Number one contender speaks
June 12 sees Switchblade Jay White challenge Kazuchika Okada in the main event at Dominion for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. After completing a grand slam of NJPW championships in 2021, the Catalyst of Professional Wrestling will seek World Heavyweight gold for the first time, and to carry the top prize in professional wrestling with him to Chicago’s United Center June 26. We spoke to jay about both events, the state of BULLET CLUB and more.
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Not just physically, but mentally I’m several steps ahead of the game
–So, Jay You returned to Japan on May 1 at Dontaku and struck Kazuchika Okada with the Bladerunner. So when it comes to returning to Japan, the first question would be “why now”?
Jay: Wow, hard hitting questions off the bat. Let me put it to you. Why do you think I came back?
–Well, the short answer would be the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
Jay: Well, done! You’re obviously a smart man. The simple answer is the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. I, Switchblade Jay White, determined that now is the time to target that championship, and Dominion is the time I take the championship between us.
–You’ve still been active over the last year, of course.
Jay: I’ve been building BULLET CLUB to the fullest height of what it can be, and that’ll culminate at Dominion. Then I’ll take the title back home to America, walk into Forbidden Door and show the world who the best wrestler on the planet is.
–Over the past year, did you keep tabs on what was happening in Japan, or was it of no interest to you?
Jay: I keep tabs on some things, and some things not so much. It’s up to me to decide what’s relevant or not. But I have to keep watching a Kazuchika Okada, I have to keep my finger on the pulse. That’s how I keep my mind unmatched. Don’t forget that not just physically, but mentally I’m several steps ahead of the game. So you have to keep tabs on certain things or risk falling into the background. Jay White is never in the background, that’s not who I am.
I make it 4-1 with Okada on June 12
–You have a 3-1 record over Okada. Having kept tabs on what he’s done of late, how do you think he’s changed as opposed to the last time you met?
Jay: Well, has he? I think he’s stayed in Japan and done the same thing he’s always done. Me? What I’ve done in the States in the last year has been far more beneficial for NJPW than anything anybody has done here in Japan. I brought eyes to NJPW in AEW and IMPACT, and I succeeded in making NJPW STRONG a focal point. Nobody can compare to the waves I’ve caused in the last 12 months.
–If not in terms of character, do you think he’s changed as a wrestler? During both of your G1 Climax meetings, Okada was in an experimental phase in ring.
Jay: Well, like you said the record is 3-1. He might have been going through a phase, when he was throwing balloons all over the place, or didn’t want to use the Rainmaker, whatever. In the end, that cost him, because he dared to take me lightly. Somehow, some people only think of Madison Square Garden when they think of the two of us, and they don’t realise that I already beat him three times, and he’s only beaten me once. I make it 4-1 on June 12 at Dominion.
–You said that he took you lightly in some of your other matches. You would have to imagine that won’t be the case Sunday.
Jay: Oh, I know. I looked into his eyes recently. What I saw was that he knows. And he knows that I know that he’s losing at Dominion. He sees a different man to the one that faced him in MSG. I’m a different beast. I’m a monster now, atop the wrestling world. He knows that, and he’ll give me everything he has, but it simply will not be enough, because he is not me. I am.
–It’s poetic somewhat that you will be wrestling Kazuchika Okada in the same town where you won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Jay: You know what, it is poetic that it’s in Osaka. Poetic that it’s in the same building where I wrestled my last match before excursion. Where I spoke to the fans in flawless Japanese and said ‘you are my family’. They fell for that. Maybe my vision was clouded then, but I see very clearly now.
This is the ‘get paid’ era for BULLET CLUB
–And what is that vision for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship? Your reign in 2019 was much shorter than you would have liked.
Jay: Well, I will be holding it for a lot longer than last time. It’s a different climate to 2019 and I’m a different man. I plan on taking that title global. To AEW, or IMPACT if I so chose. Or maybe my home away from home in NJPW STRONG. Just like with BULLET CLUB, I’m taking it to new heights that people haven’t imagined.
–Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows will both be wrestling in singles matches at Dominion. It’s been some months since the Good Brothers returned to BULLET CLUB, and G.o.D were forced out. What do Gallows and Anderson bring that Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa lack?
Jay: Legitimacy. Fame. Cohesion. We’re all working toward the same goal now, and you can feel that in the ring, and out. Look at what we’ve done on AEW.
–You’ve been interacting with Adam Cole of the Undisputed Elite.
Jay: And Tama and Tanga Loa, they wouldn’t let that kind of thing happen. They were an impediment to that growth. They had to go. This is just a recipe for success. Tama Tonga liked to talk about different eras in BULLET CLUB. Now that we have the Good Brothers back, Rock Hard Juice Robinson, everything they bring to the table? You can say this is the ‘get paid era’ for BULLET CLUB.
–Ace Austin joined BULLET CLUB June 3 at the BOSJ final. What does he bring to the group?
Jay: Prestige! That’s the X Division Champion. When I was in IMPACT I could see the potential in him, and the sky’s the limit. So with him and Chris Bey, and the Good Brothers running things in IMPACT? Like I said, it’s a recipe for success. That’s why I’m the Catalyst of Professional Wrestling, because I can make these things happen across all these different companies. Nobody could even imagine what I’m doing now.
Everybody should be fighting to have a match with me in Chicago
–After Dominion is Forbidden Door on June 26 in the United Center in Chicago. You crashed the announcement of the event and said that the PPV would be about the Undisputed Elite and BULLET CLUB. With that said, how do you feel about Hiroshi Tanahashi’s involvement on Dynamite, and the Eliminator match with Hirooki Goto Sunday? Are they taking the spotlight?
Jay: I’m OK with it.
–You are? Why?
Jay: Well, they’re going to thank me, I’m sure. Whether it’s Tanahashi or Goto, they’ll thank me for the house, because I already single handedly sold out Madison Square Garden and now we have a sold out United Center to add to my list of accolades. What they should do is write me a nice little message, and send a gift basket.
–A gift basket?
Jay: Sure. Nothing too ostentatious. Maybe some white chocolate, whiskey, some Blue Label or Johnny Walker would be great. Cigars, anything else you can surprise me with. Even flowers would be great, because everyone should be giving me flowers for what I’ve done for pro-wrestling. I mean, I inspired Tanahashi!
–How so?
Jay: Look who became the first ever NJPW grand slam champion! And then he came along and tried to follow in my footsteps. Now he has this big chance against Hirooki Goto, another man who benefitted from being in the ring with the Catalyst of Professional Wrestling not long ago.
–Is there someone that you’d like to wrestle at Forbidden Door?
Jay: No. I don’t give a sh*t about the ‘dream match’ stuff. It’s all about money and championships, and by the time I go to the United Center I will have *the* championship. So why would I care after that? Everyone else should be fighting to have a dream match with me, and BULLET CLUB and the Undisputed Elite will own the show just like we own the wrestling world.
If you doubt me, you won’t have long to find out
–Any last thoughts for Okada?
Jay: I spoke to Okada in the ring at Budokan. I don’t know if the cameras caught what we said…
–What did you say?
Jay: I told him I know he’s not stupid. I know he knows his time is up, and that I’m going 4-1 against him, and taking his title. You know what he said? He said “OK, I must be stupid, because I don’t know that”. So that’s Okada for you. Cute little jokes, but his eyes and his face say it all. If you doubt that, you won’t have long to find out that I’m telling the truth, that I will be the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, and everyone else just has to breathe with the Switchblade.
