Editor’s Note: Jack Talos reached out to Slamwrestling.net and informed us he will be doing a tour for the All-Japan Pro Wrestling promotion. Per Talos’ request, certain names have been changed to protect their anonymity. Plus, who are we to argue with a seven-foot giant?
Here is another excerpt of his recent adventures in the Land of the Rising Sun against a potential rival in All Japan.
By Jack Talos – For Slam! Wrestling
The Road to Otaku
The road to Ota Ward hasn’t been a straight line. It’s been winding, heavy, and unavoidable. And at the end of it waits Ayabe Ren.
From the moment I walked into All Japan, Ren’s been right there in my path. My very first match in this company—Sendai, June 1st—he was across the ring from me. That wasn’t an accident. That was a message. From the second we locked eyes, I knew Ren wasn’t just another body in a tag. He wanted to test the new giant. He wanted to see if I was really what they said I was.
Since then, it’s been constant. Osaka. Toyama. Shiba. Town after town, match after match, Ren and I kept finding ourselves in the ring together. Always tag matches. Always building. Always just enough time to taste it, never enough to finish it.
In Osaka, we started trading blows like it was already a singles match. The crowd lived for it—every chop, every elbow, every clash of two monsters trying to claim space. In Toyama, it got even heavier. The smaller crowd made every impact sound louder, and Ren came at me like he had something to prove. He didn’t care that I was seven feet tall, three hundred pounds, fresh off the plane. He wanted me to know this was his house.
Shiba is where it really boiled over. The tags weren’t tags anymore—they were collisions. Ren didn’t just want to win. He wanted to send me a message with every shot he threw. And I threw mine right back. After that match, I walked back through the curtain with one thing in my head: sooner or later, there’d be no partners, no excuses. Just him and me.
Now here we are—Ota Ward. A building with weight. A building where careers get made. The buildup is done. The tags are over. This time it’s Ren and Talos, no distractions, no hiding.
#tbt#jacktalos arrives in #otaku with @ajpw_official
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#ajpw#alljapanprowrestling#monster#talos#タロース#otakupic.twitter.com/ipPblyV3Wc— Jack Talos (@Jack_Talos) September 4, 2025
He’s been the measuring stick since day one. He’s the first man who stepped up to me in AJPW, and now he’s the one standing across from me in my first big singles test. That’s not a coincidence. That’s destiny.
The Road to Otaku ends with an answer.
Whose name carries more weight in this ring—Ayabe Ren’s, or Jack Talos’s?
Related Links
- Talos’ story and column archive
- Talos’ socials via LinkTree
