10 Most Criminally Underrated Wrestlers In History
3. Nobuhiko Takada
Nobuhiko Takada wrestled a niche style which gained popularity almost as quickly as it faded.
The shoot-style UWF-I promotion was a brief sensation in the mid nineties - a strand of puroresu even more realistic and violently immersive than the norm in the Orient - and Takada was the best practitioner of it, a lethal striking machine who generated massive box office returns as a result of his hard man aura and uniquely brutal body of work.
Takada's war opposite (Super) Vader on August 28, 1994 was the best example of it. Unlike many matches from that league, which ended quickly and suddenly to preserve its credibility as a combat sport, it went nearly twenty minutes - the gripping equivalent of an epic, twelve round heavyweight boxing match.
Exhibit A: Takada's match with Vader was probably his best, but it understates his contribution to the puro landscape of the 1990s. Takada didn't just excel in the mode he mastered and popularised; his January 4, 1996 Tokyo Dome thriller opposite Keiji Mutoh, fought at the impossibly lucrative height of the inter-promotional UWF-I Vs. NJPW series, saw him credibly work an exciting fusion of shoot and traditional wrestling, packing in a gigantic crowd.
Takada was a great, idiosyncratic performer and documented draw. He wasn't a Kenta Kobashi or a Tatsumi Fujinami, but then again, who is?