YOH: Teaming Up With Lio Rush In NJPW Was A Huge Deal For Me

YOH looks back fondly on tagging with Lio Rush in NJPW.

In late 2022, the duo of Lio Rush and YOH ventured into the NJPW Super Junior Tag League tournament. They emerged victorious and went on to challenge for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles at Wrestle Kingdom 17.

There’s a new interview with YOH that the Lotus outlet pushed out. YOH looked back at his eventful 2022 in wrestling and highlighted his tag team run with Rush.

“2022 was a very rewarding year for me. In the summer, the three of us—Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, and I—won the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. We faced HOUSE OF TORTURE in a Tornado Dog Cage Survival Match, and that was a lot of fun. Then, I teamed up with Lio Rush to win the Super Junior Tag League 2022, which led to a title match at the Tokyo Dome. That’s when I really thought pro-wrestling is fun, and I reaffirmed that if I don’t enjoy myself first, it won’t come across to the fans. When I watch Lio Rush, he’s not thinking about anything,” YOH laughed. “He just gives his best performance that day and that’s it, and he was satisfied with that. But I think that’s the essence of it. So teaming up with Lio was a huge deal for me—all those worries about ‘I have to do this’ or ‘I have to do that’ vanished in that moment. In 2022, I became convinced that first and foremost, I have to be having fun.”

YOH is currently competing in the 2026 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Head over to Fightful’s results section to keep up with the tourney standings.

Rush is with AEW/ROH, and to check out the latest involving him, click here.