20 Absolute Best Wrestlers In The World Right Now
3. Go Shiozaki
No wrestler in the world put their home promotion on their back like Go Shiozaki in 2020, as his bold "I am NOAH" proclamation was proved more than a mere tagline.
An acclaimed GHC Heavyweight Championship run yielded punishing epics with Kenoh, Takashi Sugiura, Katsuhiko Nakajima, and more, as well as the hugely ambitious empty arena clash with Kazuyuki Fujita, one of the year's most distinct matches. His status will inevitably slide now that the GHC is his no longer, though Shiozaki's 2021 form means he has still earns a spot on this list.
What Go accomplished opposite Keiji Mutoh on 12 February deserves special praise. Muto is 58-years-old and broken down. He has had major reconstructive surgery on both knees, worked his first match back in 1984, and has almost 3,000 bouts on his Cagematch profile. The man can barely walk convincingly, let alone cope with the rigours of modern wrestling, but a miraculous Shiozaki performance helped him hold it together for almost 30 minutes in Budokan Hall. An impossible showing that somehow helped the diminished veteran look convincing despite the bout's sloppy moments, Go bumped and sold like his life depended on it.
A damaged, wounded hero himself, Shiozaki deserved better than to drop the GHC in a misguided attempt at captured lapsed fans before Kaito Kiyomiya's ascent to ace-dom.