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197-628: In January 2015, Suzuki-gun, through a partnership between NJPW and Pro Wrestling Noah , took part in a storyline, where the stable invaded Noah, making it their primary promotion. Within two months, Suzuki-gun had captured all four of Noah's championships with Suzuki becoming the GHC Heavyweight Champion , K.E.S. the GHC Tag Team Champions , Taichi the GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion and El Desperado and Michinoku

394-409: A body scissors to immobilize them. The normal Full Nelson hold was also used by the late WWF superstar Hercules . An old catch wrestling hold made somewhat famous by Stu Hart , this variation of a nelson hold involves the wrestler applying the hold forces the opponent prone on the mat and drives their knees into the opponent's upper back. STF is short for "Stepover Toehold Facelock". This hold

591-677: A mass exodus in which 24 of AJPW's 26 contracted wrestlers left the promotion to form Noah. Noah held its first shows in August 2000, and established the Global Honored Crown as the in-house governing body for its collection of championships. Throughout its 24-year history, Noah has had working relationships with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Ring of Honor (ROH), TNA (Formerly Impact Wrestling), Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW). In January 2020,

788-402: A sleeper hold instead of pulling back on the head of the opponent. Popularised by Masahiro Chono . Essentially a reverse crucifix armbar with neck submission. The opponent is on their stomach with the attacker to their side, grabbing the near arm and pulling the opponent on their side before stepping over their head with the same leg (if the attacker grabbed the right arm, he'll step over with

985-459: A stomach vise, just like the original clawhold, the attacker applies a painful nerve hold to the adversary's abdomen, forcing them to submit or pass out. The stomach claw was most famously used by Killer Kowalski , naming it the Kowalski claw . This neck crank sees the wrestler wrap both hands around the opponent's face and pull back, which applies pressure to the neck and shoulder area. The move

1182-495: A "European headlock", due to its prominence in European wrestling. The two-handed version sees the wrestler use both hands and is sometimes referred to as a "¾ chancery", "side head chancery" and, most often, a "cravate". This hold is a staple of European style wrestling and technical wrestling influenced by European wrestling. An inverted version of the cravate is used by Chris Hero as part of his "Hangman's Clutch" submissions in which

1379-462: A "Muta lock". The wrestler first takes the opponent's legs then, bends them at the knees, and crosses them, placing one ankle in the other leg's knee-pit before then turning around so that they are facing away from the opponent and places one of their feet into the triangle created by the opponent's crossed legs. The wrestler then places the opponent's free ankle under their knee-pit and bridges backwards to reach over their head and locks their arms around

1576-441: A 75% stake in the company. This was followed the next month by the first major rebranding in company history. Pro Wrestling Noah not only changed their logo but also replaced the green mat with a white canvas. On July 26, 2019, Major League Wrestling announced a working agreement with Pro Wrestling Noah, which would include a talent-exchange agreement and content collaboration between the two promotions. On December 5, 2019, it

1773-451: A charity event co-produced by NJPW, All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and Pro Wrestling Noah, AJPW's Masayuki Kono made a one-time appearance representing Suzuki-gun. Archer and Takayama received their title shot on March 18, but were unable to dethrone the defending champions. On April 15, the recently debuted Black Tiger won the 2012 Road to the Super Jr. 2Days Tournament to earn a spot in

1970-463: A crossface, this move sees a wrestler standing above a face-down opponent. The wrestler then crosses their opponent's arms, keeping them in place with the legs before applying the crossface. The wrestler bends one of their fingers into a hook and uses it to stretch the opponent's mouth or nose. An illegal hold under usual rules. Austin Aries uses a half surfboard variation, called Fish Hook of Doom , where

2167-404: A crossface. This move can also be known by the underrepresented term coil lock in catch wrestling . This move is notably used by Axiom during his time as A-Kid. Also known as a spinning armlock. The standing attacking wrestler grabs the wrist of a face down opponent, pulling it towards themselves, then steps over the opponent's outstretched arm, placing one leg to either side. From this point,

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2364-458: A crucifix variation calling it Feel the Glow . The wrestler tucks a bent-over opponent's head in between their legs or thighs. In professional wrestling this move is used to set up powerbombs or piledrivers. A couple of variants are often to be seen. In the first, having the opponent's head tuck between the attacker's knees, the latter leaps up and releases the hold while landing, causing a whiplash on

2561-415: A face-down opponent. The wrestler reaches down to pull the opposing wrestler up slightly, sits on the opponent's back, and places both of the opponent's arms across their thighs, usually locking at least one by placing the arm in the crook of their knee. The wrestler then reaches forward, cups their hands with their fingers interlocking, grab the opponent's chin in their cupped hands, and lean back, pulling on

2758-541: A fallen opponent and places the opponent's nearest arm over the wrestler's nearest shoulder before applying the crossface, where the attacking wrestler locks their hands around the opponent's chin (or lower face), then pulls back, stretching the opponent's neck and shoulder. Former NXT wrestler Johnny Gargano uses this hold as a finishing submission move, calling it the Garga-No-Escape . Drew McIntyre briefly used it in TNA as

2955-516: A few hundred, so that all fans could sit close to the ring. Sem events usually took place in the Differ Ariake in Tokyo. No Sem events have been held since 2015. Domestic: Worldwide : Professional wrestling holds#Sleeper hold Professional wrestling holds include a number of set moves and pins used by performers to immobilize their opponents or lead to a submission . This article covers

3152-595: A heel champion in the WWF. Jinder Mahal also uses this move called the Punjabi Clutch . Miro performs a variation he calls Game Over , where he stomps on his opponent's back before applying the hold, this move was previously called The Accolade when Miro was Rusev in the WWE. A standing variation of the camel clutch is also used, with this variation popularized by Scott Steiner in the late 1990s as he used it as his finisher, dubbed

3349-515: A main event, where K.E.S. defeated Haste and Nicholls with help from El Desperado to win the GHC Tag Team Championship. Noah's March 15 event saw Suzuki-gun featured in matches for all four of the promotion's titles. In the first two, Suzuki-gun captured both of Noah's junior heavyweight titles with El Desperado and Taka Michinoku defeating Choukibou-gun 's Hajime Ohara and Kenoh and No Mercy's Daisuke Harada and Genba Hirayanagi for

3546-618: A match against Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Sakura Genesis , which Okada accepted. On April 1 at Sakura Genesis, Desperado and Kanemaru made their first successful defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team championship in a 3-way rematch against Roppongi 3K and Los ingobernables de japon. In the main event, Sabre unsuccessfully challenged Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. On April 29, at Wrestling Hinokuni, Suzuki lost

3743-538: A match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, however, without specifying who his partner would be. On August 13, Harry Smith was revealed as Archer's partner and the newest member of Suzuki-gun. Also in August, Michinoku and Taichi began blaming each other for their recent losses, which led to the two agreeing to a match, where the loser would be expelled from Suzuki-gun. The match took place on August 22 at Michinoku's Kaientai Dojo promotion, but ended without

3940-424: A match, where Makabe was victorious. On February 12 at The New Beginning , the five members of Suzuki-gun took a dominant 5–1 win over Kushida , Tiger Mask , Togi Makabe, Wataru Inoue and Yuji Nagata in a ten-man elimination tag team match, after which Archer and Takayama challenged Tencozy ( Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) to a match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship. On February 19 at All Together ,

4137-402: A match, where he successfully defended his title against Shinsuke Nakamura . Kojima continued teaming with Taichi during the following week's events, and on December 23, the two were also joined by freelancer Nosawa Rongai and Kaientai Dojo 's Taka Michinoku . On January 28, 2011, Kojima officially named the group "Kojima-gun". On February 20 at The New Beginning , the debuting MVP became

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4334-478: A member of the stable. On January 4, 2012, at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome , Suzuki received his first shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in seven years, but was defeated by Hiroshi Tanahashi in the main event of the evening. During Suzuki's chase for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Takayama momentarily took over his feud with Togi Makabe, but their rivalry also ended at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome in

4531-421: A mere second. Only to be attacked by Iizuka and the rest of Suzuki-Gun immediately afterward. Iizuka then hit Tenzan with his signature iron glove for the final time before leaving it in the ring and storming off. At the end of the event, Iizuka's iron glove would be adopted by Taichi, who then left the ring with the glove and claiming it for himself. On March 8, Archer, Sabre, Smith, Suzuki, and Taichi all entered

4728-462: A new record for most successful defenses of the GHC Tag Team Championship by making three defenses on the American independent circuit. From April 21 to May 3, three teams representing Suzuki-gun took part in the 2016 Global Tag League ; K.E.S., Benjamin and Sugiura, and Suzuki and Iizuka. Suzuki and Iizuka finished the tournament with six points and Benjamin and Sugiura with eight points, while K.E.S. won

4925-399: A physician who, in 1966, took up professional wrestling and was said to have derived the move from his knowledge of human anatomy. Under the advice of Paul Heyman and with Foley's blessing, Bray Wyatt also used the hold as part of his " The Fiend " persona. Similar to a clawhold, the attacking wrestler applies a nerve lock onto the opponent's shoulder(s) using their hands and fingers for

5122-421: A position that puts stress on the opponent's body. Stretches are usually employed to weaken an opponent or to force them to submit , either vocally or by tapping out : slapping the mat, floor, or opponent with a free hand three times. Many of these holds, when applied vigorously, stretch the opponent's muscles or twist their joints uncomfortably, hence the name. Chokes, although not in general stress positions like

5319-420: A record of five wins and one loss, while Suzuki and Benjamin were eliminated with a record of three wins and three losses, after losing to Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano in their final round-robin match. On December 8, K.E.S. was also eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals by their old rival team, Tencozy. On January 4, 2014, at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome , K.E.S. lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to

5516-407: A record of four wins and three losses. On November 23, K.E.S. regained the GHC Tag Team Championship from Naomichi Marufuji and Toru Yano. That same day, Suzuki defeated Masa Kitamiya in the final to win the 2016 Global League. Following his win, Suzuki challenged GHC Heavyweight Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima to a Loser Leaves Noah match on December 2. On December 2, Suzuki was defeated by Nakajima in

5713-696: A rematch against Bushi and Takagi. All three title matches took place on the second night of The New Beginning in Sapporo on February 3 , where all of Suzuki-Gun were defeated in their respective title matches. On January 7, 2019, NJPW Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi announced that Takashi Iizuka would retire from professional wrestling the following month in a press conference, with his retirement match taking place on February 21. During this period, Hiroyoshi Tenzan , whom Iizuka turned on in 2008, made repeated attempts to reform Iizuka back to his normal self, failing to do so each time. Despite this setback, Tenzan declared that he

5910-487: A rematch on November 12 at Power Struggle . During the same event, fellow Suzuki-gun member Taka Michinoku failed in his attempt to take the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship from Prince Devitt . Power Struggle was also the start of a relationship between Suzuki-gun and Suzuki's close friend, Pro Wrestling Noah representative Yoshihiro Takayama , who began making semi-regular NJPW appearances as

6107-620: A rematch to make his first successful defense of the GHC Heavyweight Championship. On June 9, Suzuki-gun produced their own show in Korakuen Hall , entitled We Are Suzuki-gun , where K.E.S. made their third successful defense of the NWA World Tag Team Championship against Tencozy. On June 15, Suzuki made his second successful defense of the GHC Heavyweight Championship against Maybach Taniguchi , after which he

Suzuki-gun - Misplaced Pages Continue

6304-424: A sitting opponent and wrap around one arm under the opponent's chin and lock their hands. As with a sleeper hold, this move can also be performed from a standing position. Another variation of this hold, referred to as a bridging reverse chinlock, sees the attacking wrestler crouch before a face-down opponent and wrap around one arm under the opponent's chin and lock their hands before applying a bridge. Also known as

6501-401: A six-man tag team match and Suzuki, Benjamin, Michinoku and Taichi defeated Brave (Marufuji, Kotoge, Muhammad Yone and Taiji Ishimori ) in an eight-man tag team main event. Over the next four weeks, all eight members of Suzuki-gun also worked all subsequent Noah events. The first big event of the storyline was on February 11 with a card full of matches between members of Suzuki-gun and Noah and

6698-486: A submission attempt. It is also called a Trapezius Claw due to the muscle group targeted. One variant may see the wrestler instead lock their hands on the opponent's neck. It is the finishing hold of African wrestler Shaun Koen of the Africa Wrestling Alliance . This is also known as a Nerve hold , due to its association with The Great Khali and was formerly used by Classy Freddie Blassie . Also known as

6895-467: A tag team in NJPW's junior heavyweight tag team division. Suzuki's feud with Kojima culminated on July 18 in a grudge match, where Suzuki was victorious, after which he transitioned to feuding with Togi Makabe. From late October to early November, Suzuki and Archer represented Suzuki-gun in the 2011 G1 Tag League , where they finished second in their round-robin block with four wins and one loss, advancing to

7092-559: A title match. Throughout NJPW The New Beginning tour, Suzuki-Gun would be in multiple big matches, with Sabre defeating Will Ospreay to retain the British Heavyweight Championship, Taichi losing to Kazuchika Okada in a singles match, Desperado and Kanemaru unsuccessfully challenging Roppongi 3K for the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships, and Suzuki unsuccessfully challenging Moxley for

7289-419: A winner as Minoru Suzuki interrupted the match and got the two men to make peace with each other. Harry Smith made his debut as a member of Suzuki-gun on September 7 in an eight-man tag team match, where he, Lance Archer, Minoru Suzuki and Taka Michinoku were defeated by Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Togi Makabe and Yuji Nagata via disqualification, when Michinoku's Kaientai Dojo trainee Kengo Mashimo entered

7486-422: Is bent over. The attacking wrestler tucks the opponent's head underneath their armpit and wraps their arm around the head so that the forearm is pressed against the face. From this point on the wrestler can either grab the opponent's wrist with the free hand and tucks their own head beneath the opponent's armpit and stand upright, locking in the hold, or simply throw the opponent's arm over their own shoulder and grab

7683-504: Is illegal in amateur wrestling, is often used as a submission maneuver by certain wrestlers, such as Chris Masters , as shown in the accompanying picture. Ken Patera performed a variation he called the Swinging Neckbreaker (not to be confused with the neckbreaker variation), where he would lock the hold on and lift the opponent off the ground, then spin them in the air. There is also an inverted version where instead of performing

7880-570: Is performed in a bridging position where the wrestler wraps both hands around the opponent's neck and pulls back, which applies pressure to the neck and bridges on the opponent's back for added leverage. This variation is used as a submission finisher by Sasha Banks as the Bank Statement and by Taka Michinoku as the Just Facelock . Used by Chris Benoit as the Crippler Crossface ; in

8077-499: Is performed in several ways, usually from a prone position involving the wrestler trapping one of the opponent's arms. Chris Benoit 's Crippler Crossface was a variation that involved the arm trap. Bobby Roode used the same move in TNA , but not in the WWE since 2016. Edge 's variation is where he used a metal bar on the opponent's mouth as the Glasgow Grin . A variation is performed from

Suzuki-gun - Misplaced Pages Continue

8274-473: Is performed on an opponent who is lying face down on the mat. The wrestler grabs one of the opponent's legs and places the opponent's ankle between their thighs. The wrestler then lies on top of the opponent's back and locks their arms around the opponent's head. The wrestler then pulls back, stretching the opponent's back, neck, and knee. The move was popularised by Lou Thesz , albeit it is a traditional catch wrestling move pre-dating Lou Thesz by many decades; it

8471-417: Is purported to cause intense, legitimate pain. The hold is applied when the aggressor places their middle and ring fingers into the opponent's mouth, sliding them under the tongue and jabbing into the soft tissue found at the bottom of the mouth. The thumb (and sometimes palm) of the same hand is placed under the jaw, and pressure is applied downward by the middle and ring fingers while the thumb/palm forces

8668-468: Is something that Giant Baba had forbid. Noah also features a strong junior heavyweight division, which was something that AJPW had been relatively lacking in the 1990s due to lack of pushes for the younger stars (such as Yoshinobu Kanemaru , Kenta and Naomichi Marufuji , who quickly became Noah's junior aces). October 12, 2007 Baseball Magazine Sha, the publisher of Puroresu Shukan released Noah trading cards . The Wrestling Observer named Noah as

8865-541: The Gotch-Style Piledriver , his stablemates attacked everyone who tried to enter the ring to stop him, including new GHC Tag Team Champions TMDK and GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Atsushi Kotoge . The members of Suzuki-gun made their Noah in-ring debuts at the January 12 event, where El Desperado defeated Hitoshi Kumano in a singles match, Archer, Iizuka and Smith defeated TMDK (Nicholls, Haste and Jonah Rock) in

9062-550: The 2012 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. After his win, Michinoku and Taichi welcomed Black Tiger to Suzuki-gun, while also hinting that the man under the mask was a former associate of Minoru Suzuki. On May 23, Kazushige Nosawa, a former member of Kojima-gun and Suzuki's prior stable Suzuki Gundan, was arrested under suspicion of smuggling marijuana from Mexico to Japan. Though all charges against Nosawa were later dropped, NJPW immediately acknowledged that he had been portraying

9259-406: The 2015 Global Junior Heavyweight League , wrestling in separate blocks. Although both managed to secure early wins, losses on the final day of the tournament prevented them from making it to the final. The winner, Daisuke Harada, issued a challenge to Taichi afterwards. On September 19, after Suzuki had made his fourth successful defense of the GHC Heavyweight Championship against Takashi Sugiura, he

9456-424: The 2015 Global League . In block A, Archer and Smith both finished their tournament with a record of three wins and four losses with Smith winning the head-to-head match between the K.E.S. members. In block B, Iizuka finished with a record six losses and one draw, wrestled against Suzuki on the final day, which eliminated Suzuki from advancing to the final with a record of five wins and two draws. Instead, Benjamin won

9653-636: The Batista Bite and PAC uses this as The Brutalizer (formerly known as the Rings of Saturn during his time in WWE as Neville). Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D uses this move with a mandible claw hold named the Lockjaw . Bryan Danielson recently will sometimes transition into this move while already having applied the LeBell Lock effectively making this version of the move a Scissored armbar omoplata crossface . Similar to

9850-663: The GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions . Suzuki-gun dominated Noah for the rest of 2015 until losing all but the GHC Tag Team Championship at the end of the year. The invasion storyline continued in 2016 with Suzuki-gun adding two new members; Noah originals Takashi Sugiura and Yoshinobu Kanemaru , who quickly brought the GHC Heavyweight and Junior Heavyweight Championships back to the stable. The invasion storyline concluded in December 2016, resulting in

10047-569: The GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and Taichi defeating Atsushi Kotoge, with help from El Desperado and Michinoku, for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship. The third saw K.E.S. defeat TMDK in a rematch to make their first successful defense of the GHC Tag Team Championship. Finally, in the main event, Suzuki completed Suzuki-gun's clean sweep by defeating Naomichi Marufuji to become

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10244-503: The Gotch-Style Piledriver . Suzuki then declared war on all of NJPW, including top stables Chaos, Bullet Club, and Los Ingobernables de Japón , stating that Suzuki-gun was going to take over all of the promotion's championships. The angle led to multiple title matches the following month. On February 5 at The New Beginning in Sapporo , Michinoku and Taichi unsuccessfully challenged Roppongi Vice ( Beretta and Rocky Romero) for

10441-636: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for a second time by beating Bushi and Hiromu Takahashi in a tournament final, thus making 5/7 members of this stable champions. At Power Struggle (2020) , Suzuki lost the NEVER Openweight Championship back to Takagi. After which Sabre and Taichi lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to the Guerillas of Destiny at Wrestle Kingdom 15 , and Desperado and Kanemaru lost

10638-590: The IWGP Tag Team Championship from the Guerrillas of Destiny . At All Elite Wrestling's All Out on September 5, Suzuki made his AEW debut by confronting Jon Moxley. On the episode of Dynamite following All Out on September 8, Moxley beat Suzuki in his debut match for the promotion. The next day, it was announced that he would reunite with Lance Archer under the Suzuki-gun name to confront Moxley again on

10835-609: The IWGP United States Championship . At Wrestle Kingdom 14 , Archer would lose the United States Championship to Jon Moxley , Taichi, Kanemaru, and Desperado would fail to win the NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Team Championship in a gauntlet match, Sabre would defeat SANADA to retain the British Heavyweight Championship, and Suzuki would attack Moxley after he defeated Juice Robinson, challenging him to

11032-687: The IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship twice. El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru also saw much success in the junior heavyweight division, winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships four times and Desperado winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship two times, including holding both junior titles simultaneously. In September 2021, Suzuki debuted for NJPW's American partner promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and realigned himself with Lance Archer, bringing him back into

11229-529: The Invasion Tour 2011 , NJPW's first tour of the United States, Lance Archer made his debut for the promotion, attacking Kojima after a match, before being chased away by former Kojima-gun member MVP. The following day, Archer was officially named a member of Suzuki-gun. During the following months, Suzuki continued his feud with Kojima, while Archer went up against Togi Makabe and Michinoku and Taichi became

11426-595: The Iron Maiden . This is a scissored armbar combined with a crossface. The attacking wrestler traps one of the prone opponent's arms in their legs, wraps the opponent's other arm under the attacker's shoulder, and then applies the crossface. Yuji Nagata first popularized this move named the Nagata Lock III as an evolution of his previous hold, the Nagata Lock II , a crossface submission. Batista also used this as

11623-534: The NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship . The day after Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, Suzuki-gun declared war on Naomichi Marufuji and TMDK for them coming to Yano's aid at the event. On January 10, the entire Suzuki-gun made a surprise appearance for Pro Wrestling Noah, occupying the ring after the main event where Marufuji had successfully defended his GHC Heavyweight Championship . While Suzuki hit Marufuji with his finishing move,

11820-526: The NWA World Tag Team Championship . On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2013 , K.E.S. lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship back to Tencozy in a four-way match, which also included the Chaos team of Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano, and Muscle Orchestra ( Manabu Nakanishi and Strong Man ), ending their reign at 207 days. Later in the event, Shelton X Benjamin unsuccessfully challenged Shinsuke Nakamura for

12017-520: The Steiner Recliner . His nephew Bron Breakker has also used the standing version as well. Another version of this move sees the wrestler standing over the opponent who's face-down reaches for and places the opponent's nearest arm around the wrestler's far waist before applying the hold. WWE wrestler Veer Mahaan uses this move as a finisher calling it the Cervical Clutch . A rolling variation of

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12214-507: The Stunner , made famous by Steve Austin . Also referred to as a neckscissors, this hold sees a wrestler approach a supine opponent and sit next to them before turning onto their side towards the opponent and wrapping their legs around either side of the opponent's head, crossing the top leg after it has gone around the opponent's chin. The wrestler then tightens their grip to choke an opponent by compressing their throat. WWE wrestler Naomi has

12411-553: The omoplata position, which also puts pressure on the trapped arm but requires the wrestler to perform it from a seated position. Often referred to as the LeBell Lock, named for Gene LeBell , Daniel Bryan began popularizing the move under the name Yes! Lock when he joined WWE. It was used by Taiji Ishimori on rare occasions until he joined NJPW in 2018, where he used it frequently as the Yes Lock , named after Bryan. Another variation

12608-483: The " iron claw ", the claw involves the attacker gripping the top of the head of the opponent with one hand and squeezing the tips of their fingers into the opponent's skull, thereby applying five different points of pressure. This can be transitioned into a clawhold STO or iron claw slam . There is also double-handed version sometimes known as a head vise. The wrestler performing the hold approaches their opponent from behind and grips their head with both hands. While in

12805-526: The 15 September episode of Dynamite, thus bringing Archer back into the stable. On the September 29 episode of Rampage , Archer and Suzuki lost to the team of Eddie Kingston and Moxley in a lights out tag-team match , after the interruption of Homicide . Archer and Suzuki faced the duo again the following month on NJPW Strong in a Philledelphia Street Fight , where they were victorious. On January 4 at Wrestle Kingdom 16 , El Desperado, successfully retained

13002-553: The 2019 edition of the New Japan Cup . With Smith being eliminated in the first round (in what would ultimately end up being his final tour with New Japan, leaving the company and by extension the stable in June), Archer, Suzuki, and Taichi eliminated in the second while Sabre Jr managed to secure a spot into the quarter-finals, only to defeated by Hiroshi Tanahashi. Sabre would go on to face Tanahashi once more at G1 Supercard , this time with

13199-416: The 2020 New Japan Cup, with Suzuki losing to Yuji Nagata in the first round, Sabre losing to Kota Ibushi in the first round, Desperado losing to Tomohiro Ishii in the first round, Kanemaru defeating Yuya Uemura in the first round, before losing to Taiji Ishimori in the second, and Taichi making it the farthest, defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi in the first round, Ibushi in the second, before losing to SANADA in

13396-467: The British Heavyweight Championship on the line. At the event, Sabre successfully retained the title against Tanahashi. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku, Taichi defeated Jeff Cobb to win the NEVER Openweight Championship for the second time. The following night on May 4, Taichi would nominate Tomohiro Ishii as the next challenger for his title, On May 10, 2019, El Desperado was pulled from the Annual Best of

13593-486: The British Heavyweight Championship. The following day at New Years Dash, Suzuki-Gun faced Los ingobernables de Japon in a ten man tag team match, which was won by Suzuki-Gun after Taichi pinned the newly crowned IWGP Intercontinental champion Tetsuya Naito, and immediately challenged him for the title afterward. Backstage, Suzuki & Sabre also issued a challenge to Evil and Sanada for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, while Desperado and Kanemaru followed suit and demanded

13790-452: The February events. After working exclusively against each other in multi-man tag team matches for the first part of February, the rivalry between Suzuki-gun and Chaos built to two singles matches on February 10 at The New Beginning pay-per-view , where Kengo Mashimo was defeated by Shinsuke Nakamura, while Minoru Suzuki defeated Kazuchika Okada with help from Taichi. Meanwhile, K.E.S. retained

13987-604: The G1. At the event, Tanahashi would defeat Sabre, and Okada would defeat Suzuki. Shortly thereafter during the NJPW Destruction 2019 tour, Sabre would defeat Tanahashi to win back the British Heavyweight Championship. At King of Pro Wrestling , El Desperado returned from injury and along with Kanemaru would defeat Roppongi 3K, Suzuki would defeat Jushin Thunder Liger in a singles match and Archer would defeat Juice Robinson to win

14184-516: The GHC Heavyweight Championship to Katsuhiko Nakajima in his third defense. The following month, five members of Suzuki-gun took part in the 2016 Global League with Suzuki, Archer and Iizuka in block A and Smith and Sugiura in block B. Suzuki advanced to the final of the tournament by winning his block with a record of six wins and one loss, while Archer finished with a record of four wins and three losses and Iizuka with one win and six losses. Meanwhile, both Smith and Sugiura finished their block with

14381-399: The GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship. In the semi-main event, K.E.S. avenged their Global Tag League loss against Dangan Yankies by defeating them to retain the GHC Tag Team Championship, albeit following outside interference from Benjamin. The main event featured Kenta Kobashi making sure that the rest of Suzuki-gun did not interfere in the match, but nonetheless Suzuki defeated Marufuji in

14578-561: The GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship from Kotoge and Harada, while Taichi lost the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship to Taiji Ishimori, ending his nine-month reign in his fifth defense. Out of the six matches they were involved in, Suzuki-gun won only one, which saw K.E.S. make their fifth successful defense of the GHC Tag Team Championship against Big in USA. In the main event, with Noah's future supposedly on

14775-586: The IWGP Intercontinental Championship to Tetsuya Naito in his second defense. On July 1,at Revolution Pro Wrestling Strong Style Evolved,Suzuki defeated Tomohiro Ishii to win the RPW British Heavyweight Championship for the first time, making him a dual champion in the process. Both Suzuki and Sabre would represent Suzuki-Gun again in the 2018 G1 Climax , wrestling in separate blocks once more, both failed to advance to

14972-553: The IWGP Intercontinental Championship, while the main event saw Minoru Suzuki fail in his challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kazuchika Okada. Suzuki then got involved in a rivalry with Chaos member Tomohiro Ishii, which built to a singles match between the two on July 20 at the Kizuna Road 2013 pay-per-view, where Suzuki was victorious. That same event, Taichi and Michinoku unsuccessfully challenged Chaos members Forever Hooligans ( Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero ) for

15169-758: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Hiromu Takahashi and Suzuki won the Provisional KOPW 2022 trophy , although Dangerous Tekkers lost the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team titles to Bishoman . In February during the NJPW New Years Golden Series, Suzuki lost the Provisional KOPW title to Toru Yano . In March, Sabre Jr defeated Tetsuya Naito in the New Japan Cup 2022 final, to win his second New Japan Cup for

15366-518: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship to Taiji Ishimori. Desperado attempted to rebound in the Best of the Super Juniors , where he competed in the B Block. Desperado finished top of his block, with 12 points. However, in the finals, Desperado once again lost to Hiromu Takahashi. In June at AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door , El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru lost to Swerve in our Glory's Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland and Lance Archer defeated Nick Comoroto on

15563-419: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship to the stable. From July 21 to August 8, four members of Suzuki-gun took part in the 2014 G1 Climax with Benjamin and Smith wrestling in block A and Suzuki and Archer in block B. All four failed to advance from their blocks with Benjamin finishing tied fifth and Smith eighth in their block of eleven and Suzuki finishing fourth and Archer tied sixth in their block. Following

15760-571: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship back to Roppongi Vice in their second defense. During the following summer, Suzuki and Sabre represented Suzuki-gun in the 2017 G1 Climax , wrestling in separate blocks. Both failed to advance to the final with Suzuki finishing with a record of four wins, four losses and one draw and Sabre finishing with five wins and four losses. On September 24 at Destruction in Kobe , K.E.S. won

15957-510: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the first time, when they, replacing Kushida and the injured Alex Shelley , who had earlier defeated them in a number one contender's match, defeated the Forever Hooligans for the title. Meanwhile, after avenging his G1 Climax loss against Toru Yano that same event, Suzuki made a challenge for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship with the added stipulation that should Shinsuke Nakamura lose

16154-425: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship from Roppongi 3K ( SHO and YOH ) in a 3-way match which also included Los Ingobernables de Japón ( Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI ) . Through March, Taichi, Archer, Smith and Sabre would enter the 2018 New Japan Cup. While Taichi,Archer and Smith were eliminated in the first round, Sabre would go on to the final and win the tournament, and upon his victory, requested

16351-497: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship from the Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and Kushida). On October 13 at King of Pro-Wrestling , K.E.S. defeated Tencozy to regain the NWA World Tag Team Championship. Later that same event, El Desperado unsuccessfully challenged Ryusuke Taguchi for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, despite outside interference from Taichi and Michinoku. The Suzuki-gun Junior trio continued chasing

16548-416: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Bullet Club's Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo , however they regained the tag titles back from them at road to Castle Attack . On February 28 at Castle Attack , Desperado won the vacant IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Bushi & Phantasmo in a 3 way match, making him a double champion. On June 1 at Road to Dominion Sabre and Taichi regained

16745-484: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. From August 1 to 11, Suzuki, Archer, Benjamin and Smith took part in the 2013 G1 Climax , with Archer and Smith wrestling in block A and Benjamin and Suzuki in block B. Both Suzuki and Smith entered the final day with a chance to advance to the final, however, Suzuki was eliminated after losing to Toru Yano, while Smith was eliminated after a loss against Archer. On October 14 at King of Pro-Wrestling , Taichi and Michinoku won

16942-523: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Later that same event, K.E.S. unsuccessfully challenged Ishii and Yano for the IWGP Tag Team Championship in a three-way match, also involving Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma . In the main event of the show, Suzuki unsuccessfully challenged Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Six days later at The New Beginning in Osaka , Smith and Iizuka, replacing an injured Archer, unsuccessfully challenged Ishii and Yano for

17139-420: The IWGP Tag Team Championship against Sword & Guns, while Minoru Suzuki was defeated by Yuji Nagata in another chapter of their long rivalry. Afterwards, Suzuki-gun began feuding with NJPW's other villainous stable, Chaos. In late January, Taichi was sidelined with a knee injury following a traffic accident, which led to Suzuki-gun recruiting another Taka Michinoku trainee, Hiro Tonai, as his replacement for

17336-516: The IWGP Tag Team Championship against Tencozy, after which Archer challenged Nakamura to a match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship . Archer went on to fail in his title challenge on March 3 at NJPW's 41st anniversary event. During the same event, Suzuki-gun and Chaos faced off in a four-on-four elimination tag team match, where Suzuki-gun was victorious after Suzuki scored the final elimination over Okada. The rivalry between

17533-420: The IWGP Tag Team Championship for the first time in three years and eight months by defeating War Machine ( Hanson and Raymond Rowe ) and Guerrillas of Destiny ( Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa ) in a tornado tag team match . On January 4, 2018, at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome , K.E.S. lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to Los Ingobernables de Japón ( Evil and Sanada ). Later that same event, Suzuki lost

17730-415: The IWGP Tag Team Championship in another three-way match involving Makabe and Honma. On March 6 at NJPW's 45th anniversary show, Kanemaru and Taichi defeated Roppongi Vice to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Later that same event, Suzuki and Smith helped Zack Sabre Jr. defeat Katsuyori Shibata for Revolution Pro Wrestling 's British Heavyweight Championship with Sabre becoming

17927-416: The IWGP Tag Team Championship, bringing Suzuki-gun its first title. Later, in the main event of the evening, Minoru Suzuki unsuccessfully challenged Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. From November 20 to December 1, K.E.S. took part in the round-robin portion of the 2012 World Tag League , finishing with a record of four wins and two losses, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament in

18124-609: The NEVER Openweight Championship back to Hirooki Goto in a Hair vs. Hair match . On January 20 at Revolution Pro Wrestling High Stakes, Suzuki and Sabre would win the RPW Undisputed British Tag Team Championships by defeating Moustache Mountain ( Trent Seven and Tyler Bate ). A week later at The New Beginning in Sapporo, Suzuki would capture the IWGP Intercontinental Championship for the first time by defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi. On March 6 at NJPW's 46th anniversary show, Desperado and Kanemaru would capture

18321-433: The NWA World Tag Team Championship to The IronGodz, but came back in the second to defeat Tencozy for the IWGP Tag Team Championship. Also during the event, Suzuki failed in his IWGP Intercontinental Championship challenge against Nakamura. On November 24, two Suzuki-gun teams entered the 2013 World Tag League , competing in two separate blocks; K.E.S. in block A and Suzuki and Benjamin in block B. K.E.S. won their block with

18518-535: The Super Juniors Tournament due to injury, and Taichi revealed Suzuki-gun's newest member Douki to take his place. Douki would finish with only 2 points in the Tournament. Kanemaru and Taka Michinoku would also participate in the Tournament. Kanemaru finishing with 6 points, and Taka finishing with 0 after suffering an injury. Ishii defeated Taichi to win the title on June 9 at Dominion . Following this, it

18715-545: The Suzuki-gun flag, only to be interrupted by former member Takashi Iizuka , causing all 9 men to pose in the ring, behind the Suzuki-gun flag. Kojima-gun Pro Wrestling Noah Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Pro Wrestling Noah ( プロレスリング・ノア , Puroresuringu Noa ) (stylised as Pro Wrestling NOAH ) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion , founded in 2000 by former All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) wrestler Mitsuharu Misawa after he had led

18912-634: The United States Championship. Sabre would lose the British Heavyweight Title to Ospreay in a rematch. After Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi won the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship , Sabre and Taichi would attack Tanahashi and Ibushi, setting themselves up as the next challengers. It was also during this time that Archer would quietly leave Suzuki-Gun and New Japan as a whole to move to All Elite Wrestling . Suzuki, Sabre, Taichi, Desperado, and Kanemaru all entered

19109-451: The adjacent picture, he has pulled so far back that he finished the hold seated, which he did not always do. In Daniel Bryan 's variation of the move as the LeBell Lock , he takes the opponent's arm and puts it in an omoplata . From here, the wrestler puts the opponent in a crossface, wrenching the neck and shoulder. This move was also used by Kenta as the Game Over. The wrestler goes to

19306-413: The attacking wrestler crouches down behind a sitting opponent and places their knee into the opponent's upper back, then reaches forward and grasps the opponent's chin with both hands. The attacker then either pulls straight back on the chin or wrenches it to the side. A maneuver similar to a neck wrench where the wrestler faces a bent-over opponent. The attacking wrestler tucks the opponent's top/back of

19503-445: The best promotion in 2004 and 2005, as well as having the best weekly television show in 2003. On June 13, 2009, Misawa teamed with Go Shiozaki against Akitoshi Saito and Bison Smith at Hiroshima Green Arena . After taking a belly to back suplex from Saito, Misawa lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital. He was pronounced dead in the hospital at 10:10 p.m. JST due to spinal damage . On June 27, 2009, Akira Taue

19700-475: The block and advanced to the final with a record of six wins and one draw, wrestled against Suzuki. On November 8, Benjamin was defeated in the final of the tournament by Naomichi Marufuji. Noah ended their 2015 on December 23 with the promotion's 15h anniversary event, Destiny 2015 , where all members of Suzuki-gun were involved in big matches. The stable's members were defeated in both junior heavyweight title matches with El Desperado and Michinoku failing to regain

19897-416: The bottom rope, if the opponent is lying against it. The omoplata (AKA ashi-sankaku-garami in judo) is an armlock that targets the shoulder. The locking mechanism is similar to the kimura lock, but instead of using a figure-four, it is applied using a leg. The omoplata can be applied from the guard, by placing one leg under the opponent's armpit and turning 180 degrees in the direction of that leg, so that

20094-537: The buy-in. On the main show, Suzuki teamed with the Jericho Appreciation Society's , Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara to defeat the team of Eddie Kingston , Wheeler Yuta and Shota Umino and Zack Sabre Jr lost to Claudio Castagnoli . In July, Archer, Sabre Jr and Taichi all competed in the G1 Climax 32 tournament, competing in the A, C and B blocks respectively, though no men were able to advance to

20291-486: The camel clutch is also used, with this variation popularized by Maryse Ouellet , dubbed French Pain . Big Show uses a kneeling variation of this move called the Colossal Clutch . The attacking wrestler stands over a face-down opponent, facing the same direction. The wrestler first hooks each of the opponent's legs underneath their own armpits as if performing a reverse Boston crab , then reaches down and underneath

20488-430: The company was purchased by CyberAgent , parent company of DDT Pro-Wrestling , with DDT's executives taking over Noah's operations and Noah's content appearing on DDT's streaming service Wrestle Universe . In January 1999, AJPW founder and promoter Giant Baba died, leaving the company in the hands of his widow Motoko Baba as owner and Misawa as president. However, disheartened with Motoko Baba's proposed direction for

20685-479: The company, Misawa departed the promotion on May 28, 2000 to form a new promotion called Pro Wrestling Noah. All but two native stars ( Masanobu Fuchi and Toshiaki Kawada ) and eight gaijin ( Maunakea Mossman , Johnny Smith , George Hines , Mike Barton , Jim Steele , Mike Rotunda , Stan Hansen and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams ) followed Misawa. The promotion's name alludes to the Biblical story of Noah , in which

20882-489: The end of the year. On June 13, 2016, freelancer Go Shiozaki officially re-signed with Noah, three and a half years after his resignation from the promotion. On November 1, 2016, it was announced that Noah had been sold to IT development company Estbee, Co, Ltd. As a result, former AJPW president Masayuki Uchida took over as the new Noah president. On November 7, Estbee officially changed its name to "Noah Global Entertainment kabushiki gaisha ". On December 27, Noah announced

21079-401: The fallout. On December 4, 2012, Noah released Kenta Kobashi from his contract, reportedly leading to Atsushi Aoki , Go Shiozaki , Jun Akiyama , Kotaro Suzuki and Yoshinobu Kanemaru all announcing that they were not going to re-sign with the promotion after their own contracts expired in January 2013. On December 19, Noah confirmed that the five men had indeed refused to re-sign with

21276-490: The fifth member of Kojima-gun, in storyline being brought to the group by Nosawa using his American connections. However, prior to MVP's debut, Nosawa took a hiatus from professional wrestling altogether, after being arrested under suspicion of stealing a taxi. After losing the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome , Kojima suffered another big loss against longtime rival Togi Makabe on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2011 . Following

21473-427: The final of the 2015 NTV G+ Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League , but were defeated there on September 22 by Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada. This led to a match on October 4, where Suzuki-gun's title monopoly was broken, when El Desperado and Michinoku lost the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Kotoge and Harada in their fifth defense. From October 16 to November 6, five members of Suzuki-gun took part in

21670-480: The final with Suzuki finishing with a record of five wins and four losses and Sabre finishing with six wins and two losses, with the latter narrowly missing the final due to head-to-head losses against eventual runner-up Kota Ibushi and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega . On September 17 at Destruction in Beppu , Taichi defeated Hirooki Goto to win the NEVER Openweight Championship, his first singles title in NJPW. At

21867-467: The finals. On December 14, 2022, at the Super Junior Tag League & World Tag League Finals, Suzuki announced that Suzuki-gun will disband by the end of the year. At JTO 50th Anniversary for TakaTaichi Together, Taichi told his valet and long Suzuki-gun affiliate Miho Abe, "There is no need for you to stand next to such a pathetic man anymore," ending their relationship and her affiliation to

22064-464: The first four months of 2017. On February 7, 2017, Noah announced a business alliance with American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), which was extended in July, after TNA had been renamed Global Force Wrestling (GFW). In March 2017, Noah formed another partnership with Canadian promotion Border City Wrestling (BCW). On February 1, 2019, Noah was purchased by Lidet Entertainment, acquiring

22261-563: The flying variant, see below) and Ronda Rousey perform this move a finisher. Bryan Danielson popularized and invented a variation, dubbed the Danielson Special , where he would flip his opponent with a butterfly suplex before locking in the cross armbar. This variation begins with the wrestler standing on either side of the bent-over opponent. The wrestler then steps over one of the opponent's arms while holding that arm's wrist, and then rolls or twists their body in mid-air while holding

22458-622: The founding members of the United Japan Pro-Wrestling alliance, a joint effort to further develop professional wrestling in Japan through promotion and organization, with Seiji Sakaguchi being named as the chairman of the project. Similar to New Japan Pro-Wrestling's International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP), Noah has its own title governing body, the Global Honored Crown (GHC) system. Noah also holds annual tournaments to decide

22655-522: The group prior to the group's disbandment. Suzuki-gun's final match as a faction took place on December 23, where the team of Douki, Kanemaru, Sabre, and Taichi defeated Archer, Desperado, Michinoku, and Suzuki. After the match, all members spoke about their memories as a part of the group and thanked leader Suzuki. Sabre Jr. specifically mentioned that this would be the end of the Dangerous Tekkers tag team too. The night ended with all members posing with

22852-489: The group, however, he once again lost to IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada at Hyper Battle . In April at Ring of Honor's Supercard of Honor XV , Suzuki defeated Rhett Titus to win the ROH World Television Championship , his first American Professional Wrestling Championship. Suzuki lost the belt 12 days later to Samoa Joe on AEW Dynamite . In May at Wrestling Dontaku , Desperado lost

23049-419: The half nelson the attacker slips one arm under the opponent's armpit and places it on the neck. The three-quarter nelson is done by performing a half nelson using one hand and passing the other hand underneath the opponent from the same side. The passing hand goes under the opponent's neck and around the far side to the top of the neck, where it is locked with the other hand around the neck. The full nelson, which

23246-435: The hand positioning is the same as a normal cravate but the facelock is connected around the face of the opponent, not from behind the opponent's head, thus pulling the opponent's head backwards rather than forwards, putting significant pressure on the neck by stretching it backwards and in other directions toward which the neck would not normally bend. This can also be a setup move for the 3/4 Facelock Jawbreaker , also known as

23443-415: The head into their own chest and wraps an arm around the opponent's neck so that their forearm is pressed against the opponent's throat. The wrestler then places their own spare arm under the other hand and over the opponent's back to lock in the hold, compressing the opponent's neck. The attacking wrestler can then arch backwards, pulling the opponent's head downward. This move sees the attacker kneel behind

23640-410: The jaw upwards, which is purported to compress the nerves in the jaw and thus render the opponent's jaw paralyzed; this, therefore, prevents the opponent from breaking the hold by biting the wrestler's fingers, as Mick Foley explained to Vince McMahon when questioned about it during his interviews prior to joining the WWF in 1996. Although Foley popularized the move, it was invented by Sam Sheppard ,

23837-521: The junior heavyweight titles during the 2014 Super Jr. Tag Tournament . Though El Desperado and Taichi were eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals by The Young Bucks, Taichi managed to pin Ryusuke Taguchi in the opening round of the tournament, with help from both Desperado and Taka Michinoku, putting himself in line for the next shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Taichi received his title shot on November 8 at Power Struggle , but

24034-539: The latest Black Tiger and severed their ties with him. Meanwhile, Michinoku and Taichi had set their sights on the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship , but were, on June 16 at Dominion 6.16 , defeated by Jyushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask in a match for the vacant title. On July 22, Suzuki, Archer, Michinoku and Taichi picked up another dominant win over Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi , Togi Makabe and Yuji Nagata in an eight-man elimination tag team match, after which Archer again challenged Tenzan and Kojima to

24231-401: The left arm, they will use their left leg) around the back of the opponent's neck (against the back of their knee) and bracing their foot against the front of the other shoulder, they steps over their opponent with their other leg, squatting down. Also known as a keylock , Top shoulder lock , Americana , and ude-garami , (a term borrowed from judo ). This armlock sees the wrestler grappling

24428-404: The leg moves over the back of the opponent and entangles the opponent's arm. By controlling the opponent's body and pushing the arm perpendicularly away from the opponent's back, pressure can be put on the opponent's shoulder. It is also possible to put pressure on the elbow joint by bending the leg entangling the arm and twisting it in a specific manner. It is usually done to set up the opponent for

24625-417: The line, Suzuki lost the GHC Heavyweight Championship back to Global League winner Naomichi Marufuji in his fifth official title defense. During Marufuji's victory celebration, Takashi Sugiura turned on him and Noah and joined Suzuki-gun. On January 31, 2016, Sugiura defeated Marufuji with help from Archer and Suzuki to bring the GHC Heavyweight Championship back to Suzuki-gun. Prior to the event, Suzuki teased

24822-481: The match for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. Following the match, Suzuki-gun entered the ring to show support for Suzuki, but this led to Sugiura turning on Suzuki-gun, attacking each of his stablemates and quitting the stable. The following day, K.E.S. lost the GHC Tag Team Championship to Go Shiozaki and Maybach Taniguchi in their first defense, while in the main event, Suzuki was defeated by Sugiura. With Suzuki-gun having been defeated in all ten of their matches during

25019-401: The match, Michinoku and Taichi entered the ring and attacked Kojima, who, however, quickly took care of both of them. This led to the surprise return of freelancer Minoru Suzuki , who appeared behind Kojima and locked him in a sleeper hold , before leaving the ringside area with Michinoku and Taichi, who proclaimed Suzuki as their new leader and renamed the stable "Suzuki-gun". On May 15, during

25216-522: The move from behind the opponent, the wrestler stands in front of the opponent and uses the move in the same way as the normal full nelson. Chris Masters and Bobby Lashley uses a standing variation called the Master Lock and the Hurt Lock respectively, where they lock the nelson in and swing their opponent back and forth alternating pressure between their shoulders. Lashley sometimes locks his opponents into

25413-400: The neck so that the forearm is pressed against the chin. The wrestler then grabs their own wrist with their free hand, crossing it underneath the opponent's armpit and chest to lock the hold in, compressing the opponent's neck. The attacking wrestler can then arch backwards, pulling the opponent's head forward and thus applying extra pressure on the neck. The wrestler faces their opponent, who

25610-454: The new GHC Heavyweight Champion. Suzuki-gun's dominance led to a storyline, where all of Noah's stables, villainous ones included, came together in order to reclaim the titles. As part of the storyline, Yoshihiro Takayama officially broke off his affiliation with Suzuki-gun by announcing his loyalty to Noah on March 28. In April, Suzuki-gun entered the 2015 Global Tag League with two teams; Suzuki and Iizuka and K.E.S. Benjamin also took part in

25807-416: The new head booker of Noah. On April 21, one of Noah's bigger stars, Takeshi Morishima , was forced to retire from professional wrestling due to issues with his blood. On December 24, 2015, Noah announced the signing of freelancer Katsuhiko Nakajima . Four days later, Noah announced the departures of Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste and Takeshi Morishima, following their contracts with the promotion expiring at

26004-486: The newest member of Suzuki-gun in the process. The following day, Sabre was set up as the next challenger for Hirooki Goto's NEVER Openweight Championship . Sabre went on to fail in that challenge on April 9, despite help from El Desperado and Minoru Suzuki, the latter of whom afterwards brawled with Goto. This led to Suzuki defeating Goto on April 27 to become the new NEVER Openweight Champion, winning his first ever singles title in NJPW. That same day, Taichi and Kanemaru lost

26201-502: The next few months, leading to a tag team match at Back to the Yokohama Arena on May 25, where Yano's longtime tag team partner Takashi Iizuka turned on him during a tag team match, where they faced Suzuki and Benjamin, and jumped to Suzuki-gun. On June 9, NJPW suspended Taichi for two months with a 30% pay cut, after he had been caught cheating on his wife. On July 4, El Desperado joined Suzuki-gun, announcing his intention of bringing

26398-416: The opponent is lying face down; they grab one of the opponent's wrists with one hand and fish hooks the opponent's mouth with the other, and then places his knees against the opponent's stretched arm and pulls back with his arms. Also known as "Neck Wrench", the wrestler faces their opponent, who is bent over. The attacking wrestler tucks their opponent's head underneath their armpit and wraps their arm around

26595-413: The opponent's arms in a stepover armlock , turning 360° so the opponent's arm is bent around the leg of the attacking wrestler. The wrestler will then sandwich the arm between their own leg and the side of the opponent's body. The wrestler then reaches forwards and applies a chinlock as in a standard camel clutch, leaning backwards to apply pressure to the upper back and arm. Also known as a rear chinlock,

26792-412: The opponent's arms, locking their hands together. The attacker then drops to the side opposite that of the arm that they grabbed (if they grabbed the right arm, they will fall on their left side). The opponent will thus be on their back, with one of the attacker's legs under the victim's upper back and hooking their free arm. The attacker throws their other leg over the opponent's trapped arm and then behind

26989-531: The opponent's back and lock their arms around the opponent's face. The wrestler then pulls back, stretching the opponent's back, neck, and knees. Jungle Boy uses this as the Snare Trap , while Kazuchika Okada uses a kneeling version called the Red Ink . An arm-trap variation of this move was invented by WWE wrestler William Regal and is currently known as a Regal Stretch . The inverted Indian deathlock facelock, or

27186-483: The opponent's chin and applying pressure to their back. A camel clutch can also refer simply to a rear chinlock while seated on the back of an opponent, without placing the arms on the thighs. The move was invented by Gory Guerrero in Mexico, where it was called la de a caballo (horse-mounting choke), but got its more common name from The Sheik who used it as his finisher. The Iron Sheik also used this version while

27383-423: The opponent's chin with both hands, applying a chinlock, and finally leaning back to pull up the opponent's head and neck. Another version of the move is similar to a wheelbarrow facebuster, but instead illegally pulls the hair of the opponent while leaning back to pull up the opponent's head and neck. The attacking wrestler stands over a face-down opponent, facing the same direction. The wrestler then grabs one of

27580-419: The opponent's far leg outwards with their leg. Used by Taichi as Seteii Juhjiro. In this hold, a wrestler who is facing away from an opponent wraps their arm around the neck of an opponent. This is also called a "reverse chancery". Though this is an often-used rest hold, it is also sometimes the beginning of a standard bulldog move. The wrestler stands in front of the opponent while both people are facing

27777-458: The opponent's grappled wrist. This would result in the opponent's arm being shaped into a 4 . As the opponent's wrist is grabbed by both opponent's hands, along with the bent arm, this applies effective pressure into the opponent. The maneuver can be executed on a standing or a downed (facing upwards) opponent. This move has been used by many wrestlers for many years. The wrestler approaches an opponent lying against any set of ropes and grabs one of

27974-440: The opponent's head backwards and up, wrenching the opponent's neck. Naomichi Marufuji invented a single underhook variation, called Perfect Facelock. Also commonly known as a dragon bite, this move sees the attacking wrestler behind a standing opponent, pulling them backwards into an inverted facelock and wrapping their legs around the opponent's body with a body scissors . The attacker then arches backwards, putting pressure on

28171-402: The opponent's head. Invented by The Great Muta , this move has been adapted and performed by various wrestlers such as Melina Perez ( California Dream ) and Emma ( Emma Lock ) as finishing moves, signature moves, and setups to finishers. Short for "stepover toehold sleeper", this hold is a modified version of an STF in which the wrestler wraps their arm around the neck of the opponent in

28368-399: The opponent's neck and spine. This move is used on an opponent trapped within the ring ropes, which makes the move illegal under most match rules. The wrestler applies an inverted facelock to a seated opponent, places their far leg between the opponent's legs, and pushes their near leg's knee against the opponent's back. The wrestler then pulls the opponent's head backwards with their arms and

28565-406: The opponent's neck, pushing it forward. The attacker can now roll towards their back, creating more pressure on the neck while hyperextending the opponent's arm across their own chest. Essentially a step-over armbar with neck submission. The opponent is on their back, wrestler standing to their side and reaching down to grab the opponent's far arm, pulling up. Wrapping their same leg (if they grabbed

28762-459: The opponent's neck. Wrestlers as André the Giant or Junkyard Dog were famed for its using. In the second one and holding the opponent in the same position, the attacker twists the legs from the hip in a "Neck crank" variant. Popularized by Curt Hennig . The nelson hold in professional wrestling usually takes the form of the full nelson, half nelson, or three-quarter nelson. In all three variations,

28959-426: The opponent's thighs with the free hand. Similar in execution and function to a front chancery, this lock is often used as a setup for a suplex . The wrestler stands behind their opponent and bends the opponent backwards. The wrestler tucks the opponent's head face-up under their armpit and wraps their arm around the head, so that their forearm is pressed against the back of the opponent's neck. The wrestler then pulls

29156-410: The opponent's wrist with the similar hand (for example, if they use the right arm, they would grab the opponent's right wrist), and with the opponent's wrist still clutched, the wrestler bends the opponent's arm (of the grappled wrist) towards or behind the opponent's head. Then, the wrestler passes their other free arm through the "hole" formed by the opponent's bent arm under the biceps, and then catches

29353-477: The opponent's wrists with their similar arm. The wrestler then pins the arm with the grappled wrist against the second or top rope to the outside of the ring, passes their other arm from under the opponent's biceps, and grapples the opponent's wrist. The whole maneuver would force the opponent's arm to be bent in the number "4" shape, applying more pressure as the arm is trapped between the second or top rope. The rope-hung figure-four armlock can be also grappled through

29550-399: The other stretches, are usually grouped with stretches as they serve the same tactical purposes. In public performance, for safety's sake, stretches are usually not performed to the point where the opponent must submit or risk injury. Likewise, chokes are usually not applied to the point where they cut off the oxygen supply to the opponent's brain. The wrestler begins the hold by standing over

29747-424: The people and animals in the ark survive the flood and make a new beginning in the world, a story which was seen as a parallel to the wrestlers' departure from AJPW. Noah's original logo, an ark with a dove holding an olive branch, referred to this. Pro Wrestling Noah is essentially a continuation of AJPW's promotional system in the 1990s, with a slight leeway to allow wrestlers from other promotions to compete, which

29944-511: The possibility of there being another traitor within Noah. During his match with Go Shiozaki , Yoshinobu Kanemaru revealed himself as the traitor by turning on Shiozaki, helping Suzuki win the match and joining Suzuki-gun. On February 24, Kanemaru defeated Taiji Ishimori with help from his new stablemates to become the new GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion. On March 27, Suzuki-gun produced the second We Are Suzuki-gun event. The following month, K.E.S. set

30141-583: The promotion and would be wrestling their final matches for the promotion on December 23 and 24. The following month, all five men joined AJPW. Kobashi returned to wrestle his retirement match in a Noah ring on May 11, 2013, at Final Burning in Budokan . On May 12 at Noah's "New Chapter" show held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo , Akira Taue announced the signings of Daisuke Harada , Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste of The Mighty Don't Kneel (TMDK) as full-time members of

30338-478: The promotion as had been hoped, but without Suzuki-gun, Noah's attendance numbers fell significantly further. On January 5, 2017, Suzuki-gun made its return to NJPW after two years away with all eight members attacking the ring following a ten-man tag team match between the Chaos stable and NJPW's main army. The attack saw K.E.S. target IWGP Tag Team Champions Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano and concluded with Suzuki laying out IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada with

30535-509: The promotion. Taue also announced his retirement from in-ring competition to focus on his duties as the Chairman of the promotion and his retirement match would take place on December 7, 2013 at the Ariake Coliseum . On April 30, 2014, Noah's arguably biggest star and ace Kenta announced his resignation from the promotion to sign with WWE . In early 2015, NJPW wrestler Jado took over as

30732-573: The quarter-finals. On July 12, at Dominion , Taichi and Sabre defeated Tanahashi and Ibushi to win their IWGP Tag Team Championships . On August 29, at Summer Struggle in Jingu , Suzuki would win the NEVER Openweight Championship once again by beating Shingo Takagi , meanwhile Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. would retain the IWGP Tag Team Championship by beating Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi . On September 11, Desperado and Kanemaru won

30929-467: The relocating of its offices from Ariake, Tokyo to Kanda-Misakichō due to Differ Ariake 's scheduled closing in June 2018. At the end of 2016, NJPW pulled all of its wrestlers, including the entire Suzuki-gun stable, from Noah with reports stating that the relationship between the two promotions had turned "extremely sour". Having lost the NJPW relationship, Noah's attendance numbers went down by 29% during

31126-429: The right leg). Using that leg as leverage, he'll push the opponent's head downwards and drop to their side so that the opponent must support their own body weight on their squeezed neck. The attacker then uses their free leg to complete the reverse crucifix armbar, trying to hyperextend the elbow. Essentially a scissored armbar with neck submission. The opponent is on their stomach while the attacker reaches under one of

31323-425: The ring and attacked Makabe, revealing himself as the newest member of Suzuki-gun. On September 23 at Destruction , Makabe ended his rivalry with Suzuki-gun by defeating Mashimo in a singles match. The following day, Harry Smith was renamed Davey Boy Smith Jr., after his father . On October 8 at King of Pro-Wrestling , Smith and Archer, now known collectively as Killer Elite Squad (K.E.S.), defeated Tencozy to win

31520-409: The same direction, with some space in between the two. Then, the wrestler moves slightly to the left while still positioned in front of the opponent. The wrestler then uses the near hand to reach back and grab the opponent from behind the head, thus pulling the opponent's head above the wrestler's shoulder. Sometimes the free arm is placed at the top of the opponent's head. The move is also referred to as

31717-457: The same event, Suzuki was defeated by Tetsuya Naito in a special singles rematch. On November 3 at Power Struggle , Taichi lost the NEVER Openweight Championship back to Goto in his first defense, ending his reign at 47 days. From November 17 to December 9, three Suzuki-Gun teams would participate in the World Tag League , K.E.S, Suzuki and Iizuka and Taichi and Sabre. With each team finishing

31914-439: The second place in their block, while Suzuki and Mashimo failed to advance from the other block with three wins and three losses. On December 2, K.E.S. defeated Always Hypers (Togi Makabe and Wataru Inoue) to advance to the final of the tournament, where, later that same day, they were defeated by Sword & Guns ( Hirooki Goto and Karl Anderson). On January 4, 2013, at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome , K.E.S. successfully defended

32111-497: The second round of the New Japan Cup, and then Smith unsuccessfully challenged Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. The event concluded with Suzuki confronting new IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Kazuchika Okada, seemingly as his first challenger for the title. Following the event, Taka Michinoku announced that Suzuki-gun had recruited a new member to take on Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, noting that he

32308-404: The semi-final round. In October, Sabre Jr competed in a tournament to crown the inaugural NJPW World Television Championship , he defeated Alex Zayne , David Finlay and Evil to advance to the tournament finals, where he will face Ren Narita at Wrestle Kingdom 17 . In November, Archer and Suzuki teamed together in the World Tag League , where they finished with 8 points failing to advance to

32505-417: The semifinals. On November 6, Suzuki and Archer first defeated Chaos representatives Shinsuke Nakamura and Toru Yano in the semifinals and then the reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions , Bad Intentions ( Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson ), in the final to win the 2011 G1 Tag League. As a result, Suzuki and Archer were granted a match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, but were defeated by Bad Intentions in

32702-478: The semifinals. Smith, the final Suzuki-gun member left in the New Japan Cup, was eliminated from the tournament by Hirooki Goto in their semifinal match on March 23. On April 5, K.E.S. made their fourth successful defense of the IWGP Tag Team Championship against Chaos representatives Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii . The rivalry between Suzuki-gun and Chaos continued two days later at Invasion Attack , where Suzuki first defeated Toru Yano to avenge his loss from

32899-426: The single block tournament with 18, 10 and 16 points respectively, with K.E.S narrowly missing the final after a head-to-head loss against Evil and Sanada. On January 4, 2019, at Wrestle Kingdom 13 , Desperado and Kanemaru lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Bushi and Shingo Takagi , in a 3 way rematch which also included Roppongi 3K. At the same event, Sabre defeated Tomohiro Ishii to win back

33096-445: The single round-robin block with ten points, advancing to the final. On May 4, Archer and Smith were defeated in the final of the tournament by Naomichi Marufuji and Toru Yano. On May 28, Archer and Smith lost the GHC Tag Team Championship to Marufuji and Yano, ending their 15-month title reign in their 11th defense. Later that same day, Sugiura lost the GHC Heavyweight Championship to Go Shiozaki in his second title defense. On July 26, it

33293-708: The stable after he previously departed both it and NJPW in 2020. In AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), Suzuki won his first American Championship, the ROH Television Championship . In 2022 at the World Tag League finals, Suzuki announced that Suzuki-Gun would disband at the end of 2022. The stable's final match, an eight-man tag-team match, between the members took place on December 23, 2022. On December 12, 2010, Taichi returned to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) from his latest excursion to Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), accompanying IWGP Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima to

33490-575: The stable's return to NJPW in January 2017. Since their return to New Japan, the stable saw much success, adding Zack Sabre Jr. , who brought the British Heavyweight Championship to the group and won the New Japan Cup tournament twice in 2018 and 2022. Sabre Jr and now heavyweight Taichi teamed as Dangerous Tekkers, winning the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships on three occasions. Lance Archer captured

33687-406: The title to him, he would have to join Suzuki-gun. After a reign of 26 days, Taichi and Michinoku lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) on November 9 at Power Struggle . Later that same event, K.E.S. took part in a two-fall three-way match against Tencozy and The IronGodz ( Jax Dane and Rob Conway ). In the first fall, they lost

33884-593: The top wrestler or tag team in the promotion: Pro Wrestling Sem was the junior affiliate of Pro Wrestling Noah launched in 2006. Its name came from the biblical figure Sem , the eldest son of Noah. Sem was originally headed by Naomichi Marufuji and Kenta, acting as coaches for the rookie competitors. Mitsuharu Misawa's inspiration for the venture came from the German Westside Xtreme Wrestling promotion, where he wrestled in March 2005. The seats are limited to

34081-464: The tournament by winning a round-robin tournament, contested between the four Suzuki-gun junior heavyweight wrestlers. Both made it to the final day on August 21, where both were defeated by reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Kushida with Taichi losing to him in the semifinals and Kanemaru in the final. Back in Noah, Kanemaru lost the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship to Atsushi Kotoge in his fifth defense on September 23. On October 23, Sugiura lost

34278-401: The tournament with 6 points. On the final day of the tournament, during a tag match Suzuki would pin current Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, he then would challenge Okada for the title. It was later announced that Okada and Suzuki would meet at Royal Quest . Sabre and Tanahashi would also meet for Sabre's British Heavyweight Championship, after Tanahashi earned the match by beating Sabre in

34475-537: The tournament, Suzuki transitioned from Yano, who was busy feuding with Iizuka, to a new rivalry with Kazushi Sakuraba , who had come to Yano's aid in the aftermath of Iizuka's turn. During September's Destruction tour, Suzuki-gun's three junior heavyweight members, referred to collectively as "Suzuki-gun Junior", set their sights on both of NJPW's junior heavyweight titles. On September 23 at Destruction in Okayama , El Desperado and Taichi failed in their attempt to capture

34672-503: The tournament, teaming with Brian Breaker. K.E.S. eventually made it to the final of the tournament, where, on May 4, they were defeated by Dangan Yankies ( Masato Tanaka and Takashi Sugiura ). All four of Suzuki-gun's titles were put on the line on May 10 and all were defended successfully. First El Desperado and Michinoku successfully defended the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against Yoshinari Ogawa and Zack Sabre Jr. and then helped Taichi defeat Atsushi Kotoge to retain

34869-522: The two Suzuki-gun teams. The rivalry between Suzuki and Sakuraba culminated in a "knockouts and submissions only" match on January 4, 2015, at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome , where Suzuki was victorious. Also during the event, the Suzuki-gun quartet of Iizuka, Archer, Benjamin and Smith were defeated in an eight-man tag team match by Yano and Pro Wrestling Noah's Naomichi Marufuji and TMDK ( Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste ). The following day, El Desperado unsuccessfully challenged Jyushin Thunder Liger for

35066-442: The two events, Noah announced on December 5 that the stable was gone from the promotion, concluding the two-year-long storyline. Shortly afterwards, it was reported that Suzuki-gun had originally been sent to Noah to help sustain the promotion, but the relationship between Noah and NJPW had turned "extremely sour", leading to NJPW pulling its wrestlers from the promotion. Suzuki-gun's entry into Noah had not led to increased business for

35263-497: The two stables continued during the 2013 New Japan Cup , with Okada defeating Archer and Smith defeating Nakamura in their first round matches on March 11. Meanwhile, Suzuki also advanced in the tournament with a win over old rival Yuji Nagata, avenging the loss from Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome. The second round of the tournament on March 17 saw two more matches between Suzuki-gun and Chaos, when Smith eliminated Yujiro Takahashi , while Toru Yano eliminated Minoru Suzuki to advance to

35460-412: The various pins, stretches and transition holds used in the ring. Some wrestlers use these holds as their finishing maneuvers, often nicknaming them to reflect their character or persona. Moves are listed under general categories whenever possible. An element borrowed from professional wrestling's catch wrestling origins, stretches (or submission holds) are techniques in which a wrestler holds another in

35657-544: The vise, the wrestler can control their opponent by squeezing the temples and bring them down to a seated position where more pressure can be exerted. It was invented and used by Baron von Raschke , as well as many members of the Von Erich family , and Blackjack Mulligan . The double-handed version was a signature submission of The Great Khali , dubbed the Vice Grip . A maneuver which, when applied correctly against an individual,

35854-408: The winners of the tournament, Bullet Club ( Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson). Also during the event, Michinoku and Taichi unsuccessfully challenged The Young Bucks for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in a four-way match and Suzuki continued his feud with Toru Yano, with him and Benjamin losing to Yano and The Great Muta in a tag team match. Suzuki and Yano continued their rivalry for

36051-424: The wrestler slips either one or both arms underneath the opponent's armpits from behind and locks their hands behind their neck, pushing the opponent's head forward against their chest. For a full nelson, the attacker slips both their arms under the opponent's armpits and locks their hands behind their opponent's neck. The half and three-quarter nelsons are usually transition holds, as they are in amateur wrestling. For

36248-495: The wrestler turns 360 degrees, simultaneously bending the arm of the opponent around the attacker's own leg. The wrestler can over-rotate or turn again to apply more pressure on the arm. The stepover armlock is similar in execution to the spinning toe hold , except that the wrist is held instead of the foot. The wrestler takes hold of the opponent's arm and twists it, putting pressure on the shoulder and elbow. This may sometimes be preceded by an arm wrench . The armbar's innovation

36445-446: The wrist, forcing the opponent down to their back and ending in a cross armbar . This variant has been used by Alberto Del Rio , A.J. Styles and Asuka . Kushida uses a variation, where goes on the top rope and places his opponent on the turnbuckle and delivers the move. The wrestler, situated perpendicular to and behind the opponent, holds the opponent's arm with both arms, pulling the arm across their chest. The wrestler then holds

36642-410: Was again challenged for the GHC Heavyweight Championship by Naomichi Marufuji, prompting Suzuki to present an added stipulation for their match; should Marufuji lose, Noah would be dissolved. Uniting the entire Noah roster together, Marufuji stated he was prepared to dissolve Noah if any member of Suzuki-gun was able to win the upcoming Global League . Meanwhile, El Desperado and Taka Michinoku made it to

36839-536: Was announced Noah and DDT would merge in a new company, CyberFight . Both companies would run as separate brands under the CyberFight banner. On November 19, 2021 Noah re-established its relationship with NJPW with Noah wrestlers being involved at the third night of NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 16 event, with a portion of proceeds donated to the Japanese Red Cross. On December 15, 2023, Noah was announced as one of

37036-702: Was announced that Noah and the Mexico-based International Wrestling Revolution Group had entered into a talent-sharing partnership. In January 2020, Noah was acquired by CyberAgent , parent company of DDT Pro Wrestling . DDT's President Sanshiro Takagi was named the President of Pro Wrestling Noah and Naomichi Marufuji the Vice President. Noah's events began airing on DDT's streaming service DDT Universe starting with Noah Global Jr. League 2020 on January 30. On July 27, 2020, it

37233-403: Was announced that Shelton Benjamin was returning to WWE , signaling the end of his run as a member of Suzuki-gun. On July 30, Sugiura regained the GHC Heavyweight Championship from Go Shiozaki in the first lumberjack match in Noah history. Also in July, Suzuki-gun returned to NJPW, when Taichi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru represented the stable in the 2016 Super J-Cup . The two had earned the spots in

37430-498: Was announced that Taichi would be participating in the G1 Climax 29, making it his first appearance in the tournament. Archer would also be making an appearance in the tournament for the first time in five years. Sabre would also make his 3rd consecutive appearance in the tournament. And Minoru Suzuki was left out of the tournament. Sabre finished the tournament with 8 points, Taichi finished the tournament with 8 points, and Archer finished

37627-540: Was attacked by former stablemate Takayama, who issued a challenge for a title match. On July 18 at Noah's 15th anniversary event, Suzuki defeated Takayama, following outside interference from El Desperado, K.E.S. and Iizuka, to make his third successful defense of the GHC Heavyweight Championship. Afterwards, Takashi Sugiura, who earlier in the event had defeated Shelton X Benjamin in their personal grudge match, stepped up as Suzuki's next challenger. Through late July and early August, both El Desperado and Michinoku took part in

37824-427: Was defeated by Taguchi. Later in the month, two Suzuki-gun teams took part in the same block in the 2014 World Tag League ; K.E.S. and Suzuki and Iizuka. Both teams narrowly missed the final of the tournament due to losses on the final day; K.E.S. with a record of four wins and three losses and Suzuki and Iizuka with a record of three wins, one draw and three losses. K.E.S. was victorious in the head-to-head match between

38021-501: Was further popularised by Masahiro Chono and John Cena , who named it the STFU . Samoa Joe , Jazz , Erik Watts and Nikki Bella have also used this move. Starting in the same position as a regular STF, the attacker takes both the opponent's legs, bends them at the knees, and crosses them, placing one ankle in the other leg's knee-pit. The wrestler then grabs the free ankle and places that ankle between their thighs. They then lie on top of

38218-419: Was named as Misawa's successor, taking over as President of Pro Wrestling Noah. Also in 2009, Noah lost their weekly television show on Nippon TV . In March 2012, it was revealed that Noah management had ties to a yakuza crime syndicate, which resulted in the promotion demoting General Manager Ryu Nakata and Counselor Haruka Eigen and enforcing new anti-yakuza protocols; Noah also lost its TV show as part of

38415-518: Was not going to settle until Iizuka's final match. On February 21, at New Japan Road, Tenzan, along with Toru Yano and Kazuchika Okada, defeated the team of Suzuki, Taichi and Iizuka in Iizuka's retirement match, with Tenzan pinning Iizuka with the Moonsault for the victory. Post match, Tenzan made one final effort to bring the old Iizuka back momentarily, which resulted in Iizuka giving in and shook his hand for

38612-443: Was reportedly 200 years ago, but its true origins remain unknown. Also known as a cross armbreaker or straight armbar. The wrestler sits on either side of an opponent who is lying either prone or supine on the mat, with the wrestler's legs scissoring one of the opponent's arms. The wrestler then grabs hold of the wrist of that arm and pulls it upwards, causing hyper extension of the shoulder and elbow. Wrestlers Alberto Del Rio (often

38809-527: Was suitable to challenge for said title. On April 20, the newest member was revealed as former multi-time WWE Intercontinental Champion Shelton X Benjamin . Later that same day, Archer and Smith took part in a National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) event in Houston, Texas , where they defeated The Kingz of the Underground (Ryan Genesis and Scot Summers) to not only retain the IWGP Tag Team Championship, but to also win

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