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NEW JAPAN LION'S ROAR EPISODE EIGHT REPORT

The show began with a camera shot of Dan Puru's family and friends at the Exhibition.  They were watching with interest and intent.

Dan says his family said that they did not know he could grapple.  He chuckles and tells them they better not get on his bad side.

Opening credits.

The Soul Taker.

After the Exhibition, it is back to training.  Mark Tui says that after some tough weeks of training and the exhibition, three recruits were injured.  However, the training does not stop.  We meet Tangi Ropati who is Strength and Conditioning Coach and he runs exercises and drills for the recruits.  The days exercises will include bear crawls, squats and push ups.   He tells them they have to complete the exercises within 1:45 seconds.  If not, they will  have to do it again.  He tells them don't let me take your soul today, because he will.  The non-injured recruits run the drills.  The injured watch and cheer them on.

Dan Puru says his confidence comes from his family.  He says that his family will tell him to calm down and he says "no".  He says he never saw Michael Jordan being told to calm down.  (He is a big Michael Jordan fan.)  He says if he is hurt, he has to keep the same energy, because they are a team.  They have behave as a team and they are only a strong as their weakest link.  He says no one is weak.   They will work to support each other as a team.  Dan says he is the youngest and has the most to prove.  Dan is 19 year old.

Youngest in the Crew.

On his first time at the Fale Dojo, he almost passed out.  He questioned whether he wanted to do this.   But he chose to come back.  He describes his first time meeting Toks Fale and how it was intimidating.  Fale told him that he hopes he comes back.  Dan says he has been training with Fale since 2017.   Dan says he appreciates the unconditional love from the coaches.

Energy.

Ropati says he tries to tap into their alter egos, the person who will be battling in the ring.  He wants that same energy from each recruit when they train, as they would in the ring.  The recruits are cheering each other on during their basic exercises and supporting each other.  Ropati takes them upstairs for weight training.

While the recruits run the weight lifting drills, Dan Peru is interviewed.  He says that he is always cracking jokes, which he does to lighten the mood.  He always gets the stares from the coaches who are telling him to be serious about this.   Fale has said in a prior episode that Dan needs to grow up.  

Dan has learned from pro wrestling that he does not need to have a muscled up body.  He was a chubby kid in high school, but now he is in shape.  It took time and effort to get to where he needs to be.  

Medicine Ball.

The recruits pair up on the mat.  They have to get a medicine ball from one side of the mat to the other end of the mat and put the ball in a tire.  They have to remain on all fours.  Whoever gets the ball in the tire wins.  The object is to get the ball away from your opponent and get the ball in the tire first.   There is some grappling involved in this training.  The recruits enjoy this form of training as they cheer each other on.

23.

Dan says he enjoys living in the Dojo House.  It is multi-cultural, and he comes from a big family so it is familiar.   He sees himself, like Michael Jordan, and wants to bring his teammates together.  His brother who is listening to the interview, laughs at his comment, but Dan is serious about it.

Will's Penalty.

During the Medicine Ball training, Will Averil lost against all the other recruits.  The others cheered him on, but he was not able to beat anyone.  Will took an elbow to the face, which busted him open above the eye.

Dan says that this is literally a fight.  You cannot fake a chop or an elbow in the face. 

After the day of training, Mark Tui warned all the recruits about picking and choosing.  He said they cannot just focus on skills the are good at, and ignore others that they are poor at.  They have to be good and consistent in everything, which will make them better wrestlers.   Mark Tui also said to not take it easy on others.   They cannot rise together as a group is they are going to allow one of them to take it easy.

Cribs.

The camera shows a shot of Manurewa in South Auckland.   This is where Dan lives.  When he was growing up, he never thought of wrestling as a real career.  He describes the people in Manurewa as caring and giving.  Dan shows off his room at his house.   He has poster of the Chicago Bulls and Doja Cat (an American rapper).   He shows off 30 pairs of different Michael Jordan shoes.  His brother Moses is shown on camera.

He hopes that he could wrestle in Japan.  He wants to be able to earn enough money from wrestling that his mother will never have to work again.

Level 4.

The camera then gets a shot of Andrew Villalobos and Tim Hayden listening to a news broadcast.   The news is announcing a Lockdown in the country due to the Delta variant of COVID-19.  Hayden and AV are bummed out because the exhibition went well and everyone was positive.  They looked disappointed and unsure of what was to come.

One Week Later...A House Divided.

On August 17, 2021, New Zealoand went into Lockdown.  Coaches Toks Fale and Tony Kozina moved into the NZ Dojo.  Joining them in the Dojo, were recruits Richard Mulu, Perenise "Eli" Taito, Michael Richards and Will Averil.   Everyone else stayed at the Dojo House.

They showed clips of the crew at the Dojo doing drills and exercises in the ring.  They continued training as if nothing happened.  

Fai Kava.

After a day of training, Fale gathers everyone in the ring.   He prepares a drink called Fai Kava.  It is from a special Kava root that grows in Polynesian islands.   They drink this mixture as a way to heal and relax their bodies.  As they drink the Kava drink, Will sings songs on his guitar, as everyone laughs.

Trainers:

Toks Fale

Tony Kozina

Mark Tui

Tangi Ropati

Recruits:

Tumanako “T” Te’i (new)

Perenise “Eli” Taito (new)

Warren Walters (new)

Will “Southside” Averil (Returning student)

Dan Puru (Returning student)

Michael Richards (Young lion)

AJ Visage (Returning student)

Lloyd Morgan (Returning student)

Richard Mulu (Returning student)

Andrew “A.V.” Villalobos (Young lion)

Jake Taylor (Young lion)

Sebastian Matters (Returning student)

Tim Hayden (new)

Mitch Schoemaker (new)

My review:

The training sessions were really tough, but the recruits seemed to be enjoying themselves.  Even those injured were screaming encouragement to their teammates, which as good to see.  The Medicine Ball exercise was cool to watch.

Dan Puru is a funny guy, but I can see the point of Fale and Kozina who see all the jokes and funny stuff as lacking discipline.  Dan cannot be joking like that in New Japan, because he will get hurt there.

This episode ended like a cliffhanger, because we did not see any footage at the Dojo House.  Perhaps that will come in Episode 9.   The Lockdown in New Zealand lasted for 107 days and was lifted in December 2021.  I am not sure how that affected the training schedule or plans for the recruits.  AV and Tim looked very disappointed at this announcement.   However, it was nice to see Fale end the episode on a positive note with everyone enjoying their Kava and singing songs.  

Micheal Richards tweeted yesterday that there are 4 episodes left to go.   With COVID now affecting them directly, it will be interesting to see how this series comes to an end.

Please check out New Japan World at http://www.njpwworld.com, to see this documentary.

Thanks for reading.

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