10 Huge Pops WWE Fans Gave To Outsiders

7. Kota Ibushi

WWE Cruiserweight Classic Brian Kendrick Kota Ibushi
WWE.com

Cruiserweight icons collide! It feels like at least four lifetimes ago now, but there was a time when Kota Ibushi was in NXT, except he wasn’t in NXT, he just kept appearing in NXT. How does that work? Well, back then, Kota Ibushi was gonna Kota Ibushi wherever he damn well pleased. A fly-by visit to WWE? Why not!

Ibushi was the rightful winner of the inaugural WWE Cruiserweight Classic, we all know that, but contractual disagreements meant that honour went to TJ Perkins. Not to worry, as the future G1 Climax 29 winner was kind enough to have a few matches in NXT before disappearing into the sunset, among them a nifty little battle with Buddy Murphy that brought the ‘Best Kept Secret’ to the eyes of many.

How did the Full Sail crowd respond to him? How any crowd should respond to Kota Ibushi, namely with joy and excitement. Ibushi was scheduled to team with Hideo Itami in the 2016 Dusty Rhodes Classic, but Itami’s injuries put a stop to that plan. Is there a parallel universe out there, a world in which Kota Ibushi and Hideo Itami are WWE Tag Team Champions? We’ll never know, but we’ll always have Kota & NXT, 2016 edition.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.