Josh Bishop recalls squaring off with Masato Tanaka.
Tanaka, a legend in the industry, got in the ring with Joshua Bishop in a first round matchup in AIW's JT Lightning Invitational Tournament in September 2023. Bishop held his own in the bout, but Tanaka came out on top and won the match after going back and forth with Bishop for nearly twenty minutes.
Bishop recently spoke to Jeremy Lambert & Stephen Jensen on The Spotlight, and in the chat, Bishop said he needed to have the match against Tanaka because it was a dream match of his.
"It was a dream, honestly. I needed that match, so badly. Not even to just ‘I need to wrestle Masato Tanaka,’ that’s a dream match of mine. If you watch me, you can tell I love Mike Awesome. Being able to get in there with Masato Tanaka was honestly unreal. I try not to take pictures or be like that, but I had to take one with Tanaka at AIW five years ago when he wrestled Nick Gage. At the time, when I took the picture, I never thought about it, but I kept it and would look at it every now and again and would mentally...I believe in the power of the mindset and I would be like, ‘This match will happen one day.’ You have to believe in yourself."
Bishop recalled freaking out when Tanaka was announced for the show and noted that he was relieved when he was announced as Tanaka's opponent.
"When Thorne said he was going to bring in Masato Tanaka, I was like, no disrespect to anyone in the locker room, I have nothing but respect for everyone in the AIW locker room, it’s my home, but I was like, ‘I swear to fucking God, if someone else fucking wrestles this dude, I’m going to be fucking pissed at you.’ I never get like that. I never ask for anything. I don’t want to be involved in that part of the wrestling business at all. I just want to be the wrestler. When he announced the graphic, I was like, ‘Oh my God, thank God.’ It was so rewarding. For five years I had been hoping. Then, I was like, I have to take the powerbomb to the floor, I have to take all of his craziest stuff. Who wouldn’t want to? I’m never going to wrestle him again, probably, so I have to take it all. After the match, to get a standing ovation from the boys, that is the stuff that means more to me than a tweet or likes. It was a locker room sell out, standing ovation, it felt so rewarding. I was so overwhelmed. He gave me the powerbomb to the floor, DDT off the top rope, smashed me with a steel chair. I’m loving every moment of it. It was great. It was everything I could have dreamed for. I needed that match so badly. It might be my favorite match ever. When I came through, I just thanked Thorne. ‘You’ve done so much for me, I need to thank you again.’ This was the best part, him and Derek [Derek Dillinger] are cool and he told Derek the next day that I’m The Gladiator, that I reminded him of The Gladiator. If the dude who wrestled Mike Awesome the most is going to refer to me as The Gladiator, I’ll take that. I’ll be The Gladiator Josh Bishop."
Tanaka made it to the semi-finals of the tournament before losing in a four way bout that involved Tom Lawlor, Sam Holloway, and Derek Dillinger.
Elsewhere in the interview, Bishop said that he wants to be a top guy in MLW. Fans can learn more by clicking here.
Furthermore, fans can check out Fightful Overbooked's full interview with Bishop in the video linked at the top of this article.
