10 Awesome Modern Wrestlers Who Made Their Name In Japan
Rising to acclaim in the Land of The Rising Sun.
The foreign menace (we don't use a familiar term beginning with the letter 'G'; it's far more insulting than its casual usage across the wrestling internet indicates) was fundamental to the early identity of puroresu.
Driven by residual geopolitical tension, Godfather Rikidôzan, secret North Korean avatar for a Japanese public, rebuilt the spirit of a nation. That may read as histrionic, but it's no less true. Arguably the most popular international wrestling star ever - and certainly the most significant, given his singular, traceable contribution to an entire country - Rikidôzan gained that popularity by battling and overcoming a wave of evil imports.
In the process, he provided a nation with vital wish fulfilment and shaped the psychological architecture of the traditional Japanese wrestling contest. As that sentiment receded, the fiercely despised likes of Freddie Blassie and the Destroyer paved the way for the beloved Terry Funk and the immensely respected Stan Hansen.
What was old was made new again by the legendary Bullet Club faction, whose obnoxious affront to sportsmanship reminded the Japanese why they loathed the imports in the first instance.
Generating meme upon meme in the process, they told the Young Bucks to "please go home!" - but, one could argue, they were already there.
10. Karl Anderson
It's so strange, in hindsight, that Karl Anderson skipped NXT en route to the main roster in 2016, given his lacklustre run on the r. It's hard to fathom what the purpose of that was.
Yet, in 2012, the prospect of Karl Anderson starring on the flagship would not have seemed strange at all. At one point the most promising singles act in all of wrestling, Anderson roared away from the tag ranks with serious momentum. We're writing here about a man that, in the New Japan Cup, was so motivated and on such a creative high that he devised a better kick spot than his opponent. That opponent was Shinsuke f*cking Nakamura on Best In The World form.
Avoiding the Boma Ye with a forward roll, he used the momentum to absolutely clatter Nakamura in the side of the face with a spinning flying heel kick. He didn't need a thigh slap to make noise; a deeply impressed crowd did that for him.
Anderson entered several such eye-catching performances throughout that year, the evidence of which condemns WWE's main roster as neglectful without even watching an episode of NXT - a show to which Karl Anderson should switch as a singles act to mine that unreal potential.