Masahito Kakihara

[10.0] "Really fiery and gutsy grappler who throws some really strong strikes and suplexes. His matches with Kanemoto disprove the notion that he can't fit in well with traditional puro styles and even his singles against Fujiwara in 2017 he showed a lot of determination and technique despite being long past his best."

[7.0] "I should say that Kakihara is a solid shoot style wrestler: very convincing and his strikes are hard and legitimately painful from what I've seen. He can really make a fight look "real" to a sense because of his sharp technical work and how he'll fight for every hold he grabs on. When translating that into his AJPW work, it's not always perfect: other wrestlers usually have to wrestle in more shoot-style in terms of their ring work with him and those that don't end up looking rather awkward. Guys like Misawa, who couldn't really wrestle like this, struggle to make any sort of technical work with himself look actually good and not clunky as anything. This is his main issue in that he can't wrestle traditional style wrestling or go for working holds, you HAVE to sprawl and grab a leg or a arm with him, no exceptions. He can play a basic face or heel, through his strengths shine better when he was more of a cocky heel who was willing to beat the crap out of anyone who looked at him funny. I mostly know him through AJPW material but he was always a solid hand, through more in tags than in singles, namely because he can't sell sustained limb work to save his life. Seriously, he gets up from stuff like a Kobashi Lariat in seconds without a pause, even if he's getting pinned. Utter shame about him being forced to retire when he was relatively young: having a mid 2000's NJPW Jr division with him around could've been quite the interesting thought."

[7.0] "Masahito Kakihara is the kind of wrestler that satisfies me, he have nice Shoot Kicks and good Technician skills, but he's bad at selling and can be poor with timing."

[7.0] "Masahito Kakihara suffered from the same curse as Lance Storm: in the ring he was great. While his MMA-inspired offense is what immediately springs to mind I think his selling was his greatest asset. He was amazing at selling a beating and everything his opponents did looked great. Unfortunately just like Lance Storm he was a charisma black hole of such dimensions he threatened to engulf anybody stepping in the ring with him. In UWF that mattered to a point, but in AJPW and NJPW, even with 'Inokism' in full swing, that was a major problem which kept him confined to the enhancement talent role, a role he filled extremely well and without complaining. I've read he's making constant improvements following the terrible spinal injuries which ended his career and it's always a great thing to see him make a 'feelgood' appearance in the ring because he's one of those guys who just deserved more than what life served them."

[8.0] "Masahito Kakihara was something of an underrated worker, in part because his career ended rather abruptly thanks to illness, but also because a lot of his earlier work was in the UWF and UWF-I, promotions that didn't get a lot of notice from fans of traditional style wrestling. Kakihara was really good at the worked shoot style, and he transitioned very well when making the move to New Japan and that more traditional style."

[8.0] "Underrated underdog who comes out swinging for the fences and works hard both on top and underneath. Great energy, never backs down from a challenge, quick hands and good counter-based wrestling ability. His KakiRide produce show is one of the most "feel good" wrestling shows of 2017. I'm hoping we see him back in the ring on a more frequent basis as he continues to recover."