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Taichi (2018)

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 how many people could properly appreciate him. Things all changed for him on his TAKA/Taichi Produce show at Korakuen Hall on January 23rd. This show that was not even technically an NJPW event would have a profound impact on his New Japan career, as he went up against Tetsuya Naito in a singles match. Not only did he hold his own against a former IWGP Heavyweight Champion, he received a huge amount of support from the crowd (with “Let’s Go Taichi!” chants that would soon become staples on NJPW events as well) in the process. After the match was over, Naito had the temerity to suggest that Taichi was somehow being lazy or holding back by competing in the junior division when he looked to be larger than the heavyweight Naito. Our Holy Emperor would take these words very much to heart and began a verbal war of words that escalated into a backstage assault. This all lead to Taichi officially stepping up to the heavyweight ranks and facing Naito in a rematch on March 6th at the Anniversary Show, where Naito was again victorious (after BLATANT cheating).

A few days later Taichi competed in his first ever New Japan Cup, and NJPW began to show just how biased against him they were by immediately putting him against the Ace Hiroshi Tanahashi. Despite being just four days removed from another grueling match with a main event star and being brand new to the heavyweight division in general, it once again took blatant cheating on the part of his opponent for Taichi to be defeated. Fans took to the streets in protest but the result was not changed.

Taichi, undeterred, would turn his attention to his next target: Hirooki Goto and the NEVER Openweight Championship. Despite requesting a championship shot in only the most polite, non-microphone-stand-attack manner, Goto still seemed reluctant to grant him his title match, preferring a match with gaijin interloper Michael Elgin instead. Ultimately a completely unfair three-way was booked for Dominion, and Elgin pinned Taichi (via, you guessed it, blatant cheating) to win the championship (Goto would win it back almost immediately after, but honestly who cares about that).

Following this event was the greatest injustice in a year full of Taichi-related injustices: the G1 Climax participants were announced, and Taichi was NOT among them. Now, I may have taken artistic license with a few things in this profile, but I am not exaggerating when I say that Taichi’s fans were so outraged over this they tweeted at the NJPW accounts en masse. Some even called the New Japan offices, apparently (according to Taichi anyway, and he is nothing if not honest). It was a historic injustice, the likes of which we have never seen before and may never see again.

But while lesser men may have let such a snub derail their entire careers, Taichi is no lesser man. Taichi is the Holy Emperor, a man who never backs down, never flatters, and never looks back (according to his own t-shirt). Immediately after the G1 was over Taichi turned his attention back to Goto and the NEVER title, and on September 17th in the Beppu B-Con Plaza, he valiantly overcame the desperate Goto’s cheating ways and was crowned NEVER Openweight Champion for the first time. Children cried out in joy, women wept over their dreams being realized, and men finally had a true idol to pattern themselves after. The forces of evil had been defeated, and the forces of good were on the march. Taichi was a champion for us all.

On October 8th at King of Pro Wrestling, junior heavyweight Will Ospreay took after his own idol in CHAOS- the blatant cheater Goto- and pinned Taichi in a six-man tag team match through nefarious means. But when Ospreay looked into Taichi’s eyes after the match was over and realized the kind of fiery retribution the Holy Emperor had waiting for him, the cowardly Brit faked an injury to avoid his judgment day in a singles match. Instead another coward, Goto, demanded an undeserved rematch instead, and November 3rd became The Day That Will Live In Infamy. The true champion’s brief reign of righteous glory had ended, and darkness again enveloped this world. Hirooki Goto won the NEVER Openweight Championship once again.

Never one to complain or focus on the negatives, Taichi immediately turned his attention to the World Tag League, where he and Suzukigun mate Zack Sabre Jr. formed a new team. Despite the continued bias of New Japan referees against Taichi they managed to put up a respectable 8-5 record, though this was not enough to reach the finals. Then New Japan management once again showed their utter and open contempt for the Holy Emperor: rather than grant him his rightful rematch for the NEVER title, just as they had given the cheater Goto rematch after rematch before, they put Taichi in a #1 Contendership match with Will Ospreay on the final night of the Tag League tour. And as expected, the dastardly Englishman once again cheated to defeat our hero.

Folks, I’ve tried to keep a hopeful tone throughout this piece, but as long as New Japan Pro Wrestling continues to support the blatant cheating of its chosen few, I don’t know if even our Holy Emperor can overcome it. In the interest of positivity I ask you not to remember all the cheating (by Goto and Ospreay and many others) and not to remember decision after decision that showed New Japan’s blatant anti-Taichi bias, but instead remember the good times. Remember the stunningly beautiful Miho Abe holding the NEVER championship belt aloft. Remember crowds crying out “Let’s Go Taichi!” to silence those petty few who jealously chanted derogatory things at him instead. Remember our wonderful Holy Emperor, a man who stands for all that is good and just in this world. Taichi wo kaere?! He IS home, friends. The ring is his home, and he will never leave it- or us- behind.