Top 5: Japanese Wrestling Stars In America

This week features arguably the second-biggest wrestling show of the year: New Japan Pro Wrestling’s WrestleKingdom 12 in the Tokyo Dome. Okada vs. Naito & Alpha vs. Omega have the wrestling world buzzing with anticipation. It should be a big time event.

Now, for every American wrestling fan that’s pumped over this show, there are many others that have no real idea what’s going on in the Land of the Rising Sun. Not all of us are likely to hop on NJPW’s streaming site or turn on AXS TV when the show airs in installments on that channel. Many American fans’ only exposure to Japanese wrestlers has come through WWE, or the Big 3 promotions back in the day.

Andrew Balaz recently looked at Japan’s top non-New Japan stars of today. This week, I thought it would be fun to look at the Top 5 Japanese Wrestling Stars In America.

Honorable Mention: Mr. Fuji

While Fuji is Hawaiian-born, he is Japanese-American. He was the Orient’s top representative in the WWF for parts of three decades. Whether as a wrestler or as a manager, the devious one was always up to no good.

5. The Great Kabuki

Though billed from Singapore, the Japanese-born Great Kabuki was responsible for most of the tricks & tactics that other folks on this list would use later on to become huge stars in America. Kabuki was the first to use the mist. He was an early practitioner of the superkick. He was one of the first to wrestle while wearing face paint. Kabuki debuted his gimmick in World Class in 1981 & was managed by the man that came up with it, Gary Hart.

4. Kaientai

TAKA Michinoku & Sho Funaki had a lengthy run in the WWF, part of which took place during the Attitude Era. They had two main runs people fondly remember them for. One was when they helped Mr. Yamaguchi-San try to chop chop Val Venis’s pee-pee. The other was when TAKA would lipsynch over Bruce Prichard’s Japanese movie villain voice talking about how eeeeeeevil he & his tag team partner were while Funaki would punctuate the promo at the end with an “Indeeeeeeeed.” Funaki stayed with WWE for years after TAKA’s departure & eventually came back as part of the Japanese announce team. It only made sense, as soon after TAKA left he became a backstage interviewer & billed himself as Smackdown’s #1 announcer.

3. Tajiri

The Japanese Buzzsaw was a sensation upon his arrival in Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1999. His matches with Super Crazy wowed ECW fans. He transformed from a quiet young Japanese boy into a more Kabukiesque performer that used the Asian mist. He was most known for his lethal kicks, which were amplified by his slapping his thigh. He’s the first guy I remember doing that, and a generation of wrestlers followed in his footsteps. Tajiri went to the WWF after ECW’s demise & had a successful run during much of the 2000s using his ECW persona.

2. The Great Muta

Muta was the first Japanese wrestler to be pushed as a legitimate main event threat in America. He took WCW by storm in the late 1980s & immediately got over with fans as a big deal. Had he been in America more often, he would have gotten a run as WCW World Champion at some point. Muta often wrestled under his given name of Keiji Mutoh in his home country. He always appeared as Muta in WCW, including during a run as a member of NWO Japan.

Honorable Mention: Asuka

The Empress of Tomorrow will make the top five of this list someday. Once she claims singles gold & runs roughshod over the main roster, and has a lengthy run on top of WWE’s women’s division, she’ll rate very highly. Right now, she’s on the verge.

Honorable Mention: Shinsuke Nakamura

Nakamura is in the same spot Asuka is. He has the ability to make his name resonate the same way others on this list do years after their American runs. He isn’t there yet.

1. Jushin Thunder Liger

If you ask a hardcore American wrestling fan that’s never really gotten into wrestling from other countries to name one New Japan Pro Wrestling star from over the years, they would name Liger. He revolutionized junior heavyweight wrestling in Japan in the late 80s & early 90s, then appeared off and on in WCW throughout the 90s. His matches with Brian Pillman made American fans take notice that wrestlers didn’t have to be 6’4 & 300 pounds to deserve their attention.

Without Liger paving the way, WCW probably doesn’t create a cruiserweight division. Guys like Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio & countless others don’t get a chance to showcase their talents on a major stage & revolutionize in-ring workrate in American mainstream wrestling. WCW doesn’t have something new & different on the undercards to help take attention away from the WWF & create a legitimate wrestling war.