(NOAH) "No need for simulation, but certainly results appear immediately" Interview with Masaaki Mochizuki about the long awaited match against Sugiura and the GHC National Challenge.
Noah.co.jp
On the 28th October at the Kumamoto event, the GHC National Championship match, (Champion) Takashi Sugiura vs Masaaki Mochi (challenger), will take place. Both of them, are fifty-one years old and have maintained an amazing condition. This is the long awaited first singles match between them, who are strongly aware of each other and say "I want to do this someday".
For Mochizuki, who continues to participate in Noah from DRAGONGATE, this is his first single GHC title challenge. We asked Mochizuki about his current feelings now that this long awaited opportunity has come.
Interview with Masaaki Mochizuki
Q: What is the psychological background that led to the GHC National Challenge?
MOCHIZUKI: Originally, I came to Noah because I met Marufuji at the Giant Baba memorial at Sumo Hall in February 2019. It's been two and a half years since then, and I have appeared in the N-1 for three years in a row, I have done single matches with the "main wrestlers", but I didn't do it with Takashi Sugiura. Even before I came to Noah, I always wanted to fight in a single. We are the same age, and he's strong no matter how you look at it. He is not only strong, but his wrestling is intense. I have been thinking that I want to fight for a long time, and since I started participating in Noah I have been thinking "Someday, someday", and I thought that I didn't have a chance to do a single after coming here. However, at the stage where there were two defeats in a tag, I thought "this has happened, so if I don't do it now I will regret it", and so it became possible due to the timing in Osaka on the 10th October.
Q: You yourself are in excellent condition at over 50 years old, how is Takashi Sugiura's conditon from your perspective?
MOCHIZUKI: I made my pro wrestling debut at the age of 24, for five years after graduating from High School there was actually a time when I didn't play any sports. But, Takashi Sugiura is an athlete who has been playing sports at a much higher level since the days when he was an amateur wrestler. His career might be shorter than mine, but he is a wrestler who rose to the top immediately after his debut. So, this may be a digression, but before I made contact like this, I actually used to see him occasionally in my neighbourhood. I always thought he was rugged, and I never thought this day would come...so, I think it was good that I could keep in a good condition like this until I could fight with Sugiura at this timing
Q: This time it will be a title match, but emotionally, a single with Takashi Sugiura seems to be the first priority?
MOCHIZUKI: True, first its the single with Takashi Sugiura, but if I wanted to do that single, there is the belt that he has. Sugiura now has the ZERO1 world heavyweight, but as I don't have any contact with ZERO1 right now, I said "Then, that red belt". So, I think a title match will definitely give each other "plus power" and challenging for Noah's singles heavyweight belt is something I couldn't think of for a long time. Right now it is within reach, and I want to challenge while I can...
Q: Until now you have teamed up with Naomichi Marufuji and even worn the tag belts, but there was no connection to the singles, including a challenge
MOCHIZUKI: That's right, there wasn't a "trigger" there either. I haven't had a chance to challenge for a singles title, even in the DRAGONGATE ring for a long time, and in that sense as well it is a fact that I wanted something to be a "trigger". A singles match with Takashi Sugiura was presented as a title match and made into a main event. I would like to thank Noah for that.
Q: After two and a half years in Noah at chipping away and piling up, do you want a singles as "proof" soon?
MOCHIZUKI: Yes. The GHC Tag was a big medal in tags, but there are, after all, many people who shine in a singles match. I also like singles matches, so when it is realized, I think it's the best medal that I can have.
Q: Have you been imagining what kind of match you would have if you fought Takashi Sugiura?
MOCHIZUKI: Well, to be clear there is no need for simulation, which was the case in the pre-match, but certainly results appear immediately. I think that Takashi Sugiura, even if he is a senior, is in good condition, has stamina, can move and is such a wrestler. So, on the contrary, it's better to be ready. I don't think there are many chances to win, but still if I fight with intensity, I think I am definitely an upcoming wrestler. I don't have matches for content and I don't really want to say "I'll have a good match" in advamce, but I have confidence in myself that it will be a "perfect match"
Q: Two title matches will be held over three days in Kyushu, on the 28th the GHC National in Kumamoto and on the 30th October the GHC Heavyweight in Hakata...is there something approaching a rivalry to the GHC Heavyweight's Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Masato Tanaka?
MOCHIZUKI: At the pre-match in Kawasaki (Mochizuki & Nakajima vs Sugiura & Tanaka), even as the same M's alliance a card was made to fight without teaming up with Masato Tanaka. After that, it will be the Kumamoto National → Hakata GHC Heavyweight in a series of title matches, maybe it could be said "Be aware of your side, not just your opponent". I think that it is matchmaking that has been fueled by such "incentive", and so in the near future I am aware that it will be done not too far apart.
Q: The theme is to beat Takashi Sugiura and win the GHC Heavyweight Championship?
MOCHIZUKI: Hmmm, honestly I don't feel that there is that much space (sarcastic smile), I think that Noah's matchmaking power has made me so aware, but I reality I can't afford it. Primarily, I am thinking about one-on-one with Takashi Sugiura.
Q: It's a little off topic, but Eita, who is competing in DRAGONGATE the same as you, has become the GHC Junior Tag Champion.
MOCHIZUKI: True, but when Eita went to Noah I heard a few voices saying "Noah and DRAGONGATE are working together" (laughs) I thought, "but I've been appearing for a long time!". Certainly, I had some free time and I have been appearing in Noah for a long time, and so the image of DRAGONGATE may be thin but I felt that when I appeared in Noah and Eita appears in Noah, I felt it was seen very differently. However, this time Kenoh and Hoah will challenge for the Twin Gate in Osaka (November 3rd). The fight that I had been doing on my own in Noah for two and a half years has stretched in this way little by little...I think I may have achieved some kind of role. So, if you can offer pro wrestling fans cards that they have never seen before, that's great. Well, I have had quite a lot of "roles" like this from long ago. Even at the time of DRAGONGATE and New Japan, it was me first (laughs),
Q: So, what kind of influence to do you want to have on Noah or DRAGONGARE by winning the National belt?
MOCHIZUKI: I wonder how what is around me will feel the impact? So, what kind of effect would it have if I did win the belt? I'm looking forward to it. Right now, it is the best to challenge a strong opponent like Takashi Sugiura. From there on, ow will my point of view change by taking the belt, what if it doesn't change? I want to save that enjoyment.
Q: Finally, how will it be ideal to defeat Takashi Sugiura at the end?
MOCHIZUKI: I rarely use rounding techniques*, and I think the only way to win is to be different. On the contrary, if I win by rounding up, I think that fierce punches are more a "courtesy" to the GHC National belt and Takashi Sugiura as a wrestler. Anyway, I want to be full on and I want to win with my assets.
*Wins where the opponent uses their weight (usually by momentum) to defeat the opponent, doesn't translate well into English
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