10 Next Big Things In Wrestling That Totally Flopped

5. Bob Sapp

Vladimir Kozlov
NJPW

Bob Sapp epitomised the unbelievable decline of New Japan Pro Wrestling in the early 2000s, and also the most indulgent nadir of former booker Antonio Inoki's increasingly narrow vision for pro wrestling.

To an extent, you can see the logic. Japan was gripped by MMA fever in the wake of Pride Fighting Championship's smash success, and there was scope, and precedent, to incorporate such realism even in the already über-realistic genre of puroresu. The UWFi group, which astutely marketed itself as the real pro wrestling league, was a major player in the massively lucrative 1990s scene. Sapp, Inoki's plan to revert back to its old spirit, was a charismatic freak show attraction elevated by genuine credibility. The problem was that Pride was legit, and pro wrestling, obviously, wasn't; now that the Japanese had seen the real real fights, transposing this ethos to pro wrestling was only ever going to be a dilution.

The other folly of this strategy was exposed when Sapp, tasked with carrying the IWGP Heavyweight title, was forced to relinquish it when he lost a shoot fight to Kazuyuki Fujita. The UWFi's Nobuhiko Takada's hard man rep was carefully engineered over time; Sapp, handed the big gold belt, lost his in an instant.

His flopping was literally inevitable.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!