(NOAH) Noah's new generation ace, Kaito Kiyomiya, continues to struggle. Will the clouds clear in the NOSAWA Rongai fight?
BBM Japan/Weekly Pro
"I'm still worried"
On August 28th, I talked to Kaito Kiyomiya before his match at Noah's Takaoka event. The standard bearer of the new generation of The Ark, who kept showing "new scenery" two years ago, is now stuck in a slump.
After winning the championship match with Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya at Korakuen Hall on July 22nd, he became one half of the GHC Tag Team Champions. It seemed he had taken the first step in escaping the slump, however he said "I haven't changed anything by myself yet". To the last it was his partner who gave him the belt. Even when trying to move in a positive direction, he says with a humble attitude "It's still cloudy."
When did the gears go crazy?
Kiyomiya's conflicts and confusions surfaced this year on May 22nd in Yokohama. Bleeding during a singles match with NOSAWA Rongai, he lost due to a count out as a result. After the match, his face dyed red with fresh blood as if it was paint, he was deranged saying, "Is this pro wrestling? Is this Noah's Pro Wrestling? I don't know!"
"It seems that all the things that have been built up for a long time has overflowed. Until then there were no wins in important things, and I was crazy in that manner from around the title match with Mutoh, and in that match I completely popped".
In 2019, Kiyomiya was the GHC Heavyweight Champion, and not only in Noah he bought a new breeze to the industry. He has been sluggish since losing to Go Shiozaki in January last year when he lost the championship. Although he has reached the point where he is a step closer to the title challenge and an N-1 runner up, he has not been able to leave a big result.
At Fukuoka on March 14th this year, he challenged Keiji Mutoh for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. He has no memory of the end of the match due to concussion, and when he noticed, he was rushed to hospital by ambulance. More than the regret of losing the GHC Heavyweight Championship match, he was angry at himself as he couldn't remember the main event. It was a traumatic memory that he was scared to look back later on. It was then that he entered a clear slump. While he was accumulating anger towards himself, he faced NOSAWA in Yokohama on May 22nd and the emotions he had been desperately suppressing began to take shape.
"That was the first time when such anger came out. I may have entered the darkness, but I wasn't convinced of the outcome of that match either, it was a completely different world from the pro wrestling that I was trying to do, and that was also the reason why I wanted to fight NOSAWA Rongai again. I wanted to find out the essence of pro wrestling, and it was the first time I have had such a questionable match. I couldn't move forward unless I found the answer."
He reconfirmed the basics of pro wrestling that he learned before his debut on the 13th June TV match against Yoshinari Ogawa, and the 22nd July Korakuen GHC Tag Team Championship match where he took the belt with senior Masa Kitamiya, the chances came one after the other. Whether or not he used these chances was realized is not known, and although he realized his range was expanding, it was the presence of NOSAWA where he was stuck. On August 1st in Hiroshima he was thoroughly destroyed, and his justification deepened. At the same time he was driven to bleed again, he ended by beating Great Muta with a chair as his emotions snapped. It was a moment that a new side of him opened up for Kiyomiya, who has been devoting himself straight to pro wrestling.
"I was at a loss myself. At that time I thought about what would happen if I didn't do it, but I wondered if I could do it. Should I go by emotions, or should I control them? I still haven't come up with the answer yet. I've never experienced such anger in a Noah match."
While the conflict continued, a single match was set up in Kawasaki on August 15th. However, this disappeared due to repeated card changes due to being in close contact with a person suspected of having Corona. Later, in the match between Magical Immortality & NOSAWA Rongai vs Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA, when he went to ringside as attendant of STINGER he couldn't control his emotions and charged at NOSAWA, and as a result interfered in the match.
"When I saw NOSAWA Rongai's face, I couldn't control my emotions. Something that had built up to that point had finally erupted. I couldn't see what was going on around me. It was such a shocking match for me..."
Wrestling is a genre with a lot of tolerance. Breaking the rules within five counts is in the permissible range, and winning and losing is not everything. This is what makes it interesting, but sometimes people get stuck in a labyrinth that doesn't have an exit.
"I wonder what pro wrestling is every day. When you are worried, the day goes by at a tremendous speed. It's almost night, then the next day comes, and I am worried again...and so I have been trying to do various things, but I haven't found the answer yet. No matter what I do, I can't move forward. I used to think positively a while ago, but I don't know if that was really correct. If I start the N-1 in this state, then the result may be really terrible...On the 3rd September I want to find out what the essence of pro wrestling is in Yokohama".
The singles league match the "N-1 VICTORY" will start on the 12th September at Korakuen Hall, on the 3rd September I want you to get rid of the fateful NOSAWA match in Yokohama, and shake off the thick clouds spreading in front of you.
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