NJPW superstar and current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada recently appeared on Wrestling Observer Radio to discuss a wide range of topics, most notably how the Rainmaker never gets nervous in high-pressure situations due to his decades long experience of being in the main event spot. Highlights from the interview are below.
How he doesn’t really get nervous in high-pressure situations:
So even now, people ask him ‘don’t you ever get nervous?’ It’s because he was in the position that he was in that he doesn’t get nervous. Nobody will teach you experience in a wrestling school and nobody will teach you that in the classroom, it’s something you have to be in those spots yourself and you have to be in that sink or swim situation.
On his experience in those main event spots:
As it happens, he was able to swim and it was because of that experience back then, ten years ago, that he is where he is at today that he can perform at the level he can perform at.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)