ABEMA presents NOAH "THE NEW YEAR" 2024: WrestleFile Historical Verdict

Yu Owada defeating Taishi Ozawa gives the first dark match a simple developmental purpose. The two young NOAH wrestlers receive 5:24 to establish the event's homegrown base before the much larger interpromotional card begins. Owada's win is not historically decisive, but the pairing is useful in hindsight because both wrestlers were positioned as part of the promotion's next generation. The bout works as a compact prologue rather than something the full-event verdict depends on.

The second dark match is a broad NOAH roster showcase with veteran names carrying most of the identity. Kotoge scores the fall after the moonsault press in 7:22, giving the team with Yone and Super Crazy a quick crowd-pleasing result. The match does not advance the major stories at the top of the card, but it helps create a festival-like year-opening atmosphere and places several long-tenured roster figures on an Ariake Arena event without forcing them into longer programs.

YO-HEY and Tadasuke winning the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is the first major result of the card. NOAH's official result records the three-way elimination match at 8:48, with YO-HEY submitting Ninja Mack to end Dragon Bane and Alpha Wolf's second defense. The short format keeps the action urgent and the title change gives the opening main-card match immediate consequence. It also sets up an unusual second chapter only minutes later, when the former champions demand an immediate rematch.

The emergency rematch is one of the night's stranger booking details and should be preserved separately from the three-way title change. NOAH's official chronology gives the bout 3:36 and records YO-HEY and Tadasuke making their first successful defense immediately after winning the belts. YO-HEY pins Alpha Wolf after a missile kick. It is too short to develop into a full title match, but the back-to-back results firmly establish the new champions and turn the opening sequence into more than a routine switch.

Jake Lee, Jack Morris and Anthony Greene winning the international six-man tag gives Good Looking Guys a visible early-card success. The match lasts 9:44 and mixes NOAH's leading foreign act with wrestlers from outside the regular roster. It is not central to the event's final verdict, but it captures the promotion's international roster strategy entering 2024. Lee's presence also keeps a former GHC Heavyweight Champion prominent without placing him into the two championship matches higher on the card.

Tomohiro Ishii versus Masa Kitamiya is the first singles match where the NOAH-New Japan relationship produces something more than name value. Ishii wins in 15:04, but the appeal is the direct stylistic compatibility between two compact heavyweights built around strikes, tackles and physical endurance. Kitamiya loses on the NOAH side, yet the match gives him a credible arena-stage opponent and does not require complicated storyline machinery. As a standalone match it is one of the cleanest recommendations on the undercard.

Go Shiozaki defeating Satoshi Kojima in 13:56 works as a veteran heavyweight match with meaningful company history on both sides. Kojima had already held the GHC Heavyweight Championship during his NOAH run, so this is not simply a guest appearance from New Japan. Shiozaki's win gives the home promotion an important singles result after Ishii beat Kitamiya and reinforces his continued status as one of NOAH's central heavyweights. The match is concise enough to avoid becoming an endurance exercise on an already long card.

The women's tag match is built around the arrival of Great Sakuya and therefore functions more as an angle than a self-contained athletic showcase. Umesaki and Takase win by disqualification in 13:46, keeping the new character protected while allowing the match to end without a conventional fall. On a card crowded with championships and New Japan crossovers, the segment gives NOAH a different presentation mode. Its long-term value depends more on the Great Sakuya story than on the result itself.

Takashi Sugiura defeating Ulka Sasaki is valuable primarily because it records Sasaki's professional-wrestling debut against one of NOAH's most credible veterans. The bout lasts 11:02, giving the former MMA fighter enough time to demonstrate his transition without pretending he should immediately beat Sugiura. The booking is disciplined: Sasaki gets a serious platform, while Sugiura's status is protected. That balance makes the match a useful developmental document even if it is not one of the night's peak in-ring performances.

Zack Sabre Jr. and Yoshinari Ogawa defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi and HAYATA is the card's most deliberately technical interpromotional tag. Sabre and Ogawa share a style built around leverage, counters and limb work, while Tanahashi supplies star power and HAYATA keeps the match tied to NOAH's junior division. The 17:36 runtime gives the pairing enough space to become more than novelty. It feels like a curated attraction rather than a random crossover and is one of the strongest undercard recommendations.

Daga retaining the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship against Eita in 13:00 gives the junior singles title a straightforward defense amid a card filled with outside names. The match is important because it keeps one of NOAH's own championships from getting lost inside the year-opening spectacle. Daga's second successful defense maintains continuity in the division, while Eita provides an opponent with enough credibility to make the result feel earned. The bout is efficient and supports the larger event rather than trying to overpower it.

The twelve-man elimination match is less about technical cohesion than about multiple intersecting stories between NOAH, New Japan and House of Torture. At 26:14 it is one of the longest matches on the show, and the elimination structure allows several wrestlers to receive a defined moment without requiring one pinfall to settle every rivalry. Kiyomiya surviving to help eliminate EVIL gives the home side a closing success, while Umino and Narita's involvement keeps the match connected to New Japan's younger-generation conflicts.

On January 2, 2024, Kenoh retained NOAH's GHC Heavyweight Championship against former Kongo ally Manabu Soya at Tokyo's Ariake Arena in 28:36. The promoter's official finish record names KENOH SPECIAL, and identifies this as the newly crowned 43rd champion's first successful defense. Soya's challenger role carried added weight because Kenoh addressed their long association in his own postmatch remarks and praised Soya's growth since the two stopped teaming. That history gives a specific explanation for the contest's stakes beyond a generic test of whether a recent champion could win again. The original A/9.1 is WrestleFile's independent match assessment, not an official championship rating.

The GHC title did not close the night: Kota Ibushi vs. Naomichi Marufuji followed as the advertised non-title DESTINY 2024 special attraction. The order matters when reading this show because a successful top-belt defense was followed by a guest-star main event, not by an additional heavyweight championship outcome. Kenoh's 28:36 result is distinct from both the later Ibushi match and the earlier junior-title defenses. The source supports the named finish and time without inventing a pinfall method absent from the result line.

The advertised DESTINY 2024 closing attraction on January 2, 2024 paired visiting star Kota Ibushi with NOAH veteran Naomichi Marufuji at Ariake Arena. The original NOAH result specifies Ibushi won in 33:26 after KAMIGOYE followed by a pinfall cover. This is an identifiable match finish, not just the statement that a famous guest defeated the home veteran. NOAH's own postmatch account records Marufuji voicing frustration at his defeat while pledging to continue rebuilding, so the historical interest includes a notable hometown figure's reaction as well as Ibushi's victory. The match did not put the GHC Heavyweight Championship on the line.

The length and advertised star pairing created a special main-event position after Kenoh's 28:36 KENOH SPECIAL title defense against Soya. That booking distinction is central to the event's story: the official first GHC defense held the title record, and the separate DESTINY contest closed the program without affecting the champion. WrestleFile's existing B+/8.2 evaluation remains a critical judgment rather than a claim that a long runtime guarantees a better bout. No championship changed during the Ibushi-Marufuji result.