NJPW is fantastic at building up stars within their roster. They bring promising rookies into their dojo, and train them up through their Young Lion program. This is the route that men like Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Tetsuya Naito, Jay White and more took to the top. That said, not everyone comes back from their excursions an instant star. Sometimes you have late bloomers, and that very well might be the case for YOSHI-HASHI in 2020.
A long running joke in the NJPW fanbase was that YOSHI-HASHI would never claim gold. Ever since he returned to NJPW alongside Kazuchika Okada in a frankly terrible Tokyo Dome match, he was always just this goofy figure you’d find in lower-card tag team matches as part of CHAOS.
He would find himself getting the occasional big match, challenging for the NEVER Openweight Championship and even had a chance to take an IWGP Heavyweight Championship match from Kenny Omega. But he’d never win these big matches, being a worse choke artist than even Hirooki Goto. Until 2020.
YOSHI-HASHI Had The Best Year Of His Career So Far
After another unremarkable start to the year, he’d get those few months of lockdown to reflect on his career. He’d come back just to get injured in the New Japan Cup during a match with BUSHI, before getting mauled by eventual tournament winner EVIL.
The injury looked very bad at first, but he would be back on his feet in no-time. This could have been the end of his career. He was 38 years old, wrestling for 12 years and nothing to show for it. However, he came back better than ever.
EVIL turning on Los Ingobernables De Japon meant the NEVER Openweight Six Man Titles would become vacant, and he’d team up with two-heavy hitters from CHAOS to claim his first title. With Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto at his side, they’d take out teams like Great Bash Heel & Ryusuke Taguchi, Golden Ace & Master Wato, and beat a fellow CHAOS unit of Kazuchika Okada, SHO & Toru Yano in a great match to win the belts. This finally made the belts matter to fans, perhaps the first good match in years for them and a fantastic moment.
His Best G1 Ever Performance Wise
YOSHI-HASHI didn’t have time to reflect on this win for long however, because the G1 Climax came quick and he was placed into the B-Block. While the A-Block was the stacked block in terms of big matches, the B-Block had some great stories told in their matches, especially by YOSHI-HASHI.
He might have only ended the tournament with 4 points, only beating SANADA & Toru Yano. However, he gave the performances of his life in a brawling rematch with EVIL, did his best to keep up with Zack Sabre Jr. in a technical wrestling match, and had an epic match that few expected with Tetsuya Naito. He’d slap Hiroshi Tanahashi in the face, go after the injured shoulder of Hirooki Goto, and have a very fun match with Juice Robinson. It was a great tournament, and despite only getting four points, fans will be wanting him in again next year.
It Was No Fluke Either
While the G1 brings out the best in people, this was not the case for YOSHI-HASHI, who just was part of what many are already calling the best match ever contested over the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Titles. CHAOS successfully defended against a team of Douki, Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr, in a match where Douki & YOSHI-HASHI did 60% of the work. It showed to not count out Douki in Best of Super Juniors, and that YOSHI-HASHI is here, it just took him a while to arrive.
With the World Tag League around the corner, YOSHI-HASHI is likely to team up with either Goto or Ishii, and there will be fans pulling for them to win, myself included. Do you think YOSHI-HASHI is the breakout star of 2020 for NJPW? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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