The Keiji Muto Retirement Road series continued in Pro Wrestling NOAH today with the second of his 5 final events, capping off a busy week for Muto that saw him return to the US for a special appearance by The Great Muta in All Elite Wrestling, which set up longtime US icon Sting for a return visit in January. It was also announced after the event that the opponent for Muto’s 3rd retirement series match will be announced at a press conference tomorrow at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET. It will be streamed live on YouTube.
Today’s event was held at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English. You can also watch the first 3 matches FOR FREE on YouTube for a limited time.
The announced paid attendance was 1933. Because the venue was limited to 50% capacity, and the setup probably reduced that further, this number isn’t as bad as it sounds.
Match 1: Manabu Soya beat Taishi Ozawa.
Match 2: NOSAWA Rongai & Eita beat Yasutaka Yano & Kai Fujimura. Eita pinned Fujimura after a low dropkick to the face.
Match 3: Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura beat Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito. Inamura pinned Yone after Musou.
Match 4: Ninja Mack, Extreme Tiger & Alejandro beat Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Hi69 by DQ. Tadasuke DQ’d. Mask removal from Alejandro.
Match 5: Naomichi Marufuji, Jack Morris & Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. beat Masato Tanaka, Masaaki Mochizuki & Daiki Inaba. Morris pinned Inaba after Shooting Star Press.
Match 6: Atsushi Kotoge & Seiki Yoshioka beat GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Yoshinari Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway to win the titles. Kotoge & Yoshioka become the 51st GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Yoshioka pinned Ogawa after Buzzsaw Kick. Next up: Possibly Tadasuke & Hi69 (or Hiroki if you prefer, that’s what he is announced as), who attacked the new champs immediately after the match (Tadasuke broke a chair on Kotoge’s already busted open head with the initial assault).
Match 7: Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima beat GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Hideki Suzuki & Timothy Thatcher to win the titles. Sugiura & Kojima become the 62nd GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Sugiura pinned Suzuki after Olympic Yosen Slam.
Match 8: GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion HAYATA beat YO-HEY to retain the title. V6 for HAYATA.
Match 9: Keiji Muto Retirement Road Match 2: Keiji Muto & Kazuyuki Fujita beat Masakatsu Funaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima. Muto pinned Nakajima after Shining Wizard.
Main Event: Kaito Kiyomiya beat GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenoh to win the title. Kiyomiya becomes the 41st GHC Heavyweight Champion. Next up: Fujita. That will happen on 10/30 at Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
The next event is Friday at Bandaijima Multipurpose Square Ogama in Niigata. The event will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date (no live broadcast).
UPDATE: After the event, it was announced that HAYATA would next defend the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Championship against Ninja Mack on 10/30. That is also when the next GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match will occur as Kotoge & Yoshioka will defend against Tadasuke & Hi69.
Based on the post-match comments just posted by the promotion (late evening US time), it looks like Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. is finished with NOAH for now as he is on his way back to Mexico.
Kiyomiya wanted Fujita as the next challenger for the GHC Heavyweight Championship because Fujita beat Kiyomiya in the N-1 VICTORY Tournament, which Kiyomiya won to get this title shot.
