Wataru Inoue

[6.0] "I feel like Inoue should have achieved more before his career was cut short prematurely. A gifted technician but never had a great run of matches or a personality that would have elevated him beyond the midcard."

[7.0] "A fine technical wrestler with a good pool of moves, Inoue's main problem was his lack of a personality which meant he struggled to really connect as much as the masked characters like Liger and Tiger Mask or the charismatic Kanemoto and Minoru did, which kind of just left him as a guy, especially when he graduated to heavyweight, where there was an abundance of guys who were just guys. He had his career highlights and good matches but ultimately never reached the heights or level he should have, which is a bit crazy given how many chances he was given. Perhaps if New Japan had given him the HEAT character instead of Minoru Tanaka, it could have worked, especially since Minoru didnt really need a mask or a gimmick to get over and Inoue probably could have really used one."

[10.0] "I know people see him as some kind of past YOSHI-HASHI; a lifelong midcarder that struggles to get past any big accomplishment. But looking back at Inoue, he had somewhat a decent career. He succeeded as a junior wrestler (having the distinction of being the only winner of the tournament while holding the IWGP Junior belt), giving us great bouts with Christopher Daniels and Taguchi. And whether it was someone good as Kanemoto or someone bad as Giant Bernard, he was a good struggling holder. After he graduated to the Heavyweights, he became Yuji Nagata's disciplined "pupil" from Seigigun, enjoying little to nothing success. Overall, he was great, just needed to bright more."

[5.0] "Was ok as a tag or singles performer, but Inoue was just..... eh. He was good in ring, but not anything exciting. Had some decent explosive sequences, but flopped anywhere near the top of the juniors. Was a fun underdog, but not engaging character wise at all. He was probably the best example of a mid card guy: good for a harmless back and forward with other junior wrestlers and could make them look great, but was completely nothing when actually put on the main stage, which wasn't helped by the fact he kept getting those opportunities despite not living up to expectations."

[6.0] "A good midcarder, well suited to making his opponents look good by being thrown around the ring and kicked without mercy. Sadly this willingness to take big falls ultimately led to his retirement. However whenever he was given a push he floundered: his IWGP Jr Heavyweight reign was pretty much a dud despite being faced by big talent such as Christopher Daniels and Ryusuke Taguchi. Inoue was not bad by any stretch of imagination and was good at at the enhancement talent role, but that's about it."

[3.0] "I just looked up "bland" in the dictionary, and whaddaya know, a photo of Wataru Inoue showed up. The guy seemed to forever be a young up-and-comer, but he just never got anywhere interesting. Whenever he was given somewhat of a chance to shine, whether it be as top junior or as an overmatched-but-fiercely-competitive G1 participant, he just wasn't exciting in the least. For me, he was pretty much just a body to take up space on the roster, and I'd have preferred if he'd just been stuck in mindless 6-men tags instead of occasionally getting the spotlight."