New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) star Tetsuya Naito was recently interviewed by the NJPW website to hype Wrestle Kingdom 14. During the interview, Naito opened up about how he recently thought he wasn’t going to be able to wrestle again.
Here’s what he had to say:
NJPW:
Backstage at Korakuen Hall, you said that you were uncertain for a while, but that unease has gone. Were you talking about your conditioning then?
Naito:
No, not really. I don’t want to go into specifics, but for a while I thought I couldn’t wrestle anymore.
NJPW:
What the–? That’s a pretty big deal…
Naito:
Truth is for about six months, maybe since May, I had this kind of crisis of confidence. From about May, I’d felt something was up, and I couldn’t put my finger on it.
NJPW:
Did that come through in your matches, do you think?
Naito:
I thought I could cover it up, but I think the result was that it did come through. I was constantly wrestling in that state of unease. I hate going to the hospital, but I really wasn’t myself for a time.
NJPW:
At some time you might feel comfortable going into the details, but for now, it must be a huge benefit to you not to be going through that.
Naito:
Right. It’s like any injury, and I’ve had bad knees for a while, things don’t get back to 100%, but when it comes to this issue I’ve had, I’ve managed to recover well enough during the time off. Bear in mind, 100% or not, I came pretty damn close to zero.
Read More: Tetsuya Naito Talks Not Getting Jon Moxley’s Appeal, Facing His Teammates In The G1
