(NOAH CHRONOLOGY) Keiji Mutoh ~ GHC Heavyweight Championship
Won: "Destination 2021, Back To The Budokan" ~ Nippon Budokan, 12th February 2021
Number of title reigns: 0
Number of defenses: 3
Lost: "CyberFight Festival 2021" ~ Saitama Super Arena, 6th June 2021
Total number of days held: 115
Challengers
1. Kaito Kiyomiya
2. Masa Kitamiya
3. Naomichi Marufuji
Kiyomiya came down to the ring as Go Shiozaki was still in shock over losing the title, and Keiji Mutoh had the belt strapped down his waist. Kiyomiya (trying to scowl) fixed Mutoh with a glare. There were no words, but his meaning was clear. Mutoh left the ring without comment, and pulled his Shining Wizard pose on the ramp. As green pyro's went off and steam blew, Kiyomiya turned to face the swirling mass. Backstage, he said that he would challenge Mutoh, as he was the only person who could defeat him. Title match will take place on the 14th March at "Great Voyage in Fukuoka".
Keiji Mutoh made his first debut as GHC Heavyweight Champion at Korakuen Hall on the 24th February. He hadn't been at Noah's two previous shows which were held in Sendai and Maebashi, Gunma, and so Naomichi Marufuji had kind of stepped in for him against Kaito Kiyomiya, but today for Kiyomiya was the real thing. Pushing Go Shiozaki from the ring (who had very little to do with Mutoh, and more to do with Naomichi Marufuji due to their endless chop competition), Kiyomiya started off against Mutoh. However, the match would end not with the champion pinning his challenger or the challenger pinning the champion and therefore a statement made to the other and the stakes rising higher, but with Keiji Mutoh pinning Daiki Inaba, which left them both in a frustrated limbo.
The pre match on March 7th was frustrating for both Keiji Mutoh and Kaito Kiyomiya. Mutoh had come to the match suffering from enteritis (an inflammation of the small intestine), which also meant that he had lost 5kgs in weight since its onset. He and Kiyomiya had an interaction at the beginning of the match, but not really anything else of significance, despite Kiyomiya's frustrated wild attack on Mutoh. Mutoh used his illness to once again play the old man, and after a humorous bit where he got outside the ring and offered Kuniko Yamada his hand to shake, he got back in and requested a time out. Further friction was caused when the win was got by Mutoh, but not on Kiyomiya, which left Kiyomiya glaring angrily at him, before stalking away from the ring muttering\swearing to himself. The pre-matches are now over, the title match will take place on the 14th March in Fukuoka.
Keiji Mutoh is a sly veteran, and Kaito Kiyomiya had no idea just what he was getting into, and while he knew he had to be calculating, he was playing into Mutoh's hands the whole time. Mutoh made a point of coming into the match demonstrating how energetic he was and how good his agility was, for Kiyomiya this was a sign that he should wear the old man down in a match full of submission holds like you would have seen in Showa era wrestling. Mutoh praised Kiyomiya for this, and Noah fans attribute this to Yoshinari Ogawa's teaching. So while Kiyomiya was seemingly wearing Mutoh down, he didn't realize that he was actually being goaded into wearing himself out, and because Mutoh was conserving energy and wouldn't stay down, he fell into the trap of growing frustrated, especially after the run up top rope dive at Mutoh didn't work, and then subsequent attempts to knock him down where difficult. All of this combined was a match wrestled at Mutoh's pace, and he wound up with far more energy than Kiyomiya, and ended up dazing him with Two Shining Wizard's, a dropkick from the second rope, and then a third Shining Wizard just for good measure. Exhausted and played like a puppet, there was nothing that the exhausted Kiyomiya could do other than tap when Mutoh got the win via the Reverse Cross Elbow Lock.
WINNER: Keiji Mutoh with the Reverse Cross Elbow Lock (32 minutes, 7 seconds)
VS MASA KITAMIYA
“NOAH THE GLORY 2021”, 29th April 2021, Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall
One challenger out, another challenger in, and the next one was not going to be as polite, which he proved right from the first few seconds, as Masa Kitamiya came down to the ring and confronted Mutoh. When Mutoh tried to leave, he was given the Saito Slam with the Kongoh pose, belt motions and a couple of "F you" gestures. As one fan put it, this was a "whole new theme", as what connects Masa Kitamiya and Keiji Mutoh is a shared past they have, not because of anything they have done together, what links them is the connection with Masa Saito; Mutoh from his New Japan days, and Kitamiya who was the closest thing that Saito ever came to having a trainee, and who perhaps was more of a mentor than a master. This is going to be a very different fight now for Mutoh, against someone who is not a Noah born, is more experienced, and has experience of how his generation thinks.
Their one and only pre-match took place on the 18th April at Korakuen Hall. It's getting harder and harder to destroy Kitamiya these days, Marufuji's combo kicks didn't even phase him, although Mutoh's Figure Four was a different matter though, but if Mutoh has this, then Kitamiya has his Prison Lock. Marufuji saved Mutoh the first time, but the second time he wasn't so lucky as Nakajima was keeping him outside the ring, and with a huge headbutt that bust them both open.
Marufuji had saved Mutoh from the Prison Lock once, but he couldn't the second time when Nakajima kept him outside the ring. After a headbutt, which bust them both open, and a second Prison Lock, Mutoh had no choice but to tap out.
Still bleeding from his head wound, Kitamiya addressed Mutoh on the microphone;
"How are your knees, champion? I will beat them up. Your obsession with the GHC belt is different fron mine, asshole. On the 29th April in Nagoya, it will be ME, MASA KITAMIYA, who will wear it!"
The gallery of champions played on the screen as the lights lit up the arena green for the much anticipated main event on the 29th April in Nagoya, as Naomichi Marufuji took his place on commentary. The story of this match, was not of the future like Kaito Kiyomiya's had been, but rather it was one of the past, and the shared memory of Masa Saito. For the match Kitamiya had shed his Kongoh colors of red, and appeared in Saito's black.
Mutoh started by wearing Kitamiya down with mat wrestling. This is his usual way of getting a feel for an opponent; with Go Shiozaki he had worked out that he would best play the feeble old man, with Kaito Kiyomiya, young and full of energy, he would let him wear himself out, but with Kitamiya, so much like Masa Saito, the old ways were called for, and he was going to have to catch him off guard. Later Mutoh praised Kitamiya, and said that he was more than worthy to inherit and be the guardian of the Saito name.
WINNER: Keiji Mutoh with the Shining Wizard (22 minutes, 53 seconds)
VS NAOMICHI MARUFUJI
CyberFight Festival, 6th June, Saitama Super Arena
As the referee strapped on the belt, Naomichi Marufuji left the commentary area and got in the ring. Mutoh shook hands with the M's alliance (Masaaki Mochizuki and Masato Tanaka who had been at ringside), and everyone lined up to celebrate as they did their pose. Then Marufuji went for the microphone, and challenged for the GHC Heavyweight.
"Congratulations on your defense, Mutoh-san. Mutoh-san, there is a man who wants to take a chance and fight for that belt. How about...Naomichi Marufuji?
Mutoh, the person who had ignored his last two challengers, responded and no hard feelings between them, they made their M sign together. For Marufuji, this is a childhood dream.
They might have fought side by side for a while, they may have even have had a singles match as The Great Mutoh vs Magical Immortality, but this is the first time that singularly Naomichi Marufuji and Keiji Mutoh have faced each other. After their first pre-match (which was a four man tag, which was won by Yoshinari Ogawa making Hajime Ohara tap), they both reflected on what they had found out about facing each other; for Mutoh it was Marufuji's speed which he was concerned about, not the stamina he needed to keep up with him. For Marufuji it was the full impact of how hard Mutoh could hit. He also promised that up against all the young athletes at the CyberFight Festival, he and Mutoh would have a match that no one else could do.
The last pre match before the title match took place on the 31st May at the Mitsuharu Memorial event at Korakuen Hall. In homage to his teacher, Naomichi Marufuji came to the match wearing a Tiger Mask. Marufuji has a collection of these masks and had always wanted to be a masked wrestler, it never happened for various reasons, and also Giant Baba wouldn't let him. Keiji Mutoh came out wearing the gown that had been specially designed for him, which he wore to the Misawa Memorial show in 2009.
After a handshake with Keiji Mutoh, the M's alliance went to war with each other. The stiff tough Masato Tanaka who battered his opponents, the flawless Masakatsu Funaki and the last pre-match between Naomichi Marufuji and GHC Heavyweight Champion, Keiji Mutoh. If Marufuji fell into any trap here, it was hubris. Hubris in underestimating Mutoh. Marufuji had said he wanted to get results on this day before Mitsuharu Misawa, but at the end of the line, Mutoh was waiting for him after the Shiranui pin was broken by Tanaka. Tanaka battered Marufuji with the Sliding D, and Mutoh dug in with the Figure 4. Marufuji did the unthinkable, and tapped. As cool as anything, Mutoh simply unlocked the move and accepted the win.
Green lights where shining as Naomichi Marufuji walked out to the ring. There was a slight stare off with between himself and Keiji Mutoh, and it looked as if the ref had to take it off of him to stop him from shoving it in his face.
The match was technical. Mutoh knew he had to keep Marufuji down and worked on his knees and elbows. Mutoh's psychology in the title match was not to play the old man as he had done with Go Shiozaki, frustrate into mistake (Kaito Kiyomiya) or wear down (Masa Kitamiya), but to attack the weapons. There was also an element of nostalgia as this was the closest Mutoh was ever going to get to a singles match with Mitsuharu Misawa. Each time Marufuji got up, Mutoh pulled him back down. Each submission and hold sapped something from Marufuji, but as Kenta Kobashi on commentary had put it, he had come to the ring with "the weight of Noah on his back", and he refused to submit. Marufuji even took three Shining Wizards, he kicked out of these and remained with his shoulder raised.
Mutoh's damage had done its work, slow to pin after high impact moves such as the Shiranui, but it wasn't enough and while he didn't grow frustrated, Mutoh did. He even bought out The Moonsault, but Marufuji stubbornly kicked out. It was Marufuji who was playing Mutoh at his own game.
WINNER: Naomichi Marufuji with The Tiger King Zero (23 minutes, 30 seconds)
LINKS
vs Kaito Kiyomiya
vs Masa Kitamiya
vs Naomichi Marufuji
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