Humbling

First, this is a tangent. And it’s also part one of a tangent. I separated this into two parts because they each had a drastically different vibe. In fact, maybe I won’t put up the other part, but who knows. Anyway, here goes...

Original Writing: 9/06/2017

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I think there is something great about putting yourself in situations every day that in some way, shape, or form force you to humble yourself in at least a small amount. That is essentially what I get to experience every day here in Japan. Obviously, this can be have negative consequences if you aren't in the right frame of mind, if you're lacking the internal drive to better yourself or make a change, or if you simply find your situation to be too overwhelming or out of one's own reach. Maybe I'm a little bit in that category as well though, so who knows.

I'm surrounded by some of the best professional wrestlers I have ever seen. We are on the same shows, work for the same company, and some live under the same roof. I'm stationed here in Shinjuku, a part of Tokyo, for Wrestle-1. W-1 is company founded by one of the best professional wrestlers of all time, the Great Muta. It's primary guys in charge are Kaz Hayashi and Shuji Kondo, two more truly spectacular performers with a combined body of work that's closing in on forty years of classic performances. Humbling.

Here you're constantly asked to give it your all. Several of the great younger performers of this company have lived in this building for years and still work and train every day to get better. When I first got the opportunity to come here in February of 2016, one of the young men in the dojo had been living and training here over a year and was not allowed to leave. He was also expected to train every day, clean the dojo, make the food, do the laundry, pretty much everything. The other guys on the roster had been in that position before him. You earn everything here. Humbling.

This past Saturday was W-1's biggest show of the year, Love in Yokohama. Essentially it's the culmination of years of everyone's hard work, a year of storylines, and a coming out party for some of the guys as well. There is no better place to prove yourself and put it all on the line, than in W-1's equivalent of Wrestlemania. While I was able to showcase myself in this show last year, with some greats including; Tajiri, Jun Kasai, Mikami, Minoru Tanaka, among others, I would not be a part of this year's big show. I could write a long piece on the reasons for that as well, but that's for another time (until then, I'll vaguely thank Iconic Casting, CMT, and Steve Austin for such a disappointing result on my end). I was able to be a part of such an extravagant production that would not only entertain thousands in person, but the rest of the country in the following weeks, and who knows how many more through the internet pipeline later. Humbling.

At the end of last year's show, I got to see one of the hardest working younger guys, Inaba, get his moment to shine and showcase himself. Seeing only a glimpse of his hard work in my short time in Japan before that moment, I still feel as if I understood and could share in his celebration. (Another thing I will at some point write more on, in depth). This year, during my fourth adventure to Japan, I was able to sit in the crowd of thousands and fully soak in the atmosphere and raw emotion. In watching, I saw intensity. I saw passion. I saw heart. I saw beautifully crafted stories told through human psychology, coupled with physically demanding and body-destroying stunts and technique.

Much like Daiki Inaba in 2016, I got to watch my guy Shotaro Ashino show exactly why he should be a name the entire wrestling world should know as he left everything he had in the squared circle this year in the main event. Thirty-six minutes and seven seconds of a sheer masterpiece with Jiro “Ikemen” Kiroshio, another name everyone needs to know. Of course that was following perhaps the most exciting match-up I have ever seen live as Seiki Yoshioka and Andy Wu went out made a case for being two of the best junior heavyweights in the world.

These stories and this intensity made me realize that I need to step my game up. In that aforementioned, potentially negative way of thinking, it made me question if I was even good enough to continue doing what I do, knowing that I could be doing so much more, and be so much better. Still, I know my place in the world of professional wrestling and that I can hang with and have every right to be in there with these performers, yet these men have unknowingly motivated me to step not only my game up, but the performances of everyone around me as well. Humbling.