After Uemura & Yuto-Ice’s excellent encounter at Korakuen yesterday, it got me thinking that those two, Tsuji & Oiwa feel like the real future of the promotion, at least when it comes to the heavyweight division (Kosei Fujita is still the most naturally gifted performer of this generation, imo).
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Uemura and Tsuji have that classic “generational rivalry” feel, ala Fujinami/Choshu, Mutoh/Chono, Tanahashi/Nakamura & Okada/Naito. It’s already been setup as Uemura being the “Sun” and Tsuji being the “Moon” of NJPW; two strong forces destined to clash. Uemura has become such a good babyface and “ring general”, while Tsuji has that easy charisma that captures attention (although he still has some things/habits in-ring that hold him back, imo).
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Oiwa has always had a real handle on his presentation and how he wrestles, combining the stuff he’s learned from Yoshinari Ogawa & Kaito Kiyomiya in NOAH, as well as the stuff ZSJ & TMDK have taught him in NJPW. He and Yuto-Ice had some real heated interactions as YL’s and I can’t wait for when they go at it in the present day.
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Yuto-Ice has come back into NJPW with a vengeance and has traits that echo the likes of Maeda, Chono, Makabe and Shibata to me. He’s so dismissive of every one of his so called “peers” and it adds instant heat to his interactions with them.
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Narita, Umino & Kidd seem to have some things holding them back in some way, imo. I really like Ren and how he’s matured as a heel, having a lot of personality and also a good handle on who he is but I feel he will only go so far as EVIL’s lackey. Umino still feels like a “failed project” to me, still stuck in a “Stardust Genius” Naito phase, although he has his good moments/matches. Kidd, while having some excellent matches and moments, kinda feels destined to be AEW-bound sooner or later.
by MrPuroresu42