IWGP Tag Team Championship challengers talk
Tetsuya Naito and SANADA will be challenging for the IWGP Tag team Championships for the first time as a duo Sunday in Sapporo at Summer Struggle, but their past together stretches a long way back even before Los Ingobernables De Japon. In a unique roundtable, we sat down with both men.
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It’s incredible how much we can do even though we don’t talk
–So here we have a theme of a man who’s been reawakened to the fun of tag team wrestling in Naito and the man who wants to teach the merits of tag team wrestling in SANADA.
Naito: Heheh, OK then..
SANADA: Sounds good.
–For you, Naito, this is the first time you’re challenging for tag gold since you were in NO LIMIT with Yujiro Takahashi.
Naito: Right. The last time would have been Dontaku 2011, against Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson.
–A whole decade!
Naito: Well, we did lose, and Yujiro did stab me in the back afterward.
–And that marked your expulsion from CHAOS. So is there a bit of a complex with you and the tag division?
Naito: I wouldn’t say that. Even when NO LIMIT came back from excursion in 2009, I said that I wanted to be at the top as a tag team and singles wrestler.
–Right.
Naito: But at some point I had more and more singles matches, and my attention went toward singles wrestling. Challenging for the NEVER 6 titles was a big part in me remembering what it was like to compete as a tag team.
–For you, SANADA, you said you wanted to teach Naito how fun it is to compete as a tag team after ten years away from the division.
SANADA: But in the end, that NEVER 6-Man match taught me a thing or two. That was fun.
–You’ve won IWGP Tag Team gold with EVIL, won World Tag League twice as well. You’ve tagged with ‘TKG’ Shingo Takagi as well, but what’s it like teaming with Naito?
SANADA: It’s a really unique feeling. For one thing, we really don’t communicate much.
–You don’t?
Naito: Well, it isn’t as if we don’t talk at all (laughs).
SANADA: I mean that in a positive sense. With EVIL, we were quite tight. But, same with TKG as well, with Naito, we don’t talk much. But it’s amazing the things we can do without talking.
Naito: Well, I guess we keep the chit-chat to a minimum.
–But you do get on, right?
Naito: We get on fine. But there’s always been a sense of distance between the two of us.
SANADA: Heheh.
Naito: I don’t know, it’s interesting. Since SANADA came into Los Ingobernables De Japon, I’ve seen him in great teams with EVIL and Shingo. So this is a challenge for me, to try and better that. SANADA is used to tagging with power guys in EVIL and Shingo, so maybe I’m harder for him to team up with. I personally like teaming with power guys myself.
SANADA: That’s a good point, I normally do tag with power guys.
Naito: That’s the usual way of doing things, a partner fills in your gaps. This is a different team, we have to use our heads more, and I think that makes things interesting.
I want us to keep our distance
–You two are interesting in that you see one another as rivals in a sense. SANADA, you’ve said in the past that you’ve had your eyes on Naito more than any other wrestler.
Naito: O-ho! You did, did you?
SANADA: I did, haha. But you’re also the person I want to tag most with right now. I think both points can co-exist.
–What do you think about the times you’ve teamed together up to now?
SANADA: We really haven’t teamed as just the two of us much. I think the first time was London?
Naito: Ah, yeah, London.
SANADA: For RevPro. I think really you could count on your fingers the number of times we’ve had straight tag matches.
–Not many times, even though you’re in the same faction. What do you think about the team, Naito?
Naito: I think even though we’re going for the tag titles together, I want to keep that sense of distance. There are a few teams in NJPW, but like us? We’re two separate guys with one common goal, and that’s unique I think.
–Two guys, one goal.
Naito: I think that makes any time we do combine together and pull off those double teams, people really sit up and take notice. I think the closest comparison with us would be the Motor City Machine Guns.
–Sabin and Shelley.
Naito: They really changed the perception of tag wrestling in New Japan, and forged this style of two guys fighting together as individuals before a double team finish. I think we can pull that off, and bring out the best in one another. To be honest, I don’t even think I want us communicating more than we are right now.
–Do you agree, SANADA?
SANADA: I really do. I think the prospect of this team, it might be the most motivated I’ve ever felt.
I felt ten years ago our paths would cross one day
–Do you remember the first time you met in ring?
SANADA: It was probably that battle royal…
Naito: Ah yeah at the Minoru Suzuki card.
–June 17 2008 at minoru Suzuki’s 20th anniversary event. That was the first time you shared a ring…
Naito: Well, technically we were in the same ring at our tryout. 2005.
–Ah, the same open tryout YOSHI-HASHI attended.
Naito: That’s right. I remember it well…
SANADA: I remember the sparring.
Naito: I kept winning, beat the entire field. It was a bit like sumo…
SANADA: If you fell down you were out.
Naito: I remember thinking ‘hey, that guy’s tall’. Later when I saw he was in All Japan, I thought ‘that figures’.
–The first time you were officially in a match together was All Together in the Budokan in August 2011.
Naito: That’s right, me from NJPW, AJPW’s Seiya Sanada and Shuhei Taniguchi from NOAH, right?
SANADA: Right, against Yujiro Takahashi Manabu Soya and Mohammad Yone.
–Then you were both a part of All Together in Sendai in 2012. Naito, I think you’ll remember saying after that match you ‘didn’t want to be in the same corner (as SANADA) again’.
Naito: Right. I remember after the 2011 match, I shook hands with SANADA and Taniguchi, but after I shook with SANADA I kind of gave him the cold shoulder and made my own exit.
–Oh you did?
Naito: So ever since then, he stuck in my mind. I figured our paths would cross sometime. I thought something would have to happen; it would be a waste to just let it end. So he was on my radar first!
SANADA: I think there was a little bit of the LIJ Naito there.
I didn’t want him to dictate the pace
–Then, July 2012 and the NJPW/AJPW 40th anniversary card. The first time you were opposite one another.
Naito: Me and Tama Tonga against SANADA and Joe Doering.
–Seems like such a strange combination now.
Naito: I remember being really excited to be opposite SANADA for this one. I built toward that in my comments, and when the match started I uncorked this huge right hand. I was expecting him to fire right back with one of his own- that would be the NJPW way- but he didn’t. It didn’t throw off his pace whatsoever. That really stuck with me.
SANADA: That really caught me. But I didn’t want him to dictate the pace, which he would have done if I hit back. I remember back in the day, Weekly Pro-Wrestling ran this fan poll to fantasy book matches across promotions. The winning tag match was me and Manabu Soya vs naito and Yujiro Takahashi.
–That’s how much people wanted to see Naito vs SANADA.
Naito: Right. It goes way back.
SANADA: But then I joined LIJ, and things worked out a little differently, heh.
I don’t know why Zack didn’t want Naito
–So, as fascinating as this team is, is Takagi winning the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship a significant part of your decision to team together?
Naito: It’s a factor, for sure. We both want to show that we can make big things happen, too. The NEVER 6 challenge reminded me of how fun wrestling can be outside of just one on one matches, and after SANADA said what he did on the mic in Korakuen…
–About shining brighter than ‘TKG’?
Naito: All the things that Shingo is doing right now, and the affect it’s having on the group; that’s really important for LIJ.
–You’re fired up by Shingo moving ahead.
SANADA: It’s definitely a big motivator.
–But on the other hand you have Taichi saying that you’re only challenging for the tag gold because you can’t cut it as singles. Your thoughts?
Naito: First off, ‘can’t cut it’ is a crock. And I’m not at all looking at these titles lightly, or saying that we can take them easily. But on the other hand, I said after Wrestle Kingdom that I will, absolutely, be in the main event at the Tokyo Dome in January. I don’t use that ‘absolutely’ word lightly. And new name or not, I believe the main event spot of a major event at the Tokyo Dome belongs to the IWGP Heavyweight, or World Heavyweight title. So I have to give the devil his due, a little.
–I see.
Naito: But then, if he thinks tag team wrestling is so important, why was he in the New Japan Cup? If tag wrestling is so sacred, is he going to pass up his G1 Climax slot? You’d have thought he would, right?
–That’s a fair point. After all, in the 2019 G1, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa both passed up their entries to focus on tag teaming.
SANADA: I tend to think they’re both different beasts. That is that and this is this. I think the two of us can really make the IWGP Tag titles shine, and I can do both, singles and tags.
–What are your thoughts on Dangerous Tekkers?
SANADA: I think it’s strange that Zack wanted to refuse Naito his shot. He said OK to me, but not him.
Naito: That’s a good point.
–Zack refused to sign that ‘contract’ for Naito, but did for you, saying you were handsome enough.
SANADA: Those head games are something to watch out for.
Naito: I’ve said before, I don’t get on with him style wise, right? With Zack and SANADA, they have a similar style and can go hold for hold, but Sabre and I look at pro-wrestling differently. In the end, I’m not going to take his ‘no’ personally.
–Certainly ZSJ and SANADA has a lot of history to it.
SANADA: I think we can do things together only the two of us can. I could wrestle him all day.
–And Taichi? He’s been tied to you, Naito, ever since turning heavyweight in 2018.
Naito: Well I think, he like me was really shaped by his time in Mexico. I like to think I might have prompted him to turn heavy in the first place, and I’ve been across from him in key moments in his career. So I like to think that he likes tangling with me, heh.
–So between SANADA and Zack, and Taichi and Naito, we’re seeing two very different philosophies toward pro-wrestling in the same match.
Naito: Right. I like throwing down with him, and I like all the stuff outside the ring that comes along with that. I think the fans will be able to feel that Sunday.
