Tetsuya Naito Wants AJPW Roster to Question Themselves

Tetsuya Naito Wants AJPW Roster to Question Themselves

By: J. Curbelo

Nearly one month before the much-anticipated All Together Again show involving NJPW, AJPW and NOAH, Tetsuya Naito is set to return to All Japan for the first time since late-2008, along with BUSHI. He’s explicitly not enthusiastic about the idea.

The leader of Los Ingobernables de Japón was confirmed for AJPW’s Champion Carnival finals show on May 7th in Ota City. Naito went as far as to claim that his presence in the show might affect the tournament’s outcomes.

全日本プロレス「#ajpw チャンピオンカーニバル2023」
5月7日（日）大田区大会に内藤哲也選手＆BUSHI選手が特別参戦！https://t.co/oDpykzklA0#CC2023 #njpw pic.twitter.com/U2cT2bfEcN

— 新日本プロレスリング株式会社 (@njpw1972) April 26, 2023

The announcement was made during All Japan’s Korakuen Hall show yesterday, which made the crowd erupt in excitement. However, Naito expressed that he doesn’t mind the opportunity. He wouldn’t go out of his way to go to AJPW, but he would like to show the diehard fans who might not watch New Japan to witness the current Tetsuya Naito.

Aside from that, el ingobernable doesn’t have very nice words about the company. Since he doesn’t hear much buzz about All Japan, from the matches to crowd attendance, he believes that no matter how big or talented the wrestlers are, the company has massively scaled down.

READ: Yuji Nagata Stands Atop AJPW, “I Will Make it More Exciting”

Currently, AJPW’s Triple Crown Champion is Yuji Nagata from NJPW. “I don’t hang out with Nagata nowadays, so I don’t want to mock him,” warned Naito, “but I do wonder what’s up with the top wrestlers in All Japan now that Nagata is champion after being gone from the New Japan rings.”

[LOS INGOBERNABLES de JAPON]

¿Después de 14 años y 6 meses?https://t.co/gf3tJffxxo

— 内藤哲也 naito tetsuya (@s_d_naito) April 26, 2023

His displeasure at the state of All Japan is such that he doesn’t have a particular opponent that he wants to face at the moment, and is waiting for someone to challenge him. Furthermore, Naito believes that his presence in the show is even more important than winning the Champion Carnival, and he genuinely thinks that some wrestlers may voluntarily lose the tournament to go challenge him.

“Shouldn’t wrestlers question themselves on what’s more important between the CC and facing Tetsuya Naito right now?” asked Naito, whose market value has certainly been raised after being the final announced opponent of Keiji Muto. But is it bigger than winning the long-storied Champion Carnival in 2023?