Below are some highlights from a recent interview Prince Devitt conducted with Low Blows:
Devitt on if he’d be a trainer when he’s finished wrestling: “I would, I wouldn’t see it as a business opportunity but as a hobby. I really love helping people out, a lot of people have helped me out and though I can’t pay it back maybe I can pay it forward in the future.”
Devitt on never facing Sheamus in the ring: “That whole ‘this is our club and we don’t work with you guys’ (caused it). I think just as Sheamus and I left the scene the companies were starting to work together. But yeah, Sheamus put Irish wrestling on the map. I just had a chat with him last night, he’s in good form. I was never aware of being an ‘international hope’, for me I was just happy to do what I was doing and still am. Obviously I would’ve loved to work with Sheamus but the opportunities never arose because of the divide there. It’s sad but you can’t change the past but ultimately I hope people can learn from it and change the future.”
On going to New Japan: “I was only going out there for 3 months on an internship and it turned into 8 great years.”
On his debut in the Korakuen Hall: “I’d watched Japanese tapes growing up and actually felt like I was walking into one of these tapes.”
His thoughts on if other countries could learn from the Japanese model of training: “The whole system in Japan is tailored towards respect. I think the way people are trained in the west, some people may get it too easy, whereas in Japan everyone comes through the exact same way and everyone has come through the hard way. If I look across the ring from a lad in Japan, I know exactly what he’s been through to get there.”
Devitt on if he expected to be so successful in Japan: “The contracts are so short, I was never sure if I was going to be brought back again. I’ve never stepped back and thought, ‘Wow, I’ve done a lot of stuff.’ Maybe in the future it’ll hit me, but for the moment I’m trying to look forward and not dwell too much on the past.”
