YOH

[2.0] "I actively, potentially irrationally, detest YOH as a wrestler. Ever since his time in RPG3K I have never liked what he brings to the table. He's always been an inferior performer to SHO, even after SHO devolved after joining the House. In-ring he's functional but really nothing more than that as his best matches have been against guys who are significantly better than him in basically every category. The whole "weird pervert artist" shtick hits "do literally anything else with my time besides watch this" territory for me. He's probably the least deserving Jr. Heavyweight Champion in the title's history, and his defences all being mediocre attest to that. He's the epitome of what's wrong with the Jr. division at the moment, and hopefully he's a one and done as far as being champion goes."

[7.0] "I was pretty harsh on YOH for years due to his inconsistent presentation and frequent injuries. He's grown on me since finding his niche as a lower card comedy worker. Despite this I think that he, like his former partner SHO, may have peaked far too early in his career and cannot shake a certain feeling of disappointment in all of his stuff post Roppongi 3K."

[7.0] "YOHs always been good. He was always overlooked when he was a team with SHO, and even now (albeit due to injury) hasn't done much. He's had some great matches after splitting with SHO, but in his teams with Lio and Rocky, he again got overlooked. Hopefully he gets a good run in 2025 so he can be used to his full potential that he hasn't shown but know he has."

[5.0] "Could have been something but was either never given the chance or didn't have the skills. If you had told me in 2017 when him and SHO came back from excursion that by 2023 neither would have been a junior champion I would have been flabbergasted. A shame as that rivalry could have carried the Junior division side by side with Despy/Hiromu."

[9.0] "I really dont understand the low score for YOH. The guy was never bad but hes improved so much since splitting from SHO. Hes had a ton of great matches and has improved his character work since then. He didnt stand out too much during his Roppongi 3K days, but his current run has been good and his tag team with Lio Rush was a breath of fresh air for that division. I fully expect him to be IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion sooner than later."

[8.0] "Good, but not great. I can see why they decided to have SHO withdrew the team, because apparently YOH has been more focused on music than wrestling, and I don't even say that in kayfabe mood. Could be a whole lot better if he decided to ooze more charisma and willing to work intense without being carried instead of his "I am trying to sync" bs. Keeping on this rhytim, and YOSHI-HASHI won't have to worry about being in the shadow of anyone, periodically. Edit: It's 2023, and YOH evolved to a better personality, finally managing to get off from that past depressive aura of his. After BOSJ 2022, he showed he could come back from the deep and teaming with Lio Rush reinvigorated him even more. From 5.0, YOH's an 8.0 for me now. Recently, during BOSJ 30, YOH managed to increase his charisma by becoming somewhat of a trickster, stealing huge victories, and having tremendous matches so far. Doing better than SHO, who is always letting us down with those HOT crap."

[5.0] "A solid worker but never anything more than that. All his great matches have been with top level workers so he's yet to show that he himself has good psychology. He's got decent fire in the underdog babyface role but up until very recently, didn't have the character work to go with it. He's finally starting to show signs of growth so maybe he can still take that next step."

[7.0] "I don? t think he deserves the low rating, hes at least a 7 for me. I don? t think he? ll ever be at the top of the Juniors division, although I could see him being a transitional champion though. I think he? s best in a tag team, but can have a banger with the right opponent."

[9.0] "Yoh is one of the best underdogs in NJPW. I don? t know why he has such a low rating, but for me personally, he is progressing every day. Yoh is very good in the ring, he wants to empathize. Over the last couple of years, he's clearly grown on the mic, putting out some good promos, a few of which have touched the core. Every match with Hiromu reveals Yoh in any role. Their last match is the most emotional of their series. I like such people and I think that he is underestimated in vain"

[4.0] "YOH is not very good in my opinion. I find his work to be pretty boring, in every aspect. He's had a pretty recent bad run in the BOTSJ."

[6.0] "Technically pretty good with a good physique. Unfortunately, he has zero charisma, zero mic skills and none of his work particularly pops."

[7.0] "YOH is the definition of satisfactory. He is good, but not great. He is fantastic in tag matches being a solid hot tag, but he is much better at being the babyface being worked on. The biggest problem with YOH is not even his fault: SHO is too good. SHO and YOH will forever have a link, and being linked to the guy who Tanahashi sees as a successor to him is not good. Satisfactory singles guy, and great tag team guy. YOH gets a 7. But once Roppongi 3K splits, I am afraid YOH will get stuck in YOSHI-HASHI territory. Mid card for life."

[5.0] "Very solid midcarder and good tag wrestler, but he lacks charisma and is generally unsuited as a singles competitor to anything going over ten minutes. He has a great physique but that's about it as his present gimmick is somewhere between laughable and pathetic. I mean, the guy is 30 or so and is made to dress and act like he's 17. It's not exactly a recipe for success and I don't envy the poor guy, no matter how popular he's with the ladies. I think there's a nice midcard spot for him in NJPW but he really needs a better gimmick because the goofy handsigns and getup scream "Enhacement Talent for Life"."

[6.0] "Touted as the better talent out of him and Sho and young lions, Yoh finally debuted on the main roster in 2017 and has massively underwhelmed the entire time, especially compared to his great partner, Sho. The main thing I enjoy about Yoh is his strong babyface selling. I think he does extremely well as the babyface in peril, trapped in a hold and desperate to fight off his opponent and tag Sho in, then maybe come back later on and hit an exciting flurry or maybe a big power move to make up for his previous suffering. Yoh sadly underperforms outside of this area. His offence is flashy, but he often doesn't have the athleticism or physicality to perform his big moves at an appropriate level, often hitting his spots with poor technique or poor impact. He isn't the sort of guy to put together a thrilling finishing stretch in the typical NJPW style, and that's basically a death sentence for a supposed top star in that company. When he DOES dominate a match it usually feels undeserved, simply because, judging by his general look and the look of his offence, he doesn't come across as a convincing threat against, say, Ishimori, Ospreay, Shingo, etc. , who are all far, far more polished workers. Yoh works well alongside Sho, though even after 2 years of main-roster experience they still haven't properly ironed out the kinks in their chemistry, as they both still fail to hit a lot of their tag-team moves with the high-level of technique that's expected, and will still get off each other's pace at times. I have hopes that Yoh will improve, as he has still had individual very good performances with the aid of his pure babyface selling, but having your main appeal be "i'm sympathetic when I'm beat up, and that's basically it" doesn't really make for a compelling overall character. If he improves the gracefulness, intensity, and connection of his moves then I expect he will be on his way to becoming a proper star."

[6.0] "YOH is alright, I think he clearly has less potential than SHO but he can be useful and have a good match if someone can elevate his level for a moment. He looks more confident than his partner, more at ease on the mic. He's a good tag team wrestler but I just don't see anything special in him as a singles wrestler. Hope he'll prove me wrong."

[5.0] "I'll start by saying I dont hate YOH as a wrestler but at the same time there is a lot about him that doesn't really connect with me, he is charismatic as hell and I love it, he has a die-hard following especially with the ladies and I can see why, but as far as ring work goes he doesn't really show a lot that I haven't seen before. He seems to borrow from wrestlers he looks up to like Tatsumi Fujinami, Rocky Romero or AJ Styles and in some regards can come across as more of a carbon copy than his own entity and I think that is really gonna hurt him in the long run. Its a shame because he brings a lot of personality to what he does and he's capable of a good match, he doesn't do a lot wrong in the ring, hes usually clean in the ring but at this juncture I think his ceiling is as a junior Heavyweight tag wrestler, I hope I'm wrong though."

[7.0] "Yoh is sadly the slightly worse part of the team. His in-ring work is slightly less crisp than Sho's but he is a slightly better talker."

[7.0] "Fujin/Komatsu is a NJPW young lion who shows alot of potential. When he returns from excursion he could be a very useful upper midcarde for NJPW."

[8.0] "Very good basic wrestler with incredible knack for gaining babyface heat reactions. Watching his development has been a pleasure. Size may prevent his superstar status, even if he crash gains weight, but he should be in the mix when he returns from CMLL."

[8.0] "I hope they give Komatsu something soon, he's better than plenty of the guys on the main roster and seriously deserves to get a push soon"

[6.0] "I enjoy his work and look forward to seeing what he can do in the future in New Japan. I hope he will be a star. Looking forward to seeing how he does during the BOSJ this year. I wouldn't mind seeing him win his block. Although highly unlikely it would be a massive boost. I'd at least like to see him get an upset win and possibly leave the tournament with 2 points."