NJPW G1 Climax 2017: Early Favourites To Win

5. Tomohiro Ishii

Tomohiro Ishii NJPW G1 Climax
NJPW.co.jp

Speaking of 'deserving', is there a wrestler on the planet more deserving of a major push than Tomohiro Ishii? The Stone Pitbull is objectively one of the best pro wrestlers in the world today, a brute of a man who somehow manages to garner untouchable levels of babyface sympathy. Ishii is a unique talent, to say the least.

Ishii has put on absolute barnstormers with a variety of opponents over the last few years. Critically lauded matches with Kazuchika Okada, Kenny Omega, and Katsuyori Shibata are one thing, but pulling classics out of Yujiro Takahashi and Togi Makabe is another entirely. Ishii may well be in a league of his own.

The reality is that Ishii is going to go down in history as one of the greatest wrestlers to never win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship or G1 Climax. Ishii could pull it out of the bag however, and it would be the least that this marvel of a man deserves.

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Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.