Originally published at Hiroshi Tanahashi recalls Yujiro Takahashi bringing up stabbing incident in promo
If any of the quotes from the following podcasts or video interviews are used, please credit those sources and provide an H/T and link back to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
** The newest edition of Hiroshi Tanahashi’s Ace’s HIGH series is out on NJPW1972.com. A highlighted portion of the piece was Yujiro Takahashi confronting then-IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi in 2012. Yujiro brought up that Tanahashi was stabbed in 2002 by his former significant other. Tanahashi was stabbed in his back and she confessed that she tried to kill him.
Tanahashi said that was part of Yujiro’s presentation at the time and he would say edgy things. He says it was on brand but the pictures show how caught off guard he was by the comment. Tanahashi added that despite the comment stumping him, it showed that Yujiro was stepping up. Yujiro’s direct quote was, “Women loved you enough to stab you near to death.”
He caused quite the stir digging up my past… It was a pretty big shock, but it was like Yujiro at the time. He was pushing himself as this ‘R-Rated’ guy who would say and do all kinds of scandalous stuff. So it was on point in that regard, but I think the pictures show how caught off guard I was.
Well, I think it reminded me that the whole thing was something that people could bring up at any time. That day will be with me for the rest of my life… What he said had taken me aback, but I saw a window in there to sell this match, and I took it. That’s why I was the champ, heh… We’d faced one another in the G1, in his hometown in Niigata, and I won then. But I was pulling for him in a way. All the while he was trying to be a singles guy, Tetsuya Naito was sprinting ahead of him. I’m sure that was tough for him to swallow, and I did want to see him make a move for himself… I did , and as much as that comment of his stumped me for a second, it showed that he was stepping up to the plate.
** AAW promoter Danny Daniels sat down with Robert Anthony on his ‘Podding With Ego’ show for an extensive conversation about the history of AAW. Daniels told the story of when current NWA owner Billy Corgan wanted to get involved in the promotion. That situation not going well led to Corgan launching Resistance Pro Wrestling and there were overtures made to regulars of AAW including students that Danny was training.
The Billy Corgan thing really f*cking — him opening up a group called Resistance Pro really lit a fire under my ass dude.
He doesn’t contact me , ‘This is the talent I have booked…’ and he pitched, ‘I think I can do this, let’s do this, let’s do this.’ ‘All right. Okay.’ Billy Corgan … you’re gonna draw in Chicago, right? You’re Billy Corgan. Well, Billy Corgan did not draw at 115 Bourbon Street. Whatever, we didn’t pay him. So I can’t be mad. We didn’t pay the f*cking guy, he does it for free, whatever. It just wasn’t my f*cking cup of tea of wrestling. It didn’t work, the fans weren’t f*cking buying it and regardless if Dan likes it or not, if the people aren’t reacting, that means it’s not working. That’s your measuring stick… So it didn’t f*cking work. I’m red hot, so we end up losing f*cking three grand on that show. So whatever we made, we lost. So I’m like, oh my God, we lost three grand. We end up doing a music video with him at the Berwyn Eagles Club. He filmed one of his videos there and then — that was before the three grand-lost show. So I go to The Barons, I’m like, ‘Hey dude, we lost three f*cking grand.’ I said, ‘This isn’t gonna f*cking work.’ ‘Well that’s fine because we’re gonna go start our own with Billy Corgan.’ I remember sitting on their f*cking porch and they’re like, ‘Well that’s fine, because we’re gonna go with Billy Corgan and do our own.’ So, that was Resistance Pro and they went to everybody in my locker room and even to my opening students that I was giving ten bucks to. They were offering them like $75… There’s always two sides to every story but this is what talent is telling me. They’re like, ‘Oh, they contacted me. They offered me this much.’ I’m like, ‘Well f*cking go. If you can make that money, I’m not gonna tell you not to. Go.’
One of the notable names that started in AAW is Seth Rollins, formerly known as ‘Tyler Black’. Daniels said he knew from the start that Rollins and Marek Brave had what it took to make it wrestling. He added that when Marek stepped away from in-ring competition and Rollins moved on, he thought about no longer promoting.
They . But you know what? Marek is doing great for himself. He’s a trainer at the Black and the Brave, shoutout to him.
I thought about stopping when we lost Tyler Black, because he was the f*cking — Marek was gone. Marek had got hurt, Marek didn’t wanna do it anymore. I lose Tyler Black and I’m like, the reason why I built this company was for my students. These are my main two. What are we gonna do without Tyler Black? It’s like, f*ck, this blows. We thought about it then.
He went on to talk about the relationship he formed with Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix. By Daniels being on the ground level with Penta and Fenix as they were becoming more established in the U.S., they worked with him rate-wise. Daniels added that he talked to Fenix in September and although he has a high rate now as Daniels described, Fenix told him that he’d do him a favor.
One fly in a show. That was my limit until 2015… He Fenix and again, the only shows they did prior to that was BOLA… they did B.O.L.A. and f*cking CHIKARA but when they did the f*cking CHIKARA one, nobody knew who the f*ck they were. By B.O.L.A., they were cooking. We got ‘em in November and I talked to them and they were unhappy with AAA and I said, ‘I will you give you all my dates –’ ‘If we quit AAA and you give us all your f*cking dates, we’ll f*cking be here.’ But they knew they were gonna supplement with other ones.
And believe me when I tell you, I was grandfathered in with a price dude when they were charging people f*cking tripling four times and they’re like, ‘No, Danny’s our guy.’ I just talked to Fenix a month ago and he told me what he’s charging, it’s f*cking ridiculous and he goes, ‘You won’t pay that’ and I said, ‘Wow, I can book you?’ He goes, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘I’ll do you the one favor’ . Dude, but I gave them the platform.
AAW was started by Tony Scarpone. In 2005, Daniels, Jim Lynam and a childhood friend of Danny’s, Tom, acquired the promotion for $4,500. Daniels stated that he wanted Scarpone to be his partner but he did not take the offer.
I’m like, ‘You’re gonna lose all this talent because I’m gonna run my own and they’re all gonna come with me.’ But I said, ‘I’m not gonna f*ck you. Buy into this for me, with me as a partner’ and he said no. So offered him an opportunity as a partner but my call… whatever my vision was-was that so he didn’t want any part of it but, Jim Lynam did and my childhood friend Tom, he did. So they bought into my vision and we bought AAW for $4,500.
Early in the podcast, they discussed Daniels’ time as an in-ring performer. He recounted doing a few spots for IMPACT Wrestling via dark matches. Daniels was told by current Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore that there was nothing about him as a wrestler that made him stand out. At the time, Daniels was disheartened but with hindsight, he respects D’Amore’s honesty and understood where he was coming from.
Where back then and I’ve heard you D’Amore told me that and I love D’Amore. He’s honest and that’s who I am. Looking back, he was absolutely right. I was just a f*cking good — I was a wrestler that hid his flaws very well because I did great with that.
Danny was trained by Al Snow. He shared that he held a lot of resentment towards Snow for many years because outside of training, he did not show Danny the ropes of how to navigate his way around the independent scene. Because of his experience with Al, Danny acquired AAW and wanted to help his trainees find work.
And that’s why I didn’t f*cking like Al . We got trained by him and then, okay, the final day, like, ‘What do we do now?’ ‘Just use my name.’ ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Just use my name. Say you got trained by me.’ I’m like, ‘I don’t even know where to go,’ and I’m like, ‘Really?’ So he didn’t do anything to help us out. F*cking nothing and I was bitter towards him forever and I was like — and then I remember when I started training people, I’m like, I’m gonna do this totally opposite. I’m gonna take my kids and I’m gonna find ‘em work and I f*cking created AAW to get them f*cking — all right, I’ll help you here, get you work and plus you’ll have a f*cking home base to wrestle too.
** Independent wrestler Ben Ortmanns was profiled by ‘CambridgeToday’. He worked as an extra for WWE when they were in Montreal, Canada in August and he was put in an arm bar by Ronda Rousey. Ortmanns recounted a run-in he had with Rousey years prior. She calmed him down as he was having a nervous breakdown due to personal reasons.
It was a surreal experience, and at the same time felt right. I found out that she was going to toss me around and then give me an arm bar. I remember right before going out, wondering why I wasn’t nervous. Once I got out in front of that audience, everything just felt right. It felt like I was supposed to be there. There was absolutely zero imposter syndrome running through my body. Whatever it is in life that we all search for, I found that night.
Long story short , she stuck around with me for about 45 minutes and just talked to me. Literally, talked me through a nervous breakdown. This complete stranger that she met in an elevator, she spent 45 minutes with while her husband waited for her in their rental truck. So to get to wrestle with her live on SmackDown on FOX with my hero Pat McAfee doing commentary for me, getting arm barred by Ronda Rousey, it was a complete dream come true for me.
** At NJPW Rumble on 44th Street, Kazuchika Okada will be teaming with Eddie Kingston to take on Juice Robinson and IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White. Okada was interviewed by Sports Illustrated and commented on tagging with Eddie.
It’s been a long time since I’ve made it rain in NYC. It is not often that I team with someone who isn’t a contracted NJPW wrestler, but I know Eddie loves Japanese wrestling. Between the two of us, we’ll have a match that leaves the fans in New York more than satisfied.
** On episode #153 of Logan Paul’s IMPAULSIVE podcast, Shawn Michaels joined the show. Michaels dove into Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque always having his back and putting his career in harm’s way to stand by him.
His career … And there were times, right there, going down and, ‘You coming with me?’ ‘Yep.’ Having your back every time and hell, I don’t know, probably half the time he was like, I don’t even think he’s right but I’m going anyway. I’m there for you anyway. You’re dead wrong, but I’ll go down with you anyway.
** Brian Hebner welcomed Deonna Purrazzo onto his Refin’ It Up podcast and as the conversation rolled on, they discussed Purrazzo’s program with Mickie James that started when James returned to IMPACT Wrestling at Slammiversary 2021. Purrazzo recounted sending a message to IMPACT creative writer Robert Evans about her uncertainty about getting physical with James in their first encounter. She thought there was a lot of story to tell and wondered if immediately going to the physicality would make it difficult to keep the story interesting.
I don’t know EmPowerrr and then… there was just so much opportunity because so many companies were working together and this Forbidden Door that it made it so much more interesting to have this story kind of bleed through all these other companies. So yeah, it wasn’t anything I thought that was maybe discussed beforehand, at least not to my knowledge but, it was something that we really got to capitalize on for sure.
James and Purrazzo’s story culminated at Hard To Kill January 2022. They competed in a Texas Death match. There was a moment during the match when James hit Matt Rehwoldt over the head with a guitar. Purrazzo said originally, she was supposed to take that shot to the head.
And then another highlight, at the very end of the match so I can’t imagine how much that hurt and I’m glad it wasn’t me because it was going to be originally.
** There’s an interview with Robbie Eagles that was conducted by Piers Austin. Eagles shared that one full day after he quit his job, New Japan Pro-Wrestling offered him a full-time contract.
And then it was early 2019 where I got told they wanted to sign me to a full-time deal and it was good because the day before, I quit my full-time job. So, for 24 hours, I was stressing like an absolute head case about what I was going to do. I had signed up to be an Uber Eats driver just in case wrestling didn’t make ends meet and yeah, the call came within 24 hours of all that happening so I’m very fortunate for how things happened with New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
Well I actually did do a couple of deliveries just because there was some time between my contract starting and being unemployed I guess for a couple of weeks. So I gave it a go. I gave it a red hot go.
Back in 2019, Eagles left BULLET CLUB and aligned with CHAOS. He mentioned that when El Phantasmo came into BULLET CLUB is when he started to question where he fit in the group. Eagles added that-that style of wrestling was not necessarily something he was looking to do upon arriving to New Japan.
It was all natural at one point and that would have been very, very fun.
** At Crown Jewel, Roman Reigns is defending the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Logan Paul. Ahead of the bout, The Bloodline’s Solo Sikoa commented on the matchup while speaking to Mirror Sport. Solo was complimentary of Paul and said he’s happy to see anyone who comes from outside of the wrestling space take it seriously.
Logan Paul is a hell of an athlete. He’s a great boxer. I think he’s always been a fan of wrestling and wanted to try to get into it. And once he found out what we actually do, he took it even more seriously. I’m happy to see everybody that comes from the outside world that takes our sport seriously, like Paul or Bad Bunny, because everybody wants to say it’s scripted. But that ring ain’t scripted, that ring hurts. I’m happy to see Logan Paul progressing his journey. But come November 5, it’s a whole different ballgame.
** Ahead of NWA Hard Times 3, Nick Aldis appeared on Sports Guys Talking Wrestling. Nick will be facing Odinson at the pay-per-view. Aldis says it’s quite simple to work with someone of equal stature but posed the question of what can be done when the match on a card is not the most anticipated because the audience is not that familiar with one of the participants. Aldis feels that’s when a talent sees how far along they are in regard to market value and attraction.
It’s a match I’m looking forward to because matches like this are where you really separate the men from the boys so to speak in terms of, okay, if you have a gimmick and say you’ve had a run in WWE and you’ve got some stuff that you know works and it’s kind of, you got a formula or whatever, you could show up and go, hey, book me with this other guy who’s also a star, who’s also been in WWE and also done this stuff and you can kind of guarantee that you’ll get a good reaction, right? But what can you do when you’re working with a guy who doesn’t have that profile? Can you create a situation where this is one of the most anticipated matches on the card, in spite of the fact that on paper, it doesn’t necessarily excite a lot of people because they don’t necessarily know one of the participants. That’s the true testament of when — that’s when you can see where you really are, as far as market value and an attraction, because like I said, it’s one thing to make it happen when you’re sharing the spotlight with someone of equal stature. Whole different thing to do it with someone who’s, you know, less further along in their career and I love that challenge and I can’t wait to take up that challenge at the Hard Times pay-per-view.
** The Wrestle Buddies podcast welcomed Adam Cole back onto the show.
** Shinjiro Otani took to Twitter and expressed how grateful he is for the nurses that have been taking care of him.
** Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair chatted with Jazzys WorldTV.
** NJPW Battle Autumn Results (10/27/22) Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan
– Aaron Henare def. Ryohei Oiwa
– Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii def. Yuto Nakajima & Ren Narita
– United Empire (Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) def. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma
– Los Ingobernables de Japon (Titán, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI) def. Gideon Gray, TJP & Francesco Akira
– Hiroshi Tanahashi, Master Wato, Hikuleo & Alex Zayne def. TAKA Michinoku, El Desperado, Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
– Tetsuya Naito & SANADA def. Gedo & KENTA
– NJPW World TV Championship Tournament: EVIL def. YOSHI-HASHI
– NJPW World TV Championship Tournament: Zack Sabre Jr. def. David Finlay
** Tim ‘HANN’ Rivera caught up with Bret Hart.
** The latest episode of Xavier Woods and Tyler Breeze’s Battle of the Brands series features Top Dolla, Ashante ‘Thee’ Adonis, Kofi Kingston and ma.çé.
** IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White was interviewed by New York Post.
** MMA and pro wrestling referee Yuji Shamada was selected as the official for Kaito Kiyomiya’s GHC Heavyweight Title defense against Kazuyuki Fujita on October 30th.
** October 27th birthdays: Eita (Pro Wrestling NOAH), Masa Kitamiya.
** Luigi Primo sat down with The Bob Culture Podcast.
If any of the quotes from the following podcasts or video interviews are used, please credit those sources and provide an H/T and link back to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.