10 Biggest Game-Changers In Wrestling Right Now
9. CIMA
Everybody underestimated CIMA.
A Dragon Gate lifer (and seemingly the company's biggest star), the 40-year-old walked out this summer, taking hot prospects El Lindaman, T-Hawk, and Takehiro Yamamura with him. Doubts were cast immediately. Not only were they struggling creatively, but a promotion that has historically struggled with creating new stars was now four important pieces down, and while most predicted this turmoil would hurt them, few could've foreseen such a downturn.
Kobe World (DG's loose WrestleMania equivalent) drew 9,800 fans with CIMA second from the top in 2017. Without him, this number shrunk to just 4,952 this year, and while this had plenty to do with the promotion's creative decline, CIMA's departure has had similarly destructive effects elsewhere on the balance sheet.
The man himself has become a vanguard for Japanese indie wrestling. His Strong Hearts stable have invaded WRESTLE-1 and DDT, giving both a shot in the arm, but CIMA's work with China's Oriental Wrestling Entertainment may the most significant of all. If his influence helps get the promotion off the ground, and he's able to build a grassroots Chinese wrestling scene from the ground up, he should be considered one of the globe's foremost wrestling self-starters, and, in all likelihood, a Wrestling Observer Hall-of-Famer.