(NOAH) National Champion Manabu Soya unleashes his passion for challenger Masa Kitamiya, saying, "I don't want to lose in anything, the amount of alcohol I drink, the amount of food I eat..." Clash on January 1st at the Nippon Budokan

11th December 2024
Hochi News

Pro Wrestling Noah's GHC National Champion, Manabu Soya, spoke to Sports Hochi on the 11th about his "passionate spirit of not wanting to lose" to Masa Kitamiya, who will challenge him at the Nippon Budokan on New Year's Day next year. 

Immediately after Soya defeated Shuji Kondo at the Shinjuku FACE event on the 1st of December to defend his title for the third time, Kitamiya entered the ring to announce his challenge, and a title match was suddenly scheduled to take place at the Nippon Budokan on New Year's Day. 

At the press conference held in Tokyo on the 5th of December, Kitamiya took to the stage chewing gum, so with a determination of "I don't want to lose", Soya gobbled down an entire stick of chilli pepper gum, his mouth burning. He spoke about the true meaning of this competitive spirit, saying, "I don't want to lose to Masa Kitamiya in anything. The battle begins from now until New Year's Day, as we work to liven up the title match." Then he reflected, "Not only in matches, but in all sorts of things...for example, the amount of alcohol I drink, the amount of food I eat, I don't want to lose to Kitamiya in anything." He also announced that he would be holding a competitive eating and drinking contest outside the ring until New Year's Day, and that he would also be taking on "special training" that Kitamiya would never think of.

At the Nagoya event on September 24th last year, he and Kitamiya, along with Daiki Inaba, made a resolution to revitalize Noah, saying "Our generation will rise to the top". Looking back at that time, he said, "It was purely a feeling of wanting to rise up, to aim high, and work together as a trio." Although a unit was not formed, he revealed, "It's deeper than working together as one. When you are in a unit, you often team up, but you don't fight. so I wanted to rise up without creating any restrictions."

A year has passed since then, and although he missed some time due to injury, he won his first singles championship, the National, in Noah. As he revealed, "I thought it would only start after I put the belt on," he has repeatedly attracted attention outside the ring, such as by publicly disclosing his sauna training sessions before big matches. He said with a gleam in his eyes, "I'm earnestly doing everything I can to become National Champion, and I want to do my best to win". 

The title match against Kitamiya, who decided to rise up a year ago, is a long awaited one. Both the first and the last pre matches will take place at Korakuen Hall on the 19th, with Soya teaming up with Kazuyuki Fujita and Kitamiya teaming up with Daiki Odajima. Soya said passionately, "It will be a straight-forward clash. I'm not going to treat this as just a pre match, I'm going to treat it like the real thing." 

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