WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.320 Imagine it's 11 .59 p .m. on New Year's Eve. 00:00:05.099 --> 00:00:08.320 You and your entire executive board are suddenly 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:10.220 escorted out of the corporate headquarters by 00:00:10.220 --> 00:00:13.539 security. You're completely fired. Wow. Just 00:00:13.539 --> 00:00:16.219 out on the street. Yeah, exactly. The company 00:00:16.219 --> 00:00:19.219 refuses to issue a press release explaining why 00:00:19.219 --> 00:00:21.820 there's no severance package discussed and there 00:00:21.820 --> 00:00:24.600 is absolutely no gentle transition period. None 00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:27.019 at all. In the normal corporate world, your career 00:00:27.019 --> 00:00:30.300 is... unequivocally over. But in the, you know, 00:00:30.379 --> 00:00:33.799 the neon lit, beautifully chaotic world of Japanese 00:00:33.799 --> 00:00:36.420 professional wrestling, you just became the most 00:00:36.420 --> 00:00:38.859 dangerous, highly valued commodity on the open 00:00:38.859 --> 00:00:41.320 market. Oh, absolutely. Because danger, especially 00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:44.299 the unexplainable kind, it draws money. Right, 00:00:44.299 --> 00:00:46.200 it really does. You stop being a corporate employee 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:48.799 and immediately become this, like, rogue element 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:51.320 that audiences will gladly pay a premium to see. 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:54.340 Well, welcome, you incredibly curious learner, 00:00:54.759 --> 00:00:57.579 to today's Deep Dive. Our mission today is to 00:00:57.579 --> 00:00:59.880 extract the absolute most fascinating insights 00:00:59.880 --> 00:01:02.500 from the Wikipedia page of Japanese professional 00:01:02.500 --> 00:01:05.120 wrestler, Yasushi Tsujimoto. Better known to 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:07.939 fans by his legendary ring name, Brother Yoshi. 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:10.560 Exactly. We're stripping away the theatrics today 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:13.120 to look at the raw mechanics of his career. Because 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:15.379 even if you don't watch wrestling, this deep 00:01:15.379 --> 00:01:17.379 dive is just a total masterclass in branding. 00:01:17.579 --> 00:01:20.140 Yeah, branding, toxic workplace dynamics, the 00:01:20.140 --> 00:01:24.480 works. Seriously. And the intense psychological 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:26.900 weight of loyalty. To kind of capture the mood 00:01:26.900 --> 00:01:29.099 for you, I'm shifting our visual backdrop right 00:01:29.099 --> 00:01:32.459 now. We're pulling up this vibrant electric mix 00:01:32.459 --> 00:01:36.719 of neon Tokyo cityscapes intersecting with gritty 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:39.879 vintage wrestling promotion posters. Oh, I love 00:01:39.879 --> 00:01:42.280 that. Sets the vibe perfectly. Right. It's a 00:01:42.280 --> 00:01:44.519 visual representation of a world where the lines 00:01:44.519 --> 00:01:48.170 between actual human reality and fabricated performance 00:01:48.170 --> 00:01:50.090 are just constantly bleeding into one another. 00:01:50.549 --> 00:01:52.890 So setting the stage here, Yasushi Tsujimoto 00:01:52.890 --> 00:01:56.409 was born in 1982, which makes him 44 years old 00:01:56.409 --> 00:01:58.849 today. Yep. And he doesn't just walk off the 00:01:58.849 --> 00:02:01.030 street and into a wrestling ring. Right. He actually 00:02:01.030 --> 00:02:03.930 starts out with a highly legitimate amateur wrestling 00:02:03.930 --> 00:02:06.629 background. Which is huge in Japan. Exactly. 00:02:07.030 --> 00:02:08.770 He transitions into the professional scene in 00:02:08.770 --> 00:02:12.229 2000, and he's trained by the iconic Ultimo Dragon 00:02:12.229 --> 00:02:15.520 and Jorge Rivera. We're talking about the notoriously 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:19.740 rigid, grueling Japanese dojo system intersecting 00:02:19.740 --> 00:02:22.300 with Mexican lucha libre philosophy. And that 00:02:22.300 --> 00:02:24.539 foundational training, I mean, it is critical 00:02:24.539 --> 00:02:26.580 to everything that follows in his life. Absolutely. 00:02:26.979 --> 00:02:29.979 Well, the dojo system is designed to completely 00:02:29.979 --> 00:02:32.659 break down an individual's ego. You sweep the 00:02:32.659 --> 00:02:34.199 floors, you cook the meals for the veterans, 00:02:34.379 --> 00:02:36.919 you endure just relentless physical conditioning. 00:02:37.080 --> 00:02:40.039 A military boot camp. Basically, yeah. By the 00:02:40.039 --> 00:02:42.180 time you actually debut, your technical base 00:02:42.180 --> 00:02:45.270 is so deep. ingrained. Having that legitimate 00:02:45.270 --> 00:02:48.250 grappling skill gives him an undeniable physical 00:02:48.250 --> 00:02:50.289 credibility. Which acts as an anchor, right? 00:02:50.349 --> 00:02:53.530 Exactly. It grounds him when the narrative around 00:02:53.530 --> 00:02:56.789 his career gets entirely absurd later on. And 00:02:56.789 --> 00:02:58.629 every great character starts with a struggle 00:02:58.629 --> 00:03:02.949 for identity. So, Tsujimoto debuts in the Toriumon 00:03:02.949 --> 00:03:05.449 Japan promotion, specifically as part of their 00:03:05.449 --> 00:03:08.729 T2P class, under the name Stevie Brother Tsujimoto. 00:03:08.860 --> 00:03:11.659 Okay. In his rookie class, he's ranked second. 00:03:12.039 --> 00:03:13.840 He's roughly tied with another wrestler named 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:17.219 Masato Yoshino, but both of them are ranked distinctly 00:03:17.219 --> 00:03:20.219 behind the top dog of the class. This highly 00:03:20.219 --> 00:03:22.900 touted prospect named Milano Collection A .T. 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:25.280 Right. Milano was the golden boy. Yeah. And because 00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:27.840 Milano is the golden boy, management essentially 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:31.500 lets him call the shots. Milano forces both Tsuji 00:03:31.500 --> 00:03:35.060 Moto and Yoshino to join his faction, which was 00:03:35.060 --> 00:03:37.860 called the Italian Connection. And factions in 00:03:37.860 --> 00:03:40.340 Japanese wrestling operate essentially like feudal 00:03:40.340 --> 00:03:43.020 houses or, you know, modern tech conglomerates. 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:45.099 They control everything, don't they? Oh, entirely. 00:03:45.379 --> 00:03:47.560 They dictate your merchandise revenue, your travel 00:03:47.560 --> 00:03:50.199 partners, your locker room placement, your whole 00:03:50.199 --> 00:03:53.379 public identity. You literally do not exist outside 00:03:53.379 --> 00:03:55.680 of your faction. Okay, let's unpack this. Yeah. 00:03:55.800 --> 00:03:57.939 Because it's basically the equivalent of a terrible 00:03:57.939 --> 00:04:00.819 corporate rebranding forced on a rebellious employee. 00:04:00.939 --> 00:04:04.280 Oh, completely. Milano decides that Tsujimoto 00:04:04.280 --> 00:04:07.000 needs a new name to fit this fabricated Italian 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:10.219 theme, right? So he forcibly renames him Yassini. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:12.400 Just brutal. Just think about the psychology 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:15.000 of that. You survive the dojo, you're a highly 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:17.420 skilled technical athlete, and your new boss 00:04:17.420 --> 00:04:19.839 completely overwrites your identity with a gimmick 00:04:19.839 --> 00:04:22.360 name you absolutely despise. Yeah, that's gonna 00:04:22.360 --> 00:04:24.740 cost some friction. It did. Tsujimoto pushed 00:04:24.740 --> 00:04:28.040 back aggressively. He argued with Milano behind 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:30.500 the scenes and in front of the crowds, and eventually 00:04:30.500 --> 00:04:33.379 they settled on a tense compromise, which was 00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:36.319 Brother Yosini. What's fascinating here is the 00:04:36.319 --> 00:04:38.879 structural flaw built into this faction from 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:40.939 day one. Oh, the dynamic between the good guys 00:04:40.939 --> 00:04:43.519 and bad guys. Exactly. Milano and Yoshino were 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:46.839 positioned as pristine corporate baby faces. 00:04:47.180 --> 00:04:49.720 They were the heroes management wanted the crowd 00:04:49.720 --> 00:04:52.740 to love. Right. But Yosini and his allies within 00:04:52.740 --> 00:04:55.959 the group, specifically guys like Kandari Shuji, 00:04:56.259 --> 00:05:00.040 Baker Yagi, Berlinetta Boxer, they were intrinsically 00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:04.509 wired as heels. Bad guys. Yeah. You cannot put 00:05:04.509 --> 00:05:07.430 traditional rule -breaking heels under the management 00:05:07.430 --> 00:05:09.750 of a white meat baby face without the entire 00:05:09.750 --> 00:05:12.170 psychological structure of the department collapsing. 00:05:12.310 --> 00:05:15.110 It's an organizational nightmare. It's like having 00:05:15.110 --> 00:05:17.230 half your marketing department running a wholesome 00:05:17.230 --> 00:05:19.810 PR campaign while the other half is actively 00:05:19.810 --> 00:05:21.850 trolling your customer base on social media. 00:05:22.230 --> 00:05:23.649 That's a great way to put it. It just doesn't 00:05:23.649 --> 00:05:26.389 work. The tension eventually snaps, and it snaps 00:05:26.389 --> 00:05:30.779 violently. Yasini and Kandori Shuji literally 00:05:30.779 --> 00:05:34.199 shatter the faction by attacking their own leaders, 00:05:34.500 --> 00:05:37.220 Milano and Yoshino, with blue boxes. Which is 00:05:37.220 --> 00:05:39.620 just a brilliant piece of stagecraft. Oh, absolutely. 00:05:39.779 --> 00:05:42.839 They don't just, you know, disagree. They violently 00:05:42.839 --> 00:05:45.639 dismantle the hierarchical structure that management 00:05:45.639 --> 00:05:48.839 placed them in. And this act of rebellion forges 00:05:48.839 --> 00:05:52.620 Tsujimoto's defining career alliance. He permanently 00:05:52.620 --> 00:05:55.420 drops the Yasini name management forced on him 00:05:55.420 --> 00:05:59.139 and finally becomes Brother Yashi. Nice. And 00:05:59.139 --> 00:06:02.779 Kondori Shuji renames himself Shuji Kondo. They 00:06:02.779 --> 00:06:05.500 grab a couple of other frustrated workers, Toru 00:06:05.500 --> 00:06:08.040 Awashi and Shogo Takagi, and they form their 00:06:08.040 --> 00:06:10.620 entirely own group called Haguragundam. So they're 00:06:10.620 --> 00:06:12.639 just completely rogue now. Officially out from 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:14.639 under management's thumb, building their own 00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:16.720 brand from scratch. But forging your own path 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:19.019 requires a massive amount of operational capital, 00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:21.279 both literal and metaphorical. Right, you need 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:24.139 star power. Exactly. Haguragundam starts gaining 00:06:24.139 --> 00:06:26.379 serious traction, but they realize they need 00:06:26.379 --> 00:06:28.800 a marquee name to legitimize the group at the 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:30.720 top of the card. So what do they do? They bring 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:33.759 in a highly respected veteran wrestler named 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:37.660 Masaki Mochizuki to be their new leader. With 00:06:37.660 --> 00:06:40.120 his arrival, the stable goes through a massive 00:06:40.120 --> 00:06:44.519 rebranding. They rename themselves again, Isu. 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:47.560 I have to say the English translation of that 00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:50.069 name. is quite possibly the coolest thing I've 00:06:50.069 --> 00:06:51.629 ever heard in professional wrestling. It really 00:06:51.629 --> 00:06:54.589 is. It translates roughly to, villains all wear 00:06:54.589 --> 00:06:56.870 the same colors. Such a good aesthetic. It speaks 00:06:56.870 --> 00:06:59.750 to this absolute unified front of rebellion. 00:07:00.269 --> 00:07:02.850 They even add another wrestler, Takuya Shukawara, 00:07:02.870 --> 00:07:06.629 to the mix. But very quickly, a massive ego clash 00:07:06.629 --> 00:07:09.230 erupts between the new veteran leader, Mochizuki, 00:07:09.649 --> 00:07:12.350 and the original founder, Shuji Kondo. Classic 00:07:12.350 --> 00:07:15.329 power struggle. Yeah. They're arguing bitterly 00:07:15.329 --> 00:07:18.319 over who is the true ace. the top revenue generating 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:21.360 star of the stable. And when push comes to shove, 00:07:21.660 --> 00:07:23.220 the stable looks at the veteran they brought 00:07:23.220 --> 00:07:25.100 in and they look at the guy who actually built 00:07:25.100 --> 00:07:27.120 the house. And they side with the builder. They 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:29.319 side with Kondo and they kick Mochizuki entirely 00:07:29.319 --> 00:07:32.180 out of the group. That is a fascinating internal 00:07:32.180 --> 00:07:35.120 power struggle. The founding board members essentially 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:39.220 vote out the veteran CEO they just hired to legitimize 00:07:39.220 --> 00:07:41.540 their startup. Wait, hold on. I'm looking at 00:07:41.540 --> 00:07:43.879 this from a business perspective. Yeah. You don't 00:07:43.879 --> 00:07:46.240 just fire the veteran CEO you just brought in 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:48.439 to legitimize your company. Yeah. Doesn't kicking 00:07:48.439 --> 00:07:50.839 him out instantly kill their credibility with 00:07:50.839 --> 00:07:53.839 the fans? Not if your entire brand identity is 00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:56.360 built on betrayal and volatility. Oh, I see. 00:07:56.480 --> 00:07:59.560 Right. By turning on Mokuzuki, Ugen Issu proved 00:07:59.560 --> 00:08:02.699 they were genuinely unpredictable. They signaled 00:08:02.699 --> 00:08:04.639 to the audience that no one was safe, not even 00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:07.639 their own leadership. That's bold. It is. And 00:08:07.639 --> 00:08:10.439 that level of internal ruthlessness actually 00:08:10.439 --> 00:08:13.000 amplifies a heel faction's heat with the crowd. 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:15.160 Well, here's where it gets really interesting. 00:08:15.639 --> 00:08:17.819 Because the fallout from this ruthless branding 00:08:17.819 --> 00:08:20.819 doesn't stay confined to a storyline. It bleeds 00:08:20.819 --> 00:08:23.500 into reality in a way that is genuinely jarring. 00:08:23.620 --> 00:08:25.759 Oh, yeah. The purge. According to the source 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:28.680 material, on December 31st, 2004, New Year's 00:08:28.680 --> 00:08:32.200 Eve, all five members of Agony Sue are completely 00:08:32.200 --> 00:08:34.220 fired from the Dragon Gate promotion. All of 00:08:34.220 --> 00:08:37.230 them. Just gone. The stated reason. Controversial 00:08:37.230 --> 00:08:40.110 and mostly unexplained reasons. The wrestling 00:08:40.110 --> 00:08:42.629 dirt sheets absolutely exploded. I mean, think 00:08:42.629 --> 00:08:45.389 about it. A promotion firing its top -drawing 00:08:45.389 --> 00:08:48.230 heel faction entirely unannounced on a major 00:08:48.230 --> 00:08:51.950 holiday with zero PR spin. I have to challenge 00:08:51.950 --> 00:08:54.490 the logic of what happens next, though. If you're 00:08:54.490 --> 00:08:57.009 a rival promotion, why on earth are you hiring 00:08:57.009 --> 00:08:59.330 guys who are just violently fired for unexplained 00:08:59.330 --> 00:09:01.830 reasons? It seems like an immense liability. 00:09:02.350 --> 00:09:04.879 Normally, yes. But you have to look at the Ronin 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:07.139 rebrand as a business concept. OK, lay that out 00:09:07.139 --> 00:09:10.039 for me. In the Japanese wrestling industry, unexplained 00:09:10.039 --> 00:09:13.179 controversy is a bizarre kind of currency. If 00:09:13.179 --> 00:09:16.159 you're fired for a mundane reason, like showing 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:18.899 up late or declining skills, you fade away. Right, 00:09:18.980 --> 00:09:21.320 you're just washed up. Exactly. But if you're 00:09:21.320 --> 00:09:24.159 fired as a collective unit under a shroud of 00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:26.700 absolute mystery, you instantly become a Ronin. 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:29.379 You're a masterless samurai. Oh, wow. Fans want 00:09:29.379 --> 00:09:30.820 to know what you did, and more importantly, they 00:09:30.820 --> 00:09:33.299 want to see what you're going to do next. Rival 00:09:33.299 --> 00:09:35.559 promotions will gladly absorb that liability 00:09:35.559 --> 00:09:37.960 because that mystery translates directly into 00:09:37.960 --> 00:09:40.440 ticket sales. Which explains exactly how they 00:09:40.440 --> 00:09:43.440 leverage that infamy perfectly. Tsujimoto and 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:45.980 Kondo don't issue apologies. They don't rebrand. 00:09:46.340 --> 00:09:49.019 They pack up their proverbial blue boxes and 00:09:49.019 --> 00:09:51.340 they immediately resurface in all Japan Pro Wrestling 00:09:51.340 --> 00:09:53.799 as part of a stable called the Voodoo Murders. 00:09:54.039 --> 00:09:56.600 They just took their highly toxic villainous 00:09:56.600 --> 00:10:00.580 brand to a legacy market and instantly became 00:10:00.580 --> 00:10:02.980 top tier attractions. Just incredible maneuvering. 00:10:03.299 --> 00:10:06.059 But, you know, surviving a mass firing alongside 00:10:06.059 --> 00:10:08.360 your primary business partner definitely hardens 00:10:08.360 --> 00:10:11.340 the alliance. But the grueling travel schedule, 00:10:11.399 --> 00:10:14.019 the physical toll and the constant pressure to 00:10:14.019 --> 00:10:16.820 maintain that heel heat, it eventually fractures 00:10:16.820 --> 00:10:18.940 even the tightest alliances. Yeah and we track 00:10:18.940 --> 00:10:21.320 Tsujimoto into these newer alternative promotions 00:10:21.320 --> 00:10:24.019 called Dragon Door and El Dorado. And it's here 00:10:24.019 --> 00:10:26.779 in El Dorado that he finally splits from Shuji 00:10:26.779 --> 00:10:28.720 Kondo for the very first time since their early 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:30.820 days in the Italian connection. A massive shift 00:10:30.820 --> 00:10:33.139 for him. Huge! They dissolve their partnership 00:10:33.139 --> 00:10:35.320 and go their separate ways. When I was reading 00:10:35.320 --> 00:10:38.279 the sources, the psychology of his reinvention 00:10:38.279 --> 00:10:40.690 after this split absolutely floored me. The moment 00:10:40.690 --> 00:10:43.049 he leaves the corporate structure and his primary 00:10:43.049 --> 00:10:46.570 partner, his entire in -ring philosophy shifts. 00:10:46.809 --> 00:10:49.470 It totally does. He immediately reverts to his 00:10:49.470 --> 00:10:52.629 oldest, purest roots. He goes back to using the 00:10:52.629 --> 00:10:55.070 law of style, of wrestling, leaning heavily on 00:10:55.070 --> 00:10:57.269 that amateur background. Right. And he forms 00:10:57.269 --> 00:11:00.070 a brand new stable with a very aggressively granded 00:11:00.070 --> 00:11:03.970 name. The Nanking Fucking Wrestling Team. Quite 00:11:03.970 --> 00:11:07.250 a name. Seriously. But he doesn't form it with 00:11:07.250 --> 00:11:10.799 other established stars. He forms it alongside 00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:14.100 Masaki Okimoto and Yuji Hino, who are his actual 00:11:14.100 --> 00:11:15.940 wrestling teammates from high school. That's 00:11:15.940 --> 00:11:18.539 such a telling detail. Isn't it deeply psychological? 00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:21.460 The moment he leaves his best friend, his defining 00:11:21.460 --> 00:11:24.259 business partner, it's terrifying. So what does 00:11:24.259 --> 00:11:27.409 he do? He retreats to ultimate safety. He surrounds 00:11:27.409 --> 00:11:29.649 himself with his childhood friend and reverts 00:11:29.649 --> 00:11:32.149 to the exact grappling style he learned before 00:11:32.149 --> 00:11:34.049 the industry ever told him he had to be a villain. 00:11:34.389 --> 00:11:37.529 It is. And to truly understand how drastic that 00:11:37.529 --> 00:11:39.049 retreat is, we need to look at the mechanics 00:11:39.049 --> 00:11:41.450 of the loft style. Break that down for us. So 00:11:41.450 --> 00:11:44.090 Lave is a Mexican style of grappling. It's built 00:11:44.090 --> 00:11:46.809 around intricate pretzel -like joint locks and 00:11:46.809 --> 00:11:49.490 complex submission geometry. Now the Japanese 00:11:49.490 --> 00:11:52.090 wrestling scene is mostly dominated by strong 00:11:52.090 --> 00:11:55.750 style blistering strikes, heavy suplexes, sheer 00:11:55.750 --> 00:11:57.909 physical force. Right, very punishing. Yeah. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:00.620 Bringing Lave into that environment completely 00:12:00.620 --> 00:12:03.200 changes the physical geometry of the match. It 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:06.039 grounds the high -impact violence into a cerebral, 00:12:06.440 --> 00:12:09.059 technical chess match. By returning to Lave, 00:12:09.240 --> 00:12:11.200 Tsujimoto is essentially putting up a highly 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:13.639 complex technical shield around himself. But 00:12:13.639 --> 00:12:16.200 the wrestling industry is incredibly unforgiving 00:12:16.200 --> 00:12:18.340 when it comes to vulnerability. Very true. The 00:12:18.340 --> 00:12:20.600 brutal irony of this era is that he eventually 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:23.139 ends up in a high -stakes match against his old 00:12:23.139 --> 00:12:26.279 partner, Shuji Kondo. The stipulation of this 00:12:26.279 --> 00:12:28.799 match dictates that the loser is forced to completely 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:31.379 disband their faction. Oh, man. And Sujimoto 00:12:31.379 --> 00:12:34.440 loses. His childhood reunion, his safe haven, 00:12:34.860 --> 00:12:37.440 is forcibly shut down by the very monster he 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:39.899 spent his entire career building alliances with. 00:12:40.200 --> 00:12:42.679 It's genuinely Shakespearean. And the physical 00:12:42.679 --> 00:12:45.039 and emotional toll of that narrative collapse? 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:47.639 Well, it pushes him entirely out of the professional 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:50.179 wrestling bubble. Yeah. Shortly after, in February 00:12:50.179 --> 00:12:53.360 2009, he formally retires from professional wrestling. 00:12:53.559 --> 00:12:55.700 Though there's a really interesting detour before 00:12:55.700 --> 00:12:57.960 that. Right, the MMA fight. Before that retirement, 00:12:58.139 --> 00:13:00.379 he took a detour that I think provides a massive 00:13:00.379 --> 00:13:03.100 reality check regarding the physical toll of 00:13:03.100 --> 00:13:06.340 this lifestyle. In August 2007, he stepped out 00:13:06.340 --> 00:13:08.840 of the scripted world and took a legitimate mixed 00:13:08.840 --> 00:13:11.379 martial arts match for the Heat promotion. Heat 00:13:11.379 --> 00:13:14.740 4. Against a trained fighter named Takasuke Kume. 00:13:14.909 --> 00:13:18.490 Why would a pro wrestler in 2000s Japan step 00:13:18.490 --> 00:13:21.450 into an MMA cage? It requires understanding the 00:13:21.450 --> 00:13:23.870 immense cultural oppression of that era. There 00:13:23.870 --> 00:13:26.730 was a pervasive philosophy called Inokism infecting 00:13:26.730 --> 00:13:29.370 the industry. Inokism? Yeah, named after Antonio 00:13:29.370 --> 00:13:32.200 Inoki. Promoters and fans demanded that professional 00:13:32.200 --> 00:13:34.379 wrestlers prove they were legitimate tough guys 00:13:34.379 --> 00:13:37.580 in actual unscripted combat. So Tsujimoto wasn't 00:13:37.580 --> 00:13:39.700 just taking a detour. He was trying to validate 00:13:39.700 --> 00:13:42.220 his physical credibility in a highly dangerous 00:13:42.220 --> 00:13:44.799 arena. And the result was a harsh wake up call. 00:13:45.379 --> 00:13:49.159 He lost. He was submitted via a rear naked choke 00:13:49.159 --> 00:13:51.860 at three minutes and seven seconds into the second 00:13:51.860 --> 00:13:54.000 round. If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:13:54.139 --> 00:13:57.200 that single MMA fight is a profound moment of 00:13:57.200 --> 00:13:59.740 contrast. How so? In professional wrestling, 00:14:00.019 --> 00:14:03.039 loyalty, betrayal, wins and losses, they're all 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:06.480 negotiated. A faction disbanding hurts emotionally, 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:09.580 but the narrative is controlled. An MMA cage 00:14:09.580 --> 00:14:12.940 is an entirely unforgiving, unscripted reality. 00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:15.700 It's just raw violence. Exactly. A reenactment 00:14:15.700 --> 00:14:17.940 choke does not care about your character's elaborate 00:14:17.940 --> 00:14:20.059 backstory, your faction's merchandise sales, 00:14:20.059 --> 00:14:22.820 or your legacy as a man. masterless samurai. 00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:25.379 It operates on pure physics, cutting off the 00:14:25.379 --> 00:14:28.059 blood supply to your brain. It highlights the 00:14:28.059 --> 00:14:30.720 immense physical jeopardy these performers place 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:32.860 themselves in trying to bridge the gap between 00:14:32.860 --> 00:14:35.500 scripted villain and legitimate combat athlete. 00:14:35.740 --> 00:14:37.559 It just completely strips away all the mythology. 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:39.299 But you know, as anyone who follows this industry 00:14:39.299 --> 00:14:41.679 knows, retirement is rarely a permanent state 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:44.379 of being. Definitely not. Retirement in professional 00:14:44.379 --> 00:14:46.399 wrestling is usually just an extended period 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:49.059 to let your surgically repaired knees heal before 00:14:49.059 --> 00:14:51.840 the audience demands your return. So what does 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:55.580 this all mean? How does a masterless samurai, 00:14:56.279 --> 00:14:59.799 a guy who has been fired on New Year's Eve, betrayed 00:14:59.799 --> 00:15:02.580 by his best friend, choked out in a cage, and 00:15:02.580 --> 00:15:05.240 forced into retirement, orchestrate his final 00:15:05.240 --> 00:15:07.960 act? He engineers the art of the comeback. Yes. 00:15:08.279 --> 00:15:10.720 In December 2012, he makes a special appearance 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:14.220 for a promotion called Diamond Ring. Then in 00:15:14.220 --> 00:15:17.080 February 2013, he fully resurrects his career. 00:15:17.240 --> 00:15:20.039 He reforms the Voodoo Murders, that exact stable 00:15:20.039 --> 00:15:22.799 he joined right after the mass purge. But this 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:24.700 time, he's positioned as the outright leader 00:15:24.700 --> 00:15:27.039 of the entire group. He finally ascends to the 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:29.139 top of the corporate ladder that he helped construct 00:15:29.139 --> 00:15:31.899 years prior. He goes from the rogue liability 00:15:31.899 --> 00:15:34.340 to the commanding executive. But the moment that 00:15:34.340 --> 00:15:36.259 actually gave me chills, reading through the 00:15:36.259 --> 00:15:39.480 sources, happened on February 4, 2016. Oh, the 00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:42.480 Dragon Gate return. Yes. Exactly 11 years after 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:44.700 that controversial, unexplained mass firing on 00:15:44.700 --> 00:15:46.860 New Year's Eve. Tujimoto walks back through the 00:15:46.860 --> 00:15:49.399 doors of Dragon Gate. Eleven years of a bitter 00:15:49.399 --> 00:15:52.039 grudge finally settled. And who does he reunite 00:15:52.039 --> 00:15:55.460 with? Masato Yoshino, the very same guy he was 00:15:55.460 --> 00:15:58.879 tied with in his rookie class, the pristine babyface 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:01.899 he attacked with a blue box to kickstart his 00:16:01.899 --> 00:16:05.659 entire rebellion all those years ago. It is a 00:16:05.659 --> 00:16:08.940 stunning full circle narrative resolution. It 00:16:08.940 --> 00:16:11.620 demonstrates that in this industry, time heals 00:16:11.620 --> 00:16:14.899 all wounds, provided those wounds can be leveraged 00:16:14.899 --> 00:16:17.629 to draw a massive paying audience. So true. But 00:16:17.629 --> 00:16:19.769 looking at the entirety of his career achievements, 00:16:19.909 --> 00:16:22.610 there's one detail, almost a mystical footnote, 00:16:22.850 --> 00:16:25.830 that demands analysis. If you look at his championship 00:16:25.830 --> 00:16:28.970 resume, he is a two -time winner of the UWA World 00:16:28.970 --> 00:16:30.610 Trios Championship. I saw that in the notes. 00:16:30.690 --> 00:16:33.090 It sounds like a standard prestigious accolade 00:16:33.090 --> 00:16:35.090 until you actually look at the operational dates 00:16:35.090 --> 00:16:37.389 of the organization. Right. The Universal Wrestling 00:16:37.389 --> 00:16:40.149 Association, the UWA, officially closed its doors 00:16:40.149 --> 00:16:43.169 and ceased corporate operations in 1995. The 00:16:43.169 --> 00:16:45.840 company did not exist. Wait, what? Yeah, yet 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:47.960 Tsujimoto was winning their championships over 00:16:47.960 --> 00:16:51.080 a decade later. This raises an important question 00:16:51.080 --> 00:16:53.899 about the nature of legacy. These championships, 00:16:54.039 --> 00:16:56.279 much like the Voodoo Murders faction itself, 00:16:56.740 --> 00:16:59.059 take on a life entirely independent of their 00:16:59.059 --> 00:17:01.340 creators. I'm struggling to understand how a 00:17:01.340 --> 00:17:04.599 defunct company's title carries any weight. Is 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:06.940 it just a prop at that point? Think of it exactly 00:17:06.940 --> 00:17:09.220 like a breakaway republic continuing to print 00:17:09.220 --> 00:17:12.099 its own currency. OK, I'm cracking. The central 00:17:12.099 --> 00:17:14.500 bank that originally minted the money collapsed 00:17:14.500 --> 00:17:18.259 in 1995. But because the citizens in this case, 00:17:18.579 --> 00:17:20.920 the highly invested wrestling fans and the performers 00:17:20.920 --> 00:17:23.599 themselves still genuinely believe the paper 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:26.980 has intrinsic value, it remains a fully functioning 00:17:26.980 --> 00:17:29.960 economy of prestige. That is fascinating. The 00:17:29.960 --> 00:17:32.660 belt becomes a mythological artifact. Wrestlers 00:17:32.660 --> 00:17:35.220 continue to bleed over it long after the kingdom 00:17:35.220 --> 00:17:37.480 that forged it has turned to dust. It is the 00:17:37.480 --> 00:17:40.519 ultimate testament to branding. If you convince 00:17:40.519 --> 00:17:43.400 the audience the power is real, the power becomes 00:17:43.400 --> 00:17:45.460 real. Exactly. To bring this all together for 00:17:45.460 --> 00:17:47.539 you listening, what we've extracted from the 00:17:47.539 --> 00:17:50.799 complex, chaotic life of Brother Yashi is the 00:17:50.799 --> 00:17:54.119 power of the Ronan rebrand. The most compelling 00:17:54.119 --> 00:17:56.960 careers are rarely linear climbs up a predictable 00:17:56.960 --> 00:17:59.380 ladder. They're really not. They're defined by 00:17:59.380 --> 00:18:02.180 the alliances you build, the organizational structures 00:18:02.180 --> 00:18:04.619 you are willing to violently dismantle, and your 00:18:04.619 --> 00:18:07.299 ability to relentlessly reinvent yourself when 00:18:07.299 --> 00:18:09.529 management tells you your career is over. It 00:18:09.529 --> 00:18:12.069 leaves us with a deeply lingering question to 00:18:12.069 --> 00:18:14.609 ponder, however. Lay it on us. When a promotion 00:18:14.609 --> 00:18:17.089 fires its top group of villains right on New 00:18:17.089 --> 00:18:20.309 Year's Eve for real life unexplained reasons, 00:18:21.150 --> 00:18:23.690 does the boundary between the fabricated toxic 00:18:23.690 --> 00:18:27.529 heel character and the actual human being permanently 00:18:27.529 --> 00:18:30.539 blur? That's heavy. If your entire professional 00:18:30.539 --> 00:18:33.059 existence demands that you act as a ruthless, 00:18:33.420 --> 00:18:36.500 unpredictable rogue, how much of that fabricated 00:18:36.500 --> 00:18:39.740 toxicity bleeds into your actual psychology when 00:18:39.740 --> 00:18:42.200 the arena lights finally go dark? You don't just 00:18:42.200 --> 00:18:44.579 put the villain's nameplate on your door. Eventually, 00:18:44.700 --> 00:18:46.940 the nameplate dictates who you become. Thank 00:18:46.940 --> 00:18:48.779 you so much for joining us on this deep dive. 00:18:49.059 --> 00:18:50.980 Keep questioning the rigid narratives around 00:18:50.980 --> 00:18:53.039 you. Keep looking for the mechanical truth behind 00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:55.460 the performance, and we will catch you next time.