Ranking Who Was Really The Man In Wrestling Every Year 1990-2020
26. 1995 - Shinya Hashimoto
The beloved, super-charismatic and totally convincing Shinya Hashimoto was the Man in 1995. He fulfilled the Three Musketeers prophesy magnificently.
He positively dwarfed any attendance any promotion in the US managed just four days in; headlining the annual Tokyo Dome spectacular in a weapons-grade squelcher opposite Kensuke Sasaki in a successful defence of the IWGP Heavyweight Title, an astonishing 62,000 piled in to witness the Ace of the company kick seven shades of sh*t out of the emerging Power Warrior, who ascended in no small part as a result of Hashimoto's incredibly balanced performances.
Hashimoto reigned at a time when NJPW was some degrees above white-hot, drawing 48,000 to the Fukuoka Dome in his title loss to Keiji Muto in another stunning battle.
Muto overtook him as a draw by October - he set the record for the largest live gate of all time opposite Nobuhiko Takada at the scintillating peak of the hubristic inter-promotional war with the UWF-i - but on aggregate, folding in the critical adulation, Hashimoto was the Man.