5-Star Book Reviews: Toshiaki Kawada’s Autobiography, Parts VIII, IX, and X

And now we get to the final three chapters of Toshiaki Kawada’s autobiography. These three chapters cover the period immediately following the NOAH Exodus to his imminent return in 2003. This is a tumultuous period for both Kawada and All Japan and we get some interesting insights into how some events that, under normal circumstances, wouldn’t’ve ever happened, like All Japan and New Japan working together. But, as has been the overarching theme of this book so far, unexpected and unfortunate circumstances affect Kawada just when it looks like things are going right, and this time his life ends up on the line.

You can check out parts 1 & 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, part 5 here, part 6 here, and part 7 here.

Chapter 8: The Series of Resurrection

Kawada begins by noting that he couldn’t continue in All Japan alone and appealed to Motoko to keep AJPW alive since she held all the deciding power at the time. Even if he were the only native Japanese wrestler to stay on (Fuchi was debating retirement to pursue a career in writing but continued wrestling up to his 50^th anniversary in 2024) and the remaining roster spots would be filled with foreigners only, Kawada still wanted All Japan to continue. The prospect of freelance came up again but once more he chose to stay loyal, though he does resign from all office duties (and for some reason he keeps being asked “now”, meaning in 2003, to take on more responsibilities) despite Motoko’s worrying concerns.

At the time All Japan had only three contracted wrestlers: Kawada, Fuchi, and Maunakea Mossman, a.k.a. Taiyo Kea, but the latter was considered a foreigner by contract so he was categorized differently. But having a reliable and consistently available person on hand when the roster was so paper thin was critical and Kawada speaks highly of Kea and his work ethic.

Kawada then talks about approaching New Japan under a rather “audacious” premise of doing NJPW vs. AJPW, even though all that remained of AJPW was him and Fuchi. He found himself in a hotel room with Riki Choshu, a M. Koichu, and a Mr. Nagashima to negotiate how things would go down and he recalls feeling a “frightening presence” in Nagashima. After their first meeting both Kawada and Fuchi weren’t particularly enthusiastic over because the NJPW crew were throwing so many restrictions at them which Kawada felt were unnecessary. These talks apparently worsened in tone when Mr. Nagashima had one-on-one discussions with Motoko and then with Fuchi. However, things softened between Kawada and Nagashima when they went out drinking after a show and Nagashima kept drunkenly repeating “I want a sushi roll”. After buying him one from a nearby shop Kawada asks him how he could eat that roll after a big meal, to which Nagashima replied “I’m going to eat it for breakfast tomorrow”, and he left holding it as tightly as he could. After that the negotiations started getting easier, with Nagashima actually smoothing things over when things got heated with Motoko. Fuchi even jokes that Motoko and Nagashima were in love with each other. Anyway, back to the wrestling.

One of Kawada’s first matches during this period was a singles match against Fuchi that, despite all of his efforts and intensity, gets some negative press coverage due to how vicious he is. Then at a show in Differ Ariake he has an encounter with a wrestler named Yujo Aijima, who had come from the indie scene in the Kyushu area. Apparently Kawada gives Aijima a hot tag and the moment he’s supposed to come in and run wild he trips and falls right in front of Kawada. Then Kawada goes on a small tangent about recognizing Anjima from him working at a snack bar (APOD: not what it sounds like) which turns into a host club (APOD: which IS what it sounds like) after midnight. Apparently Anjima used to be a male idol but once he got into wrestling he bulked up like crazy, gaining like 20kgs of weight, looked like he was on steroids, and started getting tattoos (APOD: which are still somewhat frowned upon in Japan).

Back to business and Kawada talks about the importance of Genichiro Tenryu returning to All Japan. he credits this as being a life-saver for All Japan but it was clear from Kawada’s perspective that this wouldn’t’ve happened if Shohei Baba was still alive. During one of their first tours Kawada and Tenryu teamed together, even though Kawada preferred being his opponent. Also sometime during this late 2000 tour some NOAH wrestlers participated, leading to a tense atmosphere since they only competed amongst themselves on these shows. However, Kawada does recall being greeted by Takao Omori, Ryu Nakata (Baba’s personal secretary who went with Misawa to NOAH) and Jun Akiyama, the latter apologizing for…something. However Kawada doesn’t speak or meet with either Misawa or Taue on these shows. He goes further stating that he didn’t want to hold these mixed shows together since they might’ve caused bad feelings. However the audience was happy which was more important than the goings-on in the locker rooms.

Chapter 9: The Turmoil of the King’s Path

This chapter opens with the announcement of Kawada vs NJPW’s Kensuke Sasaki in the Tokyo Dome for October 2000. Kawada describes feeling immense pressure, a win-at-all-costs-or-all-is-lost mentality filling his mind with every match. Further stressing him out was the fact that Mr. Nagashima was giving him specific things to say to the press ahead of these matches. He told Kawada to say “you will crush Kensuke” but Kawada wasn’t someone who could convey someone else’s words. “Words that are dictated by others don’t seem to go well”, says Kawada. Ahead of this big match Kawada sees Sasaki walking around with weights tied to his ankles so he goes back to his hotel and does 1,000 squats right then and there. apparently Sasaki also wore these 5kg weights around his ankles daily and Kawada didn’t want to be outdone so not only did he get the same ones he started running with them on. This apparently works out for him because he does end up winning that Tokyo Dome match (APOD: Kawada omits being temporarily knocked out by one of Sasaki’s lariats to the back of the head, only to mention that much later on in a retrospective interview).

After that match Kawada moves on to wrestling in both All Japan and New Japan rings. He puts over Masahiro Chono and puts over his Yakuza Kick as a fearsome attack given that Chono used to be a soccer player and packs tons of power behind that kick. He also puts over Chono’s charisma and his appeal to the audience, noting that neither he nor anyone else in All Japan do be able to do that, though Kawada admits that he doesn’t aspire to be anything like that.

Things then turn to December 14, 2000 when Kawada and Fuchi face Yuji Nagata and Takashi Iizuka in what is describes as a match “having an All Japan feel on the New Japan ring” which ended in a 30-minute draw (APOD: this is another one of those rarely-mentioned Dave Meltzer 5-Star matches that was seriously overlooked due to the complicated situation in Japan at the time. If you want to watch it, you can do so here.) At some point during this end-of-December period Kawada hurts his elbow and had to rely on Fuchi to do much of the heavy lifting.

We shift to 2001 where Kawada participates in a one-night tournament for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship but loses in the finals (APOD: Kawada main-events the Tokyo Dome twice in three months, with one match being for the other company’s world title, and barely gives it a mention. It seems like he really doesn’t care about moments that most other wrestlers would consider huge, career-defining situations). Also in January 2001 is Stan Hansen’s retirement ceremony, which takes place on another Tokyo Dome card called the Giant Baba Memorial Spectacular/Kings Road New Century 2001. This event also marks the first time that Keiji Muto appears for All Japan. Amidst all of this Kawada finds himself in a mismatch of a tag team in the main event alongside Sasaki against Tenryu and Hiroshi Hase which leads to what he calls an “unsatisfactory performance”. Then he talks about wrestling kickboxer-turned-wrestler Mitsuya Nagai who kicked him so hard both his legs turned a deep shade of purple from bruising. Later on they would go on to team together. Then he states that he had a match with Riki Choshu in the Osaka Dome but based on their initial lock-up and feeling out process Kawada concluded that Choshu “wasn’t in good spirits”. That said, he took a Riki Lariat and felt the impact on his neck for weeks. Kawada notes that Choshu would then leave New Japan for World Japan (APOD: a spectacular failure of a promotion, all things considered) but he still think Choshu had the best qualities possible from someone trained in NJPW.

Then Kawada talks about facing Muto in a special non-tournament singles match during the 2001 Champion Carnival. He describes not feeling well during the tournament itself and notes that it feels like a waste for his first match with Muto to be on this show and not in the Tokyo Dome, as he thinks it should’ve been given how big of a name Muto was. Additionally,

“My impression of Keiji Mutoh as a wrestler is that he is incredibly impressive overall as a pro wrestler. He was stronger than I had imagined when we grappled, and I could feel his size. However, I didn’t get the impression that he was a particularly nimble wrestler. I had thought that someone like Misawa was the nimble type, so I didn’t get that feeling from him. Of course, he is skilled, but not in that way.As a point of discussion about him, there is a narcissistic aspect where he indulges in himself while attacking or receiving. I think that is a significant weapon. If he can indulge in himself to that extent, his techniques might be even more effective (laughs).”

APOD: There have been a few people to describe Muto as “selfish” and a show-off in the ring, building matches around himself. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen, but what is undeniable is that Muto brought star power to All Japan and, at least between 2001 and the end of 2002, his working boots as well and seemed to have better-than-average matches during that period more often than not).

Kawada continues noting differences between All Japan and New Japan wrestlers as a broad topic, but doesn’t go into what they are specifically. He does, however, note feeling those differences by wrestling lots of NJPW wrestlers around this time.

After losing to Muto in April 2001 Kawada takes time off to heal his injured elbow, which stems from his ulna injury in January 1999 from his match with Misawa. Kawada:

“When I went to the hospital, the cartilage was a mess, and they said we would start by cleaning up the shattered pieces. I had left it for five months while continuing to compete, so it had gotten worse than expected. However, at that time in All Japan Pro-Wrestling, there were no other wrestlers who could compete with New Japan wrestlers, so I couldn’t afford to take a break. Fortunately, I had a month off, which allowed me to undergo surgery.”

Kawada returns in June 2001 and gets some notable wins and then spends some time facing WAR wrestlers brought in by Tenryu, including his former partner Kodo Fuyuki. He has mixed emotions around this time as a lot of wrestlers who departed with Tenryu – and caused so much stress and anguish for Kawada and his peers during that isolationist period – were now coming back as if nothing had ever happened. As the year progressed Muto became much more of a pivotal figure in All Japan, which led many longtime fans to counter by saying “All Japan = Toshiaki Kawada”. However, this isn’t entirely the case as the man himself explains:

“In the latter half of this year, I felt like All Japan = Toshiaki Kawada, but when suddenly Mr. Muto came in, it felt like he became the ace, and I often get asked if that frustrates me. However, I have never wanted to be the ace, and in fact, I don’t particularly like that position.”

From there Kawada shifts to tagging and for once he actually has a protégé/underclassman in the form of Mitsuya Nagai. Kawada saw rapid improvement in Nagai and gave him pointers, and noted how quickly he stopped making any mistakes pointed out to him. But just when it looked like their tag team would grow into something bigger Nagai goes to New Japan. Then things take another unfortunate turn.

On March 25^th 2002 Kawada wrestles Steve Williams in a Champion Carnival (APOD: completely neglecting the fact that he won the Triple Crown for the fourth time from Muto a month earlier). Doc dodges a high kick and as a result Kawada lands badly on the floor, causing his knee joint to bend in the opposite direction. He couldn’t get it checked out right away because they were in the middle of nowhere in Toyama and there wasn’t a hospital nearby so he just dragged his leg behind him as he went out to eat with everyone. The next day he had to travel 6-7 hours by bus, all while in excruciating pain. He finally got to a hospital in Okayama, where he learns he has suffered a torn ACL and a meniscus tear. This time he opts for immediate surgery…which actually makes things EVEN WORSE.

“The knee surgery was somehow successful, and although the pain is intense, I was incredibly bored during my hospital stay. My lower body doesn’t move, but my upper body is strong, so I decided to start training and brought in dumbbells and bench equipment to my hospital room. I quickly began my training, but it seemed that wasn’t a good idea. The hospital is a treasure trove of various bacteria, and since my physical strength had also declined after the surgery, it seems I contracted some kind of infection.
A fever close to 40 degrees lasted for two weeks with no signs of subsiding. Training was out of the question. Because this was beyond my control, I was transferred by ambulance from the small hospital where I was admitted to the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) of Tokyo Women’s Medical University Hospital, which was well-equipped. At that time, even the X-rays showed my lungs completely white (indicating pneumonia), my blood pressure was 60 over 30, and I had lost all my red blood cells. It seems that losing red blood cells can lead to uncontrollable bleeding, which is truly dangerous. In the ICU, connected to many IV drips, I had no choice but to let things happen as they would. I also had to wear an oxygen mask continuously.
To my summoned family, they said, “It’s already dangerous.””

Kawada ends up in ICU for a week before recovering, though while he was there his family was gravely concerned and even Motoko cries at one point while talking to him on the phone. As far as the public was concerned, no one knew that Kawada had a near-death experience and the doctors weren’t able to determine what kind of bug or infection he caught. The doctors then use this battle with illness as a roundabout way to tell him not to train while recovering, but he concludes this chapter by stating he couldn’t accept this.

Final Chapter: My Own Path to Glory

Kawada would be sidelined from wrestling for about thirteen months following his knee injury and subsequent battle with illness. This book would be published eight days after his in-ring return and so it doesn’t cover the last major period in his career, that being his 5^th and final Triple Crown title run, which would go on to last over 500 days. Instead, this final chapter focuses on things Kawada learns about All Japan while recovering.

He learns that Muto would become president and responds with “I understand”. Though he has some misgivings about a New Japan guy running All Japan he still remains optimistic hoping Muto would help All Japan grow. He understands the pressure of shouldering an entire promotion and thanks Muto for putting so much effort in his own way to help the company (APOD: Muto would end up being critical to the company’s survival but its upward momentum would be halted in the first half of 2003 due to another talent exodus, this time of foreign talent like KroniK, Johnny Smith, George Hines, and “Dr. Death” Steve Williams. Come 2004-5 AJPW would barely resemble its Baba-inspired roots and would start to be compared, unfavorably, to late-stage WCW).

Kawada also takes a moment to thank Motoko for her hard work following her husband’s passing. (APOD: his perspective here softens Motoko’s reputation as the “dragon lady” of All Japan and the bad cop to Baba’s good cop. Though she and Misawa in particular had some kind of major beef, Kawada’s viewpoint paints her in a more sympathetic light. )

Going back to Muto, Kawada strictly emphasizes that he doesn’t wish to be part of Wrestle-1, which at the time is Muto’s side project (and would later on morph into its own company following a FOURTH exodus in 2012). That being said Kawada does express interest in facing Bob Sapp (who, at the time, was at the height of his popularity in Japan) and thinks that if he were to face Sapp in the ring he’d have to consider retiring right after.

Kawada closes the chapter by stating his immediate goal is to recapture the Triple Crown title and vows to keep going until he can no longer express his true self in the ring. He doesn’t know how many years he has left but he vows to keep going on his own path until the moment he finally burns out. The book then closes with a timeline of Kawada’s life and career, including notable debuts, milestones, titles wins, encounters and, when he was champion, how many successful title defenses he has.

APOD: If there’s one takeaway from Kawada’s book it seems that he is cursed with extremely bad luck. From his father dying from being struck by lightning, to his bad timing of being the only person his age in his high school wrestling dormitory for two years, to his own impressive accomplishments as a trainee being overshadowed due to how exceptional Misawa was, to being stuck on a treadmill in AJPW expecting to quit until factors around him basically made the bookers pick him, to his awful timing with injuries and illness, Kawada seemed to be forever followed by a dark cloud. His first big break as Tenryu’s partner only seems to have happened because Ashura Hara got fired and Kodo Fuyuki had lost size while abroad. He sees most of his career during the 80s as underwhelming and inconsequential midcard wrestling, save for a tournament win and a match with an in-his-prime Tsuruta. His push as part of the Super Generation Army seems to have been a creation of circumstance following Tenryu’s departure rather than a deliberate attempt to make him into a star. Instead the focus seemed to always be on Misawa who was made into the company ace while Kawada was left as a supporting player. And while Kawada admitted that he never wanted to be the ace as per what’s noted above, and noted elsewhere he didn’t want any positions of leadership, even as the leader of his own stable, he was keenly aware that Baba’s booking decisions were putting more pressure on himself and his peers and leaving the audience exasperated and in dire need of freshness. But even though he had the best intentions of approaching Baba and wanting some new ideas and match-ups the office didn’t take him seriously. If anything Kawada was appeased through his matches with Gary Albright and Yoshihiro Takayama, and any attempts to get Baba to break down his “walled garden” were met with either dismissal or, depending on one’s point of view, punishment for being so outspoken. As for his relationship with Misawa it is very much muted for a number of reasons, most of them related to Japanese culture and the fact that he still had ties to the wrestling business.

In summary Kawada’s book is certainly interesting as far as learning the odd anecdote or piece of trivia (judging from earlier comments the most surprising things were that it was Koki Kitahara who taught Kawada proper kicking technique and the sheer level of brutality of his high school training schedule), and the level of physical and mental sacrifice he put himself through for this business. However it’s very matter-of-fact and not always the most insightful or introspective; moments of drama are stated plainly and Kawada keeps his actual feelings close to his chest so even the most frustrating or difficult of moments and situations only get about a sentence or two describing how he actually felt about anything. It seems like Kawada is a very hard man to read and not one to put all his cards on the table and getting more out of or about the man has to come piecemeal from other sources. Luckily I have plenty more on the docket so there’s plenty more material ahead.

Final Rating: ****

Thanks for reading. Next up: Kenta Kobashi’s books.