I needed to write some notes on Masa Kitamiya's new finisher that he debuted at today's NOAH show. This is all unedited and just off the top of my dome because I feel possessed over this. Please bear with me here:
Masa Kitamiya: Haunting the Narrative
Masa Kitamiya uses Kensuke Sasaki’s strangle hold as a finisher now. On the surface, this shouldn’t really be surprising. After all, Kitamiya is one of the very few active wrestlers who studied under Kensuke Sasaki in his now-defunct dojo. He is a son of Kensuke, and has carried the knowledge he has learned into his former role as the head trainer of the NOAH dojo.
This history is brought up time and time again, through every significant story he has had. The Kensuke Office dojo has always haunted his narrative. You could feel it in his desperation to overcome his senior Katsuhiko Nakajima, and Katsuhiko’s desperation to make his junior feel small. You could feel it in Kaito Kiyomiya’s eagerness to impress his senior, and in Ozawa’s pressing fear of him. The intensity and pain of Kitamiya’s past was always lurking at the corners, and rarely spoken. But no matter what, the dojo was always there.
However, until today, it’s never been about Kensuke. It’s always been about his treasured mentor friend in the Kensuke Office dojo. It’s always been about Masa Saito. And even more than that, it’s always been about the story Kitamiya told shortly after Saito’s death. He called Saito to ask for his name, and Saito told him that he was working out again to become a torch-bearer in the 2020 Olympics. Saito passed away before he could achieve his dream.
Every day since, Masa Kitamiya carried Saito’s name like an anchor. In his costume, in his speech patterns, in his wrestling. When asked for his dream match, he stated Eddie Kingston. Not because he liked Kingston, but because he thought it was a big enough match to honor Saito’s legacy overseas. He challenged Keiji Muto for the GHC in order to give Masa Saito a match with Muto that he was never able to have. Saito also haunted everything he did, and he never won a singles title to prove it was all worth it.
Finally, it became too much, and he disappeared. The only posts he made on social media were pictures and videos of him visiting specific sites in Japan. Upon researching, it was noted that he was visiting sites where Masa Saito had fought his most significant battles. At first I had wondered if Kitamiya was planning on heading overseas, in an attempt to fulfil a promise to the man. Masa Saito had famously fought through the territories, so it seemed possible.
However, we know now that he was saying goodbye, and was burying the person that he assumed Masa Saito had wanted him to be. The dojo was still inside of Masa Kitamiya, but there was something else there. An acceptance, perhaps, that he would always have cruelty and darkness inside of him, and that he would never achieve anything unless he let it win.
He had given up on being anything else, and became the person that Ozawa and Kaito Kiyomiya had thought him to be. When he first appeared in NOAH on the 3rd, he had a fresh haircut and newly trimmed facial hair. The resemblance to Kensuke Sasaki was almost uncanny, and I was sure that it was far from accidental.
The strangle hold he used on Manabu Soya only confirmed this. He had fully accepted himself as a son of Kensuke. And for Masa, that means being absolute, being hungry, and being cruel. Masa Kitamiya has been haunted for a long time. The only difference now is the ghost.
“With this, the darkness in the NOAH dojo has been eliminated. Because the real darkness is right here next to me.” -OZAWA, 8/11/2025
Some friends are discovering Pro Wrestling NOAH via wholesome AXIZ tag team boyfriends content so it's as good a time as any to share some Vintage Baby Nakajima.
