I don’t keep lists of matches I’ve watched or shows I’ve enjoyed. My list of favourite wrestlers is currently 30+ and growing. I can’t remember what I watched last week, or what I’ve planned to watch tomorrow. Not surprisingly, all of this makes me amazingly underprepared for writing any kind of end of year ranking or summary. Yet here we are.
Despite all that, I do remember the exhilaration I felt when Kotoge slapped Jun Akiyama across the face in a packed Korakuen Hall. And I remember holding back tears when Shiozaki and Akitoshi Saito’s first singles match for four years was nearing the 29 minute mark. And I definitely remember the overwhelming surge of pride I felt when I saw Osaka boys Kikuchi and Harutoki get their first shot at impressing an audience of NOAH fans. It’s moments like these, moments of both expected and unexpected emotional weight, that come to mind when I think about wrestling, and it’s these specific moments, all from NOAH’s sub-brand of LIMIT BREAK, that came to mind when I thought about wrestling this year.
I can’t tell you that LIMIT BREAK was the best wrestling to happen in 2024 (it might be, I just can’t exactly remember what I’m comparing it to) but I can tell you that it meant something to me. Over ten shows, LIMIT BREAK managed to not only be the most consistently positive experience I had from almost every promotion (shout out Osaka Pro, still my number one happy place) but it also directly addressed many of my frustrations of recent years with the main NOAH product, and with wrestling more broadly. It gave me hope.
So, while I can’t give you a comprehensive review of 2024, I offer you something else – five things I learned from LIMIT BREAK in 2024 and what hope they gave me for wrestling in 2025 and beyond.
1. The kids are alright
Kazuyuki Fujita & Yu Owada vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Yoshi Tatsu, 28.09.24
By the time Yu Owada made it to September’s LIMIT BREAK show, he’d already been beaten by Shuji Ishikawa, Yoshi Tatsu, Daisuke Sekimoto, MAZADA and Jun Akiyama. It would not be unreasonable to subtitle LIMIT BREAK, ‘the trials of Yu Owada’. He’d run a painful old man gauntlet (and whatever Yoshi Tatsu was bringing) that would have destroyed many a rookie’s resolve. But he didn’t break. This meeting, ostensibly an excuse for two large and scary men to bump chests, turned into a demonstration of Owada’s considerable resolve in the face of overwhelming odds – Owada would not break. Nothing Yoshi Tatsu could throw at him was enough as Owada’s shoulders appeared actively repelled by the mat. An attempt to lift Shuji Ishikawa may have been ill advised but earned him the support of nearly the whole building. The last 3 minutes of this match, with Owada not only refusing to go down but threatening to actually achieve the unthinkable, had the Yokohama crowd screaming his name repeatedly (I should know, I was one of the ones screaming). As time expired with Owada still not pinned, we got a brief glimpse of a NOAH hero in the making.
NOAH has, like most companies in recent years, been criticised for its handling (or mishandling) of its young talents. Notwithstanding Yoshiki Inamura’s move to NXT, however temporary or not, this year has felt like the turning of a corner. Yu Owada and the opportunities he has had to prove himself have given me hope that the next generation of NOAH-born wrestlers will have an opportunity to make their mark in a meaningful way.
Outside of this match specifically, LIMIT BREAK also showcased NOAH’s Kai Fujimura, Rukiya and Koroku of DDT; Kikuchi and Harutoki of Dotonbori Pro; Junya Matsunaga, Takumi Saito and Satsuki Nagao of ZERO1; Ren Ayabe, now of All Japan; and Genta Yubari of JTO, with all making strong impressions. Owada will not be short of competition and rivals. Historically, NOAH had its sub-brand SEM to explore working with outside talent, or tournament formats like the Junior Tag League, but this has been lacking in recent years. The opening up of similar opportunities through sub-brands like LIMIT BREAK is a promising sign. Even more promising is the fact that the spots provided to outside younger talent are seemingly meaningful – two of those on the above list have got a title shot from Go Shiozaki, three now have homes in NOAH factions. If this is what opportunities for young talent can look like in NOAH, then things might just be alright.
2. (We can) Find a way
Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Ren Ayabe, 20.03.24
One of my personal highlights in AJPW this year (and there have been many) is the blossoming of Ren Ayabe. Watching the tall boy go from trying to shrink into his own shoulders to smirking and casually patting Kento Miyahara on the head has been an unexpected delight. With any luck, 2025 will be the year we see Ayabe join in with the Hondance and level up yet again. At the point of this match though, we didn’t know any of this was possible. Ayabe wasn’t even a formal member of AJPW and Shuji Ishikawa had left the company at the end of January. This was just one man and his wrestling ‘son’, taking on a team that had won the GHC Tag Team Championship twice, albeit last over a decade ago.
It will shock no-one that Ayabe has a hard time in this match. He’s the youngest, an outsider in a NOAH crowd, facing a nostalgic team reunited across company lines. Yet he faces Akiyama and Saito with a determination that gives a hint of what we will see from him over 2024 and hopefully beyond. It certainly helps that Shuji is right behind him, literally pushing him at a grumpy Akiyama like a proud stage parent. The other three are doing what they do best at this stage in their careers – demonstrating that they are very much still to be feared and respected, and being positively offended by a weak forearm. The match exudes pride – the pride of youth, of a trainer, of an established performer, of those who will not back down.
I enjoyed this match the first time around, but it’s even better in retrospect. On each side of the ring we have wrestlers who are connected but have taken different paths as they grow in their lives and careers. Ten days after this, Ayabe was announced as joining All Japan. Three months later, Saito announced his retirement. This particular match won’t happen again. But, amidst the chaos and change of the wrestling business, it’s reassuring to see that old connections can be rekindled, new opportunities can develop, and that, even if we don’t yet know what it will look like, we can find a way forward to something positive.
3. Make it mean something
Atsushi Kotoge & Black Mensore & Yuto Kikuchi vs Tetsuya Endo & Yuki Iino & Yuya Koraku, 19.06.24
On the surface, this looks like it might just be a really fun time – you have Kotoge on the same side as his grumpy-looking former student Kikuchi, you have a Burning team that has excelled as tag champions, you have two younger wrestlers out to prove something, you have the man who we don’t yet know as Cristobal…Rest assured, it is a really fun time. It’s also an example of what I think collaboration between two companies looks like when done really, really well.
Collaborations and crossovers brought me both delight and disappointment in 2024 (Alejandro and Kaito as Twin Gate Champions – great, Dragon Dia’s BOSJ record – not so great). My disappointment was often because I felt like depth was lacking somewhere. In part, I think that this comes from the fact that collaborations can have major power imbalances that make results inevitable or the level of investment uneven, and that is a hard thing to manage and still present something that fits my idea of compelling wrestling. The collaboration between DDT and LIMIT BREAK however, has always felt compelling to me because the outcomes were not predictable and matches drew on stories both within and beyond LIMIT BREAK. It was not just one side telling their story. When NOAH and DDT wrestlers met in the ring, it felt like there were real stakes, and not business-related ones.
This match, in particular, hit a nerve for me because it was one match in a series of matches that culminated in Go Shiozaki & Atsushi Kotoge vs. Tetsuya Endo & Yuki Iino for DDT’s KO-D Tag Team Championships at Wrestle Peter Pan. That match, one of my favourite of the year, was a resolution to storylines that had been simmering for over two years. The original clash between NOAH and DDT’s Burning had been cut short at Cyberfight 2022 by an unfortunate incident that saw Katsuhiko Nakajima knock out Tetsuya Endo during an interpromotional match. The journey from that slap has been a long one, particularly for Endo. If you haven’t read Sarah Kurchak’s brilliant breakdown of Endo’s journey from that moment, please do allow yourself that joy, we’ll wait (and subscribe, trust me).
However, Endo wasn’t the only participant in that match looking to redeem himself from a Nakajima slap. Despite them being teammates, Atsushi Kotoge had himself almost been knocked out by a Nakajima slap during the Cyberfight press conference. In the build-up to the show, DDT and even NOAH wrestlers had made a point of commenting on Kotoge’s weakness as a competitor and questioned his right to be in such an important match – special shout out to Daisuke Sasaki for equating Kotoge with a zombie. Kotoge never got a chance to prove them wrong, specifically Jun Akiyama, who had been especially cutting in his comments about Kotoge’s talents.
From the very first limit LIMIT BREAK, where Shiozaki and Kotoge faced Akiyama and Yuji Nagata, Kotoge was out to secure his redemption with an aggression and confidence that led to him being the hero of the crowd at LIMIT BREAK shows. Kotoge did not win over Akiyama then or in a singles match (alas, his heroism rarely produces such results) but he did prove himself to be no zombie. This was followed by Burning members establishing themselves as regulars on LIMIT BREAK shows and Kotoge even having a match in DDT. By the time we got to this match in June, both DDT and NOAH had laid the groundwork for a meaningfully clash between the Burning and Team NOAH members.
This match is part of a path to resolution through its rekindling of the heat between a NOAH team (and Kotoge specifically) and a Burning unit that now has Endo at its head. NOAH fans were reminded that NOAH has unfinished business with Endo and Iino and the connections made allowed for Kotoge, and later Shiozaki, to take on some of the position of representing Nakajima in the eventual match at Peter Pan. The exchanges between Kotoge and Endo in this match, knocking each other off the apron seemingly unprovoked, are both thrilling and slightly hilarious. This isn’t a match that takes itself too seriously – we do get at least one chant of ‘sha’, of course – but the continued aggression between Endo, Iino and Kotoge makes it clear that their story isn’t over, while allowing plenty of scope for the younger generation to get their moments of glory. It works within the confines of the match and it works for longer individual and faction-based stories. It is meaningful for both sides. Whether you came to this a DDT fan, a NOAH fan, or both, there is something for you here. With blueprints like this for future collaboration, perhaps 2025’s crossovers can offer more delight than disappointment.
4. There’s a place for us
Go Shiozaki vs. Harutoki, 20.10.24
LIMIT BREAK is not the only NOAH sub-brand currently active. We also have the chaos of Monday Magic and the seemingly revived N-Innovation junior brand. This has also been the year that Prime Zone returned for Dragongate as Prime Zone Plus, we have ongoing Buyuden Zero shows, All Japan has run New Age Chronicle-Z enough to establish an identity, and produce shows like Sarees-ISM, Baka Gaijin, and the Fighting Detectives have been established as more than one-offs. All of which is to say that somewhere in Japan, the wrestling you like probably exists, and it’s (mostly) more accessible than ever. LIMIT BREAK is the kind of wrestling I like. It makes use of NOAH’s brand of hard-hitting clashes and weighty personal relationships, blended with less well-known talents mixed up in unexpected combinations, and more than a sprinkling of old-man violence. Its leading team are Go Shiozaki and Atsushi Kotoge. They bring in young wrestlers from Osaka. It is for me. And almost no match was more for me than this one.
Go Shiozaki is NOAH. No other claims to his catchphrase, no match result, or passing of time can change his importance in NOAH’s history or his relevance to its future. However, he is no longer NOAH’s ace or central figure. His injuries have taken him out of NOAH at key times in recent years and, as NOAH changes around him and sometimes without him, he is transitioning to a different role. When LIMIT BREAK began in February 2024, Shiozaki’s position in NOAH seemed painfully unclear. Although he was the winner of the 2023 N1 Victory Tournament, he had since lost two title challenges in three months and also a tag partner in Katsuhiko Nakajima. Where was there to go from here? The name of the first LIMIT BREAK show, ‘starting over’, seemed entirely appropriate for his position. Some of the story of LIMIT BREAK is the story of Go Shiozaki, and of the team he has created. LIMIT BREAK has offered Shiozaki a new role as gatekeeper and steward for the ambitions of a new generation.
Harutoki is that new generation. He’s also a fan of NOAH, and of Go Shiozaki specifically, as he clearly showed by booting his idol in the face in September. Importantly for me, he is also a boy from Osaka, one of the Hirano Young Guns and futures of Kansai wrestling that have captured my attention and full support in 2024. In short, that’s my guy. Harutoki, like Yuuto Kikuchi, spent younger years as an attendee at Osaka Pro’s kids classes sometimes led by Tadasuke and Kotoge, and trained in Tigre Gym alongside HAYATA, then of Dove Pro Wrestling. Inspired by Osaka Pro Japanese luchador Tsubasa, Harutoki ultimately chose to train and make his debut in Mexico. He later joined Kikuchi in Dotonbori Pro, holding the WDW tag titles with him twice, with a further recent reign with Kouki Iwasaki, and was WDW Champion in only his 5th year since his Mexican debut. A lot more could be said about Harutoki’s story and achievements but my point is that he was not, before LIMIT BREAK, someone I expected to show up at a NOAH show and definitely not someone I expected to show up, pin Go Shiozaki, and then challenge him to a title match.
And this is a title match. The match itself feels important. For both men, it is a struggle for dominance that lasts over 20 minutes but somehow continues to escalate throughout. Despite Harutoki’s relative inexperience, and the fact that victory over someone as powerful and stubborn as Go Shiozaki seems unfeasible, there is real tension. Somehow between the two of them, they create a small space for hope and possibilities. It isn’t groundbreaking. That isn’t the point, not of this match or of LIMIT BREAK. A lot of LIMIT BREAK’s strengths are in the old-school flavour of violence and youth vs experience struggles that are present in this match. This is about Harutoki passing a test; he can match Go Shiozaki for 20 minutes. It’s not enough to win but it’s more than enough to succeed.
Beyond simply being a match with wrestlers I adore, this match is a showcase of potential – for Harutoki certainly, but also of Shiozaki’s potential as a terrifying veteran and guide to what it means to be NOAH. It is a refuge, a space for possibilities, and also a bridge from one NOAH to a new one, enhanced by new and revived interactions. LIMIT BREAK is a space where a relatively unknown but ambitious traveller can challenge a prince currently lost in his own kingdom, for a Championship with no certain future. Things can exist and be meaningful that elsewhere are uncertain.
There are times when I get tired of wrestling. I got tired in 2024. LIMIT BREAK reminded me that wrestling is continually creating, whether new stories or new connections, and that it is possible to fall in love with something all over again, if there is a place for it.
5. Legends never die
Akitoshi Saito vs. Go Shiozaki (ZERO1 World Heavyweight Championship Match), 29.05.24
This match is not the culmination of the Shiozaki and Saito story – that came two months later when Shiozaki beat Saito for his title at NOAH’s Destination show. Nor is it the culmination of the Saito and NOAH story – that came at Saito’s retirement show, Deathtiny, in November. Neither of those later developments diminish its importance. At the point of this match we didn’t know Akitoshi Saito was going to retire. All we knew is that Saito had been having an incredible run as ZERO1 champion that defied his age, and that, for only the third time, Saito and Shiozaki were going to face each other in a singles match.
Akitoshi Saito and Go Shiozaki are linked by history, by tragedy and by a legacy that is not theirs but which they carry anyway. In 2009, Saito and Bison Smith faced Shiozaki and Mitsuharu Misawa. In that match, Saito delivered a backdrop that Misawa did not get up from. Both Shiozaki, as Misawa’s partner, and Saito, as his opponent, carry part of the weight of that match and of Misawa’s legacy. Saito made a choice to continue wrestling and to live with the consequences of doing so. For his entire career since then Saito has carried with him a letter Misawa wrote two years before his death, to be given to his opponent in the event he died in the ring, seemingly to encourage them. Amongst other things, the letter makes the point that ‘sometimes things happen in the ring, despite your wishes’. Inevitably, when Saito and Shiozaki wrestle, Misawa’s legacy is also there. This match was one way of honoring that legacy; with the anniversary of Misawa’s death approaching in June, Saito had chosen Shiozaki as his challenger.
Saito and Shiozaki are also linked by choice. They were tag champions together and now teammates in Team NOAH. Both carry a strong sense of Misawa’s NOAH and pride in what it means to represent the company. In this match, for a ZERO1 championship, they also have something to prove together – that a match between outsiders for the belt can be worthy of it.
Their last matches were at times of uncertainty for NOAH, soon after Misawa’s death in 2009 and during the pandemic without an audience. This time, they are on more solid ground. The match is an impressive struggle, a test of will and of strength, with neither man willing to back down even a little bit. They push themselves and each other in ways they perhaps should not but cannot be convinced otherwise. The match goes to a time limit draw, something made especially tense by the fact that Shiozaki won in the 29th minute of their previous meeting. This match is different though – for the first time ever in the 34th year of his career, Akitoshi Saito is the one who leaves the ring as Champion. It feels like a little bit of closure. Maybe for Saito it was.
He faced Shiozaki four more times. Firstly in July, losing the belt and announcing his retirement, then in tag matches along his retirement road. Those moments had a finality to them that was not yet present in this match but for all of them, there was something special communicated between the two of them and to the audience, something that only the two of them can create. Their abilities to continue to create magic that is their own and also continues Misawa’s legacy, long beyond when some commentators have written them off for being apparently unable to physically ‘perform’ what supposedly has built their legends, is a helpful antidote to the practice of weighing up a wrestler’s value by their supposed physical capacities. There is joy and meaning here that isn’t just about the past. For me, that links to another message; Go Shiozaki is going to be okay. Team NOAH is a unit of legends, but that isn’t all about being in the past. It is also about continuing those legends and continuing to connect to them, to build on them. Just as Saito’s ZERO1 Championship reign showed that his legend was not done in 2024, neither is Shiozaki’s, and through both of them, neither is Misawa’s.
These weren’t the only things I learned from LIMIT BREAK. I learned that Kotoge can still be the hero of Korakuen Hall, even without a cape. I learned that I’m not alone in adoring Kikuchi’s swagger. I learned that I still love a time-limit draw and that LIMIT BREAK knows how to do them perfectly. I learned that I will cry in public (with happiness) if Harutoki boots Go Shiozaki in the face less than 3-feet from my seat (okay I probably knew that one, it just hadn’t been tested). I learned that there are few limits on hope and it’s possible to find it under the bright lights of Radiant Hall.
Happy New Year.
All images taken by me at the LIMIT BREAK 28th September show in Yokohama Radiant Hall