The Fale Dojo, owned and operated out of New Zealand by Bullet Club co-founder Bad Luck Fale, has announced that two of its recent graduates, brothers Tome and Stevie Filip will be reporting to the world famous NJPW Dojo this September.
New Japan’s revered training system is well known for its rigorous difficulty, as students live together full-time in dorms, and spend every day doing household chores, training, studying, setting up and tearing down rings, as well as helping out in all matter of ways before, during and after New Japan live events.
The Filip brothers will have a harsh road ahead of them if they want to make it past the Dojo. Students, who are called Young Lions until graduating from the program, often spend years training before even making it to the undercards of New Japan shows, where they would likely remain for quite some time before ultimately being repackaged and either brought to the main roster, or shipped out internationally on “excursion”.
That said, the Young Lion program easily has the highest success rate for developing future stars, and is responsible for churning out a huge percentage of New Japan’s biggest names, going back decades.
Tome and Stevie have a leg up in that they’ve been scouted by the “Underboss”, Bad Luck Fale, but that certainly won’t do them any favors when they’re being put through the ringer.