Until the arrival of Hideo Itami, Asuka and Shinsuke Nakamura in WWE, Kensuke Shinzaki was, for my money, probably the best of the Japanese wrestlers whos tried his luck in the American market over the last three decades. Working under an impassive traditional gimmick, with eerie white-faced manager and haunting theme music, Hakushis combination of (kayfabed) facial tattoos, flat-headed killer attitude and perfectly executed high-flying technical moves was a revelation during a brilliant feud with Bret The Hitman Hart. The character was working, but then Hakushi oddly fizzled. WWE never seem to know what to do with wrestlers from another country/culture. Despite a major part of his selling point being the emotionless foreign heel character he displayed, Hakushi was turned babyface, jettisoning the manager. Half the fun went with him, and WWE had nothing to replace it with. There was no creative plan for a heroic Hakushi. He was gone by early 1996, a little over a year after hed debuted. It was clear from the mini-feud with Hart that Hakushi was capable of getting over in the villainous role hed debuted with. Vince McMahon had booked Yokozuna as a scary Japanese heel to some significant success at a top level, and Hakushi (although not a super-heavyweight) had an aerial and technical upside and charisma that Yokozuna couldnt compete with. But no, Hakushi vanished - the only explanation given that hed been embarrassed by the outcome of a loss to Justin Hawk Bradshaw, the sh*t jobber cowboy version of JBL - and fantasies of incredible feuds with Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker over the WWF Championship disappeared with him.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
