10 Awesome Modern Wrestlers Who Made Their Name In Japan
2. Finn Bálor
Casual WWE fans have no idea how good Finn Bálor is because, sadly, he peaked as Prince Devitt. The smiling jabron seen on RAW is the stark, depressing antithesis of the cocksure star he once was.
In New Japan, he challenged a megastar well above his weight class, Kazuchika Okada, by rinsing his accent and cocking the Bullet Club gun in his face. In WWE, he failed to challenge a megastar well above his weight class, Brock Lesnar, for two and a half years - even though Lesnar held the Universal Title the returning, meek Bálor had lost. Bullet Club Era Prince Devitt in New Japan was an aggressive, slippery pest of an act in the ring.
As a babyface, his work was electric - unpredictably twisting on offence and spirited on defence. He played an overlooked role as architect for the current in-ring golden age.
Outside of the ring, his creative contributions to the despised Bullet Club faction will one day see him remembered as a revolutionary; native fans hated his very creative ability to distract the referee and manoeuvre his opponents into harm's way, whereas western fans, a not inconsiderable number of which are now lapsed, flocked to the faction's ultra-cool aesthetic.
Perhaps that's why seem to hate him.