NJPW President Takami Obhari recently spoke with Proresu-TODAY about a wide range of pro-wrestling topics, which included Obhari discussing Japanese fans being allowed to cheer at events again, and how difficult it was for himself and the wrestlers dealing with that restriction. Highlights are below.
On crying with Tanahashi after one of Japan’s first events where crowds were allowed to be vocal:
I met Tanahashi at the exit gate after all the matches were over [following a vocal crowd noise show in Japan]. Then Tanahashi’s tears, which he had been holding back until that point, began to flow at once, and he said, ‘Boss, it’s not fair, I had held back until this point.’ We hugged each other and cried together. I was covered in sweat and crying, and I wondered what that was all about. I had prepared words earlier, but I wondered what they were about. I wondered what was going on, and I guess it must have been painful for the wrestlers too.
Says there was an NJPW STRONG event in the U.S. where Suzuki and Ishii were getting a standing ovation, and he was sad because Japan was still not allowing fans to cheer at NJPW events:
I remember when Tomohiro Ishii and Minoru Suzuki were fighting in a singles match in Chicago, everyone stood up and gave them a standing ovation, and the chants of ‘fight forever’ and ‘this is awesome’ kept going on and on. When I was watching that, I couldn’t stop crying… I was so disappointed to be shackled in Japan. I mean, you can see their fights in Japan, though not so often. In the U.S., the excitement was so great, and I was shaking my shoulders thinking, this is real wrestling. When Clark Connors came up behind me and hugged me on the shoulder, I said, ‘This is real wrestling,’ and it’s frustrating. I was filming the match. Why? I wanted to report it to Japan as soon as possible. I showed the footage to the New Japan executives and Bushiroad’s Board of Directors a few days later, and explained the situation of live sports and entertainment in the U.S. I also explained that vocal crowd noise is such a dominant factor in the value of content, and that the lack of vocal crowd noise lowers the value of the content, as well as the steps to lift the ban on vocal crowd noise in the future. I cried in frustration in Chicago, but as a result, I ended up crying in Korakuen when Tanahashi cried tears of joy, so it was a good way to end the show.