Zack Sabre Jr. talks Shota Umino.
Over the years, Zack Sabre Jr. and Shota Umino have crossed paths several times. The pair most recently faced off in the 2024 G1 Climax tournament, which Zack would go on to win. Shortly after, Zack would cash in his IWGP Heavyweight Championship opportunity and successfully win the title for the first time in his career.
While speaking to NJPW in a recent interview following his championship victory, Zack spoke about Shota, offering various pieces of advice to Umino, who has been receiving negative reactions more and more as of late.
"Well, Shota's getting a lot of slack at the moment, but, you know, he's still very young. I think he debuted around the time that I joined New Japan, so I've had my eye on him from the beginning. I wrestled him just before he left for England. Before COVID, obviously, he had his excursion in England, you know, as much as possible with the pandemic. He's still finding himself, and I think it took me a long time to find myself, so it'd be easy for me to judge him for not having it all figured out. I mean, the best advice I'd have... This is the same advice I'd give to any wrestler, is wrestle the way that you genuinely feel passionate about. It took me a long time to figure out, but I think it would have been apparent what type of wrestler I was trying to be the whole time. I just wasn't good enough to be that wrestler. But yeah, you need to think, who am I as a wrestler? That should be very easy for people to recognize. I probably can't comment on image or ring attire as I've mostly just worn trunks and shin guards the whole time. I guess it's not just style, it's image too. Like, who are you? Are you roughneck? I know that Japan's very fond of English expressions that are somewhat misused, but are you the roughneck? Are you the shiny white and pink glow stick ace? Who are you? But I still think he's very capable. He's very skilled. He's still very young. He's going to figure it all out. But he's not going to figure it out against me for the IWGP World Heavyweight title. So I think it's my job and my duty to beat him in a way that he's then able to find himself. Yeah. It's good. I mean, the ace thing is always interesting, isn't it? I feel like that title should be given to you by the fans. You can feel that, like, oh, I want to be the top of New Japan. I've wanted to be the top of New Japan my entire life. But I think when you make it that transparent, I think it seems false. And then, yeah, I'm probably not one to speak about hairstyles. But, yeah, whoever his hairdresser is needs firing."
During a recent appearance, Zack promised to make history at Wrestle Kingdom 19. You can read more about that here.
If you use these quotes, please credit the original source and link back to Fightful with an h/t for the transcription.
