(NOAH) Kenoh's column "Come At Me You Bastards" ~ September 2018

This weeks column starts off with the interviewer saying that in the last edition, a reader contacted them to make a correction. Kenoh says that person was Yohei Nakajima, and he doesn't care if he has a problem (it seems that there was an error and Kenoh implied that Yohei Nakajima was stupid when what he meant to say was to the interviewer, "are you stupid"? and it was written down wrong.)
Anyway, changing the subject, the interviewer says that Twitter asked for this theme, which is kind of a reader question time with Kenoh). Kenoh says there has been a lot of interesting themes, but as it was round about the time when Morishima announced that he had to cancel his match due to injury, and three out of five people asked about that,  but he has talked enough about Morishima, so that will not be this weeks main theme. He was also asked about how he got into wrestling, and the issue of  harassment by abuse of power in sports. Kenoh is also asked about Marufuji (he calls him "Naomichi"), and says that the latter two will be this weeks subjects.

Q: Why did you choose this topic?
Kenoh: Because other than wrestling, it is the most requested subject, I thought that it would be a theme that would be transmitted to pro-wrestling fans who usually are not interested in Noah.

They then discuss amateur sports, and the fact that Kenoh became the world champion in Kenpō*
Kenoh starts off by talking about the harassment stories currently in the Japanese media in the world of sports. He says that even though now he is in a position to teach, even in amateur sports, money goes a long way and you can see how it effects people. Its not just in amateur sports either, its in the world of the professionals, and there are cases too. The issue usually has enormously powerful people behind it, who like the power it gives over others. Kenoh says (in a rough translation as it doesn't really translate well), that although now he personally belongs to Noah, he has never thought it a good idea to develop any kind of romantic feelings, sexual passion or megalomaniac power for anyone else in your business.
The interviewer asks him to explain the last point;

"Even now in Noah, you have that guy gathering the seniors together to take charge. It is Naomichi Marufuji. It is the same with politics. If he has power for a long time, the company will decay. I will not let it go. I have to surpass him. Either inside or outside of the ring."

The interviewer asks about the tag challenge on the 9th September in Osaka.
Kenoh says that he may have lost, but it wasn't to Marufuji, and he has been chasing a singles match with him for a long long time, really since the era he was GHC Heavyweight Champion (NOTE: Kenoh that is, Marufuji last held the belt in January 2016 before losing it to Takashi Sugiura; Kenoh was waiting for Marufuji to challenge him, but he never did much to Kenoh's anger).
Even though he rekindled the challenge, he, Marufuji took it calmly, and acted as if nothing had happened. Kenoh says he is going to leave it for now, but it has left a sour taste in his mouth. There are many things he has wanted to say since beginning this column, and in any case he wants to succeed and win in other areas, other than just the fight about it in the ring. But, even Kenoh must admit that Marufuji has a tremendous presence, even if there is a paradox in Noah not being able to always sell out Korakuen Hall, he was able to fill up Sumo Hall for 20th anniversary.

Getting back to the issues with the singles matches, Kenoh is asked why there was no single matches in the pre-fights?
Kenoh replies that Marufuji is the Kazuhito Sakae*** of the wrestling world, like Akira Yamane**** in Boxing and Mr & Mrs Tsukuhara in Gymnastics,  he uses his power to an unfair advantage over others (namely him).

"The problem is that Noah was meant to be created to put the wrestlers first, but Noah is always Marufuji first"

Kenoh is now paranoid, and thinks that Marufuji is using his power both in the ring and in the back to crush him, a situation that he is going to remedy someday. However, Kenoh is happy to win and regretful if he loses, and so that is how his strength and power will build, so Marufuji can do as he wishes to him, it will all work for his benefit in the end.
But, there is also someone else in Noah, other than Marufuji, who is using his sway keeping Kenoh down...
The interviewer asks who that is?

"The one who is sitting at ringside.
"I am great. I can do whatever I want"

The interviewer thinks he can make a guess as to who it is...
Yes, that is right, its President Masayuki Uchida, who Kenoh calls "Noah's first little president" (rough translation, but its mocking, and its best translated as calling someone a "little Napoleon" which implies they use self aggrandizing behavior to make up for their small size and physical flaws). Kenoh said that at the end of last year he started commenting that he was no longer making an appearance, but he has started to come out again now and sit at the ringside table.
He is also part of what Kenoh perceives to be the part of the "abuse of power" that is keeping him down.... 

NOTES
*Form of Shaolin Kung-Fu that Kenoh has been doing from the traditional age of three years old. He is now one of the directors of an academy that teaches it. "Kenpō" literally means "Way of The Fist", so the name "Kenoh", which literally means "Fist King", is a play on this.

*** Kazuhito Sakae was a former wrestler, who worked for both All Japan and the Japanese Wrestling Alliance, who had to resign from his position as trainer due to allegations of abuse of power. 

**** Akira Yamane was the former president of the Japan Amateur Boxing Federation who resigned in August 2018 after allegations of misconduct including match fixing, pressuring of referees for favorable outcomes and financial misuse of money

***** Chieko and Mitsuo Tsukahara, husband and wife who were both former champion gymnasts who resigned from coaching in 2018 after allegations of abuse of power.