(NOAH) Keiji Mutoh returns the GHC Tag Team Championship due to long term absence with left hip lip injury

8th February 2022

Pro Wrestling DX

Keiji Mutoh will be absent for a long time due to an injury to his left hip lip joint. At the press conference held at a hotel in Tokyo on the 8th, he announced this personally. He also announced the return of the GHC Tag Team Championship that he holds with Naomichi Marufuji. 

From around the fall of last year, he started to feel a sense of discomfort in his hip joint with the pain becoming stronger following Noah's event at The Nippon Budokan on New Year's Day. At the New Japan event at the Yokohama Arena on the 8th January, he had to fight using painkillers, and on subsequent examination he was diagnosed with "Left Hip Lip Injury"* In the opinion of the doctor, it is highly possible that the artificial joint replacement in both knees that Mutoh received in 2018, also led to the accumulation of burden on the hip joint. Mutoh himself has decided to take long term absence as recommended by his physician. The GHC Tag Championship, which he holds with Marufuji, will be returned with heartbreak. 

The time for Mutoh's return is undecided, but he is looking forward to celebrating his 60th birthday in December this year with "the red belt" (GHC National Championship) saying "I want to get well, and work hard towards that dream", and is determined to return within the year. 

How the returned GHC Tag Team Championship will be treated is still undecided. Marufuji, Mutoh's partner, said "I think the story of the GHC Tag Belt will be about what the other wrestlers think and how they act. Perhaps someone new will appear with me, perhaps not, you don't know what is going to happen in wrestling and so I just want fans to look forward to what is going to happen next with the tag belts."

Press Conference

MUTOH: To be honest it was after the match at the Nippon Budokan on January 1st of this year, that my left hip joint started to hurt and I was unable to walk. When I went to the hospital I was told that it would be better for me to be absent for a long time, so I told the company to this effect. In conclusion, I will have a long term absence. In that I am very sorry for Marufuji, who is my partner and the tag champion, and I return the belt with heartbreak. 

MARUFUJI: I'm not as good as Mutoh, but it takes a lot of courage to make such a decision rather than do something after having had a serious injury or surgery. I heard the story directly from Mutoh, and now that Noah is is home and he will be absent for a long time, I would like to wait with Noah's wrestlers for him to be able to return to the ring with peace of mind when better. I would like to get excited and wait. The belt will be returned in this way, but in a sense Mutoh & Marufuji was second to none, so I am looking forward to what shape the future takes. 

Q: You said that you started to feel pain from The Budokan on New Year's Day, but was something during the match a trigger, or did you feel any signs before that? 

MUTOH: To be honest, I was feeling signs before. I was able to win the match on January 1st but after the match was over, it didn't feel good. On January 5th I was wrestling in a lot of pain, and on January 8th it was like I couldn't have the match, but I had a painkiller injection in my hip joint on the 7th January and I managed it on the 8th. As you are aware, I had to wrestle with painkillers, but as soon as painkillers stopped working I really couldn't move. But, the bad condition continues. 

Q: You had surgery for artificial joint insertion four years ago, is any part of that a cause? 

MUTOH: My knees got better, but the doctor said that the better the knees, the more pressure or stress would be on the hip joints.

Q: What is your doctors view on continuing to be active? 

MUTOH: It's not what the doctor decides, it's what I decide. Anyway, right now the MRI image shows that the joints are inflamed and the water is pooled. That is the cause of the pain, and when it's settled down a little I want to see my dream continue. 

Q: This year will be your sixtieth birthday, but do you want to return by the end of it? 

MUTOH: I hope that when the cold weather becomes a little warmer, I will be able to move. Holding on to that, we regain this (the GHC Tag) and follow through the continuation of my dream. I have been professing this to other media, but I will be sixty this year. Most people on their sixtieth birthday wear red chanchan*, but Noah has a red belt. It is a dream of mind to take that belt. I would like to get well and work hard towards that dream. 

Q: What are your hopes for Noah as you leave a hole? 

MUTOH: My wish is for them to do their best as it is. Right now, it is gradually getting higher and a good feeling is reflected. The way I see it, I think it is okay to keep it the way it is. 

Q: Marufuji, do you want to continue with the idea of "activating the tag front", even though you have had to give the belts back? 

MARUFUJI: Yes. As Mutoh said, it's a continuation of a dream, and I think having to return the belts is one of those stories. From here on, I think the story of the GHC Tag Belt will be about what the other wrestlers think and how they act. Perhaps someone new will appear with me, perhaps not, you don't know what is going to happen in wrestling, so what will happen to the tag belts? I just want fans to look forward to what is going to happen next. 

Q: Are you planning to have surgery? 

MUTOH: I don't have any plans for surgery or anything like that, and I have to do a certain amount of rehabilitation. Following that the gaps in the hip joint get smaller and I pour hyaluronic acid oil and then the rest is rehabilitation. 

Q: Is it still unclear as to how long it will take to return? 

MUTOH: Well, I hoped there would be a small chance, but I have pain and I thought I could go any time when it went. But, I think I can when the inflammation settles.

Q: The pain started to become clear on New Year's day, but when did you start to feel uncomfortable?

MUTOH: It didn't hurt as such, but I think I was feeling discomfort since around October. 

Q: Was there any effect from the moonsault?

MUTOH: Not at all. 

Text translated from Pro Wrestling DX 

Picture credit: Pro Wrestling DX

GIF taken from Noah Official YouTube      

*Left Hip Lip Injury: Basically means that the ridge of the hip is injured

*Red Chanchan: It is tradition in Japan to give a red a padded, sleeveless kimono vest on a persons sixtieth birthday. To reach your sixtieth birthday is seen as an era when life begins as the zodiac has returned to the year of your birth (for example, I am Monkey-ascendant-Dragon, so for me it would be 7am on the year of the Monkey) and a rebirth of sorts is celebrated. The custom dates to the Nara period when instead of being given a chanchan (a child's sleeveless haori), you are given an adults kimono jacket. Some people are given red clothing other than a jacket.