INTERVIEW - Ninja Mack: High Flying, Fearless, Headed Your Direction
Wrestling fandom, like music fandom, is often sectioned off in pieces – these fans watch this, these fans watch that, lines in the sand are drawn. But, also like music, sometimes someone shows up that cuts through the hedge mazes that separate us, and allow us space to commune in our fandom together.
Ninja Mack is like Cypress Hill, fans of all allegiances can agree: Their stuff fuckin’ hits. (If you’re reading this and feel yourself disagreeing with this statement, “But I don’t like either of those things” I want you to look deep into your heart and GROW UP.)
In two straight years, the man known as Ninja Mack has been the most-viewed wrestler in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s famed Battle of the Super Juniors tournament. Clips of the Mack doing things that seem impossible, out of the pages of a comic book, have not just united wrestling fans in delight, but been catalysts for break out wrestling moments, with vast shares out of the bubble, and into mainstream media coverage. Ninja Mack does a whole lot of flips, and accomplishes insane feats of aerial prowess. But unlike some high-flyers, his moves land with tremendous force. Ninja Mack can awe as he sails through the air like some kind of majestic bird, and he can also knock someone the fuck out with one of his powerful kicks. (I think about his knockout on Yoya at GCW Bloodsport XIII like once a week to this day.) He is short but he’s built like a brick shithouse; a man who can fly and strike as well as anyone and the showmanship of a Cirque Du Soleil performer (As he was one!) – Ninja Mack is a near perfect wrestler for the face of wrestling in 2025.
As the Ninja Mack tsunami heads toward the West Coast of Canada with a run of shows with 365 Pro Wrestling, we caught the man himself on the phone from home in Texas on some rare down time to talk about his beginnings in pro wrestling, setting the wrestling community on fire in New Japan and never being scared. Never. Go see Ninja Mack when he’s near you. You’ll see something you’ve never seen before. And what’s better than that? Bet.
Why wrestling? What is it about wrestling that makes you love it and do it?
It was something I watched growing up as a kid, back in the WWF/WCW. That got me into Japanese wrestling early on too. I did amateur wrestling growing up. And as the oldest of seven siblings, I could practice wrestling moves on my little brothers and sisters. I always loved it. Got into the entertainment business and then pro wrestling was just the perfect thing from entertainment.
Where did you start training, start your wrestling journey?
I started at Booker T's Reality of Wrestling (ROW). I was coming off a circus tour and one of the guys was an independent wrestler – we always just fucked around and wrestled. When we wrestled, he'd say, “You're good at wrestling. You're good at the circus stuff. Pro wrestling is not out of the question. If you're ever gonna get into it, you gotta go to California, Houston or Florida for the wrestling schools.” And I just happened to grow up in Houston, so it worked perfectly.
Who were your guys growing up?
I was always a Bret Hart fan, Chris Benoit – wrestling-wise, can't say as a person, Eddy Guerrero, Dean Malenko, that whole little group.
You got a couple weekends in Canada coming up – including here on the West Coast (Vancouver, Victoria, Cedar), do you have much experience wrestling up here?
I've wrestled in Toronto, I think twice. I've wrestled in Canada a few times, not often though. I've always enjoyed it. Great wrestling fans in Canada!
What did you learn about yourself in Best of the Super Juniors (NJPW) this year?
You know, being a repeat – this is my second year – the biggest thing I’ve learned is it doesn't matter how many views you can create. I made a 150 millions views this tour. I was the most-viewed wrestler in the Tag League last year. I was the most viewed wrestler in the Super Juniors last year. Generating views isn't just the only thing, you gotta commit to winning the matches and going all out. Maybe stop trying to generate the views and really just focus on matches from now on if I wanna start producing positive results. As much as I like getting 150 million views, I would really like to win the tournament.
How have things been since the tournament, since the 150 million views?
It’s no different. It's not the first time I've gone viral and made a bunch of views like that. It's just what we do. That's pro wrestling. Can I get the attention? Can I get that attention turned on the company? Can I get that attention onto the people who bring me on to shows? And then does that generate ticket sales? Generate business? At the end of the day it always comes down to business.
What made you start wearing the mask? And why a ninja mask?
When I was at ROW, I wasn't a ninja. But with what I've done growing up, I've already kind of trained like that through a sport called tricking. When you see ninja movies, martial arts on TV, they use a lot of the tricking to get across the screen. It's very flashy martial arts and it's something that always drew my attention. I've always liked the martial arts like Tae Kwon Do, boxing, even MMA. Once I kind of got involved in tricking and training that way, it was very easy to transfer the ninja stuff into pro wrestling. Once I got confident in pro wrestling and I started to figure out the person I wanted to portray – you know, the first couple of years pro wrestling, you're just trying to get your foot in the door, figure out what you wanna do. Once I got through those first couple of years and was a little more clear on what I wanted to do decision-wise, then it was a little easier to say “I'm going to go this route. This is what I wanna do now.”
So, I've seen you give powerbombs off of hyper ladders. I've seen you get kicked off an awning on high, seemingly to your doom, by Speedball Mike Bailey. What's the most scared you've been doing something in the ring?
I'm never scared. Never. You can't have any fear in the ring. You can't be scared; everyone is always going to be bigger than me in the ring. I'm a gambling person in the ring. I like to take my chances. I'm always going to be one of the smallest in the ring. I'm a high-flyer, not a big person. I gotta take chances and take risks to go for the win. If I can get a height advantage by going up top or going up to a ledge, I'll do what I can. There's never a fear of jumping to my death.
Bet. What's a place that you've wrestled that surprised you with the way the fans reacted?
I do feel like I'm very big baby face and you get to some towns that are kind of more heelish towns that won't be on your side and then you get them. At first going over to Japan for Pro Wrestling Noah, it was right after COVID so it was a little different at first because everyone had to be spaced apart, everyone had masks, and they couldn't make noise. And if you could make the fans gasp in their masks when they’re not supposed to, that's how you know you got 'em. That was a surprising experience.
What's your favourite move to do?
I would probably have to say, I grew up an amateur wrestler, so I love German suplexes. Germans are great. But you know, I've got a lot of attention and sight from the Sasuke Special. Credit to Joey Janela. Joey Janela kind of gave me the idea and emphasis to try it. And the Ninja Special now has taken over the Sasuke Special. That's probably the biggest move I got right now that I really enjoy.
On the other end of the spectrum, what's your least favourite move to take?
I would probably have to say a Figure Four. Anything with leg submissions. I don't want my leg to get tapped out. I got my legs for high-flying. Any kind of leg submission, I try to do my best to not get in those situations. Figure Fours, Sharpshooters.
What's the biggest non-wrestling influence on your in-ring work?
I would have to go back to tricking. It's an underground sport – it's a combination of gymnastics, martial arts and breakdancing, all into one. That's probably the biggest influence, helping me be as athletic as I am. Even with martial arts – if you go out there and do Tae Kwon Do, you have to do a form, but you have to do it in front of people. If you're in an amateur wrestling match you're going one-on-one but you're still in front of people. When you're doing a breakdancing battle or competition, you're battling. So even though it's not physically pounding on each other, you're still in front of people in that competitive environment.
I went through your Cagematch and grabbed some names of opponents that stood out to me as a fan. If you could give me a story or thought about working with them. Whatever comes to mind.
AR Fox – Very innovative. Funny story about that match...I was booked for the Super Card Ring of Honor show that day. At the time, because Tony Khan bought Ring of Honor, I didn't know if the booking was still going to go. I didn't find out until the day before that I was going to be doing Ring of Honor. Luckily I wasearly enough on the card to do that match. I had to leave right away, show up to the GCW show. I walked into that show with my gear and maybe had five minutes before we went out there and worked. AR Fox is so great. Innovative guy, he's on TV, runs a school – guy's a genius. We had a banger of a match with me walking in five minutes before the match! Nothing but great things to say about AR Fox.
Bryan Keith – One of my best friends. When I'm in Houston he's my main training buddy. We train at the schools in Houston. I'm very happy for what he's doing on TV, he deserves that. He's been grinding a long time and to finally get on TV with Jericho and that group – that's great. Yeah, one of my best friends and training partners. Probably my best friend, honestly.
Artemis Spencer – I got the chance to do the one match with him [At Defy]. He is big and he's deceptively athletic for as big as he is. He got advantage of me and whooped my ass that day in our match. I didn't get to spend too much time with him, which is unfortunate because he seems like a very cool guy. Just happened to fucking get the better of me that day.
Hiromu Takahashi – Right now, one of the best juniors in the world. Face of New Japan for the Junior Division, maybe even just openweight. The guy can wrestle all styles. He can wrestle anyone in that ring. One of the best pro wrestlers in the world right now. I just got done seeing him, hopefully I see him againsoon.
Low Ki – A great mentor, great sensei, great friend. Before I went over to Japan, I met him at WrestleMania. He was very good guidance for me. He's helped me out tremendously. I think he gets a little bit of a bad reputation because he's very strict with his lifestyle and what he does in the ring, but that's not necessarily a bad thing to me. I had a fondness to him. I gravitated towards him and he's a person I reach out to for help. He guides me when he can. It's always good to have a good mentor and experienced person. He whoops ass in the ring. There's no work on that. He's just gonna kick you and you make it work. He treats the business seriously. He really commits to what he does.
Can you leave the people with a little piece of life advice or wisdom that you’ve picked up in your time on Earth?
You have to go for it. If you have a dream or something in sight and you’re stagnant, it’s never going to happen. Even if you fail, go for it because you’re going to learn through failure. And after you fail, go for it again. And eventually after 50 fails, that 51st try is going to work. Always just go for it.
CATCH NINJA MACK LIVE IN ACTION WITH 365 PRO WRESTLING:
June 27 - Cedar, BC at CEDAR COMMUNITY HALL
June 28 - Victoria, BC at FIRST MET HALL
AND SUNDAY JUNE 29TH IN VANCOUVER FOR…
INVOKE PRO WRESTLING & 365 PRO WRESTLING PRESENT…
365: DO OR DIE
SUNDAY JUNE 29TH, 2025
THE PEARL - 881 GRANVILLE ST
DOORS - 6:00 PM // BELL TIME - 7:00 PM
19+
TICKETS: https://bit.ly/Invokex365Wrestling-YVR
Blake Morneau is a writer, music nerd and wrestling mark. His work has appeared in a number of local and national publications, including Exclaim!, the Martlet and Absolute Underground. He founded Rags Music in 2016 as a place to spread the word about great music, and recently, great wrestling. Now he brings his passion and words to Invokeprowrestling.com
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