Every Wrestling Rookie Of The Year: Where Are They Now?

6. 2017: Katsuya Kitamura

Essa Rios Lita
NJPW1972.com

With his impossibly sculpted body, awesome meathead intensity and ridiculous/amazing mouthguard look, Katsuya Kitamura was a refreshingly different Young Lion who promised to add a new, more urgent dimension to the baggy and epic New Japan Pro Wrestling main event scene.

NJPW thought highly of him, even booking him on a Kenta Kobashi-adjacent character arc, but he vanished from the promotion under mysterious circumstances in 2019. Rumours that he had crushed his leg in an awful scooter accident were debunked when he tried his hand at MMA in 2021. It did not go well.

As dark rumours swelled around his personal life, Kitamura sadly passed away age 36 in 2022. No cause of death has been made public.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!