(NOAH) There are some stern voices about Kaito Kiyomiya's last minute cancellation for the United States. With concussion symptoms, the plan for a comeback is a blank slate.

Tokyo Sports

29th March 2023

It's just an accumulation of bad luck. 

Noah's former GHC Heavyweight Champion, Kaito Kiyomiya (26), cancelled his trip to the US at short notice. He was planning to accompany Keiji Mutoh (60), who is to be inducted into the 2023 Hall of Fame for WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion, to the ceremony, but due to concussive symptoms this was a serious measure taken. Despite the unforeseen circumstances, there are some stern voices from with Noah.  

Mutoh, who is to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame with his incarnation, Great Muta, travelled to the United States on the 28th to attend the induction ceremony which is being held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles in the 31st (1st April, Japan time). However, Yoshiki Inamura was pushing Mutoh's wheelchair when he arrived at Haneda Airport. Initially, it was was Kiyomiya who has volunteered and was to accompany Mutoh as an attendant, but he was nowhere to be seen. Narihiro Takeda, the Director of CyberFight, who oversees Noah, said with a grim expression, "Because Kiyomiya has symptoms of concussion, there is a rule that you should be able to contact a trainer within 48 hours. Judging that a long flight is not good for him now, only Inamura, who was originally scheduled to accompany Mutoh with Kiyomiya, decided to go"

At the previous night's Hachinohe event in Aomori, Kiyomiya lost the match via pinfall to El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr's Wagner Driver. Afterwards, he didn't move for a while, and the trainer rushed into the ring. Mutoh, who had gladly accepted Kiyomiya's request said anxiously, "This can't be helped, and he will have another chance next time. It's a sensitive area, so he should take it easy". 

However, it seems that he is now more interested in his life during his stay than Kiyomiya and said with a smile, "I'm not having a match, so I'm very relaxed, and I'm more than half on vacation. When I was heading to the airport, I got a call from a handsome man (Jiro) who belongs to WWE, who said, "On the 30th, let's have a meal. It seems he heard from Shinsuke Nakamura that he and I have an agreement to have dinner together. Well, it's my first time in the WWE environment, and I don't know what's going on". 

On the other hand, Takeda sees this "cancellation turmoil" seriously. While he prefaced this with, "This is all about luck and bad luck, and also the fact that the opponent was strong", and then added in an unusually stern tone, "It's fair to say that he was preoccupied with America, so his mind was elsewhere. Since this was a great opportunity, I want him to cherish each and every opportunity, as he is the person who will become the face of the promotion from now on".

After losing to New Japan's IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and losing the GHC to Jake Lee, Kiyomiya is at rock bottom. The plan for a comeback is a blank slate.

Translated from Tokyo Sports

Picture credit: Tokyo Sports