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The Real Rebellion in NOAH: The story of TEAM 2000X

1 month ago Vertical Bison for MP

Vertical Bison for MP

The Real Rebellion in NOAH: The story of TEAM 2000X

By: Pep S. Caro

Rebellion, by definition, is an act of resistance to authority, or of disobedience when there is due obedience in a hierarchical organization. So, is there true rebellion when those who claim to lead it want to continue the established order? That’s the premise I wanted to start with because it’s the idea that gives rise to a new star faction in Japanese pro wrestling and I’m talking about TEAM 2000X.

 

 

Let’s start at the beginning of this story. September 30th was the first event. Pro Wrestling NOAH presented Sunny Voyage, and on the card we had a triple threat match between Jack Morris, Anthony Greene, and LJ Cleary. These wrestlers were part of the Good Looking Guys faction, which disbanded on July 13 at Destination 2024 after Jake Lee, then the leader, announced his intention to end the partnership and closed the match, betraying his teammates to leave NOAH and join Bullet Club War Dogs and NJPW in the process. The match ended at Sunny Voyage in a no contest after a masked man attacked the referee, shook Morris’s hand, and left the venue with him, as Morris stated that the masked man would reveal his identity on October 14 during the backstage comments. A few weeks later, at Sunny Voyage on October 7, Morris and Greene faced each other in a singles match that ended in another no contest after the same masked man attacked Greene. Daga, then GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion, came down and pretended to help Greene, only to join forces with Morris and the masked man.

During the Star Navigation Premium: Akitoshi Saito Ridge Road at Korakuen Hall on October 14, the masked man was revealed to be YOSHI TATSU, and the stable was officially formed and revealed their name: TEAM 2000X. Meanwhile, Kaito Kiyomiya introduced Taishi Ozawa as a new member of ALL REBELLION, a faction he has led since defeating Kenoh in the finals of N-1 Victory 2024, a tournament in which Kiyomiya’s GHC Heavyweight Championship was also at stake. Ozawa returned to Japan after a European tour, competing primarily in the United Kingdom and Germany.

 

 

The joy was also short-lived, as at Deathtiny 2024 on November 17, Ozawa turned on All Rebellion by attacking his very own former trainer Kaito Kiyomiya after the latter’s successful defense of the GHC Heavyweight Championship against Takashi Sugiura, joining TEAM 2000X. But the shock continued as he demanded a GHC title match. Kiyomiya was reluctant to accept the fight, but was ultimately tricked and ambushed by OZAWA, who had recently changed the spelling of his name. After attacking him from behind, he made an unconscious Kiyomiya sign the contract, subsequently making the match official for NOAH The New Year 2025 on January 1. WWE signed wrestler Omos was announced as a member of the stable on December 27, during the New Year event press conference.

NOAH The New Year is one of the most important events of the year. Furthermore, prior to the event, it was announced that Daga would defend the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship against his former friend and rival, Eita. At the same time, it was announced that Morris would challenge for Naomichi Marufuji and Sugiura’s GHC Tag Team Championships against an opponent yet to be revealed. There was a lot of anticipation about Morris’s potential partner because Marufuji had told me during the summer, during the exclusive interview he gave me for Planeta Wrestling, that he intended to bring WWE wrestlers to compete at NOAH. We’d already seen Tavion Heights and Josh Briggs compete at N-1 Victory, and Shinsuke Nakamura was announced for the card in a match against Ulka Sasaki. In the days leading up to the match, NOAH announced at a press conference that Morris’ partner would be another WWE superstar: Omos.

 

 

At the event, Daga lost the GHC Junior Heavyweight title to Eita in the mid card, meanwhile and Omos, the newest member of TEAM 200X, defeated Marufuji and Sugiura to win the GHC Tag Team belts. The shocking part? We pinned Marufuji to win the match. That was his first official match in NOAH and pinned one of the legends of the promotion. But that was not the only shock of the night. OZAWA took Kiyomiya to the limit and in a very entertaining, dynamic and exciting fight he defeated him to become the GHC Heavyweight Champion. For much of the match, the majority of the live crowd at Nippon Budokan supported OZAWA and booed Kiyomiya. Weird, isn’t it? Well no. The public wanted a changing of the guard at NOAH. At least at that point, they were tired of Kiyomiya, who, despite being “The Ace of the Ark,” had been badly booked by multiple times over wrestlers who either deserved to beat him and win the championship, or who simply wanted to see them have a moment of glory. Noah saw the OZAWA SHOCK happen and celebrated in an unimaginable way.

OZAWA is a fresh new character in wrestling. He already had a great repertoire of moves. He’s young and athletic. But without a doubt, being able to explore his crazier, funnier side during the tour allowed him to become the “Real Rebel” he embodies. He’s the antithesis of everything Kiyomiya is, or perhaps the ideal of what Kiyomiya wanted to be when he created ALL REBELLION.

 

 

The next day, NOAH celebrated New Year’s Reboot on January 2, 2025, at Shinjuku FACE. Tetsuya Endo from DDT Pro Wrestling competed the previous night but at New Year Reboot he began his one-year stint in NOAH. Later, Endo challenged Manabu Soya to a match for the GHC National Championship, after Soya retained the championship against Tadasuke. Soya accepted and they decided that the fight would take place in Korakuen Hall. In that same show, Yu Owada betrayed Marufuji and joined TEAM 2000X in the first half of the show. So, in the second half, Owada joined Omos and Morris to face Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Galeno del Mal and Saxon Huxley, getting his victory under the banner of TEAM 2000X. In the Main Event, Kiyomiya and Kenoh got a little payback and defeated OZAWA and Daga. After the match, TEAM 2000X attacked Kenoh, but Kenta returned to NOAH and saved the opponent he just faced the previous night.

On January 11, at Star Navigation Premium 2025, TEAM 2000X and All Rebellion had match ups between their members as Kenoh was trying to get a GHC title match with OZAWA, but the Champion decided that Kenoh wasn’t worth it. In the preview of the show, Owada changed his name to Owadasan, which was a way to mock Kiyomiya and Kenoh who he had no more respect for. This was a suggestion from OZAWA, saying that the Champion only respects members of TEAM 2000X and will call them politely. That also included a promo that went viral on social media, where OZAWA and Owadasan were mocking Kenoh and decided to do a dance with a popular Japanese song from an anime. After the confrontation that ended with TEAM 2000X winning more matches, it was time for the Main Event. Endo defeated Soya to win the GHC National Championship, but the shocking part was he was helped by 2000X. After the match, he revealed himself as the newest member of the faction.

 

 

On January 25, Omos and Morris defended the GHC Tag Team Championships against Kiyomiya and GALENO, fka Galeno del Mal and the newest member of ALL REBELLION. That match was really good and ended with another shock: Omos pinned Kiyomiya to retain the titles. After the match, Omos announced that he was leaving NOAH to return to WWE and relinquished his GHC Tag Team title to faction partner Daga. That was another humiliation to Kiyomiya as he failed to win the title and also the champion decided to relinquish the belt. However, the title was vacated on January 27 due to NOAH not recognizing the title change. Daga and Morris refused to relinquish the titles so they traveled abroad with the belts. This was also and act of real rebellion.

On February 11 at another edition of Star Navigation Premium 2025, Endo lost the GHC National Championship back to Soya. In that same show, GALENO challenged OZAWA for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. This was OZAWA’s first defense and he managed to survive “El Gigante made Maldad (The Giant made of Evil)”. The era of OZAWA and TEAM 2000X continued.

On March 2 at Memorial Voyage in Yokohama, NOAH’s first show of their 25th Anniversary Celebration tour, OZAWA defeated Soya in a Winner Takes All Lumberjack Deathmatch to win the GHC National title and retain the GHC Heavyweight title, when during the match, Tadasuke turned on the Passionate Ratel’s to join TEAM 2000X. This was something slowly cooking after their match on NOAH New Year Reboot, where Soya defeated Tadasuke. We had another shocked after the match because OZAWA announced that he was vacating the GHC National belt just 10 minutes after winning the title. He was indeed “The Real Rebel”.

 

 

On March 23 at Star Navigation Premium 2025, OZAWA defeated his former trainer and the Coach of the NOAH Dojo, Masa Kitamiya, to retain the GHC Heavyweight Championship for the third time. Another good defense where he continued his path of defeating the veterans of NOAH. After a few weeks of tournament, on April 6, NOAH finally crowned new GHC Tag Team Champions as TEAM 2000X’s Daga and Morris defeated GALENO and Kiyomiya at Sunny Voyage. Daga made history as a Junior winning a historically Heavyweight belt. He has been competing as an Openweight after losing his Jr. title earlier this year. At the same time, Morris won another title in his career.

Also is importante to remember that after getting the help of Kenta, Kenoh decided to leave ALL REBELLION earlier this year. This partnership became some kind of new faction and they accepted Ulka Sasaki’s petition to join them. KenKenUl was born and they started a feud with TEAM 2000X. NOAH announced that they were doing Memorial Voyage in Ryogoku on May 3 and TEAM 2000X will be defending ther Championships against KenKenUl: Daga and Morris the GHC Tag Team titles against Kenoh and Sasaki, meanwhile OZAWA the GHC Heavyweight title against Kenta.

 

 

In the weeks before the show, NOAH held another Star Navigation Premium at Korakuen Hall and the Main Event in a fun but brutal No DQ tag match between OZAWA and Endo against Kenta and Kenoh. They brawled all over Korakuen, even in the corridors outside the main hall where the actual arena is located in the building. The spot of the match was Kenta hitting OZAWA on the top of the Ladder causing him to feel and break a table in the ring. Also, Endo, as member of DDT, has been dealing with the comments of his seniors since the promotion. People he learned from and respect like Jun Akiyama. So, he was starting to feel conflicted.

At Memorial Voyage in Ryogoku, Sasaki and Kenta defeated Daga and Morris to win the GHC Tag Team belts. Later, Sugiura and Akiyama defeated Endo and Owadasan. During the match, YOSHITATSU and Owadasan told Endo to hit Akiyama with a chair but a conflicted Endo decided not to use it, which in the end allowed Akiyama to recover and win the match. Is this the first problem among the members of TEAM 2000X? Fortunately, at the Main Event, OZAWA defeated Kenta to retain the GHC Heavyweight title. Kenta almost won the match but Daga made the save and pulled the referee outside the ring during a 2.99 count. At the same show, Kiyomiya defeated Marufuji in a special anniversary match where NOAH featured their former Ace, known as “The Genius of the Ark,” and their current Ace. So, after the Main Event, Kiyomiya challenged OZAWA to a title match. He received mix reaction but majority was still boos for him. He even apologized to the audience but OZAWA helped him midway and accepted the challenge.

 

 

In the preview of that match, Kiyomiya has been showing a more aggressive side of himself. He’s showing some kind of psycho personality. Being very aggressive but laughing and being cheerful at the same time. OZAWA added to their championship match that if Kiyomiya loses he has to leave NOAH and if he wants to return he has to join TEAM 2000X. Kiyomiya has been the complete opposite of what OZAWA represents but suddenly he’s showing something that we have not seen before. Is he going to accept his dark side? Or will he stay on the path of light and save the Ark from OZAWA?

The real rebellion started with TEAM 2000X. They won many Championships and many important matches their way, disrupting how NOAH was operating so far. They have shocked the system. They have done a real rebellion in NOAH. It’s almost as if the Ark was in this kind of beautiful anarchy with Championships changing of hand by desire, refusing to acknowledge the office decisions, relinquishing titles minutes after winning them, mocking their seniors which is something culturally unthinkable in Japan. But there are also losses and changes of heart. They lost Omos, they have a conflicted Tetsuya Endo, we don’t what’s going to happen with Jack Morris, Daga or Owadasan. But, as long as OZAWA keeps the crown and remains at the top of the Ark, everything should be fine. Or at least this fun chaos will continue.

 

 

By
Features, NOAH

Written by:

Born and raised in Lima, Peru. I have live some periods of my life in New Hampshire, USA and in Madrid, Spain. I'm a Master in Cultural Management and also a Graduate in Audiovisual Communication. I'm the Interview Coordinator for Planeta Wrestling in Europe and Latin America. Also, I'm a Collaborator for Lucha Libre Online, the biggest Spanish Speaking Media Outlet. I have been watching pro wrestling since I'm 3 years old. I have over 10 years of experience covering professional wrestling all around the world, and over 8 years of experience covering sports and entertainment. I have done over 100 interview with talent from all around the world, especially from Japan, England and Spain. Some of my exclusive interviews: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Naomichi Marufuji, NOZAWA Rongai, Zack Sabre Jr., Takumi Iroha, Mina Shirakawa, Utami Hayashishita, Syuri, Miyu Yamashita, Miu Watanabe, El Phantasmo, Francesco Akira, Kaito Kiyomiya, El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Hiromu Takahashi, DOUKI, Mascara Dorada, Galeno del Mal.