Ranking Every MVP Of Every Major Wrestling Company

3. All Japan Pro Wrestling: Kento Miyahara

There can only be one: Kento Miyahara.

All Japan Pro Wrestling is otherwise off the radar entirely. To illustrate how far it has fallen, the memories of the constant Budokan sell-outs are now tinged in sepia, and the promotion that was once so prized by hardcore tape-traders in the west barely registers a blip in this age of instant streaming access. It does enough business to continue on, but is AJPW only in name, not in aura - nor style, mercifully, given what we know now of its horrific repercussions.

Interestingly, Miyahara's style is more indebted to NJPW's Hiroshi Tanahashi than the Four Pillars. He is a phenomenal details wrestler, mastering the space between moves and rewarding the attention of those who watch closest when the most insignificant move attempts are paid off with searing drama in the finishing sequence. Minimal and brutal, he is a true Ace in the sense that he can take performers who aren't ready (Jake Lee) and hoist them to his near-Best In The World level.

Miyahara alone warrants AJPW's inclusion in this list - bigger promotions are missing from it - because he is that good, and that pivotal to its (very) relative return to critical prominence.