10 More WWE Superstars And Their Japanese Counterparts

6. Wade Barrett

Ric Flair The Great Muta
WWE.com

Five years ago, when the Nexus was the hottest thing going in wrestling, everyone thought that group leader Wade Barrett was going to be a major star. He had it all: he was tall and muscular, had the look of a pro wrestler, could wrestle well, spoke well in front of cameras and with a microphone, and had the ideal heel personality. However, his career turned out very differently: he has become the poster child for ‘mid-card purgatory’.

Despite all of his assets and accomplishments (2015 King of the Ring, 5-time Intercontinental Champion, Slammys, and winner of NXT season 1), he has languished in the midcard, and is nowhere near the level he had reached by SummerSlam 2010. It’s sad, but for such a great wrestler, he should’ve been flirting with the main event scene a long time ago by this point.

Japanese counterpart: Hirooki Goto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSM5Hc6WA1Y

There are only three major differences between Barrett and Goto. First, Goto is shorter, but no less muscular. Second, Goto has a wide variety of awesome finishing moves, ones that Barrett wishes he could use in a WWE ring. Third, while Barrett’s only belt has been the Intercontinental Championship, Goto has done literally everything there is to do in NJPW except win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

He has won the NJPW Intercontinental Championship twice, held two different tag team belts with two different opponents, and has won an astonishing seven tournaments, including 2 wins at the World Tag League and 3 wins in the G1 Climax. That last one is especially important because that’s the tournament equivalent to winning the WWE Royal Rumble match. Yet no matter how many times Goto does something awesome, NJPW simply refuse to let him reach the World title level. Because of that, poor Goto has to deal with secondary titles, instead of carrying the prestigious IWGP Heavyweight Championship like he truly deservers.

Maybe, when WWE go to Japan for their upcoming tour, Barrett and Goto can have a long chat over how their respective employers seem hell-bent on preventing them from reaching the world title level.

Contributor

Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.