Dan Severn Remembers Kazushi Sakuraba’s Days Cleaning the Mats, Cooking

Dan Severn, on “Rewind,” discussing a young Kazushi Sakuraba, whom he encountered while doing pro wrestling in Japan:

“When I was first going to Japan, he was one of the young boys. He’d be there cleaning the mats and washing clothes and cooking meals. It seemed like each time I came back, he’d have a fresh cauliflower ear or he’d have a new black eye. They really just kind of beat the tar out of him. … Then to see him go from one of the young, early-card competitors to mid-card and above, and then to see how well he did after that, it actually made me feel happy for him because there was some of the upper … athletes, I don’t think they were really deserving of some of their positions.”

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