8 Wrestlers Who Gear Up For Big Matches

7. Hirooki Goto

Finn Balor
By ゾーヒョー (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Hirooki Goto has been a good hand in New Japan for years now, but he could never quite win the big one. With several title opportunities but no successes under his belt, by 2016 he was at risk of fading into the background and ceding his spot to a younger, hungrier talent.

But Goto proved there was still plenty left in the tank at The New Beginning in Osaka when he challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

Entering the arena in new all-white gear, he adorned himself further with silver body paint and Japanese kanji all over his body, not unlike Hakushi.

It was a striking scene, to be sure, one that felt like the beginning of something new, or the end of the Hirooki Goto we already knew.

He came up short in that match, but he left a lasting impression, and he has since gone on to greater heights still, including a reign as NEVER Openweight Champion.

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