Top NJPW Star Robbed While In Nashville For Music City Mayhem

By Sai Mohan

NJPW star Hiromu Takahashi was the victim of a robbery during his recent visit to Nashville, TN for the Music City Mayhem event.

Upon returning to Japan over the weekend, Takahashi detailed the incidents of the robbery to Tokyo Sports Online, revealing that a person broke into his hotel room and ransacked his belongings while he was wrestling Blake Christian at the Fairgrounds Nashville arena. When he returned to his room after his victory over Christian, Takahashi discovered that all his possessions had been stolen.

"Usually, I keep my valuables with me while I am traveling abroad, but several items from my room (2 t-shirts, a tank top, 2 pairs of shorts and a recently washed & dried neck pillow) were all missing," Takahashi said. "The total monetary value of these items wasn't that much, but I was really upset. I went to the front desk and reported that 'my room had been ransacked!!' I simply can't believe it! When I told them, they said, 'OH MY GOD!' and I'm here like 'THAT'S MY LINE!!'"

On a positive note, the suitcase containing Takahashi's valuables, including his wrestling gear, was not in the room, as they were with him at the venue. However, the wrestler laments the fact that the thief got their hands on a pair of limited edition shorts from his favorite band, Maximum the Hormone.

"Those [shorts] aren't readily available anymore because they were an old design and are now out of print," Takahashi continued. "When I was asked about what the numerical value of them was, I wanted to say that 'its hard to put a financial number on something with emotional value! Once those items disappear, no amount of money can bring them back!!' ....if I could speak English better, I would have really liked to have said that."

Despite the unfortunate event, Takahashi thoroughly enjoyed his first trip to the United States in four years. In fact, the wrestler also visited WWE SummerSlam in Nashville a little over 30 minutes after his match at Music City Mayhem.

"Hearing the cheers from the crowd felt so amazing," Takahashi admitted. "America is still amazing! I want to help continue elevating [NJPW] STRONG. I want to come to America countless times!

" I had a lot of help there in filing damage reports and so on. I think people who are planning to travel abroad should be careful. I want to remind people again that it is scary to go abroad, even though they may have forgotten about it due to the Corona disaster. I want people to leave important things at their hotels, but make sure they are secured [like in a safe] and not out in plain sight...I still think America's pretty great though."

Takahashi will return to the United States later this month to wrestle for Los Angeles-based indie promotion Brain Slam Wrestling.

H/T to Karen in Translation for the translation of the interview

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