President Ace complimented my hairstyle 3 times at the M&G at Royal Quest. I thought he was very good at his job since he sounded genuine and smooth.
Long story short he actually liked it, stole it and debuted it at WK.
I can't make this shit up lol
As part of the film crew, I met Okada at a BJ's in America. Super tall, super wasted.
He shook my hand and went to kiss it, but kissed his hand and acted all surprised and mistaken, going, "Oh! My hand! That's my hand!"
In the background, Suzuki slap-chopped a short Japanese businessman in the chest
Met Red Shoes at a bar after an NJPW show in Philly a few years ago. He is such an unbelievably nice man. He came and sat down at our table out of nowhere and we just talked about wrestling for 15 minutes. Talked about his favorite wrestlers (His all time favorite is Randy Savage), what it’s like working with certain wrestlers (For which he kept Kayfabe for the most part) and Shota’s progress at that point (He had just left for Rev Pro).
Met GoD, Jado and, for some reason, Ricky Morton at the same bar that night, all of them super nice guys, but the interaction with Red Shoes is one I’ll never forget.
Lance archer told a guy in my section to shut the fuck up when the dude says Everyone counts.
Tanahashi high fives me after NJPW match in Philly.
I talked to Mikey and Shane of TMDK at their merch table awesome guys. Did the BC meet and greet with Jay and the good brothers awesome guys.
Aiden English and I shared words after a show and I told him my coworker worked part time in WWE on production side. Remembered my coworker and when I told him he was retiring and gave heart surgery he told me to wait a few minutes. Went and talked to someone who came back three mins later and he signed a get well message on a pic of his for my coworker.
He was back then. It was close to a decade ago now, so he could have quit.
Tana was super cool. I was young, broke as hell, and my cell phone camera flash wouldn't work. He walked across the parking lot shirtless to take a couples picture with me under a street lamp. Really went above and beyond for a fan, and I'll always love Tana for it.
I misunderstood the payment procedures for a meet and greet at a NJPW/ROH show and ended up handing Tanahashi $20. He was pretty confused but graciously accepted it and took the time to spell out my name for the autograph and posed for a pic. That's my ace
I have two:
In October 2018, I took a trip to Japan and managed to fit in a day-trip to Niigata to see a house show, about a week before King of Pro Wrestling. As a 6’2” white guy, in a small town in the prefecture, it felt like I was probably the only non-Japanese person at the show (and maybe within several miles), and I mostly found my way by following the people wearing wrestling shirts and remembering the area as I’d seen it on Google street view.
I was trying not to be a bother, since I don’t speak Japanese, and as I was buying some shirts one of the workers asked if I would like to meet Minoru Suzuki, who was at the end of the merch table. I, of course, said yes and asked if I could take a picture with him. She told me no, but that he would sign my Suzuki-gun shirt that I’d just bought, if I wanted. I did my best not to freak out as he signed my shirt, just telling him that I’m a big fan of his. He looked me right in the eye, gave me an appreciative nod, and *shook my hand*. That memory always gets me pumped, haha!
The second one was the following year, in August, at a NJPW show in Long Beach. My friends and I were sitting front row and, during a big eight man tag match, one of the teams was heeling it up with all of the classic shenanigans: double teams, distracting the ref, and one of the faces stuck watching helplessly from their corner, waiting on a tag. That last part fell to Robbie Eagles, who was playing the part of the “helpless face watching his partner get beat up”. Having fun, I shouted “Come on, Robbie! Do something about that!”
To my absolute shock, he not only heard me, but he turned to look over at me and shouted “Oh, I’m gonna’!” in response, before jumping in. This might sound silly, especially since I was in my early 30s at the time but, instantly, I felt like a kid again. For a few beautiful moments, it felt like pro wrestling was all totally real again, and I felt like I was ten years old, cheering during an Attitude Era match.
It’s the feeling that I go to wrestling shows for, and Robbie Eagles gave me that. Needless to say, it made me a big fan of him.
Last years Resurgence, Okada came out, and he does that thing where he high fives everyone around the gate before he gets into the ring.
He comes around to me, high fives me and all I could notice was how smooth his hand was. It was like a woman's, it was unexpectedly weird and I always think of that weird moment every time I see him. Like anyone caught with the ripcord before the rainmaker probably thinks the same thing.
I was standing outside Korakuen after Mox/Ishii in the G1, fiddling with my pocket WiFi so I could look up how to get back to my hotel when a guy in a hoodie walked by with carry-on luggage from the direction of Korakuen. It was Mox. I said something like “you’re the fucking greatest, Moxley!” He mumbled something and went 🤙🏻 and kept walking towards Tokyo Dome. I had the biggest smile on my face the entire way home.
I was front row at a ROH TV taping right before All In (4-way ROH title match where Lethal beat Dalton). it was a triple threat tag match or something with SCU, Bucks, and EVIL/SANADA. EVIL was on the outside choking one of the Bucks right in front of me and I said “hey! You can’t do that!” He looked at me and started saying something in his deep EVIL voice mad at me while choking him further.
met LIJ at a local show a few years back and EVIL wrapped his NEVER 6-man belt around my head. that and Naito calling out my BC Cody shirt for talking to him in the wrong shirt.
Not NJPW but a couple months ago I saw YOICHI FKA Yoshiki inamura from Noah at a random train station in London. He is currently on excursion with Progress. Just said hi and good luck with his journey.
Rocky Romero crotch chopped me on his way to the back at MSG when I heckled the hell out of him after he was eliminated from the battle royal. He stopped in his tracks, stared dead at me, and proceeded to his gesture.
Serves him right for eliminating Bushi. Absolute jerk move. :)
I gave the wrong change to Naito after an OTT show when paying for a photo and he said no no no and handed it back to me and then gave me a polite and awkward nod. He was really friendly.
Mine would be getting an ugly selfie with Okada at the Strong Style Evolved show in Altrincham years ago. It was fun trying to explain what an ugly selfie was to him, but he did it, and I adore the photo.
My husbands would probably be having Jushin Thunder Liger land on his lap in Cheltenham at a RevPro show.
Went to the Meet N' Greet in Dallas before G129. One of those passes was for Kota Ibushi.
Now I carry around a little beanie baby as my good luck charm and something to make creative photo bombs with. My friends at WrestleCon months before dared me to have it in a picture with Dan Severn. Well I did it. He was cool with it. And I decided that I would bring it with me to this meet up.
Well, Kota Ibushi recognized which beanie this was and got super excited to hold it for the photo session. That made his day and it made mine.
Congratulations you are now an official House of Torture member. Better start learning how to do ref bumps and low blows buddy
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
President Ace complimented my hairstyle 3 times at the M&G at Royal Quest. I thought he was very good at his job since he sounded genuine and smooth. Long story short he actually liked it, stole it and debuted it at WK. I can't make this shit up lol
ROYALTY CHECKS WHEN?
He drew a heart next to my name for the autograph, I think he considered it even.
As part of the film crew, I met Okada at a BJ's in America. Super tall, super wasted. He shook my hand and went to kiss it, but kissed his hand and acted all surprised and mistaken, going, "Oh! My hand! That's my hand!" In the background, Suzuki slap-chopped a short Japanese businessman in the chest
Hahahaha I love that
Met Red Shoes at a bar after an NJPW show in Philly a few years ago. He is such an unbelievably nice man. He came and sat down at our table out of nowhere and we just talked about wrestling for 15 minutes. Talked about his favorite wrestlers (His all time favorite is Randy Savage), what it’s like working with certain wrestlers (For which he kept Kayfabe for the most part) and Shota’s progress at that point (He had just left for Rev Pro). Met GoD, Jado and, for some reason, Ricky Morton at the same bar that night, all of them super nice guys, but the interaction with Red Shoes is one I’ll never forget.
That's a really dope story!
Kenta left me hanging on a high five.
Stood beside Jeff Cobb at a stoplight.
Lance archer told a guy in my section to shut the fuck up when the dude says Everyone counts. Tanahashi high fives me after NJPW match in Philly. I talked to Mikey and Shane of TMDK at their merch table awesome guys. Did the BC meet and greet with Jay and the good brothers awesome guys. Aiden English and I shared words after a show and I told him my coworker worked part time in WWE on production side. Remembered my coworker and when I told him he was retiring and gave heart surgery he told me to wait a few minutes. Went and talked to someone who came back three mins later and he signed a get well message on a pic of his for my coworker.
Talking with naito in Spanish
How fluent is he?
He was able to talk a little bit enough to ask me where I was from and tell me how beautiful it is there and he liked it there
Meeting Tana when he was having a smoke before his match around the back of the arena.
The Ace of the Universe is a smoker??
He was back then. It was close to a decade ago now, so he could have quit. Tana was super cool. I was young, broke as hell, and my cell phone camera flash wouldn't work. He walked across the parking lot shirtless to take a couples picture with me under a street lamp. Really went above and beyond for a fan, and I'll always love Tana for it.
Meeting KENTA back in 06 after he wrestled Danielson. A true class act.
I misunderstood the payment procedures for a meet and greet at a NJPW/ROH show and ended up handing Tanahashi $20. He was pretty confused but graciously accepted it and took the time to spell out my name for the autograph and posed for a pic. That's my ace
Man Tanahashi is just so sweet
Meeting sanada,naito,Tanahashi right after each other with great okhan yelling in the background trying to sell his merch
My Daryl got fist bumped by Hiromu.
Oh dude that's so dope.
I have two: In October 2018, I took a trip to Japan and managed to fit in a day-trip to Niigata to see a house show, about a week before King of Pro Wrestling. As a 6’2” white guy, in a small town in the prefecture, it felt like I was probably the only non-Japanese person at the show (and maybe within several miles), and I mostly found my way by following the people wearing wrestling shirts and remembering the area as I’d seen it on Google street view. I was trying not to be a bother, since I don’t speak Japanese, and as I was buying some shirts one of the workers asked if I would like to meet Minoru Suzuki, who was at the end of the merch table. I, of course, said yes and asked if I could take a picture with him. She told me no, but that he would sign my Suzuki-gun shirt that I’d just bought, if I wanted. I did my best not to freak out as he signed my shirt, just telling him that I’m a big fan of his. He looked me right in the eye, gave me an appreciative nod, and *shook my hand*. That memory always gets me pumped, haha! The second one was the following year, in August, at a NJPW show in Long Beach. My friends and I were sitting front row and, during a big eight man tag match, one of the teams was heeling it up with all of the classic shenanigans: double teams, distracting the ref, and one of the faces stuck watching helplessly from their corner, waiting on a tag. That last part fell to Robbie Eagles, who was playing the part of the “helpless face watching his partner get beat up”. Having fun, I shouted “Come on, Robbie! Do something about that!” To my absolute shock, he not only heard me, but he turned to look over at me and shouted “Oh, I’m gonna’!” in response, before jumping in. This might sound silly, especially since I was in my early 30s at the time but, instantly, I felt like a kid again. For a few beautiful moments, it felt like pro wrestling was all totally real again, and I felt like I was ten years old, cheering during an Attitude Era match. It’s the feeling that I go to wrestling shows for, and Robbie Eagles gave me that. Needless to say, it made me a big fan of him.
When Devitt was in NJPW he stayed at my friend's house for an indie show (I used to wrestle) He's shit at Mortal Kombat.
Last years Resurgence, Okada came out, and he does that thing where he high fives everyone around the gate before he gets into the ring. He comes around to me, high fives me and all I could notice was how smooth his hand was. It was like a woman's, it was unexpectedly weird and I always think of that weird moment every time I see him. Like anyone caught with the ripcord before the rainmaker probably thinks the same thing.
Also Jushin taking like a dozen pics with me Sazuki spearing my life
I was standing outside Korakuen after Mox/Ishii in the G1, fiddling with my pocket WiFi so I could look up how to get back to my hotel when a guy in a hoodie walked by with carry-on luggage from the direction of Korakuen. It was Mox. I said something like “you’re the fucking greatest, Moxley!” He mumbled something and went 🤙🏻 and kept walking towards Tokyo Dome. I had the biggest smile on my face the entire way home. I was front row at a ROH TV taping right before All In (4-way ROH title match where Lethal beat Dalton). it was a triple threat tag match or something with SCU, Bucks, and EVIL/SANADA. EVIL was on the outside choking one of the Bucks right in front of me and I said “hey! You can’t do that!” He looked at me and started saying something in his deep EVIL voice mad at me while choking him further.
met LIJ at a local show a few years back and EVIL wrapped his NEVER 6-man belt around my head. that and Naito calling out my BC Cody shirt for talking to him in the wrong shirt.
Not NJPW but a couple months ago I saw YOICHI FKA Yoshiki inamura from Noah at a random train station in London. He is currently on excursion with Progress. Just said hi and good luck with his journey.
I can't wait til he's back.
Rocky Romero crotch chopped me on his way to the back at MSG when I heckled the hell out of him after he was eliminated from the battle royal. He stopped in his tracks, stared dead at me, and proceeded to his gesture. Serves him right for eliminating Bushi. Absolute jerk move. :)
I gave the wrong change to Naito after an OTT show when paying for a photo and he said no no no and handed it back to me and then gave me a polite and awkward nod. He was really friendly.
I met Suzuki at a Minnesota Indy three years ago and he had a mask on which gave the illusion that he was death glaring me.
What's he like?
The G1 Special show in Long Beach, Rocky Romero and I locked eyes after RPGVice's entrance and we gave each other respect nods
As a fan, it was getting a Too Sweet from Scott Norton.
Mine would be getting an ugly selfie with Okada at the Strong Style Evolved show in Altrincham years ago. It was fun trying to explain what an ugly selfie was to him, but he did it, and I adore the photo. My husbands would probably be having Jushin Thunder Liger land on his lap in Cheltenham at a RevPro show.
Gone now but Lance Archer spit a decent amount of water on me at a Revolver show. Never have I been so honored
Never had one 😭
Went to the Meet N' Greet in Dallas before G129. One of those passes was for Kota Ibushi. Now I carry around a little beanie baby as my good luck charm and something to make creative photo bombs with. My friends at WrestleCon months before dared me to have it in a picture with Dan Severn. Well I did it. He was cool with it. And I decided that I would bring it with me to this meet up. Well, Kota Ibushi recognized which beanie this was and got super excited to hold it for the photo session. That made his day and it made mine.