#over 100

He has risked his career, his legacy, his standing in the industry, and all his friendships and connections to do this. He has implied a few times that he has reason to be concerned for his physical safety right now. No one is backing him publicly and he is saying no one is backing him privately either. I hope that's a lie meant to protect people who are backing him privately, but even in that best case scenario, it's not enough for him to feel confident saying that people privately support him. He said, "it's me alone against the promotion."

Even fans in Japan largely stay in kayfabe when they talk about wrestling, including on twitter, and he is very extremely breaking kayfabe in ways that are just simply not done. He is also breaking social codes left and right, publicly embarrassing his employer and mentioning other wrestlers who've had cheating scandals. (He's saying this to underscore his feeling that he's getting less understanding and forgiveness from NJPW—for being at a different promotion's show without permission, and for wanting to fully heal from an injury—than people who were publicly exposed as cheaters.)

He is at the very least fired from NJPW, and I can't imagine him ever being booked in any Japanese promotion again. He turns 40 in a little over a week; he does not have the years left in his career for this to blow over. He says he never wants to wrestle again, which could easily be true, but it's also what he kinda has to say publicly, even if he is talking to other promotions. It's likely that non-Japanese promotions are interested in him for now, but depending on what comes to light, he could possibly have exiled himself from the entire industry—this culture he's talking about runs pretty deep.

It's a big deal, is what I'm saying.