G1 winner and Muto’s last opponent cinches victory
Tetsuya Naito has won Tokyo Sports’ prestigious pro-wrestling MVP award for 2023. Naito’s victory in the G1 Climax, and having received the honour of being Keiji Muto’s last official opponent before his retirement in February gave Naito his first MVP cap since 2020, and his fourth overall. Meanwhile Hiromu Takahashi took home Outstanding Performance, Bishamon captured the Best Tag Team honours, from NJPW, while Tam Nakano, who challenged for the IWGP Women’s Chamionship against KAIRI on January 4, took home the female MVP award.
Naito himself appeared at a special press conference in Tokyo to address his victory.
‘Thank you for choosing me as MVP. Looking back on this year, I wrestled Kenoh in a singles match, Shota Umino in a singles match, then Keiji Muto’s retirement match. I thought it was a good start to my year, but I lost in the New Japan Cup quarterfinals to SANADA, and then I wasn’t able to make things click for a while. But heading to Mexico in July put me in a better place to win the G1 Climax.
In September in Kobe, I defeated Jeff Cobb and got revenge for my G1 loss. Now I’m heading to ward the main event January 4. Yes, I won the G1, but I’m not sure I was able to really stand out as much as I’d like this year. I never had a title match, and with that in mind, I had thought Hiromu Takahashi would take the prize. I bet Hirmu is pretty disappointed right now. But I’m sure he’ll keep going more and more to increase his standing.
More important, the man who won the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in April in Ryogoku, and has held the World Heavyweight title longer than anyone, SANADA. Being able to hold the top title for a long period of time is impressive. Yet it feels like ever since April, he’s been less and less prominent. Now he got, how many votes for MVP from the panel? Two? That says a lot doesn’t it. January 4 2024, the main event, it has to be do or die for him. All the same, I will come in as challenger and as Tokyo Sports MVP, win, get my roll call, and get 2024 started the right way. You can imagine what that might look like.’
–You didn’t have a title match in 2024, but you’re MVP, which is quite a rare occurrence.
Naito: How many people have done that?
–I don’t know but-
Naito: You didn’t do the research?
–Well, certainly recently, it’s quite a rare occurrence. But you were involved in Keiji Muto’s retirement, and being in the main event of that big spot was quite significant. How was that experience?
Naito: I think there were people there don’t necessarily watch NJPW, or that were fans of a different company. To show them Tetsuya Naito, Los Ingobernables De Japon and NJPW, that was good promotion all around. Keiji Muto was the man who got me into wrestling as a fan and who inspired me to be a wrestler, so to be his last opponent was important to me. Muto isn’t coming back is he? To be the last, to finish his wrestling life with Destino, that’s a big deal.
–This is your fourth MVP award. So you’re tired for all time alongside Genichiro Tenryu, Keiji Muto and Hiroshi Tanahashi for all time MVP awards, behind Inoki and Okada.
Naito: Obviously, I’m always happy to win MVP. But this time in particular- in one year to not have a title match and still win MVP says an awful lot. That has to be impressive, right? I think there will be a lot of people who are pissed, Hiromu included, being in the title hunt more but not winning MVP status. I expect Hiromu will show that frustration, as he should. As any good student of mine would.
–You won MVP, but not the match of the year award (taken by Shinsuke Nakamura vs Great Muta at NOAH on January 1). Your thoughts?
Naito: I don’t think anyone can win an award like this, and sit here and complain. I want any award I can get. But match of the year, that’s a really difficult one to call. There’s so many different tastes now and different ways matches can grab people. I think it’s the hardest award to give out. I heard a lot of people at the time say it was a great match so I’d like to see it. I haven’t watched it, actually. So I’m looking forward to checking it out.
–Do you have any thoughts on being level with Hiroshi Tanahashi at four MVP awards?
Naito: I mean, it’s nice, but I’m less interested in how many times anyone has won it in the past as I am in what’s happening right now. I’m proud of winning the MVP award here today, so I’m not really interested in the times I won it in the past. If I’m the guy that comes to mind, that lives in the hearts of most people when they think of pro-wrestling right now, then that’s what’s important.
–With that said, are you not interested in gunning for Okada and Inoki’s records?
Naito: I’ve never given it much thought. Winning is great, but I’ve never thought about number of times, or where I am in some list.
–What’s your goal for 2024 as a whole?
Naito: After I won the main event in 2020, I wanted to give out a ‘de Japon’ roll call, and then got blasted by KENTA. All the same I left with a vision of having the title belt and travelling all around Japan. I never got to do that, either.
I don’t have a deep connection to the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, and if anything I was against it. But I do want to be a champion, to be in all these venues, and have them all yelling ‘de Japon’ with me. I hope everyone’s looking forward to seeing it.
Best Tag Team: Bishamon- Hirooki Goto’s comment
Thank you for this award. Apropos of nothing, I’ve been doing this 20 years now, and this is my first award, so I’m hugely happy. I’m very grateful to my partner Yoh-chan, and to all the fans for their support. Bishamon will keep tearing it up in the wrestling world.
YOSHI-HASHI
Thank you for this award. I thought, from my debut, to coming back from excursion, that I would never be in the running for this. But when I was knocked down, I found a way to get up somehow, and when things weren’t working out I had people around me there to lent support. Little by little I got there. Career wise, Goto is five years my senior, but we both work together on such a level that really is unmatched in my opinion. Everything really does change in an instant. Thank you for choosing us as the best team.
Outstanding performance- Hiromu Takahashi comment
‘Hiromu Takahashi spent the last year devoting myself to testing one thing.
That was the whole idea that a junior heavyweight can’t win Tokyo Sports MVP. This year is gonna be it! That’s how he came into 2023, and the result- ‘outstanding performance’. It’s disappointing that junior heavyweight fans couldn’t have the same joy they would have experienced 41 years ago when the original Tiger Mask took the MVP award.
But what meaning we can take from this, losing the MVP award is that there’s still a lot to do for the junior heavyweights to be considered on that level by the mainstream. This writer feels like Hiromu has spent a whole year acting with the future of junior heavyweight wrestling in mind, and given energy by his great fans. Thank you Hiromu! Take pride, but humility, Hiromu! God speed, Hiromu!’
*This statement was prepared by Hiromu Takahashi’s publicist. Hiromu’s actual comment was ‘WHAT THE F*#K?!’
