Homicide has nothing but praise for Kazuchika Okada.
The longtime legend expressed how proud he was of the Rainmaker for becoming one of the top talents in the industry and how he did it all despite his poor booking during his TNA days. Homicide adds that Okada’s growth and confidence inspired him to keep pushing forward and evolving himself. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
How Okada proved everyone wrong following his odd TNA run:
You know this guy named (Kazuchika) Okada? The Rainmaker? From New Japan Pro-Wrestling? He’s the man. So anyway, a long time ago, he was my partner on TNA Wrestling. He was ‘Okato’… It was so bad. So a lot of people don’t know that me and Samoa Joe kind of trained him… (Tetsuya) Naito, he was one of them. They had a tag team called ‘No Limit’. Anyway, Okada was my partner. He was like, ah, I would not say a ‘whatever’ guy. But, when you look at him, you’d be like, this guy ain’t got no future. He’s not gonna be that number one guy in the world. Man, he proved people wrong.
Says Okada inspired him:
Right now, I seen him a couple of weeks ago. It was so cool that he remembered me. Got up and said, ‘Yo! Homicide, how you doing? Long time, no see.’ I’m looking at him like, ‘Bro, you took over the world.’ Forget about John Cena, Roman Reigns, it’s about The Rainmaker right now and man, I’m so proud of him because he was, I wouldn’t say a ‘nobody’ because he is somebody but he was one of those guys that people (felt), this guy’s going to be a nobody and TNA made a major mistake. They gave him a B.S. character, a B.S. everything and he went back to Japan and look, he blew up. He became The Rainmaker and now he’s one of those top guys. Not only in Japan but all over the world, you know? So, that kind of motivated me even more because earlier today, you (fellow podcast guest) told me that I’m very humble and yeah, my brother don’t like it that I’m humble, sometimes I gotta be a douchebag but, it’s the way I am man and I never forget where I came from and I was very humble for maybe 28 years.
How Okada’s confidence helped him become confident:
I never had this ego like, yeah, look at me. I still go back to my old neighborhood, the projects, even though I gotta gun but that’s a different story. But when I saw Okada, that kind of motivated me even more now because he still remembers me and I don’t know what it is, I became a better wrestler, it gave me that fire and I’m gonna be confident that I’m one of the best. I’m very underground king, but I’m very confident. I always tell people, ‘Be confident in yourself and be the best.’ That’s what I am. I’m very confident that I’m one of the best in the world and Okada of all people, he became a nobody to somebody and he remembered me and man, it lit a fire up my ass. It kind of took me to another level so, motivation is also good. It’s a good thing, it’s not a bad thing. If people say motivation is a bad thing, man, they’re lying.
Full interview can be found below.
(H/T and transcribed by Post Wrestling)