Junior Heavyweight Championship, New Japan Cup final press conferences in Nagaoka
Ahead of March 21’s New Japan Cup finals in Aore Nagaoka, contenders for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and New Japan Cup finals went face to face with their final thoughts at a public press conference March 20.
Lio Rush and Hiromu were first to the table to make their title match on Tuesday official. The confident challenger stated ‘I’ve won championships all over the world, but not that one, not the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.’ Assuming that the champion must be nervous, he asserted that the light hearted front Hiromu presented wasn’t showing ‘the respect I deserve.’ Ending his thought by stating ‘that championship is mine,’ he awaited Hiromu’s response.
Hiromu would accept Lio’s point, and confirmed his nerves. ‘Before we started this tour, I figured I should diet to keep up with Lio’s speed, but I failed miserably,’ he confessed. ‘If anything, I got so worried I started eating my nerves.’ Hiromu decided that this would be a chance for him to show his power, with no chance beating Rush on speed alone. Promising to defend his title successfully, he sent the press conference to the question phase.
Asked to give more detailed thoughts on their opponents as wrestlers, Rush admitted that Hiromu ‘is one of the very best wrestlers I’ve ever been in the ring with,’ but stated that Hiromu’s several championship reigns meant that he’s suffered several losses. Promising that Hiromu ‘hasn’t seen everything yet,’ Rush vowed to teach Hiromu the colour of his heart when it’s ripped from his chest Tuesday. In response, Takahashi continued his thoughts from backstage comments of late, that Lio’s speed and danger made him akin to a Komodo dragon, drawing laughs from the crowd as he forgot the line of questioning,
Another line of questioning was about the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship itself. Rush would talk about the legendary names that have held the title, and said that ‘I wouldn’t come all this way from America to Japan if it didn’t mean something incredible important to me,’. Saying that the championship would put his name on an incredible list, he promised to be the first American in over a decade to win the title Tuesday. The champion would respond that he asked after how many tickets remained for Aore Nagaoka, explaining that 170 seats remained unfilled. Taking the responsibility to fill each seat as the champion, he promised to live up to his role as champion to the fullest.
With the official part of the press conference over, Hiromu wanted to take questions from fans only to see Rush take a seat with the audience to ask ‘why is your suit so ridiculous?’ Takahashi would evoke the words of Antonio Inoki to ‘be ridiculous,’ before saying there was joy in the ridiculous, and energy to bring the people with fun. As the two swapped roles, Hiromu would ask why Lio’s suit was so cool, Rush stated that he was a fashionable individual- perhaps one with a new accessory Tuesday in the form of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.
