Episode 60: The Dragon of Flames
April 16, 2026
After finishing my TV appearance in Osaka, I stayed the night there.
Even though I had set my alarm for an early hour, I woke up before it even went off. Lately, it's always like this. Am I the man who's faster than his own alarm clock??
Anyway, on this day, I traveled from Osaka to Wakayama Prefecture for a talk event with Tatsumi Fujinami-san at Okuwa, a retail chain headquartered there.
Every time I meet Fujinami-san, I get nervous. And since he is still active while I have already retired, that factor probably carries a lot of weight. After all, his career is more than double the length of mine.
Being able to do a talk event with Fujinami-san—someone I truly admire—is a great honor and something I look forward to every time, but I just can't help the nerves. Also, looking at his thick, powerful physique fills me with absolute respect.
My career spanned 26 years, and he’s been active for more than twice that long. Wait... if I think about it in terms of my own career, I’d only be at the halfway point right now. I thought about whether I could keep going for another 25 years... and I literally trembled.
The event consisted of a talk between Fujinami-san and me, followed by a prize lottery, lasting about an hour. It felt like it was over in the blink of an eye. Thank you to everyone who came!
Throughout my career, Wakayama has been a place where I’ve had relatively few matches. I received many comments from fans saying, "Please hold more shows in Wakayama!" I’ll be sure to bring that up at the office.
As for the talk event itself, my often-worrisome pronunciation was in top form, and my anxieties turned out to be for nothing (laughs). We ended on a high note!
I hope the opportunities for these kinds of talk events continue to increase. It allows me to convey the charm of the current New Japan Pro-Wrestling in my own words. It’s "Zenryoku Promotion" (All-Out Promotion) in a new form.
Finally, I introduced our current roster to Fujinami-san—a true pioneer of NJPW—telling him, "We have so many great wrestlers right now!" He replied, "Hmm, they’re all good!"
Indeed, "they are all good." But because they are all so talented, is it greedy of me to hope for someone to emerge who stands head and shoulders above the rest?