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INOKI, RYOGOKU AND RIZIN: HARTLEY JACKSON'S STORY OF INTEGRITY, HONOR AND PRIDE

Most 40-year-old men wouldn’t challenge a former sumo wrestler coming off a thunderous MMA debut to a fight. This is not a story of a normal 40-year-old man.

This is the story of Hartley Jackson, Australian professional wrestler of 21 years. This is the story of integrity, honour and pride.

In 1999, Jackson wrestled his first match. Six years later, he travelled to Southern California to train under the most infamous man in Japanese wrestling, Antonio Inoki.

In 2017, he competed in his first Burmese boxing match. A year later, he signed with the biggest wrestling company in the world as a coach

Currently he’s a full-time wrestler for Pro Wrestling ZERO1 in Japan while serving as a trainer at the company’s dojo. Now, he’s calling out Tsuyoshi Sudario, a former sumo wrestler coming off a thunderous MMA debut, for a fight.

When Jackson started his wrestling career, he dazzled audiences with a speculator array of aerial moves and was christened ‘The Extreme High Flier’.

Over the years, Jackson has shifted to a more ground-and pound-offense. He can blend the theatrics of wrestling with a dose of legitimacy from his MMA experience.

No man believed in blending legitimacy into wrestling more than the man who Jackson trained under in Southern California: Inoki.

As the owner of New Japan Pro Wrestling throughout the early 2000s, Inoki repeatedly tried to introduce wrestlers into MMA and MMA fighters into wrestling.

It was a disaster. Fighters couldn’t wrestle and wrestlers couldn’t fight. Attendances plummeted.

Eventually, Inoki was forced to sell his controlling share of the company in 2005. The same year Jackson travelled to Southern California.

The lessons Jackson learned under Inoki set him up for a career as a future trainer himself. He has served as a trainer in Australia, America and Japan.

He was hired by WWE, the biggest wrestling company in the world, in 2018 to be a coach in its Performance Center. Now he trains at ZERO1’s dojo.

He teaches students to approach the lifestyle of wrestling – the training, the conditioning, the mindset – with integrity.

Many of the lessons he learned from Inoki 15 years ago, he applies in his own training: “I knew I wanted to become a coach right after I trained at the LA Dojo.

“Being in the ring with Antonio Inoki and Kendo Kashin, I had never experienced that kind of full-time training and conditioning before,” he explains.

“It changed my whole mindset on professional wrestling. It wasn’t a hobby, it wasn’t something you just did for a laugh or for some fun, this was a no nonsense fully respected lifestyle.

“I wanted to take back what I had learned and apply that to wrestling in my home country. And yes, for sure, still to this day I apply some of the same lessons and values I learned at the LA Dojo in my training sessions.”

Jackson returned to ZERO1 on March 1 this year. Unfortunately, his return couldn’t have come at a worse time as the COVID-19 global pandemic immediately brought the world to an abrupt pause.

After COVID-19 briefly halted all wrestling shows, Jackson challenged fellow Australian wrestler Chris Vice for the World Heavyweight Championship in May. It was only Jackson’s third match back in the company.

Although he was unsuccessful, being able to represent Australia means more than holding championships to Jackson.

Next March, ZERO1 will hold its 20th anniversary show in one of the most famous arenas in Japan; the Ry?goku Kokugikan. It will be the first time ZERO1 has held a show in the arena since 2011.

Countless legends of Japanese wrestling have headlined the Ry?goku Kokugikan for ZERO1. Mitsuhara Misawa, who is considered by many as the greatest wrestler of all time. Keiji Mutoh, who still wrestles to this day at 57 years old. Shinjiro Otani, who founded ZERO1 alongside Shinya Hashimoto 20 years ago.

While there will almost certainly be many legends on the show, Jackson has his eye on blossoming 22-year-old star Towa Iwasaki: “My dream main event would be to see Shinjiro Otani vs ‘a more experienced or travelled’ Towa Iwasaki.

“I would see it as the ‘current spirit of ZERO1 versus the future spirit of ZERO1’ and would love for the draw and appeal to the fans at Ry?goku to be solely for Pro Wrestling ZERO1.”

But for Jackson, his dream is to represent Australia on the biggest stage, to honour his beginnings in wrestling: “As for me, my dream match would be to see some form of Team Australia versus Team Japan.”

Perhaps before Ry?goku, Jackson has his eyes set on a venture in MMA.

In September 2017, Jackson debuted for the International Lethwei Federation Japan. Lethwei is a Burmese variation of boxing. It is known as the art of nine limbs, as punches, elbow strikes, knee strikes, kicks, clinching, sweeps, throws, takedowns and headbutts are all allowed.

In preparation of his first fight, Jackson was forced to shed 15 kilograms to compete in the 100kg openweight weight class. He lost to Japanese fighter YABU by technical knockout in the third round.

While Jackson would like to continue competing in Lethwei, he also has MMA on his mind: “I would like to fight in both Lethwei and MMA in the future,” he says.

“Lethwei was a great experience but was slightly difficult because I had to lose nearly 15kg to make the 100kg weight limit.”

Specifically, Jackson wants to fight in Rizin Fighting Federation as he would be able to compete in the company’s 120kg heavyweight weight class.

He said: “That’s why RIZIN appeals to me with its 120kg division. I am really interested in fighting Tsuyoshi Sudario,” he says keenly.

Sudario amassed a 165-112-38 record in sumo before retiring last year to avoid the penalties from multiple assault allegations.

Sudario made his MMA debut at RIZIN.24 on September 27 against Dylan James, a fellow professional wrestler also making his MMA debut. Sudario won via doctor stoppage after the first round.

Others might be intimidated by Sudario’s destructive debut. Jackson remains undeterred. The opportunity to be Sudario’s first loss is too appealing.

After all, his pride won’t let feel otherwise: “He has an amazing fight career in front of him and I would love to be that annoying blip on his record!”

Professional wrestling is a weird world. It is like any other industry in the world. Throughout the constant physical conditioning, the red-eye flights, the bumps, the bruises and the broken bones, Jackson keeps three values closest to him: “My mantra is pride, honour and integrity.

“You keep those three, and you become at peace with pro wrestling.”

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