Starboy Charlie Chases His Wrestling Dreams In Japan

Is Japan ready for Starboy Charlie? Well, the pro wrestling scene better be, because the Bay Area standout is back on the road and in the Land of the Rising Sun, where he recently debuted for NOAH. That’s a big deal for any wrestler, and Charlie (Hilder) is no different.

“I’m real excited because, at these Japanese promotions, there are a lot more eyes that are going to be on me,” he said. “There’s a lot of good shows with good exposure out here, but in that movie, ‘The Iron Claw,’ they said, ‘Everybody knows you’re only a true champion if you go to Japan.’ So I was like, oh, I guess I better get over there.”

And here he is. It could be a daunting prospect, given how different the scene is in Japan as opposed to the United States, but instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, stylistically, the 21-year-old is going to stick with what got him to his point in his career. “I’m just going to go out there and do my thing because I don’t really see a point in trying to change up my style,” he said. “When I go there, I ought to be as authentically me as possible.”

I know what you’re thinking right about now. At 21, how much of a career can the Pacifica native have? Well, funny you should ask because Hilder has been training for moments like these since he was 10 years old.

No typo.

So, where does a 10-year-old find a place to wrestle at that age?

“When I started off, there was actually a place in Pacifica, run by Sparky Ballard, called Gold Rush Pro Wrestling, and we had a little school called the Gold Mine, where we trained, and we’d have shows there. And yeah, I had to sign the waiver, and my parents had to sign the waiver, too, saying if I get hurt, or even worse, I can’t sue. But thankfully, they signed the permission slip.”

In a lot of ways, it’s the dream of any kid that age who saw the exploits of WWE superstars and wanted to follow in their footsteps. But where Hilder’s story gets a little more interesting is that his mother, Blanca Gutierrez, is a member of the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame, a renowned coach, and the creator of one of the sport’s top amateur boxing promotions. In other words, how did mom (and his aunt Lupi) let her kid dodge a life in the sweet science?

“They tried, but they never really pushed it on me,” Hilder said. “Boxing was always there right in front of me, so I was always in the gym and always training, but I think they saw how much passion I had for wrestling, and I guess they got tired of me breaking all the couches and furniture, doing those top rope moves and stuff. (Laughs) So they’re like, yeah, I think wrestling’s going to be for him.”

It was, and while he’s been to the UK to wrestle before, Japan’s a whole different world and that has to be an adjustment for mom. “She’s super supportive of it,” he said, “She knows it’s my dream. Of course, she’s going to miss me, but she knows I’m chasing big dreams out there, and it’s all a part of it.”

For the last 11 years, Hilder has been chasing it, sacrificing the life of an “average” teenager to live an above-average life. And it wasn’t like he was making a big deal of things while in school…like most of us would. “I only told a couple of my friends because I wasn’t really putting on big matches or shows yet, so I was just kind of keeping it a little bit low-key,” he said. “Whenever people find out, they think it’s really cool. And they’re a little surprised. I tell people I’m a wrestler, and they think, ‘Oh, he’s wearing a singlet. He’s wearing headgear.’ And I have to say, no, I used to do that, but now I’m jumping off the top rope and doing crazy dives.”

Hilder put in three years of high school wrestling before the COVID-19 pandemic scrapped his fourth year, but that’s really been the only hiccup in his forward progress, as “The Denim Dragon” made his name on the indie circuit and even had a 2023 match on AEW Rampage, showing that despite his youth, he’s a seasoned vet in the game.

“Sometimes it comes as a surprise, but there’s a lot more young wrestlers starting off at young ages than people think,” he said. “But it still is kind of rare. So yeah, I do get some surprising reactions. People get shocked a little bit that I’ve been doing it for so long.”

And he’s just getting started.

“I think the end game is that I really want to work for WWE or AEW, and I want to work for New Japan (Pro Wrestling) too,” Hilder said. “But I just want to be all-around remembered, and I want to be a legend. I want to inspire kids to become wrestlers, too. When people talk about who’s the best, I hope that one day I’m in that conversation.”

Even with denim overalls?

“I’d love to see a lot more overalls out there,” he said. “I’m all for bringing them back.”

Thomas Gerbasi

Thomas Gerbasi is currently senior editor for BoxingScene.com, Women’s Boxing columnist for The Ring magazine, a contributor to Boxing News (UK) magazine, and a member of the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022 in the non-participant wing. An award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, Gerbasi is also the author of five books. His amateur boxing record was 0-1.

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