Zack Sabre Jr. made an appearance at the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door press conference on Sunday night.
Speaking largely out of character, he said that he wanted to win the G1 Climax and “not just reach the top of New Japan as a foreigner, but to reach the top of New Japan.”
He noted:
We have the G1 climax in three weeks’ time, which is, no offense, it’s the most important tournament in all of pro wrestling. It has the biggest history and the continuity of quality…My motivation and all of my responsibility is to carry New Japan into the future.
He also spoke about his admiration of his Forbidden Door opponent Orange Cassidy:
I think anyone that knows like my personality or my taste in music and film probably thinks I’m like a pretentious wanker. But I actually knew that Orange Cassidy was cool way before all of you.
Ten years ago, roughly, we were in the northeast Indies, and if I was on before Orange Cassidy, I’d be at the merch stand watching the match losing my mind, and the rest of the crowd was like, “What is this maniac doing?”… I think if there’s anyone disregarding how talented Orange Cassidy is at pro wrestling, they’re a f**king idiot.
He also touched on his history with, and respect for, Bryan Danielson:
Our first match was in England. We had a rematch in Germany that’s somewhat forgotten. And then we had the match at Wrestle Dream…We have to, we at least have to have one more match in England [Stares at Tony Khan].
I’ve said this countless times, but I wrestled Bryan for the first time in England in a pub in front of 50 people when he had no idea who I was. And he gave me so much that it kick-started my entire career. And I can never repay the debt to him, outside of trying to break all of his limbs.
