THE GOOD AND THE BAD:
NJPW’S BELOVED BABYFACES AND HATED HEELS
By Jasmine Olan
In many ways professional wrestling is the ultimate morality play, showing the constant war between good and evil. Every promotion around the world has their classic good guys who many fans absolutely love, and bad guys who many fans completely loathe and or love to hate. They even have some performers who are a mix of both good. Those wrestlers are referred to as Tweeners. New Japan Pro Wrestling is no different. Their roster is filled with beloved babyfaces, hated heels, and everything in between. These talented performers all play a vital role in the storytelling that has made NJPW so successful throughout its nearly five decade history. They are part of what keeps fans watching and sets them apart from other promotions in the industry.
When it comes to wrestling babyfaces, few are as beloved as the Ace Of The Universe, Hiroshi Tanahashi. For twenty years he has been an icon of the Japanese wrestling culture as well as a massive fan favorite and respected locker room leader. Tanahashi was also essential to the rebuilding process that has led to the incredible boom period NJPW has been experiencing over the last few years. He has been a great mentor to other hugely popular babyfaces like the Golden Star, Kota Ibushi, Juice Robinson, and young lions, Shota Umino and Yota Tsuji. His contributions to the industry can never be understated.
Kota Ibushi is also one of New Japan’s best good guys. He is also one of professional wrestling’s most influential performers. From tag team specialist to singles mega star, Ibushi is a decorated champion who has earned the respect of critics and fans around the world throughout his fifteen year career. He is an inspiration to many younger performers including the Aerial Assassin, Will Ospreay. His bond with wrestling fans is truly something to behold. Fans the world over show their love for the Golden Star all the time on social media. His reunion with best friend and long time partner, Kenny Omega and his winning the prestigious G1 CLIMAX tournament are counted among the industry’s most emotional moments.
Few wrestling bad guys have been able to garner the nuclear heat that members of Bullet Club have. The faction’s current leader, Switchblade Jay White is widely regarded as one of the industry’s best villains. He is so good at playing an arrogant bad guy who doesn’t care who he has to step on to get what he wants. He lives to frustrate NJPW fans who even walked out on him when he defeated Tetsuya Naito in their G1 CLIMAX 29 block match. Few can do bad as well as the Switchblade.
Bullet Club’s newest addition, KENTA is quickly on his way to becoming the company’s most hated villain. His connection to the difficult political history between NJPW and Pro Wrestling NOAH and his betrayal of long time friend, Katsuyori Shibata have played a major role in that. He truly felt the wrath of NJPW fans when he ruined Tetsuya Naito’s celebration after winning the historic Double Gold Dash. KENTA is the kind of villain who will get booed out of the building at every show and not care a single bit.
As far as tweeners go, the members of Los Ingobernables de Japon truly do it best. While the group has its roots as anti-authoritarian heels, there is never a show where you won’t see a huge number of fans in LIJ cosplay, many of them little kids. Over the years LIJ has evolved into New Japan Pro Wrestling’s most popular. From leader Tetsuya Naito to the Ticking Time Bomb, Hiromu Takahashi, every single member of the group appears to be destined for greatness especially newest addition, The Dragon, Shingo Takagi. The momentum this successful has built up doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
Heroes and villains are an essential part of story telliing in general. NJPW’s approach to character development is really second to none when it comes to its success rate. For the fans it feels like they are being brought along on a journey which each performer. You can beat a story that is able to do that. When it comes to in ring characters, NJPW fans get to happily enjoy getting to see the good, the bad, and all in between.
