Jake Lee: The Man Who Found His Own Value

A Paradigm Shift in Pro-Wrestling NOAH

By: R. Faliani

Jake Lee’s GHC Heavyweight Championship match against Kaito Kiyomiya was truly a great bout, but the shocking ending was everything people were talking about. If we see the last batch of GHC champions there have been few that have been what we could consider outsiders and had a real impact in Pro-Wrestling NOAH as a whole. The last two being Satoshi Kojima and Minoru Suzuki, wrestlers that have a legacy that can’t be erased by any means, wrestlers that came to NOAH and played their own game with their own rules.

🗣 3/24 Akita @noah_katsuhiko: “Jake Lee, who has just arrived, will take the helm of NOAH? That's impossible.”#noah_ghcpic.twitter.com/sPiD75D5r6

— Pro Wrestling NOAH Global (@noahglobal) March 24, 2023

If we consider Lee is a 34 year old Triple Crown Champion and GHC Heavyweight Champion, we can see there’s a promising future for what AJPW considered a “B+ Player”, and the implications it has for not only the GHC title scene but for pro-wrestling as a whole. The story of Lee can be inspiring for other wrestlers from other promotions that feel they are not at their full potential in the place they’re working.

There’s a lot of companies that have top tier talent at their disposal but the nature of the business doesn’t allow these talents to shine under the brightest lights. Lee’s victory against Kaito Kiyomiya is a paradigm shift for pro-wrestling, an statement that you can have success at other places and can be rewarded. But in NOAH, Lee’s victory can be understood as a refreshing change of pace.

A Refreshing Scene

If we see the list of GHC champions in the last three years, we can see there’s connections with all the former champions. That’s not bad by any means, but it shows you there has been a line that NOAH followed to choose their top guys. It all started with Go Shiozaki in 2020, and it kept going until Kiyomiya lost the belt. Now we’re seeing Lee breaking NOAH’s dichotomy by beating Nakajima and facing Marufuji. Lee’s faction, Good Looking Guys, is recently formed group with an interesting cast that expands NOAH’s bubble and it allows them to create and bet on many wrestlers that have not been able to found success in their respective areas.

With all of this combined we see there’s a new title scene and there’s new contenders rising that want to take Lee’s crown. We also see a confident champion, that knows his value and understands the importance of the championship he’s carrying and the rivals he’s set to have, that have been former champions or have tried to reach the top of the mountain. Lee’s title reign allows NOAH to change said dichotomy and explore in the sea of wrestlers they have at their disposal. It’s not only Kiyomiya and KENOH, but a list of great wrestlers that just need a second chance or need a moment to write their names in history.

The Land of The Outsiders

Lee, as mentioned before, is a former Triple Crown champion, the main title in All Japan Pro Wrestling. To understand the current Lee we need to see who he was before arriving in NOAH. In AJPW there were two wrestlers that carried the Triple Crown in their backs, one of them was the undisputed Ace Kento Miyahara and the other was Lee himself.

But there was a difference in their championship reigns. Lee never had the chance to have a long reign unlike Miyahara. Lee never had the chance to show his true potential in AJPW, and despite him being an AJPW homegrown talent it seems AJPW never understood what they had in their hands. Miyahara made everything for Lee to shine at not only their matches but at their 7 year long feud that was the highlight of modern AJPW, but at the end of the day he was not the one making choices.

Now, AJPW is in a complex situation, with almost all of their champions being outsiders. It’s interesting to analyze the fact that an AJPW homegrown talent is currently the outsider in NOAH, but AJPW seems to be the land of the outsiders. We can say Lee is the only AJPW homegrown talent that is currently being rewarded, and of course that has a lot of implications. AJPW’s talent could see Lee’s success and could venture into new experiences for them to drown in the same glory as Lee. With this we’re not saying AJPW’s young and hungry talent should jump to NOAH or any other promotion, but history tends to repeat itself and AJPW already suffered an exodus in the 2000s, so the idea of a new one is not so far from reality. Lee’s success is proof that many wrestlers can and will be rewarded in other companies that can appreciate them for who they are, and this is not the only case in the long story of this sport.

Finding Your Own Value

Puroresu has a long winded story with wrestlers leaving companies and finding bigger and better opportunities for them to shine. We have seen this with wrestlers like Kota Ibushi, Katsuyori Shibata, Minoru Suzuki and Genichiro Tenryu. Lee is a man that found his own value and is now in this list of legends that didn’t felt in the right place and went on to change their own careers. Lee forged his own path to the Global Honored Crown, just like many wrestlers forged their own path for their respective goals. And of course, the question arises: Should other wrestlers follow Lee’s philosophy and change their own careers? This is a question we can’t answer, but history can and will do it.

#ThrowbackThursday

When our founder, the late great, Mitsuharu Misawa led an exodus from his then promotion All Japan to found Pro Wrestling NOAH.

This is the iconic inaugural roster picture outside Differ Ariake. #noah_ghc pic.twitter.com/WhUjCdK5en

— Pro Wrestling NOAH Global (@noahglobal) January 27, 2022

History tends to repeat itself, and we are seeing a deja-vu of something that happened before. Lee’s GHC title reign is history in the making and it’s obviously something that writes a new rule for pro-wrestlers to follow, and that’s finding your own value at the place you know is going to reward you. Lee was a transitional Triple Crown champion months ago, and now we’re seeing the same Lee beating NOAH’s top star and taking the crown off of his head. We’re seeing Lee playing a game we know, and as wrestlers keep becoming freelancers and keep seeing benefits from doing so, we just need to wait and see who’s going to be the next one to step up to the plate, sign for a big company and dominate the whole scene.

For now, we will witness Lee’s stellar future in real time. What happens now it’s only on his hands, but make no mistake about it, he already wrote his name in history as the outsider that decided to change things for the better and take the prize he deserved.

No matter what the future holds, Lee is already in this list of legends that forged their own path and followed their own set of rules. Lee is the outsider that carries the crown and the solid proof success can be found at any place that’s willing to bet on you as the true star you are. Lee’s story is a lesson that many wrestlers can learn and try to use for their respective careers. As pro-wrestling keeps evolving there’s a need for new stars to shine and bring the best out of everyone. Lee is that star now, but we’re sure there’s thousands of wrestlers that can make their own path. Stars that can be as bright as a supernova.