NOAH to me is like a warm blanket and a hot mug of tea. Incredible historical pedigree and a philospihy of captivating, hard-hitting, energetic style of wrestling which they have stuck to since their inception. While they may lack the star power of some of their founding members they will always provide you with a consistent experience with some really bright spots throughout."

[9.0] "One of the best companies in Japan. It felt like they've always kept that hard-hitting and technical wrestling that they started with. I feel like in recent years they haven't hadenough star power but it's hard to match Misawa, Kobashi and others.They never really lost who they were though as they still have a lot of talent that can really bring an amazing match."

"Sometimes it feels like two steps forward and one step back with NOAH, they have good talent and shows but you have to slog through a lot of bad to get to the good. I'd like to think it's regenerating although very slowly. At least audiences seem more engaged nowadays. Still one of my most watched promotions, Kitamiya, Kenoh, Kiyomiya, OZAWA, KENTA, Marufuji (on his day) among others make it worth the watch. As for its history... that's a different story. Easily a part of wrestling history what a legacy. The Mutoh retirement recaptures that old magic."

[9.0] "Pro Wrestling NOAH is my favorite promotion of all time. Is it perfect? Not always. But I personally believe that it has housed some of the greatest wrestlers to ever live. Naomichi Marufuji, Yoshihiro Takayama, KENTA, The Four Pillars of Heaven, Kaito Kiyomiya, KENOH, Katushiko Nakajima. Just some incredible talent that make sure the matches are always incredible even if the booking was sometimes questionable, which for me is the only reason I won't give it a 10. And the fact that they're partnering with other promotions like Dragon Gate, New Japan, All Japan, and recently WWE has made me even more excited for their future."

[10.0] "Pro Wrestling NOAH began as the spiritual successor to the Four Pillars of Heaven era of All Japan and had a glorious first few years but even more impressive than pulling 58k at the Tokyo Dome is that the promotion survived its founders death and has forged an identity of its own distinct from its AJPW origin story. NOAH has been and still is the go-to wrestling company for quality in-ring action and every year NOAH delivers a few match of the year contenders. However, the overall cards are not particularly strong, the talent pool is not very deep and they haven't recovered from the pandemic and don't look like they will ever again replace NJPW as the top promotion of Japan like they were in those amazing few years. NOAH is still my preferred Japanese promotion but the decline is obvious."

[10.0] "Great promotion if you want to relax, and watch some good old wrestling. Never bothered to check out anything past 2005, but from what I've seen, My second favorite promotion of all time."

[9.0] "The AJPW exodus may have been really bad in the 2000s, but thanks to both companies pulling their weight, we now have two incredibly strong thematic alternatives to NJPW. NOAH has had a consistent level of quality since its inception, and the Ark style of King's Road with a strong-style garnish provides an excellent middle-of-the-road mix. When puro is good, it's really good, and NOAH truly pulls their weight in spades."

[9.0] "There's no better wrestling style nowadays than NOAH's style. The hard hitting, martial arts based strikes with the king road's spirit is always entertaining to watch, so even in a bad show you're almost always going to see at least a couple of entertaining matches in the worst case, and the absolute best bangers if the years in the best. The only defect, that sadly is a big one that I can find in Noah is how they're willing to push any wrestler from more popular companies (like NJPW) over their own homegrown talents, so it can be very frustrating getting invested in guys like Kenoh, Kiyomiya, etc. only to see a foreign wrestler going over them over and over again. I hope the day the booking regime changes this company can shine like they deserve on the japanese wrestling scene again."

[7.0] "The talents are there but i have to be brutally honestly, NOAH might be the worst booked promotion of 2023. Getting jabronied by New Japan, Kongo disbanding, Kiyomiya lost in the shuffle, complete silence N1 final crowd, Nakajima going away, it's just too much for me. And don't get me started with the junior division and the tag division, couldn't be more directionless as it is. As long as all the old wrestlers are still here trying to pop the ticket sale, the promotion is never gonna improve as a whole."

[8.0] "I genuinely love and will always be fan of NOAH it got me into puro in 2017 and I'll never forget that. However I'd be lying if I said NOAH's booking since go beat nakajima in 2019 has been good it hasn't and it feels like nothing pays off, it's meddling at best and aimless at worst broken down 90's and 00's stars time and time again defeat our homegrown stars and younger talent Kenoh, Kitamiya, Kitomiya failure to elevate Midcard talent like Soya, Inamura, Junta don't even get me started on how jumbled the Junior Division is the best and most interesting decision since go's reign was having Kenoh hold the red belt and defeat all the older shoot stars it gave him a feeling of invincibility like you'd probably have to shoot him to beat him. Tournaments have never been NOAH's strong point but man their at an all time low right now, the tag belts have been made into trinkets since sugiura-gun lost them, It seems like the NOAH roster always looses in every big spot they get, all the older talent are overexposed and quickly loose thier novelty (like fujita, funaki, etc.) NOSAWA's (creative? ) chaotic car crash booking killed my entire intrest in the Junior Division the dg invasion couldn't even bring it back (I liked eita winning the belt tho). The Stars of the 2010's are starting to break down from the mounting injuries (Shiozaki, Marufuji and Sugiura) and while they can still put great matches it's clear thier best days are behind them, Sadly I don't think NOAH is ever gonna go back to how it was before thier success ensures it won't either way when the dust settles I'll still be here.... 7.5/10"

[8.0] "In their prime, 2001-2006 I would give them an easy 11/10 as they would be my favorite promotion of all time but sadly they have been really inconsistent and there quality has decreased before finally recently increasing again. While they are currently very good, I would say they are still nowhere near their prime quality."

[10.0] "My favorite promotion ever. The era of Kobashi, Misawa, Akiyama got me into them and the juniors who rose to being the key heavyweights are what kept me invested in them. The roster now doesn't have the star power it used to but the work by a majority of the talent makes up for it. Poor booking and outside factors continue to be its downfall but its the only promotion where I will never drop them for it. I love everything about them through all the highs and lows and I cant say that about any other wrestling promotion. I'm stuck with them forever"

[9.0] "NOAH has a solid roster of well established and up and coming Japanese and international names. Shows are well produced, branded and most importantly, heavy on the in ring action. There's a clear effort to reach a more global audience over the last couple of years and that has made for some exciting additions (Jack Morris, Dr Wagner Jnr, Chris Ridgeway, Daga etc.), the formation of interesting units (Stinger., GLG, REAL) and a good number of new and captivating match ups as wrestlers from different backgrounds with different styles clash. Shows are of a consistently high standard and the depth of the roster means match ups and feuds are kept fresh. With some of the most promising young Japanese wrestlers in the world such as Kaito Kiyomiya and Yoshiki Inamura on the roster alongside established superstars like Marufuji, Kenoh, Shiozaki, Nakajima, Sugiura and Ogawa, NOAH is in good hands and I see them continuing to go from strength to strength. A product I enjoy and always look forward to seeing more of."

[9.0] "probably one of my favorite Promotions in Japan for the amount of different Wrestlers and their unique gimmicks and factions they are in, although they are having a bit of a down year due to Jake Lee being the most boring Champion and HAYATA stinking up the Junior Heavyweight division, Wagner really saving this promotion for me"

[8.0] "Currently Noah is swinging for the fences woth how friendly ots been to forign fans and great matches i can see them potentially challenging for the throne of japanese wrestling on the next 5 years."

[9.0] "There always seemed to have been a problem striking NOAH at any point in its existence, however, at its peak, it rivals 90s All Japan."

[10.0] "Early 2000s NOAH is the best professional wrestling you'll ever see. These days I feel like they've lost a lot of their identity. They feel like diet NJPW right now. I'm going to be grading the golden age of NOAH, which is the stuff that I watched, don't have interest in them nowadays."

[8.0] "NOAH was great in their heyday: not concerned with the MMA bubble (NJPW) or drowning themselves in nostalgia (AJPW, most post-2000 Joshi promotions) but instead trying to reinvent the wheel, using the old guys as house draws to get over the new. The main issues were that Misawa was admittedly not a good booker (kept panic-booking new champions without giving a good try to those already at the top) money troubles, and a general issue of wrestling being more and more niche as time went on. Misawa passing + Yakuza + Go and co leaving for AJPW crippled the company for AGES, in a weird limbo where they had tons of great acts but could not draw to save their life. They've made huge strides in recent years with Go's generally solid big reign and Muto's megastar presence boosting their impact on the scene. Modern NOAH is in a good place where they can rely on solid older acts like Fujita, Kojima, Sugiura, Mochizuki and co to boost the cards while also having a wealth of more fresh lads to also use. It is a bit humorous when people say that NOAH don't push "young talent" and then also say Go (who's 40 and has Randy Orton shoulders) Kenoh (who's 38 and been wrestling for 17 years) and more lads who aren't really young bar Kaito and whatnot. The truth is that every major promotion uses and relies on older acts to push ticket sales: this is the same formula used for early 2000's NOAH, the same for 90's AJPW, etc etc. I think if these same people were around then they would be complaining about the Four Pillars main-eventing and winning everything while "young" talent like Akiyama/Omori/Takayama/Shiga remained in the side-wings. I think for the most part NOAH have handled their older talent fairly well, and with them transitioning away from guys like Muto and co we are really getting bigger and better cards because of the fact they've built a solid foundation off the more established acts. Hell one of their best matches this year was a young act (Kaito) going over a solid older star (Hideo) and that really paved what their mission was here."

[9.0] "While not at the amazingly standard of NOAH? s glory years it is still a fantastic promotion that put on some great wrestling especially this year and they look to continue from strength to strength in 2023 and I look forward to more."

[7.0] "So much history in the 20 or so years it has been around, from the epic Kobashi GHC reign to Yakuza scandals to the rise of KENTA & Marufuji. Those Tokyo Dome shows where NOAH was smashing NJPW out of the park in terms of quality and drawing in the Dome both shows how high NOAH was and how far they have fallen. There is still some great wrestling in NOAH, don't get me wrong (love Nakajima & Shiozaki! ) but 2022 NOAH is...well...odd. Mutoh beating everyone, Fujita as top guy (he's awful, don't care what anyone says) and even Satoshi Kojima getting a run at the top while the likes of Shiozaki, Nakajima & Kiyomiya tread water. The junior division isn't great (not bad, but nothing exciting) and I can't believe a company in 2022 thought booking Michael Elgin was a good idea. Still some promise though, Kiyomiya can be salvaged and some good young wrestlers coming through, just needs a new booking team."

[8.0] "A 22-year old company with a great lineup of main event stars, from Shiozaki to Mutoh. 2000s was NOAH's prime decade, with stars like Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa, Jun Akiyama, Akira Taue, KENTA, Naomichi Marufuji, their strong junior heavyweight division, and the time Kobashi held the GHC Heavyweight title for 2 years. Modern-day NOAH is still doing good, but booking wise.. not so much."

[8.0] "It's a toss-up for either NOAH or Ring of Honor for the best wrestling promotion of the 2000's in terms of in-ring work. NOAH was undoubtedly the best puro in the world at the time. Nowadays I feel bad for the handful of talented guys NOAH has for being saddled with trying to carry a bunch of uncooperative self-mark old guys and dimeless gaijins at their last resort fed."

"The best company today, a varied roster in styles. Matches matter from the start of the card to the main event."

[9.0] "Their main events are usually among the best matches of the year. There is almost no promotion in history (other than maybe AJW) that deserves a 10, but NOAH is probably the only promotion of the past 20 years that comes close to deserving a 10. Nevertheless, a 9 is a big accomplishment too."

"Love this company they finally risen from their ruins! Absoloutly love that NJPW work together with them once again i hope we will see more Kenta in NOAH '"

[9.0] "One of the best promotions in the 21th century, his only problem was in the Suzuki-Gun invasion, but overall, NOAH is a good promotion"

[9.0] "They have the potential to be so much better, but Nosawa is a complete idiot. Talent wise NOAH is fantastic and I absolutely love their history and the GHC heavyweight title video played before each defence is iconic."

[9.0] "NOAH from 2019 I really liked, despite the disappointing title reign of Kiyomiya for me. NOAH from 2020 left me mostly indifferent, Shiozaki's reign is certainly historical, but I don't really share all this excitement (although I won't deny that Go coped perfectly with the realities of the pandemic and empty arenas). But 2021 was a pivotal year for the promotion and now it's definitely something I'm willing to follow regularly, and watch the big events immediately after the release, rather than a couple of weeks or months later, as with most other promotions. This is largely due, of course, to their innovative solutions: it is clear that the guys are not afraid to experiment, and even if something is not liked by absolutely everyone (like Kenoh's reign with the National Championship), it dilutes the atmosphere of the promotion. Muto is also a big and bold experiment, and even if the words of many haters were true and he really was a barely moving man - I would still watch it with interest. The world of professional wrestling turned upside down and even in the conservative WWE, everything began to hold on to modern wrestlers who depend only on each other. The same Dragon Gate, caressed by many as an ideal promotion where young people are promoted, knows no boundaries at all, and talented wrestlers who gave them dozens of years of life, and who still know how to show themselves well, simply don't find a place for themselves. It's pointless to talk about NJPW. And perhaps this is the right approach, but I believe that the generation should be nurtured by adopting the experience of the wrestlers of the past, competing with them and arranging a battle of ideologies, which is now happening in NOAH. Muto defeats Kiyomiya, but he helps him restart and find himself a real Ace. Muto defeats Kitamiya, but makes him a star, which I am now ready to watch even more often. And all this investment will eventually pay off when Keiji is dethroned, whether it's the same Shiozaki, Kenoh, or a stronger Kiyomiya. To forget about history is a huge mistake, and if veterans are capable, if they are ready to help, then you need to use it. NOAH has found his gold mine and I am fully involved in it, despite the fact that DDT is much more interesting to me. And I really find it funny to read comparisons with other promotions. The main champion of PWNoah is a limited old man, but a cool and responsible limited old man. While the ultra-progressive Dragon Gate has already had a few nasty incidents with young blood, it is clear that the wrestlers lack experience, but they are still kicked out in the main events. NOAH is really more mature in this regard. In many ways, I am annoyed by the part of the fanbase that elevates some matches to the absolute, but at the same time, there is no closer community right now. NOAH - incredibly cool and that's a fact."

[2.0] "NOAH in 2021 just completely baffles me. This was the best promotion of the year in 2020, but they are high contenders for the worst promotion right now. I hate NOSAWA's booking so so much. There's no reason the world champion should be an out of shape and decades past his prime grandpa. Back to NOSAWA, he has basically turned NOAH into his own personal circlejerk. Creating new stars? Fuck that shit, let me just book all my buddies to fight each other instead. Treating the younger talent like garbage is specifically why NOAH's numbers started dipping post-Pillars, and why they couldn't even half fill Korakuen in the mid-2010s. Not to mention every other junior turns heel or face every other match in a way that puts Vince Russo to shame. Watching this promotion in 2021 is genuinely embarrassing especially when you compare it to another promotion like Dragon Gate who have gone all in on their younger talent. I am not falling for the illusion that these booking patterns have helped the promotion "grow" just yet. If the numbers continue growing post-shutdowns, then maybe I'm the problem, but until then I hope there is a strong and long term plan that I am just not seeing because the state of this promotion worries me."

[10.0] "NOAH's early years really hurt there rating, as it can be clearly seen. But there recent work especially how strong they were during the covid-clap era of wrestling under the ace, Go Shiozaki. NOAH is recovering, but can they make the full recovery? We'll have to see, but they do deserve to be higher on the rankings."

[10.0] "I first started watching puroresu with NOAH and have fallen in love since. NOAH has gone through a lot but they are recovering slowly but surely. They still have some of the hardest hitting matches out there, and although they have a reputation where older ex-stars can go to shine again, they have a fairly talented base of young stars like Kiyomiya, Inamura, and Okada who can definitely become top players in the promotion. For anyone trying to get into NOAH, just know that it's not New Japan, a promotion who used to do strong style but now does a more conventional, WWE-like approach. This is a natural evolution of the Odo style from All Japan in the 1990s: hard hitting, long heavyweight title matches, will vs will type of matches opposed to face vs heel. They'll do angles (in-ring) every now and again, but the stories exclusively created and resolved in the ring. It's not for everyone, really. But for what they do, it's great."

[9.0] "I just fell in love with Noah. Their history is fascinating and today's product is also compelling and exciting. The characters are consistent and you can see the workers' passion at every match. When talking about Noah, people will often insist on how good the promotion was, but today's roster is also excellent and is worth any puroresu fan's time. They became a lot easier to follow with Abema broadcasting the big events live for free worldwide and Wrestle Universe (and their small subscription fee) getting the rest and keeping their archive. Hop in!"

[8.0] "The first decade or so was simply amazing, one of the best promotions I have ever seen: it was basically like watching AJPW but without useless foreigners hired merely because they looked big and strong and a rigid cap on the number of washed-up's and have-been's. I think NOAH hit its peak around Kobashi's great 2003-2004 GHC Heavyweight title reign: there was seemingly nothing they could do wrong in that time frame and Kobashi pulled the promotion like a train. However when Misawa died in 2009 the promotion had already entered a decline which accelerated and hit rock bottom with the NJPW "partnership" which made the product literally difficult to watch. Once that "partnership" was terminated NOAH managed to somehow bounce back, but I honestly don't share the mindless optimism I've read around the Internet: while the product is much better than when Suzuki-gun had the run of the company, it is still far from attractive. They still have a very long way to go, so best luck to them."

[10.0] "At their prime, Pro Wrestling NOAH, was the best promotion in the World. Funded by the GOAT himself, Mitsuharu Misawa, NOAH has the best fighting spirit in ProWrestling History."

[8.0] "My favorite promotion of all time, it's so sad that they almost bankrupt 2 years ago, but they're still alive and they're rising from the ashes like a phoenix! My dream is to see NOAH going back to Nippon Budokan and Tokyo Dome in the future, until then, I'm just gonna appreciate their great matches and wrestlers."

[10.0] "NOAH has great top to bottom roster and easily the most consistently great main eventers. Older guys like Go and Sugiura deliver every time and they have a bright future in Kaito, Kenoh, Kitamiya, Nakajima etc. In this world of almost every company having the exact same in-ring style, NOAH just brings something completely else to the table. I can't really describe it, but there just is a clear difference in the match pacing, sense of urgency and match lenghts for example, which makes NOAH the best wrestling company in the world."

[6.0] "The fate of NOAH was sealed thanks to the style that made the company famous, it was very difficult to maintain it for a long time and the death of Misawa only accelerated the process of decline. Obviously the first years are wonderful, but all this decade has been difficult to watch and currently what they offer is quite boring; with few attractive matches, rivalries and wrestlers."

[6.0] "NOAH have fallen rather far since their early heyday. As the spiritual successor to the Giant Baba version of All Japan, NOAH started out slow, and then got real hot for a while, providing some top-shelf action. But they could never find someone to fill the shoes of Kenta Kobashi and their success ultimately tapered off. Things were obviously not helped by the tragic death of Mitsuharu Misawa, but even without that, it's hard to see how the history of NOAH would have developed any differently."

[10.0] "Noah has been through some rough times. Although in the last few years the company always produced good matches, when it mattered, as of late 2017 I feel that Noah has been given a new life, thanks to the exceptional work rate of it's roster. My favorite promotion in Japan today, along with njpw of course."

[7.0] "Now that Suzuki gun are gone and NOAH were left to do their own thing, they feel fresh. Their shows have ranged from solid to good, and they will likely keep getting better in the following months."

[6.0] "The reason i cant rate this promotion below 6 is because the beginning years of this promotion were INCREDIBLE. I loved when this promotion was in its glory days with amazing world-tier talent like Misawa, Kobashi, KENTA, Marufuji, Akiyama, Morishima, etc. Now though who do they have? Marufuji and Sugiura. Thats about it. Their pobpularity has hit a major decline and any day now i'm expecting the promotion to go out of business and merge with NJPW."

[6.0] "It has become the TNA of Japanese wrestling, especially with the likes of KENTA gone. (It's probably why he bailed) :("

[6.0] "NOAH was once the biggest wrestling promotion in Japan, and the 2nd biggest in the world. There was a time when Kenta Kobashi could draw +60k people in Tokyo Dome. There was a time when the Budokan was always sold out. BUT. But NOAH made a lot of bad decisions throughout the years. They didn't really make new stars. And in 2009, Mitsuharu Misawa died. This was obviously nobody's fault, but this is considered as a start of downfall for NOAH. From this point, NOAH was only getting worse. Kenta Kobashi has retired, KENTA left for WWE, Akiyama is in AJPW, Taue retired, Takayama is old.. I could count all day. Anyway, NOAH is still somehow putting it all together thanks to relationship with NJPW. Suzuki Gun/NOAH feud was their main story in 2015. While there was a time when it was cool, the constant interference from SZGun made everyone lose their interest in the product. I am giving NOAH 6, and unfortunately, I don't think it will ever get better."

[9.0] "Pro Wrestling Noah is very decent for my tastes, i still enjoy them today even though they are a shell of their former self."

[10.0] "My favourite promotion in Japan, still one of the big three after NJPW and Dragon Gate in that order obviously this was the number one Japanese promotion between 2003-2005, but was obviously rocked heavily with the passing away of Misawa. Since then it had been a bit of a hit and miss and findings its feet since then. It was further damaged having 5 top tier workers parting at the end of 2012 , especially the original ace Jun Akiyama and the blue chip prospect Go Shiozaki. It pushed on and then made the best decision that saved the "ARK" and that was to make KENTA the new ace of the company and becoming the new GHC Heavyweight Champion and that helped Noah repair the damage and also give the promotion the credibility it so needed. Since then the promotion has been rejuvenated especially with key signings of TDMK, Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotege, Kenou and Hajime Ohara. Under the leadership of Akira Taue and Naomichi Marufuji they have been able to adapt with the times whilst keeping their rich tradition."