Like Jericho, Angle, and Liger, Minoru Suzuki was once a talented youngster with loads of potential. Unlike those men, though, Suzuki left the sport for a decade to become a star in the world of Japanese MMA. Once Suzuki returned to pro wrestling in the mid-2000s, he made an immediate impact. With an ultra-realistic fighting style that predated Brock Lesnar's current pattern of dominance, Suzuki brought something different to the table than anyone else in the sport. He quickly won All Japan's Triple Crown Championship, then jumped to New Japan, where he had classic matches with Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, and AJ Styles. Most remarkably, the 47-year-old Suzuki hasn't slowed down one bit. After defeating Kazushi Sakuraba at 2015's Wrestle Kingdom 9, he led his Suzukigun stable in an invasion of NOAH, quickly winning the GHC Heavyweight Championship. He spent the rest of the year ruling the promotion as champ en route to winning Tokyo Sports' Outstanding Performance Award. With the body of a 30-year-old and the attitude of a honey badger, Suzuki will continue to dominate Japanese wrestling for years to come.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013