10 Wrestlers With Surprisingly Successful Japanese Careers

John 'Johnny Ace' Laurinaitis has had a very long career backstage in the WWE. Unfortunately, we're here to discuss his professional wrestling career, which in North America was pretty lacklustre.

Debuting as Johnny Ace in 1986 Laurinaitis achieved little success wrestling throughout the NWA territories frequently tagging with his brother, no not Hall of Famer Road Warrior Animal, the other one, Marc. The minimal amount of success they achieved was far better than the embarrassment he would suffer in the highly gimmicked tag team 'The Dynamic Dudes' where him and Shane Douglas played a pair of white meat babyfaces who's gimmick was skateboarding and saying things like radical. Quickly realising that this gimmick had likely ruined his opportunity for success in North America Johnny head to the land of the rising sun.

While in Japan, Johnny had a lengthy, decorated career which included winning the tag titles with all time greats like Kenta Kobashi and Steve Williams (more on him later). He wrestled in two 5 star matches, one which was Wrestling Observer match of the year where he tagged with Steve Williams vs Jun Akiyama and Mitsuhara Misawa.

Additionally, he achieved success in singles competition competing against Misawa for his Triple Crown Championship and putting opponents to bed with his famous finishing move the 'Ace Crusher', a standing RKO-like cutter.

While Laurinaitis is well known for his on screen GM role feuding with John Cena and marrying Mama Bella, the Dynamic Dude did have a long successful career in Japan which often goes unrecognised.