(NOAH) "Come at me you bastards" ~ Kenoh's column (December 2018)

Q: I think we will summarize 2018 as it is the last serial of the year. By the way, 2018 has had color.
KENOH: I never had an interview, there were many moments in 2017!
Q: You lost the GHC Heavyweight in March...
KENOH: Shut up!
Q: It started well.
KENOH: I welcomed in 2018 as the champion (the next part doesn't translate well, but he says something about Sugiura being the precipice he got stuck on).
Q: And the big event of the generation struggle beginning in earnest in June.
KENOH: I was the one who was speaking loudly about ending the era of Marufuji and Sugiura. I am the one who has been saying that I will be the face of Noah. I have sent everything out. However, when the generational struggle started, all the guys who followed it started saying the same.
Q: In the end, the person who took the belt from Sugiura was Kaito Kiyomiya?
KENOH: It is said that it is already in pieces, all those guys, they are the kind of people who couldn't say it, even though they thought it, that they would be the one to "end the era of Marufuji & Sugiura". Because I had been saying it with venom each day, I think that it has become possible for them to say it. Now, that everyone wants to do what I wanted to accomplish by myself, and I think that in conclusion, it has all come down to one person, Kiyomiya. In the first place, you should use your own words so that it makes it original, well...it was a matter of concern to me when it was useless to get results.

Kenoh then naturally brings up his promo he cut earlier in the month about "Noah's script". Kenoh says that he was the one who wrote the screenplay.
So, what is the plot of this screenplay and who does it star?
It starts with Kaito Kiyomiya winning Global League on the 25th November at Korakuen Hall and beating Katsuhiko Nakajima in the main event. On the 16th December, he faced Takashi Sugiura, but there was nothing resounding in the wrestling. Kenoh says he told him this, and the audience seemed to agree with him. The next part doesn't translate well, but Kenoh roughly says that two guys who no character formed a story in a sluggish match, which was why Yokohama was so meaningful to them (the next part does not translate at all but he says something about teaming up to fight 50 Funky Powers in a Noah tournament system).

KENOH: Speaking of 2018 in Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium, there were not many customers entering. Although Sugiura did not change from the main event, his opponent did. It showed up in the numbers. After all, I had knuckle down and concentrate on the main when I was in it with the belt, and it was in the footsteps of that assholes return. Everyone immediately left their seats. I may have lost in March when Sugiura took the belt, but he had a great atmosphere didn't he? It was my championship that created that.
Q: I see.
KENOH: I think that packaging is really important for a box office.
Q: It was a memorable tournament when Kiyomiya became the GHC Heavyweight Champion.
KENOH: I have something to say regarding Kiyomiya. He is certainly the diamond in the rough who is carrying NOAH, he has the good looks and the physical ability. But, it is still early. If he keeps going on like this, he is just going to end up failing to do it. It takes time to become the diamond that shines really beautifully, but you need to do it over time. If you try and polish it immediately like now, it will just have a dirty shine. It is not good to be impatient. He is still polishing. I have good matches with anyone. I understand that it is not possible to resound with the customers, even Sugiura had a match that resounded with me. You are not the "new face", you are not the face yet. Leave the current Noah to me, and improve your talents.
Q: "Going to end up failing to do it"?
KENOH: About that point, I feel a sense of danger. If this carries on, then Kiyomiya will grow up in a strange direction. On the 6th January, I will take the belt at Korakuen and save Noah from this crisis. If you look at NOAH'S history, KENTA had a sense of impending crisis and grabbed the era, so for both NOAH and for Kiyomiya, I will take the belt, and I will do my best for 2019.
Q: So, Yokohama has become the core of things? Anyway, please give a summary of 2018.
KENOH: 2018 has been the best and the worst.

(Article translated from Puroresu Weekly. Picture credit, Puroresu Weekly)