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

The column starts by Kenoh and the interviewer discussing "the amazing" Ikos Ageo on the 30th September (which due to the incoming typhoon, was almost cancelled). Kenoh says he drove  home, as he came by car anyway.
Due to the weather it was announced that the trains would stop at 8pm; Kenoh, however was "wondering if those fuckers in the audience" were okay as some of them stayed right until the end of the event, and Kenoh is grateful to them for doing so.
So, how did the interviewer get back? He traveled back with senior referee, Nishinaga apparently.
The issue was very serious. Kenoh said that on the morning of the 30th, he had heard from an acquaintance in Okinawa that their shop had been damaged. He wondered what it was going to be like to have a show in such circumstances, but fortunately it ended without any incident. The atmosphere at the venue was tense as no one knew what was going to happen (i.e. was the show going to get cancelled half way in due to the weather), and added to that it was the last night of Global Junior League. Kenoh said that it was a pleasure that people came to see as much as they could in the time it could be done.

Kenoh is then asked what he did when he got home?
Kenoh says he did some grocery shopping at the Aeon (chain store) near his home, and everything was shut except the food corner. So he shopped and went home, and then lazed around. He doesn't usually watch TV, but he wanted to see the progression of the typhoon and so found himself flicking through the channels.

"Then a professional wrestler appeared"

It was Hiroshi Tanahashi, who was appearing on a show called "Passion Continent*", and so when the music started and he saw who it was, he turned up the volume.
So what did Kenoh think of it?
Surprisingly, he liked it. He doesn't usually watch TV, and when he does, a pro-wrestler was on it. Kenoh thinks it is a brilliant idea, he enjoyed the documentary, and he thinks it was great that Tanahashi was on it, especially since the show usually has people on it who are musicians, game developers, biologists and if they do come from the world of sports they are swimmers or mountaineers.
Then they talk about TV (free TV, paid TV, terrestrial etc, not really about specific programs). Kenoh says if you can pay for it, you are a lucky person, as being on the road so much, all they generally get is terrestrial TV in hotels and motels. A popular pastime in the old Noah was to play games on Free TV, and each wrestler naturally had a favorite one to play.

The interviewer says something very poignant and very true for people who have a semi nomadic existence and spend most of the year on the road; "Pro-Wrestlers need familiarity".

Kenoh says that shows like "Passion Continent" are absolutely necessary to appeal to people who don't watch pro-wrestling, he doesn't think that anyone else, celebrities and popular entertainers, have the same impact for their industry as pro-wrestlers do.
The interviewer thinks that film or TV acting is good.
Kenoh manages to mention Marufuji without shrieking about something, and says that Marufuji has managed to bring exposure that way*, and although it was the same fifteen years ago, a huge difference has now opened up. If you look at things in terms of the ring and both Marufuji and Tanahashi being at "the top" you will find no difference, the difference is that Tanahashi can send what he does to more people and the world beyond.

Kenoh: What was the name of the quiz show Giant Baba was on?
Interviewer: "Shobai's Quiz World Show"

Kenoh evidently watched it (or at least has some knowledge of it) as he remembers Baba chopping someone and breaking the set, or on a quick fire quiz, and this brings him back to his original point. Each week, if you watch terrestrial TV, even people who don't like or watch pro-wrestling will see the poster of the show and say "Oh, I saw that person". Kenoh says its natural that people will do this, but the downside is that if you live in a rural area, its only a couple of times a year that such a person you see on TV will come.
The interviewer reminds him that Kenoh himself is from a rural area, Tokushima on Shikoku Island (or "this fucking countryside" as Kenoh once described it as).
Kenoh says that if you see pro wrestlers on Free TV, you can see them do things they wouldn't do normally on pro-wrestling, and that is a big part that is missing from Noah; the only person who appears with any regularity on free TV is Quiet Storm*.

KENOH: By the way, in the past when I was in Michinoku Pro... 
INTERVIEWER:...there was the Great Sasuke

Kenoh says that there were times when Sasuke was making a noise in the world. He made a impact with the mask, and he was famous all over the country as a member of the Japanese Diet.
He had generally a good reputation, except for in Iwate Prefecture. However, for a professional wrestler, there is an aura of famousness in everything.

They finish up by discussing Kenoh being a graduate from the Meiji University in Political Economics and who has a teaching licence, and that he should show off his different styles by going on a game show.
Kenoh says if that happens, he will definitely do well!

* A show that focuses on people from different industries
* Marufuji did a stage play a few years ago, and he is on various programs, but aside from "Young People" in about 2009 or so, its really Go Shiozaki and Takeshi Morishima who have had exposure in TV (Morishima) and film (Go Shiozaki)
* Ameji Peng, a psychedelic show where Quiet Storm is either bursting into small Izakaya or answering questions in the studio. It's basically about gaijins in Japan who have an intense love for the company.