English translation
Yuma Anzai's "Promise to Me"
Weekly Pro-Wrestling
No.2333, 2024/12/25 issue, p.20
What are the do's and don'ts of tryouts?
☆Tryouts will be held on December 22nd. Will you be there?
Anzai:
I'll be there with them.
☆What will you be paying attention to?
Anzai:
I think the most important things are their attitude towards wrestling, and their way of seeing things. Being able to keep going even when they can't do something. Being in pain on their 20th try but gritting their teeth and keeping going so they can do it the 21st time, I think that's important. In my opinion, for people who can endure the training and make their debut, those things are necessary. Physical strength and all that will eventually come, if they can do that.
☆Even if you can't do everything in the test, it's possible.
Anzai:
I think so. The final decisions are made by people above us, so we don't know what they look for, but, for example, it feels better watching people who yell even if their movements are unsteady, rather than people who look down while gasping for breath as they throw hands. When you think pro-wrestling's tough, and you see someone put in the effort again and again, isn't that how it goes? If you can appeal to people's hearts, then I think a lot of importance is placed on that.
☆Isn't it difficult to make a decision?
Anzai:
Yeah. But, when it comes to making matches for people to watch, it's like, it's better to watch someone do 20 push-ups while giving it everything they've got, rather than someone doing 30 push-ups in a mechanical way. That kind of thing is so important in pro-wrestling. Someone who can only do 80% but gets a response from the audience is better than someone who can do everything but just goes through the motions. Even a small movement can change everything. We can see those kinds of things well, and I think there's a real possibility that they'll be better than someone who can do it 100% of the time.
☆So, that means there are people who do everything perfectly and still fail...
Anzai:
I think so, definitely. There are physical fitness tests in the tryouts, but the final goal is pro-wrestling. If it were a push-up contest, naturally everyone who could do the push-ups would pass, but if you eventually want to become a wrestler, I think everyone understands that the road to making your pro-wrestling debut is very tough. It's important to be able to see if someone will be able to take it. This is coming from someone who didn't do the tryouts, though (strained laugh).
☆That's because you're elite.
Anzai:
No it ain't (laughs). I'd never say anything like that, but there were lots of people who did the tryouts at the dojo and gave up in the end, and talking to the wrestlers that saw these things happen, some of them could do the push-ups, and some of them were very vocal. I think they got extra points for that, and in the end, it was all about their motivation and their never-give-up attitude. You never know what's going to happen until the end.
☆If you had entered the tryouts, do you think you would have passed?
Anzai:
Hahahaha! Yeah, I wonder. But, I guess I'm relatively tall, so I've got that going for me.
☆You've also got the makings of a star.
Anzai:
Hehehe, I guess the people watching would have seen that. Then, there are short guys, people without a good physique, people who are a little on the old side, and they give up. But, if you look at Nagao, he isn't so tall, but he's making his debut, and the Saito Brothers tried out when they were in their thirties, and I think it would have been a waste if any of them had given up on themselves. There are some application guidelines. But, even if someone doesn't meet all the guidelines, they'll pass the tryouts if they're the kind of people we want to work with and to see doing pro-wrestling, so I don't want them to get fixated on arbitrary things.
Translated into English by Michelle @puroresueikaiwa
Please do not use without permission and credit.
