10 Best Male Japanese Imports In WWE History
3. Tajiri
There are few Japanese superstars in WWE history with the continued success of 'The Japanese Buzzsaw' Yoshihiro Tajiri.
Arriving in the WWF shortly after the demise of ECW in 2001, Tajiri was quickly paired up with WWF Commissioner, William Regal. Like many Japanese imports before him, Tajiri was given the role of comedic sidekick to Regal’s straight-laced Brit. The "odd couple" pairing worked perfectly and Tajiri’s impressive in-ring work, coupled with his awesome “Tarantula” hold, quickly made him a firm fan favourite.
He soon went on to singles success as WWF Light Heavyweight Champion and even won the WCW United States Championship during the Invasion storyline. Tajiri continued his success as a singles competitor by defeating Billy Kidman to become Cruiserweight Champion, a title he would hold a total of three times throughout his WWE career.
'The Japanese Buzzsaw' also captured the WWE Tag Team Championship with Eddie Guerrero during his SmackDown tenure, before moving to Raw to win the World Tag Team Championships with old friend, William Regal. Tajiri would appear sporadically thereafter, notably at the ECW One Night Stand events in 2005 and 2006.
It would be ten years before he returned to WWE full-time in 2016 as part of the revived Cruiserweight Division, rounding off a hugely successful WWE career.