A talk exploring the “Hidden Gem”.
(Before I start this piece, I want to thank Keita Yano for collaborating with me on an interview. He was really cool, and I enjoyed every moment of our chat. I hope I can give him the tribute he deserves with this article, and I wish more people would watch his fantastic work. With that being said, enjoy!)
August 14th, 2024. I hop on Discord before going to bed, it’s 2:00 AM where I’m living, but I tend to stay until 3:00 AM or less. I talk to one of my friends in the wrestling community, Tetra (who could potentially be reading this) and I ask her one question that would change not only my understanding of wrestling, but my whole taste and preference. A short, and concise question that would give me the key to a wonderful world that I didn’t even register up until that point, but was ready to grab me by immediately.
“¿What do you recommend from Keita Yano?” I said, without knowing that the matches she was about to show me would define my wrestling fandom for the rest of my existence, and would motivate me enough to talk with the man himself a year later.
A succession of matches would hit me by with the strength of 100 trains going at full speed. Matches that were filled to the brim with details, and an unnerving atmosphere that made every single affair compelling. From Yano’s bloody match against Survival Tobita, Unemployment Pro Wrestling’s owner, to his classic bout against The Great Zako in the same promotion, to his beginnings getting kicked in the head by Fujita Jr. Hayato in the now-extinct BATTLARTS – a promotion heavily focused on shoot-style where people knew him as the young kid in the weird singlet – and even his short stint in CHIKARA, where he participated in the Young Lions Cup.
The question of “Do you know Keita Yano?” is not coincidental. I recognize some people reading this have just known him for his upcoming match with Zack Sabre Jr. in Tenryu Project, on November 4th. And some, accidentally, have seen one of his most iconic matches in Unemployment Pro as Holiday Mask, without even knowing he was the guy behind the mask.
On the surface, Yano is unknown, mysterious and intriguing, but what lies beyond is something that I couldn’t even begin to explain. Wrestling is a sport that builds itself on variety and evolution. The rules of this sport have been passed from generation onto generation, and its nature swings around constantly and changes by every step. Each of these steps build not only wrestling but the future of the sport, the minds that you have to follow and the ideologies you have to preserve and live for. To me, Yano is one of the most interesting wrestlers you will see, because this guy’s career is the epitome of what wrestling should be, not only as a sport, but as an art form. His career is not only the definition of hard work, but the definition of being a student of the game. As I said before, his beginnings in BATTLARTS were essentially what made him known, but a lot more lies in Yano’s story.
Before even beginning his career, back in 2006, Yano would have a tryout in the NJPW dojo that would turn down. He then chose to join Yuki Ishikawa’s promotion, BATTLARTS.
There are many rumors about Yano’s tryout with said promotion, like the one where he supposedly failed that tryout three times, but Ishikawa liked him enough to keep him around. Hell, there’s even an Alex Shelley story about Yano, and how he approached him in Ishikawa’s dojo to talk. Yano presumably rejected joining the top Japanese promotion and wanted to learn by walking the long road. A bold choice, considering BATTLARTS was just coming back from their first hiatus, and Yano was not the most prolific shooter back then, although he had a heart many would envy.
Nonetheless, Yano was, and is, a student of professional wrestling. In all of its styles, in all of its personas, lies an understanding of wrestling many would wish to have. For example, Yano made the transition from that kid in the singlet to a murderous clown that was a fantastic shoot-style wrestler, and even changed his name to “KEITA in the HOUSE” whenever he wrestled for other promotions. This change of persona didn’t come alone, because Keita started working for WALLABEE, where he would explore said persona even more in a unique setting: wrestling in dirty gyms in front of 30, 40 people in attendance, in a mat lying down on the floor. It’s fantastic to watch WALLABEE matches and see the different attires Keita would use, and how he would made the transition even wearing the singlet. Keita was a force of nature, a wrestler that could change styles whenever he wanted, and could go from murderous Joker, to dancing grappler, to wrestling nerd, to wearing weird fashion choices that would help him stand out from everybody, and succeeding despite these fashion choices thanks to his commitment and his personality. Even when BATTLARTS closed its doors, Yano was alive and kicking, wrestling in many promotions in the indie scene like DDT, FREEDOMS, Ice Ribbon, ZERO-1, GUTS, Apache Pro, CHIKARA all while making a buzz with WALLABEE.
For almost 20 years, Yano has been everywhere and has done everything. And you’ll say: “Everywhere? But I just barely know him!” and that I understand, but when I say Yano has been everywhere, I mean it. From a young BATTLARTS trainee developing side by side with Yuki Ishikawa, to a killer clown wrestling in the deepest parts of the Japanese indie scene, to a guy struggling with his inner demons in 2012, where he would be fired from DDT and forced to climb his way back to prominence, to Tenryu Project, Genichiro Tenryu’s wrestling company that has helped him build a road to redemption and has put him in the forefront as the “King of Tenryu Project”. Hell, everywhere is almost an understatement.
Knowing his story, any person would see his upcoming match with ZSJ as the end of a grueling road he decided to walk since the end of BATTLARTS, but surprisingly, it’s far from that. In his own words:
“I haven’t work hard just to wrestle Zack Sabre Jr. However, I’ve been positive about everything. And I have lived through hard work, dedication and control. I think, for that, life is truly wonderful.”
Talking with Yano was fascinating, because not only was he willing to answer all my questions, but was also really inspiring with everything he said. To those that don’t know Yano’s career in depth, there was a dark time of his life where an accident almost doomed his entire career.
This incident happened in July 1st, 2012, in the only DDT and WALLABEE collaboration to date. As we said before, Yano started making a name for himself after BATTLARTS closed its doors. He was entering a great year in his career, where he would be a mainstay in DDT, the top indie promotion in Japan during that time, becoming a part of Crying Wolf alongside Antonio Honda, Yuji Hino & Yasu Urano, where they would wrestle in many events for the promotion. Crying Wolf was undefeated during that year, and Yano even won a “Box Office Rights Anytime, Anywhere” contract that he would use to book a show between WALLABEE and DDT. Yano was scheduled to wrestle against the team of HARASHIMA, Gota Ihashi & Masa Takanashi, but the match went just five minutes in before Yano started shooting on the DDT members thanks to the way WALLABEE worked their matches. The match ended with no fanfare, as both teams were trying to separate HARASHIMA & Yano from fighting. Tamagawa started crying, and then, after the match, DDT was informed Yano had booked all of their wrestlers in shoot matches. The next day, he was fired from the company. This incident led to Yano being forced to wrestle for smaller companies and have fewer dates, all while struggling with addiction, as he said in his personal blog a long time ago.
Yano’s career felt doomed, but through hard work he could leave those demons behind and build the best version of himself. This, of course, is something that puts weight on every sentence he says, because this comes from a person that has known the deepest parts of hell, and has fought to cement his status as a wrestling living legend, succeeding in his mission and becoming “the guy” on the Japanese indie scene.
Of course, part of his success couldn’t be understood without taking in consideration WALLABEE, the way it helped develop his character, and the cult following he had for so many years, captivating fans with his classic dance in every show, his tribute to Bruiser Brody’s “huss”, and the fact he was one of the best technical wrestlers you’ve never heard about. Yano felt real, he felt gritty, and he had some of the most intense matches you’ll see, because part of the myth behind him was the idea of lurking for Keita Yano. He was your reward for staying up in pirated streams, or searching for wrestling with less than 5000 views on YouTube, or looking up on weird wrestling forums for recommendations. You eventually knew about Yano, whether he was the young kid in BATTLARTS getting kicked in the head, or the indie clown busting open Survival Tobita.
In an artistic sense, Yano’s crudeness give his matches tension that nobody can match. If we were to talk about the level of his wrestling skills, he puts pressure on every hold, and forces opponents to think on ways to get out of chiropractic holds. He was born and raised by the BATTLARTS system, which means, his grittiness is a product of the teachings of the Bati-Bati style. Having somebody like Yano in the current scene of pro wrestling highlights how everything could be better, and have more nuance and care put into if wrestlers were to actually care about their craft as much as Yano does. Ironically, Yano’s approach to wrestling makes it way more artistic than wrestlers who preach wrestling is an art, but refuse to treat it with the respect it deserves.
Yet, I keep thinking about all the things that I’m saying here, and I can’t stop but reflect on the fact that I didn’t know this guy a year ago, and now I’m writing this.
Discovering Yano felt great, because wrestling is often a sport that motivates you to learn about everything. As every art form, the idea of understanding different perspectives, and the way different people relate to it is the key to form coherent opinions and structured thoughts, that not only are healthy for the community, but an invitation to people to explore these avenues. The idea of knowledge is not only applied to fans, but to wrestlers too, and Yano is no exception to that rule. As I said before, Yano has been and has done everything, and the knowledge of wrestling and other types of media he possesses is one explored through his different personas: whether it’s Keita Yano, KEITA in the HOUSE, KEITA in the C°, VKF Machine No. 5, KEITA in the SHEIK, and whatever “Keita” pops up in his head. I asked him what was the inspiration for said personas, that have earned him the fame of being called “The Joker” affectively.
“I have created various personas with inspiration from wrestling, and other fields. Movies, music, UFC, boxing, books, etc. I have drawn inspiration from Friedrich Nietzsche, Taro Okamoto & Roberto Duran, to name a few.”
Wrestling remains one of the greatest things to learn about, but I recognize a reality the fandom suffers, especially in the West. Not only are people stuck in their bubbles, but they don’t have a site, or platform that could tell them to check on something new, that escapes whatever they consume. As a Latina, I always thought professional wrestling was filled with Americentrism. It’s not a mystery, of course, and I’m not the Dalai Lama for exposing this.
But I thought, with always evolving technology, there was going to be at least an attempt to talk about things like the Japanese indie circuit, filled to the brim with fantastic projects and wrestlers to choose, or the level the South American scene is in, changing the face of the sport in these lands and bringing it to new heights in terms of in-ring quality. I felt certainly disappointed by the fact no major wrestling site in the West actually had the interest to explore these scenes that I talked about, and whenever they did, it was to draw from a controversy or whatever gained them engagement on social media. They preach about wrestling being an art form but refuse to treat it with care and interest for anything more than likes, and views. While awesome and passionate fans of these wrestlers write long essays about why you should be interested in whatever they want to talk about, American wrestling media falls short, and it seems that, in our community, knowledge is not only forgotten, but condemned, for the fear of looking like a mark, or a nerd.
Luckily, Yano shares a different perspective on it.
“I’m always trying to improve and move forward. I have never forgotten about learning. In ancient times, Samurai were cultured people. For that, I write poems, sing songs, and draw pictures.”
After talking about the things he does on his free time, like writing stuff, listening to music and watching movies, I wanted to know about his taste in the various fields he was talking about. I discovered his favorite album, from a band you may have NEVER heard before in your life (GO!GO!7188) and I discovered and chatted about his favorite movies, like Fight Club, Watchmen, Cool Running and the Batman: Dark Knight series. We started chatting about the impact said movies had on him, and he talked about it in depth.
“The first time I saw Fight Club was when I was an elementary school student. It was a life-changing movie that helped me learn about the perspective of life and death. I also feel it has part of that Nietzsche philosophy.”
That’s why I ask you again, do you know Keita Yano? Do you know what lies in his mind? Do you know the type of philosophy he has? I’m not going to talk about matches at this point. Do you even recognize his name, or the fact he writes poems on Ameblo and is planning to write a book? Because if you don’t, there’s still time to do it, and you may have a person in your circle that knows about Yano and is excited to talk to you about him.
It’s controversial of course, and not many people are going to say it, but the fact no major wrestling media in the West covered the news of Yano’s match against ZSJ, or made mention of it is at least an indication of the way some of these sites operate. Likewise, it’s the game, and you got to know how to play it, but even if it is, the fact no one has put the effort to put something like a Pitchfork, or Criterion for wrestling is also an indictment of the modus operandi our community works on. I don’t want those sites to work exactly like Pitchfork (because the last thing we need is elitism) but have a place to amass and talk about the wrestling scenes that shine light past the limits of our community’s knowledge. Is a global wrestling platform, to explore, and discuss wrestling in a wider scale thanks to the miracle of technology and globalization too much to ask? Is the story of Keita Yano doomed to be just the tale of a few that know his legend?
Talking with Yano and learning yet once again about another person’s perspective not only on wrestling but life, helped me in more ways than I can think of. That’s why, to me, knowledge is not defined by how many wrestlers and companies you’ve seen, but how much have you come to understand them, and understand their role in this weird sport. Knowing something is not seeing it, but studying it. Putting the effort to comprehend what you’re talking about. That’s why, after a chat talking about his other hobbies, I finally started talking about wrestling with Yano.
“My favorite wrestlers are Eddie Guerrero, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. I was inspired by many of those wrestlers, however, there will always be an Original Sheik, sharpening a Lebanese knife in my heart.”
On Yano’s YouTube channel, where he uploads his WALLABEE shows (more to come!) and his podcast talking about various things, there’s a video of Yano wrestling with his friends. It’s an old tape, but it remains pretty wholesome, seeing young Yano hitting the HBK pose and then going on to have a good old scrap with his buddies on a mat lying down on the grass. Although his knowledge of wrestling continues to grow, he can’t let the things that changed his life be reformed or altered. The values he has are what led him to this point, and the different perspectives he learned of wrestling will be passed to younger generations, as he’s also part of other projects, like KTDAN, a series of BATTLARTS tribute shows.
“It’s truly wonderful to pass on this knowledge to the next generation. I want to support them in their ongoing struggle, but I don’t want to dwell on memories and sentimentality.”
When talking with Yano about wrestling, I started remembering the things Tetra told me, that got me hooked with Yano and made me want to know about him. She painted me Yano (no pun intended) as a Picasso painting, and told me about the way his career, and his life, continues to be an exploration of almost everything a human thrives to live.
That’s why, by reflecting on those memories, I realize now, knowledge is Yano’s fuel, and is what makes him so special in the wrestling scene.
He got baptized in fire during his time in BATTLARTS, he got essentially banned from many wrestling companies during the WALLABEE incident, he “saw the light” in Mexico wrestling for DTU, he got the chance to wrestle Negro Navarro, he had a hiatus from wrestling but returned as VKF Machine No. 5, and then, he learned the Tenryu ways.
Yano has surrounded himself with pro wrestling by doing things like owning multiple tapes of IWA-MS, where he met Alex Shelley for the first time. He continues to do it today, because he loves this sick, and demented sport as much as we do. I found him, even, recognizing there’s nobody in wrestling that is that much of a nerd like him.
“I feel that the number of agile, and skilled wrestlers has increased from when I was young, but I yet struggle to find someone who is a nerd like me.”
Western wrestling media always tends to say they cover the most wrestling in town, but when I go and look for independent wrestling coverage, just in the US, I see the type of understanding they have of indie wrestling, and the way their coverage bleaks in comparison to that of bigger companies. That’s why I’m not surprised many things currently happening in the top Japanese companies remain lost by a language barrier or, by the fact, some people are not that interested in the medium they’re covering, condemning the sport and those who actually put the effort in treating wrestling like an art. We could say they’re not nerds.
When I ask why isn’t there a wrestling Pitchfork, I say that because wrestling thrives on “nerds”. On people that share their knowledge and talk about the things they like. The essence of art is how people can use it to relate to others, and find a part of their identity reflected. That’s the biggest obstacle I see, and the main reason why I can’t treat wrestling as art. The day these stories start being tracked down and covered by the sites people read, there will be more chances to treat this sport as an art, but for now, it remains wrestling. An often weird sport that has a lot more to offer than what’s found in the United States, or the top four companies in the world.
Dear wrestling journalists, your job should be to document and find those stories. Share them around the world and have Yano be more than a myth. Because, if both ZSJ and Alex Shelley know who Keita Yano is, what is stopping you all from knowing him, and sharing him with your audience? I’ll give you an answer: the fear of being labeled as a nerd. The fear of being labeled as a mark. That’s what’s stopping you all from knowing Yano. The fear no other wrestling media is going to talk about him. The fear your SEO falls down, and you don’t have the engagement you wish for.
The fear no other news site is going to share insight on how Yano is preparing mentally for a match that is not a culmination, but a new beginning.
God knows how many people are going to experience their first Keita Yano match, but to those lucky enough, I hope you have a blast and learn about the hidden gem of professional wrestling, and how he is the proof wrestling needs more nerds, both in the ring, and outside of it.
Maybe, just maybe, a friend of you is looking forward to ZSJ vs. Yano on November 4th, and is hoping to show you some of his matches, like the 2008 Fujita Jr. Hayato match, or the 2021 Hikaru Sato match, or the 2015 Negro Navarro match and I can go on, because Yano’s resume remains untouched, and some of his best matches are free on YouTube.
Maybe there’s a weird Keita Yano edit lying around somewhere on Twitter for you to see.
If you don’t know Yano, and you’re reading this, use my experience as proof that the best wrestling is the one shared between your bonds. The one that helps you relate to other people with your same taste, or a developing taste that you’re interested in exploring. And also, use this article/interview to demand for more coverage on Western wrestling media of these scenes that remain a myth, these wrestlers that remain living legends of the underground, and these companies that remain unique in the world of wrestling.
After all, the whole reason why I’m doing this is not because I read about Keita Yano on the first Western wrestling news site that comes to mind, but because a friend of mine talked to me about a weird guy with an L.W.O. singlet and I marked out.
And there’s nothing like that, just as there’s nobody like Keita Yano.
