10 Wrestlers Who Could Win Their First World Title In 2021

2. Kota Ibushi

Big E WWE Champion
NJPW

Better late than never. NJPW is developing a worrying trend of sitting on the pot for too long when it comes to its stars, keeping them queued up to the extent where they seem to be getting in each other's way. Kota Ibushi probably should have beaten Kazuchika Okada in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 14, but the decision to make it a two-day affair and the realisation that NJ couldn't hold off on Tetsuya Naito any longer put a spanner in that plan. Ibushi lost to Okada on night one, and subsequently fell to Jay White on night two as well.

When the 30th G1 Climax began in late-September, few people had Kota Ibushi among their potential winners. Only Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan had gone back-to-back in the G1 era, after all. Ibushi also found himself in a treacherously difficult block, alongside Will Ospreay, Kazuchika Okada, Jay White, Shingo Takagi and others. Doubters be damned, Ibushi went back to back, defeating SANADA in the final.

Sure, he may have lost the briefcase since that final but Ibushi still finds himself with an IWGP Championship match on the first night of Wrestle Kingdom 15. Surely the time has come to crown Ibushi? Naito's reign has been hindered by COVID-19 and EVIL respectively, but NJPW can't wait on Kota Ibushi any longer. A world championship is less than a week away.

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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.