10 Wrestlers Who Conquered The East

By John Bills /

5. Travis Tomko/Bart Gunn

Two for the price of one here, with two of the more surprising gaijin names that crop up in the champisonhip histories of Japan€™s top wrestling companies. Tomko, better known to western eyes as Christian€™s €˜Problem Solver€™ or one half a long reigning TNA tag title duo with AJ Styles, spent two years with NJPW between 2006 and 2008. In this time he managed to win the G1 Tag League and the IWGP Tag Titles with Giant Bernard). Everything went a bit south for Tomko afterwards though, and he was arrested for robbery in 2011. Bart Gunn is a different story however. Japanese wrestling is known for it€™s respect for legitimately tough guys, and one of the most respected of these was €˜Dr Death€™ Steve Williams. Williams was supposed to win WWE€™s 1998 €˜Brawl for All€™ tournament but was surprisingly beaten by Bart Gunn in the second round. Gunn would go on to win the whole thing, barely breaking a sweat throughout, and this would lead Japanese eyes to move in his direction.Gunn arrived at All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1998 and would quickly secure tag team gold with Johnny Ace (Viva la People Power). His career wouldn€™t exactly be littered with prizes, but he did win the 2001 Korakuen Hall battle royal as well as the Stan Hansen Cup in 2002 (along with Jim Steele). He was also a losing finalist in the 2002 Champion Carnival. Tomko and Bart Gunn are two of the most surprising names to taste success in Japan. Our next entry should come as no surprise to anyone however.