10 Live Observations From ROH's War Of The Worlds In NYC
3. Tetsuya Naito Is The Hottest Thing In Wrestling
It's a strange era in professional wrestling. Though WWE has long been the leading force in the sport, they no longer seem to create their own stars. With the exception of The New Day, the hottest acts in WWE have come from elsewhere, including Bullet Club and Shinsuke Nakamura, so it makes sense to look outside of the company for the next big thing.
That thing is Tetsuya Naito, the current IWGP Heavyweight Champion and leader of the stable Los Ingobernables de Japon. For those unfamiliar with Naito, imagine if WWE turned Roman Reigns heel and he ended up being one of the freshest stars in the business. Naito's path was similar to that of Reigns (an overpushed face whom fans rejected), but New Japan turned him to great success.
At War of the Worlds, Naito was a superstar. Fans lined up to meet him before the shows, and during his match in NYC, the crowd went crazy for him. His signature roll into a Burt Reynolds-in-Cosmopolitan pose got major cheers, and even though ACH is great, we all cheered when Naito hit the Destino for the win. His performance was even more impressive, given that he was hospitalized with a fever the day before.
After the match, Naito beat up referee Todd Sinclair, which made him even cooler.