Harada looks back on his final match.
As a result of an ‘abnormality’ being found in his neck in the summer of 2022, four-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Daisuke Harada stepped away from in-ring competition and on March 9th, NOAH hosted his retirement exhibition bout.
His 16-year career concluded in a one-minute bout against Atsushi Kotoge. After the match, Harada took questions from the press (via Pro Wrestling NOAH’s official website) and said the exhibition felt longer than he expected it to.
It felt a little longer than I expected, but I had been going to the dojo for about a week before I came here today, and I had been working on my image in my mind.
As far as what a post-wrestling life could look like for him, he does not know what he’ll be doing next. Harada stated that he is leaving NOAH completely but will continue supporting from a fan’s point of view.
I can’t tell you exactly what I’m going to do next because I haven’t decided yet, but as I said at the press conference, I think that if I stay in Pro Wrestling NOAH while I still have my healthy body, I won’t be able to continue working for the organization because I love wrestling and I love NOAH, so I’m leaving NOAH. This is the last time I’m going to comment like this, the last time I’m going to take off my taping, the last time I’m going to take off my costume. From now on, I really want to continue watching Pro Wrestling NOAH as a wrestling fan, and I want those who know what goes on in the ring and watch from the outside to continue watching Pro Wrestling NOAH from now on.
The latest from the Japanese wrestling scene is covered here on POST Wrestling in audio form by way of the POST Puroresu podcast.
