IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion discusses second half of his campaign
Dead even at 2-2-1 in his Best of the Super Jr. 28 campaign, El Desperado hasn’t had the dominant start to his tournament that the champion had predicted. Yet steadfast in his resolve to face rival Hiromu Takahashi in the final, Suzuki-Gun’s masked master has much to play for, and much to talk about in this breakdown of the latter half.
I have to win this rubber match
–So let’s continue our look at your competition in the Best of the Super Jr. this year. November 27 you face Robbie Eagles, who beat you for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship this summer and made tremendous strides to the front lines in 2021.
Desperado: Absolutely. There’s been a lot more from him in terms of variation in his matches, and he has so many ways to get into that Ron Miller Special of his. I thought the same thing when I faced him last year ‘he’ll move up before long’.
–You beat him with the Pinche Loco almost exactly on year ago, but you figured then he had a lot of potential.
Desperado: If you watch the match back, you’ll see that I was staying with him hold for hold on the knees, before I changed up, hit him with the Loco Mono, and then Pinche. If I’d have stayed fixed on the leg, I’m sure I would have lost.
–Not only did Eagles win the IWGP Junior heavyweight Championship, for a brief time he was a double champion too earlier this month.
Desperado: Double champions have hardly ever come along. I was the first in years and then he came right up to do the same thing. We’re one and one for the year, so I really have to win this rubber match.
I want to make that old school spirit mine
–Two nights later, you face your own tag team partner Yoshinobu Kanemaru. You have to be looking forward to this one, after Kanemaru had to withdraw from the league last year with a knee injury.
Desperado: I remember on the tour right before, me and ‘Nobu were teaming against Hiromu and BUSHI. I went to join this double team against them, and all of a sudden it was just me there. I looked behind me and he was down. I think he just took a step and something went.
–You faced off in 2017’s tournament. TAKA Michinoku and Taichi both got involved and in the end, Kanemaru won via countout.
Desperado: I hadn’t really come into my own at that point. We had started teaming, but that learning by osmosis was just beginning. I was much more messy in the ring at that point, and was starting to learn to simplify.
–So this match might be simpler on the surface than in 2017, but with more meaning.
Desperado: That’s really where I want to be as a wrestler. I talked about this with Ishimori before; I like wrestlers who do simple things really well. Nobody represents that more than ‘Nobu. I want to experience that old school stuff, and I want to take it for myself at the same time.
–So you think you can still learn from him.
Desperado: Oh, of course. I’m not just stood next to the guy, it’s on the job training all the time.
–Do you feel you want to show your own growth to him?
Desperado: It’s been four years, so yeah I do really want it to be clear that this is the guy I am now.
–So this is an important match for you.
Desperado: He’s a special opponent, in a different way to Hiromu. This might be the match I’m looking forward to the most.
This is going to end up being a tough tour for YOH
–The main event on December 3 sees you face YOH in the main event in Tokorozawa. YOH has had a very difficult 2021 since his return, and went through a long slump.
Desperado: After the title match we had in June, I said he brought more than I had expected, and I was impressed. Now, sorry to say it, that was all BS. I didn’t mean a word.
–You’ve talked about YOH’s difficulty in showing emotion in the past, but that’s a stiff comment.
Desperado: Well, it’s true. Back then I said different, sure, I had to put over this title match, I was reading the room.
–What struck you as disappointing wrestling him then?
Desperado: Look, I mean, like what you like when it comes to moves in themselves. Taste aside, there’s nothing wrong with what he does. He’s just…awkward? Impersonal? I don’t know whether that’s something that comes across to the audience, but for me, whether I’m being beaten up or doing the beating, I want to feel good doing it.
–You don’t feel that emotion in his offense, maybe?
Desperado: Right. Like, I could be knocked flying and it hurts like hell and it sucks, but there’s something fun about it. There’s something about that that’s the kind of pro-wrestling I want to do. You look at a guy like KENTA, he has a particular aura about him. You’re drawn in with him. With YOH, I think if he finds something, his own particular aura, he could really go far. But he just doesn’t have that.
–YOH headed into the tournament with a lot of expectations that he would make a resurgence.
Desperado: He came out all in white on November 6 didn’t he, to beat up SHO. Looking like some kind of weird exorcist or something. Well, I mean, he showed fire then, but can he bring that through? Is Roppongi 3K going to carry his narrative all the way through the tournament?
–Certainly all eyes will be on his last league match with SHO.
Desperado: I think this is going to turn out to be a rough series for him. He came in fired up, and then has to carry that energy through a whole month before he can get to the guy he wants to fight. And all that time, he has to bring the fans’ interest with him into that last match. It’s sh*t or get off the pot for him.
BUSHI keeps a lot hidden away
–On December 5, another main event against BUSHI.
Desperado: We haven’t really touched recently…and I’m not exactly going out of my way to check everyone’s backstage comments, least of all his. He’s been a bit of a non factor. Well, I guess when you’re stood next to one of the loudest people on the goddamned planet, it’s pretty hard to stand out.
–With BUSHI having been away from the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title for the last five years, and never having been in the BOSJ final, fans have high hopes for him.
Desperado: If BUSHI really wanted to succeed, he’d walk over Hiromu to get that success. If he holds back, he’ll never get there if you ask me.
–Back in October when LIJ challenged for the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag team Championships, BUSHI really put himself out there, especially toward Tomohiro Ishii, which was fairly rare.
Desperado: Hmm, I think that’s all Ishii. You face him, you get that Ishii fever. If you’re against Ishii and you’re still chill, that’s an achievement.
–That said, yourself and BUSHI really represent NJPW’s masked juniors, and with you holding the title belt at the moment, it seems there’s a lot of possibility to this match.
Desperado: You reckon? I just don’t get that from him. He really seems to put out this air of not wanting the title, not having anything to say. Hiromu and Shingo will go on a rant just like that, but BUSHI…
–BUSHI’s thought of as LIJ’s glue guy, and perhaps that’s part of his plan, to be fairly withdrawn backstage. Reading the room as you mentioned earlier.
Desperado: Hmm. I was told a long time ago that in this business, guys who read the room too much never get anywhere. If he does have something hidden away, he should beat me and then put it out there. A chance like this doesn’t come along often.
If he’s serious, it’s business as usual for me. When he’s not, that’s where I get in trouble.
–Next you have Ryusuke Taguchi. It’s alway hard to tell whether you’ll get the serious ‘big match Taguch’ or the fun loving joker. What’s your take on the coach?
Desperado: Hmm. He’s an easy guy to get, and he’s not all at the same time. Here’s the thing. If he comes at me serious, I’ve nothing to worry about. If he gets stupid, that’s where I’m in trouble.
–The comedy is hard for you to deal with?
Desperado: Absolutely. Like, OK, November 6, you had that amateur wrestling match with Yano and O-Khan. Those two guys are beasts on the mat. But pro-wrestling takes that and adds an X factor.
–That showmanship.
Desperado: When Taguchi brings that X factor, he becomes a million times harder to beat. I’ve never been one of those people who says that Taguchi should get serious.
–So you want him to present a problem for you.
Desperado: If he comes at me all serious, then it’s business as usual for me. If he gets stupid, then I’m in trouble, heh. He’s someone you really don’t want opposite you when you’re worn down and tired at the end of a match. I think win or lose, I’ll be pretty exhausted after this one.
Honestly, I don’t know if I can beat Phantasmo
–Your last league match is against El Phantasmo on December 11.
Desperado: I think he’s going to be a key person to this league. Probably next to Ishimori, the toughest match.
–Tags might be a different story, but he presents a big problem as a singles wrestler.
Desperado: Taichi always talks about how a truly great tag team has two phenomenal singles guys. That’s exactly what he and Ishimori are.
–You’ve met a few times in tags this year, and you were two out of the championship three way back in February.
Desperado: Honestly, I find him really difficult. Same with Ishimori, but I really don’t know if I can beat Phantasmo. I don’t know whether the times I’ve managed to win are flukes or not.
–What are Phantasmo’s strengths, if you had to sum them up?
Desperado: I think the way he puts his offense together. He’s serious, but at the same time he’ll rake your back, twist your nipples, really throw a spanner in the works. I think when I took the belt back from Robbie, it was because I was able to not be one note, but mix up my offense and put everything together. I think that was a major key for me in this tournament. But that’s something that Phantasmo does all the time.
–He’s a fantastic high flier to boot.
Desperado: He can do everything. He can strike, he can fly, he can hit you with moves like that CRII of his. I think the only thing that’s missing is a submission. I think the one thing that really gets me about him is he hit me with a Pinche Loco.
–In your junior tag championship match in September.
Desperado: It’s my move, but I’ve gotta say, it hurt like hell. You have both your arms pinned behind you when your face and the whole front of your body hits the mat.
–In the end though, you would take Phantasmo’s allegedly loaded boot to nail him with. One other thing that makes ELP stand out from the other juniors is his frame, and his long reach.
Desperado: It’s really not a typical junior physique. He looks slim, but he has tremendous power. And he can hit you with that superkick with those long legs.
–The Sudden Death.
Desperado: It sends shockwaves down your spine. I’ve taken that thing and been unable to lift my shoulders afterward. I think that people get caught up on figuring out what’s in that boot, and that’s when they get done in. All I know is that I need to avoid it.
I have to set an example as champion
–It’s the top two points scorers that make the final. Who would you like to face December 15?
Desperado: Hmm, the people who have had junior belts this year…Me, ‘Nobu, Ishimori, Phantasmo, Hiromu, Robbie. In the end, last year the final was me and Hiromu, but Ishimori was tied with us on points.
–Right, he lost the three way tie on direct pinfalls.
Desperado: So I think really, it should come down to those five names I mentioned. At the same time, and sorry if this is a boring thing to say, I am the champion and I have to set an example. I can’t do that if I’m like Ishimori last year, not making the top spot.
–This year like last, you’re also competing for that main event spot with World Tag League. You and Hiromu finished the show last year.
Desperado: Well, I will say I don’t want there to be a fan poll. That’s a cop out in my opinion. We present, the people decide if it’s worth paying for. The paying public shouldn’t be making those decisions.
–You’re saying that the company should have courage in its convictions and make the decisions.
Desperado: Right. The company should be looking at the kinds of matches and the quality that both tournaments are putting out, and make the call. Then it’s up to us to put in the work and make sure the call goes in our favour.
–Any final thoughts for the fans?
Desperado: Not really. I know I should be talking you all into the building right about now, but like I said last year in one of these, I don’t do well with expectations.
–After the BOSJ, the Tokyo Dome awaits…
Desperado: But one thing everyone needs to understand is that the BOSJ isn’t a warm up for the Tokyo Dome, and it isn’t a number one contender’s tournament. To make people really understand that and accept it, I have to win this thing. And then in the process, I might find a worthy challenger for the Dome.
