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NEW JAPAN PRIMER: THE REMAINING HEAVYWEIGHT STARS

By Matthew Macklin on 2014-12-26 08:45:00
Toru Yano

“YTR” is a CHAOS member and NJPW’s comic relief. Yano is known for attempting to sell his DVD’s at ringside during his entrance. He will take a shortcut from time to time (or in every single match) and expose the turnbuckles and steal a win with a low blow and his Akakiri cradle. But don’t be fooled by his nonsense, Yano can go in the ring when he wants to.

Toru Yano vs AJ Styles – G1 Climax Block B Match

Take a look at Yano in action against Styles as he looks to score an upset over the IWGP Heavyweight Champion. It can be seen here.

YOSHI-HASHI

Another member of CHAOS who has spent the majority of his time as the guy that takes the fall in CHAOS tag matches. YOSHI will regularly team with Kazuchika Okada. Extremely talented in his own right, YOSHI has begun somewhat of a push this year gaining some surprise wins and had an opportunity at the NEVER Openweight championship against Yujiro Takahashi, which can be seen here.

Takashi Iizuka

NJPW’s crazy man is the newest member of Suzuki-Gun after turning on CHAOS earlier this year. He is known for regularly attacking announcer Shinpei Nogami in a comical fashion and for striking his opponents with his “iron fingers”. Recently he has spent much of his time teaming with Minoru Suzuki.

Manabu Nakanishi

Part of the NJPW veterans, Nakanishi is a veteran performer in the twilight of his career that mainly plays a supporting role in tag team matches and opening card matches. He is a former IWGP Heavyweight Champion who some may remember for his run in WCW as Kurasawa in the mid 90’s. With his body breaking down, Nakanishi probably doesn’t have too many miles left on the clock.

Captain New Japan

You will be hard pressed to come across a victory for NJPW’s Captain America look alike in the company’s history. Captain spends most of his time looking at the lights in tag matches alongside NJPW’s babyface stars, in particular Hiroshi Tanahashi. Captain will be seen regularly accompanying Tanahashi to the ring for major matches. Captain New Japan is one of the less serious characters in the company.

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