Tetsuya Naito speaks up about his main event with EVIL August 29!
Watch Summer Struggle with LIVE English commentary Saturday August 29 on NJPW World!
With just a few short days before his main event battle with EVIL under the summer sky at Summer Struggle in Jingu, tetsuya Naito sat down with NJPW1972.com to discuss his rematch with the King of Darkness and much more.
It doesn’t quite feel like summer
–We’re in the middle of quite the heatwave…
Naito: It’s roasting.
–Are you a summer person?
Naito: Hell no. It might be weird to say as a wrestler, but I don’t like to sweat. I’d much rather be in winter, much rather be too cold than too hot.
–More Wrestle Kingdom than G1.
Naito: Well, this year it goes double since we’re all in masks. Wearing a mask in the gym is really tough.
–We last spoke to you just after lockdown, and you talked about being naturally nocturnal. Is your sleep schedule back to that?
Naito: Yeah, now we’re back on the road it’s pretty much business as normal. Midnight gym sessions, bed as the sun comes up, and wake up in the afternoon. I got up at 1PM today, so a little bit early for me (laughs).
–This is the first summer in 30 years that we haven’t had the G1 in the summer.
Naito: Right. Ever since I became a fan, summer has meant the G1 to me, so it hasn’t really felt like summer, in a weird way.
It wasn’t how I expected EVIL to step up
–Well bringing this unconventional summer to a close is Summer Struggle in Jingu Stadium, and you versus EVIL in the main event. Now, all this started at the New Japan Cup, and before that tournament, you had actually picked EVIL to win.
Naito: That’s right, I did.
–You were trying to light a fire under EVIL in that interview, suggesting that he might be number four of LIJ’s four heavyweights.
Naito: Yep. I admit, I really did see him as number four, and I wanted him to reverse that. My message for him was ‘if you don’t take this chance, you’re going to slip even further behind’.
–Your prediction was supposed to encourage him in a way.
Naito: There’s a reason why I called him in as my first pareja in Los Ingobernables De Japon. I know what value he can bring, and I wanted him to bring that in the New Japan Cup.
–And certainly the results went along with your predictions, but what happened after had to have been unexpected as EVIL joined BULLET CLUB (watch on NJPW World!)
Naito: I mean, it wasn’t how I expected him to step up. But I’m not denying what he was able to do. At some point you have to produce, and he produced.
–He came out of his shell in a way, whether it was expected or not.
Naito: In my mind it was like when I joined Los Ingobernables in 2015. That was the step that EVIL made.
–So you understand what he did in a way.
Naito: I just thought there was a different way he could have done it. I mean, the standard of competition in LIJ is as high as it could be, right? This environment was best for him, competitively.
–You wanted him to come out of his shell surrounded by, competing with yourself, SANADA and Shingo, within the same unit.
Naito: I wanted to see him show that resolve and determination in a different way to how he did. But he chose the path he chose and I can’t deny the end result.
–Would it be fair to say you wanted to see more of an Okada and Tanahashi relationship with EVIL? A series of cleanly fought, classic matchups that made EVIL a superstar the same way Okada did?
Naito: Yeah, I think that’s fair. We have our own ways of course; EVIL uses chairs and that’s his style, but nonetheless, I imagined a rivalry that was much more head to head, hard fought. But then, who am I to talk? The first time I won the IWGP Heavyweight title, SANADA ran in on the match. So I’m not about to complain.
Nothing lasts forever. But this soon?
–A day after EVIL joined BULLET CLUB at the New Japan Cup finals, you looked somewhat conflicted in your entrance at Dominion.
Naito: Did I?
–Did you think that your relationship with EVIL would ever end at some point?
Naito: Nothing lasts forever. So, yeah, I think I expected something like this would happen at some point. But this soon? No. Even so, as I held up my fist to EVIL in Osaka, I knew he was going to do something. I didn’t think he would just fist bump me and walk away.
–Obviously BULLET CLUB were involved in the match… So what was the goal of holding your fist up?
Naito: I was bracing for the hit. I knew it was coming. But I wanted to draw a line in the sand. ‘You sure you’re doing this? Let me know, let everyone know’.
–You knew it would be the end.
Naito: Heh. I mean, I didn’t understand why BULLET CLUB was getting involved in a match that they had nothing to do with, and I’m sure the fans felt the same. So, hey, spell it out for me. Say what you mean and mean what you say.
–Like knowing a relationship is over and wanting the other person to come out with it and break up with you.
Naito: You bringing your personal life to work here? (laughs)
–But was it a relief in a way? To know at Dominion where you both stood?
Naito: It was. We knew what his real plans were at that point, I think. So if I looked conflicted, I think it was just thinking about that history. Thinking about picking him up at Narita airport when I invited him to be my pareja.
–At King of Pro-Wrestling in 2015.
Naito: And then we really became LIJ when BUSHI joined us the next month. I couldn’t help that stuff coming to mind.
–So with that in mind, what was it like to hear EVIL say that LIJ is ‘rotten’, that he was ‘disgusted’ by the group?
Naito: It didn’t convince me. It really did seem like he was trying to convince himself. If the group is so rotten, and he was the number four heavyweight, what does that say about him?
–He didn’t expand on his point, for sure.
Naito: I don’t know whether that’s how he really feels, but he certainly didn’t sound convincing. It’s like he was just looking for something to justify leaving to himself. He wanted out of a unit he knew he was fourth string in. that’s how it feels to me.
Is EVIL using Dick Togo, or is Dick Togo using EVIL?
–We have to talk about Dick Togo’s involvement in that Dominion main event, after he appeared wearing a BUSHI mask.
Naito: What is it that connects those two, exactly?
–Well, Togo goes a long way back with Jado and Gedo, but to hear him tell it, it was EVIL who got in touch with him.
Naito: Come to think of it, when we did that Weekly Pro-Wrestling shoot back in April, he mentioned it might be interesting if he brought someone in. Maybe the idea was brewing then. Quite a choice to make though.
–Nobody saw it coming, to say the least. Togo has an incredible list of achievements all over the world; he’s a veteran’s veteran. Your thoughts on him?
Naito: To be honest, I’ve always been very NJPW focused, so I haven’t seen much of what he’s done outside of New Japan.
–Former IWGP Junoior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion with TAKA Michinoku, and Gedo has said he’s one of the best to ever do it.
Naito: But how close are those two guys? How much are they tied together really? It feels like this is a business arrangement, fine. But who’s using whom in this situation? I really don’t know.
–After Dominion, Hiromu Takahashi immediately issued a challenge to EVIL, and that match took place July 25 at Sengoku Lord (watch on NJPW World!). Certainly a match with a lot of emotional ties for you; how did you feel, watching that?
Naito: Well, obviously I’ve known both of them for a long time. We have a lot of history, and to see the two of them in a big match setup, the main event with the titles on the line, that was exciting, no doubt. But this was right after EVIL had done what he had done, and after I had lost the titles myself, so that all took me out of that match. I think if I watched it with neutral eyes, I’d enjoy it a lot more.
