Seven time IWGP Heavyweight Champion and the ace of New Japan Pro Wrestling Hiroshi Tanahashi conducted an interview prior to Ring of Honor’s “Death Before Dishonor” pay-per-view in Las Vegas earlier this month, which was recently added to New Japan World. Tanahashi discussed New Japan’s role internationally, the company expanding with English commentary, what he looks for in talent when visiting the U.S., and who he thinks could be the future ace of Ring of Honor.
All translations are courtesy of Chris Charlton, who provides Japanese-to-English translations on Twitter and is the author of Lion’s Pride: The Turbulent History of New Japan Pro Wrestling.
On what he looks for during international tours, and ROH star Dalton Castle:
“I’m not young anymore so I really don’t go on these tours just for the thrill of travel. I look a lot at moves and different things guys do, think about whether they could work in Japan or how to make them work. And i look at wrestlers too, at who would be good in Japan, who we might want to bring over.
Right now, I’m really impressed by Dalton Castle. He’s come to Japan before, but he’s a guy that can really go far. He has this regal like character with his Boys, but you really watch him and everything he does is very crisp, he has a good look, has good facial expressions. He’s really on track to be the ace of ROH.”
On what sets NJPW apart from other promotions, and the use of English commentary on New Japan World as seen recently during the final three nights of the G1 Climax tournament:
“We don’t lose out on match quality. We have great guys going up against great guys and there’s rarely a gap in levels that lets match quality down.
I think English has been a hurdle. So we need to keep the English announcing thing going, like we did in Ryogoku. To an extent it transcends a language barrier, the action speaks for itself, the fans reactions speak for themselves, but we need to keep doing what we are doing and keep pushing it hard and find ways to push it hard to the audience, make sure everyone knows taht we have [New Japan] World, that it is accessible, that the action’s great and there is English announcing too. Just be really persistent about it.”
On Ring of Honor star Jay White wanting to wrestle him:
“I’m really happy to hear that, I am.. But, why me and not Okada? That’s my humility talking. Respect from fans is obviously a wonderful thing, but respect from your peers, your fellow wrestlers is the peak. When you have people saying they want to wrestle you, or team with you, it means so much. Being popular with fans is wonderful but that can come and go perhaps, but the respect of your peers is such a big thing.”
On New Japan’s role internationally:
“I want more of our roster to travel abroad and be seen by foreign fans, so that it isn’t just me or Okada or whomever. So I’d really like all of us to have an international tour, packaged as New Japan and not something else. It starts with people knowing what NJPW is. Knowing who our wrestlers are, what they do. People see a video or two and it makes matches so much more significant because they recognize people, moves, everything. That’s incredibly important work for [New Japan] World right now. It’s a natural direction to look more globally, and our talent to go through the dojo into our ring have a level of talent that makes them competitive on a global stage. So I really want us to broaden our horizons going forward.”
