Josh Alexander comments on his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
At NJPW's Destruction In Ryogoku event on October 9, 2023, Josh Alexander made his international debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling, competing alongside The Motor City Machine Guns in a six man tag team match against CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii) & Hiroshi Tanahashi.
In a interview that was recorded just days before his debut with the company, Josh Alexander sat down with Tru Heel Heat Wrestling, where he noted that he was so excited to finally head to Japan.
“I don’t know how I put it into words because I’m so excited. I’m a guy I don’t get super excited with anything especially in wrestling because you always feel you’re gonna get let down somehow. But Japanese wrestling is something I discovered when I was 15 years old. At the same time I discovered TNA/IMPACT Wrestling, Ring of Honor, all these other companies, you know. That’s just when the birth of the internet came in and I discovered all these things. And it blew me away. Just like the focus on the in-ring style and the stuff they were putting on was something that evaded me for nearly 18 years in this business. I’ve never traveled to Japan, so when I finally got to do New Japan STRONG over the last few years, it was always spoken of, ‘oh, we need to get you to Japan.’ And I was just like, ‘you guys just let me know.’ It’s just a waiting game and then finally, I was at, do you guys know what a splash pad is?”
Alexander went on to note that he found out about his trip to Japan while he was at the splash pad with his children.
“It’s like an outdoor park where it’s a water park without slides and stuff like that. You can take your kids there on hot days, so they can enjoy themselves in a waiting pool and stuff like that. And I had my sons at the splash pad just hanging out on a sunny summer day and got an email that we need this information from you for this, this and this because you’re coming to New Japan. And I was just like, ‘what?’ Like this came out of nowhere, you just check your email inbox and a few weeks later, the match gets announced. And you’re just like, ‘this is the first match that I get to compete in when I come to Japan, New Japan.’ So you know I’m very excited as a pro wrestler, as a wrestling fan because you know I’ve been lucky enough to be in the ring before with one of my favorite Japanese wrestlers, Tomohiro Ishii, but to get in there with, you know, The Ace (Hiroshi Tanahashi) and Okada at the same time, it’s a hell of a way to debut. So I’m gonna make the best of it, show up at New Japan Sumo Hall for my very first show and I intend on making a statement. Do more of what I’ve always done in the past few years and that’s put all eyes on me and all eyes on IMPACT Wrestling at the same time.”
Fans can see full results from NJPW Destruction In Ryogoku by clicking here.
Josh Alexander is set to compete for the IMPACT World Championship at the company's upcoming Bound For Glory pay-per-view. Fans can see the updated card for that show by clicking here.
Special thanks to Tru Heel Heat Wrestling for the quote(s).
