Japanese Stars who went to WCW Appreciation
 

I kind of wanted to dedicate this post to well known Wrestlers from the Far East to come stateside. I'm not talking about the Gaijans like Hansen, Vader, or Abby. I'm Talking about folks like Kensuke Sasake, Great Muta, Masahiro Chono, etc. In essence post pitch about some of the best Japanese wrestlers and Joshi (there were a couple) to come to WCW during it's run.

So basically let me start this off right:

http://www.hkstar.com/~momo/In/jtliger.jpg

I really liked the Japanese wrestlers in WCW, but guys like Jim Herd and Bill Watts prevented them from making the American wrestlers look bad.

I'm still a huge Kaz Hayashi mark, even though WCW did nothing of note with him.

They also had Yuji Nagata, but only used him for a brief feud with Ultimo Dragon. He became a big deal in Japan a few years later.

Got to see Kensuke Sasaki live once, dudes a beast.

Great Muta's 1989 run was pretty good

he had a fairly long winning streak

Masahiro Chono

Muta in the late 80's was just sick. Loved that entire 89 run he and the J-Tex Corp had. One of my fav years in wrestling.

Jesus you're old.

Ultimo Dragon was my favorite Japanese wrestler in terms of actually watching him wrestle on tv in WCW and the stories of him holding a lot of titles while in Japan.

Never actually saw Jushin Liger wrestle when I was watching WCW during the Monday Night Wars but watching early 1990s WCW shows and matches made me appreciate him a lot.

You can say the same thing about me, because I remember those days as well.

These were the most familiar Japanese wrestlers to me simply because I grew up watching them, mostly Muta. As Seth82 and Loose Cannon said, I strongly remember his push in WCW during 1989, although I don't agree with Muta losing all 3 matches at Starrcade of that year (though I know it was done to push Sting and Luger). I remember Muta vs Chono at Starrcade 1992 and the crowd seemed dead, cheering for Muta because of his previous run. But all 3 of these guys got me interested in Puroresu later.

I never really got into Ultimo Dragon, Liger, or Kaz Hayashi but I really don't have a reason why.

Now, I'm really into Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa, KENTA, Kensuke Sasake, Yuji Nagata, Keiji Mutoh, and Go Shiozaki.

I have fond memories of 2 Japanese wrestlers that I saw from the little I watched of WCW in the early 90's: Jushin Liger and The Great Muta. Only saw a couple of matches from them, but I always remembered them.

The first time I saw Jushin Liger, I became an instant fan. I saw him at Starrcade '91 in his tag match and in the Battle Bowl match. But I didn't see much of him after that.

The Great Muta is another Japanese wrestler I remember from my childhood from WCW. I think he won the Battle Bowl match in 1992 and then faced Windham and I also remember him teaming up with Sting against the Steiner Brothers on a WCW PPV around 92 or 93. I think the PPV was in Japan. Didn't see him again until he was in the nWo with Masahiro Chono.

But my favourite Japanese wrestler that went to WCW has got to be Ultimo Dragon. He was awesome in 1997 with Sunny Onoo as his manager. He should have got pushed when he went to WWE, but I remember reading that McMahon wasn't impressed with him and was expecting a high-flying Rey Mysterio type wrestler.

growing up on late 80's wrestling is old here now? what are you like 17? that does explain the moodiness here at times I guess

Give me some Flyin Brian/Jushin "Thunder" Liger matches any day.

Chono and Muta. RESPECT.

that is one of my favorite pictures in pro wrestling. good post and thank you for not pasting Blackmans face on Dragon.

In actuality, he held 11 belts (as he also held the WAR World Six-Man Tag Team Championship, which was not pictured)

Yea, Muta won Battlebowl 1992 and then he went on to beat Chono at the WCW/Japan Supershow in 93 to win the NWA Title. Chono had one the belt in a tourney in Japan when Flair left with the belt to the WWF.

Then at Superbrawl 3, Windham beat Muta for it.

and yes, he tagged with Sting at the previous WCW/Japan Supershow before his Title win

Ultimo Dragon, the only man to ever hold a WCW, WWF, and NWA Title at the same time.

Can we appreciate TAKA in here or is that not allowed?

The Kai En Tai theme has always been one of my favorites

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he's Chinese

that's racist

F Yeah.. & the Ultimo Dragon was pretty badass...

No. He never wrestled in WCW, although he did wrestle in ECW.

I started watching in 95 and Liger was one the few that stuck out to me the most, along with Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and Shawn Michaels in WWF.

Liger was sick in that era and later in the 90's I got into tape trading and got a lot of the NJPW Tournament tapes and saw the classic tournament matches that Benoit and Liger in amazing matches along with all the other cool stuff, I think Super J-Cup 96 was one of the better ones.

I always wanted him to go to WWF, even though he was small he could have gotten over and been a phenomenal Intercontinental Champion potentially.

Then Keji Mutoh who would have been a killer in WWF at any era but never got the chance. He could have had some great matches with so many people, Undertaker, HBK, Bret Hart, Triple H, Angle, the list goes on and on.

Dick Togo FTW

Tokyo Magnum!!!

He was a great as the 3rd guy in the Boogie Knights with Disco and Alex Wright.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/T2JB64OdYsc/0.jpg

Bring in one of the ladies.

Oh, that's also right. I didn't even realize that. Good call.

Vanity bump, with a video...

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