10 Loudest Wrestling Pops You Didn't Know About

New Japan Pro Wrestling was white hot in 1996.

Driven by the star power and futuristic workrate of its key acts across the heavyweight and junior divisions, the company was a Dome-sized sensation at its commercial peak: it was the promotion in which heroes generated as much loyalty as stunned disbelief. If Shinya Hashimoto wasn't embodying the legitimacy on which the promotion was built, the juniors were innovating new standards that remain in vogue, and spectacular, to this very day.

Much has been written about the NJPW Vs. UWF-i inter-promotional rivalry. It was and was not the way to do it, ultimately: New Japan may have drawn a few more of those sprawling, record-breaking vistas, with a less defensive attitude towards the development. But the reaction afforded to folk hero Hashimoto bringing the IWGP Heavyweight Title back home is undeniable. If the success of every booking decision is measured by the noise and the gate, the events of Battle Formation emphatically rebuke any criticism.

The fans went ballistic every time Hashimoto out-muscled the interloping Nobuhiko Takada on the mat, and when he took him down with a leg sweep just when he had cast doubt over his ability to withstand a standing strike exchange, they exploded.

This wasn't even the loudest pop in the match: Hashimoto's Brainbuster was received as the ultimate home team victory. It was as if he'd lifted a cup, not Takada's body, on his shoulders.