Tetsuya Naito won his third NJPW G1 Climax tournament, defeating Kazuchika Okada in the finals of G1 Climax 33 this past weekend.
The grand victory has earned Naito a shot at IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA at Wrestle Kingdom 18.
At the post-show press conference, Naito shared his thoughts on winning this year’s G1 Climax tournament.
You can check out some highlights from Naito below:
On winning the G1: “Here we are, one day removed from the G1 final. I’m beaten up, but the worst part is a lack of sleep. Saturday, Ryogoku. Sunday, Ryogoku. Today, press conference. That’s three days in a row I’ve had to wake up in the morning. Thank you to the NJPW office for the wake up calls. Thanks to your incessant telephone calls, I was able to get myself out of bed. This is my third win, first in six years. Everybody in this tournament is in it to win it, so I’m obviously happy to win. For me, I’ve always associated the G1 final with the middle of summer and with Ryogoku, so to have that final in Ryogoku, in mid summer, and of course to have the fans cheering as well, to have that big chant of ‘De Ja Pon!’ felt damn great. I think I had a pretty good summer.”
On how this win feels different: “That’s a thinker… What with my injuries, and my age as well, I didn’t have, don’t have many more chances left. That’s what I had in mind. I didn’t have the luxury of thinking there’s always next year, or the next year, or five years after that. So I had a lot more on the line I think, and more than my other two wins, I felt that I had to win this time.”
On never holding the IWGP World Heavyweight title: “Yes. I was always chasing the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, not the World Heavyweight Championship. Matter of fact, right up until they made the belt, I was against it. So if it’s a question of the Tokyo Dome main event or the world title, the Dome is way up here and the belt is down here. But that’s right now. I could win the title at the Tokyo Dome and then start to see it become more important to me. I won’t know until I win it. But my motivation right now is to be in the main event at the Tokyo Dome.”
