Steam Workshop::NJPW (2018)

Hikuleo (2018)

Created by Rev

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 st...

Hiroyoshi Tenzan (2018)

Created by Rev

124 PTS. Hiroyoshi Tenzan IS still alive and choppin’ (hisssss) but the hisses are less frequent than they’ve been at any other point in Tenzan’s legendary career. After not wrestling in a singles match in 2017, Tenzan was able to break the streak with ONE...

Flip Gordon (2018) NJPW

Created by Rev

120 PTS. Flip Gordon burst onto the mainstream pro wrestling scene in 2017 when he made his official debut with Ring of Honor. Gordon dazzled audiences with his high-flying offense and while he was still relatively new to the business—debuting just a few y...

Kenny Omega (2018)

Created by Rev

220 PTS. The divisive Kenny Omega. I get why people don’t like Kenny Omega. I get why people who used to like Kenny Omega don’t like Kenny Omega anymore. He can be boorish, self-centered, egotistical, petty, and hypersensitive. A lot of creative types are....

BUSHI (2018)

Created by Rev

130 PTS. The Jet Black Death Mask has been a part of Los Ingobernables de Japon since nearly day 1 (only EVIL can claim to have joined up with Naito first) and continued on in his role as the group’s anchor in 2018. Of course, you could view “anchor” in ei...

Jeff Cobb (2018)

Created by Rev

136 PTS. Cobb earned his first NJPW title shot in 2018, coming up short in a NEVER challenge against Hirooki Goto in San Francisco. He worked two tours total (Kizuna Road, WTL), plus CEO X NJPW When Worlds Collide, G1 Special, Fighting Spirit Unleashed, an...

YOH (2018)

Created by Rev

133 PTS. People tell me SHO is the future. SHO is the potential superstar. But I’m not buying it. I’m a YOH loyalist, a YOH stan if you will. SHO has the bigger build and may be the more marketable long-term star but, nah, not going to listen to that noise...

Chuckie T (2018)

Created by Rev

125 PTS. Chuckie T debuted with NJPW at last year’s World Tag League teaming with best friend and Best Friends partner Beretta. The Best Friends finished 3-4 in the tournament but Chuckie impressed with his in-ring work and unmistakable charisma. That comb...

Toa Henare (2018)

Created by Rev

113 PTS. Honma returned from his broken neck, but it was obvious he wasn't the same wrestler. They didn’t trust his body enough to allow him to work even one singles match, and for that matter, he was barely booked for 2v2 tags. Makabe teaming with Henare ...

Yota Tsuji (2018)

Created by Rev

30 PTS. The life of a young lion is rough. Tsuji, who signed with NJPW in April 2017, can tell you first hand. It’s not just the duties in the dojo that can get you down but the losing, my god, the losing. The loses mount and pile up to point of ridicule. ...

Yuji Nagata (2018)

Created by Rev

131 PTS. Yuji Nagata has never meant less or more to NJPW. Okay, that’s weird phrasing but let me work you through it. For the first time since 1999, Yuji Nagata was absent from the annual G1 Climax tournament. That’s 19 straight years with Nagata as a fix...

Zack Sabre Jr. (2018)

Created by Rev

187 PTS. The biggest criticism towards ZSJ’s 2017 in New Japan (his first year in the company) was that it was underwhelming compared to his work elsewhere. While Zack was churning out match of the year contenders in promotions like PWG, EVOLVE, AAW, and R...

SANADA (2018)

Created by Rev

179 PTS. SANADA’s year began extremely well at Wrestle Kingdom 12, when he and his partner EVIL defeated the Killer Elite Squad to become the IWGP Tag Team Champions. It was SANADA’s first time holding an IWGP championship (his only previous title wins in ...

Hangman Page (2018)

Created by Rev

138 PTS. Before sitting down to write Hangman Page’s profile, I went back and re-read his profile from the 2017 edition. There wasn’t a lot of meat on the bone. The profile was only a paragraph long and spent more time talking about Page’s boasts of having...

Tanga Loa (2018)

Created by Rev

142 PTS. There are a couple different ways we can tackle a Tanga Loa profile. The first is by talking about the Bullet Club split, one of the biggest angles of the year in which Loa took part. Loa, Tama, and their dad King Haku beat up the other members of...

Tiger Mask (2018)

Created by Rev

115 PTS. If you’re a young punk looking to get your keister kicked, look no further than Tiger Mask. One of the longtime veterans of the New Japan roster and its junior division, the 48-year-old Tiger Mask dishes out his own brand of feline violence on the...

Yuya Uemura (2018)

Created by Rev

30 PTS. Mazel Tov, it’s a boy! The 24-year-old Uemura debuted in New Japan as one of its most recent young lions in April at Lion’s Gate Project 11. He lost to the more experienced young lion Ren Narita, a trend which would continue throughout the rest of ...

Tetsuhiro Yagi (2018)

Created by Rev

30 PTS. Young Lion Yagi had a busy first four months of the year with thirty matches under his belt. He often teamed with or against fellow young lions Ren Narita and Shota Umino. The trio debuted around the same time last year (Umino in April, Yagi in May...

Togi Makabe (2018)

Created by Rev

137 PTS. The "Unchained Gorilla" had an eventful but unspectacular 2018 campaign that included an IWGP Intercontinental Championship shot at NJPW’s 46th Anniversary Show as well as a few swings at the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Titles. Makabe participate...

Shingo Takagi (2018)

Created by Rev

122 PTS. hingo Takagi is no newcomer to professional wrestling in Japan, having dominated Dragon Gate with his unique mix of power and speed since his debut in October 2004. He was the very first “DG trueborn”, or first wrestler who debuted in the promotio...

Jay White (2018)

Created by Rev

This is a custom wrestler....

El Desperado (2018)

Created by Rev

154 PTS. If, like me, you’ve been waiting for El Desperado to truly break out for years now, in 2018 you got everything you ever wished for and more. Desperado brought it to previously unforeseen levels in New Japan, becoming a true top junior heel in both...

Minoru Suzuki (2018)

Created by Rev

195 PTS. Minoru Suzuki was arguably the worldwide wrestler of the year over the first quarter of 2018, after killer matches against Hirooki Goto at Wrestle Kingdom and Hiroshi Tanahashi at New Beginning, plus a surprisingly good title defense against Togi ...

Tomoyuki Oka (2018)

Created by Rev

109 PTS. When I think of Tomoyuki Oka, I think of a man heading into battle in a Sambo tournament wearing a Love Live! t-shirt underneath his samboka. I think of a man who looks adorably awkward surrounded by a flexing Katsuya Kitamura, a comfortable Yuji ...

Thunder Liger (2018)

Created by Rev

119 PTS. For the first time in 17 years, NJPW’s annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament was without its pillar, its founder and its stabilizing force: Jushin Thunder Liger. The prior year, Liger had declared 2017’s Super Junior to be his final leaving ...

Shota Umino (2018)

Created by Rev

100 PTS. Shota Umino made major strides in his career as an NJPW young lion in 2018, putting up a strong record of 10-6-1 in singles matches and generally asserting himself as the top of their food chain after the departures of two of his seniors. With Hir...

Robbie Eagles (2018)

Created by Rev

110 PTS. Trained by kayfabe “sister-in-law” Madison Eagles and “brother” Ryan Eagles, Australian star Robbie Eagles had a breakthrough year in 2018. A fantastic two-match series against Will Ospreay for the PWA promotion in Australia caught the attention o...

TAKA Michinoku (2018)

Created by Rev

72 PTS. TAKA Michinoku has never been a quiet man but in 2018, he became one of the best promos in NJPW with his patented COME ON OVER HERE!!!! ring introduction for his Suzuki-gun protege Zack Sabre Jr. Michinoku became the mouthpiece and hypeman for Sabr...

Beretta (2018)

Created by Rev

130 PTS. After Roppongi Vice amicably split up during the summer last year so Beretta could transition to the heavyweight division, Beretta looked to be on the fast track for an elevation in the coming months. He defeated Yujiro Takahashi in a brief “heavy...

EVIL (2018)

Created by Rev

174 PTS. EVIL’s year started off with a major win at the Tokyo Dome, as he and SANADA followed up their 2017 World Tag League victory by defeating the Killer Elite Squad for the IWGP Tag Team Titles. This reign was arguably the first time two legitimate si...

David Finlay (2018)

Created by Rev

128 PTS. David Finlay may not be the most exciting or sexy name in New Japan, but he quietly had a year of vast improvement in 2018. Though he had officially graduated from young lion status already, in 2017 he was still firmly in the position of a doormat...

Manabu Nakanishi (2018)

Created by Rev

110 PTS. It was a rather uneventful 12 months for New Japan’s undisputed king of breakfasts. I know we’ve been saying that for years now given Nakanishi’s age, physical state, and place on the card, but this time we mean it, dammit! Last year at least had ...

Hirai Kawato (2018)

Created by Rev

55 PTS. One of the most charismatic young lions of recent vintage, Kawato has potential junior superstar written all over him. The youngster (still only 21 years old) made his NJPW debut in 2016 and continued to impress through 2017. We even had an entire ...

Juice Robinson (2018)

Created by Rev

164 PTS. The phrase “biggest match of Juice Robinson’s career” was thrown around so many times in 2017 that it became a meme in of itself. It was true though! The former NXT hippie CJ Parker embarked on a journey to Japan, restarting his career as a NJPW d...

Soberano Jr. (2018)

Created by Rev

106 PTS. It was a tale of two tours for Soberano Jr, who looked excellent at FantasticaMania, but had a tour to forget during the Super Junior Tag League....

Matt Jackson (2018)

Created by Rev

167 PTS. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) only worked 10 New Japan tag matches in 2018, but they really made them count. Five were title matches (two early in the year to complete the Roppongi 3K story and put them over as the new junior tag a...

Nick Jackson (2018)

Created by Rev

165 PTS. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) only worked 10 New Japan tag matches in 2018, but they really made them count. Five were title matches (two early in the year to complete the Roppongi 3K story and put them over as the new junior tag a...

Will Ospreay (2018)

Created by Rev

167 PTS. Will Ospreay finally got a significant and sustained push, and delivered with a fantastic year. Ospreay won his second IWGP junior title at Wrestle Kingdom 12, and followed up with a tremendous title reign that saw excellent defenses against the t...

Satoshi Kojima (2018)

Created by Rev

120 Pts. A tough year for the Strongest Arm. He blew out his knee against Rush at Fantasticamania, which turned out to be his only singles match of the year. He returned in September, as TenKoji limped to a 5-8 record in the World Tag League and finished t...

Michael Elgin (2018)

Created by Rev

143 Pts. It was truly the blurst of times for Big Mike Elgin in New Japan in 2018. He kicked off the year in style by losing in the first leg of the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship gauntlet match with his partners War Machine. Following that, ...

Chris Sabin (2018)

Created by Rev

128 Pts. Hail Sabin! The Detroit native made his first appearance in New Japan since he and partner Alex Shelley challenged The Young Bucks for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on the second night of the 2016 Super J Cup. Sabin returned to ta...

Ren Narita (2018)

Created by Rev

54 Pts. In his first full year in wrestling Ren Narita (who debuted back on July 4th of 2017) did a lot of typical New Japan young lion things, which is to say he lost an awful lot (he had a -44 fall differential) and got beat up by Minoru Suzuki and other...

Tomoaki Honma (2018)

Created by Rev

99 Pts. 477 days. That’s how long Tomoaki Honma and the rest of the world waited to see him wrestle again. It was on March 3rd, 2017 in Okinawa that Honma suffered a debilitating injury during a match that left him temporarily paralyzed. It was a long road...

Ryusuke Taguchi (2018)

Created by Rev

128 Pts. Ryusuke Taguchi is approaching 40 (he’ll hit that magic number on April 15th of next year, in fact) and really slowed down quite a bit in 2018. Even his big Best of the Super Junior run that we’ve been accustomed to every year didn’t really happen...

Toru Yano (2018)

Created by Rev

142 Pts. Toru Yano did a lot of Toru Yano Things™ in 2018, which is to say he gave people low blows, taped them upk, sent them head-first into exposed turnbuckles, and all the like. His year actually started off with a title win, as he and his CHAOS teamma...

Hiroshi Tanahashi (2018)

Created by Rev

212 Pts. The post-Wrestle Kingdom 10 Hiroshi Tanahashi tailspin was a story we’ve all seen before. Middle-aged man, overcompensating after suddenly realizing he’s losing his hair because he’s past his prime, while the people around him don’t have the heart...

Volador Jr. (2018)

Created by Rev

109 Pts. How many times are we going to do this? How many years is Volador Jr. going to be named as a participant in FantasticaMania, Best of the Super Juniors or the Super Junior Tag League and I’ll write in that stupid 2019 Outlook that I can’t wait to s...

Ayato Yoshida (2018)

Created by Rev

104 Pts. This profile is a time capsule. It’s pretty obvious why New Japan is high on Yoshida. A tall, good-looking top prospect who shows massive bell-to-bell potential and has the matinee idol looks that the company likes for its top guys. Yoshida, a KAI...

Kazuchika Okada (2018)

Created by Rev

216 Pts. Napoleon Bonaparte's takeover of Europe was dealt a deathblow when the typically wise military strategist invaded Russia while at the same time fighting the Peninsular War. Britain made the same mistake during the Seven Years War invading New Fran...

Taichi (2018)

Created by Rev

150 Pts. Praise be to the Holy Emperor! Taichi has always been the light and the way, but more people were turned onto his glory than ever in 2018. He started the year still stuck in New Japan’s junior heavyweight division, which had an adverse effect on h...

Hirooki Goto (2018)

Created by Rev

170 Pts. Hirooki Goto’s year was defined by the NEVER Openweight Title, as he spent the entire calendar year either defending or challenging for that belt. He had previously lost it to Minoru Suzuki on April 27th, 2017 and came up short again on June 11th ...

Yujiro Takahashi (2018)

Created by Rev

115 Pts. You can basically set your watch to the Tokyo Pimp, who in 2018 kept on keepin’ on in all the usual ways. He hasn’t been in a G1 since 2015 and that didn’t change this year, though he did compete in the New Japan Cup (where he lost in the 1st roun...

Taiji Ishimori (2018)

Created by Rev

141 Pts. In March, Ishimori mutually parted ways with Pro Wrestling NOAH after 12 years with the promotion as the (sometimes, especially in later years) junior ace, citing a desire to wrestle full time in America. After spending April working PWG and Impac...

SHO (2018)

Created by Rev

131 Pts. SHO worked his first Best of the Super Juniors this year, which were his first NJPW singles matches since January 3, 2016. At 29, SHO is a little older than you might think. He got a little bit of a late start in 2012 at age 23, then spent seeming...

Davey Boy Smith, Jr. (2018)

Created by Rev

130 Pts. Sporadicity was the theme of Davey Boy Smith Jr.’s 2017 and that trend continues with this year as well. Smith wrestled a total of 57 matches in 2018, the fewest of any Suzuki-gun member, and only competed on six tours throughout the entire year: ...

Cody (2018)

Created by Rev

169 Pts. Voices of Wrestling has been critical of Cody over the years, which is no secret to our readers, our listeners, or Cody himself. His early New Japan work, while perfectly competent, was not quite what Workrate Nerds like me (and probably you if yo...

Tetsuya Naito (2018)

Created by Rev

208 Pts. Tetsuya Naito is the greatest wrestler in the world. That’s the opinion of the author of this profile, anyway. So when you have the greatest wrestler in the world in your employment, a man who quite literally can make men, women, and children alik...

Marty Scurll (2018)

Created by Rev

140 Pts. Marty Scurll wasn’t exactly the most active member of the New Japan roster this year, wrestling just 34 matches, but he did have an impact, especially in the junior heavyweight division. He walked into the Dome to start the year as the junior cham...

Chase Owens (2018)

Created by Rev

93 Pts. OK, the “on Japanese soil” qualifier is kind of cheap, Owens did lose three singles matches in other countries (twice to Yuji Nagata on the Fallout Down Under tour of Australia, once to Jeff Cobb on the Kenny Omega CEO show in Florida), but technic...

Lance Archer (2018)

Created by Rev

134 Pts. The year started on a sour note for one-half of Suzuki-gun’s Killer Elite Squad as Archer and partner Davey Boy Smith Jr. dropped the IWGP Tag Team Titles on the Wrestle Kingdom show. This was the second time (2014) a lengthy title reign from the ...

Yoshinobu Kanemaru (2018)

Created by Rev

152 Pts. Jeff Jarrett is pro wrestling’s greatest businessman but Yoshinobu Kanemaru isn’t far behind him. Kanemaru parlayed a Suzuki-gun invasion in his Pro Wrestling NOAH home into a full-time role with NJPW. The storyline was worked perfectly as Kanemar...

Tama Tonga (2018)

Created by Rev

155 Pts. Tama Tonga was involved in a lot of shit in 2018. Tonga went out of his way throughout the year to remind people he was one of the original members of the now famous BULLET CLUB stable. When Cody and Kenny Omega fought for supremacy atop the BULLE...

Chris Jericho (2018)

Created by Rev

189 Pts. It was generally assumed Jericho would help NJPW expand their fanbase in the west, but what wasn’t as certain was whether he would get over enough in Japan to justify long-term program commitments, especially at his price tag. If semi-main events ...

Hiromu Takahashi (2018)

Created by Rev

155 Pts. Hiromu Takahashi’s 2018 started off with him coming up short for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title at Wrestle Kingdom 12, as he took part in a four-way match with KUSHIDA, Will Ospreay, and champion Marty Scurll that saw Ospreay pin Scurll to win ...

YOSHI-HASHI (2018)

Created by Rev

118 Pts. It was now or never for the 36-year-old YOSHI-HASHI in 2018. The delightful “Tacos” desperately needed to make 2018 his year… and just when it looked like his big break was coming, YOSHI literally fell on his face. When “Switchblade” Jay White and...

Dragon Lee (2018)

Created by Rev

125 Pts. Dragon Lee is one of the most athletically gifted wrestlers in the world and it’s always a treat to see him in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Lee’s first appearances this year were for the annual Fantastica Mania tour, a co-promoted series of shows with...

ACH (2018)

Created by Rev

118 Pts. ACH made a welcome return to New Japan in 2018 as an A Block participant in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament. A shining talent in the ring, ACH unfortunately only earned six points during block play, the same amount of points he earned dur...

Tomohiro Ishii (2018)

Created by Rev

169 Pts. We’ve come to that portion of the book, that portion you know and love so well. It’s where someone (typically Joe Lanza) rants and raves about how Ishii is one of the best of the wrestlers in the world, how he’s been having a slew of incredible ma...

Bad Luck Fale (2018)

Created by Rev

160 Pts. The first half of Bad Luck Fale’s year was devoted mainly to his run with the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Titles alongside Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa. The Tongan trio lost the belts at Wrestle Kingdom 12 to the CHAOS team of Beretta, Tomohiro Is...

Katsuya Kitamura (2018)

Created by Rev

88 Pts. When I have to write a 2018 Highlight that ends with something from January, you just know this profile isn’t going to be a positive one. The muscle-bound Kitamura emerged from 2017 as NJPW's number one young lion thanks to a dominant performance i...

Rocky Romero (2018)

Created by Rev

98 Pts. 2018 continued a transition for Rocky Romero that began in the second half of 2017. Beretta’s graduation to the heavyweight division left him without his longtime Roppongi Vice partner, and at King of Pro Wrestling in October 2017 he revealed that ...

Kota Ibushi (2018)

Created by Rev

184 Pts. You cannot talk about Kota Ibushi’s 2018 without talking about the reunion of the Golden Lovers. Ibushi and Kenny Omega had teamed for years as the wildly popular Golden Lovers tag team in both DDT Wrestling and New Japan, but split up in 2014 whe...

Gedo (2018)

Created by Rev

100 Pts. Gedo is very bad at chairshots, but he continues to be really, really great (as in, historically great) at building new stars and continually pulling the right booking strings to keep the company growing. ...

Takashi Iizuka (2018)

Created by Rev

122 Pts. Iizuka spent 2018 doing two things: Taking the fall 23 times in Suzuki-gun tag matches (he never scored a single fall the entire year, FYI) and biting people. No joke, the majority of Takashi Iizuka’s offense boiled down to just sinking his teeth ...

KUSHIDA (2018)

Created by Rev

150 Pts. KUSHIDA started off 2018 in a thrilling four-way dance for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 12 against champion Marty Scurll and fellow challengers Will Ospreay and Hiromu Takahashi, which he lost. Afterwards he spent a lot...

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