The end of April and beginning of May has long been a sort-of national holiday for Japan. With the public out and about, wrestling promotions take advantage by delivering lots of big shows. What better way to cap off a week of gold than an interview with a Prince?
Section 1- Results
All Japan: Minoru & Hijikata won the junior tag league, beating Hayashi & Kondo in the final as Hijikata pinned Hayashi.
Dragon Gate: Doi retained over Akebono with a flurry of sliding kicks (which was the only possible finish for Doi). CIMA retained over Dragon Kid. Saito & Horiguchi won the tag titles. Yoshino won an elimination match against Kagetora, Cyber Kong and Shingo- and got all three eliminations. BB Hulk downed YAMATO, who also lost last month to Gamma.
New Japan: A lot to cover. The May 3rd show in Fukuoka saw Nakanishi & Omori beat Chono & Choshu, Liger & CIMA beat Tiger Mask & Kanemoto, Nagata beat Iizuka, Bernard & Anderson beat Tenzan & Kojima, and Tanahashi retain over Goto. The card on Tuesday was reshuffled because they weren’t able to bring in Mistico et al. as a result of the flu outbreak. That led to a pair of NJ vs NOAH tags, with Sugiura & Aoki beating Goto & Okada and Morishima & Ibushi downing Tanahashi & Kanemoto. Wednesday’s show was even bigger, as Tanahashi randomly nominated Nakanishi (who lost his last singles match) for a title shot. And of course Nakanishi won.
Wait, NAKANISHI won?! Will wonders never cease? Also on Wednesday was Tiger Mask retaining over Black Tiger, and Goto over Omori.
NOAH: Tag league tour results of note: Sasaki & Morishima vs Rikio & Yone went to a draw, as did their match with Takayama & Sugiura; Saito & Smith beat Rikio & Yone in just under 6 minutes; Saito & Smith beat Misawa & Shiozaki when Smith pinned Misawa; Rikio & Yone beat Takayama & Sugiura; Takayama & Sugiura beat Misawa & Shiozaki. Kanemoto & Suzuki retained the junior tag titles over Aoki & Ito. Budokan results: Liger & Kanemoto over Kanemaru & Hirayanagi, Kobashi & Ito over Tenzan & Okada, Takayama & Sugiura over Saito & Smith, and Misawa & Shiozaki winning it all by besting Sasaki & Morishima. Claimed attendance was (I believe) the lowest in company history for the Budokan, though only slightly worse than last July. We’ll see how bad it was when Meltzer discusses the show.
Section 2- News
All Japan: The next big show is the 30th in Aichi Prefectural Gym. Main event is Takayama defending against Suzuki. Hayashi defends against Hijikata.
Dragon Gate: CIMA, Kagetora & Gamma defend the trios title on the 24th vs Yoshino, Hulk & Pac.
New Japan: Super Juniors blocks announced. Block A includes Tiger Mask, AKIRA, Milano, Devitt, Black Tiger and Aoki. Block B features Liger, Kanemoto, Taguchi, Kikuchi, Ibushi and YAMATO.
NOAH: They’re building to KENTA defending against Marvin next.
Section 3- SHILLJIN DEADLINE
My interview with Gabe. It would have been longer, but he didn’t let me quiz him for an hour and a half the way Modest and Norton did.
ROH wrestlers suck at promos. Film at 11.
Section 4- Media Corner
The saga of YOSHIHIKO
Mixing 2005 and 2009, I present four matches from DDT.
Dino (madcap homosexual), Muscle Sakai (I dunno… DDT’s version of Colt Cabana?) and YOSHIHIKO (beyond description) take on JULIE (mind-controlling snake-man), Inokuma (his mind slave) and Nitta (an absurdly ripped legit kickboxer). YOSHIHIKO and Inokuma are the main highlight, working like they have one mind.
Inokuma and YOSHIHIKO have switched sides. This is the big climax of the feud, and JULIE has two more reliable flunkies on his side plus YOSHIHIKO doing highly effective interference.
PIZA Michinoku & Antonio Honda vs Dino & YOSHIHIKO, April 5th 2009.
PIZA (TAKA) and Antonio are part of the Italian 4 Horseman, which itself is a running gag where Dick Togo pretends to be from various parts of the world. No I don’t understand it either. Anyway, YOSHIHIKO is back with a vengeance. A really nasty mid-match injury leads to some great drama in the end.
Ibushi vs Dino (withYOSHIHIKO), April 18thth 2009.
Ibushi and YOSHIHIKO are a match made in heaven.
Section 5- Q & A with Fergal “Prince†Devitt
Fergal Devitt, who debuted in 2000 and made it to Japan in 2006, now has several years under his belt in New Japan. He’s one of very few foreigners to go through a Japanese dojo, and those who did in the past went on to great things. He was gracious enough to answer two sets of queries. My comments in italics.
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Q: How did you get into New Japan?
A: Well I had been wrestling for NWA UK Hammerlock for 6 years at the time and had been involved in some of the NWA Anniversary Shows that would take place in America. At the time I was actually spending some time in Boston and on the East coast, and from there travelled to the NWA Nashville Convention. It was at that show I was invited to train at the Inoki Dojo in LA. So I moved out to LA and was training there every day and doing what I could at weekends for 4-5 months. I was approached by the office in LA about an opening in the Tokyo dojo for a 3 month trial. Hands down, no questions asked and I was on the plane to Kapan within a couple of days!
Q: How hard was the dojo training compared to your initial training back home?
A: For me, because of the training I had come from at Hammerlock, which was notoriously rough, and then the time at the LA dojo adopting to certain Japanese elements, the initial training in the Tokyo dojo was not such a shock. The way I see it, if you can do 1 push up or 1 squat, you can do 1000 push ups or 1000 squats, you just have to have the nuts and the desire to do it. It a mental thing.
Q: Was the language barrier hard to overcome? How much of the New Japan roster speaks English?
A: It wasn’t really a problem ever, most of the boys had some basic English, and a lot have perfect English. Those who didn’t have picked some up along the way from different lads coming in and out and it’s never an issue anymore.
Q: How did the crowds respond to you at first?
A: I was surprised at how well I was received. I think it help me that the fans saw that I was not just some chap coming in to do a tour our two, but I was actually a YOUNG LION training with the lads at the dojo every day and learning the Japanese ways of doing things. And credit to the company, because they pushed this to the media out here and gave the people the story.
Q: Do you feel that the crowds have fully accepted you now?
A: I hope to think they have. It’s very simple, if you respect the fans they will respect you back.
Q: Do you see yourself in New Japan 5-10 years from now? What are your goals?
A: I never look ahead or plan anything to far in advance, but I do have ambition. If you set goals and achieve them…. where do you go from there? Hopefully in 5-10 I will still have my health and be wrestling somewhere and most importantly, I’ll be enjoying it at the same time.
Q: What was your favorite match so far during your time there?
A: For a number of reasons, the match with Tiger Mask for the vacant IWGP Jr Title. A month earlier in the same building in the same match I had dislocated my foot and was carried out. I ended up missing my second Best of Super Jr Tourney because of it. But I came back with a strong showing, albeit in defeat, and helped ease the heartbreak of the previous month.
Q: What was your favorite match that you saw from ringside?
A: Wow, great question, so so many! Tanahashi and Goto at Sumo (November 11th 2007). Nagata and Kanemoto at Sumo (August 12th 2006). Jado and Gedo vs Don Fujii and Mochizuki and Korakuen (January 7th 2007). Too many to remember, even tonight (April 22nd) I saw Goto and Nakanishi tear the house apart. It’s one of the perks for sure!
Q: Do you spend more time on tour with the Americans, or with the Japanese? From interviews I’ve seen it seems like the gaijin tend to keep to themselves, but I can imagine you being comfortable either way since you’re in the dojo.
A: True, I’m just as comfortable with either sets of lads, but on tour I travel in the ‘New Japan’ bus, whereas the GBH and the Gaijin travel in another bus so I would say more of my time is spent with my Japanese colleagues.
Q: Who’s the hardest hitting guy on the New Japan roster?
A: Phew…. ehhhhh….. I can’t pin point one as everyone is nice and snug! But if I had to tell tales on people, Goto with a capital G! The fella is one tough cookie, and takes just as much punishment as he dishes out!
Q: How do you feel Rebecca Knox has turned out?
A: Rebecca Knox is one of the hardest working and most dedicated wrestling students I have ever seen. Her passion for wanting to learn and her willingness to travel to learn from many people around the world is inspiring. Rebecca has not been wrestling recently due to injury but if or when the time is right for her I’m sure she will return stronger than ever. She had not yet begun to even begin to peek.
Rebecca was trained in part by Fergal. She’s young and can quickly become one of the best women in wrestling if/when she returns
Q: Do you expect to work much outside Japan this year?
A: I wouldn’t expect so, I’m being pretty busy in NJPW right now but if the dates suited to work elsewhere in between tours I’d be very open to ideas.
Q: Will you do anything in particular to avoid injury in the grueling Super Juniors tournament after what happened before?
A: NO. I don’t think about the past, I look forward and think positive about the future. What happened before is history, what happens next who knows…..?
Q: Do you have any advice for wrestlers like yourself who hope to break into a Japanese promotion?
A: I really wish I had some fool proof advice on giving people that are hungry to get to Japan. What I can say is the avenue I came in has since closed with the LA dojo not working with New Japan any longer. All I can say is keep working hard on the indies. Get in shape and send tapes EVERYWHERE! A long time ago a friend of mine once told me ‘no one is going to help you more than yourself’. You have to make things happen, not expect it to be handed to you.
Q: What was it like wrestling Taka Michinoku & Dick Togo for the junior tag titles… and winning?
A: Taka and Togo and absolute professionals. Having watched a lot of their stuff growing it was a pleasure to get to tie up with them. Actually only last week I wrestled Togo again at Lock-Up. In my eyes he is one of the best in the business.
Fergal’s first title win came against Taka & Togo on January 27th of last year
Q: Any particular memories & impressions of these wrestlers…
-Liger: A role model.
-Minoru Tanaka: A perfectionist.
-Milano Collection AT: A Gent.
-Taguchi: Amazing talent. The future.
-AKIRA: I have amazing respect for this man, I can only hope to be doing what he is doing when I am his age.
-Kanemoto: One of the greatest. Just from watching him I have learned so much.
-Tiger Mask: One of my favorite opponents.
-Jado & Gedo: Ring generals. And 2 of the most unselfish people you are ever likely to meet in wrestling.
-Bernard: The Big man with the kind heart. Always gives great advice and still throws it down in the ring.
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My thanks to Fergal Devitt. I hope to check in again down the line!
Next Time: There is actually a chance it won’t be an interview. No promises either way.
