10 Genius Wrestling Bookers And The Best Decision They Ever Made
8. Mitsuharu Misawa (NOAH)
Best Decision: Kenta Kobashi’s two-year World Championship reign
For a short-time during the first half of the 21st century, Pro Wrestling NOAH was the #1 wrestling promotion in Japan. The company had a deep roster of amazing talent, and through cross-promotional exchanges that would never have happened in Baba’s All Japan, fans were treated to never-before-seen dream matches that brought viewers in by the thousands.
Mitsuharu Misawa was the company’s head booker for a time, and did whatever he could to build-up a new company ace for the future. He used his own star power very sparingly, and decided to build the company around Kenta Kobashi for the first few years until a younger ace could be found.
Misawa did this by booking himself to lose the GHC Heavyweight Championship to Kobashi in an outstanding match, which ushered in an astounding two-year title reign that has been called ‘The Reign of Excellence’.
From March 1st, 2003 to March 5th, 2005, NOAH drew in the largest crowds in the entire Japanese wrestling industry. Fans from all over the country came in droves to see Kobashi take on a wide variety of different opponents, including wrestlers from NJPW, former WWE/WCW wrestlers, and even an incredible MMA star.
During period, NOAH thrived financially and in terms of popularity, and it is thanks to Misawa’s booking that NOAH was so great back then.