(NOAH) Misawa's three forever - interview with Yoshinari Ogawa and Kotaro Suzuki
March 2019
Q: Mr. Ogawa, is it emotional to win the belt with Kotaro?
OGAWA: I haven't had a partner since Zak left.
Q: In March last year you won the GHC Junior Tag championship with Minoru Tanaka.
OGAWA: Did I?
KOTARO: You said you were giving up the belt the next day.
OGAWA: I don't remember that.
KOTARO: I saw the article and thought it was just like Mr. Ogawa
Q: Ishimori announced his departure from Noah the next day, and you released a statement saying "I am not happy to take a belt from someone who had a title match and then quit Noah". So now, Kotaro is your partner again?
OGAWA: I'm not saying its the same as Zak, but they are both easy to partner with as they know what to do. It is not so with other people. Kotaro and Zak are easy.
Q: Each day you stood in the same cornerKOTARO: Misawa, Mitsuo & myself, it was almost a six person tag
OGAWA: We had the match, went drinking, had the match, went drinking - it was always the three of us with Misawa.
Q: Last year on the 1st September, Kotaro returned to Noah for the 20th anniversary of Naomichi Marufuji, and from that time on has automatically been with Mr. Ogawa.
OGAWA: What timing; we shook hands in Sumo Hall.
KOTARO: I was happy, as that was why I went back to Noah. There was no one else I could tag with in that position.
Q: So, how was it coming back to Noah after a long time?
KOTARO: Half new and half nostalgia
Q: What did you feel about half nostalgia and half new?
KOTARO: It's been a long time since I felt the ring. Noah's ring is slightly more elevated than others, and the ropes are also thicker. When I think about it, I thought "it's high" (laugh). Its been a while since I've known this height.
Q: So, what is so new?
KOTARO: The wrestlers are completely different. I knew Kumano when he was a trainee.
Q: What did you think about Kotaro returning?
OGAWA: You never know in this industry, and I thought that we would do something together somewhere, but I didn't think it would be like this. I thought it would be somewhere else and with a completely different feeling. No way I thought it would be Noah! I didn't think it would happen. He came back and we went drinking together during the tour right away.
KOTARO: That's right (laugh)
Q: So those missing years were filled in a moment?
OGAWA: It was the same as ever.
Q: Is there such a thing?
OGAWA: He is a bit crude when drunk.
KOTARO: That's because I was taught to drink Sake by Mr. Misawa and Mr. Ogawa. I traveled a unique path.
Q: Was it okay going drinking with your seniors after a long absence?
KOTARO: There was a lunch or something, but it hasn't been since I was a freelancer.
Q: It's not been taken away that he is your younger student? (rough)
KOTARO: Ah, it has....he was a junior.
Q: Well, I guess its nostalgic to go drinking together.
KOTARO: It was nostalgic. I got drunk, fell over and broke my bag (laughs)
Q: Last December, Kotaro lost the GHC Junior, and YO-HEY joined you from RATELS. I would like to hear about that.
OGAWA: Listen to Kotaro first.
KOTARO: He was the one who did it. I spoke about it in comments, but he was the one who guessed that his chances would increase. In the case of HAYATA, it worked in reverse. He pretended to come over here, and thought his chances would increase if he headed back
OGAWA: If I didn't have time off due to flu...HAYATA'S mind would have developed at that time. If I were there, he would have been completely here.
Q: You missed Okayama on the 19th, and on the 26th you missed the event in Osaka.
KOTARO: Perhaps it was the perfect fit
OGAWA: I was disappointed with you.
KOTARO: I wasn't involved almost. It all came together in Tokorozawa, and two days later it happened.
Q: You couldn't be in Noah for a while due to the single league in All Japan.
OGAWA: You didn't have a tour like you would have if I was there.
Q: Drinking?
KOTARO (laughing): I have a cheap heart that can be moved by Sake (laughs)
OGAWA: You are right.
Q (laughing): YO-HEY was excited to join you?
OGAWA: I am going to Osaka tomorrow, so I promised to go and eat with YO-HEY.
Q: What's it like tagging with YO-HEY?
KOTARO: It's easy to do. I guess I am learning how to fight tags in various ways. Personally its development too isn't it?
OGAWA: That means that we are better that Harada.
KOTARO: Isn't he "the boss"?
OGAWA: I think Tadasuke is dissatisfied too.
KOTARO: If I persuade him, he might come here (grins)
Q: What about the conflict with RATELS?
KOTARO: There is no RATELS isn't there?
OGAWA: There is nothing to dispute. I want to destroy HAYATA (rough)
Q: Betryal
OGAWA: No way, right?
Q: He joined you on February 1st and then betrayed you on the 24th. That was a very short time to betray...
OGAWA: YO-HEY has more direction with us
KOTARO: The married couple have divorced. There is no remarriage.
Q: Because HAYATA went back to RATELS, there are now three of them and they have become a group again.
KOTARO: They were meant to dissolve
OGAWA: I don't know the reason. In the future, Kotaro may be double-crossed.
KOTARO: If you betray me, you are awful person.
OGAWA: Then it in fashion. By all means, I don't know why (laughs).
Q: The line of people is strong
KOTARO: I think so
OGAWA: It might be better for me and YO-HEY
KOTARO: It's about taking the time to go to Osaka to have dinner with YO-HEY
OGAWA: I'm pretty much going out for dinner with YO-HEY. Depending on what Hi-69 does, everything will change.
Q: How is YO-HEY as a professional wrestler?
OGAWA: YO-HEY is easy to tag with too. I can do it when its easy, but I guess its not easy for people to tag with me. I don't know.
SUZUKI: It's funny.
Q: Is it similar with HAYATA?
OGAWA: I don't know about HAYATA as I have never tagged with him, but because I thought it would be good, I invited him.
Q: But he betrayed you and returned to the enemy. How many times have you borrowed this and had the debt returned?
OGAWA: I had no choice but to do it.
KOTARO: There is a distinction
Q: What do you think of HAYATA, Kotaro?
KOTARO: His movement is good, but I have a singles win over everyone in that team.
Q: Since Kotaro came back, the NOAH juniors have changed.
OGAWA: I don't think Hi69 cares, there is no spirit.
KOTARO: He has not had any motivation since dropping the belt.
Q: His partner has gone for a singles belt, Tanaka will challenge for the GHC Junior on the 10th March in Yokohama?
OGAWA: HI69 is turning into a heavyweight
KOTARO: He's got about 1 - 2 kilos left.
Q: Hi69 is just hanging around?
OGAWA: I don't know if that's good or bad.
Q: Do you want him to be more hungry?
OGAWA: Do you? I don't care.
Q: So, what do you think of the current Noah juniors as a whole?
OGAWA: Yeah...I thought that disassembling RATELS was a nice touch, but it has gradually gone wrong.
Q: I think that Hi69 and Minoru Tanaka will also stir, so it doesn't feel completely different. After all, the juniors were RATELS, and you have fought with them. The point seems to be Hi69, but nothing seems to have transformed? What do you think Kotaro?
KOTARO: All the chess pieces are in place, but it is not as good as that time.
OGAWA: "At that time?"
Q: You mean the time of KENTA, Marufuji and Sugiura?
OGAWA: There were plenty of good gaijin wrestlers too back then, Eddie Edwards and Daniel Bryan to name a few.
Q: So, last year the fight with RATELS began and on the singles front it was the past being taken lightly. The Noah juniors always have a part in fighting the past.
KOTARO: I think I have to go beyond my past to get to my present.
Q: Do you think you could have obtained the Super Junior?
KOTARO: I have Mr. Ogawa with me, and we are not surpassed. I think Mr. Ogawa still being a junior is big.
OGAWA: How about it (laughs)
KOTARO: Are you not going to become a heavyweight?
OGAWA: It's because of weight loss. Well, Kotaro will sort something out.
KOTARO: I will look into it, fun to think of what kind of mat it will be.
Q: The owners of Noah have changed this year, and launched a policy called "leaving Misawa". After taking the belt, Ogawa has said that "I think I will go in the other direction".
OGAWA: I guess it will be the case when Kotaro and I tag. There is nothing wrong with what the new owners have said, but actually, it is getting rid of. It is said that those who have met Misawa, are now almost none in the current company. If someone says they had an interaction with Misawa, its not myself, Marufuji or Kotaro. Among them in the waiting room, and in private too, it was myself, Misawa and Kotaro, the three of us all together in the back. With the exception of Marufuji who was on the way, it was the three of us who went out to drink countless times in the snow.
SUZUKI: That's right.
OGAWA: So, it wasn't just a level that we met Misawa once, or that we had a point of contact in the match, but whenever we went out to drink, Kotaro was there, and the three of us stayed with each other. So it is natural that as we team, the color will come out. Among the current wrestlers, there are those who have never met Misawa, and none of them has ever had a deep relationship with him. I think that the two most connected will naturally do that, and I think it goes without saying, we won't be concious of being like that.
(Note: Misawa named him "Kotaro" as he wished him to echo and reverberate deeply like a drum.)
Q: It is not an overstatement to say that Kotaro occupies that.
OGAWA: That is a pretty big thing to swallow
SUZUKI: The phrases are different (laughs)*, and since Misawa passed away, I started using the Tiger Driver as a finishing hold.
(Note: he actually used the word "Pakaru", it doesn't really translate well, but the best would be to style it as stealing someone's style)
KOTARO: It's my favorite technique
OGAWA: I dare not use it. It is the link between us because its what Misawa was doing.
KOTARO:...I have inherited it.
Q: This is being called "Noah's new voyage", what do you think about developing that direction?
KOTARO: As Ogawa said a while ago, that is not us. If the company is going to do that, then we cannot stop it.
OGAWA: On the contrary, its amusing. Everyone heads that way except for one or two people, mass communication is interesting isn't it for us?
KOTARO: I feel it destiny to become GHC Junior tag champion at this time.
OGAWA: I don't have to say it, but I did after the match had finished.
Q: Fans who have been rooting for Noah for a long time, have been a source of spirit.
OGAWA: I haven't talked separately about the fans, just myself and Kotaro. But, how does a plug become new? How does it change? I am looking forward to seeing what kind of mat it will be, and what kind of ring it will be. There will things to be changed rather than to change.
Q: I didn't think I would hear those words from Mr. Ogawa. The mat will also change from green.
KOTARO: The logo will also change.
Q: It is a logo that Mr. Ogawa has known for a long time.
OGAWA: I am on good terms with the people who thought of the logo.
Q: What do you think about the Noah mat changing from green at the start?
OGAWA: Yeah, because its been a long time...it's good, isn't it?
KOTARO: I want to hear this too. I wasn't there at the time of the launch.
OGAWA: The people around me...Misawa, too...I don't want to answer here. I will talk at a different time (lol).
KOTARO: Everything will change if we crush Tadasuke & HAYATA. If things do not change between so many people, we are going to have to bring the ring up for ourselves.
Q: I have noticed that recently you Kotaro and Ogawa are always a topic in Noah Juniors.
OGAWA: You will get that impression when it doesn't move.
Q: I shouldn't say that, but I think that YO-HEY & HAYATA became motivated because there is so much support.
OGAWA: I don't know. Also, HAYATA may return. I don't think so, because I will make it very bad.
Q: Will you beat him?
OGAWA: Kotaro has thought it over carefully. HAYATA'S aim.
KOTARO: That's right, Tadasuke is a bonus.
Q: Now that Kotaro has returned to Noah, you can attend Misawa's memorial each June.
KOTARO: In the past I could only send flowers. This time, I want to do it with everyone.
Q: I am glad that you will be at Misawa's memorial.
KOTARO: What do you think about the surroundings?
OGAWA: Well, on such a day, it is not just another ring.
KOTARO: Sometimes we would meet and drink, but we went to the ring together...I haven't thought about it. It's still a way to go. I have tried not to talk about Misawa in interviews or anything so far. There are lots of things to write, but I have made a decision to refuse them all.
Q: It is an honor that you have spoken.
OGAWA: Well, I am still not talking properly yet.
KOTARO: I am talking, but I wouldn't if we hadn't tagged. It seemed likely that we would tag. Lets grow. Not leave.
Q: Kotaro is not much different from that time, but you are now forty years old.
KOTARO: I feel the passage of time, but I have been lucky certainly. My body gets stiff, and my weight increases. Misawa once told me, "you cannot defeat age", and I have finally realised what he meant. In the past, I always thought I would be young. Mr. Ogawa is a good condition, isn't it?
OGAWA: That's not true.
KOTARO: It is not so different from the old days. I'm different though. What is your secret to keep looking so youthful?
OGAWA: I don't have one. I just don't think about anything.
Q: Takashi Iizuka of the same generation has retired. Who is before Kotaro?
OGAWA: Liger
Q: Ishimori has a challenge against him on the 6th March for the New Japan IWGP Junior Championship?
OGAWA: The match will be fine (rough)
KOTARO: Is he not in the best condition of all the generations around?
OGAWA: It's not good. It just looks like that.
KOTARO: That means that there are ways to make it look like that (laugh).
Q: You have been wrestling for more than 30 years since your debut.
OGAWA: Well, I think that there is a great part there too. I do each match, and I don't rest, even if I do say it myself.
Q: Finally, I'd like to finish with what you would like to do with the Noah Juniors?
OGAWA: There is a little more.
KOTARO: I'd like to keep the tag belt. After that, with YO-HEY, the three of us will lead the Noah Juniors (rough)
OGAWA: Kotaro, YO-HEY and I will do some interesting things. I am thinking about YO-HEY too! I wonder what to do.
Q: Like what?
OGAWA: I can't teach it. Kotaro and YO-HEY are the core, and I think that everyone else will need to surpass it at that time.
Q: A new mix of wrestlers?
KOTARO: Free (laugh)
Q: It is also a struggle with your past?
KOTARO: I am one of those who gave the color to that time. Because they will be compared to not exceeding the fever of the Noah juniors at that time. You want to beat my past? You have to win over my era. You need to practice (laugh).
Picture credit: Weekly Pro
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