My Path To Becoming a Pro Wrestler in Japan (Part 1)

PART 1

It’s March, 2011, and I am sitting in the crowd at a Pro Wrestling Noah show in Tokyo. I was there as a spectator, but had been a wrestling fan for many years after watching WWF (now WWE) since I was a young child. To say I could immediately spot the differences in styles was an understatement. I distinctly remember at the time that the Japanese pro wrestlers seemed to think they were doing MMA, showing courage and spirit and wanting to fight, whereas their American counterparts are all about entertaining the fans. I would learn much later on that the best is a mix of both.

The Noah wrestlers had next to no interaction with the crowd, yet the American style of professional wrestling is all about doing exactly that. The show was boring and I told my friend so. How naive I was at the time to think that. The guys were pure wrestlers, amazing at their craft, but having grown up watching only American wrestling, I can see why I thought that. Little did I know, in 5 years from the time of that show, that I would be in that ring, wrestling on that famous green canvas of Pro Wrestling Noah.

My path to being a professional wrestling in Japan doesn’t start in the Noah ring though, no! My path started that very minute I walked into the building as a spectator that day in 2011.

Pro Wrestling Noah - December, 2016 vs. Hitoshi Kumano

Let’s rewind a little. Back to 1992.

I was staying overnight at a friend’s house. His mother had just rented us a WWF pay-per-view on VHS cassette tape, and from the moment we pushed it hurriedly into the VCR player (to anyone born after 1993 - it’s the thing we used before DVD players) and pressed play, we were hooked.

My memories of it are not great, but I clearly remember the “Macho Man” Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior, and Hulk Hogan. They were larger than life characters that seemingly could jump through people’s TVs and capture the hearts of anyone who watched them.

I had already been doing Tae Kwon Do for 4 years at this point, and was a junior blackbelt. I would later switch to Karate after earning my second degree blackbelt. From as far back as I can remember, I only ever wanted to be two things in life;

1. A martial arts action movie star like Jean-Claude Van Damme or

2. A professional wrestler in the WWF/E

I tried my hand at #1 in 2008 as I made a short film (link under this) and failed spectacularly. At least I had a go! But after this film I decided to focus my film efforts on being behind the camera.

With my dreams of being a Hollywood movie star up in flames, I decided that I would still one day like to become a professional wrestler, but for the time being, I would focus all my efforts on becoming a film director.

It was also just before this, at the beginning of 2007, that I joined Ihara Kickboxing Gym. I had been doing Aikido for some time, but was already sick of the attitude of some of the people on the mats (another post for another day) and decided I wanted to do something where I could use my kicks again.

My friend Eric (RIP) said these exact words to me;

“If you want to be a pro wrestler man, join the kickboxing gym. In Japan, everyone crosses over. MMA guys do pro wrestling, kickboxers do MMA, pro wrestlers get their asses kicked in MMA, if you join the gym you never know where that might lead”.

I had been in Eric’s ear for over a year saying I wanted to be a wrestler and Eric, in his wisdom, was 100% right. Ihara Kickboxing Gym did lead me straight into pro wrestling, but not at the first attempt.

Eric would pass away just 1 year after this photo was taken. I miss him dearly.

Let’s fast forward the story back to that day in 2011 at the Pro Wrestling Noah show. I had been hitting the gym constantly, gaining muscle, and had been doing kickboxing and Aikido regularly. Things were good, and I was in good shape. I was sitting in the crowd at the show, thinking to myself “you know what, I can totally do this”. One of the people in the group I was with even said, “Rionne you should be in the ring” when he saw my physique. The show, to me at least, was boring. I had seen a couple of Japanese wrestling shows before and they’d all been the same. Good guy vs. good guy, the spirit of the fight more important than entertaining the fans. Suddenly something woke me up a little.

An American came out to the ring for a match.

Bobby Fish wasn’t a Hulk Hogan or Randy Savage guy. He was about my height, very well built, and very technical. He would later go on to have much success in WWE NXT and now in AEW.

As his match started, I realized he was working the Japanese style and I didn’t really stir much more. I was literally nodding off to sleep before he came out.

But then he did something to wake me up. He committed a low blow! He upper-cutted his opponent right in the balls. The referee wasn’t watching, and Bobby Fish, the gaijin (foreign) wrestler, did a heel move! The Japanese crowd booed him, not used to seeing such things. I immediately jumped out of my seat and cheered and screamed loudly. OMG I thought, finally something!

This ladies and gentlemen, is what wrestling is all about. It’s about stirring the emotions of the fans, the people who pay their hard earned money to watch us work. Andy Kaufman was not a wrestler, but he stirred so many emotions when in the ring that he may be one of the greatest heel (bad guy) wrestlers of all time. Vince McMahon’s Mr. McMahon heel character may just be the greatest.

When I got home that night, I searched for Bobby on Facebook. I added him as a friend, and messaged him. I told him how much I enjoyed his match and that if he ever needed anything while in Japan, I could do my best to help out. He replied (after having seen my kickboxing pictures) that he appreciated the kind words, and actually yes, there was something I could help out with. He asked me if he could help him get a professional kickboxing match in Japan and I invited him down to Ihara Gym to meet Kaicho (the boss, and another blog post for another day - what a guy).

Bobby Fish in his Noah days, teaming up with Kenta

Bobby didn’t know his way around Tokyo, so I had to go to the Pro Wrestling Noah dojo and pick him up and take him to kickboxing. On the way over, I told him I wanted to be a wrestler and he said he’d ask Noah about taking me in. I told him also that I had emailed Tajiri’s SMASH promotion about joining them but hadn’t heard anything back. For those who don’t know, I would eventually break into the business thanks to Tajiri.

As we walked from the train station to the kickboxing gym, Bobby told me that if I wanted to be a wrestler, I should go for it. Diamond Dallas Page didn’t start wrestling training until he was 35 and by 43 he was a WCW heavyweight champion, he told me.

“It’s only too late for those who are looking for reasons to NOT do something difficult”.

I was inspired.

Bobby, with Ihara Kaicho (middle) and myself - 2011

Kaicho watched Bobby do pad work and spar, gave him advice and after training I took him back to the Noah dojo. I would meet Bobby again after his next match at Korakuen Hall. He introduced me to Roderick Strong and we hung out a bit after the show. It was the last time I would see Bobby, but I thanked him very much for his time, and his motivational talk. It really was what inspired me to pursue my wrestling dreams. Thank you Bobby.

I didn’t get the introduction to Noah that time, but I would join them later down the road, in December of 2016.

Please read Part 2 to find out how I broke into the Japanese wrestling industry under the guidance of former WWE superstar Tajiri and former New Japan Pro Wrestling legend Akira Nogami.