10 Wrestlers Who Drew REAL Heat In The Post-Kayfabe Age
2. Jay White
Jay White, much like MJF and Cody before him, is savvy enough to recognise that the wider stylistic change of professional wrestling is fertile ground on which to build a reaction.
You want a classic pro wrestling match because you are a hardcore wrestling fan. Jay White uses a meta understanding of 21st century wrestling to weaponise that knowledge against you.
For a while, sometimes up to five excruciating minutes, he won't even give you a match, much less a classic. He'll stall. He'll roll out of the ring. He'll promise, hand on heart, to get back in. And then he'll roll straight back out. He won't treat you to a stunning, athletic Rainmaker counter. He'll just sit down.
White enters almost anti-performances, but he's so great at building the reaction that when he finally participates in the classic, twisting, counter-driven NJPW big match, he has already formed the emotional core of the story.
His recent Wrestle Kingdom war with Kota Ibushi was exceptional in that regard, but even better was their 2019 G1 Climax Final. White destroyed Ibushi's ankle. He went at it, creatively, time and time again. You were not to enjoy Ibushi's incredible aerial game. You were to share in his agony.
White created such an impeccable platform for Ibushi's comeback that the entire Budokan felt like they belonged to a different time. They weren't (just) reacting to an all-time classic, split in customary oscillation.
They wanted so desperately for the hero to prevail.