10 Awesome Modern Wrestlers Who Made Their Name In Japan
3. Juice Robinson
Already the last of a certain kind, WWE accepted CJ Parker's release request in 2015. Setting a paradigm shift into motion - WWE will absolutely not be so gracious four years later - the newly-renamed Juice Robinson flourished outside of NXT and under the umbrella of New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Though his departure has in part shaped the future of wrestling to come, he flourished by harkening back to the glory days of old; rebranding himself as a humble, house afire babyface, perfecting something as simple and timeless as the worked punch, Robinson earned the love of NJPW fans with his unique brand of sh*t-talking charisma and the classic puro, train-harder commitment to advancing up the card.
And advance up the card he did, by learning also the fighting spirit psychology fundamental to the genre. Juice hit a career high at last year's G1 Climax In San Francisco in a superb fusion of storytelling and physicality opposite Jay White. For the first time, we saw in the Switchblade what had compelled Gedo to anoint him as the prospective top foreigner of the company; selling him as a major threat, Robinson framed his performance as the fight of his life.
In the process, he set into motion another paradigm shift; earlier this year, to ward off WWE and AEW, NJPW rewarded his efforts with a rare multi-year deal - where previously, foreigner contracts typically ran from January to January.