Kaz Hayashi

[7.0] "As the last user said, Hayashi's impact on AJPW's Jr division can NOT be understated. This was a guy who had the belt for almost 700 days and was legendary back in old forum days for that reign since it included a ton of really top quality matches and angles; sadly many of these are lost since this was 2005/2010 AJPW where Gaora took down pretty much every concerted attempt to archive the shows, so now if you want to actually watch them you have to look on Chinese/Russian websites, super old video-hosting sites or....let's say more adult-rated areas of interest. If you know you know lol. But as a performer Hayashi was really agile in his youth and was one of the forgotten pioneers of the no-selling style heavy work of the 2000's and 2010's, but unlike a lot of his successors he knew how to work dynamics involving being a babyface, heel, working David/Goliath, limb-selling/targeting, all of the foundations pretty much. Unlike other lads like Marufuji I'd argue his background working under Hamada and Muto gave him elite ring smarts that let him make the best out of whatever he was given, WCW stint included. If you are ranking him purely on that then that's cool but please go try to find some of his more acclaimed Japan work while you're at it since it really does showcase a guy at the peak of his ability. Even when he cooled down afterwards and became mostly a tag specialist due to age/injuries I'd say he was still a good fixture of the W-1 shows he often appeared on. Heavily underestimated in favour of guys like KENTA and Marufuji, and that's just a shame."

"Kaz Hayashi in my opinion the greatest Junior Heavyweight in All Japan pro wrestlings history. After years of the division being undervalued and forgetten in exchange for a sole focus on heavyweight wrestling. Kaz Hayashi helped to show that AJPW could have a junior division on the level of other companies. One of the most underrated wrestlers of all time and I'm glad that he's still doing great things in GLEAT."

[5.0] "Another competent cruiserweight that never got a real chance to shine in late 90's WCW. Was just kinda there."

[7.0] "Another example of a great Japanese wrestler that went to the US and got completely shafted by the incompetent bookers of WCW. Still fun to watch in the ring, but knowing he'd pretty much always end up losing put a big damper on anything he was involved in."

[8.0] "In Michinoku Pro, Kaz, as Shiryu, was a top talent, a great worker, and carried his share of numerous great matches. In WCW, he was underutilized by a bunch of incompetent racists. In All Japan, he found his confidence and returned to his old form."