Jay White was a recent guest on Talk Is Jericho, and the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion talked about developing his character and getting a shot at being a top star in Japan:
On becoming a top star in NJPW
“It all kind of gets passed down. That’s why I think as great as New Japan is, whenever the opportunities come up the guys always make the most of it. When those four guys left in 2016, everyone was kind of like ‘how’s New Japan going to be.’ We lost [Shinsuke] Nakamura, who was one of the biggest Japanese stars. We lost AJ [Styles], who was one of the biggest foreigners as well. But the guys just stepped up and we just kept getting better. The last year has been good and helping me to build up to that position as well. Just to make it that much easier. For example, I wasn’t noticed that much last night as I was a year ago, of course. But for any of the other big matches, I wasn’t as noticed as a lot of people would usually expect or think.”
On building his character in NJPW
“That’s exactly what it needs to be. You know, coming into the new position in terms of character and stuff, it’s not any new to me it’s new to everybody. It’s going to be received like they’re not too sure what it was yet. After now a year of doing multiple different things and people understanding it, it makes that much easier and better for them as well. You talk about the the six guys who were in those top three matches, it’s a very humbling feeling to be in there with those guys. I’ve only been doing this for, actually in a few days, been six years since I’ve started training. The next guy he has been in it for the shortest amount of time is [Kazuchika Okada], but he’s miles up there. So it’s been a pretty cool feeling to be able to have those opportunities.”
One how he got inspired to become a wrestler
“I used to watch it when I was younger obviously, probably about 2004. I watched until the later teen years and then I kind of grew out of it. Then I finished school and I was working for a friend’s dad. They had a competition on the radio to send someone to WrestleMania in 2011. Might as well just call it up. So I called it up and won a competition to go into the draw to do it. There were a bunch of people in this draw. I ended up winning the competition.”
“It was kind of that that made me think I’d never go to WrestleMania, let alone win the competition. Why can’t I actually try this and try to be a wrestler. I think around that time, 2011 at least, it was kind of changing what smaller guys were able to get into instead of what it was before. So I won that trip at WrestleMania and that kind of re-inspired me. I kept working, got some money, left and went to England.”
Read More: Tommy Dreamer On Jay White As NJPW Champ: ‘They Need To Build New Stars’
Check out the full episode of Talk Is Jericho below:
