Pro Wrestling NOAH Superstar Kaito Kiyomiya Refers To Tetsuya Naito as a “Random Old Guy”

By: Lewis Carlan

Pro Wrestling NOAH superstar Kaito Kiyomiya fired a shot back at Tetsuya Naito over comments he made regarding the drawing power of some of NOAH’s top stars.

On April 1st at LEGACY RISE 2026, Naito and his Los Tranquilos de Japon unit members  BUSHI, Angel Reyes & RYUSEI lost an eight man tag team match to OZAWA, Takashi Sugiura, Tadasuke & Jun Masaoka at Korakuen Hall.

There was an announced crowd of 1,102 fans in attendance which Naito appeared to have an issue with. During his backstage post-match interview, he questioned the drawing an ability of NOAH’s top stars including OZAWA, Kaito Kiyomiya and GHC Heavyweight Champion Yoshiki Inamura.

From Tetsuya Naito:

“Did you see the turnout at Korakuen Hall today? It was about 75 percent full. Don’t you think OZAWA, Kiyomiya, and Inamura need to bring in more fans?”

Obviously bothered by the comments made by Naito, Kiyomiya fired back following his April 4th win over Yuto Koyanagi at the NOAH LETHAL ODYSSEY TOUR 2026 event in Tokyo. Kiyomiya referred to Naito as a “random old guy”.

From Kaito Kiyomiya:

“We lost the match, and since I didn’t get involved with OZAWA, I think he’s [Naito] just taking it out on us. I’m not going to let some random old guy from the outside get to me. Is this the flip side of expectations? I don’t know, but does he even have the luxury of time for this right now?”

In addition, Kiyomiya stated that he wants to see Naito face OZAWA “head on” and that he has his own things to take care of.

From Kaito Kiyomiya:

“Anyway, there’s no point in talking about what’s going on around me. Lately, I’m just a first-half (card) guy, aren’t I? I don’t think I can stay in my current position. I want Naito to face OZAWA head-on, and I have my own things to do. Just watch.”

On April 12th, Kiyomiya is set to team with Harutoki as they face Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows at Legacy Rise 2026.

KENOH also took exception to Tetsuya Naito’s comments and had a heated response for Naito. You can read about that here.

(All quotes taken from Tokyo Sports and translated to English via Deepl.com)