{"id":2816,"date":"2017-03-01T18:40:43","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T23:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/?p=2816"},"modified":"2023-04-26T16:44:07","modified_gmt":"2023-04-26T20:44:07","slug":"kassius-ohno-return-perfect-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2017\/03\/01\/kassius-ohno-return-perfect-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Kassius Ohno’s NXT Return Came at a Perfect Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

NXT<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0has been hyping up the WWE renaissance of\u00a0Kassius Ohno<\/strong><\/a> for a while now. Since his departure, the popularity of\u00a0NXT<\/em> has downright exploded. After Ohno left, WWE signed free agents like\u00a0Finn Balor<\/strong> and\u00a0Shinsuke Nakamura<\/strong>\u00a0to the yellow brand. Because of its incredibly knowledgeable and loyal fanbase,\u00a0NXT<\/em> has become a more pure wrestling show over\u00a0Raw<\/strong><\/em> and\u00a0SmackDown Live<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0NXT<\/em> fans are often more aware of promotions and wrestler outside of WWE, which creates an odd “trickle-up” effect.<\/p>\n

First,\u00a0NXT<\/em> hypes up a star coming to the main roster. Then, the more casual fans hear the name and begin to create even more hype. Fans did this for\u00a0Samoa Joe<\/strong>,\u00a0Bayley<\/strong>,\u00a0and\u00a0Finn Balor alike. Additionally, NXT<\/em> needs more star power on their show now that\u00a0both Samoa Joe and Balor are both on the main roster.\u00a0Thus, last week’s\u00a0NXT<\/em><\/a> was a perfect time for Kassius Ohno to return.<\/p>\n

Kassius Ohno’s NXT Return Came at a Perfect Time<\/h2>\n

Creating A Star and\u00a0Restoring Star Power<\/h3>\n

As mentioned before,\u00a0NXT<\/em> tends to have a very knowledgeable wrestling fanbase. Their fans fully invest themselves in the show each and every week, and it shows. Sometimes, it seems that the fans\u00a0alone<\/em>\u00a0put certain entertainers over (looking at you,\u00a0No Way Jose<\/strong>). And now that many\u00a0of their former superstars have ascended to\u00a0Raw<\/em> and\u00a0SmackDown Live<\/em>, fans of the yellow brand need another wrestler to sink their teeth into.<\/p>\n

Aside from former\u00a0TNA<\/strong><\/em> star\u00a0Bobby Roode<\/strong> and Japan’s Shinsuke Nakamura, no wrestler has really taken the reigns from Joe or Balor. While Roode and Nakamura are both terrific, sometimes it takes more than two to tango in wrestling. And\u00a0Ohno could be the man to complete their main event triumvirate. The Glorious One and the King of Strong Style are terrific, but it’s time for Ohno to enter the fray.<\/p>\n

Drawing Power<\/h3>\n

This one goes two ways. First of all, Ohno will draw fans to\u00a0Full Sail University without a doubt. His style, charisma, and talent are nothing to sneeze at and are fun to watch both on television and in person. Ohno cannot be overlooked, and fans know that. But as fans know all too well, their happiness too often does not matter in the eyes of WWE’s creative team.<\/p>\n

Secondly, and this is the big one for WWE: Ohno is going to make a\u00a0lot<\/em> of cash. Let’s take a look at him for a second here.\u00a0Kassius Ohno. Even the name rolls off the tongue. Additionally, it’s just as easy to market as it is to say. WWE’s eyes turned into slot machines as soon as they thought of that name. His former name, Chris Hero, is a great moniker in and of itself, but Kassius Ohno<\/em>? That one just\u00a0exudes<\/em>\u00a0“cool.” Next, just take a look at the guy. Ohno checks all the boxes in WWE’s mind. He’s conventionally attractive, stands at 6’5, and has an exciting style. He’s\u00a0Vince McMahon<\/strong>‘s dream come true. And for once, he’s the fans’ dream come true as well.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n

Let’s review. Kassius Ohno is not only a master of professional wrestling, but a master of perfect timing as well. He’s the perfect storm. A perfectly marketable name who is conventionally attractive. Additionally, he’s a name that\u00a0NXT<\/em> fans know and have seen before. He’s a perfect answer to the thin main event scene of\u00a0NXT<\/em>, and will work fantastically with Roode and Nakamura. He’s there to be a mentor and an anchor for the yellow brand, and will likely carry the torch from Bobby Roode. He might go by Kassius Ohno now, but it’s time for the man formerly known as Chris Hero to become the “hero” of\u00a0NXT<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NXT has been hyping up the return of Kassius Ohno for a while now. And his return last week came at the perfect time for both fans and WWE itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1787,"featured_media":2760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,3],"tags":[120,284,388,578,116,117,47],"class_list":["post-2816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wwe","category-nxt","category-wwe-universe","tag-bobby-roode","tag-chris-hero","tag-kassius-ohno","tag-no-way-jose","tag-nxt","tag-pro-wrestling","tag-wwe"],"modified_by":"Marilee Gallagher, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1787"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}