I am the face of NJPW.
Kazuchika Okada
Being the longest-reigning champion isn't that big a deal to me because records are made to be broken.
To have a Japanese wrestler standing as the face of professional wrestling, there's only one person for that spot, and it's me.
My dream is to bring a G1 tournament to the United States. I want to do a G1 in front of American crowds.
I think it's cool to be able to show people who don't know anything about NJPW what we do.
New Japan is far superior to WWE when it comes to the quality of the roster and the quality of the matches.
Hell, I might want to be like some other people and become a movie star or join the UFC. You never know.
So, wrestling, being strong, having good matches? I learned that in New Japan. But as a TV character? TNA was good.
Jay White has a great chance to make his name off of me. But I'm not going to make that easy.
I want to keep going to new audiences and showing people firsthand how great NJPW is.
I really appreciate ROH for letting me wrestle in the United States. American fans get to see me and get to see New Japan. Ring of Honor lets us do that.
In all honesty, I'm not interested in records.
I'm not interested in WWE at all.
I like doing the shows with Ring of Honor, but I don't want to leave Japan.
I didn't get to wrestle at all in TNA. I wanted to wrestle, and they wouldn't let me.
Many people ask me about WWE and if I'd go to WWE in the future. They ask me if I'm going now. I will not go. I want to make New Japan Pro-Wrestling bigger.
I heard of the word 'rainmaker.' It means one particular star who could make a company or project rich and successful. Someone that makes it rain with money. I thought it was a really good concept, so I took over that idea to become the rainmaker.
From what I can see, gone are the days where you can just be the strongest, and that will put you at the top. It takes a little bit more... something else to grab the attention of not just pro wrestling fans but fans in general - to catch their eye.
I learned in TNA that I needed more than just a good match - I needed a character. That's how I became the 'Rainmaker.' It was good for me.
TNA didn't use me, but I got hungrier to wrestle. The struggle made me better.
I was always a good wrestler. I feel like I can wrestle anybody.
Of course I wanted to main-event wrestling matches in TNA, but in their eyes, no, that would not happen. So I went back to New Japan.
IWGP is the number one title in the world.
I started wrestling in Mexico, and then I came to New Japan.
My dropkick is from Mexico, but my fighting spirit is from Japan.
There is more emotion in a match in New Japan. The matches here in the U.S. are so fast that sometime they lack emotion. It is move, move, move.
When I was just a strong wrestler, TNA didn't use me. I didn't have a character, so I knew I needed one.
I am new school, but Ultimo Dragon taught me that wrestling is a fight. He taught me the importance of the fighting spirit in the ring.
Dropkicks are old moves, but I wanted to make a new version of an old move.
I was a young age, 16 years old, in Mexico. I traveled to these different countries, and I have the new style from Mexico and TNA. I wrestled two years in Florida, then back in Japan, and everything combined for a new style. It's different. I was looking for old school wrestling that looked new.
I'm going to show you how we do it in New Japan Pro Wrestling. That's what you get whenever I wrestle, whoever's in the ring with me.
I should hold the IWGP title always.
I'm the best, not Omega. I love New Japan more than Omega, and I will continue to prove that.
There's no bigger a superstar, and nobody closer with the fans, than Kazuchika Okada.
Tenryu is a legend in Japan.
I love working in front of American crowds.
I wouldn't say I really admired anyone. When I was a kid, there were definitely a lot of tough guys, but they weren't really cool. If anything, that was an influence on me: to take that toughness and combine it with the cool style, the cool entrance, the cool gear - and driving to work in a Ferrari.
I had no aspirations beyond middle school except to wrestle, no reason to go into high school. This world is all I've known since 15 years of age.
