10. Xavier Woods

There are many WWE stars who spent time in New Japan Pro Wrestling during their careers. Guys like AJ Styles, Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, and KUSHIDA were all significant players in New Japan but what about some guys you may not know wrestled on the cerulean blue mat? Here we will list ten WWE stars you didn’t know wrestled for New Japan.

First up is Xavier Woods. Back in May 2010, Woods traveled to New Japan for a series of shows. Then billed as Austin Creed, he teamed with Japanese sensation Kota Ibushi in the Super J Tag Tournament. They were eliminated in the first round, falling to KUSHIDA and Gedo, but Woods returned to the promotion for a three-day tour the following month.

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9. Bobby Roode

Once upon a time, New Japan Pro Wrestling had a working relationship with TNA Wrestling. This relationship would dissolve as a result of TNA being TNA with many of New Japan’s talents but for its time their relationship resulted in many TNA stars getting moments in the New Japan spotlight. One such star was Bobby Roode.

Then part of the tag team Beer Money with James Storm, Roode had a number of matches in New Japan from 2009-2011, even picking up a win over Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro Takahashi. Together their biggest match in New Japan was at Wrestle Kingdom V where they lost a three-way hardcore IWGP Tag Team Championship match to Karl Anderson and Giant Bernard. Due to New Japan’s distaste for TNA, these matches cannot be found on New Japan World.

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8. The Brian Kendrick

The Brian Kendrick did a ton during his time in New Japan compared to many on this list. While many had a match or two in the company, Kendrick competed on many tours included two Best of the Super Juniors tournaments.

The first came in 2012 when Kendrick finished with a very respectable ten points in his tournament debut. His biggest win of the tournament came when he defeated Tiger Mask IV on night one. The following year he returned to the tournament, this time garnering eight points and tied for second.

• lists
• new japan pro wrestling
• NJPW
• wwe

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