{"id":11114,"date":"2017-12-26T19:10:07","date_gmt":"2017-12-27T00:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=11114"},"modified":"2017-12-30T11:36:43","modified_gmt":"2017-12-30T16:36:43","slug":"tetsuya-naito-stardust-genius-to-ingobernable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2017\/12\/26\/tetsuya-naito-stardust-genius-to-ingobernable\/","title":{"rendered":"#NewJapanWeek Tetsuya Naito: Stardust Genius to Ingobernable"},"content":{"rendered":"

The main event of\u00a0Wrestle\u00a0<\/strong>Kingdom 12 (WK 12)\u00a0<\/strong>is set to be\u00a0New Japan Pro Wrestling’s (NJPW)\u00a0<\/strong>biggest drawing and best main event in a decade.\u00a0 This match has been almost 4 years in the making and while most eyes have been on\u00a0Kazuchika Okada\u00a0<\/strong>this match is all about the story of the ungovernable anti-hero\u00a0Tetsuya Naito\u00a0<\/strong>and his transformation from\u00a0Roman Reigns\u00a0<\/strong>to\u00a0The Rock<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Photo: NJPW<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These two men were set to main event WK 8 in 2014 until a fan vote led to\u00a0Shinsuke Nakamura\u00a0<\/strong>vs\u00a0Hiroshi Tanahashi\u00a0<\/strong>overtaking it as main event.\u00a0 This unprecedented move was due to the fans rejecting Naito as a fan favourite.\u00a0 This led to Naito having a huge disdain of the\u00a0IWGP Intercontinental Championship<\/strong>.\u00a0 The reason this happened is the New Japan fanbase were not ready to cheer a very generic and clean cut babyface like Tetsuya Naito and it lead to the crowd turning on him and New Japan calling an audible and allowing their fans to choose the main event.<\/p>\n

Tetsuya Naito: Early Career<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Photo: NJPW<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Early in his career Naito was part of the tag team\u00a0No Limits<\/strong> with\u00a0Yujiro Takahashi.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The Junior Heavyweight team were very impressive in capturing the IWGP junior Heavyweight tag team championships.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>In the process defeating the likes of\u00a0Prince Devitt <\/strong>(Now WWE’s Finn Balor<\/strong>)\u00a0and\u00a0Minoru\u00a0<\/strong>as well as the\u00a0Motor City Machine Guns\u00a0<\/strong>at Wrestle Kingdom 3.\u00a0 After losing the junior titles, No Limits went on an excursion, featuring a stop in\u00a0TNA<\/strong>\u00a0but mostly saw them wrestle in\u00a0Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL)<\/strong> in a heel anti-mexican gimmick.\u00a0 The youngsters caused havoc in Mexico winning two Lucha De Apuesta matches.\u00a0 In their third and final hair vs hair match, No Limits were finally beaten and shaved completely bald.\u00a0 The excursion ended in 2010 at Wrestle Kingdom 4.\u00a0 Despite this, Naito continued to work in Mexico between New Japan tours.\u00a0 Now Heavyweights, No Limit won the\u00a0IWGP Tag Team Championship\u00a0<\/strong>beating\u00a0Bad Intentions\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Team 3D<\/strong>, with\u00a0some hard defenses before dropping the titles.\u00a0 This lead to Tetsuya Naito breaking out in the 2010 G1 Climax.\u00a0 He showed his first signs of stardom in this tournament by having great showings against various big names such as\u00a0Hiroshi Tanahashi, Giant Bernard\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Karl Anderson.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Failed challenges for the\u00a0TNA World Heavyweight Championship\u00a0<\/strong>and the Junior tag titles led to Takahashi turning on Naito.\u00a0 This set in motion his infamous babyface run.<\/p>\n

Tetsuya Naito:\u00a0<\/strong>Failed Babyface Run<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Photo: NJPW<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Naito proceeded to move into the Upper Midcard spending most of 2011 losing the big matches but generally having momentum. \u00a0The year 2012 saw him again mix it up with the likes of Okada, Tanahashi and\u00a0Keiji Mutoh (The Great Muta).\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>After another impressive G1 Climax Naito was out out of action by Takahashi.\u00a0 This is where the problems began for Naito.\u00a0 He proceeded to miss 9 months of action and when he came back he was pushed to the moon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>Over the summer Tetsuya Naito proceeded to take part in and win the G1 Climax defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi in the final.\u00a0 The fan resentment for Naito came from the fact that his bland, generic look and fast paced babyface style that lacked any edge.\u00a0 His winning the G1 Climax can only be likened to Roman Reigns winning the 2015 Royal Rumble the hardcore fans resented the fact he was being pushed ahead of the likes of Devitt, Nakamura and\u00a0Katsuyori Shibata<\/strong>.\u00a0 After a very mild fan reaction to a confrontation between Naito and Okada led to fans voting for Shinsuke Nakamura vs Tanahashi over Naito and it was clear that Naito’s run had failed.<\/p>\n

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Photo: NJPW<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tetsuya Naito:\u00a0<\/strong>The Ungovernable<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Photo: NJPW<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After an uneventful 2014 Naito went on a tour in CMLL once again where he again teamed with La Sombra as part of the original Los Ingobernables stable.\u00a0 It was here that Naito learned the ways of Tranquilo and came up with his now signature taunt after a fan made a stereotypical joke about Naito’s eyes.\u00a0 Upon his return to Japan, Naito had a new look and attitude.\u00a0 He announced his intention to represent Los Ingobernables<\/a>.\u00a0 He returned to the G1 and picked up some huge wins early showing that he was still a main eventer.\u00a0 Naito recruited\u00a0Bushi\u00a0<\/strong>and the returning\u00a0EVIL\u00a0<\/strong>to become Los Ingobernables De Japon an anti establishment group that did whatever they wanted whether the fans liked it or not.\u00a0 Naito went on to win the\u00a0New Japan Cup\u00a0<\/strong>before finally capturing the\u00a0IWGP World Heavyweight Championship<\/strong> from Okada thanks to help from his stablemates and newest recruit\u00a0SANADA.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>After only one defence Naito lost the belt back to Okada in a move that fans were very unhappy with.\u00a0 Naito had officially arrived but fans wanted to see this cool anti-hero have a longer reign.\u00a0 Naito further improved his reputation with fans by wowing crowds in the G1 and proceeding to have a Match Of The Year contender with\u00a0Kenny Omega<\/strong> in the final.\u00a0 The rebirth of Naito as the ungovernable has proven extremely successful and it is unbelievable to imagine that he is the same man that the crowd voted out of the main event in an unprecedented move.<\/p>\n

Tetsuya Naito:\u00a0<\/strong>Defining Title Reign<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Photo: NJPW<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At\u00a0Power Struggle\u00a0<\/strong>Naito defeated\u00a0Michael Elgin\u00a0<\/strong>to win the Intercontinental title.\u00a0 From day one Naito made clear the disdain he held for the title that took away his main event opportunity.\u00a0 He proceeded to have an amazing title reign where he trashed the title at every opportunity.\u00a0 Often leaving it in the ring, dragging it along the ground, throwing it high in the air or walloping the title off the ring posts he destroyed the belt and made clear he didn’t care about this title and what it was supposed to represent.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4yjOrPaM3XM<\/p>\n

In\u00a0 Tokyo Sports voted Naito as their MVP of 2016 as he became the first man other than Okada or Tanahashi to win that award since 2010.\u00a0 If it wasn’t already clear Naito was now a star this award was proof. Further proof was the fact that as champion Naito was the clear No.2 draw in the company, fans were in love with LIJ and Naito was given the opportunity to draw as IC champion for B shows.\u00a0 In 2017 Naito put on a series of classics with Tanahashi, Elgin and\u00a0Juice Robinson <\/strong>as he continued to\u00a0\u00a0hold the IC title hostage with the fans loving his antics more and more whilst also making LIJ the new number one faction in Japan.\u00a0 He went into the 2017 G1 Climax as favorite to win among the fans and pundits alike.\u00a0 He won Block A with 14 points defeating the likes of Tanahashi,\u00a0Kota Ibushi\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Zack Sabre Junior.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>He then had another amazing match with Kenny Omega as the leaders of the two biggest factions squared off to earn the honor of facing Okada at Wrestle Kingdom.\u00a0 Naito won and set up a rematch of Wrestle Kingdom 8.<\/p>\n

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Photo: NJPW<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In conclusion, it is amazing how much things change in 4 Years.\u00a0 Naito is now the hottest act in the company and Okada is in the midst of one of the greatest title reigns of all time.\u00a0 Both men are now big stars and the biggest draws in Japan.\u00a0 The hardcore fans are firmly behind Naito as Okada to them is corporate and too nice they much prefer the edge of Naito and have fully bought into the ways of tranquilo.\u00a0 Tetsuya Naito has been on an unbelievable journey leading up to the biggest match of his career and on January 4th we may see the creation of a New Japan legend.<\/p>\n

Miss a day of #NewJapanWeek<\/strong>? You can catch up below!<\/h2>\n