In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Zack Sabre Jr. expressed his belief that his professional accomplishments will remain incomplete if he doesn’t win the G1 Climax 34 and the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
Sabre Jr. said, “It’s probably somewhat dramatic to say that my career will have been a failure if I don’t win both the G1 this year and the IWGP world heavyweight title, but that’s the gut feeling I have–and I’m vegan, so I have a great constitution.”
He continued, “I’m sure that, even in a digital age nowadays, discovering Japanese has a huge impact on people, but for me waiting for bootleg–ahem, definitely official–VHS tapes to come in the post when I was a teenager was a life-changing experience. The wrestling landscape was a completely different world in 2001. And I honestly don’t think I would have become a pro wrestler if I hadn’t discovered Japanese wrestling at that time. I’ve spent more of my adult life in Japan than anywhere else, so I owe more than just my career to the country. But pragmatically now, the environment and the infrastructure of the industry is still best suited to my style. New Japan is where I can be the best wrestler that I possibly can.”
Sabre Jr. will face Orange Cassidy at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2024 this weekend.
