10 Wrestlers Who Drew REAL Heat In The Post-Kayfabe Age

4. KENTA

This angle was too good.

It was so good as to be cruel; New Japan never had any intention of paying it off, and a promotion so trusting in their audience to grasp arcs and stories that span years had to know that the base would fantasy-book a Tokyo Dome match in furious desperation right there in the cacophony. As it transpired, Hirooki Goto was positioned as Katsuyori Shibata's surrogate on January 5, and while it was cute enough - Goto defending the honour of his fierce rival and college roommate was decent storytelling - it wasn't what anybody wanted. The heat KENTA drew at the 2019 G1 Climax Final was so loud and so earnestly felt that the entire Budokan was out for the turncoat's blood.

Shibata had been forced into retirement having suffered a subdural haematoma at Sakura Genesis 2017. Two years later, he brought old teammate KENTA into NJPW, and while it seemed strange - loyalty is sacrosanct in Japanese culture, and KENTA was a Pro Wrestling NOAH guy - that feeling was folded wonderfully into his arc. He wasn't loyal to NJPW, either. He defected to the Bullet Club on August 12.

This drew the ire of Shibata who in a stunning moment almost kicked KENTA's head off his f*cking shoulders and, in an electrifying (and cruel) twist popped that shirt off to reveal a battle-ready physique. He was ready, but NJPW wouldn't sanction it - even after KENTA choked him out and sat on him as if he were a potty in a magnificent bastard's pose.