10 More WWE Superstars And Their Japanese Counterparts
8. Bradshaw/JBL
Bradshaw’s rise to the WWE Title was a combination of strange circumstances. He was a solid mid-carder for the bulk of his career, and just before he became the right wing rich man, he was a drunken brawler as part of the APA. Alas, the sudden change in SmackDown’s main event scene caused WWE to make a lot of changes, and one of those was launching JBL into the world title picture.
As an in-ring worker, JBL was one of the stiffest wrestlers in the entire company, backed by a long-standing reputation as a notorious bully. Sadly, none of his matches were particularly inspiring, and his 2004-2005 WWE Championship reign wasn’t necessarily the highlight of Friday Night SmackDown at the time.
Japanese counterpart: Tomohiro Ishii
For most of his career, Ishii was, like JBL, a lower card guy whom no one expected to ever have a major push. He didn’t have the look of a big star (which is something that the JBL character actually did), and seemed to be doomed to be nothing more than a comedy sidekick for his entire career.
Then, in 2013, seventeen years after his debut, NJPW’s booking staff needed to fill in some slots for the 2013 G1 Climax tournament and thought, ‘meh, let’s give Ishii a spot’. That turned into one of the most monstrous rises in star power in NJPW history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu_u9THyWQA
Seemingly overnight, Ishii started having outstanding match after outstanding match with a wide variety of opponents. It was as if putting him in the tournament awakened some dormant wrestling God that had been sleeping inside of him during his whole career. After years of wasting away as a comedy act, Ishii has wrestled in two 5-star matches and was voted best brawler by the Wrestling Observer in 2014.
So while it’s true that both JBL and Ishii were heavyset brawlers who lacked most skills needed to reach higher levels yet got there anyway, JBL reached the top through loyalty, personal friendship with the boss, and a series of fortunate circumstances (for him). Ishii, meanwhile, reached that spot through determination, soaring popularity, and a sudden explosion of talent that JBL wishes he could have.