fale's boys want to go far
forget new zealand. the wrestlers at fale dojo are aiming for new japan.
something i love about pro wrestling is the inherent sense of celebrity— it's even in the name, where any pro wrestler is a pro wrestler, even if they aren't working as one professionally in any usual sense of the word. indy promos will tout championship matches as being the most coveted titles on earth when in reality only 100 people go to watch the end-of-year show.
it's part of why i think pro wrestling is such a similar hobby to watching and supporting idol groups. even if the grup is completely nugu or chika, you still play the part of the audience member who treats them like they're at the top of the world if only for that moment. it's a hobby where the goal is to support others and being a fan or consumer is necessary.
in that sense, i think that a professional wrestling promo that acknowledges that it isn't in the celebrity world just yet is also interesting for subverting these expectations. this applies for 'training school' promotions in general, but my familiarity is with fale dojo/NJ tamashii.
2024 seems to have been the best year to get into NJ tamashii by far. for the first time since establishing in 2018, fale dojo has held weekly shows, showcased a proper NJ tamashii event in NZ, and posted full shows on youtube.
i wondered why this was the case, and i think it was to prove that the boys were actually doing something in the public eye after the 2023 reddit posts.
i went to two of fale dojo's weekly shows myself. the first one was packed because it was, inexplicably, a crossover event with a local boxing school so the entire audience was just parents.
the second one had a total of 10 attendees but they were all part of the local pro wrestling scene so they didn't even start until i (the only person not involved in the scene) arrived 10 minutes late. that should give an idea of what fale dojo is like— the attendance is even lower than a typical tiny indy.
i guess they got me, because i only felt more impressed watching the boys work so hard for such a small audience.
that's not to say pro wrestlers don't work hard in general. it's an immensely difficult industry to break into and stay relevant in. but fale's boys have a different drive— they're going in with the goal of NJPW at the end.
from a pro wrestling perspective, the boys play the role of trainees, not superstars. of course, within the fale dojo kayfabe, they still act larger than life as trainees, but there's always the idea that this is just an exhibition match to get one step closer to NJPW.
it's an interesting metagame to watch, especially since (indy-level) wrestling is like acting that, for the most part, ties characters to an actor rather than a setting.1
furthermore, that NJPW goal means they're explicitly trying to target a more general, international audience— that means no local gimmicks that work so well to hype up a NZ audience like bogan jesus, sir mr burns, or james shaw. not to mention that japanese pro wrestling is notoriously less gimmicky to begin with.
from a new zealand perspective, i believe that we have a silent acceptance that you'll never go further. despite the privileges that come with growing up in a developed country, we're so far away from everything that there's no point in dreaming to work at the best in the world— and to want that is to be a tall poppy. it's not impossible to make it to america or even WWE, but it's so rare that i don't know if anyone's actually aiming for it outright.
in that respect, i think that fale's boys have a unique sense of hope. they're paying the extra cost— 7k per 3 months instead of $20 a week— because they genuinely want to go to japan and make it as a star. i think it's a hope that american and japanese wrestlers can have from the start.
i have no aspirations to be a wrestler myself, but such a large part of my childhood-teenage years was having no hope for what i wanted to do because i felt like it was impossible in new zealand. when i finally tried pursuing it, i felt hopeful for once— but given i now work in some completely different field it feels like a far-off dream i can only wistfully allude to again. 2
it's not my hope, but watching fale's boys makes me feel hopeful.
the squared circle is a place where belief is respected. fale dojo is interesting to me because to enjoy it, you have to believe not only in the kayfabe of wrestling but also in the boys' dream to go overseas.
do you really think you'll make it to new japan? do you really believe you'll make it despite the odds?
if you believe it, i'll believe it too because that hope is infectious!
of course, that's a common feeling people get from watching idols as well— and athletes, streamers, performers in general, etc. however, i think pro wrestling is unique in that audience also has a role in kayfabe as "the audience"— moreso than any other hobby's audience does. you feel important just for being a consumer.
i can't pursue my goals right now, but i want to feel like what i can do matters so i'll watch pro wrestling and support your dream instead.
if i see that hope more and enough, maybe i'll believe in myself too.
on the topic of the year-end lion's den event itself: the card wasn't announced until seven hours before the event started and i only decided to go after seeing that fale was confirmed. seven hours later, he was in the venue alright— sitting behind me! needless to say, he didn't fight that night.
it's been too long for me to comment on much, but bruno astro once again mogged like mad. his skills showed through despite the lack of space and inflexibility of the dojo's ring. i highly enjoyed his team-up with johnny gardner as jungle fury— although i dislike it when faces cheat, they were so entertaining and memorable that i actually stopped being mad at the fact that i was practically scammed.
after the show ended, i bought the cherry flavored fale kava on recommendation of sacha le fustec. it tasted disgusting but my boss liked it!
it's been said that fale dojo is on bad terms with other NZ promotions but i think that things must have lightened up recently. they cross-promote with hughes academy, the other owner is in aotearoa wrestling, and the auckland tamashii events feature all kinds of indys.↩
btw i only just learned that all of my coworkers' dads were professional artists including one that was so famous he got recognized by the emperor of japan when he died so i think this may just be my own problem.↩