GHC Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito challenged Pro Wrestling NOAH’s roster after the September 23 N-1 Victory event at Korakuen Hall, pointing to empty seats and asking the tournament entrants to show more frustration.
In backstage comments published by NOAH, Naito compared the crowd with what he believes a New Japan Pro-Wrestling G1 Climax show would draw. “I thought I saw a few empty seats,” he said, in a translation from Japanese. He called that a measure of the current gap between the promotions and said he found it frustrating himself.
Naito then turned his criticism toward the wrestlers competing in the N-1. He acknowledged that some have objected to his earlier comments, but said NOAH’s roster is generally too quiet. If they have something to say, he argued, they should say it publicly. He framed that challenge around his stated wish to make NOAH the top promotion in Japan.
The champion did not enter the N-1 tournament. Its winner is scheduled to be determined at the October 4 final in Tokyo. Naito’s remarks place a spotlight on how the eventual winner responds to a champion who has repeatedly pushed the roster to speak up.
Elsewhere during the Korakuen show, a masked person in camouflage attacked GHC National Champion Naomichi Marufuji. Naito said he did not know the person’s identity and denied arranging the interruption. NOAH has not identified the attacker in the published report.
Naito and BUSHI are also advertised for NOAH’s September 25 event in Sendai. Naito’s recent promotional appearance in Kochi came ahead of this stretch of NOAH dates.
Source: Pro Wrestling NOAH’s September 23 backstage report.
