#2 Tetsuya Naito
There’s something utterly tantalising about the swagger and arrogance that Tetsuya Naito carries around when he walks into an NJPW arena. You would quickly pick the guy out of a crowd of 100 if you gave him a couple of seconds to show himself off. Without knowing too much about Naito as a person, he genuinely seems to come across as though he doesn’t care. Whether this is a genuine personality trait or just brilliant acting, I haven’t quite worked out yet.
But the obvious comparison I drew straight away was with 1995-1997 Shawn Michaels. HBK clearly did not need to try to be the best back in the mid-90’s; he just went out there and did it naturally. This is the impression I get with Naito, and it is a genuine pleasure to watch the man wrestle too.
Out of all the stables in NJPW at the moment, Bullet Club might be the one I’ve heard most about, but it's Los Ingobernables de Japon that have impressed me the most. All of the members fit their gimmick so well, and Naito is the perfect man to lead the group. The spitting might be a little too much at times, but that just adds to the emotional investment of his matches. You love the guy, but also really want to see him get his backside kicked.
Could he work in WWE? His character is probably a little too uncontrollable for Vince Mcmahon. It would probably do Naito more harm than good trying to hammer himself into the square peg of RAW or Smackdown. It might be fun to see him make some guest appearances on NXT, however.
Matches to check out: Naito Vs. Michael Elgin – The New Beginning in Osaka 2017
