Takeshi Morishima arrest: Eccentric private life

6th November 2018
Tokyo Sports

Former professional wrestler, Takeshi Morishima (40), who was active in professional wrestling Noah etc, was arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department in Shinjuku, on suspicion of hitting a taxi driver in the face in Kabukichō on the 4th November during a row over fare, and breaking his cheekbones.
As the planned comeback that Morishima had planned was disappearing, he wandered off course. This newspaper has uncovered repeated eccentricities and odd behavior while researching the current situation.
Morishima was trapped in his former life as a top professional wrestler.

Morishima had refused to pay 18,000 yen when getting out of the taxi at around 11.30pm on 4th November, which caused an argument. It is said that he is admitting the charges when he was subsequently arrested and said, "there is no mistake there was a conflict".

Morishima, who retired as a professional wrestler due to diabetes in 2015, announced in July this year that he was going to return, but in September he suffered "septic arthritis" and underwent surgery. The return on the 15th was subsequently cancelled. Both before and after this, his personal life continued to be troubled.
The return event was supposed to have been hosted by the SSP Advertising Company, of "address unknown".
A person close to Morishima has said, "it seems that at one time he was living at the home of someone he met at Shinjuku Ni-chōme". There were stories about him working at a restaurant as a live in employee. Some days he did not even change his clothes, and the days of his wandering around and drinking continued.

Many times he became mentally unstable after the return match was decided. He used to live in Tokyo and moved to Gifu, where circumstances became odd as he was being pampered and calling himself a "star" out of habit.
However, living like that without doing any work, it is obvious that you will have money issues. In the Shinjuku area around the restaurants and bars of Yotsuya, he was frequently seen asking fans and fellow wrestlers for money. As a result of this annoyance, many businesses notified him that he was banned from the premises.
There is no doubt that the incident with the taxi is an extension of this. Morishima, who is a "self styled star", often rode to the area via taxi, and then would ask the patrons in the bar to cover the charge. For these unrelated people, covering his free of charge trip, the opinion on the appearance of the former wrestler can only be said to be pitiful.

Morishima had also visited wrestling shows the same way, and sat down to watch. In one promotion, Morishima's taxi fee was 500 yen, which caused an odd sight as he squeezed it out of the young wrestlers...of course, it is not always the case that someone will kindly appear and take care of the situation, the taxi driver also said to have fallen asleep once or twice.

Morishima claimed that he was not drinking on the day of the arrest, but he was riding alone in a taxi to Kabukichō. I wonder whether the charge became expensive when he was looking for people to pay it, and it caused the trouble...

A phrase that could extol this unacceptable eccentricity is that if he is going to cause serious injuries to the general public, then it can be said that it is hopeless to expect him to return to the ring.
The above person said, "even if he was a bad drunk, he never resorted to violence. What happened?"

The former wrestler, who had once been a GHC Heavyweight champion and who reigned at the top of Noah, has turned into a downward spiral.

Link to original article from Tokyo Sports (in Japanese)