"Talking like Kenoh"

A phrase coined by Yoshinari Ogawa in an interview with STINGER in "Weekly Pro" in 2022, when he and Chris Ridgeway teased HAYATA that as he was speaking he would start "talking like Kenoh". This means to talk in long sentences for a long time, and usually in an angry shouting manner using different tones of voice and swear words. 

"Dokan"

TADASUKE: But let me say it plain and simply, one person is angry and the other one is just oh, what is "Dokan?" Hey! Tell me! What is "Dokan"? I won't go home until I hear the answer!

HARADA: Dokan! It's "Dokan!" Do you understand?

TADASUKE: So what is "Dokan"

HARADA: "Dokan!" Nothing more, nothing less! "Dokan" is "Dokan!"

TADASUKE: So what is "Dokan"? 

HARADA: How many times do I have to say it? "Dokan" is "Dokan"! Remember that!

TADASUKE: Ha! Ha! Ha! "Dokan", don't say it then if you don't have a punchline! Blowing up by yourself!

"Dokan" is an onomatopoeia word that is/was used by Daisuke Harada. It doesn't have a direct equivalent in English but the word itself indicates the sound of an explosion i.e. a volcano, a firework. Harada (as he is from Osaka) uses the Kansai pronunciation, whereas the word can be pronounced differently elsewhere in Japan (for example in Nagasaki it is "Donpo", in Kumamoto "Donkacho"), so the best way to put it would be "kaboom", "boom" etc. Additionally Harada will also sometimes add on "Hana..dokan", which can probably be best put as shower of sparks.  

"Warring States Period"

Phrase used by YO-HEY (and I think also Daisuke Harada) to describe the chaotic war going on in the Noah Juniors for most of 2020 and 2021. This refers to the period of ancient Chinese warfare characterized by seven warring states constantly attacking each other, switching sides and then betraying each other etc, and plunging the country (as it was then before China was unified) into chaos. 

"100 Wrestler"

Phrase first used by The Sugiura Army (probably Takashi Sugiura), to describe Kenoh. While there is no direct equivalent of the saying in English, it can be likened to mean something uniform, alike and featureless and no different from the rest i.e. peas in a pod, a packet of office biro, a pile of plastic boxes. 

HAYATA used the phrase, "Next...100 wrestlers", against Haoh and Nioh when they challenged STINGER for the GHC Junior Heavyweight titles. 

"Good Fight Man"

"Good Fight Man" basically means someone who is always trying to succeed, but for various reasons cannot. Although the term was also used for Jumbo Tsuruta, it was also the nickname of sumo wrestler, Kurama Tatsuya, who could not win even though he was on par with superior wrestlers. The term is also applied to job hunters who fail the final interview; so in short it is someone who often fails the final hurdle. In Noah the term has been applied to Yoshiki Inamura, and Shuhei Taniguchi by Takashi Sugiura. 

"Brum Brum"\"Bun Bun"

"Bun Bun" or "Brum Brum" is the sound of a motorbike revving that petrolhead Atsushi Kotoge from FULL THROTTLE uses. In Japanese onomatopoeic sound the word is pronounced and translated as "Bun Bun", but in English "Bun Bun" is slang for the word "Bunny", so it becomes "Brum Brum". 

The differences in spelling come from Western Roman and the Japanese Katakana alphabet, the Japanese have a "ru" and "n" sounds, but they do not have an "br", so the word changes to "bun bun" (on a personal note my favorite is "Do-den-ka-sha", which is the sound a train makes when travelling along tracks). 

"Engine Zenkai"

エンジン全開 ("Enjin Zenkai") is a phrase used by Atsushi Kotoge to describe both FULL THROTTLE (Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara & Seiki Yoshioka) and their special move of the three of them holding an opponent throat down on the bottom rope, with one applying pressure from the back and the other two side by side with their feet. 

In English the equivalent of "Engine open" would be "engines charged" or "engines firing" (to say an "Engine was open" in English would kind of roughly mean that the bonnet\hood would be open and it could be inspected). 

Atsushi Kotoge is a big motorcycle fan, having grown up around bikes in Osaka as his parents ran a bike repair store, and so it is natural that his obsession with them continues into the ring, as you can see from the picture above which was taken for a programme filmed in Kawasaki that they will be doing (picture credit, Noah.co.jp)

TEEN'S HEAVEN

TEEN'S HEAVEN are a idol group which consists of three girls, Usagi Sekine, Ayame Ishihara and Yui Fujisawa (pictured above with Naomichi Marufuji in June 2020). The relationship between the band and Noah works both ways, Noah want to reach out to people who wouldn't normally watch wrestling, and TEEN'S HEAVEN want to reach out to people who wouldn't normally listen to their music. 

Their association with Noah came in early 2020, when they filmed a video for an upcoming song they were releasing, "LITTLE HERO IN YOUR HEART", at the Noah dojo. Naomichi Marufuji and Kinya Okada appeared in the video, with Naomichi Marufuji appearing at the CD launch event.

The girls look to be making more appearances in Noah, and are scheduled to appear in July 2020 at "NOAH The Sanctuary" at Club Citta. 

"Era Wrestler"

Background

The Japanese give regnal eras to each Emperors reign, so the Showa Era ("Enlightened Peace" or "Radiant Japan") was the reign of Emperor Hirohito from December 1926 to January 1989. Any wrestler who trained and was active during this era, is known as a "Showa-Era Wrestler".

The Showa Era was followed by the Heisei Era (8th January 1989 - 30th April 2019). At the time of writing, Japan is currently in the Reiwa Era (1st May 2019 onwards).

Wrestling terms 

"Showa Era Wrestler"
Masa Kitamiya is often referred to as wrestling "Showa Era" style, although he himself trained during the Heisei Era. To wrestle "Showa Era" style means that his style is reminiscent of an older time in wrestling, the more classical style that belonged to his senior, Masa Saito, which would not have looked out of place in the Giant Baba era of All Japan.

The majority of Noah are Heisei Era wrestlers, while the trainees in the dojo will be Reiwa era wrestlers. Each era is marked by its own style; Showa Era encompass the veterans, Heisei era are the current product, with Reiwa in Noah yet to be seen, but I would imagine that with a varied mix of teachers, they will encompass both styles while bringing their own in.

Trivia

Although Masa Kitamiya is the "Showa Era" style wrestler, he never actually wrestled in the Showa Era, having been born in 1988 the year before Hirohito died. However, Yoshinari Ogawa has wrestled in all three eras having debuted in All Japan in 1985 (Showa), where he remained until 2000 (Heisei) and is still active there in 2020 (Reiwa).

One day manager

Each month Mohammed Yone has a member of the Noah roster come to his restaurant to serve drinks and food to fans. The events are always on a reserved basis with limited capacity, and the restaurant closes for the evening. As well as serving drinks and food, the wrestler will usually put his own spin on it i.e. Akitoshi Saito mixed his own drinks, and Hajime Ohara cooked the evenings food. The evening will usually finish off with an auction of wrestlers personal items, an autograph session and a chance for photos.

"The Yone Women" (aka "The Tadasuke women")

"The Yone Women" consist of Mohammed Yone's mother, some other relatives, and local women who always come to see Noah when they come to Shinyuri Twenty One Hall, Kawasaki. The women are basically Yone's cheering squad, and they hiss and boo his opponents. They were so loud in February 2020 that Yone was worried that they were disturbing other fans.

They are also known as "The Tadasuke Women" as they seem to have taken him to their hearts after a show in 2018 when Tadasuke played up to them after beating up Minoru Tanaka, and showed them how tough he was by a muscle gesture. Like Yone they cheer him when he does well, and boo his opponents. 

Trivia

~ In 2018 Minoru Tanaka sprained his ankle when fighting Tadasuke near them, it was him who coined the phrase "The Tadasuke Women". He also said that they had distracted him so much that was why he hurt his ankle.