20 Absolute Best Wrestlers In The World Right Now

19. Utami Hayashishita

Stardom's wunderkind was earmarked for huge things from the moment she emerged as one of the most impressive and natural rookies the sport has ever seen in 2018. Since then, Utami has done it all, climbing the ladder through a lengthy Future of Stardom reign before winning her home promotion's top strap, the World of Stardom title, holding it for over 400 days that brought incredible, acclaimed work throughout that year-plus.

Hayashishita's incredible series with Syuri (who took the WoS belt on 29 December) gets the most attention - and understandably so. Calibrated for those with an appreciation of the Bushiroad style that has helped make critical darlings of New Japan's top stars over the past decade or so, those sprawling, dramatic encounters inspire awe, and have helped immensely in positioning Stardom as a must-watch promotion.

But those "epic" constructions are also what hinder Hayashishita here. Overlong main events featuring wrestlers who struggle to fill the down periods with compelling work are an industry-wide problem. Utami, for all her positive qualities, falls into that trap. She's only three years deep in the sport and sometimes, this shows. Fortunately, her frightening rate of progression should eliminate this in time.

Since dropping the World of Stardom title, Utami has lost none of her lustre on the undercard. Her tag work since 2021 ticked over into 2022 has been strong. Should she take off again (and she will), she will soon shoot back up ladders like this.