 | HAVANA PITBULLS AT INOKI DOJO 01/10/03 |
 | Continued from the previous page
You both went to Muga Tour first. Were you familiar with their style?
RICKY/ROCKY: Yes, and we fought Kakihara and Inoue.
Including the audience, how was the response?
ROCKY: I think the big challenge was the audience. First show was in Tokyo, second was in Osaka and back to Tokyo again. Osaka, the audience was a lot tougher on us.
RICKY: Actually tougher on everybody. We felt they were much more critical, but towards the end we kind of proved ourselves. We got the response that we expected. I think they accepted us more.
ROCKY: Each city we toured on, we had to prove ourselves and fight for our lives.
How was the last Tokyo Dome show (SPIRAL 10/14/02)?
RICKY/ROCKY: Tremendously overwhelming..... {GRIN}
RICKY: Scary... just scary...
ROCKY: The first time we walked out of the dug out to the dome and saw how big it was, my heart stopped. The place was huge.... Our #1 goal was to wrestle in NJPW, and #2 was to wrestle at the Tokyo Dome. So we got everything all at once. I could have just died.... {laugh}
RICKY: I could have got shot on the way home and it would have been all right, I was happy.
ROCKY: Definitely the best thing that happened to our carrier and lives.
RICKY: It was intimidating because of the size, it didn't help that much that Liger, Tiger, Kakihara were standing across the ring. Then we really got scared.... {laugh} We were at the big show with the big guys.... We looked up to them for so long, we studied their tapes, and their styles were overwhelming.
ROCKY: Last couple of years we studied Japanese wrestling more and more as the tapes from Japan became more open to the American public. We'd seen Liger with no mask, Kakihara from UWF international, Tiger IV from Michinoku Prowresu.
You both experienced the whole NJPW wrestling series, in the one month stay. What did you think about Japan? Any problems with food or people there?
ROCKY: I love Japan. I was so sad when we had to come home.
How were the Japanese wrestlers and NJPW staffs?
RICKY: Really nice, we didn't ask for much, but they gave us more than we needed.
ROCKY: They all accepted us more than they had to. That made everything easier, the one month went by really fast.
How was it after experiencing the Tokyo Dome? Did it make it easier for you to wrestle in smaller arenas?
RICKY: Yeah, once you wrestle at the Dome, there's nothing bigger. Wrestling in the smaller shows didn't make it easier, but we had more confidence and we felt more comfortable. In the Triathlon series, we got to wrestle with every Jr. Heat, Jado, Gedo, Naruse, etc...
After coming back, what's your next plan or goal?
ROCKY: Our hope is to go back and wrestle in Japan again, but also we're waiting for Mr. Inoki and INOKI DOJO to create something over here soon. This year something big will happen. We are here to support him, and also our minds and bodies are set for any tour because the first time in Japan, it was more of learning experience. Next time we go there, we want to make a huge affect because I don't think we were able to give the affect that we wanted to give the first time. The preparation is also about changing our bodies, getting bigger, stronger along with mental preparation for the trip.
RICKY: Now we know what to prepare for. We didn't know if we should be bigger and stronger or slimmer and faster. Before we just knew we were going to wrestle with the top guys.... Our next goal is to get the IWGP Jr. Tag title.
Actually I think Rocky was the youngest wrestler or at least the youngest foreigner to wrestle in the NJPW Tokyo Dome show. It's great to have these dreams of yours become true, but do you have any message to the people who are reading this? People who want to join the Inoki Team and the NJPW, what would be your advice to them?
ROCKY: If you want it bad enough, if you have a certain goal, we had one goal to wrestle just for NJPW, and you just have to be able to put your heart and soul into it completely.
RICKY: You can't be a weekend warrior and you gonna get pushed to NJPW or bigger and better things if you don't pay your dues. Put your time in here first. We were here even before this place opened up and were gonna be here much longer. We worked with Justin and it was all about training, push, push push. If you have talent, then it's a matter of keeping trying. Every day when you leave this place, you know you did something better. There are guys out there right now who are killing themselves and tring to get where we are at. All we can tell them is to keep trying because it will come one day. Be patient and things will happen.
ROCKY: Get your bodies and mind in shape because when you come in here, it's gonna be tough. You do 6 hours of training every day and you still need to do more push ups and squats. It's tough but it can be done. The pay off for it is unbelievable....<-- Read the previous page
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