(NOAH) Event recap: Naomichi Marufuji vs Akira Maeda Talk Battle (23rd August 2020, Tokyo)

23rd August 2020

Tokyo, Japan 

To explain briefly for those who don't know what a "Talk Battle" is, it's basically two people sitting down and talking, they share stories, experiences, likes and dislikes (Kenta Kobashi famously told Akira Maeda in theirs that he found dealing with Stan Hansen easier than his own small child), discuss current events etc, they don't get into heated discussions, or start calling each other names despite what the title may imply. At the end of the talk the MC judges who wins. 

The "Talk Battle" today was between Naomichi Marufuji (who said you could see a rare him today - "nervous") and Akira Maeda. Maeda has not ever been in Noah, and neither was he ever in All Japan, so this is probably one of the few times that he and Marufuji have ever met, although he was at a Takayamania as Marufuji laughed and made the comment "I was told that you won both the match and the women".  

Marufuji had been a big fighting sports\martial arts fan when growing up, and had watched RINGS, which a school friend gave him VHS copies of. He liked Dick Fry, and was inspired by Maeda that he won against foreigners who were usually bigger than he was. Maeda said about Fry, "He's okay if you can endure the first three minutes with him."

Wrestling and RINGS aside, Maeda said that due to the restrictions caused by the Corona virus, he had started reading again. In particular he had been collecting the works of Yojūrō Yasuda. Yasuda (died 1981) was a Japanese literary critic and in his day seen as something of a rebel (kind of like Maeda who has a history of not being the easiest person to work with, although that is an understatement), even being silenced by the government at one point, Marufuji encouraged his curiosity saying that both wrestling and world outside of it can grow by that. 

At the end of the talk Marufuji presented Maeda with a M'S Alliance Gold membership card, and made him an official member. Maeda thanked him and said that he would also be wearing the t-shirt. The official Noah Twitter was excited, and said they would love to see Maeda come to Noah. He won't be getting in the ring though and wrestling as he retired in 1999. Marufuji said afterwards that Maeda was cool, and that he said would take him out drinking sometime. 

Katsuhiko Nakajima, who probably knows Akira Maeda better than anyone in Noah due to his own background in Karate and MMA, and who was almost in RINGS via Maeda, said "Are you serious?"

Immediately following the "Talk Battle" with Naomichi Marufuji, Akira Maeda had one with old friend Keiji Mutoh, on hearing that he had joined the M'S Alliance, Mutoh asked Maeda jokingly if he had already taken over the unit? Then if he had he had better tell the media about it, and not do it underground. 

Thanks to: Kakutolog, Kazuhiko Sakuma

Picture credit: Noah GHC