(NOAH) "I have to get my belt back", Go Shiozaki vows to return early to the title front

18th April 2023

Tokyo Sports

Noah's former GHC Heavyweight Champion, Go Shiozaki (41), has expressed his desire to return after eight months. On the 3rd September last year, when he lost to Timothy Thatcher in Osaka, he was injured and was forced to miss a long period of time for treatment. In Sendai on the 16th, Shiozaki announced his return, and on the 4th May at the Ryogoku Kokugikan event, he will team up with Kaito Kiyomiya and Yoshiki Inamura to face Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima and Manabu Soya. Shiozaki said emphatically, "I am finally able to come home. I fought against injuries while thinking that Noah's ring was the only place I could return to".  

During his absence, the scenery in Noah changed successively, and he said that he felt impatience. In January, Jake Lee, who was also a junior in All Japan, entered Noah, and in March he won the GHC Heavyweight Championship. Shiozaki said with increasing fighting spirit, "He is an accomplished wrestler, but since the belt is in the hands of an outside enemy, I have to go and retrieve it. I'm looking forward to fighting." 

Also in February, "Pro Wrestling Master", Keiji Mutoh retired. He was unable to stand on the stage of the retirement show of the rival who he lost the GHC Heavyweight Championship to February 2021, and so was not able to get revenge. "I was watching the video of Mutoh's retirement match and feeling impatient. Well, because of the regret that I wanted to get revenge in his retirement match, I am thinking of venting in the ring at Ryogoku". 

Naomichi Marufuji will challenge Jake Lee, the GHC Champion, in the main event of the Ryogoku event, which is where Shiozaki's comeback match will be. "I want to re-establish Go Shiozaki, and return to the center of Noah". The strong man vows to return to the title front early.

Translated from Tokyo Sports

Picture credit: Tokyo Sports