|
by Koichi Iwamoto, January 10th, 1999 
[Koichi Iwamoto, Chief Editor for Puroresuringu Nikki Magazine, took a
rare turn behind the microphone as he recently interviewed G-Pro star Kashan
Akuma. Akuma is a talented wrestler, winner of the Asian I-Crown title
at the World Cup of Wrestling and the first man to win the G-Pro
International Super-Middleweight Championship. But he is also known for
his contempt for authority as he has little respect for rules or
traditions. Iwamoto discovered just what drives this arrogant but
gifted wrestler.]PNM: What inspires Kashan Akuma to step into the ring and wrestle? KA: What inspires me to step into the ring? Knowing I will utterly destroy and humiliate whoever dares challenge me at the sport of gods, that is what drives me. Just that feeling you get knowing you are so far above on the evolutionary scale than everyone else. PNM: Who or what inspired you to become a wrestler? KA: Well, I guess my father really inspired me to become a wrestler. I was pushed into it at a young age, traveling around with the big stars, learning the tricks of the trade from them. But also as I stated before, just doing something I loved and cementing my position as a modern day legend. And the chicks too. PNM: Did you have any idols when you were younger? If so, who? KA: Idols? Hmmm, let me think. I guess my only real idol when I was younger was maybe my father to some extent but real idol had to be myself. I knew I was onto something when I followed my own ways; doing things the Kashan Akuma way. PNM: Describe your very first match and how it affected you. KA: I remember by first match vividly. I kicked the baka in the stomach and then used my then finisher, the running Liger bomb to put him away in under five seconds. It didn't really affect me because I knew that I wasn't trying my best. I knew puroresu was my sport already. PNM: What has changed in the puroresuring world since you started? KA: Nothing much, still the same old makeinus running around like they're big stars. Back in the old days there were old bakas like Inoki, Baba, and Tiger Mask running around. These days you got these sell-outs like Shoji Suzuki, Kobashi, Tasogare no Prince, Michinoku, Hamada, and many, many more. It's just a sad state for puroresu. Although the biggest change I would say, would be the simple fact that myself and Zokugun Sangai are turning things around to reach the essence of true puroresu. PNM: If you were in charge, what changes would you make? KA: Everything. Simply that. The so-called wrestlers these day have no talents whatsoever. My first task would be banishing these koshinukes to lands of the gaijins. Send them to America, where they know nothing of puroresu, just like these wannabes that run around Japan like they're superstars. PNM: If you were in charge, what things would you preserve? KA: I'd preserve Zokugun Sangai for sure. I'd preserve those who actually knew what they were doing, those who knew what puroresu meant. Of course I'm talking about myself but what else can I say? Maybe a few others, those who haven't given up on the real aspects of the sport. PNM: What other wrestlers do you respect/admire? Why? KA: I respect few but I respect those men quite a bit. Of course it would start off with my Zokugun Sangai teammates, TORA Wanizame and Nijikon, both legends in their own right. I'd also say I respect, not admire, but respect people who have been around long enough to show me respect. I'm talking about wrestlers such as Mitsuharu Misawa, Jushin Liger, Hayabusa, etc. I guess along with Zokugun Sangai, they truly represent the finest in puroresu today. But how could I forget, Frazer Fury. I have much respect for this man, one of the few I could trust. PNM: What other wrestlers do you hate/despise? Why? KA: The list is long and frankly it would take years to read. But it is more like they hate and despise me, but I'll take the vice versa. I'd have to say the people I hate the most would be Kabuki Kid first of all, Wuzho, Shoji Suzuki, and Banshee. That would be my top four. These are the men that are the opposite of today's finest in puroresu. They reveal the deterioration of the sport. I also have no love for men such as Derek Mota, Juvenil Infierno, and others who wrestle in the North American wasteland. They do not even understand us. PNM: When someone watches a Kashan Akuma match, what do you want them to say afterward? KA: After someone watches me dismantle a pour soul, I hope they would say something to the effect of, "Praise the lord!" or, "Damn, I wish I had paid more for this great privilege. Please sir, may I have some more?". After someone watches me, I want them to feel as they have really lived their life, that if they died the second the match was over, it wouldn't make a difference. PNM: What was your general impression of your time in PJW? KA: A complete waste of time. I had absolutely no challenge there. No one at all. The only thing I gained from that stint was greater fame and my connection with Frazer Fury. PJW was the birthplace of Zokugun Sangai, back when it was just Zokugun. PNM: What was your general impression of your time in the CIWF? KA: Canada was much worse than I had even dreamt of. This was a place where misfits of all sorts ran around. It was much easier than any puroresu engagement that I had previously taken place in. These fools actually thought they could use my fame to improve their status in the world of North American wrestling. What fools, they even had me run a pitiful gauntlet match. But this was also the birthplace of my feud with Kabuki Kid. It was sad seeing a Japanese man adapting to gaijin ways. PNM: What was your general impression of your experience with the WCoW? KA: The World Cup of Wrestling was my vault to world wide dominance. The I-Crown was my first real chance to try to enlighten the close-minded bakas around the world. There I proved that I was simply the greatest wrestler in Asia, unequaled. Even those gaijin loving bakas Musashi and Tengu fell to me. My problems with Mr. Fletcher began here. The place where he first showed that he was afraid of the influence of Kashan Akuma. PNM: Do you feel extra pressure as the heir-apparent to the leadership of ZS now that Fury is gone? KA: Wait right there now! That is the biggest bull[bleep] question I have been asked in my majestic life. What is going through your head? First off, Frazer Fury was _not_ the leader of Zokugun Sangai. That is a misconception that has plagued us from the beginning of G-Pro. Zokugun Sangai isn't about leaders and followers. Zokugun Sangai is about youth, about rebellion, about finding ourselves and separating ourselves from the generations past. Zokugun Sangai is about being superior and not letting anyone in the way. Not letting someone like a leader getting in your way. I am _not_ the leader of Zokugun Sangai and I never will. If you understood Zokugun Sangai, you wouldn't have asked that question. PNM: What makes ZS a better stable than any other in G-Pro? KA: It's in plain sight. You look at our line-up: Kashan Akuma, TORA Wanizame, and Nijikon. Right there before your eyes. Any one of us could out wrestle each stable by ourselves. ZS possesses something called talent. Others do not. We are not a group of men who name ourselves after pornographic films, we aren't a bunch of fiends, and we aren't three men too pathetic to wrestle alone that we need to hide our inferiorities by banding together. We are puroresu. PNM: Have you enjoyed the time G-Pro has spent in Mexico? KA: What do you think? Of course not. I spent my earlier years in that country and things haven't changed one bit. The food still tastes like daiben, the water is still brown, and the fans are still either fat whores, the world's ugliest jailbait, or elderly men who still stalk about when Santo was a little boy. Mexico is the one place in the world I could say must've been Mother Earth's excrement. PNM: Who is the most overestimated wrestler on the G-Pro roster? KA: Almost everyone. Seriously, I look down the list, and I see these names that are so revered yet they haven't done a single damn thing. I don't understand the North American media, they love bakas like the Banshee, Suzuki, and Kabuki Kid. When I step in the ring with them, it feels like grade school all over again, except I'm the teacher taking them to school. But if I had to pick one, I'd say Kabuki Kid. This is a man who has never even beat me but is supposedly a big star in America, running around with his whore of a wife. I guess the only person he'll ever beat is himself considering he's lounging around now that he's retired, watching "Miki Does Musashino" over and over and over. PNM: Who is the most underestimated wrestler on the G-Pro roster? KA: I'd have to say both TORA Wanizame and Nijikon. Of course, people already see them as the gods they are but they haven't even reached their full potential. Not even close. Believe me, I have seen what they can do. But there really is not a point of wasting their energy over Gunryo Pro garbage. PNM: What challenges would you like to take on in the future? KA: Hmmm... I have achieved all that I need in the puroresu world. What else is there to do? Go to America? What a joke. Believe me, I won't sell out to them. On the other hand, I would like to get in bed with either a lesbian or an American woman. They are pretty much interchangeable considering I haven't had luck with either so far. But then again, it's most likely all American women are lesbians; why else would they not want me to show them the Kash Money? PNM: What one thing are you most proud of, more than any other? KA: Myself. Kashan Akuma, the man, the myth, the legend. Nothing more, nothing less. What you do, what you achieve, what you acquire just doesn't add to much of your pride. It is yourself in your purest essence. That is what I'm proud of. Just being Kashan Akuma. Oh yeah and that time I was with those two girls back at the hotel in Osaka, but that's a whole 'nother story. 
 |