Tetsuya Endo: Wrestling's Most Gotten To Solider?

Unlike some high flyers who shall remain nameless, Endo isn't afraid to look vulnerable in the ring. This includes his character work.

We all knew this was coming, too, right? Arguably, it was even more inevitable than the Sasaki newsletter.

There are a couple of reasons why it took me five posts to make it to my best boy. For one, I was trying to display a tiny bit of dignity and proportion. More pressingly, though, I was trying to find the right digestible chunk to break off of my greater thesis concerning Tetsuya Endo’s unique brilliance and file it down into a newsletter appropriate size.

The battle of the Tetsuyas at GLEAT and DDT’s joint show on June 6 provided me with a lovely little opportunity to highlight one of one million aspects of Endo’s game that makes me want to make the whole world understand what a special talent he is. (And rage when I see a number of those aspects misread and misrepresented in the English language fandom.) 

Endo is sometimes described—and dismissed—as a cocky pretty boy with no other discernible personality beyond trying to look cool in the ring. While he is rather pretty, that’s not the Endo I know and love. I think that some of the vulnerability that Endo consistently portrays in his work is interpreted by some viewers as faults in Endo the wrestler as opposed to deliberate elements of Endo the character. I’m not going to pretend to know what Endo the human’s actual mindset is, but it is very clear to me as someone who closely watches his matches and follows his story that Endo the character would like to convey an air of coolness. And that Endo the character’s efforts in that regard are almost always undermined by his constant need to prove something and inability to let things slide. 

Here’s a classic example of Endo The Gotten To completely blowing his paper thin veneer of coolness and paying for it. 

June 2023. Endo steps into the ring with his former DAMNATION bro, Soma Takao, about a year and a half after the greatest stable of all time was forced to disband and irreparably break my heart. Look how cool and collected! He’s totally over it and his moved on, right?

Well, not so much. At the tiniest sign of a slight, he gets worked up into such a state that he has a flailing hissyfit on the apron and makes himself look like a tit in the process. 

This is the fault line that runs under Endo’s psyche and makes his attempts to engage in mind games as intriguing but precarious as any of his high flying attacks. 

This is the Endo who tried to act like a big shot by trading casual low grade barbs against Tetsuya Izuchi on Twitter in the days leading up to their singles match.

And keeps it together for all of one mat wrestling exchange before that veneer starts to crack when Izuchi gets him against the ropes and gets a little cheeky about it. 

Endo recoves well enough that that it probably looks like an even exchange to the uninitiated. As an (over)invested Endo fan, though, my response is a mix of “oh no!” and a tiny gleeful cackle. 

What unfolds over the next nine minutes is a delightful and clever little battle of wits where two talented show offs try prove to each other that they are the smartest, most collected, and most talented Tetsuya. 

And one of those Testuyas also tries to prove that to himself. 

Highlights include Endo trying to pretend that Izuchi’s kicks don’t hurt and paying for it.

Endo being the more level-headed one just long enough to give us this perfect spot.

And then blowing the psychological lead out of a desperate need for one-upmanship.

And blowing it some more.

And paying for pandering to the crowd after successfully having his opponent’s number for a brief moment.

There are more moments where Endo dazzles with his skill and a dash of mental fortitude.

But there are also moments like this, where he rallies after a sustained attack on his arm and then feels the need to make a cocky pin that puts the vulnerable arm right in Izuchi’s clutches.

Endo eventually manages to get the better of all of the Tetsuyas who are standing in his way and wins with a defensive Tetusya In The Sky.

There’s a good chance I’ll touch on my fondness for what Endo’s been doing with his version of the Spanish Fly lately, turning it into a last ditch counter that uses his opponent’s momentum against them, like slightly fanciful aerial jiu-jitsu, in a future newsletter. But for now, let’s just say that it was a clever way to end the match both in terms of the actual back and forth between the Tetsuyas and because there is no better way to prove that you are the superior Tetsuya than to defeat the lesser Tetsuya with a move called Tetsuya.

It’s the perfect cap to a delightful romp of a match. And none of it would have worked half as well if there really was nothing going on under that pretty boy facade.