Growing up in small place without many opportunities has not stopped New Zealand Aaron Henry from going after his dreams.

He grew up watching wrestling with his cousins, and as a kid, he always wanted to become a wrestler.

A passion and drive has seen Aaron from training in Auckland to wrestling with legends in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

For this writer, watching Henry - or Toa Henare as he is known in NJPW - grow from being a newbie on the scene to a potentially a number one contender for the NEVER Openweight Titile, currently held by Shingo Tagaki, has been amazing.

Going face-to-face with the current NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takgai.

Getting the opportunity to interview him was an honour.

Check out what he has to say below.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in East Auckland, New Zealand - in a small suburb called Panmure. It's a small place without many opportunities and a low socio-economic standing in the country.

How did you get into wrestling?

I grew up watching Wrestling with my cousins - the same story as other wrestlers - you watch it as a kid and you grow up wanting to become a wrestler.

During high school I lied about my age to get into a trial with a local company that I trained at for a long time. From there I trained at a gym called NETFIT - where UFC Fighter Mark Hunt was having his Fight Camp for his upcoming fight with Bigfoot Silva.

That's where I started training with him and Bad Luck Fale, who at the time called into the Local school I was training at and invited me to train and work towards making it to Japan.

What is it about wrestling you like so much?

I like everything about it - from the emotion, to the employment of all different types of martial arts and combat sports, personalities, backgrounds, stories etc. It's just so representative of all things around human culture - and the fact that Wrestling has existed throughout all societies is proof of how entrenched in the world it is.

Nowadays - the best thing I like about it is the physicality. Matching up physicality with emotion isn't found anywhere else in the world on such a big scale.

When did you make the transition from New Zealand to working in NJPW?

2016 - I was training in UK and Ireland, as well as the US when I got the call from Fale telling me there was a spot in the Dojo.

I actually did the New Japan tryout a few years earlier but didn't get the call back until 2016. It was a 6 year quest to get to where I am now and it was Fale who guided me through it, from training to telling me what I need to work on, to opening up opportunities for me (and countless other people) to get to Japan.

From there I did two and a half years of Dojo training before making it onto the main roster.

How does it feel to be able to step into the NJPW ring? Is the feeling different than stepping into a New Zealand ring? If so, how?

Much different.

In New Zealand, everything is still not up to the international professional standard. It's kind of similar to Eastern countries like Georgia or Romania trying to pick up rugby, but just not having the grassroots level deep enough, so their top levels can't develop enough.

The crowds are still quite small for the same reason - that the culture hasn't been developed enough.

In Japan it's huge, there's a wrestling culture, there are training centres and dedicated full time trainers and trainings for the development of wrestling, and there are also full time professionals going around the world and learning about the trade, learning new techniques and bringing them back to teach everybody.

It's regimented at the highest level in Japan, which is reflected by how well the crowds respond to everything.

Why did you decide to wrestle in Japan as opposed to the States, Mexico or Europe?

Easy! The physicality.

Japan still retains the connection to martial arts and fighting, and it's dedication to Wrestling as a sport, rather than entertainment and trying to make money from drama.

Last year you decided to train at a Muay Thai camp, why?

I've always been interested in Martial Arts.

I've trained in grappling arts my whole life, and starting training MMA from 2007 on. Muay Thai has always been one of my favourite arts, and it was a life goal to add Muay Thai to the list of legitimate combat sports and martial arts I've trained in in the past.

That list since 2007 includes (in order of extent trained):

Freestyle Wrestling 

Greco-Roman Wrestling

Submission Wrestling

MMA

BJJ/No Gi

and now Muay Thai

What was it like?

It was amazing, especially training traditional Thai style in Thailand, in a small town called Patong - it's pure Thai. Without any western influence on it so you know it's pure culture.

Other places I'd like to go to train are Mongolia for Archery and Mongolian traditional wrestling, and possibly Berma for Lethwei.

How has this helped you in your wrestling career?

It gave me a lot of focus to employ more Muay Thai and other martial arts into my wrestling.

I've been holding a lot of what I know back since I debuted in New Japan in terms of martial arts and stuff, but I think reigniting my passion for combat, and realising that not many people are incorporating REAL techniques into their Pro Wrestling game showed me a possible avenue to take with my wrestling.

And it's been successful so far, especially in terms of fans seeing the growth.

What do you have planned for 2020?

I have long term and mid-term goals in place - but everybody knows, and I've been quite vocal about aiming for the NEVER Openweight title.

What advice would you have for anyone looking at getting into the wrestling profession?

Go out and look for the right people, take advice from the right people and be willing to empty your cup and forget what you think you know.

That's more advice for any profession.

The short version is - go sign up to Fale Dojo or LA Dojo. Give it 100 per cent in whatever you do. Don't give up.

Besides wrestling and Mauy Thai, do you enjoy any other sports or activities?

I train any sort of martial art I can when I'm not wrestling - it's good for the mind, body and spirit so I try keep it in my life as much as possible.

Currently training with Richie Hardcore's team in Auckland - Hardcore Thai; and also helping to train a bunch of different kids submission wrestling classes around Auckland from time to time.

Do you prefer Japan or New Zealand?

For Wrestling and seeing thing, Japan; for relaxing and enjoying nature and the world - of course Aotearoa!