(NOAH) "Follow Me You Bastards!" Kenoh's column

4th October 2022

Weekly Pro

Q: On the 25th September, you lost the GHC Heavyweight Championship to Kaito Kiyomiya in Nagoya.

KENOH: Don't just go along with the intentions of the company. Pro Wrestling Superstar Keiji Mutoh is retiring. Noah is trying to make Kiyomiya, who defeated Mutoh in a singles and who entrusted him with a technique, a new superstar. I thought I was going to denounce and destroy such a beautiful conventional story, but I myself became a part of it. I'm Kiyomiya's pet dog, and I have nothing but regret. 

Q: It was a cruel reality. How was it looking back on the title match itself? 

KENOH: I have said various things about him being carried by the company, but at that time, Kiyomiya was strong. When you go to the ring, you fight alone and with your own strength and without any backing or anything like that. I lost that fight, I was just weaker. In terms of the content of the match, there was a good response. 

Q: In what part? 

KENOH: The match time didn't exceed 30 minutes. Nowadays, the trend in pro wrestling is that a title match to go over 30 minutes for the pinnacle championship.

Q: Yes, but this time it was 26 minutes and 14 seconds.

KENOH: The elbow battle in the final stages, which was created by Noah* and is now becoming a worldwide trend, is a battle of wills that I don't want to lose, and I thought it was done in most of the title matches. This time I was able to show my own will in the parts that weren't elbows. In that respect, I think we were able to offer a new title match.

Q: It's hard to say, but if you had persisted, the match time would be....

KENOH: Wrong! I thought I would do it quickly, bit I wondered if I was able to do it quickly.

Q: Sorry! I agree with you about the content of the match, and I personally think that Kiyomiya shines the most in title matches against Kenoh.

KENOH: If you look around the pro wrestling world, it's a title match that sets a new trend. By all means, I want you guys to review it at WrestleUniverse.

Q: After that, victory or defeat follows...

KENOH: Wrong! In the end, even if the content of the match was positive, this defeat was too painful. I defeated Satoshi Kojima at the Nippon Budokan in July to become the GHC Heavyweight Champion. This year, after Kazuyuki Fujita took the GHC Heavyweight title from Katsuhiko Nakajima in February, the short lived reigns of Go Shiozaki and Kojima followed. I thought I would stop that trend, and build a long term reign.   

Q: This year was the birth of six heavyweight champions.

KENOH: It is frustrating. Defend the GHC Heavyweight Championship at the Nippon Budokan on January 1st next year, and on February 21st at Mutoh's retirement match at the Tokyo Dome, I had even imagined that I would be nominated as challenger. Now that I've lost my belt, I have had to revise my plan.

Q: Comeback from here!

KENOH: Actually, if I beat Kiyomiya, from the ring I was thinking nominating Fujita as my next challenger, but Kiyomiya nominated him. Could it be that Kiyomiya did what I envisioned? 

Q: Mutoh's retirement match is about Kiyomiya?!

KENOH: No, no. I don't think he is actively stepping up to fight in Mutoh's retirement match. Kiyomiya is not alone. For some reason, everyone in Noah, except for me, have been posting about Mutoh's Retirement Road.

Q: Come to think of it, yes.

KENOH: Check out the New Japan guys. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Tetsuya Naito and everyone else is talking about Mutoh's retirement match. The Great O-Khan created a drama with Great Muta from forming a tag to breaking up. At this rate, New Japan will steal the most delicious Mutoh Retirement match! It figures I can go crazy about the writing on the wall, and I am looking forward to seeing Go Shiozaki again, who missed out on September 3rd in Osaka. In Noah there is no restrictions speech, it is a promotion of freedom and belief, so take advantage of Mutoh's retirement to make an appeal. Even so, I have no intention of yielding to anyone. 

Q: So what are you going to do now? 

KENOH: I, Kenoh, will devote myself to YouTube for a while.

Q: Huh?!

KENOH: You must be joking. The first goal is to challenge for the GHC Heavyweight Championship in January at the Nippon Budokan. Even if I can't be the one to enter last, I can win the title match and nominate Mutoh as the challenger, close out the event and finally walk back up the ramp at the end. In order to do that, I have to build up my achievements as quickly as possible.

Q: There are only three months left.

KENOH: In addition, like I said after the September 3rd Osaka match, there is only one guy in New Japan who I have to fight against, and I am thinking about that fight as well*.  

Q: I'm looking forward to it too!

KENOH: Even if I failed in the GHC Heavyweight Championship, I will be active in many ways, so you fucking bastards, don't take your eyes off me!

Notes

Elbow battle: Mitsuharu Misawa was the first to utilize the elbow smash as a move. It had been used before, but not in the way that Misawa made it. 

New Japan: Kenoh has not said who this was, but considering in June he was pulling Kazuchika Okada Rainmaker poses and being mysterious as to the reason, it is probably him.

Translated from Weekly Pro

Picture credit: Weekly Pro