I just had a quick thought after listening to KISS podcast reviewing Kopw show. Shota Umino booking is like night and day from last year to this year. So I thought why not look at a timeline for him.
Disclaimer I'm not counting when he officially returned which was in late 2022 close to the end of the year. He came back & fought ospreay and that was it when he returned.
2023:
- Shota teams with Tanahashi & Muto at Wk17.
- Shota is in a program with Naito. The naito match happened and wasn't well received. Really showed Shota wasn't ready.
- Shota beats ZSJ in the NJC. Shota feuds with ZSJ for the TV Title and loses in a good match.
- Shota goes in a feud with Okada & Tanahashi/Ishii at Dominon. He gets Moxley & Claudio as his partners. He showed a lot of aggression in this feud and more personality. He and BCC lose but a great showing for Shota nonetheless.
- Shota goes into the G1 climax. He has matches against the other young guys. He had strong matches against Ren, Kiyomiya,Gabe,Tsuji. He showed more fire in this tournament.
- Shota ends up in a feud against Strong Style with Nagata & Wato. The feud ends team Nagata with the victory.
- Shota has his breakout performance against Ospreay. Pretty much the match that showed what Shota could do.
- Shota & Ren become a team in WTL. Ren turns on Shota joining H.O.T.
2024:
- From January to July Shota has been feuding with H.O.T. He beat Narita and Jack Perry. He lost to Evil for the Never title.
- He also lost to Moxley for the World title.
- Shota gets pulled from the Soul tour "due to injury". Shota returns for the G1 and his a disappointing performance compared to last year. His best match was against Gabe.
- Shota still feuded with H.O.T.
- And now Shota is in a program involving the world title.
Looking at last year Shota and this year the booking, Shota performances and his look have all changed and not in a good way. The next 2 months and his placement at WK will be really telling about how the company and fans think of Shota Umino.
by DeathTriangle720