Hiromu Takahashi Wants To Be Tokyo Sports MVP in 2024

By: R. Faliani

The former IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi wants to be the first Jr. Tokyo Sports MVP since Tiger Mask in 1982. Takahashi is looking to achieve his dream this year and he’s willing to challenge Tetsuya Naito to get there.

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Since losing the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship, Takahashi has been more open to having fun in the ring. Without the belt, he’s now free to do whatever he wants and he has been wrestling alongside Naito in several tag matches. Nonetheless, Takahashi is far from taking a break— he’s looking forward to 2024.

With Kazuchika Okada’s departure from New Japan Pro Wrestling, there’s a hole that needs to be filled in the Puroresu scene. Names have been thrown all over the place, but in this scenario, Takahashi has promised to become the most valuable wrestler in Japan. Discussing the reason he has not been the MVP, and based on the Tokyo Sports report, Takahashi said:

“I think that the fact that I didn’t resonate with the crowd that much was the difference with Mr. Naito. In that sense, I honestly think that having Mr. (Keiji) Muto (whom Naito faced in Muto’s retirement match) was a big deal. Now that I think about it, I actually lost to Mr. Muto.”

“As a junior, I don’t think I was able to do anything that was seen by the whole world last year. Still, I’m happy to have gotten second place (in the MVP voting). There haven’t been any Jr. Wrestlers like that in recent years.”

When asked about his plans, Takahashi said having the IWGP Jr. Title was great, but he felt that it was more than a burden in the last months, because he was focused on “bringing life to the Junior division.” Now, Takahashi wants to have more fun and really spread his wings.