HowtobeaMark: 

Premature? Probably. 

Since joining The Bullet Club, Kidd has become of the highlights of NJPW for me. In 2024 it has not become unusual for Kidd to have the best match on the show and his aggressive character has added an edge of unpredictablity and danger to the company. He may turn out to be a one year wonder but by nominating him here I am gambling that he won't be.

 

Recommended matches: 

 

Vs Henare - 4 February 2024

With Alex Coughlin, Clark Connors, David Finlay and Drilla Maloney vs Will Ospreay, TJP, Henare, Jeff Cobb and Francisco Akira - 11 February 2024

Vs Shingo Takagi - 4 May 2024

Vs Kaito Kiyomiya - 16 June 2024

Eh i'd agree that it's pretty premature to be putting Gabe on a 100 list. He has a couple of good matches but I think he works best with existing heat/a angle to warrant his antics. I'm also not a fan of him starting to leer into the dreaded "epic" overkill style that has pacified so many great workers as of present. 

 

I've got a soft spot for Gabe, he's a product of the House of Pain promotion from my adopted hometown of Nottingham, so I've seen his career from it's starting point. He's come a long way from the slightly out of shape teenager cutting promos about his own weight and threatening to hit his opponents with a plate from the carvery. He's had quite a long career for someone so young, and he's beaten a clutch of mental health obstacles along the way, so I'm rooting for him to have a great career. Probably too soon for a list like this, but you never know by 2036.

Not a chance for me. As much as I admire the stiffness, I often think he's unwatchable. As long as he relies of the strike exchanges as a clutch, as well as his unbearable 'Mad Lad' gimmick, he'll always rank as one of my least favourites to watch. Any time he steps out of that role, he shines. But that's once in a blue moon. He will go from matches like against Omega, to that tediously dull match against Ishii. Shame.

Someone, I hope, gives us a reason to evaluate him in 5-10 years. But even penciling him at this point seems premature.  

Yeah, obviously absurdly soon for him, but I'll say his G1 33 run was awesome, easily the best guy on his block due to how refreshing his act was compared to the stale epicness of current New Japan matches. He has the potential to be a huge star and I like his ringwork, but yeah... I hope we can consider him for 2036.

Way too early, but the dude is a guy I'm super high on, and he feels like the flag bearer for the company over the next 5 years. He's smartened up a lot recently, and I don't mind the strike exchange crutch with him because his entire energy is "Dude who shows up at a bar and you know immediately it's time to go because a bar fight is happening in the next 5 minutes". His character to me is the exact type to want to prove to every single person he meets he's tougher than them. Already has a genuine connection the crowd, and I'm hoping they have him, Connors, and Drilla separate from Finlay (who I also think is really good right now) as an anti-hero group. I do get the feeling that if Kidd isn't world champion in a year, something had to go very wrong along the way.

Too early, but it’s good to get him on the radar for the next go round