10 Best Strong-Style Wrestlers Ever
6. Nobuhiko Takada
Nobuhiko Takada may be most famous for his shoot style wrestling, which saw him become a star in the UWF and the top babyface in follow-up promotion UWFi - he even headlined a stadium show against Vader in the UWFi. Despite the fact that we've drawn a distinction between shoot style and strong style, though, Takada deserves some recognition for being one of the men who helped the former grow out of the latter.
Takada was a young star in New Japan when he left to form the first UWF, carving new ground in the shoot-style genre in matches with men like Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Akira Maeda. When the promotion folded, they returned to New Japan for an extremely lucrative invasion angle which saw Takada capture the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title from Shiro Koshinaka - and earn the nickname "Egoist Kneecap" for his kicks.
Takada soon left to join the Newborn UWF and subsequent UWFi, but when those promotions ran their course, he returned to New Japan for part two of the invasion - which ended up becoming the most lucrative storyline in Japanese wrestling history. This time, Takada captured the IWGP Heavyweight Title, rewriting the rules of the company with his brutal - yet scientific - style.