Tetsujin

Less and less people is watching New Japan but hey, the few that are staying support HOT so there's that I guess.

I'll just vote for the 100 nominated wrestlers I feel I like the most based of what I watch. Obviously *why* I like them can be pretty wide, but if I feel any posible reason for me to like them (for example, business success) doesn't affect my enjoyment of them as they wrestle, I won't take that reason into account. I will rate Stone Cold over Triple H, but not because of Austin being a better draw or because he had more success both in WCW and WWE than Hunter. Those things don't matter to me while I'm watching them wrestle.

You can trace back Gedo's awful booking run to WK 12 in 2018, but 2019 as a proper year was the first time NJPW felt out of its new golden age, both story wise and in ring. COVID only made far worse a situation that was already beginning to stink, except for Naito's two first months of reign before the pandemic.

This company is so doomed man.

I'm heavily behind the G1 this year, just watched Shingo/Takeshita today (and thank god I'm cherrypicking). The ringwork has not been bad, it actually has been kinda decent, but not enough for a company that feels this ice cold. And that's because the booking and character work are atrocious, but no surprise from Gedo there after all these years. By far the MVP of the tournament from what I've seen is, no surprise, Taichi, who feels like the only one in this dreadful company with a genuine connection with the crowd and who portrays himself in the ring as a true wrestling star. Shingo is not far behind, though. Takeshita is great but he's basically an outsider (I know, I know), so you know he's gonna get the Ibushi treatment until (if) he signs full time. O-Khan rules (most of the time) but there's no ambition behind his booking, so there's always low stakes on his matches. Tanahashi is doing surprisingly well and he's using his washed up body to his advantage, as per usual these last two years or so. ZSJ also rules, but sadly NJPW never knew how to make him feel big as their world champ. All young lions need to step up for good, Tsuji is the only one living to his potential right now, and other guys like Boltin and Newman still feel a little bit too underdevelopped. They're also, you know, non japanese. Kidd is a hit or miss and the injury didn't help (or did it? Maybe he gains more babyface love out of this one). David Finlay is weird, because he's a charisma vacuum and a Jay White cosplayer, but his matches tend to be some of my favourites, at least the ones where he ends up loosing. That leads me to EVIL. I'm an EVIL and SANADA denier (as singles acts, specially at the top of the card), always have been, and I can't believe they're still pushing for their stuff. I have not seen any Oiwa matches yet but I'm looking forward to what Tana can do for him next. If they continue with the dumb "G1 winner doesn't need to challenge at the Tokyo Dome show" thing, just give it to whoever, who should care. I know the G1 is prestigious enough by itself, but honestly... can you say that while looking at this roster, this booking and this output? I don't think you can. I guess Tsuji wins this and mayb takes the title from Zack, who I've been reading elsewhere he's not working as a draw (fuck you Gedo forever), and maybe there's enough time to book a Tsuji/Uemura rematch for the title at January 4th? Honestly I would push Taichi but he's gonna be busy carrying the company with Ishii as a tag team once the G1 is over.

Not even wrestling but he just had a great match (and an awesome performance specifically) with Último Guerrero this past friday. It's surreal how well he moves and how hard he goes still. We are almost 3/4 of 2025 done and Blue Panther has two MOTYC as of today.

I believe that's because usually pro wrestling teaches you about micwork much better than shoot sports. Even (some would say specially) WWE. Brock being decent there at best is still enough for him to be great on UFC at the mic.

Hell, I wonder why!

Not a chance. Very good wrestler that has been poorly treated by WWE for almost a decade now, with very few opportunities to really shine (and the ones he had not always worked, like his return to NXT). He's not the kind of guy that would shine despite the job they're given, he needs a better dance partner and a clear focus. His NJPW stuff is really good, that's for sure, and I loved his first NXT run as well when I was a teenager. There's no way there's only less than 100 guys better than him.

One of those guys I definitely need to watch more of. I really love his performances in the few matches I've seen (Windham, the long one with Reed, DiBiase, Kox) and I find him pretty unique in those.

Four years later, I keep my words. Even when starting to break down and with COVID heavily affecting my enjoyment of NJPW as a whole, he has had amazing matches and performances like the Ospreay and Okada G1 bouts, the recent O Khan and ZSJ matches, an impressive carryjob to fucking Hikuleo, the Hiromu tag against Taichi and Ishii, even his last match with broken down Tanahashi was great. This guy is an all timer.

El Hijo del Santo is a top 10 contender for me at the moment. He's my #11 right now (defending his slot against another four guys), but I can see him getting as high as #8. Negro Casas might end up somewhere in my top 25. He's my #29 at the moment, but there's a huge battle from #16 to #29 and his stock is rising in my eyes. LA Park is in my top 50, and I'm confident in him staying there. He's my #47 and I can see him gettin as high as #40. Tbh from #40 downwards my list is just a mess, big moves up and down could occur, but he's one of the guys I'm feeling more comfortable with. Satánico and Dandy are in my 80s right now. I've never clicked with them as much as with the other three guys, but their catalogue is undenniable. Maybe Satánico gets in my top 75 because I still need to watch some of his most famous stuff from the 00s, but not farther than that. Last, but maybe not least, Blue Panther and Atlantis are two guys I'm 99% sure I'll vote for them, but I need to rewatch some of their most acclaimed stuff first, it's been a long while. Panther is still adding to his case today (holy shit), which definitely helps. He's not reaching Satánico's level for me yet, but I believe it's a matter of when, not if. Guys I need to dive deep before putting them on my top 100, but I definitely see their potential: Villano III, Mocho Cota, Virus, Hechicero. I simply need to watch more.

The biggest factor imo is Naito leaving. He was the ultimate lifeboat for that company and now... Well. I'm only probably gonna watch the Taichi matches.

He just had the most ambitious big match in WWE since... Idk, maybe Triple H vs Ambrose (sounds wild I know).

Some recent rises and falls, for now I'll focus on current guys still wrestling: Randy Orton. Randy keeps rising up, the guy's consistency and longevity at this point are undeniable to me, and what most people would say are his worse years/run don't bother me at all. It's pretty surprising how fun to watch he is on any random tv match he's in, and how I can watch something like his Kane feud in 2012, which sounds like nightmare fuel on paper, and actually enjoy their matches. He also has great and even some excellent matches throughout 2004 and... 2025. Definitely one of the guys I think has benefited the most from the WWE style of workrate. Definitely much more than Cena, although without as much highs as him. Top 50 contender atm. Roman Reigns is falling down and he's not a lock for the lower part of my list anymore. Too much bullshit surrounding him this last couple of years, and he's the forefront of a style of wrestling I personally despise, even if I acknowledge (ha) his talent to pull it off. He still has very good performances when he cares, and I enjoy the middle portion of most of his matches because him on top is very fun to watch, but I can't stand the overacting, he definitely cannot carry lesser opponents, and the bullshit melodramatic booking and finisher spamming gets me out completely. Lack of overall volume of work doesn't help either. Not a lock anymore, but he could still make it. (You can mostly say the same about Rollins, but he wasn't a contender to my list to begin with). Tully Blanchard. He's now a lock for my list. I honestly believe that, if he had the push and chances Flair got, he would have overdelivered as well as Flair did (not saying they're exact clones character wise nor in terms of in ring style, though). He has that *something* that makes every single one of his matches and performances something remarkable, at the very least. He stands out to me among guys like Arn, Windham, Dundee or some of his other peers I've seen getting more praise than him sometimes. He has so much flavour, iykwim. Top 75 contender. Jon Moxley is climbing some spots as well. Now that Bryan is 99% gone, he feels like the only one left from his generation of indie stars still adding to his case at their peak. Like, you can always trust Joe or Claudio or Rollins or Kingston to put on a good match or even something great from time to time, but Mox is the only one I can see putting on one of the best matches of his career as soon as next week. The recent All In performance is a masterpiece at balancing brutality, cowardice, confidence and vulnerability, in my humble opinion. And his whole Death Rider run is filled with super strong character work, and a way of making the babyfaces earn their stuff, that I believe will be far more appreciated as we revisit it over the years (yeah the booking was mostly shit, not defending that). Top 75 contender as well, although, due to him still being at the peak of his powers, I will keep him on the lower side of my list to let people with more closure on their careers have an advantage. John Cena is obviously falling down due to his atrocious current heel run. It's not just that the run is bad, it's the fact that it is bad despite being something fans were demanding for ten years or so. You cannot fumble a chance this good for a career pay off as big as this. Yet he's doing it. There's no soul behind everything he's doing. He's still on my top 100, but a bit lower. Top 75 contender atm.