(NOAH) "There are parts of me that's relieved that it's zero" - What happened to former professional wrestler Akira Taue, who was burdened with 400 million yen in debt.
Nikkan-spa.jp
Being Noah's president was like "the short end of the stick".
Former professional wrestler, Akira Taue, looks back on his return from bankruptcy. Taue joined All Japan from sumo at the age of twenty-six, and along with Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada and Kenta Kobashi, "The Four Heavenly Kings", he engaged in fierce fights that pushed his body to the limits. Nicknamed "Dynamic T", he received tremendous support from fans. However, in June 2009, when Misawa, the president of the promotion, passed away due to an accident during the match, his life took a major turn. The following July, he was appointed as the second president and the representative director of Pro Wrestling Noah.
"There are some details that I don't know myself, but I guess they all decided after discussing it together. Well, the most important thing is that I got a call from Misawa's wife, who is a major shareholder, who said "I want you to do it". At the same time, the young people asked me to do it and said to me, "By all means, please!" I was told that before me, Kobashi had rejected it, and in any case Misawa's right hand man in management, Ryu Nakata*, pushed me into taking the position, but in any case, I certainly felt like I had no choice but to take on the job. Frankly speaking, it was the short end of the stick. No matter how you looked at Noah, it was obvious that the business was not in good shape, but someone had to do something about it so the youngsters didn't end up on the streets. I talked to my wife and she said, "Why don't you do what you like?", but from then on it was a really tough seven years".
The television broadcast was cancelled which made matters worse.
There were times when the promotion was doing well.
In 2000, Noah, which became independent following a rebellion against Giant Baba's widow, Motoko, successfully sparked a new trend in the industry. In 2004 and 2005, the Tokyo Dome shows ended with great success, leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling in lurch due to the popularity of martial arts such as K-1 and PRIDE.
"However, there was a number of wrestlers leaving the promotion. Kobashi's illness (kidney cancer) and retirement, KENTA's transfer to WWE, Akiyama (Jun) and the departure of his group*. But even more severe than Misawa's accidental death, was the cancellation of Nippon Television's broadcasts. For the time being, the broadcast on CS continued, but to no avail. Terrestrial broadcasting rights fees were the lifeblood of the management of the promotion." In addition, some news outlets even reported on the deep involvement of managerial executives and some wrestlers with anti-social powers*. Taue himself said casually that, "I guess it didn't have that big of an impact", but that definitely was never the case. It was clear that Noah's social credibility had been lost.
"There were days when I couldn't sleep properly"
"When I actually looked at the situation, I was often surprised. For example, there was the carelessness of the accounting department. It was a daily occurrence to take a ticket, but not the money in for it. Maybe it's not embezzlement because it's written in the accounts ledger that you only put in 100,000 yen even though you took a ticket worth 300,000 yen, but it wasn't at the level of bad accounting, since the top accountant was taking the initiative to put things into perspective. When in shock I asked him, "Did Misawa really allow this?", he calmly replied, "It wasn't really a problem".
As the president, Taue worked on a completely normal thing, "building a proper company". The wrestlers salary system was also changed from a per match system to a monthly one, while all matters related to the ring, such as event schedules, were left to Nakata in management. But the truth was that Taue, who was so focused on management, couldn't pay attention to what was going on in the ring.
"In the end, in 2016 (when I resigned as the president), Noah's debts had ballooned to 400 million yen, with approximately 200 million yen being inherited from the Misawa era, and 200 million yen since I became president. Even if we continued like this, then the debt would increase but not decrease, and it was difficult to pay salaries to the wrestlers. I was reaching my limit. At that time I received a message saying, "There is a talk like this..." which was about selling the company off. Honestly, I was relieved. Since becoming president, there were days when I couldn't sleep properly."
"I ended up shouldering the 400 million yen debt all by myself."
On November 1st 2016, Pro Wrestling Noah Co., Ltd. changed its name to PRN Co., Ltd. At the same time, the actual management, the entertainment and the related businesses of Noah were transferred to the IT company ESTBEE, and the company name was changed to Noah Global Entertainment the following week. In February 2017, PRN's bankruptcy was officially established, effectively marking the end of the company created by Misawa. During this series of events, Taue, as president of PRN, shouldered Noah's debt of 400 million yen by himself, and proceeded with preparations for bankruptcy. He became an advisor to the new company, Noah Global Entertainment.
"The company I sold off to was not a particularly large company, and there was no way they'll take care of me because of the debt. Still, if I was going to start off, then I thought it would be better to reduce my debt to zero, and so that's what I did. That said, there were some things that were different from what I had heard. A specific amount was presented, saying "Mr Taue will be paid this much money", but in the end I was only paid three times. At the end of the month, I'd run out of money, and so I would call him, but no matter how many times I called, he wouldn't answer. Uchida (Masayuki, Noah Global Entertainment Chairman) was like that from the beginning."
A part time sorting job at Yamato Transport
Personal bankruptcy. For Taue, who was left shouldering Noah's debt of 400 million yen, had only one option left and all his personal assets, including his car and his home, were sold. Left penniless, the "Taue Volcano", was forced to put out the fire. Noah's management crisis continued for a long time, with Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura also resigning as directors, leaving Taue as the sole management team.
"I had no choice but to work part time as a sorter at Yamato Transport. I touched on this in my recently published autobiography. Nowadays, it's not impossible to become a full-time employee in another industry. Even sorting courier services in the middle of the night can earn you a pretty good amount of money. How much was my hourly wage? I just gave everything I received to my wife, so I forgot the exact amount*. But at work, someone who liked pro wrestling said to me, "Oh, it's Taue!" and that person is now coming to visit the restaurant, which I am grateful for."
A quiet down-to-earth daily life
Currently, Taue is rebuilding his life based at Steak Izakaya Champ (Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture), which is run by his wife. Pro Wrestling fans will be drooling over the inside of the restaurant, which is lined with photos of famous wrestlers of yesteryear, including Taue himself. In fact, there is no shortage of enthusiasts who travel both locally and from overseas to visit. During his professional wrestling days, there was a time when he enjoyed a luxurious life surrounded by sponsors*, but right now he is leading a quiet down-to-earth life.
"I'm already 62 years old, and my body is falling apart. When Asako (Satoru)* came to visit the restaurant, he got drunk and fell on my back, resulting in a compression fracture. He now works at an osteopathic clinic, and although his job is to heal the body, he instead hurts me? (Wry smile) Of course, I think there are some residual effects from the intense matches I had during my professional wrestling days. Also, five years ago, I was diagnosed with stomach cancer*, and in the end, I had my entire stomach removed. The only thing I look forward to now is watching my grandchildren grow up. Well, I live a simple life".
Since his active days, Taue has not had the glaring ambition to rise to the top that is typical of a professional wrestler, but now that he has gone through many twists and turns, he seems to have withered more than his actual age. However, the way he lives his life in which he overcomes crises with ease while exploding with his characteristic grumbling is enough to remind us of the toughness of a fighter of the Four Heavenly Kings.
Notes
Ryu Nakata: Nakata started off as Giant Baba's driver, then he became a ring announcer and then after that he went into management. Part of the walk out to Noah, he became the general manager. He was responsible for taking Mitsuharu Misawa off the air because his sense of humor was threatening his image, but he was also responsible for almost approaching the idea of retirement with him, but sadly Misawa passed away beforehand. Caught up in the ticket scandal (see below) he was demoted with Noah to a general employee, and eerily like Jun Izumida and Haruka Eigen, both part of the scandal, he too died of what was said to be a heart attack, but in odd/unexplained circumstances. Nakata went missing for two days, and was found dead in his car outside a rural petrol station. This is another eerie similarity to that of Izumida, whose body was found to have been laying in his home for a few days until the authorities were contacted by his concerned family, who hadn't heard from him.
Jun Akiyama's group: Kenta Kobashi, Kotaro Suzuki, Go Shiozaki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Atsushi Aoki. Out of all of them, Go Shiozaki was the only one to return to Noah in a full time capacity. He still gets teased by his seniors as to whether he is leaving again!
Anti-social powers: In short, Jun Izumida wrote a "tell all" (scandal sheet book which was highly fictitious) about his time in Noah, venting his fury against Ryu Nakata, who he obsessively hated, he alleged that Nakata and others (along with himself and Eigen who was said to be a go between) used a Yakuza group to sell tickets for Noah shows. This huge fall out cost Noah not just The Budokan, but reputation, something that they didn't really recover until about 2021. While Izumida's public persona might have been of a jolly bumbling old wrestler, backstage he was a very bitter person about his career as he felt he should have had more than he did.
Taue's wife handing the money: Traditionally, a Japanese wife should be very good at budgeting the household. In the past, a husband would come home and on payday hand his wife his pay-packet. She would take out money needed to run the household, for the children etc, and return the rest to him to do what he wanted with.
Sponsors/タニマチ: The original word here was "Tanimachi", this basically means someone who sponsors a sumo wrestler, and would pay for their expenses i.e. hairdresser, food, tab etc. There is no equivalent in English.
Asako Satoru: Asako Satoru was part of the mass walkout with Misawa from All Japan . He wrestled in Noah until 2002, when he announced his retirement on July 26th. After his retirement he worked as a road agent and a trainer for Noah, and Misawa paid for him to study osteopathy. Although no longer with Noah, he does see their wrestlers in his clinic, and last appeared for the promotion in 2022 to mark what would have been Misawa's 60th birthday.
Stomach cancer: Toshiaki Kawada believes that Taue's stomach cancer was caused by the stress of running Noah.
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