Alex Coughlin Recalls His Work To Get To G1 Climax 33, Says “It’ll Pay Off In The End”

Speaking recently as part of an NJPW G1 Climax 33 media event, Alex Coughlin shared some details about his history in preparing for the tournament (via Fightful). Coughlin traced the path that brought him to the competition and delineated the series of sacrifices he sustained in order to reach this stage. He also called out Reiwa Three Musketeers, insisting that his own Bullet Club War Dogs faction would command the future. You can find a few highlights from Coughlin and watch the complete press conference below.

On the sacrifices he made in order to reach the NJPW: “It’s been five years. Five years I’ve been with this company, and still, this is only the fifth time I’ve been to Japan. Five times. There’s what, a two-and-a-half, three year stretch I haven’t been here? Pandemic, so what? Shit happens. Where have I been? 2018, I moved East Coast to West Coast, New York to LA. It’s about a six-hour flight. America’s pretty big. I’m in the LA Dojo. My grandmother, my mother’s mother, she dies. Do I ask the office for a flight back? Do I go to her funeral? Nah, man, I’m a fucking pro wrestler. I stay, and I train. I love this shit, I love this company, and I want to show my dedication so I work hard, and I stay. A year later, my mother’s father, my grandpa, he’s in the ground too. He dies. Did I go back to New York? Did I ask the office for a flight? No. I love this shit. I stayed, and I trained. I gotta show my dedication, right. It’ll all be worth it, it’ll pay off in the end. One more year later, my father’s brother, my uncle, he’s in an urn on my father’s fireplace now. Turnbuckle Tim. He had a local radio show in Florida. He loved pro wrestling. He called me all the time, he was so proud of me. He told me how he couldn’t wait for me to come down there and wrestle in Florida. I didn’t even get to show him this [NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship]. He’s fucking dead. Did I go back to his funeral? Did I fly back from LA? I stayed, and I trained because I’m a pro wrestler, and it’ll be worth it, right?”

On his first merchandising via NJPW: “Finally, I graduate from the dojo. I survived Shibata-san’s ass-kickings, and I finally got my first piece of merch. Now before the LA Dojo, I wasn’t an indie guy. I’m a homegrown New Japan talent coming out of an official dojo. Everybody else, Karl, Clark, Gabe, they had years of experience on me. But I was a product from the ground up from New Japan. I got my baby brother to design me a shirt. It’s based on ‘The Thing’, John Carpenter, Kurt Russell. If you haven’t seen it, you should check it out. By the way, the office still hasn’t paid him for that design. All I wanted, I finally asked the office for one thing. I wanted to send a shirt to my mother and a shirt to my father as thank you for putting up with me missing everything the last five years. I wanted two shirts. The response I got was, ‘Hey Alex, we’re limiting the comps of the shirts to the wrestler only right now. Sorry.’ This is my favorite part. ‘If it helps, the shirt is part of the Halloween sale going on right now.’ It was all fucking worth it, right? Missed funerals, birthdays, everything. Did I complain? No. Did I ask the office to go back? No. I stayed in the dojo even longer to train. Even when you got fucking Sasha Banks money, you can’t give me $20 wholesale worth of material to send to my parents as a thank you? But I stayed.”

On gaining a spot at the upcoming G1 tournament: “Fast-forward to now, this is the biggest G1 ever, G1 33, 32 people. Big pool. Couple months ago, I was told I’m not in the G1. ‘Not enough room for you.’ I gotta sit home even longer. Until what happened? A couple of Aussies that shall remain nameless made the office look like a bunch of fucking chumps while they were too busy figuring out why the square block won’t fit in the circle hole, they left to get the bag at an American company, and I finally get the call about six weeks ago. Congratulations, you’re finally in the G1. You’re welcome.’ Like you’re doing me a fucking favor [Spits]. Fuck this and fuck you. Was it all worth it? David Finlay came up to me. He saw what I’d been through, and he started talking. He said, ‘I see what you’re doing. All this shit, it’s all a gimmick man. Join me, listen to me. Why wait and get what you want when you can just fucking take it?’ So I sat on it for a little while. I had a long time. I had about six months to think about it. But you know what, what else was I gonna do? Like a dog, I bit. Look what fucking happened the second I stopped listening to the assholes in charge and did what I want.”

On his predictions for his future with Bullet Club War Dogs: “Now you think the future of pro wrestling is the Reiwa Three Musketeers, the three fucking wannabe fashionista douchebags that had everything handed to them on a silver platter while I sat at home like a goddamn asshole with nothing to do? The future ain’t there, man. The future is with the savages. The future’s with the killers. The future is the dead-eye dreadnought Alex Coughlin. It’s ‘100 Proof’ Clair Connors. It’s ‘War Ready’ Gabe Kidd. It’s ‘The Drilla’ Dan Moloney. It’s ‘The Rebel’ David Finlay. The War Dogs are here, and I ain’t doing this for this [G1 Climax] trophy. It ain’t fitting in my fucking check bag, not in my carry-on. I’m doing this to show you that we’re here to stay, and I’d like to see you fucking do something about it because they’re my dogs for real.”