Timesplitter takes post Battle in the Valley class
KUSHIDA’s weekend in San Jose was not done with his eight man tag team victory at Battle in the Valley on Saturday night, as Sunday February 19 saw him host a special training seminar in the city at Pro Wrestling Revoluion’s school. Not only were local prospects eager to learn from the junior heavyweight master, but wrestlers from as far afield as New York and Florida were on hand to take advantage of the learning opportunity.
Sign up to NJPW Academy today!
The session started with a rigorous warm up and mat work, KUSHIDA paying close attention to the form of trainees as they undertook exercises and drills.
In the second half of the seminar, assistant trainer The DKC helped share pointers on submissions and pinning combinations. Each trainee was given one on one attention and advice before five minute exhibition matches gave each trainee the chance to show what they could do with direct advice from KUSHIDA himself.
A successful session in the books, KUSHIDA had this to say:
‘We were able to use Pro-Wrestling Revolution’s space today. I know the owner Gabe has a long career promoting on the west coast, and Jyushin Thunder Liger has come through here in the past as well. It was great to meet with Gabe today, and it’s really heartening that New Japan of America can have collaborations like these- it shows how loved NJPW is around the world. And it was a great seminar today too- everyone here has a lot of love and dedication to the business and that showed.
As a Japanese in a foreign country, I think the language barrier is something that I’m very keenly aware of. I study English constantly, but there are still some things that I can’t fully get across, and in a situation like this where you really want to teach a certain idea, direct translation is no good, and I need a translator. How to use a translator, and how to implement translation is something that I’d like to think about and study more.
I’m sure there will be great wrestlers coming down the line that will take advantage of these seminars to grow, and if they do, they’ll be able to learn directly from Shibata san, get that NJPW grounding and become Young Lions; I really think that pipeline has a ton of potential. The NJPW Academy starting in March in the LA Dojo is just like it says- it’s like a university for students to get a grounding, help and advice to find employment in this outside world of professional wrestling, and in the meantime, I’m excited to continue these individual seminars and bring them to every state in the country.
Originally posted at Read More