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JAN.22.2023

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Naito vs Muto, Okada vs Kiyomiya official for Tokyo Dome and Muto’s last event

Naito to send off Muto, deeply personal clash of champions and more as NJPW represent at NOAH card

The full card has been revealed for Keiji Muto’s final match on February 21 in the Tokyo Dome. NJPW will be represented not just in the main event, but across the card which will celebrate the iconic Muto as well as potentially define a new era in Pro-Wrestling NOAH, while a deeply personal and violent battle between two champions will be the talking point of the wrestling world. 

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Keiji Muto will face Tetsuya Naito in his last ever match. After Wrestle Kingdom 17 in Yokohama Arena, Tetsuya Naito led the crowd in a rousing ‘de Ja pon!’ roll call, but his night wasn’t over. Muto would hit the ring from the announce desk and challenge El Ingobernable for his last bout. Back in 2012, a match billed as ‘Wrestling Genius vs Stardust Genius’ saw Naito and Muto collide at Wrestle Kingdom 6. It was a match that ended in a blowout for Naito, something even the man himself admitted to backstage in Yokohama. Yet with the opportunity to headline in the Tokyo Dome once more coming rather sooner than the January 4 2024 target he had set for himself, and the chance for Muto to sample the current ungovernable version of Tetsuya Naito in the offing, it was a match that Naito could not pass up. Will Muto dominate Naito to the end, or will it be another LIJ roll call that serenades Muto’s last exit from a professional wrestling ring?

The current IWGP World heavyweight Champion meets the reigning GHC Heavyweight Champion when Kazuchika Okada takes on Kaito Kiyomiya. Two years ago in Yokohama Arena, a tag bout for Kiyomiya and Muto against Okada and Tanahashi saw NOAH’s Supernova cry bitter tears in defeat, while the Rainmaker heaped scathing criticism as salt in the emotional wounds. 

One year on and Kiyomiya had violent revenge in mind. In a premeditated assault, Kiyomiya was not the legal man in a tag bout when he blindsided Okada with a vicious kick to the face. Okada would quickly snap and the two fought all around ringside, smashing equipment in the process. Kiyomiya would insist on a singles match in the wake of the brawl, while Okada seethed backstage. Now the match is made, as the best of both NJPW and NOAH finally meet one on one. 

Another potential clash of IWGP and GHC Champions will see AMAKUSA take on Hiromu Takahashi. The GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion approached Hiromu Takahashi backstage after his match against Hajime Ohara in Yokohama, and Takahashi, hungry to prove the superiority of NJPW’s junior heavyweights, was quick to accept. Should Hiromu retain his title against YOH in Sapporo on February 5 this will be a thrilling champion versus champion clash; should YOH emerge from Sapporo the new champion, Hiromu will be hungry to reset his sights on other gold, even if it is from a different company. 

Also retiring on February 21 will be Nosawa Rongai. He will team with long time Tokyo Gurentai running buddy MAZADA in the Dome as they face BULLET CLUB’s Gedo and Taiji Ishimori. There is a lot of hsitory that connects all four of these men, and Gedo and Ishimori will see to it that Rongai doesn’t have an easy path to retirement. 

 

 

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