(NOAH) "His potential is Olympic gold medal level, and he'll be good no matter where he competes in the world" Master Jinsei Shinzaki talks about his beloved student, Kenoh!

29th November 2023 

Proresu Today

At the Ariake Arena show held by Pro Wrestling Noah on Tuesday January 2nd 2024, Manabu Soya will challenge Kenoh for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. As a preclude for their match, on Saturday December 2nd at the Yokohama Budokan, Jinsei Shinzaki will team up with his favorite student, Kenoh, to take on Manabu Soya and Tatsumi Fujinami. We asked him about his thoughts on the battle.

How has Kenoh been in Shinzaki's mind from his days in Michinoku Pro Wrestling to the present, and what are his thoughts on this match? 

Q: May I ask how you met Kenoh? 

SHINZAKI: For nearly thirty years now, we've been holding a Michinoku Pro Wrestling show in Tokushima every March, and I return every January or February to prepare for it. So...how many years ago was this? I think it must have been a long time ago since Kenoh was in Junior High, but the Nippon Kempo dojo was helping out in various ways (for the Tokushima show), I went to the dojo to say hello, and I met a Junior High school student, which was Kenoh. That's where we first met. I heard people say, "He's strong", and he was so big that I was very impressed.

Q: After that, Kenoh decided to join Michinoku Pro Wrestling.

SHINZAKI: The first person I received a referral from was Fukuta-san from Fukuta Records in Tokushima* who called me, at that time Kenoh was at Meiji University and was number one in the world at that time. Then after graduating, Kenoh said, "I've been wanting to join Michinoku Pro". If he was to become a wrestler, then I thought it would be better for him to go to New Japan instead of Michinoku Pro, or and I forget which one it was at the time, Noah or All Japan, but I thought it would be better for him to go to a major promotion. He was the best in the world at Nippon Kempo, and so he was like an Olympic gold medalist, and in that respect I told him that it would be better for him to demonstrate his abilities in a major promotion, and so at that time I refused...I didn't say no exactly, but I thought that if Kenoh were ti progress, then he would have a better chance that way. Following that, he said he wanted to go to Michinoku, so I thought "Start here first", and accepted the offer.

Q: You named him "Kenoh", but please tell us the thoughts behind the name 

SHINZAKI: I chose the name "Kenoh" because it truly means the champion of Nippon Kempo. I read somewhere, although it wasn't said directly by him, that he said, "At first I really hated it and felt embarrassed". 

Q: How does the professional wrestler, "Kenoh", look from your point of view? 

SHINZAKI: Although he is small as a wrestler, or rather a martial artist, Nippon Kempo is indiscriminate, so when he was a university student he was beating adults, and became the Japanese champion and he also became the world champion. His potential as a martial artist is truly on par with an Olympic gold medal, so I felt that he would be able to compete anywhere in the world, not just as a wrestler.

Q: Kenoh took your words "Create a rival", very strongly

SHINZAKI: It figures that if you don't have someone to compete with, you won't grow. All the fighters in Japan and around the world in the past, have become stars because they have had rivals like them at the same time. During Kenoh's Michinoku Pro wrestling days, it was Fujita "JR" Hayato, I think I told them to first fight as rivals.

Q: Could you tell us about what happened when Kenoh transferred to Noah? 

SHINZAKI: I had been planning to bring out Kenoh from the beginning, so the timing was just right. Kenoh had just become the champion, and was fighting as Michinoku's ace, but I lost to him in a tag, and the timing was just right to go like that. He first went to Noah as a junior, and fought there as that for a while, but I thought he would be able to make an impact sooner. I think there were various issues and the situation in Japanese pro wrestling at the time, and in the end he didn't rise to the top immediately after participating in Noah, but several years ago (from now), and in that case the timing was good, and I am very happy.

Q: On December 2nd in Yokohama, it will be a tag team showdown between masters and students? 

SHINZAKI: I thought for a moment that it might be a festival card, but then I heard that it would be a pre-match to the title match, well then I thought that it wouldn't be. I don't know much about Fujinami-san and Soya's story, because it didn't happen in front of me, so I guess Soya probably wasn't as famous at that time. I don't really understand the story because it was a while ago, however, this will be the first time I will have met Soya. I have fought against Fujinami-san many times, but I am still curious as to how he will fight in Noah. After all, this is a pre-match, so if Kenoh and Soya don't shine, I don't think there is much point in having a fight where Fujinami-san and I are in the forefront. 

Q: Kenoh has declared that he will win the "Dragon Suplex"

SHINZAKI: I think it's typical of Kenoh to have that kind of vision. It's hard for pro wrestlers to get to the top unless they are quick thinkers and have a good head for pro wrestling, and Kenoh is really good at that, so I think it's going to be an interesting match. 

Q: Finally, please give a message to your fans. 

SHINZAKI: On December 2nd (Yokohama Budokan), I will team up with Kenoh and have a match with Fujinami-san and Soya, and of course I will do my best not to lose to Kenoh and the other wrestlers, but I would like people to pay attention to the subsequent fight between Kenoh and Soya for the title. We look forward to your visit.

Notes

Fukuta Records: Martial arts DVD store (huge and rare collection), the owner himself is a martial artist and has a dojo for practice on the premises.

 

Translated from Proresu Today

Picture credits: Proresu Today