(NOAH) "The Paradox of Pro Wrestling (25) - "I've never seen a veteran wrestler continue to do squats": OZAWA reveals the shallowness of the pro wrestling industry, which "forces young wrestlers to undergo unreasonable training"
22nd September 2025
Q: Are you still training at the dojo, OZAWA?
OZAWA: Me? At the dojo? No way! I'm too busy playing slot machines. I have to be there for the 9:30 AM lottery every morning, so I don't have time to go to the dojo.
Q: So, how do you maintain that well-toned physique?
OZAWA: How? No, seriously, I hardly do any weight training. I ??can only maintain this physique because I have natural talent. I don't even pay any attention to my diet; I eat instant ramen every day, so I'm just maintaining my current condition; there's no improvement.
Q: Pro Wrestling Noah has a training camp and a dormitory right?
OZAWA: The dormitory is located separately from the training facility. I used to stay there during my training period, and we weren't allowed to leave the premises until we made our pro debut.
Q: So, that means you were only allowed to breathe fresh air when traveling between the training facility and the dormitory?
OZAWA: Yes, it is incredibly outdated and illogical. That's why, after my debut, any time I could go out was a precious moment of happiness. Then one day, Kaito Kiyomiya, who was the head instructor at the dojo, suddenly called me and said that one of the foreign wrestlers "is sick, so please take him to the hospital." But I was off that day and already out, so I replied, "I can't come back right now, I'll be back in probably about an hour". Kaito Kiyomiya said, "Okay, no problem. I'll take him there myself", so I felt relieved. Then, that same night, I got another message saying, "You're grounded from tomorrow." Isn't this an absurd industry? It's truly unbelievable.
Q: Well, that's definitely unfair. So, how does one someone make their pro debut in Pro Wrestling Noah?
OZAWA: Back in my day, Kaito Kiyomiya was the coach, and he would teach us the basic techniques and moves. If he judged that we were ready, he would report it to the seniors, and we would usually find out about our debut match date about a month in advance. I guess they needed at least a month's time for us to prepare our own costumes and wrestling boots.
Q: When you were told you would make your debut, were you happy?
OZAWA: In a way, I was happy that I was finally being freed from this hell. But even after my debut, it was still hell. My situation didn't change at all from when I was a trainee; I was just a trainee who happened to wrestle in matches. In fact, I wasn't even given many matches at all. I was quite shocked to realize that the professional wrestling industry, and the profession of being a professional wrestler, was so boring. It was truly awful. From being a trainee, I was constantly under pressure, and that pressure continued even after I debuted. Even during the matches themselves, things are boring, which creates new sources of stress.
Q: Even during the matches, it's boring?
OZAWA: It was just so boring. Because when you try new moves or techniques in a match, there are often restrictions saying "don't do that." I can understand the concept of "restricting moves for young wrestlers," to some extent. It's important in professional wrestling to think about how to fight with a limited number of moves, and if you try too many things at a young age, you'll end up building your career without a solid foundation, so some restrictions are necessary. But if you're restricted too much, you really can't do anything at all.
Q: Does every young wrestler experience these kinds of problems?
OZAWA: If the person at the top of the promotion is a truly problematic individual, then decisions and orders are made based on personal likes and dislikes, which is completely illogical. The young wrestlers they favor can do anything they want, while others are told "you're no good." That kind of inequality was incredibly unfair. I think that kind of thing happens in almost every industry, but when it happens within the ultra-hierarchical world of professional wrestling, the situation just keeps getting worse and worse. That's what Noah was like.
Q: Can you give some specific examples of things you found unfair?
OZAWA: This industry keeps doing the same things that haven't changed since the old days. For example, squats. In this hierarchical world of professional wrestling, the people in power keep telling everyone to do squats, and everyone just blindly follows along, thinking it's a tradition in the wrestling world. I can say with certainty that squats are absolutely pointless. Until a few years ago, I was forced to do 500 or 1000 squats every day. Because I've been through that, I know and can say that squats are completely meaningless! If squats were truly necessary, why don't wrestlers who have been in the sport for a while do them every day? I've never seen any veteran wrestlers doing that. That itself proves that squats aren't necessary.
Q: So why does this pointless tradition continue?
OZAWA: The wrestlers themselves are all vaguely aware that squats are a pointless exercise and a negative legacy of the hierarchical system. But why does this practice continue? There are three possible reasons.
Q: Three reasons, huh?
OZAWA: One method is "forcing absolute obedience by making people perform pointless tasks."
Q: I see. So, by allowing unreasonable behavior to go unpunished, one is demonstrating their superiority?
OZAWA: The second one is the kind of peer pressure thinking: "I've been doing it, and so have those above me." And what do you think the third one is?
Q: I have absolutely no idea.
OZAWA: I, too, find this hard to believe, but I think there's a group of people who simply don't think about anything at all.
Q: People who don't think about anything at all?
OZAWA: Yeah. These three approaches have helped solidify the squat as a tradition within the professional wrestling world.
Q: So, which type of approach did Coach Kiyomiya follow?
OZAWA: Kiyomiya himself was a strong advocate of basic physical training and respected the old-school methods, so he did squats almost every day. In fact, he was the one who taught me everything, including how to take falls, during my days as a trainee.
Q: Were the training methods implemented by Coach Kiyomiya something you found agreeable?
OZAWA: The technique of how to take a fall is meant to prevent injuries, so there's no question about its necessity. It's absolutely essential. However, I always felt that having people do squats and push-ups every day for their entire lives was incredibly inefficient. Doing 500 or 1000 squats might be tough to achieve, but once you do it, there's no real benefit. I've always questioned the point of repeating that kind of exercise for a lifetime.
Q: They say that doing too many squats can damage your knees.
OZAWA: They say it's just for building basic strength and conditioning, which is necessary to become a wrestler, but I really don't understand why they make you do those exercises every day. To be blunt, if you really want to work your leg muscles effectively, you can't do 1000 reps. Ten good squats are more than enough to work your legs properly. The fact that they keep making you do these pointless exercises is a symbol of the rigid hierarchy within the pro wrestling industry. That's why, you know, pro wrestling has been declining in popularity compared to its peak era.
Q: Hmm, well, if OZAWA, a professional wrestler, says so, then I guess it's true.
Q: Basically, it seems like the people who work in professional wrestling are those who genuinely love that type of entertainment.
OZAWA: It sounds good on paper, but it's just a group of people who can't do anything other than professional wrestling. Without professional wrestling, they might have ended up as some kind of low-level criminal, or even worse, some kind of shady character who might have ended up at the top.
Q: A shady character in a leadership position?
OZAWA: I can't really say this out loud, but that's why the moral standards are so low. In this extremely hierarchical society, when people like those... (certain types of individuals) end up in positions of power, they make truly terrible mistakes. They delude themselves into thinking, "I'm powerful, I'm in control." Instead of trying to improve the promotion in any way, they abuse their power, indulging in their own self-interest and using the company for their own personal gain. Then, instead of judging wrestlers based on their wrestling ability, they treat them based on their own personal likes and dislikes. Because there's absolutely no sense of striving to improve the promotion, that's why this industry is declining.
Q: Are you talking about the current state of the professional wrestling industry?
OZAWA: Of course. While compliance regulations have become much stricter recently, the wrestlers who rose to the top in an era where such regulations didn't exist, ten or twenty years ago, are still at the top today. I think that's a problem.
Translated from Weekly Bunshun
Picture credits: Weekly Bunshun
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