Episode 91: No Way Out
July 17, 2026
【Taking an opponent's move dead-on】
This is one of the pillars of resolve I’ve built up over my career as a wrestler.
And this time, there was another thing I absolutely could not run away from. That was... a ramen-tasting shoot.
Yay~♪ A ramen shoot! In other words, it was like landing a golden ticket—no, a full pardon—that said, "It is officially okay to eat ramen for work"♪
Being legally allowed to devour ramen♪ I mean, obviously it's always legal, but still! GO FOR BROKE! With a "hit it head-on" mindset, the day of the shoot finally arrived.
We met up in Shibuya, rode in the production van for a little under an hour, and headed to a certain incredibly popular restaurant.
I was floating on cloud nine. And of course, the ramen was so delicious it practically made me tremble♪
"Wow, that wrapped up a lot faster than I expected," I thought to myself as I checked my watch. Right then, the director chimed in: "Alright, please ready yourselves for the next taping in one hour!"
...Wait, what?! Co... could it be a back-to-back double feature shoot?! As it turned out, while their ramen is legendary, their tsukemen (dipping noodles) is apparently just as famous, and they wanted me to eat the tsukemen for the next segment. Tight! This schedule is so tight!!!
In the end, the tsukemen was absolutely spectacular too. Seriously, what is up with this job? It's just pure, unadulterated deliciousness.
No, no, jokes aside, there were definitely plenty of takeaways, and it was an amazing experience.
After we finished filming, I was chatting with the shop owner, and we discovered that both of us had been featured on the documentary show Jonetsu Tairiku around the exact same period! On top of that, the owner had also appeared on Another Sky—the same show Okada was on. And to top it all off! It turned out he had also been featured on Professional: Shigoto no Ryugi—the very show Naito appeared on!
Wow! He single-handedly conquered all the major premier documentary programs by himself! (Sweat).
Someday, when New Japan holds an event anywhere near his shop, I want the entire Hontai (main unit) roster to march in there and line up shoulder-to-shoulder at the counter.
Of course, I’ll be right there with them. Because I always face the calories dead-on, too! (Laughs).