Hirooki Goto

[Grimmas]

HowtobeaMark said:

One of the many New Japan Pro Wrestling nearly men, flirting with the top of the card but always falling back down to upper midcard/midcard, which may hurt his chances here but his skills between the ropes cannot be denied. He feels like an old soul in NJPW by old soul I mean harping back to the days of the Samurai. A warrior of honour, determination, and fearlessness. Most recently has been paired with YOSHI-HASHI as a tag team. YOSHI-HASHI has always been seen as a bit of a loser but is now seen as a genuine player to the point the team beat aces Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi and it never felt wrong.  

Recommended matches

Vs Katsuyori Shibata – 22 June 2013

Vs Kenny Omega -14 August 2016

Vs Tomohiro Ishii – 21 July 2018

With YOSHI-Hashi vs Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi – 6 March 2023

[El Dragon]

Might be the most surprising guy in this entire nominees list to have no posts. I've been deep diving for Goto, and man, the consistency is the thing that makes him interesting. He was good really early on, he's still quite good now when guys like Tanahashi and Naito are well past their prime. I need to deep dive more, but I've already seen enough to know he's probably a lock for my top 200, it's just a matter of how high he can get from there. 

[Boss Rock]

I've only seen bits and pieces of Goto's pre-2016 career, but he's always been a consistently solid guy. That being said, he's always felt like the least interesting of the hard-hitters in NJPW compared to Ishii, Suzuki, Shibata, and Shingo.

[Ma Stump Puller]

Always felt like he missed a gear after the early 2010's. NJPW gave him a good boost, but then they started leaning more into the Tanahashi/Okada flashy types than Goto's more traditional heavy set work and he kinda got lost in the scuffle bar the occasional G-1 match that would get traction with the smarky Western fans, honestly couldn't tell you his highlights for some years.

I can't blame him for playing it safe but I can't help thinking that he might've been better suited for a All Japan stint. 

 

 

[WingedEagle]

Very curious to see how today's result and outing juice his stock next year. I'm not sure what I think of his career relative to others, but he's someone who shouldn't be dismissed as a real candidate.

[Tetsujin]

I believe his current IWGP Champ run will make a lot of us re-evaluate his case. Such an underrated midcard guy, but it's also true that when New Japan's ringwork peaked on the last decade, he wasn't able to being on the same level as Tanahashi, Okada, Naito, Shibata, Ishii, Suzuki, Styles, KUSHIDA, Nakamura or Hiromu. Just to name the first ones that come to mind, but you'll find specific stretches where many other guys like Honma, Omega, Ibushi, White, Shingo, Juice Robinson, ZSJ, Taichi... All of them surpassed Goto at some point(s), and I'm not counting for half of all those guys for my list.

If his pre-2013 work holds up, and his current run overdelivers, things might change, but I believe his ceiling is just "someone you might consider just in case you're having trouble finding the lower spots".

[Boss Rock]

Pretty much where I'm at. Always a consistently "good" wrestler, but never thought he was ever a truly elite worker in the promotion, at least not over the last decade or so.

[MikeCampbell]

He's one of those dudes I'd classify as good but not great. The 11/07 IWGP match with Tanahashi is the best match of his that I've seen, and nothing else has even sniffed it. A friend on discord pointed me toward a couple of matches that he said were 'absolute bangers' and they were from 2014 and 16 respectively, which sort of tells me that I really haven't missed too terribly much since I stopped watching NJ with any sort of regularity. And yes, I did watch the Zack Sabre Jr. title switch. And no, it really didn't change my stance on him, although it was nice to see the man get his moment.