A contract offer from an overseas company was on the table.
A press conference was held by DDT Pro-Wrestling in May to formally announce that Saki Akai is going to be retiring from pro wrestling in November. There will be several events leading up to November to celebrate Akai’s in-ring career.
She’ll be wrestling on August 13th on her 10th anniversary, September 30th in her hometown of Kyoto, Japan and her final match is scheduled for November 12th.
Tokyo Sports pushed out an interview with Akai and she further opened up about her decision to retire. Akai had been thinking about it for quite some time and specifically mentioned the 10-year mark. She revealed that she was offered a two-year deal from an overseas pro wrestling company, but she was thinking about how she would not be able to move on to the next step of her life until that deal was up.
I had been thinking about it (retirement) for a while. But I was working hard on what was in front of me, and time was running out. At the time I thought, ten years… I was offered a contract with an overseas pro wrestling company, and it was a two-year contract. I couldn’t graduate from professional wrestling until that contract was over, so I thought that would be 12 years of my career, and that I would end up cheating, so I told the company what I wanted to do.
Since 2013, Akai has been wrestling for DDT. She was asked if she accomplished what she set out to do in the promotion. Saki called DDT her home and added that there were times when she was frustrated, but she never wanted to quit.
I wasn’t injured, I like everyone in DDT, and I wanted to make wrestling known to more people. I started wrestling because I fell in love with DDT, and if you ask me, DDT is home. So I’ve had my frustrations and things haven’t gone the way I wanted, but I’ve never wanted to quit.
Along the way to her final match, she named talents she’d like to share the ring with and mentioned that she’d like to do street wrestling for DDT.
Some fighters have to fight. But thinking about the future of the wrestling world, I want to fight fighters I have never been involved with before. For example, for Tokyo Joshi Pro, I would like to fight the recently debuted Toga and HIMAWARI. I want them to feel things from me that they cannot learn from others. I also want to do street wrestling that is typical of DDT. I’ve had a hard time because I couldn’t get fights even though I was willing to do it, but I think I’ll be able to get fights in the next few months. I want to be the strongest in my career.
As of right now, she is focused on finishing out her career in wrestling but after that concludes, she’ll be attending to the salon she opened and being in the entertainment business.
I will focus on running the salon I opened last year and working in the entertainment business. Right now, all I can think about is finishing this wrestling life.
Coming up for DDT is their Wrestle Peter Pan event on July 23rd. Headlining the show is Chris Brookes challenging Yuji Hino for the KO-D Openweight Championship.
Matt Cardona is scheduled for the show as well and he’ll be competing for the promotion’s Universal Championship.
