WrestleZone Radio is proud to present this exclusive featuring Nick Hausman interviewing one half of the commentary team for NJPW on AXS TV and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Josh Barnett.
You can find more info about the interview as well as some transcribed quotes below.
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On how good of a job WWE does of making the product feel “real”:
JB: They do no job of making it feel real. There are almost no wrestling companies out there, especially in America, that make anything about professional wrestling feel real. Almost none.
On why pro wrestling has drifted more towards entertainment and less towards being a sport:
JB: There are no more wrestlers anymore. Nobody who is trained to be a wrestler is trained to be a wrestler. You know what I mean? There’s no body out there training full on, professional athletes how to continue to be an athlete. There’s no one taking amateur wrestlers and teaching them how to be a wrestler. Everybody is looking for crowd pops. They’re looking for how to put together a high spot. Most of the guys are the indy level are not athletes in the least. Maybe the cream of the crop develop in to some sort of athletic potential. There aren’t a lot of athletes I see on the indy circuits. There are some exceptions maybe at the very, very upper echelon. Some of those guys are incredibly athletic. A lot of them still have no real wrestling knowledge. They’ve never locked a real hold on to somebody. They have never thrown a real punch or been kicked. There is no basis in reality for the foundation of wrestling anymore so you aren’t going to get that. You are going to get guys where if you don’t grab the left side for something they are completely and utterly lost. To me, that’s just choreography. That’s just dancing. That’s not wrestling. That’s not the ability to ebb and flow and move and manipulate and control a partner. Go out there and actually compete with somebody. Show a real struggle. That’s just learning how to do the Charleston or do the Tango. That’s just dancing, it’s choreography.
Some of the topics of discussion include:
- Why Japanese pro wrestling is so popular in North America right now
- Josh’s own pro wrestling career in Japan over the last ten years
- How hard it is to be both a pro wrestler and an MMA competitor at the same time
- Why more wrestlers don’t do pro wrestling and MMA at the same time
- The potential of Harry Smith as an MMA competitor
- What it means to Josh to have over a decade worth of ties to NJPW
- The differences between doing commentary with Mauro Ranallo vs Jim Ross
- The lack of sports in sports entertainment
- The recent back and forth between Jim Cornette, The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega
- How Shinsuke Nakamura will do in WWE
- How to make pro wrestling feel real
- Why WWE is towing the line by teasing The Bullet Club
- AXS TV presenting the 2015 G1 Climax over ten episodes starting later this month
- Whether or not a long tournament like the G1 Climax could work in North America
- Why WWE has been “borrowing” from Japanese pro wrestling so much recently
- Josh’s upcoming movie Never Back Down 3
- More…
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