Gifu, Fl– Alabama’s Jack Kennedy traveled to Japan to become a teacher, but ended becoming a professional wrestler.

“I started teaching here five years ago and I figured I have a big body. I always wanted to be a sports player football, basketball, stuff like that so I thought my body is big ill try become a pro wrestler,” he said.

Kennedy is part of the Yanagase Pro Wrestling, based out of Gifu, Japan. Maki Yuhara founded the promotion. The promotion holds events at Sports Bar M’s Café about three to four times a year.

Kennedy talks the training experience in Japan.

“In America you have to pay and stuff like that, but here they pretty much let me train for free and then they feed me for free and it Is a real family here,” he said.

He took about 14 months until he finally made his debut.

Some of the top starts include Sae and Mari Manji in the women’s division. Kennedy said that community it’s what sets Yanagase Pro Wrestling different.

All wrestling kind of involves the community in some way for example we had our event outside as hot as it was in the future we always have a charity event near the soccer stadium about stop the bullying.

Yanaase also runs an all woman promotion, Ladius Yanagase Pro Wrestling. Their event is live streamed on TwitCasting.