(NOAH/Keiji Mutoh retirement) Hiroshi Tanahashi's "Dragon Note"
4th October 2022
Weekly Pro
What does it mean to retire at this timing? Fighting on the retirement road is filial piety* as a child.
TANAHASHI: I'm coming from certain press conference.
Q: Yes. This interview has been conducted after the press conference is over.
TANAHASHI: In January of this year, Mutoh and I had a tag match at the Yokohama Arena for the first time in a while. At that time, his retirement had not yet been announced.
Q: At that point in time, Mutoh probably hadn't decided to retire yet.
TANAHASHI: Mutoh announced he was retiring!?
Q: It's a well known fact in the pro wrestling world, because it was announced in June.
TANAHASHI: Well (laughs), it doesn't sound like Mutoh!
Q: He has always said that he would be active for the rest of his life, but everyone has a change of heart. This year, he was affected by artificial knee joints.
TANAHASHI: He seems to have hurt his hip joint
Q: He decided to retire because he thought that if he continued like this, it might interfere with his daily life. The countdown matches with Noah have already started.
TANAHASHI: It feels like the entire mat world is trying to get hold of Keiji Mutoh, who is limited.
Q: Considering the history, the name value, the affiliation and the relationship between the two, I thought that you would also be involved somewhere.
TANAHASHI: This time it is in the Noah ring (30th October, Ariake), but I hope that eventually he will return to his birthplace.
Q: It's not a case of saying "eventually". The goal is set for next February.
TANAHASHI: Well then, there is no other place but the Tokyo Dome (note, New Japan, 4th January)
Q: Since the year-end and New Year holidays is the homecoming season, it is a great time for Mutoh to return home to New Japan.
TANAHASHI: Yes (laughs) When I ask him to appear in New Japan, it feels like going home for the New Year holiday season
Q: Yes. From the start you wanted to fight before retirement, right?
TANAHASHI: When I heard that he was retiring, I thought "I want to fight again". I am very happy that it was put together in this way.
Q: Come to think of it, you have a long history with Mutoh.
TANAHASHI: Yes that's right, I was very lucky when Mutoh chose me as an attendant.
Q: Even now your relationship continues.
TANAHASHI: Yes. It was like studying kingship...it was like being able to see the reason why a star is a star up close.
Q: He was a big influence
TANAHASHI: Another thing, Mutoh went to the gym even on his days off. Today's athletes go to the gym every day, but at the time there weren't many. Mutoh liked weight training, and when I was a young man who also liked training, I searched for various gyms. I also did lots of weights, and when I did the shoulder press with a 36kg dumbbell, Mutoh said to me, "You're doing a light one", and said 38kg. I only changed 2kgs and I was shaking (laughs)
Q: He showed you the nature of the senior
TANAHASHI: I was hooked by the senior being insistent. But I think Mutoh's love for training has been inherited.
Q: Even after the road split, there were points of contact at every turning point. If Mutoh had stayed in New Japan, or if you had gone to All Japan with him, there would have been no reunion. You can meet again only because you were apart.
TANAHASHI: That's right, it wouldn't have been dramatic either.
TANAHASHI: Yes, it was in Yoyogi in an official "Champion Carnival" match.
Q: You also performed at the Yokohama Arena in January of this year, so it doesn't feel like it's been a long time. In any case, when speaking of Mutoh, Tanahashi comes to mind, but from your point of view, does Mutoh come out?
TANAHASHI: I don't know, but Fujinami, Mutoh, Tanahashi, I vaguely see the planets in line. I have been called the "Prodigy of the sun", and I imagine the planets revolving around it. But in front of Mutoh, I am no longer the sun.
Q: More sun than yourself?
TANAHASHI: The sun in the sun. The sun king (laughs)
Q: Either way it's central, no matter where you are. I feel that going to All Japan has given birth to many Mutoh children.
TANAHASHI: I don't think there will ever be an athlete who goes beyond the framework of the promotion and thinks about the impact so much.
Q: New Japan, All Japan and Noah, it's amazing that he's active in Japan's three major promotions.
TANAHASHI: Even Fujinami couldn't do that, and Mutoh is unlike Inoki.
Q: The number of wrestlers who can have their retirement match at The Dome is very limited.
TANAHASHI: How hard is it to make it through as a wrestler?
Q: Do you not have to be the last opponent?
TANAHASHI: Yeah?
Q: If you fight in the middle of the countdown, I feel that the chances of you bring his opponent in the retirement match are low.
TANAHASHI: I would like to put myself forward as an opponent for the retirement match
Q: The next match is a six man tag, so if you can come up with something that will lead to the future, it might be possible. If you win against Mutoh, he may even say "One more time".
TANAHASHI: There is also that pattern. But, up until our generation, we were able to fight Mutoh directly, so the question is who should we entrust the final Keiji Mutoh to?
Q: It seems that will depend on what Mutoh wants
TANAHASHI: I think it's a retirement match to let the wrestler who will lead the promotion, take over Mutoh-ism. I feel that a "Keiji Mutoh Festival" would be a good choice for Mutoh's retirement match.
Q: That goes without saying
TANAHASHI: Good (laughs)
Q: In a sense, everyone gets excited about the opponent of the retirement match, there are many wrestlers who I would like to see as an opponent.
TANAHASHI: That's right
Q: When Tenryu retired, he nominated Kazuchika Okada as the top wrestler.
TANAHASHI: It's Tenryu's good sense. With that in mind, Mutoh's good sense will be called into question for his retirement match.
Q: I don't know if Mutoh's sense alone can make a decision, the company may have intensions.
TANAHASHI: I have another point of view about Mutoh retiring at this timing. Isn't the entire industry still suffering from Coronavirus? Not just pro wrestling, but also in the entertainment industry. Mutoh gives a push on the back with a retirement match, and I am thinking that there is some meaning of him retiring in a way that gives a boost.
Q: Dedicating his retirement as a festival for the pro wrestling world to thrive
TANAHASHI: "Do your best, you guys!"
Q: If that's the case, it's pretty cool to have that intention, but I think it's a good thing to be a star to naturally make people think that way.
TANAHASHI: Even if it doesn't, the timing makes me think so. Mutoh-san isn't as calculated as everyone thinks.
Q: Do you think Mutoh makes such calculations?
TANAHASHI: You could say he is an intuitive person, and if he does something that he wants to do, it will go with the times. I see him as a true genius.
Q: But there are many "geniuses" in the pro wrestling world.
TANAHASHI: But since Mutoh is a "genius", I escaped to "outstanding talent"
Q: Oh really
TANAHASHI: If you look up "genius" in the dictionary, you will get the synonym for "outstanding talent"
Q: There is no doubt that Mutoh is a genius
TANAHASHI: If you ask me what the definition of genius is, I'd say Keiji Mutoh
Q: Big move (rough, does not translate)
TANAHASHI: There is also the splendor. I don't think there will ever be another wrestler like Mutoh. His body size is a miracle at this point in time. So he loves training and he's egotistical, but he's a character that people love.
Q: Yes, but looking back at history, I feel like he's done things that can't be helped, even if he was hated...
TANAHASHI: Ego is strong too
Q: It's an interesting story
TANAHASHI: He always has his antenna up. At the press conference, I was told about current affairs, "the dropping of the bouquet"* (laughs)
Q: He also likes talking about pro wrestling
TANAHASHI: Well, if you don't love the genre of pro wrestling, then you won't be able to get it across.
Q: Yes, and therefore he is not hated by the children. The retirement match at The Dome is likely to be Mutoh Children's Festival.
TANAHASHI: Am I going to be the eldest son among the Mutoh children?
Q: Depends on age and career, but I think you are the most successful among the children.
TANAHASHI: Will it be that way? But I thought I couldn't become Keiji Mutoh, so I went in the opposite direction. I don't have the same body size as Mutoh, and my motor nerves are different. So, I had no choice but to go the opposite way, and that's how the current Tanahashi was born.
Q: Looking at the current relationship between Mutoh and Kiyomiya in Noah, it reminds me of you defeating Mutoh at the Dome in 2009, and taking over the baton of the ace of the pro wrestling world.
TANAHASHI: Kiyomiya is a good wrestler, and I think there is definitely pressure to be pushed by the company, but he's unpretentious, and that's his nature.
Q: I think Kiyomiya is the last Mutoh child.
TANAHASHI: I know my role from now on. Making Tanahashi children (laughs)
Q: Considering your career, it should be already good, but...
TANAHASHI: I don't have one (laughs) Maybe it's better if I don't give birth to children.
Q: Isn't it nice to be an eternal child? It would be easier
TANAHASHI: Well then, as a child I am going have filial piety.
Notes
Filial piety: Filial piety refers to the practice of respecting and caring for one's parents in old age, based on a moral obligation that children owe their parents.
Picture credit: Weekly Pro
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