WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.279 All right, so let's do a little visualization 00:00:02.279 --> 00:00:04.660 exercise to start things off today. Okay, I am 00:00:04.660 --> 00:00:07.320 game. When I say the words professional wrestler 00:00:07.320 --> 00:00:12.439 to you, what is the immediate image that fires 00:00:12.439 --> 00:00:14.539 in your brain? Well, you're probably thinking 00:00:14.539 --> 00:00:17.260 of a genetic freak, right? Like the archetype 00:00:17.260 --> 00:00:19.820 of the alpha. Exactly. The Hogan, the Lesnar. 00:00:20.300 --> 00:00:23.320 the Roman Reigns, basically a human tank. Right. 00:00:23.379 --> 00:00:27.000 Someone six foot five chiseled from granite with 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:29.379 veins popping out of their neck, screaming about 00:00:29.379 --> 00:00:32.119 snapping Slim Jims or conquering streets. Yeah, 00:00:32.119 --> 00:00:34.420 that is the standard mental picture. Exactly. 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:36.380 And I want you to take that image and completely 00:00:36.380 --> 00:00:39.460 shatter it. OK. Replace it with a man who stands 00:00:39.460 --> 00:00:42.560 on a good day in lift boots at five foot seven. 00:00:43.320 --> 00:00:47.299 And here is the real kicker. He weighs 42 kilograms. 00:00:47.659 --> 00:00:50.659 Which is? That is 93 pounds. Just to put that 00:00:50.659 --> 00:00:52.539 in perspective for you listening at home, 93 00:00:52.539 --> 00:00:54.560 pounds is roughly the weight of a large golden 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:58.119 retriever or a very determined, slightly underfed 00:00:58.119 --> 00:01:00.560 middle schooler. Yeah, and we aren't talking 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:02.539 about some random fan who hopped the guardrail 00:01:02.539 --> 00:01:05.280 in a dare. No, definitely not. We're talking. 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:09.299 about kanji stalker ichikawa a man who didn't 00:01:09.299 --> 00:01:11.840 just survive in the absolutely brutal world of 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:14.579 japanese pro wrestling for 25 years he actually 00:01:14.579 --> 00:01:17.260 became a legitimate legend it really is one of 00:01:17.260 --> 00:01:19.540 the most fascinating case studies in combat sports 00:01:19.540 --> 00:01:22.900 history it is and that is exactly what we are 00:01:22.900 --> 00:01:25.060 getting into today right because if we look at 00:01:25.060 --> 00:01:27.930 the sources we gathered for this deep dive We've 00:01:27.930 --> 00:01:30.530 got the Wikipedia archives detailing his career, 00:01:30.769 --> 00:01:33.370 the reckless run logs, and the specific match 00:01:33.370 --> 00:01:35.349 stipulations. Yeah, and when you put all that 00:01:35.349 --> 00:01:38.629 together, Stalker Ichikawa represents the absolute 00:01:38.629 --> 00:01:41.530 antithesis of the champion. He really does. And 00:01:41.530 --> 00:01:43.430 the mission of this deep dive isn't just to talk 00:01:43.430 --> 00:01:46.609 about a weird wrestler. It is to really understand 00:01:46.609 --> 00:01:48.890 the art of comedy in a combat sport context. 00:01:49.489 --> 00:01:51.989 How does a performer build a decades -long career, 00:01:52.150 --> 00:01:54.829 specifically by not winning and being totally 00:01:54.829 --> 00:01:57.540 physically ineffective? Because calling it just 00:01:57.540 --> 00:01:59.760 comedy kind of sells it short. It is Owari wrestling. 00:02:00.140 --> 00:02:02.819 Owari. Right? The Japanese term for comedy. But 00:02:02.819 --> 00:02:05.140 it is high wire performance art. You have to 00:02:05.140 --> 00:02:07.939 be incredibly skilled to be that bad without 00:02:07.939 --> 00:02:10.479 getting killed. Yeah, I mean, the name Stalker 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:14.900 alone implies something dark or maybe a bit edgy. 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:17.180 But the man himself is just, well, he's tiny. 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:20.080 He is. So let's set the scene here. He was born 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:23.870 in 1974 in Gifu, Japan. And looking at his background, 00:02:24.009 --> 00:02:26.430 the first thing that jumps out is this massive 00:02:26.430 --> 00:02:29.389 contradiction. Right, the pedigree. Because you'd 00:02:29.389 --> 00:02:31.490 expect a comedy guy like this to just be an actor 00:02:31.490 --> 00:02:33.949 they hired off the street. Or maybe a ring crew 00:02:33.949 --> 00:02:36.310 guy they threw in the ring as a joke. But Ichikawa 00:02:36.310 --> 00:02:38.610 is legitimate. He was actually part of the second 00:02:38.610 --> 00:02:41.629 graduating class of the Torimon Dojo. Which is... 00:02:42.120 --> 00:02:44.240 For the listeners who might not follow the deep 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:46.900 lore of Japanese wrestling, Toriyuman isn't a 00:02:46.900 --> 00:02:49.979 YMCA class. No, not at all. It is run by Ultimo 00:02:49.979 --> 00:02:52.379 Dragon. A literal god of the junior heavyweight 00:02:52.379 --> 00:02:54.979 style. Exactly. And the training at Toriyuman 00:02:54.979 --> 00:02:57.900 is legendary for being brutal. It is Lucha Libre 00:02:57.900 --> 00:03:00.879 style. So high speed, complex, gymnastics, endless 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:03.719 cardio. Yeah. If you survive that dojo, you are 00:03:03.719 --> 00:03:06.000 an elite athlete, period. And that's the real 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.370 twist here, isn't it? The sources mention that 00:03:08.370 --> 00:03:10.590 despite his comedy status, Ichikawa actually 00:03:10.590 --> 00:03:12.550 has an extensive background in amateur wrestling. 00:03:12.729 --> 00:03:15.069 He does. He knows the holes. He knows how to 00:03:15.069 --> 00:03:17.389 grapple for real. Which just adds this amazing 00:03:17.389 --> 00:03:20.189 layer of irony to his performance. That is the 00:03:20.189 --> 00:03:22.759 shoot reality behind the work. To perform the 00:03:22.759 --> 00:03:25.699 character of stalker Ichikawa, this man who constantly 00:03:25.699 --> 00:03:27.960 trips over his own feet and gets blown over by 00:03:27.960 --> 00:03:31.240 a stiff breeze, you actually need incredible 00:03:31.240 --> 00:03:34.319 core strength and spatial awareness. Right, because 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:37.479 if a regular 93 -pound person took the bumps 00:03:37.479 --> 00:03:39.620 he takes... They would be leaving in an ambulance. 00:03:40.379 --> 00:03:43.300 Ichikawa uses his elite training to create the 00:03:43.300 --> 00:03:46.240 illusion of total incompetence. It's like a master 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:49.580 pianist who spends his whole career playing chopsticks 00:03:49.580 --> 00:03:51.770 badly just to make the audience... laugh that 00:03:51.770 --> 00:03:55.009 is a perfect analogy so if we are sitting ringside 00:03:55.009 --> 00:03:59.409 at a dragon gate show in the mid 2000s What does 00:03:59.409 --> 00:04:01.530 the stalker experience actually look like? Break 00:04:01.530 --> 00:04:03.789 down the in -ring psychology for me. Well, first 00:04:03.789 --> 00:04:05.689 of all, don't blink. The matches are sprints. 00:04:05.830 --> 00:04:08.430 Sprints. Like how fast? Usually five to ten minutes 00:04:08.430 --> 00:04:11.949 max. And the narrative of these matches is almost 00:04:11.949 --> 00:04:14.710 always centered around futile offense. Futile 00:04:14.710 --> 00:04:17.930 how? Like he is trying and failing. Imagine a 00:04:17.930 --> 00:04:20.389 mosquito attacking a windshield. He will wind 00:04:20.389 --> 00:04:23.670 up for these massive dramatic strikes, huge windups, 00:04:23.709 --> 00:04:26.250 screaming at the top of his lungs, and he'll 00:04:26.250 --> 00:04:28.810 chop the opponent across the chest. And the opponent 00:04:28.810 --> 00:04:31.389 won't even blink. Just zero cell. Negative cell, 00:04:31.490 --> 00:04:34.149 honestly. They just look annoyed. Or he will 00:04:34.149 --> 00:04:36.730 go for a high -flying move like a plancha to 00:04:36.730 --> 00:04:40.290 the outside, and the opponent simply sidesteps. 00:04:40.629 --> 00:04:43.649 Ichikawa crashes and burns. Exactly. It's slapstick, 00:04:43.730 --> 00:04:46.250 but it's incredibly violent slapstick. I have 00:04:46.250 --> 00:04:48.569 to bring up the towel gimmick here because this 00:04:48.569 --> 00:04:50.649 is my absolute favorite part of his character 00:04:50.649 --> 00:04:53.800 work. It involves his real -life wife, Namiko. 00:04:53.959 --> 00:04:56.699 Oh, this is brilliant storytelling. Right, so 00:04:56.699 --> 00:05:00.379 in boxing, or MMA, the corner man throws in the 00:05:00.379 --> 00:05:02.360 towel to save a fighter from serious injury. 00:05:02.519 --> 00:05:05.139 It's a mercy rule. And Ichikawa's wife, Namiko, 00:05:05.300 --> 00:05:07.459 actually became a recurring character at ringside 00:05:07.459 --> 00:05:10.279 for his matches. But she wasn't exactly the supportive 00:05:10.279 --> 00:05:13.379 spouse cheering him on, was she? Not in the traditional 00:05:13.379 --> 00:05:15.720 sense, no. She would often throw in the towel 00:05:15.720 --> 00:05:17.740 before he even got hit by the finishing move. 00:05:17.939 --> 00:05:20.579 Before. Yes. She'd see him wobble slightly from 00:05:20.579 --> 00:05:22.519 a basic strike and just go, nope, he's done, 00:05:22.620 --> 00:05:25.579 and toss the towel in. That is so cold. It is. 00:05:25.660 --> 00:05:28.480 But the gag, and this happened constantly, was 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:30.379 that the towel would land and the referee would 00:05:30.379 --> 00:05:32.779 wave the match off to stop the fight. Okay, so 00:05:32.779 --> 00:05:35.040 he's saved. But the opponent would hit the finishing 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:38.699 move on him anyway. So he loses by forfeit and 00:05:38.699 --> 00:05:41.339 still takes the devastating finisher. Exactly. 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:44.100 He gets the worst of both worlds. That is hilarious. 00:05:44.500 --> 00:05:47.620 It creates this tragic, hilarious dynamic where 00:05:47.620 --> 00:05:50.740 even his own family has zero faith in his ability 00:05:50.740 --> 00:05:53.879 to survive, let alone win. It totally subverts 00:05:53.879 --> 00:05:56.379 the Rocky. trope. We are conditioned to always 00:05:56.379 --> 00:05:58.540 root for the underdog to get up and keep fighting. 00:05:58.759 --> 00:06:01.560 But here, the underdog's wife is literally telling 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:04.100 him to stay down and he still gets crushed. And 00:06:04.100 --> 00:06:06.579 strangely, that specific dynamic made the fans 00:06:06.579 --> 00:06:09.139 absolutely love him. So he debuted in December 00:06:09.139 --> 00:06:12.160 1998, right? Yeah. And early on, he found himself 00:06:12.160 --> 00:06:15.279 in the orbit of a group called Crazy Max. Crazy 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:18.060 Max. That was a top tier stable. Simitaru Don 00:06:18.060 --> 00:06:20.379 Fuji. These are the cool villains of the promotion. 00:06:20.699 --> 00:06:23.199 The bad boys. And Ichikawa started out feuding 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:25.399 with Taro. They had these comedy matches that 00:06:25.399 --> 00:06:27.839 really broke up the serious tension of the card. 00:06:28.040 --> 00:06:30.639 The fans ate it up. So what happened with the 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:32.639 group? Eventually, the group decided they would 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:35.319 let him join their stable, but only if he actually 00:06:35.319 --> 00:06:38.040 won a match. Which feels like an impossible bar 00:06:38.040 --> 00:06:41.529 for him to clear. But he did it. He pinned Susumu 00:06:41.529 --> 00:06:45.230 Mochizuki in a tag match. Wow. A miracle. It 00:06:45.230 --> 00:06:47.829 was. So he puts on the jacket. He is officially 00:06:47.829 --> 00:06:50.629 in the cool group. But here is where the stalker 00:06:50.629 --> 00:06:53.269 reality sets in. Three months later, they kick 00:06:53.269 --> 00:06:55.449 him out. Why did they kick him out? Because he 00:06:55.449 --> 00:06:58.110 wasn't heel enough. He wasn't villainous. He 00:06:58.110 --> 00:07:01.149 was just goofy and he diluted their brand of 00:07:01.149 --> 00:07:04.399 menace. That is heartbreaking. He finally gets 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:06.639 to sit at a cool table and gets booted for being 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:09.660 a nerd. And it gets worse. He then tried to join 00:07:09.660 --> 00:07:11.779 Blood Generation, which was another dominant 00:07:11.779 --> 00:07:14.360 faction. They kicked him out too. Let me guess 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:16.199 he wasn't cool enough for them either. The reason 00:07:16.199 --> 00:07:18.579 given in the source material is that he was removed 00:07:18.579 --> 00:07:21.720 for not meeting the strength principle. The strength 00:07:21.720 --> 00:07:24.540 principle? He literally dragged down their average 00:07:24.540 --> 00:07:26.860 power level. It is like getting kicked out of 00:07:26.860 --> 00:07:28.699 the Avengers because you don't have superpowers. 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:31.060 You just have a slide whistle. That is exactly 00:07:31.060 --> 00:07:34.300 what it was. But this isolation actually led 00:07:34.300 --> 00:07:36.920 to what I think is the golden era of his career, 00:07:37.500 --> 00:07:39.939 the Reckless Run. Yes, the Reckless Run series. 00:07:40.060 --> 00:07:42.800 This is legendary. Since no group wanted him, 00:07:42.920 --> 00:07:45.699 he became this singular entity who decided to 00:07:45.699 --> 00:07:47.899 just challenge the scariest people on the planet. 00:07:48.100 --> 00:07:50.980 The mismatch here is the entire point. Dragon 00:07:50.980 --> 00:07:52.899 Gate didn't protect him at all. They fed him 00:07:52.899 --> 00:07:55.860 to the wolves. The concept was that this 93 -pound 00:07:55.860 --> 00:07:59.060 guy would face ex -opponents of great importance. 00:07:59.980 --> 00:08:02.579 Basically, heavyweights and legends. Right. We 00:08:02.579 --> 00:08:04.740 are talking about the great Kabuki. We are talking 00:08:04.740 --> 00:08:07.139 Yoshihiro Takayama. For the listener who doesn't 00:08:07.139 --> 00:08:10.459 know Takayama, just imagine a 6 '5 blonde giant 00:08:10.459 --> 00:08:12.759 who looks like he eats barbed wire for breakfast. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:15.540 A truly terrifying human being. He is famous 00:08:15.540 --> 00:08:17.720 for that MMA fight against Don Fry where they 00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:19.769 just... held each other's heads and punched each 00:08:19.769 --> 00:08:21.930 other in the face for minutes straight. And then 00:08:21.930 --> 00:08:24.490 you have stalker Ichikawa, 93 pounds, standing 00:08:24.490 --> 00:08:27.329 across the ring from him. The visual comedy writes 00:08:27.329 --> 00:08:30.730 itself. And he fought Toshiaki Kawada, too. Dangerous 00:08:30.730 --> 00:08:34.210 K, a man known for kicking people so hard they 00:08:34.210 --> 00:08:36.950 forget their middle names. And even female legend 00:08:36.950 --> 00:08:39.990 Aja Kong. Aja Kong might be the scariest of them 00:08:39.990 --> 00:08:42.509 all. She is a legend in women's wrestling known 00:08:42.509 --> 00:08:45.529 for a lethal spinning back fist. The gender dynamic 00:08:45.529 --> 00:08:47.590 didn't matter at all. She treated him like an 00:08:47.590 --> 00:08:49.870 absolute rag doll. But see, this is where the 00:08:49.870 --> 00:08:51.889 psychology gets really interesting to me. Why 00:08:51.889 --> 00:08:55.250 do we watch this? Is it just pure sadism from 00:08:55.250 --> 00:08:57.889 the audience? I don't think so. The expert consensus 00:08:57.889 --> 00:09:01.029 on this is that it shifts the narrative goalpost. 00:09:01.389 --> 00:09:04.230 How so? When Stalker fights someone like Takayama, 00:09:04.429 --> 00:09:07.549 nobody expects him to actually win. That is impossible. 00:09:08.029 --> 00:09:10.330 The audience is rooting for him to simply survive. 00:09:10.690 --> 00:09:13.490 It turns a standard wrestling match into a survival 00:09:13.490 --> 00:09:16.009 horror movie. It really does. If he hits one 00:09:16.009 --> 00:09:19.029 single move or if he kicks out of one pin, the 00:09:19.029 --> 00:09:21.649 crowd goes absolutely nuclear. Because by lowering 00:09:21.649 --> 00:09:25.379 the expectations to absolute zero, He made every 00:09:25.379 --> 00:09:28.440 tiny moment of resistance feel heroic. Precisely. 00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:31.039 He mastered the art of the hope spot. Now we 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:32.679 definitely have to talk about the retirements. 00:09:32.740 --> 00:09:34.940 Oh, yes. Because in wrestling, retirement is 00:09:34.940 --> 00:09:37.000 usually a marketing gimmick, right? Terry Funk 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:39.860 retired about 50 times. But Stalker took it to 00:09:39.860 --> 00:09:43.200 a very weird meta place. This started in late 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:46.740 2006. He announced he was retiring to spend more 00:09:46.740 --> 00:09:49.730 time with his wife. To save his marriage, essentially. 00:09:49.850 --> 00:09:52.610 So the promotion Dragon Gate held a tribute show 00:09:52.610 --> 00:09:55.470 for him. Called Stalker Bombayé at Shinjuku Face. 00:09:56.370 --> 00:09:58.690 Stalker Bombayé. Just the name makes me smile. 00:09:59.110 --> 00:10:02.269 And the card for this event, looking at the sources 00:10:02.269 --> 00:10:05.320 here, it reads like a fever dream. It was not 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:07.419 a normal wrestling card. It was a variety show 00:10:07.419 --> 00:10:11.220 of suffering. The first match was a Mickey Bean 00:10:11.220 --> 00:10:14.700 jam -filled rice cake eating contest. I'm sorry, 00:10:14.759 --> 00:10:17.179 a what? A competitive eating match. He had to 00:10:17.179 --> 00:10:19.559 eat three bean jam cakes before his opponent. 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:22.740 And how did that go? He actually won. He inhaled 00:10:22.740 --> 00:10:25.139 those cakes. A very rare victory for the stalker. 00:10:25.139 --> 00:10:27.539 Okay, so he's 1 -0 for the night but full of 00:10:27.539 --> 00:10:30.240 bean jam. What is next? A regular wrestling match, 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:32.899 which he probably lost, and then the main event. 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:36.139 A Vale Tudo fight against Akira Tozawa. Vale 00:10:36.139 --> 00:10:39.460 Tudo meaning anything goes. No gloves, MMA rules. 00:10:39.799 --> 00:10:41.659 And predictably, he was absolutely destroyed. 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:43.899 But the real punchline of this entire retirement 00:10:43.899 --> 00:10:46.299 event is what happened a week later. Let me guess. 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:49.120 The retirement didn't stick. His wife, Namiko, 00:10:49.399 --> 00:10:51.840 the entire reason he supposedly retired, told 00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:54.460 him to get back to work. She talked him out of 00:10:54.460 --> 00:10:57.879 it. She did. Just one week later. So he returned 00:10:57.879 --> 00:11:01.919 to the ring as Stalker Ichikawa Z. He added a 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:04.980 Z to his name. Dragon Ball Z. Exactly. Implying 00:11:04.980 --> 00:11:07.500 this massive anime power up. But of course he 00:11:07.500 --> 00:11:09.940 was the exact same wrestler. Same 93 pounds. 00:11:10.039 --> 00:11:12.840 Same bad haircut. And then he did the retirement 00:11:12.840 --> 00:11:16.399 tease again a year later. Yes. Stalker Bombay 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:20.879 2 in 2007. The storyline this time was that he 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:22.639 and Amiga were having marriage trouble again. 00:11:23.230 --> 00:11:25.590 Naturally. And this event was even more absurd 00:11:25.590 --> 00:11:27.309 than the first one. I am looking at the match 00:11:27.309 --> 00:11:29.389 list here. The variety show format continued. 00:11:29.710 --> 00:11:32.730 Match one was a three -question quiz. Against 00:11:32.730 --> 00:11:35.149 Naoshi Sano, Stalker got every single question 00:11:35.149 --> 00:11:37.789 wrong and lost three to zero. Match two was a 00:11:37.789 --> 00:11:39.909 sumo wrestling match. Which he actually won. 00:11:39.970 --> 00:11:42.269 He managed to somehow push the guy out of the 00:11:42.269 --> 00:11:45.360 ring. And the finale? A lights out death match. 00:11:45.480 --> 00:11:47.820 Now, usually death match implies barbed wire, 00:11:47.879 --> 00:11:50.179 glass, explosives, real dangerous stuff. Right. 00:11:50.299 --> 00:11:53.039 But the death element here was it was basically 00:11:53.039 --> 00:11:56.080 bureaucratic incompetence. It was a total administrative 00:11:56.080 --> 00:11:59.100 disaster. The referee was supposed to be Masaaki 00:11:59.100 --> 00:12:02.840 Mochizuki, but he couldn't make it. And the official 00:12:02.840 --> 00:12:06.139 reason given to the press, he had an unfortunate 00:12:06.139 --> 00:12:09.519 accident involving Lupin Matsutani's pistol. 00:12:09.720 --> 00:12:11.740 Wait, hold on. A pistol accident? They're just 00:12:11.740 --> 00:12:14.139 casually dropping gun violence into their wrestling 00:12:14.139 --> 00:12:17.139 storyline? That is the surreal world of Dragon 00:12:17.139 --> 00:12:20.860 Gate comedy for you. It makes zero sense, and 00:12:20.860 --> 00:12:23.559 that is exactly why it is funny. Okay, so because 00:12:23.559 --> 00:12:26.620 of this gun accident, they bring in a replacement 00:12:26.620 --> 00:12:30.399 referee, Kanichiro Arai. But Arai has a problem. 00:12:30.759 --> 00:12:33.539 He loses his glasses during the match. Of course 00:12:33.539 --> 00:12:36.559 he does. He is blind as a bat without them. So 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:39.399 the opponent, Sano, decides to fake a firebird 00:12:39.399 --> 00:12:41.480 splash, which is a big high -flying move. He 00:12:41.480 --> 00:12:43.039 doesn't even do the move. He doesn't even do 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:44.860 it. He just makes a loud noise on the mat. The 00:12:44.860 --> 00:12:47.279 blind referee assumes Stalker is dead, counts 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:50.039 the pin 1, 2, 3. So he lost the match because 00:12:50.039 --> 00:12:52.240 the replacement referee lost his glasses, allowing 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:54.379 the opponent to fake a win. It is straight out 00:12:54.379 --> 00:12:56.639 of Looney Tunes. It genuinely borders on avant 00:12:56.639 --> 00:12:58.879 -garde theater. It really does. And this leads 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.340 perfectly into what I think is his greatest innovation 00:13:01.340 --> 00:13:04.139 and his biggest contribution to the sport. The 00:13:04.139 --> 00:13:07.320 rebranding. Right. In 2007. After returning from 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:10.320 a U .S. tour, he rebrands as Hollywood stalker 00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:13.299 Ichikawa. And he creates a new championship belt 00:13:13.299 --> 00:13:15.440 that I honestly think every sport should have. 00:13:15.860 --> 00:13:19.679 The open the O .R .A. gate championships or or 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:22.519 the comedy gate. Walk the listener through the 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:24.759 rules of this title because it fundamentally 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:27.440 changes the objective of the entire sport. So 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:30.500 in any normal combat sport, you win by incapacitating 00:13:30.500 --> 00:13:33.379 your opponent. Pinfall submission knockout. Right. 00:13:33.460 --> 00:13:36.220 The Owari Gate introduced a completely new metric. 00:13:36.779 --> 00:13:39.600 Audience approval, specifically laughter. So 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:41.899 you could physically dominate the guy. You could 00:13:41.899 --> 00:13:44.379 powerbomb him through the mat. But if the crowd 00:13:44.379 --> 00:13:46.639 is bored. You lose the title. The title changes 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:49.019 hands strictly based on who gets the biggest 00:13:49.019 --> 00:13:51.159 laugh from the audience, regardless of who actually 00:13:51.159 --> 00:13:53.399 wins the physical match. So if the champion gets 00:13:53.399 --> 00:13:55.460 pinned, but the crowd laughs at the funny way 00:13:55.460 --> 00:13:58.600 he fell, he retains the title. Exactly. It completely 00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:00.620 institutionalizes the idea that entertainment 00:14:00.620 --> 00:14:02.980 is more important than winning. That is amazing. 00:14:03.340 --> 00:14:05.320 Do we have an example of how this played out? 00:14:05.820 --> 00:14:08.419 There is a perfect example. His first offense 00:14:08.419 --> 00:14:11.159 was against Don Fuji. They called it an extreme 00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:14.740 comedy match. Stalker defeated him to retain 00:14:14.740 --> 00:14:17.980 the belt in under 15 seconds. 15 seconds. That 00:14:17.980 --> 00:14:20.440 is incredibly efficient comedy. But then look 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:22.820 at the feud with Kikutaro. Kikutaro is another 00:14:22.820 --> 00:14:25.500 absolute legend of this comedy style. He wears 00:14:25.500 --> 00:14:28.679 a pink mask. He has brilliant comedic timing. 00:14:28.919 --> 00:14:32.080 Okay. And Kikutaro actually pinned Ichikawa in 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:34.279 their match. Physically, he won the fight. So 00:14:34.279 --> 00:14:36.100 Kikutaro should be the new champ based on the 00:14:36.100 --> 00:14:39.120 pin. He should be. But then Stalker's actual 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:41.820 mother, his real -life mom, came out to the ring. 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:44.919 Oh no, the mother intervention. The ultimate 00:14:44.919 --> 00:14:47.100 weapon. She grabbed the microphone and she started 00:14:47.100 --> 00:14:50.320 begging Kikutaro. She appealed directly to the 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:52.879 fans. She said, and I quote, this belt was one 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:55.120 of the few things he had left. She pity -guilted 00:14:55.120 --> 00:14:58.220 him. It worked perfectly. Kikutaro felt so awkward 00:14:58.220 --> 00:15:00.519 and ashamed that he just let Stalker keep the 00:15:00.519 --> 00:15:03.539 belt. That is genius. But he did eventually lose 00:15:03.539 --> 00:15:07.460 it, right? To Sima. He did. And Saima is the 00:15:07.460 --> 00:15:11.100 ace of the promotion, the top star. Seema pinned 00:15:11.100 --> 00:15:13.720 him, but the official ruling was not just about 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:16.379 the pin. What was it? Ichikawa lost the belt 00:15:16.379 --> 00:15:18.820 because he, quote, failed to receive audience 00:15:18.820 --> 00:15:21.580 approval. The crowd just didn't laugh enough 00:15:21.580 --> 00:15:24.340 to save him that time. And what did Seema do 00:15:24.340 --> 00:15:27.360 with this highly prestigious belt once he won 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:30.659 it? He treated it like radioactive waste. He 00:15:30.659 --> 00:15:33.340 didn't want it at all. He immediately, right 00:15:33.340 --> 00:15:35.860 there in the arena, handed the belt to a fan 00:15:35.860 --> 00:15:38.399 sitting in the front row. A random fan became 00:15:38.399 --> 00:15:40.519 the champion. Yes, a guy named Jackson Florida. 00:15:40.840 --> 00:15:43.970 Because in that specific moment... The funniest 00:15:43.970 --> 00:15:46.129 thing that could possibly happen was a confused 00:15:46.129 --> 00:15:48.549 fan holding the championship belt. It proved 00:15:48.549 --> 00:15:50.470 the concept of the title perfectly. The belt 00:15:50.470 --> 00:15:52.370 follows the joy. I love that. I want to touch 00:15:52.370 --> 00:15:54.289 on his international exploits before we wrap 00:15:54.289 --> 00:15:56.330 this up, because his style of comedy isn't just 00:15:56.330 --> 00:15:58.909 a Japanese cultural thing. It translates everywhere. 00:15:59.110 --> 00:16:01.610 Right. He came to the U .S. specifically pro 00:16:01.610 --> 00:16:04.610 wrestling gorilla or PWG in Los Angeles. This 00:16:04.610 --> 00:16:06.870 was in 2007. And you have to understand, the 00:16:06.870 --> 00:16:09.970 PWG crowd is famously cynical. They are smart 00:16:09.970 --> 00:16:13.169 fans. They dissect work rate and technical skill. 00:16:13.309 --> 00:16:15.350 But they fell in love with him. They absolutely 00:16:15.350 --> 00:16:17.970 did. He lost his matches there to Don Fuji and 00:16:17.970 --> 00:16:20.669 to Top Gun Tall War. But the reports say the 00:16:20.669 --> 00:16:23.070 American crowd was chanting his name the entire 00:16:23.070 --> 00:16:25.950 night. He completely won them over. But then, 00:16:25.950 --> 00:16:29.389 and we have to talk about this. He met the Necrobutcher 00:16:29.389 --> 00:16:32.690 in 2008. Oh, this is a true clash of civilizations. 00:16:33.250 --> 00:16:34.830 For those who don't know who Necrobutcher is, 00:16:34.909 --> 00:16:38.110 imagine a man who fights barefoot in bar brawls 00:16:38.110 --> 00:16:40.570 and genuinely enjoys landing on broken glass. 00:16:41.309 --> 00:16:44.190 He is the guy from the movie The Wrestler. He 00:16:44.190 --> 00:16:47.580 is not a comedy guy. Not at all. So Stalker, 00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:50.120 being Stalker, decides the funny move in this 00:16:50.120 --> 00:16:52.820 dangerous comedy match is to walk right up to 00:16:52.820 --> 00:16:55.700 this terrifying hardcore wrestler and slap him 00:16:55.700 --> 00:16:57.960 in the face. Oh, Stalker, why would you do that? 00:16:58.179 --> 00:17:00.820 Necrobucha responded with a single punch. Stalker 00:17:00.820 --> 00:17:03.840 was knocked out cold. The match ended in 18 seconds. 00:17:03.940 --> 00:17:07.099 18 seconds. But the crowd wanted more. So Stalker 00:17:07.099 --> 00:17:09.740 wakes up, shakes off the cobwebs, and in true 00:17:09.740 --> 00:17:12.460 Stalker fashion, asks for a restart. Please, 00:17:12.500 --> 00:17:14.480 sir, may I have another? Basically, yeah. So 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:16.700 the match restarts, goes a little bit longer, 00:17:16.819 --> 00:17:19.880 and ends with NecroButcher powerbombing him onto 00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:22.619 a pile of steel chairs. See, that is where the 00:17:22.619 --> 00:17:24.839 comedy label gets really tricky, because getting 00:17:24.839 --> 00:17:27.539 powerbombed onto a pile of steel chairs actually 00:17:27.539 --> 00:17:30.500 hurts. That is real impact. That is the sacrifice 00:17:30.500 --> 00:17:33.660 of the art form. The joke requires him to take 00:17:33.660 --> 00:17:36.480 real punishment. He is the clown in the rodeo 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:39.259 barrel. The bull hits the barrel, the crowd laughs, 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:42.339 but the guy inside the barrel still feels the 00:17:42.339 --> 00:17:44.900 massive hit. It reminds me of the story in the 00:17:44.900 --> 00:17:48.059 sources about Yuji Nagata, another instance of 00:17:48.059 --> 00:17:50.440 Stalker biting off way more than he could chew. 00:17:50.579 --> 00:17:53.119 Oh, this is a classic coyote versus roadrunner 00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:56.599 scheme. Yes. Nagata, who is a very serious New 00:17:56.599 --> 00:17:59.900 Japan IWGP heavyweight champion, was doing a 00:17:59.900 --> 00:18:02.660 standard autograph session. Stalker sneaks into 00:18:02.660 --> 00:18:04.740 the line acting like a fan. With a piece of paper. 00:18:04.940 --> 00:18:07.519 Right. He hands Nagata the paper. Nagata signs 00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:09.420 it without really looking, and Stalker reveals 00:18:09.420 --> 00:18:11.799 it was actually a match contract. Autograph this. 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:14.289 Gotcha. Nagata was furious. He agreed to the 00:18:14.289 --> 00:18:16.369 match just to teach him a lesson, and he kicked 00:18:16.369 --> 00:18:18.730 Stalker so hard the match ended in five minutes 00:18:18.730 --> 00:18:21.049 with a left middle kick. Just enough time to 00:18:21.049 --> 00:18:23.490 humiliate him publicly. It is the rhythm of his 00:18:23.490 --> 00:18:26.650 entire professional life. Hubris, absurdity, 00:18:26.670 --> 00:18:30.769 and then immediate crushing reality. So Stalker 00:18:30.769 --> 00:18:34.369 Ichikawa finally retired for real, allegedly 00:18:34.369 --> 00:18:38.490 at least, in December 2024. He was 51 years old. 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:41.440 Over 25 years of getting beaten up for a living, 00:18:41.559 --> 00:18:44.079 that is a lifetime in wrestling years. So let's 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:46.500 land the plane here. What does this all mean 00:18:46.500 --> 00:18:49.640 for us? When we look back at the legacy of Stalker 00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:53.299 Ichikawa, what do we actually see? Because on 00:18:53.299 --> 00:18:56.079 paper, he is a loser. He has a massive losing 00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:58.900 record. He's small. He never held the big serious 00:18:58.900 --> 00:19:01.579 belts. I think if we zoom out, Ichikawa proved 00:19:01.579 --> 00:19:04.720 that winning is a very narrow definition of success. 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:07.480 How so? In the performance industry, the ultimate 00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:09.460 goal is to elicit emotion from the audience. 00:19:09.859 --> 00:19:12.799 Most wrestlers try to elicit awe or fear through 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:14.980 their strength. Ichikawa chose to elicit joy 00:19:14.980 --> 00:19:17.000 and sympathy. He found a market in efficiency. 00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:19.720 Everyone else was fighting to be the alpha. No 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:22.839 one was fighting to be the omega. Exactly. He 00:19:22.839 --> 00:19:25.460 made himself totally indispensable by being the 00:19:25.460 --> 00:19:27.660 one guy on the card who could break the tension. 00:19:28.019 --> 00:19:31.160 He was the palate cleanser. The fans needed him 00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:33.440 to root for, because he represented the part 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:35.740 of us that feels small and overwhelmed by the 00:19:35.740 --> 00:19:38.759 world. That is a really great point. We can't 00:19:38.759 --> 00:19:40.819 all relate to the guy with the 24 -inch biceps 00:19:40.819 --> 00:19:43.119 who wins every single fight he's in. No, most 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:45.339 of us can't. But we can all relate to the guy 00:19:45.339 --> 00:19:48.220 who... tries his absolute best, gets slapped 00:19:48.220 --> 00:19:51.700 in the face, falls down, and then uncomfortably 00:19:51.700 --> 00:19:53.960 gets back up while his wife shakes her head in 00:19:53.960 --> 00:19:56.099 disappointment. And sometimes just surviving 00:19:56.099 --> 00:19:58.220 the match, just making it to the final bell without 00:19:58.220 --> 00:20:00.779 being carried out on a stretcher, is the real 00:20:00.779 --> 00:20:03.259 victory. So here is a final provocative thought 00:20:03.259 --> 00:20:04.940 for you to chew on as you go about your day. 00:20:05.140 --> 00:20:07.200 We are all conditioned to chase the win right. 00:20:07.339 --> 00:20:09.880 The promotion, the award, the top spot in our 00:20:09.880 --> 00:20:13.609 field. But stalker Ichikawa... built a 25 -year 00:20:13.609 --> 00:20:17.069 legacy specifically by losing. He really did. 00:20:17.170 --> 00:20:19.670 He turned losing into a sustainable art form. 00:20:19.930 --> 00:20:23.289 So ask yourself this. In your own life or your 00:20:23.289 --> 00:20:26.170 own career, is there a place where you are trying 00:20:26.170 --> 00:20:28.910 way too hard to be the champ, when you might 00:20:28.910 --> 00:20:31.269 actually have more impact and have a lot more 00:20:31.269 --> 00:20:34.109 fun by being the character? Because sometimes 00:20:34.109 --> 00:20:36.089 the most memorable person in the room isn't the 00:20:36.089 --> 00:20:38.049 one holding the trophy. Sometimes it's the guy 00:20:38.049 --> 00:20:41.109 holding the bean jam bun. Exactly. Thanks for 00:20:41.109 --> 00:20:42.809 taking this deep dive with us. We will see you 00:20:42.809 --> 00:20:43.269 in the next one.