Tetsuya Naito On The Stardust Press–And The World Series
Tetsuya Naito’s favorite sport?
“I love baseball,” said Naito, speaking through a translator. “I love the game.”
Courtesy NJPW
Even before Naito became enamored with the squared circle, he knew all about the baseball diamond. His boyhood dream was to play the game at a high level.
Yet, although he relishes the game, he is not finding any time to watch Major League Baseball’s World Series.
“I am not watching,” said Naito. “And I do not have a prediction on who will win.”
This year’s World Series matchup is between the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks, where the Rangers have won two of the first three games. After falling short in back-to-back World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011, the Rangers need only two more victories to celebrate their first-ever title–while the Diamondbacks were successful in their only World Series appearance, defeating the New York Yankees in a fall classic in 2001.
Though the matchup is missing flash, it did start with substance. Game One ended with a thrilling comeback finish, beginning in the ninth inning when the Rangers erased a two-run deficit. The game finished the eleventh, when Adolis Garcia–who defected from Cuba seven years ago–homered off DBacks’ reliever Miguel Castro.
Courtesy NJPW
But postseason heroics aside, Naito has a specific reason for not watching.
“The only baseball team I love is Hiroshima Toyo Carp,” said Naito, discussing his favorite team, which plays in the Nippon Professional Baseball league. “If it’s not the Carp, I’m out.”
Two Carp alum–Seiya Suzuki (Chicago Cubs), Kenta Maeda (Minnesota Twins)–play in MLB, and former Yankees player Alfonso Soriano also had a stint with the Carp. The team has won the Japan Series championship three times, though they were not victorious this past season.
Courtesy NJPW
In baseball, the greatest theatrics revolve around game-ending walk-off hits. Naito has a similar idea for his IWGP world heavyweight title match against reigning champion Sanada, which takes place at the Tokyo Dome on January 4 in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 18.
Sanada is a former partner in Naito’s Los Ingobernables de Japon faction. He left earlier this year to form his own group, and even found success by winning New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s famed championship. But Naito seeks to take that title in their match at Wrestle Kingdom, hitting a Stardust Press and then finishing Sanada with his signature walk-off move, his Destino.
“The Stardust Press, that move popped into my mind right after I debuted,” said Naito, who used the move to defeat Kazuchika Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 14. “When I searched for the move online later, I found out it was the same as the Stardust Press that Jyushin Thunder Liger had used, so I kept the name.”
Teaming with Hiromu Takahashi this past weekend in Las Vegas, Naito wrestled Sanada and Yuya Uemara to a 20-minute draw. With only five minutes left in the match, Sanada caught Naito in his Skull End dragon sleeper. Naito did not hit his Destino finisher, but he plans to change that come January.
“We’ll see if I’ll use Stardust Press in Tokyo Dome,” said Naito. “But the finisher that I have the most confidence in, and the one that’s most important to me, that is Destino.”
