Throughout the course of his career in NJPW, YOH has found plenty of success as a tag team wrestler, but it was a singles match that made him almost cry.
During last year's Best of the Super Juniors tournament, YOH was put in the same group as Will Ospreay and the two had their match, which Ospreay won. Despite the loss, YOH felt extremely proud of his performance, revealing to NJPW in an interview that he nearly cried during the final portion of the match.
"When I wrestled Ospreay in Yamagata in that tournament, it was emotional in a way. The last part of that match I suddenly caught myself thinking ‘man, I’m having so much fun!’. It almost made me cry for a moment," YOH said.
YOH explained that he was having so much fun in the match, calling it the best of his career when he first walked to the back immediately afterwards. That match showed YOH the way he wanted to wrestle moving forward, wanting to do a more "classical style of wrestling."
"Seriously! I lost, but even so, I walked back thinking ‘that was the best match of my career’. I think that’s what made me know who I was in the ring. It was from there that I felt ‘this is the way I want to wrestle, this is the style I want to have going forward’. I’m not like SHO or Shingo [Takagi], going all out against one another, and I’m not someone who can fly all over the place like Ospreay. I’m more of a throwback. I’ve always liked the classical style of wrestling," YOH said.
Ospreay ended up not only advancing to the tournament finals, but also won the whole thing by defeating Shingo Takagi.
