(NOAH/NEW JAPAN) "Pro wrestling is an interesting thing" - Mitsuharu Misawa and Masahiro Chono talk (2003)

4th November 2003

Weekly Pro

Q: What are your thoughts on each other's promotions (New Japan and Noah) in terms of how to educate athletes? 

CHONO: Noah is passive. Don't punch in the face with fists, stick to the basics of not using force and not using your toes*. They also educate the former part of pro wrestling rules where you combine wrestling with striking.

Q: That is Baba-san's teaching isn't it?

MISAWA: I have never been taught a technique by Baba-san (laughs), I guess I was taught by my superiors. I don't go to the dojo to watch practice, but I think the minimum basics are understood. Why everyone prefers the same person, I don't know (laughs). Therefore, I never say don't listen to what he says, but it's good to let you do it freely.

Q: Noah is good and has the air of Misawa, but what is the atmosphere for Chono this year? 

CHONO: For me, it's been the feeling of pro wrestling. Whether its pro wrestling, ball games or any sport, ultimately it's a contest that get the people who watch talking about it. I think the competition called pro wrestling, is hot blooded. If there is no attack with a bang during compilation, and to be honest if I make that mistake then my face will be hit with a bang and I will be kicked at the key point. In that way we are trained to attack each other, and human physical strength is called into question.

Q: Will you convey that to people, even if it is difficult?

CHONO: I think the basic part of fighting is an understanding of the fundamental rules.    

Q: Misawa, how do you view how the New Japan wrestlers are trained? Do you have a lot of scouting activities? 

MISAWA: I think that is a necessary part, isn't it? I think if you are perplexed and told "come on!" you may make a decision, but this is hard to explain in one word for people who have never done pro wrestling. Because wrestling varies, there is no one style for wrestling. There are various other sports, but for the person who has never done wrestling, it's a long and boring lecture (laughs). There are points to bring in and various things can be said to make it easy to understand for anyone.

Q: Unlike baseball and soccer, there are no people there who used to do amateur wrestling as students, right? That's why there is no pure way from amateur to professional.

MISAWA: To put it another way, for someone who doesn't know anything, their feelings depend on motivation. But it's completely different to what you see. It's very hard, and I can't say I like it but it's not something you can arrive with as you don't have a job. In a sense you should come prepared, but it's not something which was as big as in the old days.

CHONO: I'm not directly involved with scouting, but physical strength is the minimum requirement, and I want someone who is appealing. To some extent, a match is like an assault so I wonder what humanity will emerge. 

MISAWA: For me it's been three years of Noah, so lets talk about "this year". It's been three years approximately this year, and I am really feeling it. I don't know if it's something that suits customers to choose between PRIDE and K-1, but I think that there will be an unexpectedly sharp development in three years and among that, Pro wrestling has to survive. I think it can if we don't get lost and catch up, but I think it's a difficult year to show that pro wrestling is such a fun and awesome thing. I don't know about outside promotions, but New Japan and Noah will have to do it. But, with what K-1 and PRIDE are like, customers are divided over it too aren't they? I'm sure there aren't many people who confuse it with wrestling.

Q: I have not seen them yet, so I will take a quick look. There aren't many people who used to say that. So from now on, it's a contest.

MISAWA: I can't really comment because I have never watched it live.

Q (teasingly): You can't go and see it? 

MISAWA: I don't like it to be written about because I was going to go (laughs)

CHONO: During this time I went to see Bob Sapp once (inspection). There is a change in strength from pro wrestling. 

Q: Momentum in the smaller ring.

CHONO: Actually, pro wrestling is more interesting. I used to do commentary, and the more fluid wrestlers would jump out. It's a different dimension when seen from outside the ring.

Q: Wrestling is not only front, back, left and right movements only, the movements go up and down. 

CHONO: When I see him being thrown and remaining passive, I think it is amazing. 

MISAWA: Pro wrestling is an interesting thing (laughs) although sometimes its painful. 

*I think he probably means punches where you lunge forward.

Note: This interview took place roughly when MMA was starting to become mainstream among sports in Japan. I can remember at the time fans saying that Puro was dying because of it with more people being interested in MMA than they were in wrestling, and promotions were suffering low attendance figures as a result for a while. As we all know MMA and Wrestling have had a crossover, which brings true Misawa's prediction of "having to catch up" for puro to survive. 

Translated from Weekly Pro

Picture credit: Weekly Pro