Zack Sabre Jr. On Growing Up as a Wrestling Fan, Starting to Train at 14, More

Zack Sabre Jr. spoke with NJPW for a new interview discussing his early years as a wrestling fan and starting to train as a teenager. Highlights are below:

On his first exposure to pro wrestling: “I was born in 1987, so I was definitely aware of what the (then) WWF by the time I was six or seven years old. WWF was on paid satellite TV in the UK, and we couldn’t afford it, so I first watched more WCW, because it was on free to air … NJPW was sending a lot of wrestlers over. I think I first saw Liger relatively young. in the early 90s on WCW TV.”

On WWE’s popularity in the UK in the early 1990s: “It wasn’t quite mainstream, but for the kids in the playground at school, it was just as likely they’d talk about pro-wrestling as they did football, I feel … It was a different crowd going perhaps. WWF and WCW were popular but they wouldn’t come to the UK very often. That meant that a lot of places would change and market around seeing pro-wrestling live rather than any particular promotion or star.”

On being a fan of technicians early on: “Any wrestler with a more technical style appealed to me. A lot of people will talk about seeing Hulk Hogan or someone like that and being amazed, but the shiny production never really appealed to me. The larger than life guys weren’t as interesting as Sean Waltman or Bret Hart in my mind.”

On his family’s reaction to him starting to train at 14: “My mum was always very supportive of me, but I think she just thought it was another after school activity when I first started … I think it probably speaks to how the UK treats sports differently as a culture. In Japan or America, sports are taken much more seriously from an early age. You get put on a career path early, there are college scholarships, that kind of thing. In the UK, all the sports you do have to come separately, alongside your education … a different set of rules as well, we have less strict athletic commissions. It’s easier to sneak in with something like pro-wrestling classes at a local gym, because you’re afforded more choice in a way, sports isn’t as established as a career path.”

On starting his training with NWA-UK: Hammerlock: “In the UK there was this monthly wrestling magazine called Power Slam. There was an advert in there for Hammerlock, and I was amazed that I could start at my age. I saw the advert just before Christmas in 2001. My mum made me wait until just after Christmas, and then I started the first Sunday in 2002 … I learned a lot from Andre [Baker], but my day to day coach was Jon Ryan. I have to credit him for everything really. Later on, Andre took a shine to me, so he would give me some one on one training, or train in a small group with people he saw potential in.”

On his memories of his first matches: “It was petrifying. You’re trying to learn so much that you’re overwhelmed and then when you’re in matches, everything goes out of the window. I remember wrestling in working men’s clubs in front of 20 people. Pubs, where the regulars were annoyed wrestling night had shown up.”

On what appealed to him about Japan: “The aesthetic still seems fresh now, let alone 18 years ago. The only wrestling I’d seen on TV was American, but the way everything was presented is completely different. The sports like presentation has always appealed to me the most.”