Top Wrestler Robbed in Nashville During SummerSlam Weekend
Like WWE WrestleMania 38 before it, this past weekend's WWE SummerSlam was a mecca for all things professional wrestling. Nashville hosted WWE's biggest party of the summer on Saturday night, but also welcomed Game Changer Wrestling, Black Label Pro, Starrcast V, and many more to the country music town. Among those events was New Japan Pro Wrestling's Music City Mayhem, which featured major players like AEW's Jon Moxley and FTR, the United Empire, and former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi. While Takahashi was victorious in his singles bout against Blake Christian, he left Nashville as the victim of a robbery. Upon returning to his hotel room after the NJPW event, Takahashi noticed that a bulk of his possessions had gone missing.
"Usually, I keep my valuables with me while I am traveling abroad, but several items from my room (two t-shirts, a tank top, two pairs of shorts and a recently washed & dried neck pillow) were all missing," Takahashi told Tokyo Sports Online (h/t Karen in Translation). "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!'"
Takahashi's biggest valuables, namely his wrestling gear, remained in his grasps at the Nashville Fairgrounds, but the four-time Best of the Super Juniors did lose a prized pair of limited edition shorts.
"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 it's 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."
Takahashi concluded by reminding people to take extra care with their belongings when traveling internationally.
"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," Takahashi said. "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 returns to the states on August 14th for a Brain Slam Wrestling contest against Warhorse.