(NOAH) "Inside of me there is a "good" Keiji Mutoh and a "bad" Keiji Mutoh" - Enthusiasm and conflict for Keiji Mutoh's last run.

22nd November 2022

Times.ABEMA.TV

There are less than 100 days left until Keiji Mutoh's retirement match to be held at the Tokyo Dome on February 21st next year. How does Keiji Mutoh feel now that he has seen the goal of his professional wrestling life, which he once described as "a marathon without a goal". How does Keiji Mutoh feel now that he has seen the goal of his professional wrestling life? We heard his enthusiasm for the Last Run. 

(Note, this interview took place on November 12th) 

Q: Mutoh-san, it appears that from tomorrow it will be 100 days until your retirement match at the Tokyo Dome on February 21st next year. 

MUTOH: 100 days, huh? But, I also feel that I want that day to come soon. I have a "good Keiji Mutoh" and a "bad Keiji Mutoh" in me. The bad Keiji Mutoh tempts me, "You have already decided to retire, so you don't have to train so much". On the other hand, there is the good Keiji Mutoh who says, "Do your best until your retirement match!". I'm always fighting. 

Q: Do you feel sad when you think that there is only 100 days left? 

MUTOH: I have that feeling, but I am not perfect, so I have decided to retire. I feel like the situation with my hip (which was the reason for my retirement) is getting worse little by little, and so to be honest, I want my body to hold up until the retirement match on February 21st. The next 100 days will be a battle with myself. On the day of my retirement match, I am worried about whether I can do the moves I envisioned. Maybe it is possible that I won't be able to really move during the match. Another big enemy is Corona. The number of people testing positive is increasing again, and it is no joke if I wasn't able to come out because of Corona for my retirement.   

Q: You couldn't call it a retirement match without the person himself (laughs) 

MUTOH: There is no substitute for this (smiles) and pro wrestling can never be done alone. Even if I don't get Corona, but if my opponent gets Corona or gets injured, I can't do that card. In that kind of sense, the performance is a meager one, so as far as I am concerned, I will just do my best for the next 100 days. However, the only difficulty is that I have knee and hip injuries, so I can't do hard training. Excessive training can lead to injury, so I have to think about balance. 

Q: Until the 21st February Tokyo Dome, there will be big matches on the Retirement Road, so there is a risk of injury during the match.

MUTOH: True. The match between Great Muta and Shinsuke Nakamura is a singles match, so in a sense there is no escape 

Q: The Great Muta vs Shinsuke Nakamura will be held at the Nippon Budokan in January 1st. There was a big reaction among fans, but how do you feel about it? 

MUTOH: Well, I think it is a card that will have a reaction in terms of situations, but there were parts that were changed again and again when negotiating various things. Primarily, I am glad that it has been officially decided. At first, I was even thinking about my last match being with Shinsuke. 

Q: There was also a plan to face each other in the retirement match at the Tokyo Dome on the 21st February? 

MUTOH: Yes, I negotiated with that in mind, but it didn't work out for that time, and so I negotiated tenaciously again, and so as a result, it was New Year's Day. In a way the fans may look at it as a battle between old and new wrestlers who were active in the United States, but Muta doesn't care about time or place. If the match was going to take place as the retirement, then I think it would have been Mutoh vs Shinsuke, so Muta and Shinsuke on January 1st can be seen from a different and interesting point of view than Mutoh. In a way, Keiji Mutoh has worked with Shinsuke, but Muta has not worked with Shinsuke, so the significance worldwide is even stronger as now it's time for Noah to spread overseas, and so I think it's interesting matchmaking in that way. 

Q: Do you also have a strong desire to contribute to Noah by doing the Retirement Road? 

MUTOH: Yes. I will do my best to contribute, I think the Budokan will probably be in good shape as Muta and Shinsuke have had a good response. But the reason I have to support Noah even after I quit is because of the wrestlers who are trying their hardest right now. Maybe there will be more fans who are coming to The Budokan to see the match between Muta and Shinsuke, but whether or not they can grab their hearts depends on their ability and effort. 

Q: On the 30th October at the Ariake Arena, Kenoh said to Kaito Kiyomiya, "What are you going to do with Great Muta and Shinsuke Nakamura as a topic?" There was that statement, but is it bad when you don't have that kind of fighting spirit? 

MUTOH: Well, flaring up is good for us, but it's about increasing the number of repeaters with these guys. I think it will look great not only at The Budokan on January 1st, but also at the Yokohama Arena on January 22nd and the Tokyo Dome on February 21st will probably attract more people than usual Noah. There may be people watching Noah for the first time, so I have high hopes that the power of the guys who are working hard right now will have to grab their hearts. 

Q: Shinsuke Nakamura at the Nippon Budokan on January 1st and Sting at the Yokohama Arena on January 22nd, with the decision to participate in big matches in quick succession, expectations are also rising for the retirement match card at the Tokyo Dome on the 21st February?

MUTOH: It's better not to expect that, because it's matchmaking in a limited field (laughs) 

Q: But, isn't it natural that you want to prepare as much as possible? 

MUTOH: I don't know what the maximum degree is. When Shinsuke at the Budokan and Sting at the Yokohama Arena were decided from the Noah fans point of view they may think, "Well, what about Noah's wrestlers?". Pro Wrestling has many different perspectives, so it is hard to find a card that everyone wants. 

Q: Mutoh-san, what kind of retirement match do you want to have? 

MUTOH: I don't know. I have seen seniors retire, but I don't remember much about other people's retirement matches. That's why I think retirement matches are difficult. I don't remember Choshu's retirement match at The Tokyo Dome (January 4th 1998) and even Inoki's retirement match (January 1996 at the Tokyo Dome) before that is not so memorable. I have the image of nearly being killed by Vader (laughs).

Q: Do you want to make your retirement match memorable for your fans? 

MUTOH: I want it to stay, but I think it's better not to aim too much, I think it will look vain. Even if its the final Dome, you will be watching the match feeling sad from the beginning. Maybe it would be better to laugh and wave my hand and say "Bye Bye!" because I can't read poems like "The Way" like Inoki. I can't memorize long sentences (laughs).    

Q: At the press conference for your retirement match, you said "I want to do a PPV". Do you also want to leave behind a new culture of "Watching professional wrestling matches on PPV" for younger generations? 

MUTOH: In other words, Inoki passed away this year, and in February next year, I will retire as his pupil. I think that the pro wrestling that Inoki and others have built up, will probably come to an end. The professional wrestling that Inoki and Giant Baba built up is pro wrestling that developed together with commercial broadcasting (terrestrial TV*), but now the power of commercial broadcasting is gradually weakening as this is the age of the internet. On the contrary, I feel like any strategy is possible, since PPV has been the mainstay of big matches over there since I first went to America. Unfortunately, Japanese pro wrestling is 30 years behind America. But now Noah has such tools as ABEMA and WrestleUniverse, and moreover, there are no national barriers to online distribution, so various possibilities will expand. More than 500,000 people watched Takeru and Tenshin Nasukawa on PPV, right? I think that is a number you can aim for, even in pro wrestling and in that sense I want to liven up the 1st January Nippon Budokan, which will be broadcast for free on ABEMA, and connect it to the 21st February Tokyo Dome. 

Q: Finally, please tell us about your enthusiasm for the remaining 100 days until your retirement match? 

MUTOH: My body is tired, and I feel painfully reluctant about going to training, but I can do my best in a deadline of 100 days. That is why, for those remaining days, I will be careful not to push myself and get hurt.

Notes

*The rivalry between All Japan (who ran the  Nippon Budokan) and New Japan (who ran Kuramae Kokugikan, which was torn down in 1985 and replaced with Sumo Hall), was called in the press as the "Decisive Battle on The Sumida" as to who would win the box office wars. While the box office war may have continued, the war for viewership at 8pm on Friday evenings (New Japan) vs 8pm on Saturday evenings (All Japan) was ended by Takeshi's Castle, which took over New Japan's slot.

Translated from Abema Times

Picture credit: Abema Times