Keiji Muto Comments on His Retirement Match
Pro Wrestling NOAH’s held a media scrum following their Grand Final Pro-Wrestling ‘Last’ Love Hold Out event on Tuesday with Keiji Muto among the speakers. One of the topics discussed included Muto’s thoughts on inviting Masahiro Chono to the ring for an impromptu match after his match with Tetsuya Naito.
“This is something I really wanted to do. After all, I had my debut match with (Masahiro) Chono, and I wanted to end the show with him. I’m amazed he was able to move (like that). It was a great feat. He was pumping adrenaline. I was very happy. He lived up to my expectations.”
Muto also gave his thoughts about being glad to be able to have a retirement match despite dealing with an injury in the lead-up to his match.
“It’s been 39 years this year, and there have been tough times along the way. After all, I’ve been constantly injured, and this time, for the past month, I was really bothered by a separated hamstring. Fortunately, that’s all I had to do today. I worked really hard on the treatment and rehabilitation. I’m glad I was able to move more than I thought I could. Well, everyone has to deal with injuries. I’m really glad I was able to finish. Many wrestlers don’t get to have retirement matches like this, but I was really happy in my wrestling career.”
Muto also gave his thoughts on if he has any regrets about his wrestling career.
I have a lot of regrets (I’ve had throughout my career). I’m reflecting on what I could have done a little more, and I’m going down this road. Even though there is no next time. Maybe I don’t really feel like I’m retiring yet (laughs). There are so many little things that I should have done differently.
English translation via PostWrestling.com
Stevie Richards Dealing with Serious Health Issues
Former ECW and WWE wrestler Stevie Richards recently announced on Instagram that he is currently dealing with serious health issues over the past month.
“The last 4 weeks, especially the last one, have really been something else.
We aren’t quite at the finish line yet, but hopefully the road to recovery starts asap.
I will be explaining what has happened and documenting my road to recovery on the YouTube channel as well as here.
Speaking of the YouTube channel, we have plenty of videos to edit/publish- so there will still be new content as we work through this. Please subscribe to stay updated and for the normal fitness reviews.”
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Richards has been dealing with back and spinal-related health issues that have gotten worse in recent weeks.
Misc. Wrestling News & Notes
Paramount Network announced that Mercedes Mone and Trinity Fatu (Naomi in WWE) will be making an appearance at an upcoming episode of the next season of their Bar Rescue series on their network. It was not stated when this episode will air but the newest season will premiere on February 26th on the network.
Glory Pro Wrestling recently announced that they have pulled Eddie Kingston from the card of their Anniversary 6 event on February 26th in St. Louis, Missouri due to injury-related reasons.
Deadlock Pro Wrestling recently announced that they have pulled The WorkHorsemen (Anthony Henry & JD Drake) from the card of their You Already Know 2023 event on February 25th due to circumstances beyond their control.
All Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced the full field of competitors and blocks for this year’s Champions Carnival tournament, which takes place on April 8th to May 7th in Japan. Yuma Aoyagi, Kento Miyahara, Yoshitatsu, Ryuki Honda, T-Hawk, Jun Saito, Cyrus, and TBA were announced to be the official competitors for A Block. Suwama, Shuji Ishikawa, Shotaro Ashino, Naoya Nomura, Hokuto Omori, Rei Saito, Yuma Anzai, and TBA were announced to be the official competitors for B Block.
Lucha Libre AAA announced that Pagano recently underwent surgery for an injury that was not disclosed.
Stardom recently announced that AZM recently issued a match challenge to Mercdes Mone for her IWGP Women’s Championship.
Tuesday’s NWA Powerrr show featured the NWA World Women’s Tag Team Championship changing hands twice. Pretty Empowerrred 2.0 (Ella Envy & Roxy) defeated The Renegades (Charlette & Robyn Renegade) to be crowned the new champions. During their title victory celebrations, Madi Wrenkowski made an appearance and stated that she would be cashing in her championship series title opportunity on the spot. This led to a title match between Pretty Empowerrred 2.0 and Wrenkowski & Missa Kate, which was won by Wrenkowski & Kate to be crowned the new champions.
Impact Wrestling recently announced that tickets for their upcoming Impact X NJPW event on March 31st in Los Angeles, California recently reached sold out status.
Impact Wrestling also recently announced nine matches for the cards of their upcoming No Surrender 2023 Fallout Impact! television tapings on February 25-26 in Las Vegas, Nevada:
- Feb. 25th – “Speedball” Mike Bailey vs. Shane Haste
- Feb. 25th – Josh Alexander vs. KENTA
- Feb. 25th – Jonathan Gresham vs. KUSHIDA
- Feb. 25th – Trey Miguel vs. PCO
- Feb. 25th – Callihan vs. Frankie Kazarian
- Feb. 26th – Josh Alexander, Rich Swann, & Frankie Kazarian vs. Bullet Club (KENTA, Ace Austin, & Chris Bey)
- Feb. 26th – Bully Ray & Masha Slamovich vs. Tommy Dreamer & Mickie James
- Feb. 26th – Moose & Brian Myers vs. Joe Hendry & Dirty Dango
- Feb. 26th – Jonathan Gresham vs. Mike Bailey vs. Black Taurus vs. Yuya Uemura
West Coast Pro recently announced a new match for the card of their Home of the Killers event on April 7th in South San Francisco, California:
- Aja Kong vs. Vert Vixen
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