10 Best Workers Across WWE And NJPW
Who has the better roster?
Kazuchika Okada caused a bit of a stir earlier this month with the assertion that his promotion, NJPW, is "far superior to WWE when it comes to the quality of the roster and the quality of the matches".
Wherever your loyalties lie, it's difficult to try and make a case for WWE having better matches; after all, it seldom allows its wrestlers to go as long (the top matches in New Japan regularly exceed the 30-minute mark) or as full-throttle, owing to the company's intensive road schedule.
But, when it comes to the respective rosters, things might not be so clear cut. Both NJPW and WWE boast stacked locker rooms of the kind most wrestling promotions, in any era, could only dream. They are afforded a little more leeway in Japan, granted, but that isn't necessarily indicative of better or a greater quantity of talent.
So let's put Okada's theory to the test, and have a look (in a totally intuitive, non-scientific way) at who might appear on a combined top 10 worker list between the two companies as of right this very moment.
10. Neville
'The Man That Gravity Forgot' is a bold choice, granted, given that he has spent the better part of the last 12 months relegated (and, as The Miz gleefully explained last week on Raw, it really is a relegation) to the lowly 205 Live ranks.
But, in terms of raw talent, there can't really be too many considered much better than the Brit, whose move set and effortless ability to glide around the ring at full-swing has seen him put on some of the best WWE matches of the last three or four years.
These days, he seldom gets the opportunity to go more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time, a problem you imagine would be a lessened were he plying his trade in NJPW.