Fujimura, Odashima Headline NOAH Jr. Grand Prix 2

The lineup for the NOAH Jr. Grand Prix 2 has been revealed.

Pro Wrestling NOAH has unveiled the 17 men who will compete in their upcoming NOAH Jr. Grand Prix 2 tournament set to begin on November 9 and conclude with the finals on November 28.

Headlining this year’s tournament are GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion, Kai Fujimura, both GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champs, Jun Masaoka and YO-HEY, and former WWE superstar, Sydney Akeem (FKA Reggie/Scypts).

The entire field looks like this:

• Alejandro
• BUSHI (Los Tranquilos de Japon)
• Daiki Odashima
• Dragon Bane
• HAYATA (White Raven Squad)
• Hi69
• GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, Jun Masaoka (Team 2000X)
• GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, Kai Fujimura (Team 2000X)
• Kid Lykos (Lykos Gym)
• Kid Lykos 2 (Lykos Gym)
• Shuji Kondo
• Sydney Akeem
• Tadasuke (Team 2000X)
• Tsunagu Sato (Michinoku Pro Wrestling)
• GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, YO-HEY (Team 2000X)

The 16th competitor will be decided in a preliminary play-in match between Hiroya Namiki and Yuto Koyanagi on October 15. Namiki only just made his pro wrestling debut in August, so this will be a big test for him.

Notable first round matchups include Fujimura against BUSHI and Sydney Akeem vs. Kid Lykos on November 9th, Daiki Odashima vs. Jun Masaoka on November 14th, and former Kongo brothers Tadasuke and Hi69 on November 15th. Here is the full list of first round matchups.

November 9 in Korakuen Hall:

• Kai Fujimura vs. BUSHI
• Kid Lykos 2 vs. Tsunagu Sato
• Shuji Kondo vs. YO-HEY
• Kid Lykos vs. Sydney Akeem

November 14 in Umeda Sky Building Stella Hall:

• Alejandro vs. the winner of Hiroya Namiki vs. Yuto Koyangi
• Daiki Odashima vs. Jun Masaoka

November 15 in Lives NAGOYA:

• Hi69 vs. Tadasuke
• Dragon Bane vs. HAYATA

The NOAH Jr. Grand Prix 2 is an annual single elimination tournament, similar to NJPW’s New Japan Cup or Osaka Pro’s recent Tennōzan. The tournament was first conceived of with a round robin format as the “Global Junior Heavyweight League” in 2009, before being dormant until 2015.

In 2020, NOAH changed the format to that of a Royal Rumble style match. This ran three times. In 2024, NOAH once again brought it back, but this time under the “N Innovation” name and as a single elimination tournament, which it still is today.

Even still, the names of the men who’ve won this ever changing competition are a who’s who of NOAH’s junior heavyweight scene over the past 15 years. Daisuke Harada won the tournament on three occasions. HAYATA has twice. In 2024, Dragon Bane beat Junta Miyawaki to win, and in 2025, the reigning GHC Heavyweight Champion at the time, Hiromu Takahashi, beat Kai Fujimura.

Elsewhere, NOAH star Shuhei Taniguchi announced his plans to retire in January. You can read more about that here.

As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the NOAH Jr. Grand Prix 2 as soon as we hear more.