Members:
Yuto Nakashima
Kosei Fujita
Ryohei Oiwa
Oskar Leube
Boltin Oleg
Overall achievements:
2x NEVER 6-Man Championships
Star Student: Kosei Fujita
Best Team: Young Blood (Nakashima and Leube)
Best Rivalry: Oiwa vs Fujita
Best match: Fujita vs Oiwa New Japan Road 2023
Best excursion: Oiwa (NOAH)
Sorry for the delay on this one, I got busy and/or lazy. I would also like to preface this by saying I was not watching wrestling much during the early period of these Young Lions.
Now this class is very fresh with not much to analyse here, but the approach they have taken with this class has been different and intriguing.
Firstly, the class got off to a rocky start with Nakashima's injury but settled down once he returned and was joined by Fujita and Oiwa. They also later on brought in two behemoth gaijins to add a different feel.
With the lackluster excursions and returns of the previous two classes it seems like NJPW wants to accelerate the whole process.
Fujita joined a faction whilst still a young lion, then had a 2 month whistle stop excursion in the US, UK and Australia before returning and competing in tournaments. Whilst popular and seemingly graduated he hasn't instantly moved car up the card. This was evident with his poor record in BOSJ. perhaps this was a way to show he is the future before sending him on a more meaningful excursion.
Oiwa went on excursion to perhaps the most similar promotion in the world, which in theory defeats the learning process of excursion. Normally, excursions are to gain experience in different styles and crowds. But with Oiwa, they seemingly want him to be able to become a star on front of Japanese crowds as soon as he can.
Leube and Nakashima are the only ones doing conventional excursions and Oleg has already graduated and won titles. Compared to the pace that Wato, O-Khan, Tsuji, Uemura, Narita and Umino were being developed there is a clear urgency here. Let's see if it pays off and is the more routine process.
Lastly, by ranking I originally meant ranking the classes as a whole against one another. Ideally in a tier list which I might also do (feedback and suggestions on each class would be cool) . I won't bother with the current class as there isn't anything to talk about, but I will eventually do the classes from the 2000s next.
by shecanbromehard
