Demolition Ax Recalls Turning Down Chance to To Leave NJPW For AJPW

Demolition member Ax worked in Japan for several years, and he recently talked about his loyalty to NJPW and Antonio Inoki while there. Bill Eadie was a guest on Under the Ring and during the conversation he talked about the 14 years he worked for NJPW, including turning down a chance to go to AJPW. You can see the highlights below, per Wrestling Inc:

On getting the chance to go to AJPW: “I had gotten an offer to go to All Japan, but New Japan’s office with Inoki treated me so kindly. I mean, I was there for 14 years. I could pick my tours, and I would go anywhere from four weeks to 14 weeks all on a handshake between Inoki and myself. And I knew what I was gonna make. I knew when I was going, when I was coming back. And they treated me very good. They flew my family over to Hawaii two different times and paid for the trips, so to be offered to jump to All Japan, I had loyalty to Inoki.”

On his time working in the country: “Some of the best memories that I have in this business are in Japan. The people are very knowledgeable, it’s safe, I love the food. The trips were first class. The company treated their talent first class. To have a verbal contract signed by a handshake [deal], you just don’t have that anymore.”