(BIG JAPAN) Aiming at being an Ace (Interview with Daichi Hashimoto)

Weekly Pro

May 12th 2020

As Big Japan's Daichi Hashimoto was the winner of the Strong Climb league as the heavyweight champion. Now that he is the wrestler who has won the league championship as the reigning champion, and is the first in both name and reality to be at the top of the Big Japan strong front, but what is Daichi set his sights to? With the reversal of the strong BJ in Big Japan, which is said to be a deathmatch promotion, what will happen? Daichi is truly aiming for the summit.

Q: Looking back at Strong Climb where many different things occurred, how was it? 

DAICHI: There were many things, maybe there were too many. Due to the influence of the Corona, fans could not see the semifinals and the finals. You can watch it as a recording, but it's irrelevant when I think about it now. Even if I wasn't holding the championship, it would have been good for them to have been able to watch. I don't think that only because I did win the championship (rough). 

Q: Do you get a lot of power from the cheering during matches? 

DAICHI: It seems that Keiji Mutoh said that this was the first time he had ever done empty arena matches. If Mutoh hadn't done it then we probably never would have. Ordinarily, customers would buy a ticket and come to see us saying "I want to see this match" or "I support a certain wrestler". I am always grateful to those who come to see us. 

Q: In the finals, Quiet Storm attacked one of your arms in a concentrated manner, but the attack was in front of an empty arena...

DAICHI: I was heart broken. How many times did I think about tapping? It was painful, and I was about to tap, but each time I thought of it I kept saying the words, "Strong Climb...I've come this far..." 

Q: You were able to endure it, but there was no cheering. 

DAICHI: No matter what happened, there was no uproar. I haven't been wrestling for 25 years, but in a sense I think that was the hardest. It's a mental situation. Also, what I really think of as a "waste" and "disappointing" is that I couldn't wrestle Hyodo. 

Q: You were scheduled to compete with Hyodo on the 29th March in Nagoya, but the event was cancelled and you were awarded a draw. 

DAICHI: He is one of the younger generation, and the person I wanted to do it with the most. I though Kato (Takuho) would be good, but I think Hyodo has climbed up and the route suddenly became a straight line, and he put his mind to it and passed through. I think Hyodo's way of using his body is good, and I was looking forward to it as his form as a wrestler is so different to what it was last time. It's regrettable and disappointing. 

Q: How do you want to do it with Hyodo? 

DAICHI: I think he will stay the same, and the next time he may have had more come out. Takuya is the same, and I am thrilled to see that the kids who debuted and who got smashed, aren't so easily smashed anymore...it's thrilling to see it. I am someone who enjoys such fun. 

Q: How do you see Hyodo? 

DAICHI: Yeah, from where the young people are it's that Takuya (Nomura) might have a young career, but the strength he has isn't that of a young person (laughs). Takuya refused to enter because he is an established wrestler and not a trainee now. Aoki (Yuya) has a belt, but I think he has a very young image. I'm not a junior, but during my junior era when I was practicing in ZERO-1 and being taught by the people from Hidaka City, I think there were stronger people. I can't say anything too weighty as I wasn't working with Yuya at that time, but I think there were guys who were much more stronger. Therefore, I want him to work with various people and enhance his abilities as a junior. I mean that is what is needed to win, and I guess that is something I could say about myself. However, among the young people Yuya is well established as a champion, so I guess it's about him. 

Q: Hyodo also won against Ryuichi Kawakami in the official league match 

DAICHI: Yeah, I was surprised. Kawakami also lost to Inamura (Yoshiki). I thought that I had the definite win at that point, but I lost to Kawakami. I don't know if it was because of carelessness, but that is what makes wrestling interesting. It's not that someone is strong because they beat someone else, it may be just the conditions of the day. 

Q: Did you feel how strong Kawakami's performance was?

DAICHI: He was the Niigata Openweight Champion, and so there was only a champion there. Our last singles match was two years ago, and I felt that Kawakami hadn't changed much since then. I felt that he wasn't going for the heights, and there was a sense of complacency there. That is why I always used to say "He hasn't changed at all", but it's true he doesn't wait in the match. He also looks like he hasn't changed, but I wonder if the accuracy of his attack has improved. It was exactly right, and I thought that there was something that he had absorbed from Strong Climb. 

Ending the repeated history, announcing a determination to be Big Japan's Ace 

Q: Your only loss was to Kawakami, and won as the World Strong Heavyweight Champion, which has taken you to the top of Big Japan. Has it changed your feelings, such as trying to attract other promotions? 

DAICHI: I don't know because it was an empty arena when I did such a story, but I am still amazed that I won the Strong Climb. However, due to the win, I think we have entered a new era, and I think we have to show new things. But on reflection, I think I had the ability to become a better champion and to be able to win the Strong Climb at the same time as being champion. But if that's not the case, I will show new things from now on and at the same time everyone including myself will grow stronger. If you have a belt and can win Strong Climb...find that person. 

Q: Do you want to interact with those wrestlers? 

DAICHI: I want to find them. Maybe they are in Japan, maybe there are somewhere else. 

Q: In the Big Japan deathmatch, Ryuji Ito was in that position in that sense as the Ace of the group. That is unique to Big Japan, can you discover the top all together? (rough, does not translate well) 

DAICHI: I don't have charisma (laughs) and like Ito, my microphone skills are not so good. However, I think that I have to go to such a position. If I don't then then history will just repeat and there must be someone who leads away from that. The guys who weren't able to do that just stopped halfway and history repeated itself. I haven't let it happen yet. For example, with Daisuke Hashimoto I haven't repeated the history of Daisuke Sekimoto having the Strong. It's always been the case, when I look at Big Japan someone takes it from it, but in the end it always returns to the original person. 

Q: Certainly, in the deathmatch Ito is the champion. 

DAICHI: Here is the point, here it is incomplete, so it's returning again...if you want to compare deathmatches, then it's Masaya Takahashi. It's not finished yet, and I guess history is about to repeat itself. 

Q: Takahashi breaks through, Masashi Takeda broke through, and after that the champions were Isami Kodaka, Abdullah Kobayashi and Ryuji Ito. 

DAICHI: In a sense its both good and bad, there are some cautionary tales in deathmatches. There are a few people, but its the sense I get. With that in mind, isn't it how I take action so the Strong does not end up like that? As I said, I have to really become something ace-like, but I don't have the charisma nature to that extent, I don't know if I can do it, but I think I will aim for it. 

Q: You have arrived at this point now, but it is still unclear when the box office will resume, what will be your theme after that? 

DAICHI: We might be able to have matches in the future, but for me to make a shift in a big way...I think the number of matches will be limited, and so it will be difficult, but I have the hope and the desire to move that way. For the time being, it is the defense against the threat of Corona. I have no choice but to advance. 

Q: Now the part to pass a message to the fans? 

DAICHI: More than ever, I think it is fine to be cautious. You might be infected, or you might not be and in that respect I think it is good to be cautious, it's okay to wash your hands thoroughly, and when we finally see each other at the end we can rampage together to our hearts content. The customers who come to watch pro wrestling, and shouldn't just they say they have come to watch (rough). I can't lose to Corona, and in the environment where I can win and the customers can see it, I will do more interesting things.

Picture credit: Weekly Pro