Two for the price of one here, with two of the more surprising gaijin names that crop up in the champisonhip histories of Japans top wrestling companies. Tomko, better known to western eyes as Christians Problem Solver or one half a long reigning TNA tag title duo with AJ Styles, spent two years with NJPW between 2006 and 2008. In this time he managed to win the G1 Tag League and the IWGP Tag Titles with Giant Bernard). Everything went a bit south for Tomko afterwards though, and he was arrested for robbery in 2011. Bart Gunn is a different story however. Japanese wrestling is known for its respect for legitimately tough guys, and one of the most respected of these was Dr Death Steve Williams. Williams was supposed to win WWEs 1998 Brawl for All tournament but was surprisingly beaten by Bart Gunn in the second round. Gunn would go on to win the whole thing, barely breaking a sweat throughout, and this would lead Japanese eyes to move in his direction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9JOEYxwwbk Gunn arrived at All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1998 and would quickly secure tag team gold with Johnny Ace (Viva la People Power). His career wouldnt exactly be littered with prizes, but he did win the 2001 Korakuen Hall battle royal as well as the Stan Hansen Cup in 2002 (along with Jim Steele). He was also a losing finalist in the 2002 Champion Carnival. Tomko and Bart Gunn are two of the most surprising names to taste success in Japan. Our next entry should come as no surprise to anyone however.
Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.
