Ranking Every MVP Of Every Major Wrestling Company
2. Dragon Gate: Ben-K
Dragon Gate is in a state of long-overdue transition.
There exists a generational gap in its roster that has informed its moderate decline in popularity from years gone by, though it's still, by a healthy distance, Japan's number two promotion. The groundbreaking top stars were on top for too long, ultimately, and only recently has the company taken committed, forward-thinking steps to correct the stale perception, below-average gates, and major departures of CIMA and Shingo Takagi.
The physically gifted Ben-K (who nonetheless struggles to project main event-level emotion) is DG's MVP because he symbolises and promises much-needed change, even if he hasn't yet effected it in his role as this generation's Ace figure. He defeated quasi-intermediary Open The Dream Gate Champion PAC, after his long, controversial, but ultimately effective monster heel run, which existed for that exact purpose, but lost it to old guard mainstay Naruki Doi in December as part of a storyline in which he had to defeat past holders to prove himself the future.
Inspired, clever booking that isn't rushing things deliberately, the machine knows just how valuable he is.