Tsuji meets the press with big ideas
March 21 saw Yota Tsuji speak to the media for the first time since winning the New Japan Cup in Nagaoka and with his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match at Sakura Genesis now official. In stylish garb and with a wide smile, Tsuji spoke of his victory, and a grand plan for the future.
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‘First of all, as I said on the mic in Amagasaki, this New Japan Cup was a tournament about who will carry NJPW forward into the future. I won. Destiny saw to it that I was opposite Hirooki Goto in the final. The man with more cups than anyone with three, and if he had won, he would have been the oldest Cup winner in history. That’s what I was challenging, and that’s who I defeated. There’s no doubt that’s a massively significant win for me.
Now I have this trophy, the next thing I need to do is defeat Tetsuya Naito in Ryogoku. Since I came back from excursion, I’ve been talking about wanting to change the hierarchy in Los Ingobernables De Japon. Right now when most people think of LIJ, they think of Naito, then Shingo Takagi, then Yota Tsuji. By beating Naito, I will change that perception, and I will take the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
After that, there’s one more thing I want to do. If you read the Tokyo Sports this morning, you would have seen that I plan to take the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and return it to what it was, to separate it once more. The reason for that is simply to restore the value of the IWGP title. I feel strongly that NJPW, the cerulean blue ring has the best professional wrestling in the world. But when it comes to scale, comes to budget, there’s WWE, then AEW, then NJPW. So where can NJPW compete and beat those companies? It’s in the value of our brand and our wrestling.
NJPW is in the competition in the ring, and it’s in the heart and the spirit our wrestlers show. It’s in matches that have fans inspired and ready to take on challenges in their own lives. And the pinnacle of that competition is in the IWGP. Right now, we have the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, which was composed of the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships. But now, with the IWGP US title retired, we now have a new Global Championship. It’s created a lot of questions about the value of the top IWGP Championship is.
I want to make it exactly clear just how much IWGP means. That means I should take the IWGP World Heavyweight title, separate it again, officially retire the Intercontinental belt, and carry the IWGP Heavyweight. Lead us into a new era while properly respecting the lineage that came before. But that’s all after I beat Naito. First I have to beat him, and it would mean a lot to defeat Tetsuya Naito in order to achieve my goals’.
Questions from the press would follow:
–To clarify, you intend to bring the IWGP Heavyweight Championship back? Not to be the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion if you win?
Tsuji: Correct. I want to restore the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and properly retire the IWGP Intercontinental.
–Is it safe to say that you disagree with how the World Heavyweight Championship was instituted?
Tsuji: I don’t know about that, but the belt that represents NJPW is the IWGP Heavyweight. That’s the belt I grew up wanting to win.
–Would you want a new design for that belt, or to revive an old one?
Tsuji: I would want the fourth generation IWGP Heavyweight Championship. And I do want to make this very clear. The World title came about because Tetsuya Naito at first wanted to be double champion, and he achieved that. After he did, there was talk of the unification, and Naito was against that. He fought against it, and he lost. In all honesty, Naito wants that World title he has now to be separated. But his story, the route he took to get here means that he feels he can’t. I plan on doing what he’s unable to.
— Can you reflect a little on your final match with Hirooki Goto?
Tsuji: It was the best possible situation to be in, and the best possible opponent to have. Having Hirooki Goto in the final, overcoming him gave this Cup win the value it has.
–There is only one preview match for you and Tetsuya Naito before Sakura Genesis. Any thoughts on that?
Tsuji: Well, this is a match where we’re both on the same team, so there’s an issue with making the numbers. It’s hard to put a card together, and this is a short series. Plus I think this idea of Tsuji versus Naito should be something special and something we can build excitement for. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes out of that one preview match.
–If you achieve your goal of changing the hierarchy in LIJ, would you be calling yourself the leader then?
Tsuji: I’m not interested in any one of us being the leader. But when anyone casually thinks of LIJ, they think of Tetsuya Naito, then Shingo Takagi, then Yota Tsuji. It’s not about wanting to be the leader, it’s about my name being at the top of people’s lists. It’s about making people think that LIJ equals Yota Tsuji.
–This is your first singles match with Naito since your excursion farewell match. In that bout, Naito won without having to use Destino, something that I think you felt disappointed by. With that in mind, what kind of match do you want to wrestle in Ryogoku?
Tsuji: I think Naito went into that sendoff match with me with an expectation of me. He wanted me to become a man he was proud of being in their sendoff match. I want him to feel that pride before I beat him.
