(NOAH) "I'm disappointed in you Ogawa-kun" Interview with Daisuke Harada

20th March 2020
Puroresu DX

Daisuke Harada won the GHC Junior League match in January and challenged the GHC Junior champion Yoshinari Ogawa, the match will take place on March 29th at Korakuen Hall.
When Ogawa came here, he criticized Harada for pulling the IPW Junior Championship out of the double title match, but Harada has also said, "I'm disappointed, Ogawa-kun". The stage at Korakuen is set to clear the "grudge" that has accumulated while fighting each other.

"I don't know what will happen" Harada says having a hunch that events may be out of his control as he looks ahead to the pre-match that will start on the 21st from the Maebashi event.

Interview with Daisuke Harada

Q: First, the championship match was postponed, and it was a bad situation. However, the event will continue, but what has been the effect on motivation?
HARADA: 8th March Yokohama Bunka Gym was postponed, and then cancelled*, once it has subsided I will do my best...but I don't know when it will subside. I thought about it a lot, but now I have decided to reset from Maebashi. That is the state of mind for the title match. Of course, training was indispensable, and so I have a condition where I can go at any time.
Q: In particular, Ogawa is "disappointed" that you have withdrawn the IPW Junior Championship double title match, criticism is growing as a "chicken".
HARADA: Like I have said, this year is the 20th anniversary of Noah, and the GHC Junior has the same history. Many people have worn that belt, and the belt has been spread through various matches. I think it is a year there I want to value it especially. I won Juniour League, but my opponent never has. The winner and the champion, who is the best? I felt that if this was a fight to decide that, then it makes no difference for the IPW belt to be on the line? I withdrew my previous statement.
Q: Even after you won the league in January, the title match was still not officially decided.
HARADA: Yes, even though I won it wasn't decided right away, and there was a part of me that was impatient about the indecision.
Q: It seems that because you lost directly to Ogawa immediately after winning the championship on the 7th February in Yokohama, it added some kind of legitimacy to the situation of the title match not being officially decided?
HARADA: Well, that is where I should reflect. What happened with the first shot immediately after winning the league...
Q: While the title match was not decided, there was hard fighting at each show in February, Ogawa said "Harada did nothing out of the ordinary, so I suggested a double title challenge"
HARADA: No, it happened time and time again in February. He just doesn't want to admit it, right? Even if in the last match I was pinned and I lost, but there was a KO situation in the middle of a match, and many other matches too. There were a lot of times. I think I have shown myself to have winning momentum...but he doesn't want to admit it.
Q: So, Daisuke Harada who won the league, will finally challenge Yoshinari Ogawa. Is there a feeling that the final battle of STINGER vs RATELS, which has been going on for more than a year, will finally...?
HARADA: I myself don't really have much enthusiasm for saying, "Good! This is the final battle!" From my perspective, "Yoshinari Ogawa" is an opponent that I have a lot of hatred for. He is the opponent that I want to beat. Everything that has piled up, I want to get it back...I feel strongly. Anyway, I love what I hate, and I have been playing every hand I could. HAYATA and YO-HEY were taken away, and there was the scar that was put in my forehead last year. So, I don't know what will happen to me on the day...
Q: Do you want to clear away the accumulated grudge without being a nuisance to anyone...
HARADA: It's a great stage
Q: Maybe you will bring out something that you have never seen before?
HARADA: Yeah, I want you to look forward to it. Until the match has begun, what will happen? I don't know. After spitting out all the things that have built up, I will take the belt. Beyond the hatred, I want to create a "reel it in" (rough, as original phrase does not translate), title match so he can't stand afterwards.
Q: So you will wear the belt and bring home the realization of your slogan, "Noah Juniors, best in the world"
HARADA: Yes, and for that reason we must put on the belts again at the top in both name and reality. HAYATA and YO-HEY will also challenge for the junior tag, and I would like to bring all the belts here to create a "RATELS run alone" situation.
Q: However, Ogawa has criticized your attitude in interviews for saying "Noah Juniors, best in the world" 
HARADA: So, in the Noah Juniors, which I think is the best in the world, the champion who made it to the Junior League semi finals lost to Dick Togo? I want to say that I beat Togo for the championship, and so for that loss it's like "I'm disappointed, Ogawa Kun".
Q: Do you want to pay back Ogawa for saying, "I'm disappointed, Harada-kun?"
HARADA: Yes, as long as you are a champion, you can't lose. I think it's different from saying, "I can't lose because its not a title match." After losing to Togo he said it didn't matter because "it's not the belt on the line". But to me its different, a champion should not take a loss so lightly.
Q: Ogawa also said significantly that "RATELS and STINGER may be destroyed"
HARADA: I don't care what happens to STINGER, but if you want to destroy us, then try it.
Q: It could be a series of actions that incites anger which is part of the so called "Ogawa Magic" technique, which is psychological and is intended to bring your guard down.
HARADA: I was angry at the promotion in February, and I wasn't sure what I was doing. I think you will realize that kind of thing won't work anymore.
 
*Due to the Coronavirus

Link to original article from Puroresu DX
Picture credit: Puroresu DX