(NOAH) Masa Kitamiya reveals National Champion Manabu Soya's "Disgraceful Behavior", "He gets drunk and loses his cell phone many times" ~ Clash on 1st January at the Nippon Budokan

12th December 2024
Hochi News

Masa Kitamiya, who will challenge the GHC National Champion Manabu Soya at Pro Wrestling Noah's Nippon Budokan on January 1st next year, undertook an interview with Sports Hochi on the 12th, and revealed Soya's unknown weakness. 

Immediately after Soya defeated Shuji Kondo at the Shinjuku FACE event on the first of the month, when he defended his title for the third time, Kitamiya entered the ring and announced his challenge, and a title match at the Budokan was then decided on. At the press conference held in Tokyo on the 5th of the month, Kitamiya took to the stage chewing gum. Soya, with his determination of, "I don't want to lose", gobbled down an entire stick of chili pepper gum, his mouth on fire. When asked about the true meaning of the rivalry, Soya confessed in an interview with Hochi, "I don't want to lose to Masa Kitamiya in anything. The fight starts with building excitement for the title match from now until New Year's Day." He continued, "Not only in matches, but in many other things..." and added, "For example, the amount of alcohol I drink, the amount of food I eat, I don't want to lose to Kitamiya in any way. I don't want to lose in anything." He also brought up a competitive eating and drinking contest before the New Year's Day showdown.

Kitamiya smiled at the champion's "spirit that doesn't want to lose" and said with a smile, "I can feel his obsession and determination". He declared that he would take on the extra challenge leading up to the Budokan saying, "That's what I want". He then revealed that they had been drinking together several times in the past, and said that, "He has lost his cell phone many times when drunk". He continued, "He's always getting drunk and carried away, or gotten carried away 4-5 drinks". He added, "I'd be happy to do a pre match before the Budokan", and sent his sights on the eating and drinking contest before the Budokan. He added proudly, "I've never gotten carried away or out of control when I drink alcohol, and I've never lost my phone." 

At the Nagoya event on September 24th last year, three of them, including Daiki Inaba, made a resolution to revitalize Noah, saying "We're going to make it in our generation". Looking back at that time, he recalled, "We often teamed up as people who weren't involved in the main event, people who were left over, so to speak, were thrown in". Explaining the reason for his decision to take action, he said, "That's why I thought I couldn't continue like this."

Kitamiya, 36, joined Kensuke Office and transferred to Noah in March 2014. Soya, on the other hand, is 39, and debuted in MUGA World in 2007 and joined Noah in April 2020. They are of the same generation. They also have taken the same path, drifting from other promotions to Noah. That is why Kitamiya confided in Soya, "Neither of us are natives of Noah, we came from elsewhere and are fighting like crazy, and in that sense I think of us as comrades". Since then, they have passionately discussed the future of Noah while drinking together at tour stops. However, the discussions stalled when Soya got "carried away" after four mugs. "I was always watching over him so he wouldn't get carried away", he said exasperated as he revealed his "dark history" of being forced to guard Soya. The two have talked about the future of the Ark both inside and outside the ring, however, while Kitamiya has yet to win a single title in the ten years since joining Noah, Soya was crowned in his fourth year. Kitamiya said enthusiastically, "I'm jealous, and most of all I feel like, 'What am I doing?' That's why I'm going to take all my feelings that I've had for years out against him". 

The first and last pre match will be held at the Korakuen Hall event on the 19th. Kitamiya will team up with rookie Daiki Odajima, to face off against Soya and Kazuyuki Fujita. Since he has a grudge against Fujita, Kitamiya vowed to take them down in one fell swoop, saying, "There are two people I need to beat". 

Comments