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NEW JAPAN LION'S ROAR EPISODE NINE REPORT

New Japan Pro Wrestling Lion's Road - Week 9: The Lockdown

A mandatory isolated bubble for everyone in New Zealand was put in place, by the government.  Each member of the NZ Dojo could only choose one bubble.

Richard Mulu explains that half of the recruits are at the Dojo House while half of the recruits are at the NZ Dojo.  He say they are able to train and go for runs.  They can only go out for essentials.  The coaches, 4 recruits (including Richard, Perenise "Eli" Taito, Michael Richards and Will Averil) and the film crew of the documentary moved into the Dojo.   Richard felt he wanted to move to the Dojo to get more one on one time with the trainers and keep working on the basics.

Solider / Fighter

Eli is interviewed.  He was in the military and trained in MMA.  Eli told his story of how he got to the Fale Dojo.

The camera switches to Tony Kozina teaching them the basics of an arm lock, going through the psychology about what would you do, what are your options when your opponent gets you in that position.  

Eli says that when he was given the option he quickly grabbed his gear and was willing to move into the Dojo.  Eli says that he understands why some guys chose to stay in the Dojo House.   But he thought, if you really want to prove yourself, why would you not want to be around Fale-san. 

They continue to work on arm holds and arm take downs.  Very basic stuff, but explaining the psychology of it as well.

The Truth about Wrestling

Eli describes his win/loss record in MMA.   He says he gets tunnel vision when he is in the ring.  He can hear his opponent breathing, but he gets a rush from being in the ring.  His brother told him of the Fale Dojo and Eli thought he would give it a try.  At 30 years old, he was not getting younger.   He is happy to see the progress in himself over the past weeks.  When he started, he said it was very hard.  He struggled with the submission aspect of wrestling.  When it came to striking, he saw the similarities between MMA and wrestling.  He did not realize the small details or nuances when it comes to wrestling.  He said there are a lot of things to think about from your position in the ring or surroundings.   He is learning a lot.

Will Averil shows off a giant bruise on his abdomen which came from practicing  strikes in the ring.

A World View

Tony Kozina explains that as an American moving to New Zealand, you are immersed into a multi-cultural lifestyle.  He never realized that New Zealand was considered a part of Polynesia.  He has learned Samoan, Tongan and Japanese cultures in New Zealand.  You learn cultural greetings and mannerisms.   He feels that the move to New Zealand and learning about these cultures has made him a better person.

The recruits at the Dojo House requested that the film crew shoot them during the Lockdown.  Behind the Senpai's backs.  Fale and Kozina find out about it and they are not happy.

The Other Side

At the Dojo House, Tim Hayden told a story that they went to the butcher shop.  There was a COVID case at the butcher shop.  They were all freaked out that they would be sent home.

They continue to train in ball fields with bear crawls and other exercises.  They mention that they were tested after the incident at the butcher shop and no one was positive.

There's Been Some Days

Tim says there are a lot low points and the Exhibition put a lot of pressure on him.   He says what has kept up his morale is the other recruits.  He points out Dan, Mitch and AV who keep up his spirits.

Jake Taylor explains that many of them are nursing small injuries but they are still running drills and exercises to keep up to what is expected to the trainers.  Jake explains that he wanted to show Fale-san and Tony-san that the guys at the House were not taking it easy, which is why they wanted the film crew to capture their drills.

The Lonely Business

Mitch Schoemaker explains that with the Lockdown nothing was coming in or out of New Zealand.   All international flights in and out of the country were canceled.  Mitch's girlfriend sent him a care package and he opened it on camera.  He showed the items that were important to him and he explained how he missed home and his partner in Australia.

Tim further said how this Lockdown emphasizes the lonely life of a wrestler.  He wishes that he could just see he mom and talk to her.  

Essential Services

Tumanakko "T" Tei says he is the Essential worker of the House.  He worked as a security officer back home so T jokes that he is an essential worker in the Dojo House.   Jake says they do not have bigger weights but they can get by with smaller weights at the House.

Reset

Dan and T are playing video games at the House.  T beats Dan at the game and T teases Dan.  Dan gets upset and all worked up.    AV has to yell at Dan to calm down and tells him to go outside.

The Room

T leaves the House for his job.   The recruits move his stuff out of the room and move him to another part of the House.   They explain that T has not been training as hard, not doing his chores, being lazy and making inappropriate comments.

My Family

Tim describes his training that he is leaning that a wrestling match is fight.   He feels COVID interrupted this intake of recruits.   He hopes he can come back and get a more full training experience.

Eli says he and Richard are cousins.   They have been supporting each other during training and learning together.

Warm Milk

Fale and Kozina talk about the decision the recruits had to make about where to go for Lockdown.  Fale said he had to decide do I stay home and do not work, or do I stay at the Dojo and get work done.   He understands that it was hard for the recruits to make this decision in a 4 hour time window.   Kozina mocks some of them saying the Dojo floor is too hard to sleep on or that they need their warm milk to sleep.

Little Finger.

Dan goes to pick up T from his security job.   Dan tells T that they moved his stuff into a room with Jake.   Dan tells T he has to wake up on time.   T references a character called "Little Finger" from Game of Thrones.   He says that he have to see everything coming so when all the bad stuff comes, you are ready for it.  T says that it is what it is. 

Fale explains that the New Zealand Dojo is a real place and an important place.  They gave every recruit a track suit with the New Zealand Dojo logo.  Fale says that after what he is hearing is going on at the Dojo House, he will be stripping everyone of their NZ Dojo suits, colors and identity.

Next Episode

They show clips of Fale and Kozina ripping into the recruits from the Dojo House.

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:

Fun episode.   I enjoyed watching for the first time Tony Kozina and Toks Fale in the ring explain the psychology of a simple arm lock.  From a certain position, where do you go, and what do you and working in tandem with your opponent.   You could see in the faces of Eli, Rich and Will that they were thinking "wow this is more than just high spots".   I loved how Eli confirmed that you actually have to think in the ring and be aware of your surroundings. 

This basic training explanation makes me appreciate a wrestler like Zack Sabre Jr. even more because he is so fast with his submission moves. He must be constantly thinking of move in the ring and his body has to be as fast as his mind is.   Amazing.

I have heard that wrestling can be a lonely business from legends like Jake Roberts, Kevin Von Erich or even Jim Cornette.  For these recruits, COVID just increased that loneliness.   Without the full team doing drills all together, that does make things hard and guys may feel alone and unsupported.  It is no one fault that COVID spread so fast, but just a matter of timing.   Tim Hayden had the perspective to say that even if this 3 month training is lost, he hopes he can return for another 3 months.

I expected the drama to come once I knew the trainers were at the Dojo and most of the recruits were at the House.  The childishness of the video game playing was silly.  Dan and T looked really bad here.  That kind of stuff should not happen in a Japanese Wrestling Dojo.   I think the recruits had the good intentions with filming their training to impress the trainers, but if they are breaking the Lockdown laws, then that will embarrass the trainers, Fale and potentially the company of New Japan as a whole.   That is not a good thing.

There should be interesting developments next week.

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

Thanks for reading.

 

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