10 WWE Stars And Their New Japan Equivalents
1. Seth Rollins And Kazuchika Okada
John Cena and Hiroshi Tanahashi may be the most well-known men in WWE and New Japan, respectively, but they aren't the futures of their respective promotions. Those who run wrestling companies always need to be thinking about the next big stars, the men who will carry their business for years to come. In New Japan, that man is Kazuchika Okada. In WWE, it's Seth Rollins.
Okada has been earmarked as the future of New Japan for years, but the future finally became the present this past January. At Wrestle Kingdom 10, Okada and Tanahashi clashed in one of the greatest matches ever, and for the very first time, Okada defeated his rival at the Tokyo Dome.
It was an explicit statement that Okada is the man in New Japan and, at only 28 years old, he's prepared to hold that distinction into (and perhaps through) the 2020s.
Rollins's case, unfortunately, isn't so simple. Despite emerging as potentially the best worker in WWE in 2014 and continuing to prove it in 2015, WWE doesn't yet know that he's the future of the company - they're still pinning their hopes on Roman Reigns. It's awkward, in the sense that everyone else seems to realise what the dynamic should be, but WWE stubbornly putters along with Reigns as top face and Rollins as a heel. Something's got to change.
In Rollins, WWE can have their very own Okada - a young star guaranteed to make the company proud as a leader. Whether they seize the opportunity, though, is impossible to say. Either way, Rollins will be producing great work with the promotion for years to come, but the question remains: Will he make WWE a lot of money, or be one of the many wasted stars who watches the Titanic sink?