AKIRA Reflects On Working In Big Japan Wrestling, Says It’s Changed How He Sees Wrestling

AKIRA works in Big Japan Wrestling along with MLW, and he says BJW has changed how he views professional wrestling. The MLW star spoke with Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert and Joel Pearl on In The Weeds podcast and reflected on his experience in the Japanese promotion.

“It almost feels like a blast from the past,” AKIRA said. “When I hit the scene in 2020 and 2021, and was two years into wrestling, that’s all I was doing was deathmatches. What’s great over there is, yes, it’s all this stuff, but I’m allowed to play my wrestling into it. I’ve had a lot of people, especially this tour, whatever happened this last year, my wrestling has changed, my philosophy. My vision on pro wrestling has changed. I’ve had many wrestlers come up to me and say, ‘One year ago, okay. This year, excellent.’”

He continued, “It’s been a great tour. I won King of the Deathmatch at the end of the year/beginning of the year. I think I was technically the first match of the year. I feel very fulfilled with what the fans are saying. It’s not like I’m a gaijin who went over there and they kind of like me. I went over there and it’s like when I’m here, ‘AKIRA!’ They are very behind me, 100%, a lot of BJW fans want me to win the Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship. They say that I bring an energy and an eye to Big Japan that is sorely missed and needed. Even just talking about it on Fightful is good for Big Japan and I don’t think anyone else brings this to the table. I want Big Japan to be successful. I want them to be where they were before COVID when they were drawing bigger crowds. I want people to get paid more and business to be good. I firmly believe that I should be the next Deathmatch Heavyweight Champion.”