#INFO

Less than one week before it was due to start, El Desperado’s Best of the Super Juniors campaign crashed to a halt. A fractured jaw in a deathmatch with hardcore legend Jun Kasai during TAKA Michinoku and Taichi’s self promoted event put paid to Desperado entering the tournament.

In his place, Taichi had somebody ready to go. DOUKI is his ‘hired gun’, but, he’s keen to point out, is more than a mere pinch hitter. NJPW1972.com talked to DOUKI and Taichi to find out what’s in store for the mysterious Japanese luchador in BOSJ 26.

–So, Taichi, why did you call on DOUKI as a replacement for El Desperado?

Taichi: He’s in the position of substitute for Desperado, but DOUKI isn’t just a pinch hitter. Sooner or later he was going to be in this position. This happened to be a good chance to do it; he was in Japan anyway, he had just been in TakaTaichi Mania. Even if he wasn’t part of BOSJ he would be in a New Japan ring soon enough.

–DOUKI, how did you feel when you got the call from Taichi?

DOUKI: I wasn’t expecting this to happen a few days ago, but invite or no, either way I just do my thing. So honestly, I didn’t feel anything either way.

–For those who don’t know, Taichi, what is your connection to DOUKI?

Taichi: I have to explain this again? How many times have I told this story already? Written it on Twitter as well. What a pain in the ass. Anyway, as I’ve said 1000 times, about ten years ago when I had my first excursion to Mexico, in my first month or so there, I got a message from Milano (Collection AT). He said ‘there’s this kid I know that wants to work in Mexico, I told him to seek you out. Take care of him’. That’s it.

–So Milano was the connection.

Taichi: Right. This kid comes to me, ‘I’m the one Milano was talking about’. I’m like, who the hell is this kid? 18, straight out of high school, didn’t know how to wrestle, didn’t speak Spanish, knew absolutely nothing. Didn’t even play sports in school.

–He was a complete beginner?

Taichi: Complete beginner. That’s why my first reaction was ‘who the hell is this kid?’ But we get to talking and I feel something different about him. I mean, what kind of kid decides to graduate high school and without knowing the first thing about anything, go all the way to Mexico to be a pro wrestler?

–That’s a pretty rare case.

Taichi: I can kind of understand an 18 year old kid showing up at a dojo and asking to be taught the ropes, but to drag yourself all the way to Mexico, that’s something different. The kid didn’t know anything about anything, didn’t know how to train, how to work out. So from the ring to the gym I held his hand the whole way. So I taught him everything he knows.

–DOUKI, what made you decide to go to Mexico?

DOUKI: Ten years ago, I wanted to become a luchador. That was it, honestly. I didn’t think of anything other than going to Mexico. There wasn’t another choice as far as I was concerned.

— How did you feel during that first meeting with Taichi?

DOUKI: I was just a kid, I didn’t know anything. So I was a little scared. I mean now, he’s like El Jefe..

Taichi: You know what that means? Feel free to use a dictionary.

–Taichi, what do you expect from DOUKI during the BoSJ?

Taichi: I’m not feeling a sense of expectation so much as feeling like his time has finally arrived. This kid has spent ten years on his own, swimming in the muddy waters of Mexican wrestling. I don’t know what he’s going to do in that ring. Nobody knows what he’s gone through, all these pampered ‘stars’ in New Japan. This guy has wrestled in some sh***y places in rural Mexico. I mean literally sh***y. So do you have any idea what it’s going to be like when he gets in the ring with all those guys who have had a silver spoon jammed in their mouths? He’s going to turn the whole thing upside down.

–And DOUKI, what are you planning on bringing to the ring in BoSJ?

DOUKI: What can you see from me? The same thing I’ve been doing all over the world. That’s all.

— You don’t feel any particular difference about wrestling in NJPW..

DOUKI: Oh, I feel a difference. I feel different about these punks who run through Mexico for all of a couple months before going home and being pushed to the moon. I feel different about these hipster luchas appropriating a culture I’ve lived.

–Are there any wrestlers in particular you have your eye on?

Taichi: I don’t know. I don’t care. All these vanilla foreigners, the katakana in their names just blurs in front of my eyes. This guy? This guy is different. Nobody knows him right? He’s going to add a little different colour to things.

DOUKI: It’s like I said. There’s a whole bunch of hipster lucha types on this tour huh? Guys coming to Mexico for a few weeks, go home thinking they’re some kind of superstar, get all the big name treatment. They don’t know the first thing about what lucha libre is really like. I’m gonna show them. When I smash them into the dirt.

–In your opinion, Taichi, what makes DOUKI dangerous?

Taichi: It’s the unknown with him. This kid isn’t El Desperado’s offshoot, isn’t his replacement. He’s his own man. Imagine for a second that El desperado hadn’t made the BoSJ cut in the first place. If he takes too much time off, DOUKI might eat his lunch.

DOUKI: My hermano, El Desperado wrestled Jun Kasai to avenge me. My hermano El Desperado is now injured and I am here. I’m proud, I’m honoured, but I’m me. And I will do things my way. No changes.

–So, finally, any last message as we head into Best of the Super Juniors?

Taichi: How many times do I have to say it? This guy is not just a stand in for Desperado. He was destined to be here. I’ll be right next to him. I’ve raised him in this business. And he’s going to turn this whole thing upside down.

DOUKI: I am the eye of the hurricane. I’m not leaving one thing, one person unharmed. I’m tearing this whole thing up. Best of the Super Junior? I don’t give a s***. What I give a s*** about is crushing absolutely everything else in this thing. Huevos.