Kiyomiya Upstaged by Lee, KENOH Suggests Retirement

Kiyomiya Upstaged by Lee, Kenoh Suggests Retirement

By: J. Curbelo

Yesterday, all of Kaito Kiyomiya’s troubles seemed so far away. Now it looks as though Kenoh also wants a piece of the cake.

NOAH’s Star Navigation show saw the team of GHC Heavyweight Champion Kaito Kiyomiya and Atsushi Kotoge against the GLG tandem of Jake Lee and Anthony Greene. Despite Kiyomiya fighting with fierce intensity after finding renewed motivation, Jake Lee did his best to not show any kind of vulnerability, smirking through the pain.

READ: Kaito Kiyomiya Finds His Smile

No matter how much tenacity and determination the champion managed to gather, Lee almost single-handedly defeated his opponents, as he suplexed Kiyomiya out of consciousness and immediately proceeded to stamp his boot on a groggy Kotoge’s face to get the win and make a promise to Kiyomiya, who was laying nearly lifeless on the mat, that he is going to take the belt from him and rejuvenate NOAH.

Jake Lee "Kiyomiya, that belt is too much for you. Boo more, you guys come see the Yokohama show anyway! I will change #noah_ghc pic.twitter.com/ptzBj6SzmP

— Metal-Noah (@metal0515) March 9, 2023

The leader of KONGO, Kenoh, is now fed up with Kiyomiya and the way he’s representing Pro Wrestling NOAH to the world. He criticized his defeat against IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, stating that if he were in Kaito’s place, he’d relinquish the belt immediately for NOAH’s sake and retire out of respect. Kenoh took special offense to Kiyomiya’s words after his loss to the Rainmaker, which exposed a “gap” between New Japan and NOAH’s top titles. “I think the locker room is appalled. How could he say such nonsense in these trying times, when Daisuke Harada is retiring in much pain?”

The former GHC Heavyweight Champion argued that the match between Jake Lee and Kaito Kiyomiya is now heatless, disappointing and lacks any buzz because of Kiyomiya’s current performance and the fact that Jake Lee “betrayed All Japan Pro Wrestling for money.” Kenoh explicitly advised Kiyomiya to retire if he loses the belt next March 19th in Yokohama.

AJPW champions Yuma Aoyagi & Naoya Nomura just showed up at #STAYALIVE to challenge KENOH & Soya to a match on March 21st #noah_ghc #AJPW pic.twitter.com/X1cIMwFLKp

— Justin Knipper (@justinmknipper) March 9, 2023

Kenoh is currently aiming to win both sets of tag team titles in NOAH and AJPW with Manabu Soya and become more prominent than anyone in the GHC Heavyweight title picture. “I will dominate both companies and make All Japan richer,” he boasted, “I have no choice but to take center stage myself.”