The prophecy came true, and Ren Narita has escaped Shibata’s shadow, finally finding a gimmick that fits him. However, a lot of people are seemingly disappointed that Narita isn’t going all Chono on mothertruckers and killing everyone from the get go, but I firmly believe this is done deliberately, in and out of kayfabe. Narita is kind of a dork now, but he knows what he’s doing very well, and he’s anything but that ultimately.
Narita has seemingly become darker and more dangerous, but also very SHO-esque. He smiles sadistically and has become more lackadaisical and sarcastic.. or so it seems. See, when Narita does his little laughs and stuff, it’s always fake outs – he smiles and then he quickly gets serious again. It’s like he does it because he either has to or wants to, not because he’s psycho like SHO and can’t control it. “Wink wink, I’m in on the joke” kind of thing. During the WK press conference, the man looked soulless, pun intended, yet anything BUT a lackey.
Then there’s the look. Narita still has the bowl cut, but his beard is weird, his tan is non-existent, and he’s wrestling in a T shirt despite main eventing. It’s almost like he’s presented as HOT’s Dominik Mysterio, but again, this is on purpose. During beatdowns, Narita barely gets involved, he didn’t ask for HOT’s help against Shota until the end, and he’s the reason EVIL won the belt. Basically, Narita is not putting effort in to fake out his HOT compatriots, so when he takes over it’s an even bigger surprise. Very heavy “Jay White declining this VERSION of Bullet Club, but not Bullet Club itself” vibes.
See, EVIL has been showing nothing but love to Narita, and the rest of HOT is doing the same. I think the story will be that Dick Togo’s master mind influenced Narita to go heel on Shota, but in reality, Narita did it all on his own. Narita has adopted a lot from EVIL and HOT, but not because of giving love to them back, but because he realized darkness is his way to the top. Narita still wrestles his style and does his own thing, nobody tells him what to do in HOT. Clark Connors and Gabe Kidd, who respects NOBODY, have praised Narita, because they know the real him. He’s doing all this on purpose, they know he’s a killer, but why make yourself a target if you don’t need to be one ?
TLDR; this ain’t even Narita’s final form. This year’s G1 will be his coming out party for sure.
by DawnOfLegion1
