Has there ever been a young lion as technically good after such a short period of time as Fujita?

14 comments

1. Hirai Kawato was one of those young lions who many fans thought would be an instant junior ace when he returned from excursion. He was very good in his young lion days, and there was even a match where he teamed with Tanahashi against Naito and Hiromu at the higher end of a Korakuen Hall show. That’s why many fans were originally shocked when he returned as Master Wato with blue hair.

   We were hoping that it would be some kind of Okada-like swerve, where he was purposely presented badly when he returned only to end up becoming an instant top tier player. Unfortunately, Kawato had a rough excursion and lost a lot of confidence during that time.

   I also heard that SHO and YOH were very good as young lions, but I wasn’t watching regularly at that time. Maybe there are others here who can tell you more about their young lion days.

2. Yes. I don’t think Fujita is particularly ahead of the curve compared to his classmates either, he’s just *presented* as technically superior due to the ZSJ rub.

   As for examples, I’d argue Kidd, Narita and Uemura were all at least on par with him. (Narita’s bridging suplex has always been a thing of beauty).

3. Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki are two obvious examples. Takada as well

4. Kobashi should ban eddie and kojima for using his machinegun chop

5. Since I started watching full time in early 2014, the best young lions I’ve seen have been Jay, Wato, and Fujita in that order. Uemura used to be third, but I think Fujita has surpassed him. That might be recency bias and Fujita’s storyline influencing me though.

   Jay got a singles matches with Omega as a YL, and it wasn’t even for his big send off. I don’t think we’ll see anyone as good as him anytime soon. Wato was one of the best babyfaces on the roster as a YL, and he had a great intensity he lost on excursion.

6. Shinjiro Ohtani.

7. I knew he had it from match 1, I remember posting on here at the time at how much I was impressed with him and Oiwa right out of the gate

8. I thought YOH was better as a Young Lion than he is now. That’s of course a harsh opinion, but I meant it as a compliment of how good he was even back then. A great example is when YOH and Tanahashi made a heel appearance in DDT. It was a whole different side that we never get to see. Technically smooth af even then.

9. Gotta love the Fujster. Love the ZSJ association. Not watched a lot of the G1 this year unfortunately outside a few events, but Eddie looked good in this clip.

10. Not that I’ve seen but I’m pretty new

11. This is less Fujita being good and more Kingston making Fujita look like a million bucks out there.

12. I’ve been watching for a good few years now, and I personally think Fujita stands out as being “special.”

    Other Young Lions were very good and/or it was obvious they were going to eventually be in-line for a megapush, guys like Shota Umino (very good, but had the Red Shoes connection and presence), Yota Tsuji (very good, but had sheer size on his side compared to most of the others), but every time I watch Fujita wrestle I’m just impressed by how good he is *right now*, let alone how good he could be in the future with a full moveset/gimmick. Not to mention, he’s just younger than everyone else as well.

13. Nakamura got good pretty quickly as well. Also Chono, Muto, Hashimoto and the future Jushin Liger were all in the same Young Lions class and were driving each other to some excellent matches.

14. Kitamura (rip) was being touted very highly before the concussions ended his career.