Takashi Sugiura
Misawa appeared at NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom III on January 4, 2009, losing alongside Takashi Sugiura to Shinsuke Nakamura and Hirooki Goto. On March 1, Noah held their final NTV taping at Budokan, with a near-sellout of 14,200 people in attendance. This show was also significant for Kobashi's return after a September elbow surgery. Noah announced television deals with satellite stations Nittele G+ and Fighting TV Samurai. However, there was a low percentage of Japanese homes with satellite television. This meant that the most television exposure Noah would have going forward was a half-hour timeslot after midnight on TV Osaka (a smaller affiliate of TV Tokyo).