In Fans Bring the Questions match, we ask the public to ask questions of the top stars in NJPW! This time, Kazuchika Okada is in the hotseat!
From ‘加賀邑冠津輔’
Since you started in Mexico, did you ever think about wrestling under a mask?
Okada: I think every wrestler has thought about it at least once. But I think it’d be really tough. The mask would restrict your vision.
–You often hear that, yes.
Okada: On the other hand, it would be the ultimate flipping of the switch so to speak. Like watching Kamen Rider or Ultraman as a kid ‘transform!’. Of course, wrestlers can flip that switch without using a mask, but using one would really draw that clear line. Plus you could walk down the street and not get recognised (laughs).
From ‘Azu’
Share some of your memories from Mexico!
–So first of all, for the fans who might not know; when were you in Mexico?
Okada: I went when I was 15, for about three and a half years.
–Straight from graduating junior high to Mexico for three and a half years. You must have a lot of memories.
Okada: Well, I learned to hate the mice.
–Mice!
Okada: Now I’ll yell if I see one a mile away. There was a real range. The tacos were delicious, though.
Over there they have a license system. You have to be licensed as a wrestler to have a match. No license, no wrestling, and if you forget to bring your license with you, you have to pay a fine. It’s strict. But the licenses cost money, so there are a lot of amateur luchadores who wrestle unlicensed.
–Right.
Okada: One day, I remember getting in a taxi, and the cab driver was a wrestler.
–Cabs by day, wrestling by night!
Okada: Somebody told me to get in this particular cab, so I get in, we get to the venue and everything. As I’m getting out, the diver gets out too!
–Eh?!
Okada: And I don’t know what’s going on, like he’s going to suddenly attack me or something. But he gets his gear out of the trunk and he walks in the building too, ready to wrestle!
–I guess he had two licenses!
Okada: Yeah, right. It’s so embedded in the culture. You’ll have a lot of regular people by day who put a mask on and wrestle at night.
From Tarovez:
When you were in Mexico at the start of your career, and on excursion in America, were you able to get over the language barriers? Any tips?
–So in Mexico, Spanish, obviously.
Okada: I can just about muddle through. I tried to study, but when i actually got over there, there wasn’t much time for anything but wrestling. Plus, I knew a few Japanese wrestlers in the area, too. What I would actually do to study was walk around the neighbourhood with a dictionary on me, and listen to the people on the street, then try and look up what they said.
–This was before using smartphone apps.
Okada: Right. But I think using a dictionary manually is much better than using some app.
–And in America? How was that experience, in English?
Okada: Oh, man, America was rough.
–It was rough?
Okada: I didn’t have anyone to talk to. And I had computer problems. I had one old one, and one I bought special to take to America, and they both broke, within about a month of me arriving in the States.
–That must have been difficult.
Okada: It was hell. I didn’t know anybody nearby. The other wrestlers would only be around if they had matches. Every day I would be going to the gym by myself, going shopping by myself, and then going home, and that was it.
–You were on excursion with TNA, and they would tape weeks worth of TV at a time in the studio. So it was difficult for you to communicate with anyone.
Okada: Right. I’d be going to the gym and just working out in silence and then coming home, putting the TV on and having no clue what anybody was saying. I’d be so bored sometimes I’d talk to myself in the mirror (laughs).
–For real?
Okada: It really made me think, with no human contact people go absolutely nuts (laughs). But as far as English goes, it’s never been too bad. I studied in junior high, and then went to America on my excursion. Plus when I was in the Dojo, Prince Devitt and Karl Anderson were around, and I could have conversations with them OK.
–So it wasn’t the language barrier that was the problem, it was the mental strain of not being able to communicate with people.
Okada: Right. I got to know this one Japanese guy who went to the gym, and he helped me out a lot.
–He must have seemed like a real saint.
Okada: Oh yeah. He actually came to see my return match at the Tokyo Dome in 2012. We talked afterward and apparently he saw Naito’s match and thought ‘hang on, I think I know that guy.’ Turned out, he had played soccer with Naito in high school!
–Wow!
Okada: Small world. That guy really helped me so much. Introduced me to a lot of people in the States as well, helped me get an apartment and everything.
From ‘Maimai’
Can you talk about your awesome entrance from Wrestle Kingdom 14?
Okada: Ah, yeah. That wasn’t projection mapping; it was a 3D hologram system that really looked amazing.
–It was some really bleeding edge tech stuff; how did that opportunity come about?
Okada: I actually met the guy that makes them a couple of years back, and as soon as I found out about these things I wanted to do it. I wanted it for the Wrestle Kingdom 13, actually, but was told 2019 was too soon, so 2020 it was.
–It really was phenomenal.
Okada: We wanted to show off the 3D effect that holograms have over projection mapping. So the idea of me smashing those Ni-oh statues, having the rain effects, the sudden costume change was all a part of that.
–And you’d been planning all that for two years, nearly.
Okada: Right. I think that in this day and age, it’s hard to satisfy everyone with just a wrestling match. There needs to be soemthing extra to get people invested, and the entrance is a part of that. I want to do a lot of different stuff, and frankly, I think we need to do a lot of different stuff. So I’m glad I could do it. After all, it’s not like anybody else has, heh.
From T-design
Your new entrance robe is incredibly cool. Did you leave the design up to somebody else, or were you involved with the process?
Okada: I talked it over with my designer. There’s all sorts of ways we could have gone, and I thought all white would be good for a while, before we settled on the red and yellow accents.
From ‘Matalingus’
Of all the ring gear you’ve had from your 2012 return to now, what do you think was the coolest?
Okada: I like all the costumes I’ve had. There’s memories attached to all of them, and they’re all tied to that time. If I wore my gear from 2012 now it wouldn’t look right at all; even if I wore my gear from last year now, it wouldn’t look right. So I like them all, and there isn’t one particular outfit I can point to.
From ‘Jihyo-chan Oshin’
Any chance you’ll bring back the long trousers?
Okada: Well, I’m not tied to one particular style. If it fits the whole look, the trousers might come back. Or I might wrestle in a skirt, you never know. If that’s the look people enjoy then that’s the look it’ll be.
From ‘Momoshiri’
What do you say when you climb on the turnbuckles during your entrance?
Okada: It’s different every time, actually.
–Is it something you decide on before going out there?
Okada: Not really, no. Just whatever’s in my head.
–So, for example, what did you say on your entrance in the Tokyo Dome on January 5?
Okada: I honestly, honestly can’t remember. It’s really just something to elevate my mood, help flip the switch before may match starts. It’s really what’s in my head in the moment, nothing special.
From ‘LIJ#KTR’
I’m in my second year of junior high school, and I want to become a wrestler. What training should I be doing?
Okada: You shouldn’t be doing anything at this point. You might get hurt.
–You did get into pro-wrestling right out of junior high.
Okada: Well, I think once you graduate junior high then you can start thinking about it, but it isn’t like there’s a bunch of things you should do at your age to become a professional wrestler. When I started it wasn’t like I could do 500 squats, or that there was anything that I did then that made me who I am now.
–This person doesn’t need to do anything in particular right now.
Okada: Right. There’s a reason why training is called training; it’s because there’s things that you can’t do and that becomes a point to build from. So I really think at this point you shouldn’t be doing anything.
