(NOAH/DDT) Aoki vs Kenoh - the battle begins!

Weekly Pro

11th December 2024 (Issue No. 2330)

 "There's no way I'd step into such a cheap, dirty ring." (Kenoh)

"Let's prove it! We are not inferior, we are not the same, we are the most interesting and strongest" (Aoki)

The incident happened like a whirlwind. 

After winning a six-man tag match with Jun Akiyama and Keigo Nakamura, Shinya Aoki grabbed the microphone and declared, "On January 1st, I'm going to attack Kenoh at the Noah Budokan." As the crowd erupted in excitement at the sudden declaration of war, a blonde man yelled on his way to the ring. 

It was Kenoh, making a surprise appearance in DDT. 

Recently, the two of them have been mentioning each other on social media, and now they finally came face to face. Aoki, who was denied an invitation to come to the Ark by Kenoh, has announced a one on one match in DDT on December 28th at Ryogoku. 

Kenoh then got angry and said, "There's no way I'm going to step into this cheap, dirty ring!". Furthermore, the verbal attacks did not stop, and Kenoh provoked him by saying, "Mixed martial artist Aoki Shinya is still okay. DDT's Aoki Shinya looks cheap," and demanded that he fight Yu Owada, whom he had brought along with him.

 Unfazed by the sudden outbreak of the rivalry, Aoki overpowered Owada in just eleven seconds and then engaged in a staredown with Kenoh. Nakamura also intervened, and the four of them started fighting in the ring. After kicking out Kenoh and Owada, Aoki called out to Nakamura, "December 28th, Ryogoku, let's win!" and it is later decided that they will officially face each other then. 

The match between Aoki and Kenoh is a dangerous one, but Nakamura's presence is the key here. Since his return in April this year, Nakamura has not been able to achieve much in his career as a wrestler, and he has often been plagued by injuries, so while he is very happy to be able to fight in the ring, he is also frustrated with the current situation. 

On November 16th in Yokohama, Aoki confronted Nakamura with a harsh reality: "If we continue like this, you will keeping letting others win*." That is why he feels it is meaningful to team up with Aoki and fight representing DDT, he is aiming for Kenoh saying, ""I'm definitely going to win. I want to show Aoki how much I've grown. I'll beat Kenoh." When Nakamura cut in, Aoki said, "Don't get in the way of my singles match with Kenoh", but sensing the strength of Nakamura's resolve, the two of them prepared to take him on. When Nakamura said to Aoki, "Let's defeat Kenoh together," Aoki replied in his own unique way, "We're not going to defeat Kenoh. We're going to prove that we're better." From those words, you could sense his strong determination to not just aim for victory, but to show that they are superior in every way. On the 28th December in Ryogoku, it will be a fight for their very existence. 

Notes

Letting others win: Original Japanese is a "distributor of wins", which basically means constantly losing hands the advantage to the other team. This does not translate well into English, so I have had to use a close approximation. Another choice is, "This is how it's going to be", but this makes it vague for anyone who doesn't know Nakamura and Aoki's story.