Final press conferences for Keiji Muto, NOSAWA Rongai
Ahead of his final bout on February 21 in the Tokyo Dome, Keiji Muto addressed the media in Tokyo Monday February 20 along with his final opponent Tetsuya Naito.
Confident ahead of the Dome main event, Naito would reflect that it was ‘bittersweet, that I end the career of the man who got me into professional wrestling,’ before re-stating his intent to ‘wipe the floor’ with Muto and have him leave the ring ‘in complete defeat’. Sternly stating that ‘just like you wanted, I’ll reduce you to a pile of white ash,’ Naito would admit that ‘I will never forget tomorrow. I’m as excited as I can be, so if I had anything to say to myself, it would be tranquilo- assen na yo,’ to close his address.
In reply, Keiji Muto admitted that he was still dealing with hamstring injuries sustained in Great Muta’s final bout on January 22 in Yokohama Arena. ‘The doctors told me it would be six weeks to heal, but here we are after four. But wrestlers have to be heroes, they have to be superhuman, and that’s what I will be one more time tomorrow.’ Muto went on to explain his rationale for selecting Naito for his final match, saying that ‘for moving business, as well as being great in the ring, he’s the best choice,’ before needling El Ingobernable by saying ‘Some of what he said makes it seem there’s a nice guy in there- I hope he doesn’t go easy on me’.
Naito’s retort under media questioning was anything but nice, as he explained ‘as I said to him in Osaka, this won’t be one last grand piece of art for Muto, but complete defeat and humiliation.’ Naito promised a ‘De Ja Pon!’ call to close out the night tomorrow, but also that ‘my goal is to do that in the main event of an NJPW show (at Wrestle Kingdom). So even after tomorrow, my plans and my goals won’t change’.
February 21 will also see the retirement of long time Japanese wrestling mainstay NOSAWA Rongai, who teams with Tokyo Gurentai ‘pareja’ MAZADA to face Gedo and Taiji Ishimori. MAZADA would quip ‘What a worker (NOSAWA) is, managing to get to retire in the Tokyo Dome,’ while NOSAWA would state that he felt ‘nothing special, just an ending,’ going into his last bout, adding that he hoped to be in good shape and to end things without injury. Gedo would say he and NOSAWA were quite similar in terms of being wrestlers that were ‘never superstars, but we were able to show our own path and worth in the ring,’ while Ishimori, long connected to Rongai through his career said that it was an ‘honour for my first NOAH match in five years to be NOSAWA’s retirement,’ but that ‘I’ll make sure he never wants to wrestle again.’
NOSAWA Rongai and MAZADA face Taiji Ishimori and Gedo, while Hiromu Takahashi faces AMAKUSA, Kazuchika Okada wrestles Kaito Kiyomiya, and Keiji Muto faces Tetsuya Naito in his final match February 21 in the Tokyo Dome. The event is available on Wrestle Universe PPV.
