New Japan Cup winner on his Ryogoku challenge
The main event of Hyper Battle ’22 on April 9 sees Zack Sabre Jr. look to convert his New Japan Cup victory into the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, and in doing, exorcise memories of four years ago, where his first New Japan Cup victory saw him to defeat at the hands of Kazuchika Okada at Sakura Genesis that April.
We spoke to ZSJ on a four year maturation, plans for the future, and a new kind of Strong Style.
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My time in the tag division helped me learn a lot about myself
–First of all, congratulations on winning the New Japan Cup. These last two years, you’ve been wrestling in the tag team division. How does it feel to get singles success once again?
Sabre: I think I naturally fell into the tag team division. I have a great relationship with Taichi, and Tanahashi and Ibushi were the tag team champions at the time, which made those belts really appealing. When we won the titles, it made me realise how much I wanted to grow the division. I thought back to the 1990s, when top wrestlers were tag team champions, and I thought that was really missing in New Japan. Staying during the pandemic, it felt like something I could pour all my energy into. It was disappointing to lose those titles at the Tokyo Dome, but my time in the tag division helped me learn a lot about myself as a singles wrestler, and how my technical style is better suited to singles matches where other wrestlers aren’t getting in the way.
–How have people around you treated your New Japan Cup win?
Sabre: Well, I think a lot of people have treated this like it’s a championship win, but it isn’t. In my book, I only see it as an opportunity to challenge for a championship, so it isn’t something that I’m satisfied with. I won this cup in 2018 and didn’t become champion, so this time, I can’t afford to let myself get caught up in the moment.
–After your match with Will Ospreay you referred to yourself as his senior, his ‘dai senpai’. Did his winning the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship before you frustrate you any?
Sabre: Yeah. Jealousy is a dangerous thing. It’s a poor use of energy, but if you can channel that into motivation then it can be useful. At the start of the year i found myself without the tag titles and reflecting on what I wanted from 2022. Knowing how important the 50th Anniversary is, I had to think about what I wanted to do here.
I stayed here during the pandemic and didn’t go back to see family because I was 100% committed to pro-wrestling. Yet while I won the New Japan Cup on my first try, almost effortlessly, I didn’t become champion, while Will won the cup last year, beat me in the process, and won the world title. So it would be hard for me to say that didn’t sting.
–You have quite the history with Ospreay.
Sabre: I like to berate and speak poorly of Will, but I will never question his wrestling ability. He’s incredibly naturally gifted, while I’ve had to work a really long time to become as good as I am. But I think of wrestling as a marathon not a sprint.
–Your style gives you more longevity?
Sabre: I will mature like a fine wine, and I plan on doing this for a very long time. Looking at Tastumi Fujinami, I want to compete at his age, but at a much higher level. So those are my thoughts on me and Will.
–Is this title match all the more significant in that you’ve never won a NJPW singles championship?
Sabre: NJPW’s 50th Anniversary is very important, but for me personally, it’s my fifth year here. I gained a lot of momentum in my first year, but after that I wanted to raise the level of the British Heavyweight Championship, and then spent the next two years in the tag division. So now it really is essential to be an (NJPW) singles champion.
–You are the same age as Kazuchika Okada and SANADA. That isn’t a point many people make.
Sabre: True, people tend to focus on Naito, Takagi, Ibushi being in the same generation.
–Since you are the same age though, is there a particular significance to those two as opponents of yours?
Sabre: Well, I think you’ll always share a similar outlook to people the same generation as you. SANADA and Okada spent a lot of time abroad, which I think shaped their outlook on both wrestling and personally, while I’m the reverse, a foreigner spending my formative years in Japan. So our experiences are different, but we have a similar mindset. Now that you mention it, anyway.
–I see.
Sabre: Usually I just think about how handsome SANADA is and how many times Okada has been champion. Usually that’s the extent of the significance. But since he became IWGP US Champion and Okada has achieved what he has done, I’ve maybe got the most to prove out of the three of us.
The longer Okada stays at the top, the bigger the divide gets
–How do you view Okada as a wrestler?
Sabre: I’ve been joking when I’ve called Okada all mighty and all powerful. But the longer he stays at the top, the bigger the divide gets between Okada and everybody else, and if he stays champion through this 50th year, he might be impossible to overcome.
–So you’re determined to interrupt this reign.
Sabre: My motivation for the Cup this year was when he said he wanted to do the triple crown, winning the New Japan Cup and the G1 as IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. I thought if that happens, things would be very difficult. So part of me is very happy that won’t be happening now.
–That said, Taichi called you the toughest wrestler in the world when he explained he never wanted to fight you.
Sabre: I think he was just being kind. But I definitely plan on proving him right.
I want to prove the IWGP Champion is the strongest in the world
–Lots of people refer to your style as a new evolution of Strong Style. Your thoughts on those comments?
Sabre: Well, when I first came to NJPW, I talked a lot about Strong Style being dead, mainly to be antagonistic. Now I’ve been here for five years, that label has become more important to me. What Inoki’s vision for pro-wrestling and NJPW is has evolved over the last 50 years. It can be very adaptable; it doesn’t have to be rigid, but I think it’s important for me to represent that modern Strong Style. I’ve worked very hard to create my vision of pro-wrestling as a hybrid of Japanese and British wrestling, so while I might have rejected that label five years ago, I’ll take it now.
–If you become IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, what would you want to do as the champion? What kind of champion would you be?
Sabre: I want to prove that the IWGP champion is the strongest in the world. Obviously I didn’t beat 48 people in the New Japan Cup myself, but by winning the tournament, essentially I’m better than everyone. That doesn’t leave me with many new contenders, so I want to open things up to challengers from all over the world.
–Anybody in mind?
Sabre: Ideally they would be other champions, but they would have to come to Japan to fight me. It’s the 50th Anniversary year, so I do think it’s important I take those challengers here in Japan. After that I can take the title with me around the world, but for the time being it’s important to be the face of NJPW, and for the big matches to happen in Japan.
