Tetsuya Naito opens up about his G1 Climax 33 victory.
The former multi-time world champion won the prestigious tournament for the third-time in his career this past Sunday in Japan, which guarantees him the main event spot in this coming January’s WrestleKingdom 18 pay-per-view. Naito spoke about all of this during a recent interview with NJPW’s website.
This is my third win, first in six years. Everybody in this tournament is in it to win it, so I’m obviously happy to win. For me, I’ve always associated the G1 final with the middle of summer and with Ryogoku, so to have that final in Ryogoku, in mid summer, and of course to have the fans cheering as well, to have that big chant of ‘De Ja Pon!’ felt damn great. I think I had a pretty good summer.
When asked about how winning the tournament felt this time around, Naito admits that his age and injuries have taken a toll on him and that he doesn’t foresee himself getting many more opportunities to be in the main event.
That’s a thinker… What with my injuries, and my age as well, I didn’t have, don’t have many more chances left. That’s what I had in mind. I didn’t have the luxury of thinking there’s always next year, or the next year, or five years after that. So I had a lot more on the line I think, and more than my other two wins, I felt that I had to win this time.
Naito defeated his old rival, the great Kazuchika Okada, in the finals of this year’s tournament. He says that besting the Rainmaker made this G1 triumph feel all the more special to him.
To any NJPW wrestler, the G1 Climax final is such an important stage. I have wrestled a whole bunch of singles matches with Okada. When we were Young Lions, we lived in the same room, so to now meet one another in the final, and for me to beat him? My first two G1 wins are definitely ones that left a strong impression on me, but I think this was even more of an important win and a significant win. A big part of that is the fact that I beat that Okada I used to room with years ago.
If WrestleKingdom 18 were tomorrow Naito would face-off with his old LIJ comrade SANADA for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.