Injured Outside the Ring: or, how Tetsuya Naito became who he is today
Tetsuya Naito was the most popular man in Ryogoku Sumo Hall. He had the audience in the palm of his hands, whether he was wrestling or just walking out to stand in the ring. This held true in April 2016, when he defeated Kazuchika Okada to become the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, and it was just as true in August 2017, when he defeated Kenny Omega to win the G1 Climax 27 tournament, and the contract to challenge for the title at next year’s Wrestle Kingdom.
It was true on October 9th 2017, at King of Pro Wrestling. So on that day, why did Tetsuya Naito, the most popular man in Ryogoku, standing in front of his future opponent Okada, ask the audience whether they were fine with Naito against Okada at next year’s Tokyo Dome main event? If your heart twinged in that moment, if you felt a stir, if you picked up on that moment and couldn’t stop thinking about it — you know precisely why.
Tetsuya Naito has a wound.
A wound is a term used in writing to describe a painful event so psychologically and emotionally damaging, that it changes who the character is. It’s not just a flaw or even a mere insecurity brought on by society’s expectations, it’s typically a very specific event that causes so much pain that the character would try to avoid similar hurt in the future. A wound changes the character because they start to believe something about themselves or others that is not true, in order to protect themselves.
The fan vote regarding the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 8 and the rejection by the fans is Tetsuya Naito’s wound. This is known by fans new and old, it is such a core part of his story that it may be hard to know Naito and not know this about him. Tetsuya Naito is really two characters — Naito before the rejection, and Naito after. The fan vote was a fairly okay resolution to a difficult situation, and a push that had not gone quite as hoped for Naito. Tanahashi’s book that came out sometime later criticized the Naito before the rejection, the way he expressed negative thoughts about himself in his promos, not giving fans a chance to get fully behind him. Maybe Naito before the rejection had some insecurities of his own that came through in these instances. The wound of the rejection cut deeper this time, however.
A lot of fan-written histories at this point jump straight to Naito’s 2015 excursion to Mexico, and his subsequent adoption of the El Ingobernable gimmick, that gave him new momentum, one that pushed him back to the Wrestle Kingdom main event. The logic of Naito rejecting the fans in this new heel gimmick made perfect sense. They didn’t care about him, some in Osaka going even so far as to boo him, so he stopped trying to appeal to them in return. He became tranquilo.
But all of this ties directly to the public wound we all had to witness. The lie that he believes about himself after the rejection, is that the audience doesn’t matter to him — that if he can reject them, just as they did him years ago, he will be shielded from any further hurt. He doesn’t need them; he can make it without them. There is another lie, buried somewhere deeper, less obvious for fans to see: Naito doesn’t think he is worthy of the adulation. This is the older lie he’s probably told himself for years, the one that caused him to stumble through his initial push, the one that lead to those unconfident promos. It underscores the pain the that wound ultimately caused.
You only need to look at his actions to realize that him not caring about the audience is a lie. Naito is still a wrestler, doing things that specifically draw the ire or the enjoyment of the crowd. He lies to himself that the audience doesn’t matter, while specifically doing everything in his power to appeal to them — whether it’s to make them hate him or to love him. Eventually, of course, it becomes evident that all the hateful reactions get replaced with adoration. Even the most faithful booers in Osaka do so while wearing Los Ingobernables de Japon merchandise. Naito becomes the most popular man in most buildings he walks into, in Japan or abroad.
He starts letting go of his defense mechanisms, starts coming down from believing the lie. He appeals to fans in promos and interviews now, he knows they like to chant along to his final ‘de .. Ja..pon!’ call at the end of a show — more importantly, he knows they like him.
Naito slowly allows himself to accept the fans, just as they have fully accepted him again. It’d be a beautiful ending to a story, but there is just one more problem. The wound hasn’t fully gone away.
This is what that little question to the fans at Ryogoku was all about. Naito may have been the most beloved man in the ring at that moment — when Okada interrupted him, he was met with boos from the audience — but there was still a part of Naito that hesitated, didn’t quite believe he was where he was, or that he was really going where he is headed. He still sought approval, confirmation from the fans that they really are with him this time around, that they were not going to reject him for a second time. He asked them, “is this okay, do you really want this”. The audience responded with an unequivocal, “yes”.
A good story drives its protagonist to face up to the wound of their past, and confront it, even when it’s the thing they’re most afraid of. In that moment they’re at their most vulnerable but also their most genuine — and if they can do this successfully, they may be able to heal the wound and grow stronger as result.
This is what makes the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 12 compelling on multiple levels. It is not only Naito’s challenge to a dominant champion, looking for a victory against all odds, but it also continues the story of Naito’s relationship with the fans and himself. It is the culmination of so many things, which is precisely what an important match in a big setting needs to be.
If Naito can make the choice to heal, then he cements not only his place in New Japan Pro Wrestling, but also with himself. Then he’ll have accomplished not only the superficial trophies of success — the title, the main event spot, the fans wearing his shirt and yelling his name — but to finally be at ease with himself and his accomplishments. That he is, ultimately, worthy and deserving of it all.
