New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) continues its busy schedule Sunday night with the latest tapings of NJPW STRONG, New Japan Showdown. The Vermont Hollywood will play host to the event as members from all parts of NJPW will take part as well as wrestlers from AEW and IMPACT Wrestling.
Inaugural STRONG Openweight Champion "Filthy" Tom Lawlor will face Homicide in singles action at the tapings. Prior to the match, Lawlor was interviewed by Fightful's Scott Edwards to discuss a number of topics including his match with Homicide at New Japan Showdown, his experience in the 2022 G1 Climax, Historic X-Over, and so much more.
Here's what Lawlor had to say.
Q: Of course, this upcoming weekend is New Japan Showdown, the tapings where you’re facing Homicide. Which is pretty exciting. I believe it’s the first time you’re facing off since Bloodsport 3, which is really cool. How are you looking into this match? Obviously Bloodsport and New Japan, they have a lot of similarities there and a lot of differences. Homicide, a very legendary figure here in the US. So how are you looking to face him this time around?
Lawlor: Where exactly is Homicide a legendary figure? On the street? In the bodega?
Q: Ring of Honor.
Lawlor: Oh, Ring of Honor. Okay. This is not Ring of Honor. This is not Homicide’s heyday anymore. I defeated Homicide at Bloodsport. You mentioned that we faced off, but you didn’t mention who won. There are a lot of similarities and differences. One of the similarities is I’m gonna be getting my hand raised at the end of the contest on Sunday just like I did at Bloodsport 3. Homicide—the guy’s not a skilled technician clearly. He’s not gonna be able to match me hold for hold, but I’ll give him his due, he’s a tough guy. He likes to fight. He talks a big game. Scares people with his attitude and his aura, if you will. I’m not one of these people who’s scared of him. Maybe on Homicide’s day and my worst day at this point, he’d have a shot at beating me. But it’s not gonna be that day on Sunday.
Q: Speaking of New Japan as a whole, you have done so much work there to help the brand grow on its own. It almost feels like a completely different thing from New Japan. Wrestlers interchange, but you really helped create a new brand here in the United States. Do you have a certain amount of pride in what Strong has become over time and how it seems everyone wants to be there?
Lawlor: Absolutely. Being a part of New Japan, whether it’s overseas in Japan or here in the USA is a big deal to me. So to that, I’m proud to say that I’ve been a part of New Japan Strong since the very beginning is another thing that I’m very proud of. I don’t take the fact that I was the first and for a long time the only champion in New Japan Strong history, lately is another thing I, once again, am very proud of. I put in a lot of work and effort into that title. I held it very, very close to my heart. I think it was the best work that I’ve done inside the professional wrestling ring bar none.
It’s something I would love to be associated with, for the rest of my career, I’m happy to hear that you bring that up and you say, ‘You helped create a brand here in the USA.’ Because there are interchangeable wrestlers to a certain degree with New Japan and Strong. You have guys going back and forth and you’re gonna have guys going back and forth even more now the borders have opened up a little bit. I’m sure we’ll talk about it a little more, but when I was overseas in Japan, one of the things that made me the happiest would be when I’d have fans come up and say, ‘Hey, I watched New Japan Strong every week. I’m here to support you. I’ve been watching you in the G1 for the past month, but I watch you on New Japan Strong every week and we want to see the rest of Team Filthy over here. We want to see you here all the time.’ That really makes me feel awesome as a professional.
Q: When we think of Strong, or at least when I think of Strong, I think of you, of course, as the New Japan Openweight Champion. The first-ever and of course, Fred Rosser, and that connects here. That is a feud that I’m sure will never really end between you two. I’m sure there’s respect for what you put each other through. That is a feud I also point out building Strong up because, like you said, there are people that come over. You got the Jay Whites and Hiroshi Tanahashis there this weekend. You have got the big names. But it’s you guys, right? It’s you two and so many others with Team Filthy, so many others that built that brand. Can you expand on how that feud really made you better even?
Lawlor: Yeah, well, Fred is the type of guy that when I first found out I was gonna face him, I had no clue what to expect. My exposure to Fred Rosser had been what he was as Darren Young. Which is a very far cry from who Fred Rosser really is and who he’s turned out to be. I didn’t know what to think going into that first match. Ever after that, obviously, I respected him. I loved being able to wrestle against him. As you mentioned, you thought it made me better. Well, one hundred percent that feud did make me better, being in the ring with Fred made me better. Fred’s a ton of worldwide experience at a very high level. While maybe it didn’t work out the way that he had always dreamed that it did, I think you can say he is accomplishing his dreams pretty well right now. I wouldn’t say I like Fred, but clearly, I do respect the guy. I respect his message. I think that people gravitate to him and maybe sometimes take the wrong part of his message. But Fred is, I hate to say it, Fred is as much a part of New Japan Strong as I am.
Q: You brought up earlier your trip to Japan, of course, for the G1 Climax, probably an incredible experience. So I wanted to ask you—one, about the tournament, and is it as grueling as many say it is? I know it was a little smaller in terms of blocks this year, but bigger in terms of participants. So that’s one, and then how did you feel after? Was it everything you hoped for?
Lawlor: Everything I hoped for? No. What I had hoped for would have been a better outing. More wins. More match-ups that were higher up on the card, semi-main event, main event spots which I had, I believe, maybe, two of. But my picture wasn’t gigantic on the poster on any of the nights, you know what I mean? To me there’s still a lot more work to be done. Since the G1’s ended, you’ve seen guys still going over to New Japan. I’m not one of them that’s been back yet. So, like I said, there’s still a lot more work that needs to be done on my end. That’s how I came out of the tournament looking at things. I loved it. I loved being over there. It’s very tough on the body. This tournament, while it wasn’t ten or nine block matches, it was a thirty-five-day tour. You’re on the road wrestling virtually every single day. In the past, the wrestlers would have their block matches and then they’d have days off. Well, on this tour there was really no days off. So even though you may not have a singles match, you’d have a couple more tag team matches at the close of the week.
So maybe you’re not getting as beat up as you would be in a fifteen-minute singles match, but you still have to get in there and fight another guy on the undercard who’s trying to improve their spot on the card. None of it was easy. I’ll tell you that. I lost something close to ten pounds, I think, while I was there. Just the change in food, the heat, working hard. I was in the gym almost every day along with wrestling in the ring. So it was tough, but to be quite honest, there’s nothing I would have rather have done with my summer.
Q: You really had the ultimate G1 experience in the fact that, I talked to some people heading into this interview and they made the great point that you faced Kazuchika Okada. But you also faced Toru Yano. You have two very different people to face, but two very different challenges. Can you explain the differences in both matches in how you went into them?
Lawlor: Can I explain it? Probably not well. Those are two completely different scenarios. One of which with Toru Yano. I spent a lot of time at the Don Quijote—for those of you who don’t know, is a giant department store, essentially. I spent a lot of time in the shopping district looking for props, playing with manikins and that sort of thing. So the preparation for that match was completely different than the preparation for Okada, which was watching a lot of tape, watching a lot of stuff, obviously, that he had done in the past. I don’t know if listeners can tell, but sometimes there’s a lot of counters going on in his contests and you’ve gotta be aware of what he’s going to be doing at all times. So, yeah, a little bit different a strategy. When you’re watching Yano versus Colt Cabana multiple times, you get a different feeling than you do Okada/Shibata. But, for me, they’re both top-notch professional wrestling. So I was happy to have gotten the full experience. I don’t think I got the full experience, but, you know?
Q: There are so many other wrestlers in New Japan that you still have yet to face. Is there one or at least two that jump out at you? Like, ‘I need that match before I’m done. I need it.’
Lawlor: I need a singles match with Zack Sabre, Jr. before all is said and done. I need a singles match with Great-O-Khan before all is said and done. I need a singles match with any of the guys over there. I need a singles match with Ren Narita, the Son of Strong Style in New Japan. I fought him over here a few times. But any of the guys who can go on the mat at a high level, at a world-class level, that have shoot-fighting skills, those are the guys I want to go against. I had to spend forty days going against tall dudes, fat dudes, gigantic muscular guys. I’m sick of it. I want to do some mat wrestling for a little bit. I guess some of those guys aren’t very small. But I wanted to display my shoot fighting skills. I don’t like getting crushed, squished. That’s not fun.
Q: Next question I have is kind of one that I know you’ve talked about in the past, but it’s definitely one that I feel the need to bring up and it’s that we seen a lot of MMA fighters switch over. Some successful, some not so much. What is the hardest part about transitioning from MMA to pro wrestling?
Lawlor: In a lot of ways, they’re completely different worlds. One, in MMA you spend your entire life, career, whatever you want to call it, trying to move at break neck speeds. You’re trying to stay ahead of your opponent. You’re trying to stay faster than how fast their reflexes are. In professional wrestling that is virtually the exact opposite. Sure, you want to make it look like you’re a step ahead of your opponent, but in reality you have to be on the same ground as them a lot of times. It’s not something that’s easy to grasp. I think a lot of pro fighters who come over to wrestling and fail, fail because they don’t understand what professional wrestling is. Two people working together. It developed because you can’t fight each other every day. It’s not completely dependent on who is always the toughest. Sometimes it’s dependent on who’s going to draw in more fans. So I think a lot of fighters who have failed at professional wrestling, they don’t understand it at its fundamental basic level. That’s the thing that ends up being their downfall. That’s one of the hardest things for fighters to get a hold of.
Q: I mean, you did them at the same time. A lot of MMA fighters stop and then jump into wrestling. So I’m sure that was also a challenge. But you succeeded at doing so. So applause to you.
Lawlor: The MMA training prepares you—I would say—very, very well for professional wrestling. It’s all a mental game and dealing with people on a personal level. You have to come up with matches, you have to come up with ideas. Fighting’s very adversarial and obviously, this is different. It’s opposite.
Q: One thing I’ve seen you on Twitter talk about it is your interest in STARDOM. I cover joshi for Fightful. That’s my main job here. At the New York City show, they’re coming over for Rumble on 44th Street to be part of Strong shows. How excited are you to see them involved?
Lawlor: I’m pumped up. I wish I knew who was coming over so I could be even more excited. There are so many awesome wrestlers that STARDOM could send over. I just want to know who it’s going to be. What direction are they going to go? Are we going to get top-notch, skilled power fighters like Hayashishita? Or are we gonna get someone like Mina Shirakawa and the Cosmic Angels, who have a more playful side? I’m just interested to see who exactly we’re going to get because there are so many different aspects of STARDOM. It’s not like a promotion where people a lot of people are homogenous, you know what I mean? You have a lot of varying styles, a lot of varying colors, costumes, looks. It’s something that we have, obviously, women’s wrestling here in the USA, but it is a different product compared to what you see in Japan and I can’t wait to see it here live. I was lucky enough to see Korakuen Hall and go to a STARDOM show in Japan, so any chance you get to watch or be on a show with whoever it is, I’m sure it’s going to be one of the best wrestlers in the world. There’s too many of ‘em for it to not be. Do you have the scoop? I don’t have the scoop. Fightful’s the scoop site.
Q: But, I will ask you, if it’s Koguma, are you going to do the bear pose?
Lawlor: Hell no. The only way that that bear pose is happening in the ring with me in there is if I’m doing it to someone else, if I’m forcing them to take part. Which I did in one tag match win the G1, I forced Bad Dude Tito to throw up the bear paws. But no.
Q: So, Historic X-Over, big time show. First time New Japan and STARDOM are coming together for this mega show and I can’t wait for it, personally. You, of course, are on the show and not only are you on the show, you’re part of a very big match. You’re teaming with Syuri to go against Zack Sabre, Jr. and Giulia. As a fan of STARDOM and also just as a wrestler, this has to be the best of all worlds, right? Because you get to take part in a big match that’s kind of a preview if Syuri if she defends against Maika for STARDOM’s biggest show of the year and then you get to go against Zack.
Lawlor: Yeah. The few thousand dollars that I slipped the bookers to get me on this show really paid off in the long run. I have no clue what I’m doing on this show. I don’t know how I ended up in this match. It seems like a dream come true in many ways. Somebody just let me fantasy book this summer for myself a little bit and I ended up in the G1 and I ended up in this, what I’m guessing is a preview of the year end title match for STARDOM between Syuri and Giulia, who’s got quite the bone to pick with me apparently, threatening me left and right. Threatening me with slaps. I don’t want any of those clonking headbutts coming anywhere near me. I’m confident that Syuri’s going to stop her in her tracks before Giulia ever gets to me.
Q: I believe Giulia said she was going to make you cry. I just want your response on that one.
Lawlor: Yeah, well, all she’s gonna do is put a microphone in front of me backstage at New Japan and I’m gonna be shedding some tears. So it doesn’t take a whole lot to make me cry, Giulia.
Q: Well, that’s great to hear. I’m happy that you’re, ‘I’m ready, but I also have no idea what’s going on.’ Like, the perfect response. But it’ll be a very exciting show.
Lawlor: Being involved with them is great. But this is another chance for me to show that Boy George is much, much better than George Michael. I’m not letting Zack get away with this garbage that he’s been putting out there for years. C’mon. We all know if George Michael was so great, he’d be putting out hits today, wouldn’t he? Boy George put out an album within the past ten years.
Q: I’ll wrap it up with one more question to end this interview. We’ve talked about you have a lot of goals in mind. What are your top three goals heading forward whether it be inside or outside the wrestling ring, in New Japan? Or you’re wrestling everywhere, so I’m sure you have many goals.
Lawlor: For a term, my first goal, I guess, is to be on Wrestle Kingdom. I have no clue if that’s in the cards. I have no clue what the deal with that is. That’s been a goal of mine. I was hoping last year I was going to get a chance to defend the Strong title on that show and maybe that would have happened, maybe it wouldn’t have. There’s no way it was going to happen last year. This year I’m not the champion. So I guess I’ve got to settle for just being on the show. So hopefully that’s one of them. Number two is to go to [Totocon] again when I go to Japan for Historic X-Over and buy these Megumi Fujii gloves from Smack Girl that were in the case when I was there. I don’t know why I didn’t buy them. I planned on it. I went there. I chickened out. But I’m gonna get those gloves now that I know that they’re there. I’m bringing plastic sealed cryogenically frozen case for those gloves over there with me. After that, I wouldn’t mind fighting in Japan maybe once before all is said and done if the opportunity presents itself. So, yeah. There you go.
A huge thanks to both Lawlor and NJPW for helping us make this happen.
NJPW STRONG's New Japan Showdown is this Sunday night. Here's a look at the full card.
New Japan Showdown Card (10/16/22)
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Gabriel Kidd
- Minoru Suzuki vs. Fred Yehi
- Rocky Romero vs. Christopher Daniels
- Keita Murray vs. Peter Avalon
- Che Cabrera vs. Kenny King
- Jake Something vs. Juice Robinson
- Homicide vs. Tom Lawlor
- Blake Christian & Mascara Dorado vs. El Phantasmo & Chris Bey
You can follow Tom Lawlor on Twitter here: @FilthyTomLawlor