[5.0] "Gabe Kidd's antics are so ridiculous and silly that he comes across more like Mr. Furious from Mystery Men than the Incredible Hulk. He's a capable wrestler but he's trying WAYYYYY too hard to be seen as crazy and dangerous. It's pure impotent rage since he rarely intimidates anyone in kayfabe."
[3.0] "Count me as one of those perplexed by his high rating. Preferred The Dogs when it was just Clark and David and Gabe was back in Japan. I won't say that I hate him or that he completely sucks, I just don't want to see him on my TV or taking time from more the other talent in AEW that is better than him. I'm going to type one more sentence so my rating of this wannabe badass will be accepted by the system."
[2.0] "I actually despise Gabe Kidd. His character has got to be arguably the most cringe, hardest to watch character in all of pro wrestling. I mean this man literally said "Fuck off Yank" to a New Zealander. He's so unfunny and tries so hard to be intimidating but it just comes off as edgy teenager instead, in the ring he's also nothing special what so ever. A really abhorrent wrestler really who is just awful. 2"
[2.0] "My mind is genuinely blown by all the high scores here. I just don't get this guy at all. Outright fucking awful 'look how hard I am' sweary chav promos, facial expressions like he's holding in a shit, below average look, gear and ring work. The fact he's used so prominently says more about the current sad state of NJPW than anything else. If this is the future of Pro Wrestling I might just have to tap out. The very definition of 'go away heat'. Abysmal. .."
[2.0] "Huge deception, i was a big fan of Gabe Kidd a few months/years ago, i loved his match against Kaito Kiyomiya, Yota Tsuji and the match against Kenny Omega at Tokyo dome was really special, but since then, he losts himself with his gimmick "I'm a mad man you know" and he just become terrible, uninteressing and boring as hell. I just want to never see him in New Japan again, he's to boring now to be there,"
[4.0] "His esteem has fallen in my eyes. And by quite a lot too. A gimmick where I can see he's trying, but it feels way too one-sided that it ends up being annoying instead. His wrestling has only gotten worse too. Hoping to come back here and re-assess when (or if) he finds his fire again."
[5.0] "I would love to say that Gabe Kidd was able to ride the momentum from the Kenny Omega match into achieving great things, but as we now know, that's not the case. I feel vindicated in my original assessment in Gabe Kidd as when he originally joined the war dogs with Alex Coughlin, I considered him to be the weakest member of the group, He's now the weakest member of the dogs in AEW and has lost that special connection with New Japan fans. His gimmick feels incredibly tryhardy now like other users have previously mentioned and it doesn't really change or evolve, he's stagnated majorly to boot as a result of his lack of evolution since the match with Kenny."
[7.0] "Gabe Kidd is not a bad wrestler. He is quite good, actually. The problem with Gabe Kidd is that he overdoes the gimmick and it crosses the line from being enjoyable to being irritating. I know that the term "tryhard" gets thrown around a lot but it really does seem that the harder Gabe Kidd tries, the less the fans buy into him. I don't know if the man is aware that he courting X-Pac heat with the NJPW fans or not but he totally is. He's got it cranked up to eleven and he needs to dial it down to about a seven."
[2.0] "I don't get the hype behind Gabe Kidd, like at all. In fact, I can say I hate Gabe Kidd. The matches I've seen from him can range from good to bad. People really overhyped him after that Omega match from 2025. He's fine in the ring I guess, but just horrible on the mic. He has this style where he wants to do stupid things to get the crowd to react instead of actually wrestling. Other wrestlers are like that, but Gabe Kidd has done it in many matches that it starts to get super annoying."
[4.0] "Big ole Go Away Heat with this guy, I actually watched him in Whatculture when that was a thing and he had that losing streak. And then he goes to New Japan, and then he became this man-child, who curses all the time and tries to come across like he's hard.. has he heard his own voice? I think in-ring he's uh, okay-ish. I don't think there's anything special about him. The Omega match seems to be his standing legacy, which is crazy since I didn't think much of that match, except for wondering how Gabe bled from the front when he landed through a table.. why did he gig there and not the back of his like back or neck? It still perplexes me. Anyway Kaito Kiyomiya carried this guy to his best match, and I don't think he'll get better than that."
[2.0] "Overrated for sure. The guy acts like he's a loose cannon yet just does normal "wrestler" things. Below average in-ring, which is shocking really considering he has been in the business for 14 years. Mic work is dreadful, like beyond dreadful. The guy tries to come across like some kind of hard chav, when he's anything but. Injured more often than not too. Never had a good match. Can't cut a good promo. Doesn't have a good look. Just don't see any hype or potential in him. Only giving him a 2 because he doesn't stink the joint out (he's not far from it though)."
[0.0] "Gabe really needs to get over himself. He is not "hard", he is not "mad" - he's not even much of a wrestler. He's basically a football hooligan, no brains, can't fight - just pretends. In AEW, name one good match that he has had, the one with Darby was because Darby built it around himself, that's it."
[4.0] "I don't "get" him. I'm not sure what his character is meant to be. Sure he shouts about being a "mad bastard" but it comes across less as "mad bastard" and more "Middle-class teenager acting how he thinks gangsta is after watching Ali-G". In ring he's fine. Absolutely fine. But the man doing the moves takes me out of it."
[4.0] "Wildly inconsistent in the ring. His best matches are when the other guy is an elite ring worker and has to drag him to a good match. I don't see the hype he gets. As a personality he's just annoying. Let me flip everyone off and cuss repeatedly like a 10 year old who just discovered these things. Just not alot to see with him. Not gonna go 0 because it's not like he's the Great Khali in the ring, but he should be capable of alot more than he presents. Almost an instant channel change for me."
[4.0] "The difference between Gabe Kidd in Japan and America is like night and day. I find his work in Japan to be pretty good. It's nothing too special but he can put on a great match as we saw early in 2025. In AEW he just comes out so cringe to me. The madman and death riders mercenary stuff just doesn't click with me at all and it really effects the way I see him as a wrestler."
[7.0] "I could spend something close to an thousand characters with him, because the flaws about him are so fucking laughable that it can might came into that point for my own professional wrestling taste. Like, we can judge that there is three different types of Gabe Kidds. The one which existed before the pandemic era, which was so fucking bad. Them, we had a Dojo Kidd that existed for like, three years or less, already with some background and well trained by Katsuyori Shibata, able to perform some good in ring matches and maybe the best wrestler at the War Dogs stable at the time which Finlay fucking sucked. Them, it comes his legendary match with Kenny Omega...like, an good wrestler with good knowledge would make that match as his opportunity to rise, the opportunity to be himself, to shine and be the next gaijin on top of NJPW. However, he somehow didn't saw that angle, he understood that he needed to be NJPW soul, an clearly wrong mistake that only worked on his match with Omega became Omega left the company lol. He is the guy that made Tanahashi cry with an outstanding performance, and now he is at aew, stucked in a stable which he is not the best material on it. I hope he understood the mistake he did. That guy was supposed to be an nine for me, not an fucking seven. Almost gave an six, tbh."
[6.0] "Der Mann hat sich absolut gemacht. Niemals hätte ich mal gedacht das er sich selber so Over bringt. Bei NJ ist ist er absolutes Zugpferd und Fanliebling. Sein Style ist für einen Brawler schon sehr besonders. Das Match gegen Kenny war insane und ich hoffe das sein Aufstieg so weiter geht. Edit Wertung geändert weil er untreu ist."
[3.0] "Gabe Kidd is probably my pick for the most overrated U30 wrestler in the world. Could Gabe be good? Yes. Definitely. His striking is great, he has amazing lariats, he has shown solid technical ability & some solid selling. Where Gabe severely struggles is his character. The "shin nihon ichiban" gimmick was already corny asf & his run with the Death Riders made it even worse. Gabe is actively trying to be a WarDog, a Death Rider, & the ace of NJPW at the same time. His "madman" gimmick is genuinely god awful, and actively makes me dread him. Mate, you are a 28 year old man who had a breakdown on twitter over some of the most trivial shit ever, please stop crawling on the ground and going "FUCK YOU! " before you hit a piledriver in a match. It's corny as hell. Another issue is his look, like he genuinely either needs to go all out & get sleeves on his arms or he needs to let his hair grow back out. Because as of now, he looks like a genuine baby. I do think Gabe can be a good wrestler at times, and I'd be lying if I said I haven't popped during some of his matches. But his current character makes me so turned-off by him to where I have no interest to watch anything he's apart of. I hardly watched tag league because of him participating, I was thinking about not watching G1 until he got "injured", & his matches in AEW are genuine bathroom breaks for me."
"[9.0] gabe kidd Is a completely underated wrestler who despise people not moving on from his past has worked his ass off crawling his way back from hell to the top of njpw he had also moved on from Twitter out burst and seems to be in a way better mind set which I attribute to having his comfort wrestler Dan moloney around him all the time I have complete faith in him becoming champion again in njpw"
[8.0] "Cold take, but 95% of people disliking Gabe Kidd and criticizing him in 2025 is Tony Khan's fault for not understanding what Gabe's current character is or what he's supposed to be doing. Everything about his momentum and aura was ruined the moment he arrived in AEW and got thrown into a mixed bag of storylines that made no clear sense with his persona or his self-proclaimed status as Shin Nihon's Ace. If we consider everything that happened in AEW with Gabe Kidd as non-canon and focus entirely on his NJPW work, you can see a much sharper and more defined edge to his character because that's how it should have been from the start. He has solid mic skills, a raw and hard-hitting wrestling style that doesn't rely on flash, and he's good at storytelling inside the ring. If you still don't believe Gabe Kidd is bad because of AEW and Tony Khan's clueless booking, just look at how much praise Gabe received for his performance in the steel cage match against House of Torture, and you'll realize there's nothing wrong with Gabe Kidd. It's AEW and the casual viewers unfamiliar with NJPW who have twisted the perception of him."
[8.0] "The amount of hate I see for Gabe Kidd on Twitter and even on here a little lower down feels incredibly forced. People take away any form of contribution he brought to his match with Omega as 'Omega can have an MOTY contender with anybody.' but that's disingenuous when Kidd has had solid matches with Ishii, Tanahashi, Tsuji, and many others in the year since facing Omega. Let's face it; you don't like the gimmick and won't give him a chance. I get the gimmick is annoying. Hell, it annoys me. But he's also not even 30 years old yet and coming into his own with the character. He's had an outstanding year thus far, and once he figures it all out; a lot of people are going to look moronic for thinking there's been no upside for him when he's been carrying a lot of the promotion through 2025."
[5.0] "So he had one very good match with Omega? Big woohooo, Kenny could have a great 20 minute match with a life size Antonio Banderas love man. Ask Cartman. Or his mum. Suppose he doesn't make the DR any worse as they're rubbish anyway. His fundamentals are OK and he can bump but his whole neanderthal routine is already tired and no idea if he's capable of much else. Doesn't come over as hard, more like shit at reading. He'll have no problems with this comment then."
[7.0] "Ist mit unglaublich viel Momentum ins Jahr gestartet mit dem Banger gegen Kenny, aber nach dem ersten Match gegen Tsuji ging es für mich persönlich berg ab. Seine Matches sind gut und intensiv, aber auch immer ein bisschen zu viel. Seine Persönlichkeit ist ansich sehr interessant, aber irgendwann hat es für mich geflippt zu nem British ADHS Moxley. Ich hoffe er entwickelt sich weiter und wird etwas breiter in seiner Persönlichkeit und Wrestling Stil."
[7.0] "Gabe Kidd is a really hard one to rate, he puts on some great matches and his bout with Kenny in 2025 was a MOTYC, that being said his character work is a bit of a mess and his character is just all over the shop. He's simultaneously trying to be a War Dog, a member of Death Riders and the NJPW torchbearer, three strands which have not been properly tied together and result in a bit of a mess of a character. He is a very sound wrestler but needs to overcome his character and crowdwork shortcomings."
[8.0] "(8.2) Kidd is a very promising young wrestler and a fantastic all rounder. His mic work and in ring talent is great and he is still rapidly improving. He already has had multiple high profile matches and is having a fantastic 2025 with 2 MOTY contenders. Easily one of my favourites currently."
[6.0] "Kidd is frustrating. If he could simply get out of his own way then he'd be a really good wrestler. He has good impact behind all his big moves, his look isn't special but its somewhat distinctive, and let's just say he has no issue committing to a character. The issue, though, is that Kidd channels all his physicality and in-ring skills towards the most generic 50/50 "sTrOnG sTyLe" strikefest/bombfests imaginable -- the sort that were tiresome even in 2020 -- and he channels his character work towards being a mega dorky "badass hooligan" in the exact vein of what a 10-year-old boy likely thinks of as the epitome of cool and intimidating, which comes with all these laughable facial expressions and heavy-handed yelling, swearing, and obscene gestures just for the sake of it. Maybe this would all be somewhat excusable if the guy was the second coming of Kobashi, but he's really nothing beyond 'very good' at his absolute best (and anyways that 'greatness' was seen in a match against Kenny Omega of all people, who I'm sure could carry *me* to a 3-star match). It doesn't help that he also always throws in a lot of cheesy selling (think "Eddie Kingston" more so than "Toshiaki Kawada") and does many very predictable spots and sequences in the 2nd halves of his matches (e.g. I am beyond sick of seeing him do the "let me say 'f*ck you' before my opponent then quickly knocks me down with a big strike" spot), all of which naturally flows from his typically very generic and mindless "let's trade a bunch of stiff strikes and power moves" match structures. I constantly feel like I'm watching a subpar high-school drama student whenever Kidd attempts to 'act' in any way, simply because he has no regard for preserving any sense of subtly. No, he needs to make sure to pull all his facial expressions as strenuously as possible, and to YELL and sneeeeer with as much gusto and venom as possible. Finally, and leading on from his serious lack of subtly, he has a really bad case of "main-character syndrome", where he very clearly tries to carefully orchestrate a lot of would be "spotlight" moments where he'll take CINEMATIC poses, positions, and expressions, where you can almost hear him screaming "PLEASE LOOK HOW ARTFUL I'M BEING RIGHT NOW". This could be him "impressively" collapsing in a heap with his opponent after they trade big strikes, or him slowly firing up in response to his opponent trying to beat him down or hitting him with a single big move, which are always the sort of moments that feel far too attention-seeking and plain hollow, as if true emotion can't be captured without turning everything into an in-your-face pantomime display. If he somehow magically decides to take his matches in far more creative directions, tightens up the more over-choreographed parts of his in-ring work, and finally realises that he needs maybe only 15% the sort of intensity that he's currently bringing, then Kidd could be a genuinely very good or even great wrestler. He's at least had a handful of matches that I thought were really good, and the Omega match was great (way overrated but still great, even if, again, it was against Omega of all people), so there's definitely an impressive worker in there somewhere; Kid just needs to let that worker out and instead throw away both the high-school drama student and the mind-numbing '50/50 strikefest/bombfest' fanboy."
[7.0] "Gabe Kidd is a great wrestler until he opens his mouth lol, just kidding. But his mic skills aren't great. Everything else is solid, and he even has a knack for creating memorable moments, which puts him a bit ahead of his peers. I'm really optimistic about his future in that regard."
[8.0] "Gabe Kidd is the personification of the UK street boy character and has played his part to perfection. Over the past two years he has not only improved his brawling style greatly, but also his character work, promos, and in-ring nuance. Kidd is one of the top young wrestling stars in the world and his involvement with Bullet Club War Dogs has been very enjoyable. His match with Kenny Omega was many people's first experiences with him, so I recommend checking out the War Dogs feud with United Empire, and his NJPW Strong matches. Extremely bright future that I only expect this rating to go up."
[9.0] "He is the future and might as well be the now with New Japan. Shoutout to Kenny Omega for elevating him to new heights and getting him over as the hottest act in Japan right now. Shibata trained him well and Gabe is only going to get better. Yes I see the complaints about his gear, but that's his gimmick at this point in time, he is NEW JAPAN, that's literally his gimmick, and it seems to be working based off those crowd reactions he's getting so why should it matter? But Gabe is probably the best brawler in the game right now, that can hang with the technical wrestlers too and tear the house down. He's only 27 so imagine how good he'll be in a couple years. future IWGP champ, hate all you want but he has that IT factor that you can't teach. Charismatic as all hell. How can you not be entertained by this man's work."
[6.0] "Doesn't work for me, brother. Looks like a big baby in a diaper in his boy shorts gear. I get the reveal of the NJPW logo in the Kenny return match. But I feel he'd benefit from a gear change. Also, don't buy his, quite frankly, s*** promos about how hard he is. Yeah, I've seen his matches. You know the finish is pre-determined, right? For me, his ego seems like the tallest thing to ever exist, but with the strength of toilet paper. I grew up around gang culture, and let me tell you, this man, is not hard."
[8.0] "My favourite Young Lion since Okada. He is an excellent brawler and a pretty good catch wrestler as well. His work has been the most interesting thing in New Japan since Ospreay left. Gabe and Yota Tsuji are those two guys that New Japan needs to push to the top of the main event scene."
[10.0] "I think he is my favourite young star. I like his style and he got a lot of potential. I get why people can dislike him but for me he is very entertaining and unique. He for sure will became iwgp champion one day and i can't wait for that, hope that it will happen in the next year wrestlekingdom."
[10.0] "I don't have any kind of doubt that he's a young guy in complete ascent, creating history from young age in WCPW, after called Defiant, having great successes in GCW, Hustle, DEFY and other American brands, with his short age, heading NJPW's War Dogs, an complete wrestling style with a lot of rudeness and brutality, having a great display of power in the ring, a great talent in Dynasty with Kenny Omega, I'm not surprised that's where he is, this 2025 and surely 2026, even more years, will have at least more than five excellent title reigns and moments of great recognition. From this date on, I consider that he is the best talent we're going to see in 2025."
[6.0] "Gabe Kidd is some kind of 'living embodiment of cringe' type of wrestler... I'm definitely not a fan, I mean, he is capable of having good matches, he's a decent brawler, can work stiff, he's not garbage, but he's a try harder, and that really bothers me, the guy keeps trying to act tough, like he's some kind of modern day Stan Hansen, but he's just a kid who imitates Conor McGregor and looks fool, at least in my vision. If this whole cringe tentative of looking badass is some kind of parody or something like that, the guy is good at it, because it's really irritating, and harms most of his matches. He's the definition of a snowflake who tries to be radical at any cost. EDIT: obviously raising this up a little after the Omega match, he was tremendous there, a breakout performance, but I still stand by everything I've said in my rating, I hope that when the inevitable main event rise happens, he brings more of this energy and keep getting better, he's very young, maybe as a babyface I like him better."
[10.0] "One of the best on the planet really. Hes insanely tough, incredible promos, and he has had some of my favorite matches over the past few years, like his matches with HENARE, Shingo, ZSJ, Ospreay, Omega, Akira among others. He is the future of NJPW without a shadow of a doubt."
[10.0] "I promised to upgrade this to a 10 if he puts on 5-star matches and he just did with Kenny in the Tokyo Dome. Gabe Kidd is a generational talent and maybe the best thing to ever come out of the young lion system. Violent, chaotic, charismatic, unique and compelling, Gabe is the future, Gabe is New Japan, Gabe IS wrestling!"
[6.0] "Gabe Kidd is one of those wrestlers where it is criminal that he doesn't get the attention he deserves within the community of professional wrestling. In that sense, he's completely underrated. At the same time however, within the community that does actually know him and pay attention to him, oh my fucking god he is so overrated. I see people saying everywhere that he's carrying the War Dogs and he's gonna be the next face of the Bullet Club, but I can not see that working at all. I mean, I can see why people think that, he's loud and charismatic, but a lot of the time this fucking guy is just way over the top. One can only swear so many times in once match until it gets boring, and then Gabe Kidd takes it a step further and makes it his whole personality, doing it every single match. He tries to turn every match into some big bloody brawl, I mean this guy is brutal, which at times creates some very entertaining matches, but he just does it way too damn much. I agree that he is a prospect, I was pumped to see what he had stored when he joined the War Dogs with his ape shit personality, but eventually he made me realize that being loud and swearing all the time doesn't make you cool. He needs to figure out the right moments to do that. Still, I can't complain too much about New Japan's choice to pick him as Kenny Omega's opponent at Wrestle Dynasty. He can be really entertaining in a big spotlight such as Tokyo Dome, but outside of those big spotlight performances, I dread his matches."
[10.0] "My favorite wrestler today, maybe the future top gaijin of New Japan, and could be arguably one of the best gaijin of the company's history. Gabe's story since his Japan's debut, with his struggles and down, made him insanely loveable, despite he is a heel. See him as a champion mean a lot. He is the perfect addition to the japanese babyface of the New Generation Shota Umino, Yota Tsuji and Yuya Uemura. He has a lot of stories with them and other members like Henare and Kosei Fujita. New Japan could build the 10 next years on the shoulders of Gabe. I can see him winning the G1 and the IWGP World Title."
[9.0] "I have been able to see the evolution of Gabe Kidd since his losing streak days of WCPW, and now as perhaps the best wrestler and character worker in New Japan. Dude is seriously intense and stiff in a company full of other stiff and intense workers. If Gabe Kidd somehow retires without a proper World Title reign in his career, that is a shame."
[10.0] "Genuinely one of the best in New Japan right now and the fact that he isn't even 30 is stunning to even think about, they need to cash-in on him more because where it stands right now, he might be the best young talent in the company, electric talker, stellar brawler, and his match with Kaito was one of the best I've seen this year and that isn't even mentioning the stellar matches he's had with Shingo, Zack, Henare, and the UE-BC cage match, he's just amazing overall and one of my absolute favorites right now, the sky is the limit for this guy... 10/10."
[10.0] "I remember watching Gabriel Kidd in WCPW in 2016/17. Back then he was a generic underdog babyface in an indy promotion. Only a few years later and he's far from generic. He's the highlight of the Bullet Club, and one of the highlights of the entire company. His matches against Shingo Takagi, Zack Sabre Jr and Kaito Kiyomiya have been some of my favourites in the last year or so."
[10.0] "10/10! He's a MAD DOG YA KNOW! Seeing his growth from WCPW to now is so impressive and he's without a doubt one of my favorite wrestlers and is carrying NJPW alongside others such as ZSJ, Tsuji. & Umino. Some might say he just screams a bunch(which is true lol). However, underneath that is a true grappler and a hell of an awesome one! I can't wait what the future holds for him as he's a definite star!"
[10.0] "Gabe Kidd has finally made it to be THE most interesting character in current NJPW (even if the company is on bad momentum). His character of being an arrogant and unpredictable character fits him like a glove. He currently (even if he is a heel) had an insane underdog run and it's looks like the future of 'War Ready' Gabe Kidd shines bright"
[10.0] "Gabe Kidd captures my heart in a way very few wrestlers have ever managed to, he's the perfect "over heel" to me and everything he does just pops. His strikes are phenomenal and he always gives everything he has in him to the fans while simultaneously telling the to off themselves."
[10.0] "A special, special talent. I've been on the Gabe Kidd bandwagon since before the pandemic, and he is reaching the potential WCPW viewers knew he had. Japanese fans reaction to him, evidenced in particular in his matches against the likes of outsider Kiyomiya and villainous EVIL, are reserved only for the very best gaijins such as Prince Devitt, Kenny Omega, Will Ospreay. New Japan need to push him to the moon, and reap the rewards. Give him the platform and opportunity, and he's one of the best in the world, without a single doubt in my mind."
[10.0] "No matter what he used to be like.Now he is the best foreign wrestler in New Japan.The matches with Shingo and HENARE this year proved he is a good wrestler.And his promo about New Japan give titles to ex WWE guys make me love him.Hope you have a good future in New Japan."
[10.0] "Gabe Kidd is one of the best workers in NJPW. He has great character work and gets a reaction from the crowd. He also has very good wrestling skills. A lot of people will remember him from his days in WCPW and what a change not only in his look but persona. There are few standout performers in NJPW and Gabe is at the top of the list along with Yota. With losing Okada and Ospreay to AEW, and losing Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa to WWE, as well as the decline in Naito and Ishii, they are needing talent to step up. Hopefully NJPW realizes the value they have in Gabe."
[9.0] "Took a minute for him to click but by god did he. Gabe shows himself week in, week out as the true breakout star of New Japan. Whereas his age group rivals like Yuya Uemura, Yota Tsuji and Shota Umino have hit stumbling blocks on their paths forward, no such thing has happened to Gabe. His long standing feud with Eddie Kingston and his incredible matches against Shingo Takagi, Kaito Kiyomiya and Eddie himself have cemented him, in my eyes, as the one true future star NJPW has on hand."
[10.0] "Gabe Kidd is the true breakout star of the new generation, in the the new era of New Japan, not the three musketeer, not David Finlay, not TJP, not Yuya. He isn't just the embodiment of the bullet club spirit, he isn't just one of the best representation of Tamashi, of the Strong Style, he isn't just someone that delivers the best scathing promo, he isn't just someone that have the most entertaining twitter game, he isn't just one of the prolific wrestlers that delivers in matches wherever he goes, he isn't just one of the best brawler of this time. He is all of that combined. He is HIM."
[10.0] "Gabe Kidd seemed like he'd be underrated as a wrestler. Enjoyed him in WCPW until the "kiss my feet" era after he won the Internet title. Early NJPW run was fine, but the current Bullet Club stuff is where he's hooked me. Seeing that he joined Bullet Club was WILD to me at first and I was happy to see that he'd now become an 'official' member (Remember the tag match where him, the Bucks and Cole took on The Prestige? That was a fun match) and he got off to a great start beating Bishamon with Coughlin for the STRONG belts. The G1 wasn't the best, just a bunch of jumping his opponents before they could get to the ring. Except the Umino, Narita and Kiyomiya matches, which were really good. Tag League was nice to see him and Coughlin do well in. Don't see why they had to lose to Gates of Agony, but the matches with TMDK, HoT and such were nice. Wasn't a fan of the count out loss to Kiyomiya and Oiwa either. It's unfortunate that he's not on the Wrestle Kingdom card, but he should be at Battle in the Valley to fight Eddie Kingston and I expect that to be a good match. Hoping him and Coughlin win the tag belts in the future since they have amazing chemistry together. EDIT: This rating is increasing now because he's done really well for himself now. He had a great showing in the cage match against UE and his match against HENARE in the run-up was great and showed how good the two of them are in singles matches when given the chance. It's unfortunate that Coughlin retired and their tag run was cut short and I wish Coughlin the best in retirement. However, since then, Kidd has been killing it! The NEVER title match against Shingo was excellent and I loved it, as much as I was slightly disappointed that Kidd didn't win the belt. Then he went and wrestled an incredible match against Kingston for the STRONG title. I'm hoping that Kidd unifies the STRONG and NEVER belts since the STRONG belts are all pretty much useless right now."
[10.0] "I've been watching Gabe since his losing streak in WCPW, and it's amazing to see the kind of wrestler he has become. He is bringing an edge and a danger back to a relatively stale NJPW product, which has suffered greatly with its recent losses. Gabe seems like the man to lead a new generation, bring back fighting spirit and true Strong Style!"
[10.0] "I don't understand why Gabe Kidd hasn't been given a 10 yet, he's so fresh and it really helps a struggling NJPW product. Not only this, but Gabe's current undergoing narrative of destroying NJPW in revenge for what the company has done to him is genuinely a really awesome story and he's so captivating when expressing such. I personally love all the War Dogs, but Gabe seems a huge step ahead of everyone in the faction and is one of the best promo's in the company. It's hard for me to figure out why people like Kingston & Mox get so much more love when Gabe basically is on the same level as them."
[8.0] "i dont know why his rating is this low, he is great in both tag team action and specially in singles action. He is very young and have a lot of potential and i am very excited to see him in future."
"Gabe Kidd does something very few heels do in 2024, he makes you believe for the physical safety of the face. Fantastic talent if given more airtime in Finley s Bullet Club I'd expect to see him in the main event picture."
[8.0] "Gabe is very very good and wrestles exactly the style I love. If you see him live, keep your eyes on him, he is always "on" in terms of his work even on the outside in a multiman tag. He gets it. We live in a world where people don't really understand character work and blend too much in of real life, his character works because he is over sincere and an underlying insecurity. My major criticism of his character work currently is the constant "I am a mad man innit", show, don't tell."
[8.0] "Gabe Kidd is a guy who gets it. People may find him annoying since he doesn't have the typical slick mafia-like coolness past members (or even other current members) of Bullet Club have had, but in just this year he's gone from a mad shouty british man who swears every other word to this brash but still vulgar attitude more similar a cocky UFC fighter. He takes a moveset very much inspired by his mentor and teacher Shibata and uses it to fit the stiff tough gaijin heel stereotype to amazing results. His mic ability as previously mentioned has gotten better too, after his feud with Ospreay he's gone from just cussing people out to have definition about him and how he really does have respect for the sport and what the company represents but just not the fans and people running it, bolstering his fighting character. Whether it's all out tough guy wars with Eddie Kingston or HENARE, or classic njpw style match ups with fellow young guys like Narita, Gabe gets standout recognition amongst the War Dog frat boys and there's a good reason for it, hopefully 2024 holds big things for him as he's shown he can handle it."
[3.0] "A very infuriating wrestler. Cocky, bad attitude and incredibly dumb. We're meant to believe he's a similar level to someone like Will Ospreay but he's probably got a tenth of his talent, combined with every negative aspect of Ospreay's character. Bang average and over booked in comparison to a Luke Jacobs."
[1.0] "Entire character is just him swearing and acting like a chav that will have a tantrum if he doesnt get his way. Character just feels like its him shouting at people for a fight, but then cant handle it when people fight back. Bullet club has just gone down hill and he cant cut a promo its him just shouting F*CK YOU BRUV ILL KILL YOU. Boring."
[9.0] "Gabe Kidd is pretty good in the ring, with some crisp, hard-hitting offense, but his charisma and mannerisms are what really make him stand out. A Kidd match is something you look forward to just to see what crazy shit he'll pull off, and a Kidd promo is an absolute must-watch. Everything the guy says is instantly quotable, especially his 'I'm a madman, you know.' Genuinely can't get enough of him, and I hope he goes far. If they ever need someone to take Bullet Club's reigns from Finlay, this is the man right here."
[7.0] "Super talented young man, although I find his gimmick of constantly assaulting everyone out of nowhere so nonsensical and personally think makes him look stupid. But still, let's give Gabe his flowers for everything he did to reach so far. He managed to find himself after numerous months stuck in Japan during the pandemic, and facing certain mental issues that kept him away for a while to help his well being. I say it was all worth it, because now, the little troublemaking brother of the Wardogs is a loose cannon that shined on the G1 and instantly became a champion. His tremendous arsenal of dirty tactics, constant swearing and brutal brawling makes him unique among his peers. He will go even far for sure."
[8.0] "One of the newest members of the Bullet Club, Kidd is a good tag team specialist that has shown his worth as a solo competitor in the G1 Climax in 2023. An energetic and chaotic brawler, Kidd always looks like he could rip your eyes off their socket if you even looked at him for a split-second too long. Kidd looks like he has a bright future ahead of him."
[9.0] "New Japan gave him an opportunity with this G1 Climax 33 and I think Gabe Kidd went beyond expectations. He is a great wrestler and played his heel role perfectly, being able to get a lot of heat while having these great brawls with a lot of intensity and stiff shots. Great ability to build rivalries. Good promos with this role of psycho who can barely stay in place. He surely is a future world champion. I'm sure he's not even at his peak but he's already an amazing wrestler."
[8.0] "This guy was not really on my radar until recently but by gawd is he good. This current G1 run he's on has an shown that he has top gaijin heel potential. I was aware of him as a Young Lion but definitely did not see this kind of potential then. This guy's a killer. Looking forward to seeing where NJPW takes him. Starting at 8 so that there's room to up my rating if need be."
[8.0] "Gabe is very promising, super young and yet has been around high level competition for quite a while now. I think that New Japan is the right company for him to take his act to the next level and he has all the tools to do it, if management sees his potential and decides to give him a proper chance at breaking out I'm almost sure he will not disappoint (and in many ways he is already proving it this G1, even though he's still forcibly limited by the type of character that the War Dogs are portraying). Excellent brawler, very good technician and character work is continuously improving, I think the sky is the limit for him."
[7.0] "Kidd has the solid fundamentals you'd come to expect from the training he's had from not only Marty Jones, but, also Shibata. He has great timing, selling, and most of all pacing. His side headlocks have the hallmarks of a man trained in the best ways. He started at a such a young age that you can see even as Young Lion/LA Dojo guy he stands out as dripping with in-ring experience and ability to work a crowd. He's clearly picked up Japanese lately and seem to want to understand the Japanese crowd as well. He seems destined to take the sort of fast track Jay White had and he's always fun to watch."
[8.0] "I know him since 2016 and was one of the best underdogs in the indies that I've seen. Now he is a different wrestler with tons of potential waiting for his opportunity. His rivalries with ZSJ and Akira will continue to evolve in the coming months and I can't wait to see him at his peak at New Japan."
[8.0] "I am a big fan of Gabriel Kidd, have been since What Culture Pro Wrestling. He's great in ring, cuts very good passionate promos. I think he's got a bright future with NJPW."
[8.0] "Folk need to update their ratings on Gabriel Kidd. He is legitimately a great wrestler right now, even if he wasn't five years ago. He is a damn good technical wrestler and, after training in New Japan, has an "edge" to him and has become an excellent brawler. I'm excited to see just how far he can go."
[8.0] "Brillant wrestler. Very convincing and does the fundamentals very well, as you'd expect from an LA Dojo graduate. Seems like a sound lad which always helps, but goes hard in the ring. Liked him for a while but just watched his High Stakes match with Fransesco Akira and he was superb. Excited to see what he does in the future as he's only 24, a lot of potential."
[7.0] "Man, the ratings here since he joined NJPW boggle my mind. He's mainly being criticized for not having a gimmick and having a basic move set, but that's the M. O. of a young lion. He's improved a ton since joining NJPW, especially in the past year, where getting stuck in Japan because of the pandemic has benefit him greatly. His growth in just two years has been substantial, and if he continues to develop at the same pace, the sky's the limit. I think in a couple of years, people will be eating their words and updating their ratings, as I have a gut feeling he's gonna be turning a lot of heads."
[6.0] "Since Kidd is only a Young Lion I can't really give him over a 6 right now. But this guy is going to be a star for New Japan in the future. His fundamentals are solid as a rock and his Robinson-style Butterfly Suplex is always a joy to watch. The Young Lion formula puts a certain ceiling on what he can display, but I'm confident that once the pandemic ends and he gets an excursion under his belt, he'll be having killer matches and realizing his potential. I'm not gonna go overboard and say he's a future IWGP Heavyweight champ, but it wouldn't at all be unreasonable to predict Gabriel Kidd as a future British Heavyweight champ and solid UK name for NJPW."
[6.0] "These ratings are shambolic. Gabriel Kidd looks good, talks good, has something to him, obviously needs lots of work, he is a young lion, but he's progressing well in his NJPW career."
[5.0] "Not familiar with his work pre-NJPW but as a Young Lion he isn't impressive yet. Solid basics but I haven't seen anything that would make him stand out."
[4.0] "He had some good matches in Defiant/WCPW, but since coming to NJPW, he's done really nothing with himself that makes me interested as him as a wrestler. He's quite green in the ring and the "he's young" excuse doesn't really work when female wrestlers multiple years younger than him can put on a far greater bout. If you can't even have a remarkable showing against Nagata of all people, you've got a problem. Granted, he does have a lot of time to improve, but I haven't seen anything to justify him beyond where he is at the moment. It's good to see that he's put on a bit of mass however, considering his look in Defiant/WCPW was incredibly unconvincing for a mid card heel who beats up guys taller and bigger than him."
[3.0] "Kidd has a head start on his fellow Young Lions, but I'm not impressed with him at all. He acts like he's hot shit but he has absolutely zero charisma and I can't think of a single match of his that I was impressed by. The fact that he's allowed wrist tape and kneepads is beyond me."
[8.0] "People are way too critical of Kidd here and I see that most reviews are slightly dated, and I know a couple years isn? t necessarily ? dated? but considering he was only born in 97 one year is a lot of time for development. His in ring skills have improved immensely. Seeing him as a mid sized Angry brute wailing on people with punches, forearms, and elbows is great because it? s very believable and fits well with this disassociated cowardly yet cocky heel he is at least in Defiant. He started in WCPW with little mic skill and not much in ring ability, but picked it up quickly and has RARELY had a bad match. Both in ring and mic skills have lots of room for improvement but honestly it? s obvious he gets it and will pick these up in a long lasting gimmick soon. His final character work with Defiant was great and established him as an upper mid card at the least in that promotion and if the brand carried on longer he would have made an amazing World Champion by this time next year. His Ironman match with Hendry used as his departure was a brilliant finish and even though his character was what it was it was plain to see the Defiant faithful were in shock, awe and horror when he lost the stipulation and had to leave the company. Everyone had seen him grow and fight hard his whole WCPW career and was one of the most emotional events recently in wrestling. I give him a rating of 8 because he has an extreme amount of potential and I believe he will flourish wherever he goes. Proper booking and gimmick work will only show that he deserves this rating, and perhaps will have the potential to eventually receive one point higher."
[6.0] "Gabriel Kidd has all the makings of a UK break out star in a few years. He is lacking in experience but he is a solid low to mid-card talent on any show and the fans have taken to him so it will be nice to see him continue to grow and develop."
[3.0] "Kidd has a long way to go. Currently has a very generic look and move set although he has improved greatly over the last year he still needs to work on his ring work mic skills and look and gimmick. Currently rather forgettable."
[7.0] "Gabriel Kidd is growing to be quite quite the wrestler, I am excited to him grow as wrestler. Him at just 127 cagematch documented matches is pretty impressive."
[3.0] "I am not too sold on Gabriel Kidd as of yet, I don't see anything that impressive in him, Maybe this is due to his age? He may improve in the future and my opinion may change, but for not I am not a fan at all."
[3.0] "Er ist jung, okay und ich erwarte von niemandem U25, dass er so ist wie ein Tyler Bate oder Will Ospreay, aber er ist halt einfach nicht gut. Im Ring sehr sloppy, am Mikrofon schwach und auch sonst nichts was ihn als Charakter und Wrestler ausmacht. Schlichtes Aussehen und schlichter Ring Stil. Nicht ausreichend."
[8.0] "He has shown incredible progress between the ropes during last year and he's only going to be better from now on, especially considering how little experience and age he has. His recent matches were really good and here's to WCPW - I have a lot bad things to say about them, but they really created themselves 'their' wrestler and gave him opportunity to showcase potential he possesses. Watch his matches here - especially two with ZSJ. - and you won't be dissapointed. Excited by his upcoming debut for ICW in Edinburg."
"He has surpirsed me at WCPW No Regrets, so I have changed my rating for him. He has the pretty good arsenal of moves, he just needs some kind of character to play."
[6.0] "Gabriel Kidd has shown bags of potential at WCPW, and at only 20 years of age he has plenty of time to improve. Now he's their Internet Champion we'll get to see just how good he can be."
[5.0] "At 19, Gabriel Kidd has tons of potential, yes- he's still rusty at the minute, but he never fails to put up a decent match, whether it's his work with Prince Ameen in WCPW, or in various indie promotions such as LCW, he never fails to entertain me, he's had brilliant matches against the likes on Joseph Conners, Johnny Mundo and Marty Scurll, and is improving week by week. He's not great on the mic, but he makes up with that with his natural charisma and all round in ring ability. He's not great, but he's decent."
[6.0] "Gabriel Kidd is 19 years old and is consistently putting on great matches. His main outlet is WCPW but he has had matches with superstars such as Joseph Conners up and down the country. Kidd could really come into his own within the next few years or months and his rating could shoot up."
[3.0] "Zumindest bei WCPW macht er weder am Mic noch im Ring einen sonderlich guten Job. Klar, er ist noch sehr jung (was man ihm auch ansieht, der Junge sieht echt nicht all zu gefährlich aus) aber mich unterhält er nicht. Als Wrestler hat er sehr viel Luft nach oben und er könnte ruhig auch mal anfangen die Moves zu sellen."
