(NOAH) GHC Champion Kaito Kiyomiya dismisses the recommendation to retire, and will "turn everything upside down" in the match against Jake.

Tokyo Sports

16th March 2023

Noah's GHC Heavyweight Champion, Kaito Kiyomiya (26), is approaching his fifth defense (Yokohama Budokan, 19th March) against Jake Lee (34). While being in tough position, the noise from his surroundings never disappears. Not only was the challenger urging him to take a leave of absence, but Kenoh (38) was also asking him to take responsibility as the GHC champion and urged him to retire. Kiyomiya, who has his back to the wall is acting bravely, but...

Kiyomiya's surroundings are as turbulent as ever, and the fact that he was defeated by New Japan's IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, Kazuchika Okada, at The Tokyo Dome on February 21st, speaks volumes as to how big that was. 

Kenoh is particularly harsh. For his rival who took the belt from him last September, he said "If that were me, I would give up (the belt), because of my sense of responsibility as Noah's top. If you lose this time, then retire". It seems that the normally mild-mannered Kiyomiya, could not overlook this, and revealed his emotions in a rare way and said emphatically, "It makes no sense to retire. If I were to do that now, wouldn't I end up losing? I can't lose, so it's okay". Kiyomiya is proud that he challenged Okada head-on, even though the pressure of representing Noah was crushing. It is true that the GHC champion lost to the IWGP World Champion, but he is not going to look down anymore. It is the fans who decide the value of the belt, so lets see if the belt is worth less after watching the next match. I am going to turn everything upside down." 

More than anything else, the opponent before him is not Kenoh, but Jake. After finishing the pre matches with one win and one loss, he says "Until now, I've never been told an objective opinion like, "I don't smile much", so thanks to that I got the chance to notice. In Yokohama, please come and see my smile". He regained his confidence enough to say thank you. 

A motivation is because Kiyomiya has remembered his five month training period in Canada, which started in July 2017. There were only large foreign wrestlers there, and sometimes he fought against athletes with a height of two meters and a weight of 200 kilograms, he recalls "I fought every day with people who were twice as big as me. I wonder if I can make use of my experience of being beaten up this time." Jake is 12cms taller and weighs 12kg more, 192cm and 110kg. Kiyomiya said with a smile, "The Ultra Tiger Drop was born from that fight, using not only the upper and lower space, not just the front (note, does not translate well). I think we'll be able to show a match that's different from usual, where the current style and the overseas style match." 

A match where the true worth of the GHC champion will be tested, standing in the ring and carrying the two words of "certain victory". 

Translated from Tokyo Sports 

Picture credit: Tokyo Sports