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Hikuleo (2018)

49 PTS.


The former Leo Tonga received a new name at the beginning of the year declaring that he was officially moving away from young lion status. The rechristened Hikuleo had always had a weird, non-traditional path in NJPW at times proudly defying the standard NJPW young lion system and structure. Hikuleo debuted as an injury replacement for Kenny Omega during September 2017’s Destruction tour. Rapid changes to his appearance, ring gear and his expanded move set indicated that Hikuleo was not your run-of-the-mill NJPW dojo talent—which, to be fair, he wasn’t. Tonga began his training at the Team 3D Academy ran by The Dudley Boyz before moving to the famed NJPW dojo. Thanks to his family history—Hikuleo is the adopted son of Haku/Meng and thus the adopted brother of Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa—Hikuleo found himself starting on third base in the young lion system. Where other young lions work years of undercards in generic black tights losing dozens of matches and using a boston crab as a finisher, Hikuleo was able to work relatively major spots on shows teaming with his brothers and other main roster BULLET CLUB members.

It wasn’t all smooth though. The Tongan was very rough around the edges but showed faint progress with each match. You may have had to squint to see it but the potential was there in the massively tall Hikuleo. Unfortunately, he was put on the shelf in March due to an ACL injury and hasn’t been seen since.