In the promo video for the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 12, graciously subtitled in English, one line stuck out to me:

It’s true that Naito’s dream became that of the fans, but while it can’t be said that Naito himself completely lost sight of his teenage self’s goals, it still makes me wonder. Do the fans dream on behalf of Naito? Does he strive to fulfil our dreams for him, rather than his own dreams for himself? How much does the title matter to him, rather than something else — being the center of focus, being the main character of New Japan, being the most popular guy in the company.

A friend recently made the bold assertion that Naito does not care about the title. My mind jumped to 2016 immediately, thinking of Naito throwing the title belt in the air, letting it lay in the ring as he the champion calmly walked to back without it. But Naito has continued developing from that point on, into the figure we see today — he is not the same man who won the title by cheating. I think winning the title made him realize that it was not the title that he wanted; he wanted, in essence, more than what the title could provide him. As it stands in wrestling, there are champions, and then there are Champions. The former are the guys who carry a title. The latter are the type who genuinely feel like they are carrying the company on their backs, who get cheered the loudest, who the fans want to see as champions, and who will stand as the benchmark of greatness within the company. This is what I think Naito means by wanting to be the ”shuyaku”, the main character. It may not be so much about the title as it is about the level he always wanted to get to, with or without the title. Many fans already see him on that level.

He wants the title, but only because he feels he should have it — because he already is the shuyaku, the main character, of New Japan Pro Wrestling. He wants the title, because it’s what the fans want to see. So in a way it is true to say that Naito does not care about the title, because the title doesn’t mean anything unless you are the main character — but in other ways, it is just as true to claim that he is not fulfilled until he has the title. The audience wants him to have it, so he too wants it.

Perhaps, Naito’s dreams became ours just as we started to have faith in him, when it became evident that he wasn’t going to be content to be ”the guy who almost got to the top” for the rest of his career, but would do anything to get to a place where he could prove himself again. It helps that he did things his own way, not afraid to step on some toes in his promos, channeling the kind of attitude many of the audience wishes they could possess. His rise makes for an inspiring tale, even moreso because it’s real; the hurt was real, the failure was real, but so too was the climb and the continued effort by Naito to improve. He got a second shot at realizing his ultimate dream, which is two more than most of us get, but at the same time, it feels like he deserves it.

Who’s dreaming whose dreams? Who cares? Let’s keep dreaming.