The 2023 Tokyo Sports awards have been revealed.
Tokyo Sports announced that Tetsuya Naito has won the 2023 MVP Award. This marks the fourth time Naito has won the award. He is now tied for third all-time. Kazuchika Okada is in second place with five wins. Antonio Inoki won the award six times. Naito is also a former Best Bout award winner, and he won the Technique Award in 2018.
"Thank you for choosing me as MVP," Naito told NJPW. "Looking back on this year, I wrestled Kenoh in a singles match, Shota Umino in a singles match, then Keiji Muto’s retirement match. I thought it was a good start to my year, but I lost in the New Japan Cup quarterfinals to SANADA, and then I wasn’t able to make things click for a while. But heading to Mexico in July put me in a better place to win the G1 Climax. In September in Kobe, I defeated Jeff Cobb and got revenge for my G1 loss. Now I’m heading to ward the main event January 4. Yes, I won the G1, but I’m not sure I was able to really stand out as much as I’d like this year. I never had a title match, and with that in mind, I had thought Hiromu Takahashi would take the prize. I bet Hirmu is pretty disappointed right now. But I’m sure he’ll keep going more and more to increase his standing."
Naito also commented on being tied with Genichiro Tenryu, Keiji Muto and Hiroshi Tanahashi on the all-time list. He noted that winning MVP in a year that he did not have a title match said a lot, and some people will probably be upset about it.
"Obviously, I’m always happy to win MVP. But this time in particular- in one year to not have a title match and still win MVP says an awful lot. That has to be impressive, right? I think there will be a lot of people who are pissed, Hiromu included, being in the title hunt more but not winning MVP status. I expect Hiromu will show that frustration, as he should. As any good student of mine would," Naito said.
The match between Great Muta and Shinsuke Nakamura at NOAH The New Beginning 2023 won the Best Bout award.
The full list of winners is as follows:
- MVP: Tetsuya Naito
- Best Bout: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Great Muta
- Best Tag Team: Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI
- Outstanding Performance Award: Hiromu Takahashi
- Fighting Spirit Award: Kenoh
- Technique Award: Yuma Aoyagi
- Women’s Wrestling Grand Prize: Tam Nakano
- Newcomer Award: Saito Brothers
Naito is scheduled to challenge SANADA for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18 on January 4. Fightful will have live coverage of the show as it airs.
