M's Alliance

**M's Alliance** (エムズ・アリアンス, *Emuzu Araiansu*) was a professional wrestling stable in the Pro Wrestling NOAH (NOAH) promotion. The group was formed by Keiji Mutoh, Masaaki Mochizuki, Naomichi Marufuji, on June 20, 2020, in which the stable was joined by Yuko Miyamoto two days later.

Since January 2020, Marufuji began teaming with Dragon Gate wrestler Masaaki Mochizuki, culminating in June, the two forming the stable with Keiji Mutoh and later Yuko Miyamoto. The name of the stable consists of the letter M of each member of the stable. Despite being smaller in numbers than full-scale factions such as KONGOH and Sugiura-gun, M's Alliance has established itself as one of the most prominent and most popular stables in NOAH, with Mutoh and Marufuji holding the GHC Heavyweight and GHC Tag Team Championships, and Mochizuki the GHC National Championship at the end of 2021.

During the year, M's Alliance added two new members; Masakatsu Funaki and Masato Tanaka, who quickly brought Pro Wrestling Zero1's World Heavyweight Championship to the stable. The stable was reduced to five members, after Funaki deffected to KONGOH in January 2022. Following Funaki's deffection and with the stable being fractured, Marufuji decided to disband M's Alliance.

## History

### Formation (2020)

Since January 2020, Dragon Gate wrestler Masaaki Mochizuki, and Naomichi Marufuji began teaming with each other, after winning the GHC Tag Team Championship on their first match. After Mochizuki and Marufuji lost the titles to 2020 Global Tag League winners Sugiura-gun International (El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and Rene Dupree) on April 19, Marufuji and Mochizuki began regularly teaming with Japanese legend Keiji Mutoh. This culminated on June 20, Marufuji announcing the formation of the stable dubbed "M's Alliance", consisting of the letter M of each member of the stable, with Marufuji also teasing a new member of the stable, with the letter M on his name. On June 22, Yuko Miyamoto was revealed as the stable's newest member. Afterwards, the stable made his first official match defeating Sugiura-gun (Kazushi Sakuraba, Kendo Kashin, Nosawa Rongai, and Takashi Sugiura). The members would then invent their own pose, which was making an M on their fingers.

### Expansion and Championship pursuits and disbanding (2020–2022)

Following the event, Marufuji began targetting the GHC Heavyweight Championship, after Marufuji and Mutoh defeated Go Shiozaki and Kaito Kiyomiya on July 18, with Marufuji pinning Shiozaki. Meanwhile, Mutoh also began a feud with Kioymiya, after Mutoh was challenged to a dream match by him on various occasions. On August 5, on the second night of Departure, Marufuji unsuccessfully challenged Go Shiozaki for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. Five days later, at NOAH The Chronicle Vol. 3, Mutoh defeated Kiyomiya in their dream match. On August 30, M's Alliance was joined by another member, who was revealed to Masakatsu Funaki, becoming the stable's fifth member. From September 18 and October 11, two members of members of M's Alliance took part in the 2020 N-1 Victory, with Mochizuki, and Marufuji wrestling in separate round-robin blocks. Mochizuki finished third in his block with a record of two wins, two losses and one daw, while Marufuji finished his block in fourth with a record of two wins, two losses and one draw, leading both to fail to advance to the finals of the tournament.

On January 4, 2021, at New Sunrise, Masato Tanaka was announced as the newest member of the stable, teaming with Mutoh and Marufuji in a losing effort against Go Shiozaki, Kaito Kiyomiya and Hiroshi Hase as part of Mutoh's feud with Shiozaki for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. On February 12, 2021 at Destination, Mutoh defeated Go Shiozaki to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship. With this victory, Mutoh became the third wrestler (the others being Kensuke Sasaki and Yoshihiro Takayama) to win the three major heavyweight titles in Japan: NOAH's GHC Heavyweight Championship, New Japan's IWGP Heavyweight Championship, and All Japan's Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. Their match was named the Match of the Year by *Tokyo Sports*, marking the first time in ten years, that a match from NOAH received the award. On April 29 at NOAH: The Glory, after Mutoh successfully defended his title against Masa Kitamiya, Marufuji challenged him Mutoh to a title match. Mutoh, who had ignored his last two challengers, responded accepting the title match at CyberFight Festival. At CyberFight Festival, Mutoh lost the GHC Heavyweight Championship to Marufuji. On August 5, Tanaka confronted former Dangan Yankees stablemate Takashi Sugiura to a double title match for Tanaka's Pro Wrestling Zero1's World Heavyweight Championship and Sugiura's GHC National Championship. This led to a title match on August 15 at Kawasaki, Go!, where Tanaka lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Sugiura in the double title match, where Sugiura also defended the GHC National Championship. In September, three members of M's Alliance took part in the 2021 N-1 Victory, with Mochizuki, Mutoh and Funaki wrestling in separate round-robin blocks. Mochizuki and Mutoh finished second in their block, while Funaki won his block with a record of three wins, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament. On October 3, Funaki was defeated by Katsuhiko Nakajima in the semifinals of the 2021 N-1 Victory. On October 28, Mochizuki defeated Takashi Sugiura to win the GHC National Championship. On November 13, Mochizuki lost the GHC National Championship to Kenoh. Later that night, Mutoh and Marufuji defeated Masa Kitamiya and Kaito Kiyomiya to win the GHC Tag Team Championship.

On December 5, following a victory in a eight-man tag team match, Tanaka and Mochizuki challenged Marufuji and Mutoh to title match for the GHC Tag Team Championship, leading Marufuji and Mutoh to ask Jurina Matsui to give her blessing for the title match, which she did, setting up the GHC Tag Team Championship match for the NOAH The New Year on January 1, 2022. At the event, Marufuji and Mutoh successfully defended the GHC Tag Team Championship against Mochizuki and Tanaka. On January 22, Funaki defeated Kenoh to win the GHC National Championship. Afterwards, Funaki quit the stable and deffect to KONGOH. On February 8, Mutoh and Marufuji announced that were going to vacate the GHC Tag Team Championship after Mutoh injured his left hip lip joint. With Mutoh facing a long term injury, Miyamoto and Matsui not being in NOAH, and Tanaka persuing his own career goals, Marufuji and Mochizuki announced on March 13, that M's Alliance were going to disband.

## Championships and accomplishments

* **Big Japan Pro Wrestling**
	+ BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship (1 time) – Miyamoto
* **Pro Wrestling Noah**
	+ GHC Heavyweight Championship (2 times) – Mutoh (1) and Marufuji (1)
	+ GHC National Championship (2 times) – Mochizuki (1) amd Funaki (1)
	+ GHC Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Mutoh and Marufuji
* **Pro Wrestling Zero1**
	+ World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) – Tanaka
* ***Tokyo Sports***
	+ Match of the Year (2021) Mutoh vs. Go Shiozaki on February 12 at Destination 2021