Sean Waltman Discusses His Early Days In Japan, The Evolution of Wrestling Styles

Sean Waltman says mat wrestling transcends language.

This week on Sean Waltman‘s Podcast, X-Pac discusses his travel memories from his early days in Japan. Waltman’s team sent the following transcribed highlights from the episode to Fightful.

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On mat wrestling transcending language barriers

“When you have communication issues, that’s what you do. That’s why you have to know how to wrestle, too. That’s why you have to know how to do that kind of stuff, so you can go out there, and even if you can’t talk to someone, you can go out there and be able to have a match with them. You can never go wrong with a little bit of wrestling in there.” 

On traveling via bus across Japan

“When we would travel outside of Tokyo, it was all bus rides. Even when we went to Hokkaido, which is an island, we drove the bus to Sendai, and then the bus got on a ferry. We went through a typhoon in that, actually. There’s this bath area in the ferry, hot tubs and stuff like that, water is spilling all out everywhere. That ferry ride was actually where the guys had enough and decided to start Michinoku Pro.” 

On the evolution of pro wrestling styles

“[Wrestling styles are] all kind of mixed together these days. Even if you go to Mexico, some of the guys are still doing it traditionally, but a lot of those guys in Mexico are working hybrid style now. It’s kind of similar to MMA, in the early days. Now everybody trains in everything.

But it’s been fascinating to see how it’s all kind of come together and how the styles have meshed. I look forward to seeing it continue to evolve. Because it is, even in the last few years, I see things change and trends change. Guys are trying new things all the time, and we’re able to see those things because of the internet. It’s pretty cool.” 

Get it all on this week’s brand new episode of AfterBuzz TV’s X-Pac 12360. Two words for you…DOWNLOAD IT!  X-Pac 1,2,360 is also available for download on iTunes and Spotify.

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