(NOAH) Takashi Sugiura remembers Atsushi Aoki

Weekly Pro, Atsushi Aoki Memorial (June 2019)

Q: When did you first meet Aoki?
SUGIURA: At the Self Defence Force physical education school. I was 27 years old when he entered. However, he and I did not practice together at the time because the Freestyle class was 62kg, and the Greco Roman 82 - 85kg. He was the children's wrestling coach and my son and daughter were learning there. In particular, my daughter was very enthusiastic about "Aoki-sensei"
Q: What was your time like in the SDF together?
SUGIURA: He was capable of hard work, and he was good at teaching small children. He was loved by everyone, and made a really cute rear guard. We didn't practice together so much, but we often went to drink in private together. I came back drunk and attacked the beds of the other guys in the dormitory (laughs).
Q: Lol
SUGIURA: They accepted it, so it was easy to go (laughs)
Q: Good!
SUGIURA: They accepted it in a way, they told me that instead of me being a bothersome senior they did it without a scowl (laugh)
Q: How did you tell him you were entering professional wrestling?
SUGIURA: Rather than tell him directly, there was an announcement from the SDF wrestling team.
Q: Did you talk about professional wrestling with Aoki at the time?
SUGIURA: We looked at "Weekly Pro" and talked about pro-wrestling, but he had a small body.
Q: When did you have a consultation about entering professional wrestling?
SUGIURA: He left the school and went to a garrison in Aomori. I wonder if we had a discussion when we met when I had a match in Aomori, it must have been a year before the introductory test, and it was then that I told him to "Okay, quit". I wanted to see how serious he was, but if he wanted to as he loved wrestling, wouldn't it have been possible for him to return to Aomori's SDF on the occasion when he retired from it? I didn't think it was too great an idea to go into wrestling from being a general SDF officer, but he said he was going to quit. So, once Marufuji had left the shop*, he came to me and said, "He wants to wrestle". I laughed and said, "Oh good". He got on with it, and I thought he was a really good wrestler.
Q: A few moments ago he was told to "Okay, quit" (laughs)
SUGIURA: Afterwards about 0 people came to the entry test, and Misawa came to see him. He was extraordinary. When I saw Misawa and asked him about it, I am glad he said "There is only Aoki".
Q: Was he scolding, or...
SUGIURA: I was very happy. I had said, "Okay, quit", and because he was motivated he had become, in a roundabout way, a general Japanese Self Defense force official. I felt from then on that there was more to come.
Q: When did you start to have an awareness of him as a pro wrestler?
SUGIURA: From the start he was different, there was big Taniguchi (Shuhei) and the smallest of the characters was Ota (Ippei) at the same time. He is not the type to jump and fly. He was always thinking ahead about how he wanted to fight, and he said that before his debut he wanted to learn ground techniques like Ogawa.
Q: He couldn't really stand out in terms of results.
SUGIURA: It was jammed, the problem was that a style like Aoki's will not be acknowledged unless you have been doing it for a long time, that is a professional preference.
Q: What are your memories of your matches?
SUGIURA: It was at Sumo Hall last year* I thought he was a really good wrestler.
Q: Did he occasionally say to you that he wanted to quit Noah? (rough)
SUGIURA: He would personally consult me.
Q: Did you recently see each other?
SUGIURA: We met privately at a bar. It was just a passing greeting, "Hi, how you are you?". We didn't really talk in depth until recently, I did think that at Sumo Hall it was time to talk a lot. Like professional wrestling, the same is true of life. Finally, we went drinking and the two of us talked. We were really close during the SDF era, and I was thinking that we could return to that kind of relationship...I wanted to talk alot. I wanted to talk about when he left Noah. What were your feelings? What was your dissatisfaction with Noah? I wondered if we would have another match. 
Q: You can come to terms with it now?
SUGIURA: That's right. He was a very good wrestler at Sumo Hall.
Q: So, how do you feel about Aoki now?
SUGIURA: Inevitably we are thinking of the pro-wrestling of the one who died (rough). As usual, I have no choice but to carry on wrestling as I have always done. He loved pro wrestling, and faced it with all his might.

Picture credit: Weekly Pro

*I think it was something like a roadside diner or gas station somewhere in Aomori
*Naomichi Marufuji's 20th anniversary, "Flight".