Last week, The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast was joined by the absolute face of fear, Haku, on their 350th episode. Haku took a long look back on his storied career and also addressed the tall-tales shared by so many of his fellow wrestlers about his history and whether or not he actually is the toughest man to ever step through the ropes of a wrestling ring. But Haku doesn’t stop there. For nearly an hour he relives stories about his early days wrestling in Canada, teaming with Andre The Giant, the Islanders tag team as well as his run in WCW helping elevate younger talent.
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On getting the chance to work with his sons in New Japan:
“I always try to give back to the Japanese and for what they have done for me. I’ve always said that no matter who the promoter is that it is only a job but in Japan it is showing them that I respect them and am grateful. With New Japan we’ve gone to New Zealand together and of course Japan and I hope that my boys understand that. With this new generation I’m not too sure sometimes if they understand that. I’m not too sure if you know that sometimes history ends and my life is to give back and It is my life to show them the way and I hope they understand that. In Japan they know our relationship and they give me another chance to go there.”
Where does he rank himself against the other “legit” tough guys in wrestling history (Harley Race, The Road Warriors, The Steiner Brothers):
“I was afraid of them and I am still away from them. They were all the toughest guys that I knew in the field and I was just a third world country boy that has come into the business and trying to feed my family back home so whatever comes in my way (laughing) you know things happen.”
“I am not the toughest. I am a gentleman (laughing) just doing my job and it was those guys that are tough and they don’t know how tough they are. But things happen and in the old days we were taught that with the wrestling we “kayfabe” them and we protect our business inside and outside the ring. So when we weren’t filming it was when I was protecting our business and it was to show respect but things happen just because people showed disrespect and in life there is wrestling and there is no wrestling and for me it was protecting the business.”
Are the stories true or is all just a myth:
“I’ll tell you that some of them are true and some of them they make up. The beating up the people in bars is again just protecting the business and showing them what this business is all about. So most of them are true and I’m not bragging, I’m just telling you guys that it was just me protecting the business. People just had the wrong timing and had a few beers and would turn around calling the business saying it was fake and sometimes I guess it was jealousy that we were in the bar and that girls saw you on TV and start talking to you and are not talking to those local boys so there was other things that happened.”
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Please credit the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling for this transcription.
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