YOH Responds to El Desperado Claiming He Lacks Passion, Discusses Teaming With SHO

– NJPW1972.com released the second part of its interview with YOH of Roppongi 3K, who is currently one half of the IWGP junior heavyweight tag team champions alongside SHO. Below are some highlights.

YOH on El Desperado’s criticism of him: “Yeah, I heard rumblings. He says a lot, huh… Well, he hasn’t achieved what we have in the same time period at all. For him to take that kind of aloof standpoint reeks of desperation to me, but still.”

On El Desperado saying he lacks passion: “What he thinks about me really doesn’t matter. I have confidence in my own abilities. He can complain all he wants about our style in the ring, but it’s wins and losses that matter in the end, right? … Regardless of what he thinks, I’ve always been an emotional type, you know…”

On how he feels about El Desperado’s comments: “Pissed off, honestly. I think they (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)’s way of thinking is to hold other people back rather than build themselves up. I don’t get the feeling they actually want the tag titles, they’re just happy disrespecting us. So, whatever. I just ignore them.”

YOH on his tag team partner SHO: “He’s done really well to establish himself as the power guy in the junior division. He can be a little awkward at times, so for him to find that straight ahead style has really helped him and I love to see it. … Well, I think that’s important in a team. When we were both came back from excursion, there was a lot of trial and error in finding our style. While we were away, guys like Ricohet and Will Ospreay were making waves. We asked each other what we could do to counter that kind of style. We both got into jiujitsu, SHO even had a couple of MMA matches.”

On wanting to do all they can as a tag team: “Right. It’s important to tackle things in order. Focusing on singles as well as tags isn’t the way; I don’t want to half ass anything. So right now it’s about taking steps together, as a trio with Rocky included. While there’s stuff still left to do as a tag team then that’s what’s important.”