“Filthy” Tom Lawlor will compete in NJPW G1 Climax 32, and while he says it will be a “small dream come true”, getting his visa was a trying task, and he didn’t find out that he was part of the lineup until it was announced.
In an interview with POST Wrestling Lawlor noted that the pandemic may have delayed his arrival in Japan, as the country would open up and shut down again. He then described how he had to send his passport away and hope that he would get it back while he was waiting to get his visa back. Thankfully, everything worked out, so he’s good to go.
“If you look at the promotional material for Wrestle Kingdom this past year, there were like installations and graphics that were put out where I was on these graphics,” said Lawlor. “I was on these graphics. I was on some of these posters. I was on the 50th anniversary installation that they had down at the dome, I think. So I’m assuming that at some point, there was a thought about maybe bringing me over there, maybe defending the STRONG title or something on the undercard, but with the way things have been in Japan, with things kind of like they’ll open up a little bit and then there’ll be another shutdown, I don’t think that the ball ever really got rolling too far on that.
“I received my visa the day that I was announced for the G1. I got the visa in the mail, and this process takes a few months now, and you’re seeing I believe it’s like Willow Nightingale, Ridgeway from NOAH, he didn’t get his visa. So this isn’t like something that we’ve been able to handle short-term. I know I sent my stuff over in the spring, but there was no guarantee that I’d be pushed through, that I’d be accepted. Once I kinda saw some of the guys being announced for the Best of the Super Juniors, then I was little bit more optimistic. But with the way the pandemic is, my consulate, I live in Las Vegas, Nevada, but the consulate for me is San Francisco. You can’t get an appointment. So I had to send all my information. I had to call and speak to some woman who’s a native Japanese speaker, and she had to give me the directions on what to do with my passport, put it in the mail and send it off, and hopefully I’m gonna get it back in the future. But luckily I can follow directions. I have a wife, so I’ve been trained well over the past few years, and I got the visa back. So I’m good to go.”
#G1CLIMAX32 sees the debut in the tournament of tournaments for Filthy Tom Lawlor!
What can fans expect from the Filthy one, and why is his July 30 clash with JONAH one to watch?
Check out the A Block preview!https://t.co/HnPM9Blqkk#njpw pic.twitter.com/3JeHwhBmt7
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) July 2, 2022
Lawlor then described how he found out about the tournament’s new format, and his involvement, when it was announced live at NJPW Dominion. He made it clear that he’s looking forward to competing alongside stars like Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi.
“All news to me,” said Lawlor. “I remember that night, I believe it was the night of Dominion, Kevin Kelly and Chris Charlton kept pumping, there’s gonna be an announcement, there’s gonna be an announcement, what’s the announcement gonna be during the show? There’s gonna be a big announcement, but they never said what it was gonna be. And I was hoping that it would be some sort of G1 announcement, and the field would get announced. I was thinking maybe it would be the return of cheering from the crowds.
“And once they started playing the video package, once they starting announcing 28 men, which, that was news to me. I didn’t know it was gonna be a 28-guy, 4-man block, seven guys in each thing. That was information I was getting first hand. And then to see it was Okada, Tanahashi, Tama Tonga, and then ‘Filthy’ Tom Lawlor, let me just say, it was a small dream come true. One small step forward for Filthy Tom, and there’s gonna be more to come. So it was very exciting, but it was all on the fly.”
NJPW G1 Climax will kick off on July 16 and conclude on August 18.
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