(NOAH) The Man Who Saved The Ark. Theme: Akitoshi Saito's retirement

4th December 2024
(Issue No. 2329)

The Pro Wrestling Noah Reiwa Rebirth Story
Narihiro Takeda/Born November 13, 1971 in Oita Prefecture.
Entered the professional wrestling industry in 1997 as an employee of New Japan. After working in many departments such as sales and publicity, he left the company in 2002 to join All Japan. After that, he returned to New Japan from 2006 to January 2014, serving as an executive officer. He became president of Noah in May 2019. In 2020, Noah joined the CyberAgent Group, and he is currently a director of CyberFight Inc.

 Akitoshi Saito, who has spent about twenty-four years in Noah, which is more than two-thirds of his thirty-four year professional wrestling career, has finally bought the curtains down on his long career. As shown on page 38, Akitoshi had his retirement match against Naomichi Marufuji at Noah's Nagoya show on November 17th. Marufuji was also his opponent in Saito's first Noah match. Although he lost, he completed the final road he had been on for about four months since announcing his retirement in July. As he himself said, he crossed the finish line "full speed." 
 For Akitoshi, the Noah ring is a stage where so many events have taken place, he has countless memories from the long time he has spent in the green ring, which he has been fighting in since the beginning, and he was also the final opponent for the founder, Mitsuharu Misawa. On the Ark mat, where many memories are deeply engraved, Akitoshi has made a firm decision as a wrestler to retire, and it is not unnatural for him to make the decision to retire after a career spanning more than thirty years. Although his age is undisclosed, considering the amount of time he has devoted to professional wrestling, it is only natural that he would start to feel like it was about time. And the person who is in a position to recieve that decision, is Noah's director, Takeda. Looking back on the process that led to that decision, "I remember briefly mentioning retirement to Saito-san for the first time when we went through the contract renewal two years ago. At first, there was no particular talk about him being unwell or anything like that. There was the issue of his age, but I asked him things like, "Are you thinking about retiring soon?" It was just a normal conversation with a veteran wrestler, a bit of small talk. However, maybe becuse I was the one who bought it up during the contact signing, and even though it was a casual conversation, when we signed the next contract, he said "I am thinking a little about retiring" and added, "I can still have matches." He said that he was still physically and mentally capable of being a professional wrestler, but because of this, when we renewed his contract last year, we discussed each other's thoughts on the possibility of retirement."   
 From a casual conversation at first to the retirement match, it is now Takeda's job in Noah to see him through to his final match. Akitoshi himself had time to make up his mind and then to actually retire, so it could be said he was able to sort out his feelings before making a bold final decision, but Director Takeda has mixed feelings about his position. "Contract renewals are a really tough job. Even if we want to raise the wrestlers' wages, we have to announce a very high hurdle, and if they go down, it's obviously tough to tell them that, and it's also tough to talk about retirement in detail..." From the perspective of the average fan, all they can see is the feelings of the wrestlers, and in entertainment, it may be unnecessary to reveal the feelings of the backstage staff more than necessary. Needless to say, the decision to retire is a big deal for a wrestler, and it's natural that the person who hears the news will have mixed emotions. "Retirement in pro wrestling is a very serious topic. Of course, I think it's the same for all professional athletes, not just wrestlers. Basically, it's up to the individual to decide. There are cases where the promotion will tell the individual that their contract has ended and that they will not be signing another one, but even if they leave the company, they can continue to be active by changing their affiliation or becoming a freelancer, so it's up to the individual. From my current perspective, if someone talks about retirement, they should have it in their current affiliated promotion, and continue to take on a key position there. I think this is the most beautiful way to end up."
 Currently in pro wrestling, there are still only a limited number of wrestlers who are given jobs and roles after retirement by their final affiliated promotion. n professional baseball, there are many coaching positions, and there are also many behind-the-scenes jobs such as scouting, and even if they leave their team, commentary jobs are available in a variety of media outlets, far more than in professional wrestling. Unfortunately, the Japanese wrestling is lagging far behind in this area, and the reality is that most promotions do not have the financial strength to keep retired wrestlers*, which is why Director Takeda strongly urges Noah to reform these areas as well. "The ideal situation for both wrestlers and promotions, is to quit within the promotion (editors note, as an active wrestler), and then stay in the promotion and have a proper job. After his retirement, Mutoh (Keiji) is working with Noah as a scouting advisor. However, Mutoh-san has not been with Noah for a long time, and his current job is basically as a talent manager, so I hope Saito will stay with Noah, and we can build a structure. Before that, Ogawa-san* also left suddenly, but he is staying on as a coach, and I will do my best to make sure that this continues to work smoothly in the future." 
 Even when it comes to work after retirement, many pro wrestlers are devoted to pro wrestling, so it is often difficult to find other work to do. However, Akitoshi has been doing commentary work since his active days, and it has been well received, so Noah's plan is to continue to ask him to do that work in the future.  

Notes
Providing for retired wrestlers: Mitsuharu Misawa was always very concerned about this, and his plan upon retiring was to open a bar or restaurant, which would be staffed by retired wrestlers.
Ogawa-san: Yoshinari

Picture credit: Weekly Pro