10 Wrestlers Who Conquered The East

Ever thought you'd see Brock Lesnar and Bart Gunn in the same list?

By John Bills /

Most would agree that WWE€™s recent €˜Beast In The East€™ special in Tokyo, Japan was a resounding success. A hot crowd ate up most of what was put out, whether it was the fun opener pitting Chris Jericho against Neville, the house show main event of John Cena & Dolph Ziggler defeating King Barrett and Kane or Brock Lesnar€™s lunchtime snack of Kofi Kingston and The New Day. The highlight of the show though was Finn Bálor defeating Kevin Owens for the NXT title. Despite being from the great state of Ireland, Japan is something of a second home for Baálor. He spent eight years perfecting his craft in the east with New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) as Prince Devitt, something that WWE has acknowledged in their excellent series of videos on his rise. Wrestling in Japan is serious business. It is a profession that commands a huge amount of respect, and it still leans towards the sports side of sports-entertainment. Sure, storylines still exist, but they are more often than not centred on the happenings in the ring. Championships also command great respect, and it is not unusual for reigns to last over a year. Winning gold in Japan is a big deal. We are now aware of Bálor€™s successes in Japan, but who else headed east and tasted success? Let€™s look at 10 guys who managed to do just that, ranging from the megastars to the (kind of) obscure.

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