Tetsuya Naito will be Keiji Muto’s final opponent at his retirement show in February.
Muto, who was on commentary during the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 17, Night 2, entered the ring at the end of the show to make the challenge.
Naito was already on his way backstage after defeating Kenoh but re-entered the ring to accept the match, saying that he would clear his schedule.
Keiji Muto has decided on his opponent for his last match‼
Muto "Naito! I've decided on you as my opponent for my last match! Let's have a hot match!"
Naito "My answer is of course, tranquilo, don't be rash. I'll just leave 21 Feb free on my schedule”pic.twitter.com/YLsRieBN2m
— Pro Wrestling NOAH Global (@noahglobal) January 21, 2023
Muto will have his final match under his ‘The Great Muta’ alter ego on Sunday, teaming with AEW’s Sting and Darby Allin vs. Hakushi, AKIRA, and Naomichi Marufuji.
His final match under the NJPW banner took place on January 4th at Wrestle Kingdom, Night 1, at the Tokyo Dome. He teamed with Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shota Umino to defeat Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, and BUSHI.
Earlier, a tag match between Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura vs. Kazuchika Okada & Togi Makabe ended in chaos with a double DQ.
Okada and Kiyomiya brawled to the outside after Okada took a stiff kick to the face. Later, Kiyomiya challenged Okada to a singles match.
Kazuchika Okada was SEETHING as he went backstage!!
Okada: "Don't film me! You bastard!"
Kiyomiya went out of control with Okada, resulting in a double DQ!
Kiyomiya said: "Let’s do a singles match!"#noah_ghc #njpw #NJPWvsNOAHpic.twitter.com/dIDSZQTBCs
— Pro Wrestling NOAH Global (@noahglobal) January 21, 2023
Wrestle Kingdom 17, Night 2, results
- Tetsuya Naito (LIJ) def. Kenoh (Kongo)
- Shingo Takagi (LIJ) def. Katsuhiko Nakajima (Kongo)
- Manabu Soya (Kongo) def. SANADA (LIJ)
- Hiromu Takahashi (LIJ) def. Hajime Ohara (Kongo)
- Tadasuke (Kongo) def. BUSHI (LIJ)
- (LIJ beats Kongo 3-2 in best-of-five series)
- Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura vs. Kazuchika Okada & Togi Makabe — double disqulaification
- AMAKUSA, Junta Miyawaki & Alejandro def. Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato
- El Desperado def. YO-HEY
- Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano, Satoshi Kojima & Takashi Sugiura def. Naomichi Marufuji, KENTA, El Phantasmo & Gedo
- Pre-show: Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba def. Tomohiro Ishii & Oskar Leube
- Pre-show: Ryohei Oiwa & Kosei Fujita def. Taishi Ozawa & Yasutaka Yano
A full report on Wrestle Kingdom 17, Night 2 by Karen Peterson will be published on the site later. John Pollock and Wai Ting will air a review for POST Wrestling Café patrons at 8.00 pm ET on Sunday.
