Inside Perspectives & Untold Stories: Rossy Ogawa & Kenny Omega, Harold Sakata + more

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Music.
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This is 100% baseless, offensive, and unfair, and so gross.
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I've known Rossi Ogawa for over 40 years.
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Look, I don't advertise myself, okay? I'm not that.
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But I am the top journalist in this industry over a 40-year period.
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And Rossi and I have been friends the same amount of time.
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If any any of these i hear things
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and i see things in firsthand okay
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none of these is true
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this is so you said this is blown out of proportion because it's not even an
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issue in japan because they were laughing about it laughing about kenny omega
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and now it's tecla oh my gosh this it's gotten and it's just kind of the the
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main story i guess that people are
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latching on main story oh my gosh it's not
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even an issue then i spoke with julia a
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week ago that she was gonna that the dm kenyan the fuck is going on you know
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and uh this so i did not know because there's no such issue or even a topic
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over here in japan and uh people do know about But, you know,
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it only happens in ends in social media, little box on your cell phone or computer screen.
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Yeah? It's so baseless. And it's really offensive.
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And if you say this damage is done, no damage should be done because it's so untrue.
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Somebody on Twitter X called me liar.
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And it's like, untrue and liar, and it's just like, oh my gosh,
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it's like, I'm not offended because it's just the kid from some basement, you know?
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But this, instead of getting blown out of proportion, I'll defend my friend. Yeah.
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And I can ask me anything. You can ask me anything. Yes.
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Well, the thing is. And also, yeah, but one more thing. I'll tell you one more
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time. One more time. I'm a real journalist.
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And I see things, hear things, witness things very firsthand.
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It's not some hearsay, real irresponsible hearsay. And just on the internet and like ex-Twitter.
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It's not even a real name that's so anonymous. of us and it's really irresponsible.
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And when somebody, you know, come and say, you know, you know,
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you're lying and then you're just going to close the account and get up, you know, run away.
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I'm here. I'm here to defend my friend.
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It's gotten pretty out of control, I think. Is it? Oh, God. I mean,
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I mean. All right. Right. It's any of these things.
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It's not about even, it's not about Kenny or it's not, of course,
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it's not about Rassi Ogawa, it's my friend Rassi, or it's not about Kenny Omega.
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It's about them, people out there.
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It's about them, how they want to look at the world.
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They hear, people hear things and look at the thing and understand the way they want to understand.
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That's not about these people who's involved here in this topic,
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baseless, totally baseless, but it's about them out there, how they look at the world.
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You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. That's how they view the world.
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That's not how I view this world. But that's a big part of this disconnect between
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the Japanese market, talking about wrestling, Japanese market and Western English speaking market.
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There's a lot of ignorance on both sides.
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I'm saying ignorance, just lack of knowledge, lack of knowledge about certain
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things like culture. or lack.
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Yeah, because the people out there tweeting a lot of things and talking about
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things and just talk about this thing as if they know anything.
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They learned name, Rashi Ogawa's name, just two months ago, three months ago,
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when they basically fired.
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Bushiroad fired, or Bushiroad announced that they're terminating Rashi's contract
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effective immediately.
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Immediately and we you and i talked about that bushiro the
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executive did that to make him look bad he
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was going to leave there is
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a lot of things we can go into because rossi was
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so fed up that he was going to leave then the company knew
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about it okay then the most of
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the wrestlers from stardom were going to
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come you know going to come with rossi but rossi wasn't
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going to ask everybody you know the only ones that
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want to really leave the company you know company and join
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russ's new company will join which they
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you know they did it's not
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like a big split of the company you know you know company and also bush road
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bush road style and pays wrestler very well that you shouldn't leave you know
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i'm saying yeah that's all all the all professional wrestlers under contract
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and if they want to leave if they want to stay they should stay,
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yeah but this thing okay the first of all Kenny Omega knows he's full of shit
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because go back and listen to the
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garbage and he's saying I'm not saying anything I'm not saying anything,
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number of times I'm not saying anything I'm not saying anything that I don't
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want lawyers barking at my door he knows he's full of shit.
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The thing is, is that Kenny is. What he was insinuating.
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What I'm saying is he's extremely popular.
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And when, even when he does say, but what I'm saying is that even when he does
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say something like that, even so, I'm still getting messages from people and
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still reading things on the internet that people still go with whatever the story is.
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Even if he said, you know what I mean? blown out of proportion because him
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and then what was it the tony khan tweet he
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said he backed up the uh what was it the the poaching idea the poaching concept
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that was from tony khan said something about rossi poaching talent for wwe or
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something no there's no relationship yeah Yeah, there's a lot of things.
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And also that my sitting Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and I'm sitting right next to CM Punk.
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It was on the screen, right? And some basement critic guy thought I was Rossi, right? Yeah.
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Yeah. And then CCC, Rossi's sitting over there. that he's WWE agent,
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that Rossi's new company, it must be what, the WWE funded NXT Japan, this and that.
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And Julia, yeah, they paid for their own affair and went to watch WWE.
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Of course, as a talent, she wants to go to WWE.
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But it has nothing to do with Rossi's launching new company this time.
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And also, that a lot of things that,
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The new Marigold company will be streamed on the WrestleUniverse platform.
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And people automatically assume, oh, that's their fund. That's their new sponsor.
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That the Russian new companies are under Abema money or the cyber agent money.
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None of those are true.
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No, it's not true. It's completely independent. And when people say that,
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they're really wrong because Wrestle Universe and Abiyama, they're not the same.
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The budgets are different. Cyberfight is like a Japanese company.
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A lot of Japanese companies are a lot of associated businesses,
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but they are separate entities. even from when it comes down to the wrestling
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promotions, the brands, they're all in their own world, in their own department.
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That's really normal, isn't it? Yeah, well, a lot of people say a lot of things.
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It was probably like that 10, 20, 30 years ago too,
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but now we can read and hear this nonsense on social media that the words start
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walking around and it has more power to it. It's like no base.
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It's the world we're living in right now. Yeah, they can't distinguish fantasy
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fiction to the reality, really.
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The tough part is that any argument against the story that's out there is thought
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to be some kind of defense of something bad that happened instead of just saying what we know.
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I know it's kind of vague to put it, but it's like, I don't understand how people
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can jump to, from us talking about this to saying that we're defending Rossi.
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And there's like, I am defending Rossi. Yeah. But I mean, nobody else,
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if nobody else is doing it, then I, this is our, you know, my opportunity.
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I wasn't going to defend it because it's so baseless.
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And it's, but it goes live. It's so false, but ignoring will give them credibility. That's twisted.
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But defending it would give them credibility too. So twisted.
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But that's also how a lot of the people think these days, that the silence is
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some kind of complicity.
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Yeah, like giving a story credibility.
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Or I'm saying if nobody speaks out in opposition, that means that there must
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be something underneath that's being hidden.
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Really? But that's the thinking. That's the thinking. Yeah, yeah.
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But like I said, it's not about the person involved.
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It's about them, how they look at the world. That's how they want to look at the world.
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The world is a dirty place or something. And what about Ross's 40-year legacy?
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And none of these things ever came out. And what, the people's been defending
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him for 40 years? 45 years, 46 years to be exact. Nonsense.
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Did Crash Girls say anything about it? About a Bonacano era?
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Arsene, and now that the, you know, Arsene's, you know, the reunion thing that
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everybody came back in peace and nothing but fond memory.
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And what about Fuka, you know, that era, that Fuka Matsuri, Fuka Festival era?
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Fuka brought their unhappy talent from Actress Girls to join Rush's new group.
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Well, who's dirty? Nobody. I mean, the story is dirty. So where does this come
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from? What is this all about?
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It's just like there's no confirmation on anything.
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It's just this constant, well, it'll come out someday, kind of.
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I don't understand. And also, I don't even want to mention Kenny Omega's name
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one more time on this podcast.
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But we're talking about him now, so we almost have to.
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But he said, not just in the wrestling industry, but the industry or the higher up in Japan.
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What are those stupid, meaningless, big words? Higher up in Japan.
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Who's higher up in Japan? and what's the merit of for them you know covering
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up something there isn't anything to cover up,
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nonsense right i mean it's
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gotten it's we're living in a world where things can all happen at the same
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time and there's the truth and then there's what people are are saying and then
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that the truth kind of brushes up against that and there's this constant friction
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that drives me And also there's like a favorite,
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you know, things like, you know, they want to compare this to Johnny Kitagawa,
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right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Because that's what people think.
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But Johnny Kitagawa thing has been famous, you know, over decades.
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It's also very different circumstances too. And also, there's so many money
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involved, capital, investing,
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like a TV station and the media and the other big, huge billions of dollars
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involved that when all came out, they're part of that conspiracy.
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But this is wrestling. Of course, wrestling has a place in society, but wrestling.
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The industry high up or hiding something, this is pretty bad,
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even as a conspiracy theory.
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It's just something that you don't casually say when you're on camera, in my opinion.
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Yeah, and also all Kenny had was his friend, Michael Nakazawa,
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sitting in the background and laughing and making face, like it's some kind of subliminal effect.
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Well I mean a lot of people are the
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way people act online yeah they yeah they know I do know that the people believe
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what they want to believe well I mean that's another thing matter of the fact
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a lot of Rossi stuff it's in Japanese a lot of people are only getting accustomed
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to Rossi Ogawa and stardom pretty,
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past couple years like it's new but he sold you know Rossi sold,
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stardom company back in 2019.
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And it's been four years.
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And the last two years or so, he's so fed up that he's been overruled.
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It was basically like when Ross sold the company to Bushiroad,
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Bushiroad's structure and the new executive and vice president came in,
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it was going to be that the business portion of stardom will be handled by Bushiroad,
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but the wrestling portion, meaning creative, booking, up and down,
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and storyline, all the creative calendar year thing, it was going to be rusty.
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Then they turn around and start calling it creativity.
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And like, you know, if you remember like a showcase show.
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Like all the deathmatch with no meaning, and New Blood, you know,
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the all younger talent show,
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and really ignore the wrestling 101 method that the baby face and heels don't
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come out together smiling. You know what I'm saying?
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With Rossi's old-fashioned structure, none of those would have happened.
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But then again, Rossi got so sick of being overruled.
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And by overruled, he was a creative executive producer being paid, being under salary.
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So he was going to say, all right, well, it's like, well, I have no power anymore, right?
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Then it's like, but this is going to be really bad.
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You know, the more you let it happen, the worse it gets.
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So he decided to leave, leave, you know, completely leave and start a new company.
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And Bush Road people knew about that, too, you know, because Rossi told them.
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And when they found out some of these girls are leaving with Rossi,
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that's when they wanted to make it public that we are firing him.
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That's when English speaking literature came out that, you know,
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when Rossi was fired, that's when
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a lot of English speaking fans learned Rossi's name for the first time.
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Just three months ago. But if you know anything at all about his legacy,
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you have to go back past 40 years.
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All Japan women, you know, the All Japan women's Jackie Sato era to Jaguar Yokota,
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Debo Masami era to Crash Girls era to Bonacana era into inter-promotional 90s wrestling boom.
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Rashi created it. you know the All Japan Women JWP LLPW FMW Women's Division all together in
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the package because they that the inner promotion business has to be win-win
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situation you know and that's why that the All Japan Women sent,
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top talent to FMW show JWP show LLPW show they got the big shows too then at the end And 1994.
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November, Tokyo Dome at the end, you know.
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But the Tokyo Dome was a success, but that was the beginning of the end too,
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that the business started sliding.
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But they were still running, what, four small palaces a year and two Budokans
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a year and Yokohama Bunko, the Kawasaki Gym.
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They were still running, you know, good, healthy business and like a 15,
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20 Korakuen Hall a year. but the,
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But the business was going down in 1997. Rassi left the company,
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All Japan Women, to create Arsion.
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And that lasted five years.
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Then at the end of Arsion, the new money, you know, the backer came in and made
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a new company called A2Z, if you remember.
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Then after A2Z went down, Rassi was running Fuka Festival.
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Then Fuka Festival is a very small portion of the show, but it was good enough
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for Fuka and Fuka's friends and Rassi to make a living off that.
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And Fuka started training her friends, eight, ten of them, all ready to debut.
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I'm talking about like 11 years ago, 12 years ago, that Fuka told Rassi to come to Shinkiba.
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We're training girls, right? And then when Rusty went to see this,
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wow, these girls are ready to debut.
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And you have to create a place for these rookies to perform.
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Therefore, he wasn't going to, but he started a new company called Stardom.
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And you know the rest of the story.
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Yeah, it became a very popular company. None of these 30 things was involved in this.
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None, none. It was completely...
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Then people don't know how creative he is. there was so much more going on I mean,
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this is something that I've thought about a lot for
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the past two weeks and it's still really hard to who ran
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this great thing in women's wrestling for the past 40
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years yeah these social media
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this like you said they only know Rossi's name for the past three months that's
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it and didn't even bother going
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to all the Joshi Pro Wrestling history at least go back at least 30 years,
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Why are people trying to cut him down? Yeah, because he's successful.
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And I do know two things.
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If somebody wants to insinuate something real dirty, like sexual predator.
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Sexual predator is always sexual predator. They just don't start, right?
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You don't start just today or yesterday. It's always been.
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And none of these things is true and
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that would come out in
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Japanese media if there's anything to it if there was a falling out yes there
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was a falling out between say Rossi and Aja Khan they had the court case and
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probably still have blood and they haven't talked there's a here and there,
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there's a falling out or Or what about with Kana, with Asuka?
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See, Kana mentioned things like the company Stardom was created to defeat her. Destroy her.
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None of that is true. I just told you how Stardom started.
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But there was a falling out that she debuted with A to Z, right?
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Yeah. That was a company that didn't make. And Rossi was part of that because
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the end of the RCM became A to Z with new money.
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Basic same structure, but with new name and start a new name.
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That's when Rossi had to file bankruptcy.
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It wasn't a fun memory.
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And I don't think they are friends.
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During WrestleMania so many weekends.
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Rossi was there. Giulio was there. I saw that they're there.
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And of course, you know, the Oscar was there. I don't think they even talked
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while they were in the same building, you know, but those things.
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And there's a couple of things that people have falling out.
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You know, you had bad relationship.
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I had a bad relationship, you know, not always perfect, but you can't take this,
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his accomplishment and legacy away from him.
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Based on some things is really untrue. And then when you say,
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you know, when you say baseless, the word baseless doesn't even work anymore
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because you know, Vince McMahon's lawyer say the accusation is so baseless, right? Mm-hmm .
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So the word, the word basis became dirty too. Yeah. So I don't know. You give me the word.
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You got me. I don't know.
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People are really quick to believe things and not investigate for themselves.
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It's hard. There's so much being thrown at us every minute, especially through social media.
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And they're like much younger than we are, right? I imagine.
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But I don't know. But it's also, they're not just from the States.
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They're from Europe, or they're from Commonwealth countries, or Europe.
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Yeah, but if they don't want to support Marigold, that's their choice.
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Sure. They will be popular.
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Did you happen to see the debut match last night at WrestleMagic?
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Marigold? Oh, that's kind of preview. They're Marigold wrestlers,
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but they're not the grand opening. No, that's on May 20th.
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Yeah, yeah. But they were all there last night.
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Rossiogawa brought them out in the jerseys with
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the numbers yeah and also marigold is
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going back to the like the wrestling tradition marigold
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that's what i felt last night that is yeah yeah because they they're taking
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this all-star all japan women's old method of training method and and developing
288
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a new character not a character developing a rookie they're going through you
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dojo-style rookie training.
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It's not like taking talents from the start.
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Rossi, for this is his final challenge in this business, that he wants to have
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their own roster of talent.
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Maybe two years from now, you have all these new stars that we don't even know yet.
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Some great coach like Nanai Takahashi will be doing an all-Japan woman type,
295
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training and two daughters of former superstars will be debuting too. Who's that?
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They haven't announced it so I shouldn't say it but if you remember Minoru Tanaka
297
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and Yumi Fukawa's daughter.
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She's been wrestling on the indie. On Wave.
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But she herself wanted to come and then Wave, Gami and And Rossi's marigold
300
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met and they're coming out with a solution.
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And they haven't announced it, but the former Arsene star, her daughter will be starting.
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It won't be announced until July, so I can't.
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But these are the legacy. I'm telling you that the wrestler from a previous
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generation and their daughters are,
305
00:25:48,519 --> 00:25:56,139
very trusting want to start with rossi what does that tell you and i've seen i've seen the parents,
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parents of the current stardom superstars at the end you know like december end of the year party,
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00:26:03,799 --> 00:26:09,539
like stardom wrestlers are so like relatively young you know like so much younger
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than we are that i am that they have parents you know parents of wrestlers are
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always at the show and and the,
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all the family come to the show you know let me come to this end of the year
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bonenkai type of party i seen what i talked to them and i witnessed in my own
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eyes and this is my first-hand information that the parents of stardom wrestler
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trust rossi like a school principal.
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00:26:38,439 --> 00:26:45,239
Is that dirty you mentioned that yeah um that that's i hear completely different
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00:26:45,239 --> 00:26:49,939
sides of Yeah, because it's talked about by somebody who doesn't even know the first thing about it.
316
00:26:50,399 --> 00:26:57,679
That and just why it's just so ugly. Because they want to make some, it's a world, right?
317
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And also, I'm pretty sure with this podcast today, I'll be making new enemies or something.
318
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But about the business between AEW and Stardom that didn't go well. that like.
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Stardom asking each wrestler $30,000 for one appearance and sending five wrestlers,
320
00:27:26,039 --> 00:27:28,039
that would be $150,000 a night, right?
321
00:27:29,779 --> 00:27:35,659
And AEW said, ain't doing that, right? But it wasn't even, they automatically
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assumed it was Rossi asking.
323
00:27:37,979 --> 00:27:44,459
It wasn't even Rossi. It was President Harada who got kicked out after that.
324
00:27:44,459 --> 00:27:50,099
But the Bushiroad executive didn't know much about business.
325
00:27:50,219 --> 00:27:53,099
Well, AEW, that company has money, right? Let's ask them.
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So $30,000 each for like five talents.
327
00:27:57,019 --> 00:28:01,799
So that would be $150,000 service for one night, right?
328
00:28:01,899 --> 00:28:04,239
For AEW pay-per-view or something.
329
00:28:04,619 --> 00:28:09,819
Then AEW side automatically assumed that it was Rossi doing it.
330
00:28:09,819 --> 00:28:15,679
Rossi wasn't even involved for the past two years in that business ended up you know company,
331
00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:21,979
yeah there Rossi is there at the card but everything he tried to do or come
332
00:28:21,979 --> 00:28:28,939
up with the ideas of being overruled by the Bushiro executive he got so sick of it gotta leave.
333
00:28:29,979 --> 00:28:37,919
Because women's wrestling is the thing you know is the business and industry in his life
334
00:28:38,239 --> 00:28:46,119
for the past 45 years, 46 years, that if he was ever dirty about anything personally,
335
00:28:46,979 --> 00:28:51,239
behind the door, all these things come out within industry too.
336
00:28:51,419 --> 00:28:54,819
And I'm the one who hear things and see things firsthand.
337
00:28:55,859 --> 00:29:00,019
I know. It's almost like it's not good enough anymore, firsthand experience.
338
00:29:03,301 --> 00:29:08,181
I think we should move on to another topic because I think you put that to bed.
339
00:29:09,121 --> 00:29:14,641
Oh, I see. But then again, if it keeps going, I have to come back and defend my friend.
340
00:29:16,021 --> 00:29:22,821
Well, I hope. Yeah, as a matter of fact, I stopped at Rossi's house a week ago, last Sunday.
341
00:29:23,761 --> 00:29:32,941
I did an interview with Julia. It was for the program, the pamphlet program that sells at the show.
342
00:29:33,301 --> 00:29:37,661
It was for Hana Kimura's May 23rd Korakuen Show program.
343
00:29:38,261 --> 00:29:43,221
When you turn the front page, there will be a Julia interview.
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She will be working on Hana Kimura's memorial show.
345
00:29:49,801 --> 00:29:53,621
Julia against Vinny, single match for the first time ever.
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00:29:54,341 --> 00:29:57,561
They're not even friends. They know each other.
347
00:29:57,721 --> 00:30:01,941
They know of them. Julia knows of Vinny and Vinny knows of Julia.
348
00:30:01,941 --> 00:30:04,301
It was actually Hana Kimura.
349
00:30:04,441 --> 00:30:06,521
Hana Kimura was friends with Vennie.
350
00:30:06,681 --> 00:30:09,441
Hana Kimura was friends with Julia.
351
00:30:10,521 --> 00:30:16,781
Therefore, by having Hana Kimura right in the middle, this single match takes
352
00:30:16,781 --> 00:30:17,901
place for the first time.
353
00:30:18,521 --> 00:30:25,661
And Julia wanted Hana to watch this match and wanted to make this match as exciting
354
00:30:25,661 --> 00:30:30,881
and the exciting match where Hana would be watching and.
355
00:30:32,301 --> 00:30:38,841
She wants Hana to get excited about the match does that make sense yeah and also.
356
00:30:40,341 --> 00:30:45,621
About you know somebody calling me a liar on ex-Twitter about.
357
00:30:47,401 --> 00:30:55,381
Stardom not allowing Stardom wrestler to work Hana Kimura show and Fumi's lying
358
00:30:55,381 --> 00:31:00,501
that the Shuri has been working for the past three years it's not about it's
359
00:31:00,501 --> 00:31:06,341
not written in the contract that the stardom wrestler under contract cannot work for,
360
00:31:07,241 --> 00:31:16,161
Handa Kimura's show or the association with Kyoko Kimura they don't understand
361
00:31:16,161 --> 00:31:18,821
the first thing about wrestler's mindset,
362
00:31:19,861 --> 00:31:23,681
it's not about of course it's under contract you won't be working in another
363
00:31:23,681 --> 00:31:31,901
company I understand that but Handa Kimura's memorial show is not done by a wrestling company.
364
00:31:32,381 --> 00:31:35,201
It's done by the.
365
00:31:39,181 --> 00:31:43,041
Friends of the family and it's like a community event almost.
366
00:31:43,421 --> 00:31:47,701
Yeah, it is. They sell tickets, of course, they have to rent the Korakuen Hall
367
00:31:47,701 --> 00:31:51,921
and they will be filming, you know, videotaping the show, of course,
368
00:31:51,981 --> 00:31:57,921
and hopefully streaming to like a fight TV or something like that, you know, but it's,
369
00:31:58,980 --> 00:32:04,000
It's not to be considered as a business. If it's business, it is to raise fund
370
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,540
for the court case. Mm-hmm.
371
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:12,800
Mm-hmm. You know? But yes, basically, but somebody calling me liar, so I have to explain it.
372
00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:17,820
So it's not about the Stardom's wrestlers contract that you cannot work with.
373
00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:25,060
It's like Bushiroad, Stardom executive telling their wrestlers don't work the
374
00:32:25,060 --> 00:32:29,680
show. show and somebody like Shuri said, oh, I'll be working.
375
00:32:31,340 --> 00:32:37,840
And it's a wrestler's mindset. This is important personal business to be working Hana's show.
376
00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:42,860
Okay. All right. If you're going to work, what are you going to do about it? Fire me or sue me?
377
00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:47,080
And they do something about it? They wouldn't.
378
00:32:47,620 --> 00:32:50,140
And yes, Shuri, actually a couple
379
00:32:50,140 --> 00:32:56,440
other current Stardom girls working this year's Hannah Kimberl's show.
380
00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:02,060
And I don't have to lie anything about this Hannah Kimberl's show.
381
00:33:02,140 --> 00:33:05,320
I'll be doing the color commentating this year too.
382
00:33:07,260 --> 00:33:16,320
2021, Matane, Hannah Kimberl card. 22, Matane and Baguz.
383
00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:23,060
And last year was Pinks. And this year was Tere Makasi. Like an Indonesian word
384
00:33:23,060 --> 00:33:24,660
for saying thank you very much.
385
00:33:25,260 --> 00:33:31,520
And I've been pretty involved with this, you know, the whole Hanakimura thing.
386
00:33:31,780 --> 00:33:39,440
And it's not like some new company running a show against opposition of some
387
00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:41,640
existing wrestling company. It's not that.
388
00:33:42,580 --> 00:33:48,500
Yeah. Yeah, it's because the playing field in Japan is different.
389
00:33:48,620 --> 00:33:53,980
It's a lot different than over in the States. and I guess it's more taboo to
390
00:33:53,980 --> 00:33:59,740
or fans like to think it's more taboo when one wrestler is under contract and
391
00:33:59,740 --> 00:34:03,180
works somewhere else and they think that leads...
392
00:34:03,180 --> 00:34:08,440
I'm trying to explain and says Fumi
393
00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:12,080
is mistaken and untrue and called
394
00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:20,700
it a lie I read it I don't understand why people would even say it yeah because
395
00:34:20,700 --> 00:34:27,520
they are typing this thing from their basement why wouldn't they they have no
396
00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:31,100
reason not to believe I don't understand they could have called me inaccurate.
397
00:34:32,860 --> 00:34:40,180
But untrue if you untrue me you know that's like an end of love story right yeah sure,
398
00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:47,240
and calling somebody a liar I mean he should have something concrete to back
399
00:34:47,240 --> 00:34:53,980
that statement People say things without thinking about any consequences or.
400
00:34:56,509 --> 00:34:59,749
There's so much to it, and I just don't want to go down the rabbit hole.
401
00:35:00,449 --> 00:35:06,509
Yeah. But, yes, the Hanakimura's Memorial Show, Memorial Card,
402
00:35:07,209 --> 00:35:10,449
Teramakashi coming up. Yes. Yeah, at the end of the month, right?
403
00:35:10,769 --> 00:35:16,009
Yeah. And I did the interview with Julia, and it would be the first page of this program.
404
00:35:16,629 --> 00:35:23,949
Nice. And they were, and Julia was laughing, you know, about this Kenny's statement.
405
00:35:24,429 --> 00:35:27,529
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's a non-issue in Japan.
406
00:35:27,929 --> 00:35:34,589
The Rastis said, what about it? He just heard about it. He just heard about it. It's like, oh, yeah?
407
00:35:34,789 --> 00:35:40,089
It's the flow of the English language wrestling news media, too.
408
00:35:40,469 --> 00:35:44,589
I mean, the stories dictate the discussions.
409
00:35:45,789 --> 00:35:52,249
Yeah, and then also these new generations, you know, this social media wrestling
410
00:35:52,249 --> 00:35:58,469
journalism think, Dave Meltzer's accomplishments is only a star system, right?
411
00:35:59,189 --> 00:36:04,969
Of the match. Yeah, no, no, no. Dave Meltzer have done so much I can't even start.
412
00:36:05,289 --> 00:36:09,469
He's been doing this since before I was born. He really single-handedly changed,
413
00:36:10,149 --> 00:36:14,869
or non-existing wrestling media, I mean, journalism, that he was all,
414
00:36:15,009 --> 00:36:17,309
you know, like Newsstand Wrestling Magazine.
415
00:36:17,789 --> 00:36:21,669
I'm not going to badmouth all the Wrestling Illustrated,
416
00:36:21,849 --> 00:36:25,369
the Inside Wrestling, the Wrestling Review, you that all these people before
417
00:36:25,369 --> 00:36:28,369
me it was magazine but it was never
418
00:36:28,369 --> 00:36:31,969
reported like dave melcher's wrestling observer you know
419
00:36:31,969 --> 00:36:34,829
he came out yeah yeah and
420
00:36:34,829 --> 00:36:37,909
then so much infant and people don't remember but
421
00:36:37,909 --> 00:36:41,089
in 90s there was a lot of almost mock
422
00:36:41,089 --> 00:36:44,209
you know like a wannabe dave melcher newsletter
423
00:36:44,209 --> 00:36:50,849
dozens of them out there you know but none of them survived because none of
424
00:36:50,849 --> 00:36:58,569
those you know Short-lived newsletters were as enthusiastic or well-connected
425
00:36:58,569 --> 00:37:01,289
or knowledgeable as Dave was.
426
00:37:01,549 --> 00:37:09,169
They always have been. And this is what Dave Meltzer does, and he is the best
427
00:37:09,169 --> 00:37:10,189
wrestling journalist ever.
428
00:37:11,611 --> 00:37:16,211
Yes. And he and I, you know, he's a couple years older than I am.
429
00:37:16,291 --> 00:37:17,891
But, yeah, of course, we're getting older.
430
00:37:18,131 --> 00:37:23,051
And sometimes it's hard to watch wrestling that are really new companies.
431
00:37:23,211 --> 00:37:26,891
And sometimes it's hard to watch wrestlers match that are, like,
432
00:37:27,591 --> 00:37:30,271
30 years younger than we are, you know?
433
00:37:30,471 --> 00:37:37,331
But stars, you know, the point system is the only thing that they've created.
434
00:37:37,491 --> 00:37:45,791
It's so wrong. and at the same time there's so not so many but good portion
435
00:37:45,791 --> 00:37:51,431
good amount of people who want to discredit Dave and discredit Dave's accomplishment.
436
00:37:52,311 --> 00:37:58,231
Out there the star thing had been around forever it was never a big deal until
437
00:37:58,231 --> 00:38:03,191
the internet came about it was always yeah everybody has their own rating system
438
00:38:03,191 --> 00:38:09,111
it goes both ways that the wrestlers cared about it that he put on such a great
439
00:38:09,111 --> 00:38:10,791
match and I only got the two stars,
440
00:38:11,031 --> 00:38:14,811
something like that, you know, because it's valuable.
441
00:38:15,551 --> 00:38:24,211
Sure. You know, and also it survived this print version of Observer into the
442
00:38:24,211 --> 00:38:28,171
internet version of Wrestling Observer.
443
00:38:28,271 --> 00:38:34,271
It survived the change of time and now that they no longer produce paper version
444
00:38:34,271 --> 00:38:37,671
of Observer. I missed it, but that's the way it is.
445
00:38:38,471 --> 00:38:46,671
And pretty soon, my old weekly progressing, I wouldn't be surprised if the paper
446
00:38:46,671 --> 00:38:52,411
version of physical magazine will go out of business and it will all be digital.
447
00:38:52,851 --> 00:38:55,851
It keeps getting smaller and smaller and smaller.
448
00:38:56,311 --> 00:39:00,151
Yeah, because you can't buy at the 7-Elevens anymore.
449
00:39:00,631 --> 00:39:05,071
Yeah, it's harder to find. You have to go to a bookstore. or they don't sell it.
450
00:39:05,091 --> 00:39:10,491
Yeah, and none of these people I worked with in the 80s and 90s into 2000,
451
00:39:10,591 --> 00:39:13,731
I was there until 2014, 10 years ago.
452
00:39:13,871 --> 00:39:18,911
It's been 10 years since I quit. But none of the editors or writers or photographers
453
00:39:18,911 --> 00:39:21,671
or designers are there anymore. It's all new people.
454
00:39:22,031 --> 00:39:27,251
And this past January, January 4th at the Tokyo Dome, the press room,
455
00:39:27,411 --> 00:39:32,911
I got introduced to somebody I knew from the baseball magazine and weekly processing.
456
00:39:33,331 --> 00:39:38,691
Hey hi nice to meet you so all these new writers and editors of the current staff.
457
00:39:39,824 --> 00:39:44,544
I did not know the whole article. You know, it's like, Oh, I just met five new
458
00:39:44,544 --> 00:39:47,024
editors that they've been working for, you know, five, five years,
459
00:39:47,184 --> 00:39:50,204
but they're not the same guys, you know? Yeah.
460
00:39:51,044 --> 00:39:54,084
Oh, Tarzan Yamamoto, my old boss, he's 78.
461
00:39:54,704 --> 00:40:01,104
Wow. Yeah. And none of the people I worked with in 70s and 80s and 90s and 2000 are there.
462
00:40:01,564 --> 00:40:07,604
Yeah. New generation. And plus my generation's people, sometimes it's like that.
463
00:40:07,604 --> 00:40:13,004
But when this old, this used to be typewriter in the word processor, right?
464
00:40:13,744 --> 00:40:19,624
And you fax your, you know, story, then somebody has to type it to make it print, you know, like,
465
00:40:20,444 --> 00:40:26,824
and all these, the current writers and editors and designers,
466
00:40:26,904 --> 00:40:30,044
they debuted on computer keyboard.
467
00:40:31,244 --> 00:40:35,784
That's, and internet articles. articles
468
00:40:35,784 --> 00:40:38,884
and there was a lot of hurdles you know like hurdles and
469
00:40:38,884 --> 00:40:42,164
bars to you know to climb over to clear that
470
00:40:42,164 --> 00:40:48,984
what you wrote became print yeah yeah i mean yeah it's read by the your editor
471
00:40:48,984 --> 00:40:53,604
right next to you and then the you know the junior editor senior editor and
472
00:40:53,604 --> 00:40:58,684
your boss editor and to be changed and proofread then you got to change this
473
00:40:58,684 --> 00:41:01,584
and you know write this and write that and erase this.
474
00:41:02,004 --> 00:41:08,604
You'll be writing the same story twice, three times until what you wrote became print.
475
00:41:09,684 --> 00:41:15,204
Now that you write with this thing and just kind of, it goes up there.
476
00:41:15,424 --> 00:41:19,004
The workflow is similar, but it's so much faster because it's all,
477
00:41:19,084 --> 00:41:20,504
like you said, it's all digital.
478
00:41:20,644 --> 00:41:23,964
Yeah, but at the same time, it became very inaccurate and immature.
479
00:41:24,684 --> 00:41:29,724
Because the emphasis is on speed, not accuracy as much.
480
00:41:29,804 --> 00:41:37,024
Yeah. And also because of it, putting match result isn't a part of magazine anymore.
481
00:41:37,224 --> 00:41:41,044
It should come out tonight. You know what I mean? Yeah.
482
00:41:41,444 --> 00:41:46,284
So what would wrestling magazine role be? Yeah.
483
00:41:47,364 --> 00:41:50,664
It would be more like your program you'll be buying at the building.
484
00:41:50,944 --> 00:41:52,984
Or like the magazine. Or the wrestler's interviews.
485
00:41:53,504 --> 00:41:59,204
Yeah. Yeah, wrestlers interview instead of like a real interview I've done, you know.
486
00:41:59,224 --> 00:42:01,564
Then, like I said, I don't advertise myself.
487
00:42:03,266 --> 00:42:09,926
I've done actual real physical interviews from Luthas, Carl Gotch, Hulk Hogan,
488
00:42:10,586 --> 00:42:15,346
Ric Flair, Stan Henson, Bruce Lombardi, Abdul the Butcher, Tiger Zid Singh,
489
00:42:15,586 --> 00:42:20,466
Road Warriors, all the way to AJ Styles, everybody in between.
490
00:42:20,846 --> 00:42:23,066
I was there firsthand.
491
00:42:23,806 --> 00:42:29,666
I did not read some other people's interview and pretend that I know something
492
00:42:29,666 --> 00:42:32,446
and type up your own story.
493
00:42:34,006 --> 00:42:37,986
Stealing material from here and there. None of that was done.
494
00:42:38,426 --> 00:42:42,086
When we were doing weekly processing, we did it like real magazine.
495
00:42:43,226 --> 00:42:48,086
And they were huge back then. People don't realize. The role has changed. Yeah.
496
00:42:50,106 --> 00:42:54,426
I don't have to talk about my accomplishment. It's not me.
497
00:42:55,506 --> 00:43:00,166
And if you wanted to have another company or topic, let's go and move on.
498
00:43:00,166 --> 00:43:05,106
Well, I think people have questions, of course, they can email us,
499
00:43:05,166 --> 00:43:10,206
but that's the story with Mr. Ogawa for now.
500
00:43:10,346 --> 00:43:14,866
Yeah, but I do support and defend my friend.
501
00:43:15,706 --> 00:43:18,586
He's been my friend 40 plus years.
502
00:43:19,846 --> 00:43:24,186
And he's not dirty. Of course. Of course not. Yeah.
503
00:43:25,898 --> 00:43:29,998
Let's, okay, so. Harold Sakata, did you say? Yeah, Harold Sakata,
504
00:43:30,138 --> 00:43:32,078
yes. Yeah, Harold Sakata, yeah.
505
00:43:32,258 --> 00:43:38,218
Harold Sakata is a Hawaiian American, and I mean American, Japanese American.
506
00:43:38,518 --> 00:43:40,318
Yeah, that worked.
507
00:43:41,238 --> 00:43:47,398
Went to 1948 London Olympic for powerlifting and debuted as a wrestler after
508
00:43:47,398 --> 00:43:51,018
being coached by Oki Shikina and debuted around 1950.
509
00:43:52,118 --> 00:43:57,618
And from Hawaii to mainland America, Then he became Tashi Togo,
510
00:43:57,818 --> 00:44:03,018
you know, made a very successful heel tag team with Great Togo.
511
00:44:03,138 --> 00:44:08,018
Great Togo and Tashi Togo, Togo brothers, not real brothers, but they were a huge hit.
512
00:44:08,118 --> 00:44:12,678
And also in 1962, Harold Sakata was part of the James Bond movie,
513
00:44:12,978 --> 00:44:16,038
Goldfinger, Oddjob. Oddjob, yeah.
514
00:44:16,398 --> 00:44:21,018
Yeah, yeah. And also he's worked many years in Japan too.
515
00:44:21,018 --> 00:44:24,578
And the very beginning of 1972 Antonio Inoki's in New Japan,
516
00:44:24,618 --> 00:44:28,198
he came back one more time to run a tour and.
517
00:44:29,618 --> 00:44:35,758
Yeah, that's our job, Tashi Togo, Harold Sakata and also when Ricky Dawson turned
518
00:44:35,758 --> 00:44:38,778
professional wrestler, the myth was created that,
519
00:44:39,538 --> 00:44:43,478
Harold Sakata and Ricky Dawson met at the nightclub and got in the fight,
520
00:44:43,638 --> 00:44:47,438
that's how Ricky Dawson started in professional wrestling, it's a myth,
521
00:44:47,658 --> 00:44:51,038
but a lot of people do believe that legend.
522
00:44:52,118 --> 00:44:52,618
Yeah.
523
00:44:53,738 --> 00:44:58,458
I'm pretty sure that they did meet, Harold Sakata and Ricky Dawson did meet
524
00:44:58,458 --> 00:45:04,878
and became friends at some Ginza nightclub or something, but they did not get in the fight.
525
00:45:05,098 --> 00:45:07,958
And it wasn't the reason Ricky Dawson turned professional wrestling.
526
00:45:08,138 --> 00:45:13,158
If the story was true, that Ricky Dawson had to decide to become professional
527
00:45:13,158 --> 00:45:14,758
wrestler over one night, no.
528
00:45:16,185 --> 00:45:22,825
It was basically, it was one year after his retirement from Sumo.
529
00:45:22,925 --> 00:45:29,445
And Sumo means wrestling, by the way, you know. And it was, actually,
530
00:45:29,445 --> 00:45:31,965
there was a GHQ influence on it.
531
00:45:32,505 --> 00:45:41,485
You know, GHQ, General Headquarters. Yeah, there was, the people don't go back that far.
532
00:45:41,625 --> 00:45:48,705
There was a war, you know. You know, between 1941 and 1945, part of the World
533
00:45:48,705 --> 00:45:55,125
War II, but actually U.S., America, and Japan fought the war.
534
00:45:56,365 --> 00:46:00,485
I'm glad we're friends, you know. But there was Pearl Harbor,
535
00:46:00,605 --> 00:46:06,885
December of 1941, and there was Narasaki and Hiroshima in the summer of 1945.
536
00:46:07,265 --> 00:46:15,725
And there was a six-year occupation, U.S. occupation in Japan by general headquarters, GHQ we call it.
537
00:46:15,885 --> 00:46:27,625
And 1951 San Francisco peace meeting was signed and the war was officially over six years after.
538
00:46:27,725 --> 00:46:37,725
1951, the war was actually over and Japan became independent in freedom and
539
00:46:37,725 --> 00:46:41,385
democracy and equality new constitution,
540
00:46:41,665 --> 00:46:45,865
the whole thing, that Japan became independent once again, 1951.
541
00:46:46,005 --> 00:46:51,625
That was the year that the GHQ had a tribute to the troops.
542
00:46:53,049 --> 00:46:56,949
Wrestling show in Japan. Yeah, that
543
00:46:56,949 --> 00:47:02,629
Bobby Browns. And that had the boxing champion and all that in the tune.
544
00:47:02,689 --> 00:47:09,569
Actually, by 1951, U.S. already was involved in another war.
545
00:47:10,989 --> 00:47:13,809
Korean War this time.
546
00:47:14,029 --> 00:47:19,249
That the Soviet and China supported North Korean part and U.S.
547
00:47:19,249 --> 00:47:22,089
And United Nations supported South Korea part.
548
00:47:22,089 --> 00:47:28,409
That Korea became there was one Korea but Korea became two separate countries
549
00:47:28,409 --> 00:47:32,389
therefore North Korea and South Korea 1948.
550
00:47:33,669 --> 00:47:39,629
So there's a real actual history you have to learn and 1951 wrestling came to
551
00:47:39,629 --> 00:47:46,829
Japan it's almost like a planted that after the war New Japan not wrestling
552
00:47:46,829 --> 00:47:52,509
New Japan but the country New Japan it was Japan not Imperial Japan Yeah,
553
00:47:52,689 --> 00:47:55,229
not Imperial Japan and democracy,
554
00:47:55,689 --> 00:47:58,909
freedom, freedom of speech, new constitution.
555
00:47:59,249 --> 00:48:06,149
And basically became part of the US sort of, you know, but you big ally with the US.
556
00:48:06,249 --> 00:48:12,409
That's when American style professional wrestling was brought in and they wanted
557
00:48:12,409 --> 00:48:19,069
to have local hero, professional wrestler meant small wrestler.
558
00:48:19,069 --> 00:48:25,769
Ricky Dawson was a perfect guy to have that role and you know the rest of the
559
00:48:25,769 --> 00:48:31,589
story, Ricky Dawson is the father of pro wrestling in Japan and much like your
560
00:48:31,589 --> 00:48:32,669
gorgeous choice phenomena,
561
00:48:33,329 --> 00:48:40,489
Ricky Dawson professional wrestling in Japanese pro wrestler beginning of pro
562
00:48:40,489 --> 00:48:44,249
wrestler was the beginning of television and beginning of television was the
563
00:48:44,249 --> 00:48:49,049
beginning of pro wrestler therefore for Japan's professional wrestling always
564
00:48:49,049 --> 00:48:50,729
had the mega network budget.
565
00:48:52,509 --> 00:48:59,189
So they had always had this very distinctive, unique evolution process.
566
00:48:59,869 --> 00:49:05,969
Never had a local territories like that. So always national product with network television budget.
567
00:49:07,469 --> 00:49:11,269
And that's the thing. Harold Sakata was involved in the very beginning.
568
00:49:11,469 --> 00:49:14,609
He was part of the Bobby Brown's crew.
569
00:49:15,149 --> 00:49:21,069
Yeah. It's very important. But I think in the end, most people know him for Oddjob.
570
00:49:21,069 --> 00:49:23,989
Our job yeah because it won't happen
571
00:49:23,989 --> 00:49:27,169
until like 1962 or 63 and that
572
00:49:27,169 --> 00:49:35,089
james bond wasn't your what's the current guy daniel uh oh my gosh yeah not
573
00:49:35,089 --> 00:49:40,449
even timothy dalton anymore you know no oh my god pierce brosnan and my favorite
574
00:49:40,449 --> 00:49:44,549
james bond was roger moore but this goldfinger.
575
00:49:45,789 --> 00:49:50,709
James Bond was Sean Connery oh yeah of course Sean Connery the classic yeah
576
00:49:50,709 --> 00:50:00,729
the original actually you know odd job Harold Sakata played part in pretty big
577
00:50:00,729 --> 00:50:03,529
part in James Bond Goldfinger movie,
578
00:50:04,309 --> 00:50:07,049
it was a big I'm pretty sure it was a real big thing at the
579
00:50:07,049 --> 00:50:10,089
time and the Japanese yen is
580
00:50:10,089 --> 00:50:12,869
so weak and the Japanese economy is so
581
00:50:12,869 --> 00:50:15,929
bad but we are right now still in
582
00:50:15,929 --> 00:50:19,929
the middle of golden week holidays and people
583
00:50:19,929 --> 00:50:23,389
taking a week off and probably most people in the states or english-speaking
584
00:50:23,389 --> 00:50:27,609
world don't know anything at all about golden week in japan and that's end of
585
00:50:27,609 --> 00:50:32,609
the april into first week of may that accumulation of bunch of small national
586
00:50:32,609 --> 00:50:38,949
holidays that make make up the golden golden week holiday and yeah i'm on my
587
00:50:39,149 --> 00:50:44,509
Sunday afternoon time right now, and people will be taking day off until tomorrow,
588
00:50:44,709 --> 00:50:47,109
May 6th. Then go back Tuesday, yeah.
589
00:50:47,819 --> 00:50:54,219
Everybody's really sad this week. The post-Golden Week, back to work blues.
590
00:50:55,319 --> 00:50:58,379
Really depressed that they had a great Golden Week.
591
00:50:58,479 --> 00:51:05,499
I remember that. And the economy is bad in Japan, but the weather has been pretty good in Tokyo.
592
00:51:05,859 --> 00:51:07,619
Almost like early summer.
593
00:51:08,519 --> 00:51:17,379
But next month should be rainy. Yeah, but the summer in Japan is like the last five years or so.
594
00:51:17,819 --> 00:51:22,479
Way too hot and way too sticky. It'll be a real tough summer.
595
00:51:23,799 --> 00:51:29,299
That's why the G1 and N1, those guys, they're tough to do that just because
596
00:51:29,299 --> 00:51:34,659
it's so hot during those tournaments. And humility.
597
00:51:35,299 --> 00:51:38,659
Maybe they should do it in the wintertime. I don't know. Maybe they should do
598
00:51:38,659 --> 00:51:41,919
it in Tokyo. I don't know. Whatever.
599
00:51:43,499 --> 00:51:49,719
Just regular Fumi Saito on Facebook and And X Twitter at Fumihikodayo,
600
00:51:49,819 --> 00:51:58,399
F-U-M-I-H-I-K-O-D-A-Y-O, Fumihikodayo on X Twitter or FumisaitoNorthspace2001 on Instagram.
601
00:51:59,159 --> 00:52:02,479
I'm on X. I'm at Justin M. Nipper, K-N-I-P-P-E-R.
602
00:52:03,319 --> 00:52:08,879
Send a message. You know, just be nice. Questions. Questions, comments, concerns.
603
00:52:09,599 --> 00:52:15,579
And I'll do my thing. Until then, so long from Tokyo. Write that down, Fumisaito.
604
00:52:15,920 --> 00:52:27,772
Music.