Alex Coughlin details the sacrifices he made throughout his journey up to this point.
Coughlin came up through the NJPW LA Dojo as he learned under Katsuyori Shibata. He has continued to climb up the ranks, as he competed in the 2022 World Tag League. Coughlin aligned with David Finlay and joined Bullet Club at NJPW Dominion 2023. He and Gabe Kidd then defeated Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI) to win the NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship at NJPW STRONG Independence Day. Coughlin's ascension will continue when he competes in the G1 Climax 33 tournament.
Speaking at the NJPW G1 Climax 33 press conference, Coughlin delivered a passionate message. He started by recalling how he missed multiple funerals during his time at the LA Dojo, and he never asked to leave to be with his family. Instead, he kept training because he believed his hard work would pay off.
“It’s been five years. Five years I’ve been with this company, and still, this is only the fifth time I’ve been to Japan. Five times. There’s what, a two-and-a-half, three year stretch I haven’t been here? Pandemic, so what? Shit happens. Where have I been? 2018, I moved East Coast to West Coast, New York to LA. It’s about a six-hour flight. America’s pretty big. I’m in the LA Dojo. My grandmother, my mother’s mother, she dies. Do I ask the office for a flight back? Do I go to her funeral? Nah, man, I’m a fucking pro wrestler. I stay, and I train. I love this shit, I love this company, and I want to show my dedication so I work hard, and I stay. A year later, my mother’s father, my grandpa, he’s in the ground too. He dies. Did I go back to New York? Did I ask the office for a flight? No. I love this shit. I stayed, and I trained. I gotta show my dedication, right. It’ll all be worth it, it’ll pay off in the end. One more year later, my father’s brother, my uncle, he’s in an urn on my father’s fireplace now. Turnbuckle Tim. He had a local radio show in Florida. He loved pro wrestling. He called me all the time, he was so proud of me. He told me how he couldn’t wait for me to come down there and wrestle in Florida. I didn’t even get to show him this [NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship]. He’s fucking dead. Did I go back to his funeral? Did I fly back from LA? I stayed, and I trained because I’m a pro wrestler, and it’ll be worth it, right?" Coughlin said,
Coughlin continued by describing how he graduated the dojo, and he got his first merchandise. He noted that he was a homegrown NJPW talent, and when he had his brother design the shirt, he wanted to send it to his parents as a thank you for putting up with him and the sacrifices he made. Coughlin recalled he asked the NJPW office if he could do that, and they responded by stating that the company was limiting merchandise comps to the wrestlers themselves.
'Finally, I graduate from the dojo. I survived Shibata-san’s ass-kickings, and I finally got my first piece of merch. Now before the LA Dojo, I wasn’t an indie guy. I’m a homegrown New Japan talent coming out of an official dojo. Everybody else, Karl, Clark, Gabe, they had years of experience on me. But I was a product from the ground up from New Japan. I got my baby brother to design me a shirt. It’s based on 'The Thing', John Carpenter, Kurt Russell. If you haven’t seen it, you should check it out. By the way, the office still hasn’t paid him for that design. All I wanted, I finally asked the office for one thing. I wanted to send a shirt to my mother and a shirt to my father as thank you for putting up with me missing everything the last five years. I wanted two shirts. The response I got was, ‘Hey Alex, we’re limiting the comps of the shirts to the wrestler only right now. Sorry.’ This is my favorite part. ‘If it helps, the shirt is part of the Halloween sale going on right now.’ It was all fucking worth it, right? Missed funerals, birthdays, everything. Did I complain? No. Did I ask the office to go back? No. I stayed in the dojo even longer to train. Even when you got fucking Sasha Banks money, you can’t give me $20 wholesale worth of material to send to my parents as a thank you? But I stayed," he said.
As for the G1 Climax 33, Coughlin recalled how he was initially told that there wasn't enough room in the tournament, but he implied that the company added him in when Aussie Open (Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher) signed with AEW. He then detailed how David Finlay reached out to him, and he ultimately decided to join Bullet Club so he could take what he wants.
"Fast-forward to now, this is the biggest G1 ever, G1 33, 32 people. Big pool. Couple months ago, I was told I’m not in the G1. ‘Not enough room for you.’ I gotta sit home even longer. Until what happened? A couple of Aussies that shall remain nameless made the office look like a bunch of fucking chumps while they were too busy figuring out why the square block won’t fit in the circle hole, they left to get the bag at an American company, and I finally get the call about six weeks ago. Congratulations, you’re finally in the G1. You’re welcome.’ Like you’re doing me a fucking favor [Spits]. Fuck this and fuck you. Was it all worth it? David Finlay came up to me. He saw what I’d been through, and he started talking. He said, ‘I see what you’re doing. All this shit, it’s all a gimmick man. Join me, listen to me. Why wait and get what you want when you can just fucking take it?’ So I sat on it for a little while. I had a long time. I had about six months to think about it. But you know what, what else was I gonna do? Like a dog, I bit. Look what fucking happened the second I stopped listening to the assholes in charge and did what I want," Coughlin said.
Speaking of Bullet Club, Coughlin brought up the the Reiwa Three Musketeers (Shota Umino, Ren Narita and Yota Tsuji) and dismissed the idea that they were the future. Instead, he vowed to show that the Bullet Club War Dogs (Finlay, Coughlin, Clark Connors, and Gabe Kidd) are the future, and he stated that they were his dogs for real.
"Now you think the future of pro wrestling is the Reiwa Three Musketeers, the three fucking wannabe fashionista douchebags that had everything handed to them on a silver platter while I sat at home like a goddamn asshole with nothing to do? The future ain’t there, man. The future is with the savages. The future’s with the killers. The future is the dead-eye dreadnought Alex Coughlin. It’s '100 Proof' Clair Connors. It’s 'War Ready' Gabe Kidd. It’s 'The Drilla' Dan Moloney. It’s 'The Rebel' David Finlay. The War Dogs are here, and I ain’t doing this for this [G1 Climax] trophy. It ain’t fitting in my fucking check bag, not in my carry-on. I’m doing this to show you that we’re here to stay, and I’d like to see you fucking do something about it because they’re my dogs for real," he said.
Eddie Kingston recently said that competing in the G1 Climax 33 means everything to him. Check out his comments here.
The NJPW G1 Climax 33 will begin on July 15 and conclude on August 13. Check out the cards here. Fightful will have coverage of the tournament as it progresses.
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