Johnnie Robbie details her friendship with the recently-retired Sumie Sakai.
At NJPW Battle in Valley, Johnnie Robbie partnered with AZM, Trish Adora, and Anna Jay in a cross-promotional tag team match. Elsewhere, 27-year veteran Sumie Sakai wrapped up her in-ring career in another tag match alongside House of Torture’s EVIL and SHO and a send-off ovation from the San Jose crowd. Afterward, Robbie recalls the legend continuing to pass on her knowledge to the younger talents on the show, including Robbie herself.
“I met [Sumie] when I went to Mexico the first time with CMLL,” Robbie told WrestleZone’s Ella Jay. “I remember her just making sure I was okay, making sure everything was going well. That was just us kind of learning, me just getting to meet her. Then we built up I would like to say a friendship. I remember her telling me about what she likes, what she sees in me, what she sees in me. There’s some little things, which I’ll keep to myself about. I like that she just came forward to me was like ‘Oh, Johnnie, you need to do this. I don’t really see this from you.’ And I was like ‘Okay, yeah.’ It being Sumie, I took all that in from her.
“The day of that show, she was more focused on what was happening with her, which was so valid, but I ended up seeing her later,” Robbie continued. “Then she told me about oh ‘Hey, you should probably do this instead. Or this is what you need to bring out,’ which was awesome because she didn’t need to give that to me after the fact of what she just had with her match and her retirement.”
Ultimately, Sakai’s team fell short against Hiromu Takahashi, Mayu Iwatani, and Yuka Sakazaki. Still, they and the locker room showered Sakai with praise and flowers afterward. Sakai walks away from in-ring competition as a decorated champion, including the first ever ROH Women Of Honor Champion.
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Watch our full interview with Johnnie Robbie below:
