(NOAH) "COME AT ME YOU BASTARDS" ~ KENOH'S COLUMN (OCTOBER 2019 #2)

Q: Congratulations on the live talk
KENOH: It was a great success. It was just one person talking, how many people will come to the other Noah guys? If it was an interesting talk and not AXIZ, then it would be limited to about 20 people.
Q: You are relentless about "AXIZ", Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima.
KENOH: Because no matter what, there is no appeal, only assholes who just want to meet you will come.
Q: That is a really terrible thing to say. I think your popularity needs to be proved, the social media comments have hardly been amazing!?
KENOH: YOU really are STUPID! That is how you create waves! Okay, this weeks theme is the diving footstamp.
Q: At Noah's event on the 22nd October you decided to do a diving footstamp on Kaito Kiyomiya who had done the Tiger Suplex on Yoshiki Inamura. That has caused pros and cons. Frankly speaking, what has been the repercussions?
KENOH: I did the best job I could as a professional.
The response doesn't translate well, but it's like saying "with heart" or "with feeling". I guess the best way to sum it up would be to ask someone if they put their whole heart into something.
KENOH: Only I can do a foot stamp that becomes a hot topic.
Q: Kiyomiya is resting for a week with cervical sprain
KENOH: I know that you are beaten, but you and others don't know the skill of my footstamp. Once Keiji Mutoh denied that it was possible for "anyone to do a foot stamp", and so on the basis of that there has been a trend to deny it in order to give it a sour taste to professional wrestling fans. I don't think so, and I want to speak loudly on it. With the foot stamp, the strike on the internal organs are confirmed, even an amateur can do it, but this is puroresu, and I'm not thinking of trying to injure to kill my opponent. I am trying to win with the three counts, and puro has that ability to that extent.
Q: Because it is a technique that anyone can do, it means that you can show the difference between professionals.
KENOH: That's just it. Even using chops and kicks there is a chance that not only those who are doing it, but those who are having it done will be injured. We are professional wrestlers who have trained many times to improve our matches and to refine our skills. Acting the good boy means that you won't manage it. The guys who deny my foot stamp are pretending to be hardcore, but have a simplistic view of wrestling. Pro-wrestling is not a genre that can be talked about so easily. It ’s better to look deeper.
Q: Because Pro Wrestling is "a bottomless swamp in full view"*
KENOH: I was ready in the ring, and in that match I decided to leave the impact of the foot stamp on Kiyomiya before Sumo Hall when Kiyomiya bridged. In that situation I controlled the match, what did Kiyomiya do for a skill in the pre-match? Wasn't it the skill of the old man in the Ramen shop?
Q: Isn't the stretch plum face lock directly from Toshiaki Kawada?
KENOH: So hOw many people did you hear about it from? Has that made it possible to turn the interests of non-Noah fans to Sumo Hall? I was able to. As for my footstamp, other fans than Noah's had seen other guys take it. That means that when the controversy started, I won. I attracted attention during the pre-match at a local event...that is my job as a professional.
Q: This has been a story for generations
KENOH: Only the person who has done the foot stamp, and the person who has received it, can understand the reality of it. There are various arguments on the surface, but the fights between Kiyomiya and I are a mutual acceptance of each other. Now, this footstamp is completely different from the action they don't trust, and I know how much of it that Kiyomiya can take, and the footstamp takes that into account, and there is no reason that Kiyomiya's life will be damaged. It's one week of rest. At the moment there is no social media from him. Do you know anything?
Q: I don't know anything.
KENOH: Well, its the company...no, it's the parent company, LIDET ENTERTAINMENT. It's a decree by LIDET. There is no chance for fans to worry. At the same time, you can appeal that "Kenoh is a bad pro-wrestler, who injures his opponent." For LIDET, that is two birds with one stone, and probably because my live talk was shown to be popular, they told Kiyomiya not to say anything to counterattack me.
Q: That's it.
KENOH: That is why Professional Wrestling is interesting. Well, since this series is made on October 20th due to a deadline, but in Sumo Hall, I should have beaten him with a professional foot stamp.

(Translated from an article in Weekly Pro)

~ Picture credits, Weekly Pro.

*The phrase does not translate well and sounds negative, but its true meaning could be said to be it is something with many layers that can be seen if you care to look. Phrase attributed to Yoshihiro Inoue, who was the former editor in chief of "Weekly Pro" (died 2006).