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Zack Sabre Jr. (2018)

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 RevPro, his matches in New Japan were muddled by constant Suzuki-gun interference. Zack is one of the best in the game, but seeing him have to rely on those tactics as opposed to winning cleanly on his own merit left a sour taste.

And then came the 2018 New Japan Cup. Labeled the dark horse entrant by Japanese media, Zack entered the tournament looking to prove them wrong and proved them wrong he did. In the first round, Zack submitted main event superstar Tetsuya Naito cleanly with a move he dubbed Orienteering with Napalm Death. He then defeated Kota Ibushi via referee stoppage in the quarterfinals, then submitted SANADA in the semifinals. Zack was on fire, his technical wizardry dismantling these assorted hunks with brutal precision. At the finals in Niigata, Zack wrestled Ace Hunk Hiroshi Tanahashi and once again used his submission tactics to destroy Tanahashi’s leg, forcing him to tap out. The so-called dark horse had just won the New Japan Cup.

In the span of 10 days, Zack Sabre Jr. had beaten Tetsuya Naito, Kota Ibushi, SANADA, and Hiroshi Tanahashi clean as a sheet and completely on his own. No Suzuki-gun interference, just Zack asserting his dominance as the best technical wrestler in the world over his opponents. It made the matches so much more exciting to watch, it made Zack look like an absolute killer in the ring, and it made him a major player in the eyes of the fans because he had just won the New Japan Cup over all the favorites. That’s pro wrestling 101, folks, it’s really not that difficult.

With his new hype man TAKA Michinoku by his side (a brilliant pairing), Zack used his NJC win to challenge Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Sakura Genesis. It was undoubtedly the biggest match of his career. Zack used every submission trick in the book to try to get the Rainmaker to submit, but ultimately lost in what was a thrilling match. He did, however, gain a huge measure of revenge when he defeated Okada in a rematch in July on the second day of Strong Style Evolved UK, a co-branded event with RevPro.

Zack entered his second G1 Climax this year as part of the stacked B Block. He had some tremendous matches with Ibushi, SANADA, Tomohiro Ishii, and Kenny Omega, plus he scored victories over IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Champion Juice Robinson and NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto. Zack finished the block tied for first with 12 points, but was not able to make it to the finals due to the way the tiebreakers worked out. Zack didn’t mind though because he had beaten Naito on the last day of B Block to stop the leader of LIJ from reaching the finals himself. LIJ fans were crushed, which meant ZSJ was a happy camper.

As summer turned to fall, ZSJ started feuding with another LIJ member, EVIL. Zack pinned EVIL a few times in multi-man tag matches, leading to a one-on-one confrontation scheduled for King of Pro-Wrestling. The match never started because Chris Jericho attacked EVIL before the bell rang, but Zack made sure to get his licks in as well. Naito ran out to make the save for his stablemate, leading to the third Naito-Sabre match of the year at Power Struggle. Naito won the match as he finally took down ZSJ in 2018.

Zack ended the year in World Tag League teaming with Suzuki-gun stablemate Taichi. The pairing was somewhat of a surprise since Zack had been teaming with leader Minoru Suzuki in many 2 vs. 2 tag matches throughout the year, including in RevPro where the duo have held the RevPro Undisputed British Tag Team Championship since January. Still, Zack and Taichi (collectively known as Dangerous Tekkers) wound up being a pretty fun tag team and finished the tournament with a respectable 16 points.

It truly was a monumental 2018 for Zack Sabre Jr. His definitive wins over Tanahashi, Ibushi, Naito, Okada, Ishii, Goto, and others have bolstered Zack’s credibility tenfold. He also remains very well protected in tag matches, having rarely dropped falls in them all year round. It’s pretty clear by now that Zack is a made man in NJPW.