IWGP World Heavyweight contract signing sees champion and challenger exchange words
The New Beginning in Sapporo public contract signing on February 22 saw IWGP World heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito looking to finally draw some heated words from his challenger SANADA ahead of February 24’s main event.
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SANADA has drawn the ire of Tetsuya Naito for not being on the Fantasticamania tour over the last week, but with typical wry humour, the challenger said he had been ‘taking Naito’s advice, and preparing, getting to be in top shape. I will be the best SANADA I’ve ever been going into this,’ stated the former champion, closing with ‘I have nothing but confidence,’ to impressed applause from the Sapporo crowd.
Naito rebuffed SANADA’s confident remarks, and though he admitted that ‘thanks to SANADA I was able to have my roll call in the Tokyo Dome, and that’s why I agreed to this match, to settle that debt’, Naito again railed against SANADA’s reticence to talk up Saturday’s title bout. ‘Maybe the SANADA fans get you,’ remarked the champion, ‘but for me, and most people, they don’t know anything about your mind set’. Criticising SANADA’s first World heavyweight title reign with ‘just taking the title doesn’t mean you can change any landscape,’ Naito cautioned, ‘this time something has to be different, right? If not, you’ll be heading to the back in tears again, cabron’.
Self deprecating, SANADA suggested that if ‘LIJ, and Naito- maybe Tsuji- are so good at picking at faults, I won’t speak just to give them ammunition,’ to which Naito fired back that ‘If you really say what you feel then that’s one thing. If not, like do you really love every city we’re in the same? You never talk about how you actually feel and that’s why you don’t resonate with anyone.’
Breaking an uncomfortable silence, a question from the media about potential future plans as champion saw SANADA reveal a desire to wrestle ‘more veteran opponents,’ in a potential second reign, declaring a desire to sell out venues with every defence. Naito talked up the Anniversary match with the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion ‘SHO or El Desperado, either way it’s a fresh matchup so I’m excited for that’. El Ingobernable surmised that he would be defending at Sakura Genesis against the winner of the New Japan Cup, and that if he was still the champion come April 12, that he wants to put the title on the line against Jon Moxley at Windy City Riot, potentially raising the stakes to an already can’t miss matchup.
