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Q&A w/ AKIRA On BJW, Deathmatch Wrestling, Dream Matches, Life + More!

2 days ago Manuel Ish | MP

Manuel Ish | MP

Q&A w/ AKIRA On BJW, Deathmatch Wrestling, Dream Matches, Life + More!

By: Pep S. Caro

Big Japan Pro Wrestling is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary and is living a unique life with several foreigners like AKIRA in prominent spots on its show cards. Known as “The American Samurai”, AKIRA is a pro wrestler from the United States known for his work in deathmatch wrestling on the American indie scene.

AKIRA made history by winning the King of Deathmatch tournament on New Year’s Eve. Akira became the first foreigner to win a deathmatch tournament in Japan since Cactus Jack did so in 1995 at IWA Japan.

AKIRA is currently the BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Champion, and before returning to the United States for a few months, Monthly Puroresu was able to speak with him exclusively. Akira answered several questions about his career, his life in Japan, his life outside of wrestling, and more.

Monthly Puroresu: You’ve been one of the big names from the American indie scene that has been competing often in Japan and you are making a name for yourself over there. You are even a champion now. We will go further to that topic later, but we wanted to start literally with the beginning. Why did you decide to become a pro wrestler?

AKIRA: I became a wrestler because I grew up, you know, it’s a telltale old story. It’s almost ad nauseam every year in every interview. I grew up watching pro wrestling. But I grew up in Indiana, and my dad would have on like, only a TV. So I’d be watching South Park. It’s in my head. And WWF, ECW, WCW was one of the things in circulation in my life. So, all my likes and risks came from that.

My uncle is the real, was the real key. He had like all the old VHS tapes where he would stick it in the corner and record a whole show. And then he’d write the show name on the little piece of sticker on the VHS. That’s for people my age, older, all the young kids understand. He had it all. All Japan. New Japan. There was like maybe one or two FMW things, but I don’t remember those too much. And that’s where kind of like my interest in wrestling came from.

I grew up looking like Bret Hart, Raven from ECW, all those guys stuck in my head. But then you get older, you kind of get into the teenage years, you’re more focused on other things. And you know, there’s you left as a kid, teenage eggs, girls, music, all like, I hate the world I have. So that was very much me. I was a bike improvement metalhead kid. And I kind of stopped caring about wrestling. I was also going to play the care or so and I don’t want to watch Triple H match. I was like, I don’t care about this fucking guy. I’m going to go do other things with my life. And I sit away from this.

I look at college, and I pick friends, the guy who invited me to a rumble show, it was just not a lot of a show, but like a watch along thing. And I was like, you know what, I got to call my friends, why not? And so that’s how we’re back in wrestling. It was the Royal Rumble where Roman Reigns won and he was the guy I picked to win. I didn’t know anything about wrestling. But I was very happy that my dark horse won. And I think my dark horse is still doing pretty well for himself.

Monthly Puroresu: Everyone starts in a different way and that one is actually a peculiar one. I haven’t heard of a story like that so thank you for sharing your experience. You mentioned some interesting names arguably some of the best performers of all times people like Bret Hart from a maybe a pure technique standpoint people like to roll from a more you character dramatic aspect. Do you have specific influences or references for your style?

AKIRA: Obviously, as I started wrestling, especially over here, influences grow and change very quickly. From when I was a kid, and I still have aspects of Bret Hart. I have aspects of the lot, you know, I’ve been working for Raven. And now, especially, I have portions of Raven in my style, and there’s some cool character things I can see in each instance. That’s was at the beginning.

Monthly Puroresu: And now going further to the AKIRA of the present, you know, you are known as a dead match wrestler. So why did you decide to specialize yourself in hardcore matches, in death matches, you know, this a different and a special kind of doing pro wrestling.

AKIRA: So, yes, I am a death match wrestler, but I’m almost like, I would say, to reference music, it’s like I’m a thrash metal guitarist, you know, I’m a metal guitarist, I just play thrash sometimes. So, part of me is a death match wrestler, but especially the last few years, I’ve had a baby who put me on the board of the state of the big Japan. I had a baby that was still a certain death match in the last two years, and I was doing a lot of regular matches with people, like Mike Bailey, we competed at Bloodsport.

So, being a death match wrestler, it’s just a part of me, it is not my hierarchy, but I will always say that I am still a death match wrestler, I believe that.  But it wasn’t something like, I loved death matches as a kid, or anything, I didn’t grow up going, oh, and I loved that, not to be said, I love, I like RVD, I was like, I like that, that was a great match, that was like, I liked that. That’s something that even looking who’s doing also, I didn’t, it was my favorite thing, but I decided to do the same stuff. But it only happens a lot because I got invited to the Mexico in Monterrey for NGX, and that’s where I had the first death match.

Just because I went down there, and I was a kid, and they asked me, hey, you’re still out on the show, do you want to be on it? And I said, yeah, you know, in Mexico, first time in my life, why would I not want to do that? He said, it’s a death match. I said, do we have weed? Yeah. Do we have tequila? Yeah. All right, let’s do that action. And I went out there, I did it, and I stole all the hearts of everyone. It was one of them, Sick Boy who has been in Lucha Libre AAA. Afterwards, he said, oh, you’re trying to steal my job, kid. He said, he was like, yeah, everyone is loving you. And I still get messed up from them today. They asked me, when are you coming back? When are you coming back? We miss you. We love you. We’re proud of you. I was there twice.

I wrestled with Mr. Iguana, who is now going to be a WWE superstar. God bless him. Shout out to my friend, Mr. Iguana. Happy that he’s finding all the success that he’s doing. And sometimes I saw those stupid mugs on Twitter on the WWE page. I was like, oh, man, he’s going to be famous now. But they still messaged me to this day. But that was my first foray to death matches. I didn’t watch death matches. My first ever watch was three months prior to my first death match. It was out of school on the street design. But that’s where I understood, oh, death matches isn’t just throwing shit at each other. It’s wrestling with this craziness added to it. And it wasn’t something I sought out to do.

But I was also at a point where I was at the end of it. They didn’t book me a whole lot. They didn’t believe that I was a hard-hitting, heck of a wrestling guy, which even though I was still am, I could probably break plus their arms and put me in a fight with them. But they just said, oh, well, you’re 175 pounds. We don’t believe you. You’re just a pretty boy. And so I said, fine, I’m going to do that first death match. And I liked it. I really liked it. And I said, I’m going to do more. And then people get with spin and say, oh, now you’re just doing this to get people to like you and to get over. And I’m like, no, you won’t give me an opportunity. I’m taking the opportunity to set up a given. I like what I’m doing. And I’m doing something that none of you all have the balls to do. Most people who would say that I’m not this or that are too chicken shit to do a death match, especially at the level that I feel it even to the end of the day.

Monthly Puroresu: It’s not the same do a hardcore match than to do a regular match and people usually don’t know how to tell the difference. And you do also regular matches.

AKIRA: Strong style matches. I guess you could say that.

Monthly Puroresu: Yes and we’ve seen you compete in different places all over America but especially by the end of 2021 you started competing in GCW and then in 2022 in PRESTIGE which arguably are some of the most renowned American indie promotions. So, how was your experience over there and is there any match or moment that you would like to highlight from that stage of your career?

AKIRA: GCW was very, like, I’ve had some fun matches, but the memories are kind of what you wanted for me at best. I could obviously think that I could, he took out that portion of my career. Like, I’ve still been doing what I’m doing today, you know? Like I had fun matches, the match I had at NGI, people could still consider one of the best death matches that that company ever had. I’m very happy to have done that.

I’ve had some really fun death match with people. There was the scramble match where people would not stop chanting for me. And everyone was just stunned, like, in the match. I remember Nick Wayne just stopped looking at me and pointed me and everyone just kept chanting: AKIRA, AKIRA. And it was a key little memory. It was a fun match. It was just little things like that. Some matches I would rather forget for reasons of the match being not what I wanted or other things. But the ones that proceed, I’m very happy though.

The matches I’ve had at PRESTIGE are, honestly, some of the most important of my career. My introduction to PRESTIGE, when I came out for a before way that I was involved in, which was the creators to the death match I had the next day. I had never been to Portland before. I came out and I was the guy and everyone was chanting for me, I guess. Something that follows me wherever I go. I don’t know what it is.

It’s always something very cool, and then I had the death match the next day with Drexel, and people still say it’s probably one of the best death matches on the West Coast and the United States.  It’s, and people said you’re Portland’s adopted son from that point. Again, that’s a crazy few people say. PRESTIGE gave me the matches. I did a back of danger errand for God’s sake, jackass. They let me wrestle with Minoru Suzuki, one of my heroes. Very cool, and now because of that match and the sequel matches, so now we are friends, crazy thing to say to myself right now. Like you tell me that from when I first showed up, I was like, hey, you’re gonna wrestle him four times in one year and you’re gonna be friends. I’m gonna be like, you’re lying to me. In fact, you’re full of shit.

And then the match with Speedball. People could say whatever they want. Some people said that, you know, I might carry the death match. That was an accident Mike and I put together. And Mike, had nothing but praise to say for me afterwards. And we put all our hearts and soul on that and we stole the show and then received the show. And then because of that one match, well, we had our second match at Bloodsport and it was a whole new piece, but people were just anted and excited because they knew that Mike and I bring something out of each other that we’re gonna make you believe in progressing. Like there is gonna be no moment where you think, oh, why would you do that? That moment where you’re taking out the magic. When you see Mike and I wrestle, you’re locked in. It’s two guys who want to kick the shit out of each other. But yeah, those two companies alone gave me those kinds of matches and I’m very happy for that.  My memories of PRESTIGE are happy and kind of separated from wrestling.

Monthly Puroresu: You mentioned so,e that I personally enjoy a lot like the one you had with Drexel and your match with Speedball. I believe that you both have very good chemistry that helps a lot to put together matches. In 2023, I believe, this is just my opinion. Maybe you differ on that. But I think that your career really takes off in that year because you started competing regularly in MLW. And that promotion also gave you a platform. You won championships over there. So, what does that promotion mean to you? And what moments would you like to highlight from that stage of your career?

AKIRA: It’s very weird, because I remember when I woke up, I just told someone, I want to get signed. Obviously, we all want to get signed, but more and more and more and more. I said, I have a feeling it’s going to happen. They were like, really? I said, yeah, I think so. Two months later, Emil said, hey, we’d like to shoot this before we go forward, and we’d like to sign this. I said, well, shit, there it is. I didn’t know what to expect, because again, it was a TV setting.

For some reason, I was nervous. I don’t know why I was nervous, but maybe it’s just because I came from such an independent background. I was such an outlaw kind of guy. I was the death match guy. I was the golden boy in death match. I still am, but it’s on a little stage at this point. It was very weird for me to come to the book about you and be like, okay, this is the first foray into a completely different relationship. It’s a whole different game. But I went there, and with my first show, I went to the ECW Arena. I came out, and I was a bad guy. That’s the big one at the time.

In my head, I was just like, I don’t know how long this is going to last, because whatever I’ve been trying to make me a bad guy, it does not work, or it does not last. It just never clicked, and people want to cheer for me. I don’t know what it is.  I can do the horrible things on a show to someone, and then the next show, the crowd trips back in my paper, and I go, damn, dude, I don’t know what you want from me. But especially in Milwaukee, I’m a bad guy. It was very cathartic to be in the ECW arena. I would like to work there.

It’s a herald of freedom to do it every day. It’s basically your home once a month, and the crowd hated me originally just because, okay, you’re a bad guy. Then two, three months later, I’d be doing any kind of thing, and I’d get a cure a chance. I’d come out, but there’d still be a cure a chance. A big one was, especially when I fought Rocky Romero, the crowd immediately switched 100% in my favor. They ended up waiting and waiting just so we could just cheer this guy, because that’s all they wanted to do.

The company didn’t even know this, like, hey, uh, today, uh, just be you. I’m like, oh, the like, it’s babyface time. I said, okay, fine, no problem. And as soon as I turned on that babyface thing, I mean, you can watch that back, so kind of be like, I said, behind me. And I was like, oh, this is so much more of a freedom sense.

Then I had a match with Ikuro Kwon. It was a Taipei Taped Fist Death. There’s, you know, the internet works to say whatever they want about the type A match, because we didn’t just talk to each other all the time. Oh, it’s, yeah, I lost it. And I was like, well, guess what? He’s a mixed martial artist. I’m a mixed martial artist. It’s perfectly normal that we got that path in the match. But then the glass falls off. It’s a limited ammunition. You don’t have a bunch of glass, but people in that, I mean, he watched that actually, but where’s that screaming freaking out. Uh, I guess one had to elevate people along the side of myself and I never lost my cluster. No matter how many times I’ve lost, you know, people love me. They cared about, and I don’t have to bring people up with me now. Kwon did some stuff with Mistico later. He’s still my enemy. You know, screw him. All that, all that, yah, yah. I’m an elevated company just the things that I’ve seen. So what was my problem, where my character were all these things.

A lot of people were affiliating MLW with me. You know, people were saying I was one of the highlights of the show every single time I go on. And it happens on the independence, you know. I’m not saying like PRESTIGE, GCW, BJW, you know, all these other places I go to work. I work there, I straight. Not saying it’s just me, but it’s part of what I do. I get more care, but the time until W, it’s come to an end. It’s something that I don’t know what future holds right now, but they gave me a platform to learn, understand what I need to do. It’s done. It’s done. It’s not stopped. The future is wide open.

Monthly Puroresu: It was something that made you try a lot of different things and also wrestled against worldwide opponents, maybe not so accessible for other smaller indie promotions. MLW is partners with Consejo (CMLL) in Mexico, the biggest promotion in Latin America. And you had the opportunity to represent MLW in a short tour in Mexico, and compete in the Grand Prix, the men’s Grand Prix in August of last year. It’s one of the biggest shows of the year, and you represented the international team. Actually, you got to compete in two different tournaments in that week. So, how was your experience in Mexico? And especially, how was your experience in this kind of match? You know, Torneo Cibernetico.

AKIRA: Okay, well, first off, I did know what a Torneo Cibernetico was, but I had never been in one. So the first time was very confusing. Just because there were so many moving parts. And then the second one was much easier to understand. I understood my spot, obviously, I wasn’t in there long, but I got to be in the ring with Ultimo Guerrero, I got to trade hands with the dude that everyone knows. Yeah, I think he was very happy with what we did. You know, I got to shine with a guy like that. I got to get toe to toe with him. I have some of the pictures saved. He’s doing his yell. I’m like, kind of doing the come on kind of thing that I do. And that’s such a wild thing. I’m a guy from Indiana, in Arena Mexico, wrestling with Ultimo Guerrero. And I got to go back and forth with a guy like that. I mean, I enjoyed my time in Mexico. It’s a very good thing, because I understand how Mexican fans look very, very, very loyal to Mexico and Mexico in another cell. So if you’re formed, it’s, you have to really win people over obviously like slips there and with lives in Mexico. But if he’s affiliated with any kind of international talent, they’re going to be the hell out of it. And it was very, very exciting.

There would be some places that we would go and be 50% and 50% cheers, you know, kids can’t help but cheer for me. More than like cheer for me. And there’s some dudes that would cheer for me. There’s a lot of it. There’s always that difference. And there was just some women hated any play book. They hated me. And I was like, all right, whatever. And you know, it was against it too. And so and so was a rudo, right? But I had a lot of fun and I got to meet a lot of people that I never thought I’d get to meet like Claudio, Kyle Fletcher, all these guys, with whom I interacted. It was very good, a big time. I enjoyed myself.  And I got to stand in Arena Mexico and just look around. It’s a very surreal experience. It’s such a big event. It’s so big. Korakuen Hall it’s like a special place in my heart. But it doesn’t have that huge austere, the real environment that Arena Mexico, especially when it’s built up. When I came down the steps the first time and made my introduction, it was just crazy. They kind of go, Whoa, man. They’re so like, you don’t see that in the independence. You don’t see a place like that. Fans like that.

And I would say that’s the one thing I love. I think Mexican fans and Japanese fans are equal to is their passion and their loyalty. Where the Japanese fans aren’t as you know, oh, you’re Japanese works will be like you. Some companies. Yes, but like for me, like when I’m in Japan, like I’m, they basically act like I’m friendly here. But the passion of the Mexican fans was unbridled and raw. The cool part was after the show is going out to the boss and all the fans were towards you and they were so excited to see you. And I would get in trouble because I would take so much time to go to each fan inside whatever take pictures because I love doing stuff like that.

My favorite though was when we go out to the shows and we’re trying to get to the bus and the skit would walk by and basically just be lying to the bus and you hear the fans, ah, “Fuck Mistico”. “Fuck Mistico. “Oh, he’s too good for us”. And I love Mistico, but it was just so funny because it feels it’s almost because Mistico there is like Hulk Hogan, which again, that was the coolest thing, being there for when Mistico made his entrance. Because I do that twice and it’s electric. It’s almost like The Rock coming in and everyone shuts up, their eyes focus and they’re like, this is the man, this is the guy and I’m happy I can call that guy my friend.

Monthly Puroresu: When people talk about Mistico I usually refer to him as the John Cena of CMLL or Mexico or Latin America. But now John Cena is you know doing this kind of stuff that is well not of my taste. So, I don’t know what else can I say about Mistico. But yeah, he’s very respected like usually when there’s a show in CMLL, if it features Mistico even if it’s a small show the tickets will sell out but if there’s not Mistico in the card it’s like 70-80%. He’s the draw the biggest draw in Mexico.

AKIRA: A star. He is the guy. People should aspire to be like that.  It’s almost like, it’s not the same, but the energy. When you watch when Nakamura was with New Japan, when he was doing King of Strong style, when Nakamura makes his entrance, he’s almost the same as when Misko makes his entrance. It’s almost like you just shut up, you want to listen to the music, you want to see this dude just make his entrance and be the king that he is.

Monthly Puroresu: Finally, to end this part, and now to connect with your present in Japan, you had the chance to perform at Arena Mexico, which is one of the four most iconic venues for wrestling alongside the Tokyo Dome in Japan, Wembley Stadium in England and the Madison Square Garden in the US. So, you’re already performed in one. You still have opportunity to perform in one of the others. So fingers crossed for that, especially in Japan, which is your present, like I mentioned before. In the same year that you started in MLW, you had your first tour with BJW in Japan. So how was your experience on this first tour? Which, if I’m not wrong, was your first time also in Japan?

AKIRA: Yes. So, for a while, since 2020, when I made my first big splash in the independent scene, when I jumped off the roof in Atlantic City. I would have Japanese fans, you know, they know I’m AKIRA and that I’m an American. But I respect what it means. They understood that I have heritage. I look, listen, no matter what people say, I do look hard. I have the eyes, I have all that nonsense. But I would always get asked, when are you coming to Japan?  When are you coming to Japan? I was gonna have to translate some of those, but I’m like, whatever happened, I can’t force it to happen. But my debut was, and Shinkiba 1stRING against the guy in Jack and the set match, Masashi Takeda. I still think if Takeda-san was put on TV anywhere, he would steal people’s hearts because he’s such a visceral looking character. He got all the cool scars like, they’re visceral, almost kind of grotesque, but he looks so cool. And he’s a handsome dude. And he’s got, now he’s got the, he’s got the mouthpiece with the teeth. He looks just like he’s made for television. If he put him on anywhere in America, people would be amazed by him. But I got to wrestle him for my debut match in Big Japan Pro Wrestling.

And I didn’t know what to expect. You know, I expect some people might know me, I expect I’m gonna have to work really hard. Because that’s generally what happens when a foreigner comes to Japan, it’s almost like coming to Mexico. You know, you got to really put them at work if you care about you. But once you have them, you’ve got them forever. But when I made my entrance, it is not what I expected. Because I made my entrance, and so I’m still coming out to fight, survive, and be close for it. But everyone was clapping, I came out. It was just like a prestige. It was just like all these places in the United States. Even when I go to Australia or the UK, like I get the chants. When I came out, I was, I was like, okay, I was excited. You know, you’re hearing all these people chant for you in the country that you’ve always wanted to work in, be a regular in. It was okay. And then, but now I have to seal the deal. So I had to go in there and I had to have a match of your candidate with Takeda-san. We killed each other. I still got some of the scars right here on my hairline just about a year.

And people ask me still, they’re like, what should I expect when I go to Japan? And I have to tell you, your experience is not going to be my experience. My experience is a freak once in a lifetime thing that people wish to have, you know? But I can still advise you after which to where it was so special, no matter where I want, I just want people to work like that. It’s about being me, you know, like being at least at that point in my life, I was very quirky. I still do some silly stuff and matches. But I’m much more animalistic and much more aggressive. Then I was just some child. I was like, I was like a little J-pop boy. I was so happy to be there. I had a wave of people bought during a match. That first tour was great. I came back people for some by the way, and then I went back immediately for New Year’s. Again, I had back on 10 matches in 11 days. And I beat the OG Deathmatch Ace. I was not the OG Deathmatch Ace, but beat the Deathmatch Ace at the time Ryuji Ito. And Ito-san at that point had never lost. Ever. And I’d be in a shock every again. That’s a good year, but then I came back for King of Deathmatch and that’s what started this entire run.

Monthly Puroresu: Yeah, I believe that you connected very well with the company, with the crowds over there. There’s something special about foreigners. When they go to these countries that are known because of the pro wrestling, so ingrained in the culture, like Japan, that when the company says, okay, we are bringing this pro wrestler. He’s not used to compete over here. The fans are so eager. So excited.

Yeah, so eager to look about those wrestlers. So they try to learn as much as them and also try to make them feel comfortable in this new environment. Because like in your case, many go for the first time. It’s their first time over their first tour. So that’s something very cool.  And then you return it to Japan for this big stain that you’ve been almost six months. It started in December with the King of Deathmatch Tournament, which is a one-day tournament. Very hard, you know. It’s not easy to produce one match of these characteristics. And also in a tournament where you know that everyone has to develop their own ideas and try to do something creative and different from the others. So every match is unique. How was your experience competing in this tournament? And like you mentioned before, you won the tournament. And that was like your biggest moment so far in Japan by that time.

AKIRA: Oh God! In Korakuen Hall. What a very, very, very hard tournament. So I, everyone in the States knows I’m a tournament guy. Like I, I’ve gone the distance of like six tournaments, and especially if you’re into the young guys of the deathmatch scene. I think I have the most of the young, the young crop of guys going right now. Even though I didn’t know what to think when I got there, I was really expecting to come in and maybe have one round, do a good show, get the hell out. And I get there and I get told, hey, you know, you’re winning, right? I’m like, what? I’m what? And then I’m like, yeah, man. And I was like, oh, yes. They’re like, what? You should be excited. And I’m like, I’m excited. But I’m like, it’s New Year’s Eve. This show is a sell-out show. And it’s at Korakuen Hall. I’m like, they’re basically putting a loaded gun to my head and say, are you excited? And I’m like, yeah, don’t fuck up.

I mean, each match is very different. And it was testing in some ways. So first map of Kamatani-san, which is power bar boards. And everyone else in the brand had light tubes. So it was like, hey, here’s power boards. Can you get people to care about this match? And we did. We just wrestled a really good match. And he hit the first brain buster. He goes for the second as he goes. And I stopped at the Western Death Bomb. And the crowd shrieked with that one, two, three. And I knew he was like, oh, okay. I’m locked in. I’m set. Did that, the next one, wrestled someone I’ve known, but I never got to wrestle. First time, you know, he’s Freedom Champion. He wrestled in Montserrat for NGX, for Zona, and so for those companies. Violento Jack. Violento Jack is a great wrestler. We went out there and we put in, again, a different kind of match. It wasn’t just light tubes. And then I had to go the finals with Wakamatsu for the finals. My God, that match took a piece of my life. I think Wakamatsu and I, every time we’ve gotten into the ring since then, we bring out something in each other. We beat the piss out of each other. And we love it. That’s the thing, too.

He just went over to the United States for Tournament Survival, for GCW. And people were telling him, apparently, that, you know, our finals match is one of the best matches they’ve ever seen. And, which, again, that’s very flattering. But, man, afterwards, him and I were so tired. We checked on each other the next day. And we were just like, ah, well, because we had to wrestle again the next day, for all. And the thing about the tournament, deathmatch tournament, it’s like a regular tournament, it’s hard because you’re doing a lot. You’re getting kicked a lot, right? You’re getting punched a lot. But with the deathmatch tournament, and you’re doing all that, with the added bonus of cutting yourself up, so your body is pumping adrenaline through your system. You’re pumping, you’re pumping, you’re pumping, and mind-boggling.

I’ve been stabbed, like, you know, I have this scar, I’ve got this, I have it on my side, one on my chest. I had some gnarly cuts where I didn’t feel anything until, like, five or six hours later, just because my adrenaline, my adrenaline power was so insane. And I got this one, I didn’t feel it was there, until I got to go back and wash my face, and there was something in my face.  And then everyone said, hospital, now. I was like, what? They’re like, hospital, now?  I’m like, why? That’s fine, just glue it. They said, they’re like, buddy, that’s not a glue job. So, like, I’m great with deathmatch, because I can go through a whole bunch of punishment. And I generally don’t feel it until hours after the tournament. After that tournament, crash was so hard. And then you had to get up and do the exact same thing and say, I was like, oh my God, okay. But man, I got to do all that, and I won at Korakuen Hall.

I was told by a guy named Rotten, you know, you and people that are IWA fans, they know all about a guy who was Rotten. I was still, I’d never been a King of the Deathmatch. You know, in the United States. So it’s it was an extra bonus that I was in a King of the Deathmatch from the United States, in Japan, working my very first one, and probably my last one. I’m gonna be perfectly honest, I won of the damn thing. I was the first King of the Deathmatch born in America since Cactus Jack in 1994. My brain is fried. That’s a very long time. It’s a very herald a thing to have in my pocket. And it’s something of my ears. No one can touch me now. No, I walked into into an island show.  And I never went to this island. No, I didn’t even know it existed. And so I was like, Hey, we have a show date on this island. You gotta go 16 hours there. I’m like, Oh, okay. I make my entrance and I get in the ring and all these people I’ve never met before a day in my life. And they started a british chanting of “AKIRA, AKIRA”. I was like, wow. But yeah, it was a very cathartic and powerful field because I’ve had many opportunities denied for me told I was a good offer, whatever reason. It apparently doesn’t matter if you get over with fans. It’s only what the company wants. I mean, we see it and they’re gonna be used. We see it in all these companies everywhere. Oh, yeah, people love you. But this is me. I want to use you properly. But I did it in Japan, people beg, beg for spots in Japan. And I did it on my own. I didn’t have to wait for an American company to be here. I did it my own way. And I became the guy can do that. Not many people. It’s a hard thing.

Monthly Puroresu: Well, the first thing I want to say is Happy New Year. What a way to celebrate.  Yes, you won one of the most important tournaments in Krakow Hall. And like you mentioned, not many people born from America have won that kind of tournaments. The last one was over 30 years ago, Cactus Jack, aka Mick Foley. And then you also made history more recently, in March, when you won the Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship. You are almost, if I’m not wrong, you’re going to your third month as a champion and you have defended the bell three times now. So, what does it mean to you to win the championship and if you have any favorite defense to date?

AKIRA: So, I enjoyed every defense for different reasons. But winning that belt, so again, like in the United States, you know, I was the guy in deathmatches, like I was the tournament guy, but no one would ever put the trigger and put a belt on it. I don’t know what it was. I don’t know what the issue was. It wasn’t like my work was subpar because I was winning all the tournaments, you know? I have won tournaments that are probably never gonna ran again, masters of pain, things like that. So it was, again, just like I was never in the kingdom of deathmatch in the United States back to my first and probably my last deathmatch belt, to be honest, because I wanted to do things beyond death matches after this run was the original deathmatch title. Again, what better way is there to start and end the story than something like that, you know? I won at Korakuen Hall. People shriek when I won. I still have the video of when I jump off the cage and the Swanton Bomb 1-2-3 people shriek. It was such a beautiful thing because I really did sacrifice a lot. At that point, you know? I lost a lot in this year alone, to get to this point, you know, in terms of a home in terms of family in terms of many things. And back then, I did that 1-2-3. I stunned the world, as I became the focal point of death match wrestling, not just in the United States all around the world.

There’s it’s a very short list of people, especially guys who won that type, then I went on with immediately did three events is almost back to back to back to back, you know? That’s very taxing. Because when you win the original deathmatch title, you have to put the work in you have to kill yourself for these matches. It’s not just in and out kind of deal like some of these some of these belts are it’s a basically commit atrocities against humanity. And again, another first I got to do, I’ll say at this moment, I got I got to wrestle like kikuta, I got to wrestle the Isami Kodaka, which is a match that people in the States have been waiting for forever. Samurai versus Sam, right? I was very happy to do these things. But the one that stands out to me, especially the most right now is the one Dale, because it was the first time ever, gaijin versus gaijin, you’ll probably know why. No glass. It was old school stipulation, barbed wire, staple gun, razor cross, you know? We went out there and we put on a match that made the company. There’s even a thing, like someone was listening to President Tosaka go over that. About he said that match was so good, that it is making us look at how we do deathmatch. At how they use the light tubes. There’s no more production of them that we went out there and we showed Hey, you can have great matches without light tubes, you don’t need light tubes. In terms of all the wrestling that some people can get over in whatever companies and they’ll go into a deathmatch or throw light tubes, that sucks.

We went out there and show Hey, it’s deathmatch wrestling, wrestling. Barbed wire matters, razors matter, obviously razors matter. Because I had scars on the top of my head now and I’ve got scars on my back from from landing on the razor cross. We went out there and we showed them Hey, deathmatch wrestling is not just about weapons.  People look at stuff. It’s just, it’s not, it’s not about the glass, it’s not about the weapons. It’s about people with the weapons. He didn’t like, he didn’t watch a no barbed wire just because it was a no barbed wire. You watched it, the sounds. You watched it because Terry Funk said, you know?

And I’ve changed my style. I know I’ve taken aspects of like, Naomichi Marufuji, Keiji Muto, and all these different things in my style now. But the center piece of it all is actually Terry Funk. All of my selling, all of my how I interact with the crowd, all those little things are just Terry Funk. That’s what we need. We need people to fear these weapons and fear these things that we do. We showed in that booty comp match, especially with the after photos of people getting horrified at the gold level gore that was on our faces. But that’s what Terry Funk did so well. He made you believe and you didn’t think I was fake or, barbed wire is not that bad. You watch the Terry Funk or a Sabu match, you’re like, oh my god, barbed wire sucks. Hey, barbed wire sucks. When I hit that final Shiranui, I got this one right here. Will you watch me as I play in the barbed wire go and see me do this real quick before going to cover it? Yeah, it’s a very surreal thing because gonna be taking the belt to the states, you know? and I’m gonna be the first American to bring this belt back to the states. But I know Drew Parker, whatever, and defended the GCW, but it’s not the same. It’s I’m the hometown boy coming back to the home country with this thing, in a month, you know?

Monthly Puroresu: I think that right now there’s more interest around that matches. It’s getting more popular. I don’t know if you perceive it that way. I don’t know if it’s, if it’s has to do with all of these promotion that El Desperado in New Japan has been doing, you know, trying to do more stuff around that style of wrestling, but yeah, I find it really cool.

AKIRA: It’s a mixture. Lucha Libre AAA has done deathmatch stuff. I watched Sam Adonis get thrown through glass by Pagano which made me laugh. But stuff that Desperado is doing does help. New Japan has been dabbling with hardcore and deathmatch here and there, you know? They had Kasai. It was Moxley and Homicide vs Desperado and Kasai. Like that was a very good moment, to see Kasai get this due on that level. Because, he’s well, the he’s the goat in terms of like things he’s done to himself for the love of the game. The fact that he can go anywhere and just get the nod it’s like it’s similar but it’s different where I get “AKIRA, AKIRA”, he gets “Kasai, Kasai” same kind of thing.

I would also say AEW helps with that exponentially just because they’re willing to go to do that, you know? They’re willing to show the blood and guts of pro wrestling. Whether it’s in a regular match or someone bleeding or, you know, when they do like, I mean recently had those staple guns and stuff like that on TV, you know? On the Anarchy in the Arena so the world is much more aware about deathmatch wrestling. But I would also say that it’s also less caring because there’s so much of it and a lot of it’s not very good. So, when you have it on a higher platform and they do it well it’s a whole different thing. Or when you have, you know, the Big Japan wrestling stuff that I’m doing or when you have some some occasional matches like GCW, right? That are really good deathmatches it stands out because so many people are bad at doing it. Mow when people do it really good it’s it looks even better.

But yeah I think there’s more interest in it. But it’s also part of the reason like the thing with light tubes. Why I put so much heart and effort into the overall combate. Is just because I’m still down with light tubes. I’m so over it. It’s how many people have used to have been seen who are just terrible wrestlers just using light tubes and getting a great reaction that they don’t deserve. Just because they use light tubes. That’s something stupid. The art of deathmatch is beyond just glass and that’s about what’s been my mission statement. Especially the past, since I won the belt was I wanted to do different things, you know? I did some stuff and Asami was yeah there’s light tubes but the big ladder was the big part, right? And then Dale and I was basically like one of my masterpieces.

In terms of showing deathmatch wrestling is not just this and you shouldn’t watch a deathmatch and be terrified. You should be like yeah you want to chant “oh, this is awesome”. That kind of stuff. But people watch that deathmatch and they were disgusted like you shouldn’t watch the deathmatch and be terrified for the performers. And you have to deliver it on on that level. Like I still think that the Moxley Omega match, the exploding barbed wire it was a great match. The only thing that sucked was the fence because we all know what happened with this with that. But if that end gone off it’d been perfect because they did a whole bunch of great wrestling into all the barbed wire when the stuff did explode and it exploded it looked bad at all.

That’s also why I’m wishing now to do more matches outside of death matches just because I think especially someone holding the original deathmatch title that’s the kind of guy that should be going out and doing regular matches. Strong style matches. And showing that deathmatch guys can hang with guys like people like Speedball Mike Bailey. Because the stigma that deathmatch wrestlers can’t wrestle is tiring. And there’s a ton of people in deathmatch who can’t wrestle, you know? They just throw shit but also there’s a lot of people who wrestle normally who can’t wrestle. So, yeah, my brain, my philosophy. my piece of statement for wrestling has changed dramatically. I want to embody just all the things off the wrestling that I like. So, whether it is a little bit of high plot hard hitting submission wrestling. But all these things that I would make for wrestling great and unlike any sport or theatrics that you use.

Monthly Puroresu: Would you say that that’s the way, would you describe the AKIRA way?

AKIRA: Yeah, it’s the cure way is it’s honest, just pro wrestling. You know, some people are high flyers. They want to see the one thing and I want to embody the disability and the reality of what pro wrestling should be. I’m not the most unathletic, but I’m not the most, you know, the floppy, I can do all the crazy stuff on the side. I’m not Komander. I’m not like a lot of these guys that you might have watch. I can’t do that. That’s insane. I’m a real person from a small town in Indiana, who can wrestle, fight, that can lead, that can make people care. I’ll do what I have to do to win at the end. I’ll do whatever I have to do to make sure that the bills are paid and whether it is cutting myself up, whether it’s, you know, fighting from underneath, fighting someone who is stronger, faster, smarter than me. I’ll do it because that’s what real people have to keep, people that are gifted in any place. And you have to find a way to succeed despite that. And I think that’s a beautiful thing.

So, I know I look now I’ve got, you know, the pants, I even get the robe, but a lot of people lose that sense of familiarity, that sense of realism. I still have that when I come out, I look like, you know, they say here, Oh, the Samurai King. No, they say, I look like a king, but then they see me at an after a show and they’ll see me at a merch table. The nicest of us. That’s what I’m saying. I don’t want to lose the connection that I make with fans. And I feel like a lot of people make an actual connection with fans. They do a whole bunch of cool stuff, but the whole point of wrestling is to connect and make people really worried and care. That’s why Terry Funk was so great. And Terry Funk, even when he was, you know, in his fifties, Muta, when he was working for NOAH, he still made people care. And that’s what is missing. So, a lot of people don’t care. You know, they want to read them the story lines and stuff, but they don’t really care about the performance. And the thing I can say about me is people care. And we need more caring in today’s world because God knows the world is kind of a pointless, emotionless, the lacking pit. And if I can make people care about myself, I can try to make people care.

Monthly Puroresu: Now, going in a little bit into maybe what can be considered as fantasy booking, is there anyone from around the world that you haven’t faced yet that you would like to have a match with?

AKIRA: Moxley. Moxley is probably number one on the list. I’d like to say Kasai. I’d like to say because I want to wrestle Suzuki and Korakuen Hall. There’s people in places I want to fight, but Moxley is probably high up on the list. There’s a lot of people in AEW I’d like to throw hands with just because I think they’re mad pussy and they ain’t real. I could put these people through a hell that they don’t even understand. Eddie Kingston is another one too. It’s not because I disrespect Eddie Kingston. I highly respect Eddie Kingston. I know for a fact that if I get in with Moxley or Eddie Kingston, it’s going to be a fight, it’s going to be a war, and people will care. Those are the two big ones. I think Gabe Kibb would be an interesting one too, especially now that I’ve sized up a bit. I know he’s a bit bigger than me, but I’ve been throwing around people bigger than him well before I have a new heap of things. Gabe Kidd would be a fun one. There’s others. Moxley is kind of very high up on the list. Eddie Kingston is another one.

Monthtly Puroresu: And now, going a little bit outside of wrestling, can you tell us about your hobbies?

AKIRA: So, I mean, I did the Twitch streaming and stuff like that. I’m a huge card geek. So, my sponsor, Hitman Sports Breaks, they do a whole bunch of like, sports cards, training cards. So, I’m all about, like, trading card stuff. I’m a huge Magic The Gathering guy. I’m getting back into Pokemon, kind of learning all these different things, because it’s part of how I get paid. But it’s also because I really like doing it. You know, I like video games, everyone likes. So, I’m very much more like a turn based RPG kind of guy like that. Strategy. I play guitar, you know, when I get back in the States, I’ll be working heavily on my techniques so that I can, I’m gonna start working on a solo album, maybe work on some actual music projects.

I’m a writer, I’m going to be writing, I’m actually also planning out a trilogy of fantasy books, I want to get started when I get back in the States, and I have my computer, poetry, philosophy, all the nerdiest crap in the world.  You know, that a lot of people don’t care about, but I find a lot of purpose and reason. And philosophy, especially, past couple months have been very hard mentally, emotionally, for me, reading a lot of philosophy, a lot of like marks, really, the artists, the artists still with us. I’m even reading, you know, it seems like lame samurai books, like how they handle different stresses of things. I really like expanding my brain.

I love listening, obviously, we all love listening to music, love listening to music. I’ve been branching out and exploring music as well, whether it’s jazz, disco, rap was an interesting one that I discovered recently that I really like. And then obviously hang out with my dog. I really miss my dog right now. He’s back with my family in the States. And I can’t wait to do that. And I’ve told myself I’m never gonna be this long gone again. No, I can’t. So that’s six months of his life. I’m never gonna get back and I want to be around for the rest of it.

Monthly Puroresu: Was this your first time going abroad for that long period of time?

AKIRA: Yes, it’s my first time being abroad, living abroad ever. Especially for such a long period of time. And it was really a test of my mental as well. It was well as, especially when it was like, we just not got Wi Fi at the Dojo, right? That’s why I’m saying if I ever come to Japan to live, I’m going to have my own apartment. I’m doing this every day. But it was a lot of me, myself and I had a lot of introspection, a lot of things about myself that I didn’t sit there and just say, it’s just you, you know, you think what you’re wrestling, you think about you, what your life, your goals, your aspirations. I could myself throw a mental ring at those first few months just because it’s all I had, you know?

I had no one to talk to, no one in the States was talking to me, you know? The people say, Oh, you can reach out, but I really can’t, you know, I’m not going to throw my issues on other people. And I wasn’t a really bad headspace for a while. But I started reading and listening and doing a lot of good things listening, but stoicism, self-help, I really booked out a lot of things I didn’t like about myself. And then like, well, my wrestling, so I didn’t like where I was at in my life. And as things I still don’t like. You can’t change things. It’s just how it works. But the person I am now, I’ve spoken to some people because they became aware of my mental was very complicated. They even said that person I am now feels very, very different than who I was even six months ago. In reality, that’s all you can want is to come out a changed person through hardships.

But it was also something where I told myself, I’m never be this long gone from my family or my dog, because I think I would have been a lot better if Kota was here, because I’d still have, you know, my son, my best friend. But it’s also I guess it’s a good thing that I didn’t have him here. Because if I didn’t have if I didn’t have here, I wouldn’t have gone through the self-evaluation that I’ve done myself, in terms of my lifestyle, who I am, all that. So it is what it is. No, I had to go through this to become the person I am now. And I just know now what I want life. That’s also why I’m thinking about pursuing things beyond deathmatch wrestling. Just because if I do deathmatch wrestling, you know, for a bigger platform, one day, you don’t call it AEW, Ring of Honor or whatever, I want to do it and get paid. I really want to, we all want to have a happy ending.

And there’s not many deathmatch wrestlers who have someone really phrased it to me like that. And I thought about it. And I said, I’m a great wrestler. I want to do those things. I want to be able to walk and retire one day. Be happy. Not many people get to, you know? I’m 31 years old, turning 32 in October, I don’t have much of a savings, you know, going on for me. It’s because it’s a lot of living day by day because the world’s hard because and wrestling is my only job right. But I want that I want to be able to retire one day with different things that I’ve done, whether it’s my books, my music, if I could open up like a shop or a restaurant.

And I’ll be able to retire and say, dude, I had a great career. I have a life savings now from Pro Wrestling. And I can retire and walk off of the sunset with a family. That’s all anyone should really know. Because at the end of the day, if you don’t have a family, you don’t have people that love you and care for you. And all you have is these little successes that mean nothing at the end of the day, because you’re by yourself. What’s the point? Like, I’ve done all this stuff and that’s the best thing I think I want to do. And now it’s, it’s holding onto this title and doing what I can with it while I can with it. And riding off in the sunset and doing whatever’s next.

Monthly Puroresu: It’s very hard to live abroad in a country where you don’t speak the language, first that. Then, when you don’t have you know family friends people close to you people that you love that you feel familiar with it’s hard. And I’m glad to know that you got to you know introspect a lot do other stuff get to know you better and maybe get kind of over this hard moment of your life. Now I understand that you’re going back to the states the summer is getting closer, both in America and Japan. And I want to know if you have goals for the second half of the year.

AKIRA: As far as I know, I’m still going to be champion going to the States. So when I do go to the States and I can have defenses in the States, I’m going to do what I want.  And it’s non-blast deathmatch. If you get in here with the deathmatch Champion of the world, you’re going to wrestle with that deathmatch. You’re not going to get in there and just get the cheap, Oh, I got to apply to this and just be here. It’s like, no, no, no, you’re going to go in there and you’re going to work. And then if you haven’t done it, you’re going to learn. I’m going to take you. But also, I want to go in there and I want to go out. I want to do Bloodsport again. I want to do a lot more strong matches and again, represent deathmatch wrestling as the champion of it. I am the champion, the original champion.

And I don’t know what comes in terms of TV for me. I don’t know where I’m going to go, but I would like, you know, again, going off of what I’ve said, walking off in the sunset one day, I would like to step into bigger avenues. No, I want to get paid. I want to sign a bigger contract and be able to live comfortably for the first time in my life and not worry about leaving paycheck to pay the whole, living weekend to weekend, you know? How much money can I make from a show and from merchandise? I want to do that. I don’t know, something in the air. I don’t know what it is. I have a feeling that there’s eyes on me. I don’t know where they are, but I feel like that’s going to come. Whether I think it’d be really cool because I know, the ECW arena became also like a second home, right? Like all spot on my home for me now. The ECW Arena became home. I know that a certain company that’s doing a residency there and they have something called Death Before Dishonor. I think he needs some death before that dishonor. Just throwing that out in the one, you know?

But you know, maybe I go back to MLW, maybe I do all these things. I don’t know. I just want to get paid and I want to be able to afford a car and an apartment by myself. And I want to be able to give myself and my dog a life that is worth living because I’m tired of being the guy. I’m trying to be a romanticizing starving artist. It’s old. It’s tiring. I’m beaten up. The starving artist thing is great until the point when you become truly starving and you’re worried about if you’re going to be alive the next year or not.  And that’s all I can really say about that. You know, like I want to come back to Bloodsport. I want to do all these bigger shows. I’m want to sign a big contract and if I can represent BJW on a, on a televised platform, I think that’d be pretty cool. Maybe first time ever, you know? We’ve seen the IWGP belt in different televised formats now. AAA’s on, on the WWE TV. See the BJW belt on TV format would be pretty cool. And that’d be first time ever. And I’m all about this first time ever. So.

Monthly Puroresu: I wish you all the best in the remaining of the year. Hopefully some of these goals will come true. I think that I actually agree with what you said. I believe that there’s some eyes on you. You’re the current winner of one of the top tournaments in the gender. You’re a top champion in Japan, doing almost a six month tour now, not your first time in Japan. So, I believe there are some opportunities coming your way. So fingers crossed for that. Maybe you can even showcase the BJW belt in a bigger platform. That will be really cool. And the first time ever.

AKIRA: Yeah, it would be a first time ever, yeah.

Monthly Puroresu: OK, thank you for your time. Akira, it has been a pleasure to have you here before closing this interview. Do you have any message for your fans watching this?

AKIRA: Thank you guys for giving me a life to live. I’m not working a job that I feel miserable at anymore. I’m just doing what I’m doing because of you, because of the love and support all around the world. A lot of people say these things just, you know, because it’s a platitude and it’s a, you know, you should say it to people like, I mean it.  Whenever my fans go to me and they tell me how much they love me or my work and the things I’ve done, I really appreciate it because the work that I give is part of my heart and my soul to you all because I want to. I want people to be affected by the things that I do. That’s the beauty of professional wrestling. It touches people on so many different levels, mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally. And it’s all the love, all the support, all the well wishes I needed more often than you think. Because times came really hard and at the moment, you all are the only family that I’ve got, you know? You’re the only people I can really talk to consistently and that’s where you’re welcome from. And I thank you and I hope that everyone else is surviving out in the world right now and keeping their heads up. And I hope that I can be the same pretty well too. Thank you!

Date:

July 25, 2025

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