KUSHIDA is yet to appear on a TakeOver event since being present in the crowd for the New York event in April, and it speaks to the lack of focus his character has received since the NJPW Junior Heavyweight icon made the jump.
A banger factory if he can still be a*sed, the 'Time Splitter' has instead been confined to clumsy and relatively meaningless contests against Drew Gulak, Walter and Cameron Grimes. As a character, we know he's moved to America to chase a better life for his family (as if he wasn't already a massively monied star back home), and that he's into nicking symbolic hats just for the patter.
Underwhelming would be an understatement, but at least the latter silliness proffered a decent match. Hopefully there'll be more of that in 2020.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
