Chris Hero made his return to pro wrestling at West Coast Pro.
At WCP’s Whiplash event on Friday, Hero wrestled for the first time in over three years, wrestling Timothy Thatcher in the main event. He won the match via submission after applying a Fujiwara armbar.
After the match, Hero’s fiance Rachael Ellering came to the ring and the two hugged. Hero said that after defeating Thatcher, he felt like it was a great way to end his story, and can’t think of a better way to end his story than in West Coast Pro Wrestling. He then proceeded to take off his wrestling boots. He then said he was kidding, as he wanted people to see ‘West Coast’ labeling on his boots.
He then said as a matchmaker, he was going to make a match. He called out Kevin Blackwood, calling him an “a**hole”. He challenged Blackwood and Titus Alexander to a tag team match at WCP’s next event on December 3, with Hero’s tag team partner being NJPW star KENTA.
MATCH ANNOUNCEMENT!!!
LOS ANGELES!!!!!
CHRIS HERO X KENTA VS TITUS ALEXANDER X KEVIN BLACKWOOD!!!
During Saturday night’s West Coast Pro Wrestling event, Hero made the save after Timothy Thatcher continued to attack JT Thorne after their match. Thatcher initially left the ring, but then attacked Hero from behind. Hero recovered and told Thatcher that if he wanted to take advantage of someone, he’d give him something to take advantage of. He asked Thatcher what he’d be doing November 17, which is the date of West Coast Pro’s Whiplash event. He told Thatcher he wasn’t going to get matchmaker Chris Hero, he was going to get the knockout artist.
Since being released by WWE in 2020, Hero has worked behind the scenes in pro wrestling and hasn’t wrestled. His last match was back in March of 2020, participating in a battle royal in NXT UK. It was reported back in July that Hero had been hired by AEW as a producer.
In the main event of Saturday’s West Coast Pro show, Starboy Charlie defeated Titus Alexander to win the West Coast Pro title. Kenta Kobashi also appeared on the show.
Former PWG Champion and Ring of Honor Tag Team Champion Chris Hero is reportedly scheduled to be backstage at Saturday’s AEW Collision in Chicago, according to Fightful.
The report stated Hero will be working with AEW on a trial basis to join the company in a backstage role.
After 22 years in the ring, Hero hasn’t wrestled since a set of early-March 2020 WWE NXT UK TV tapings. He spent several years in NXT and NXT UK as Kassius Ohno, dating back to 2012. He left in 2013 and returned in 2017 before his final release in March 2020.
Hero has a history with many on both the AEW and ROH rosters including longtime tag team partner Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, Mark Briscoe and others.
The 43-year-old was at a West Coast Pro Wrestling event on Saturday night from the United Irish Cultural Center in San Francisco and announced he was the promotion’s new matchmaker.
— brikolai volkoff (Back To Back WS champs) (@lariatszn) March 5, 2023
Hero has not wrestled since a set of NXT UK tapings from West Midlands, England on March 6 & 7, 2020. He was one of many names released from WWE the following month.
During his in-ring career from 1998-2020, Hero won the PWG World title, IWA Mid-South Heavyweight title, EVOLVE Championship, wXw World Championship, and the CZW Championship. His Kings of Wrestling tag team with Claudio Castagnoli won titles in ROH, Chikara, CZW and was voted Tag Team of the Year in the 2010 Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards.
West Coast Pro has been running events in California since 2018. Titus Alexander is the promotion’s current champion. Past champions include Alex Hammerstone, AJ Gray, and Jacob Fatu. Masha Slamovich defeated Sandra Moore last night in the finals of a tournament to determine the company’s inaugural women’s champion.
The life of Super Porky Brazo de Plata, a look at a career that will surprise a lot of people
C.M. Punk, Bryan Danielson, The First Dance and The Perfect Storm leading to the biggest secondary market prices in history for pro wrestling
An updated look at WWE financials, why future looks good for profits, what was said, hinted on, business numbers and Vince & Nick Khan talk AEW
Behind the controversy over the Gage-Jericho match and its implications
A look at the New Japan Tokyo Dome show and the longest NJPW matches ever in the building
Vince McMahon to produce movie on his battle with the government and a look at the real story and if it will be portrayed that way
Another major network buys a promotion and is this the wave of the future?
The most detailed look at this week’s numbers, ratings, ticket sales and more, what they mean for the future
A look at TJ Dillashaw’s return and the scoring of UFC’s main event last week
How close is AEW to Raw in every key category and how the show would have done without the DirecTV blackout
Fans vote most popular foreign wrestler in NJPW history, and outrage from the U.S. will likely start again
Tons of COVID positives across wrestling including a major MMA fight next week off
Nick Khan explains WWE adding a new PPV show
John Cena’s affect on WWE live ticket sales in several different cities
More detail on the ratings than any other source, how many different viewers the shows had, breakdown of who watches the shows, how they watch, DVR numbers and how long the average fan watches
Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week
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TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
Ronda Rousey, in response to fans chanting ‘We Want Wyatt’ during Raw on Monday wrote on Twitter: “I’ve seen you same “fans” chanting #WeWantWyatt last night chanting “We want beach balls” over @WWEBrayWyatt performing. If the @wwe treated him like he was expendable it was because you ungrateful idiots did first.”
In an interview with TalkSport, Shotzi said she meant no disrespect by a tweet she made in relation to Jericho’s fall from the Blood and Guts cage earlier this year. “I meant no offence to Chris Jericho,” she said. “I thought, honestly, the match was great. But, you know what… like, take a joke, Take a joke, bud! [laughs]. It’s just a GIF. Laugh at it and move on. It’s live TV. Things happen, it’s pro wrestling. Don’t take life too seriously is all I have to say.”
Sports Illustrated has an article on Roderick Strong getting the chance to lead his own stable, the Diamond Mine. When asked about Adam Cole’s contract status, Strong said: “Adam’s going to do what Adam does. I have no idea what’s going to happen. I’m just focused on the areas of my life that I can control. For me, when I’m not working, I’m focused on my family. But of course, I wish the best for everybody.”
Shane McMahon was named Executive Chairman of the Ideanomics board. Ideanomics describes itself as a “global company focused on the convergence of financial services and industries experiencing technological disruption.”
The New Paper has an article on Sean Tan, a new WWE developmental signee from Singapore.
Here is the Road to Homecoming video hyping this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, focusing on Malakai Black vs. Cody, Miro defending the TNT title against Lee Johnson, and the third Labour of Jericho match between Chris Jericho and Juventud Guerrera.
Jericho, in response to Vince McMahon’s recent comments on AEW, told Inside the Ropes that AEW in turn doesn’t see WWE as competition. “We’re not worried about what WWE is and we haven’t been since day one,” he said. “We weren’t worried about what NXT did. The whole time with the NXT vs. AEW war, which ended in a total abysmal failure for NXT, we never once had a TV screen watching what they were doing when we were doing it. We didn’t know what segments they were in. We didn’t know any of that. Now, the WWE way is you’re watching what the competition is doing when they were on, we didn’t do that. And it was no disrespect. We just didn’t care. We were too busy worrying about our own company and about our own stories, and about our own show to care what anybody else is doing. And that’s one of the reasons why we did so well is that we were concentrating on AEW, not anything else.”
Chris Hero spoke to Andrew Thompson of Post Wrestling about a potential return to the ring.”Brother, I am itching [to get back in the ring] all the time, you know? But I’m also patient enough to realize I’ve sat out this long, I’ve waited this long. I’m not gonna pull the trigger until it’s the perfect thing. I don’t know when that is but I’ll know it when it happens and man, I am thirsty. I just wanna get back at it. I see so many people I wanna work with, so many people I just wanna kick the sh*t out of. So many people that [are] previous opponents, new opponents, there’s so much I wanna get back at.”
World Woman Pro Wrestling Diana announced that Kyoko Inoue has tested positive for COVID-19 and as a result, the Diana shows scheduled for August have been canceled.
Ryo Mizunami on Twitter wrote that she was able to leave the hospital yesterday after testing positive for COVID-19. “I was able to safely leave the hospital today. I would like to return to “Aniki” while staying alert and paying close attention to prevent recurrence. I’m sorry to worry you all. And thank you for all the messages of encouragement!”
John Cena and Miro reunited at the premiere of Cena’s new movie The Suicide Squad.
Kristen Ashly of Bell to Belles interviewed Gulia and Syuri of Stardom on their Donna Del Mondo faction and their new tag team.
Matt Cardona is the guest on this week’s Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette.
A former two-time ROH Tag Team Champion was backstage at ROH’s Best in the World pay-per-view on Sunday night.
Post Wrestling reported on Monday that Chris Hero was backstage at Best in the World and believed to be working as an agent for the show. Post Wrestling’s report stated that they weren’t able to confirm Hero’s status with ROH past that he was at Best in the World.
ROH COO Joe Koff issued a statement to Post Wrestling confirming that Hero was at the PPV: “Chris was there and is always home at Ring of Honor.”
Hero (real name Chris Spradlin) was released by WWE during their April 2020 roster cuts. He was known as Kassius Ohno in WWE, wrestling for NXT and NXT UK.
Hero hasn’t wrestled since being released by WWE.
This was Hero’s second stint with WWE. He was initially with the company from 2012-2013.
Hero last appeared for ROH in 2014. He held the ROH Tag Team titles twice with Claudio Castagnoli as The Kings of Wrestling in 2006 and 2010-2011.
Hero, who went under the name Kassius Ohno in WWE, announced he was gone from the company in a tweet tonight. Using the hashtag #ChrisHeroIsBack, Hero posted a video showing black and white footage of him in WWE. That footage then stopped, and footage of him in color as Chris Hero ended the video.
Dave Meltzer confirmed that Hero had been released from WWE last week. He had been with the company since 2016 after previously having a run in the company from 2011-2013. In this most recent run, he had been mainly used in the NXT undercard. He had recently been working under the NXT UK brand prior to the coronavirus outbreak.
There have been a number of cuts across all of WWE, including its corporate offices, writing staff and talent both on the main roster and on NXT. Mike and Maria Kanellis, who announced they were starting a podcast tonight, were among the main roster releases.
Kassius Ohno (aka Chris Hero) was part of this week’s WWE layoffs, according to our Dave Meltzer.
It’s unknown whether he was laid off or furloughed, but it’s assumed to be the former as he changed his Twitter name to ‘WWE Alumni’. He has yet to confirm the news publicly as of this writing.
The 40-year-old returned to WWE in 2016 and spent his entirety of the run in NXT, recently becoming part of the NXT UK roster as both a wrestler and a trainer. He was originally signed in by WWE for a short run in Florida Championship Wrestling/NXT in 2012-13 before returning to the indies.
A wrestler since 1998, the highly regarded Hero has worked all over the world including for Ring of Honor, Chikara, EVOLVE, Impact Wrestling, PWG, IWA Mid-South, and more. He is also a two-time winner of wXw’s 16 Carat Gold tourney.
WWE laid off or furloughed dozens of employees Wednesday as part of cost cutting measures due to economic concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. While many of the in-ring talents let go are known, names continue to trickle out on a daily basis.
While he’ll be using a different name this time, the former Chris Hero is headed back to PROGRESS Wrestling for one of their biggest weekend’s of the year.
PROGRESS announced NXT’s Kassius Ohno as the latest entrant for this year’s Super Strong Style 16 tournament today. It will take place at Alexandra Palace in London on May 5-7, with the winner receiving a future title shot.
As Hero, Ohno also appeared in the 2016 edition of Super Strong Style 16. He lost to Tommy End (now Aleister Black) in the semifinals.
This won’t be the first time that Ohno has wrestled for a WWE-friendly promotion since returning to NXT. He made an appearance for ICW last September and was defeated by Joe Coffey.
With one more entrant still to be announced, Pete Dunne, Keith Lee, Zack Sabre Jr., Doug Williams, Angelico, Mark Andrews, Flash Morgan Webster, Chuck Mambo, Chris Brookes, Jordan Devlin, Joey Janela, TK Cooper, David Starr, Tyler Bate, and Ohno make up the field for this year’s Super Strong Style 16. Travis Banks won the tournament in 2017 and went on to win the PROGRESS Championship from Dunne.
As the strong working relationship between the two companies continues, another WWE-contracted wrestler will be appearing for ICW next weekend.
ICW announced today that Kassius Ohno will be challenging Joe Coffey for their World Heavyweight Championship at the O2 Academy in Newcastle on September 17th. The cameo in ICW will be the first time the former Chris Hero has wrestled outside of a WWE ring since returning to NXT earlier this year.
Ohno tweeted about facing Coffey again: “Finally. Two years in the making, it’s the Knockout Artist vs. the Iron Man, round #3. Elbow? Or Lariat? See you on the 17th, @Joe_Coffey”
There will be representation from some of WWE’s UK talent on the show as well, with the British Strong Style team of Tyler Bate & Trent Seven challenging The Marauders for their tag titles and Wolfgang facing Kid Fite.
Noam Dar previously appeared for ICW in July as he returned to the promotion to team with Sha Samuels against Coffey & Bram. Pete Dunne also defended his WWE United Kingdom Championship on that show, defeating Trent Seven, Wolfgang, and BT Gunn in a four-way match.
Wrestling Observer Live solo edition with Mike Sempervive returns today with tons of news heading into Sunday’s Royal Rumble, as well as thoughts on NXT Takeover San Antonio, UFC on FOX 23, Chris Hero bids farewell to EVOLVE, the Hardys in MCW, your calls, Tweets, and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Chris Hero’s last moments in an independent wrestling ring were spent telling the audience not to underestimate how far a little support can go.
It was a timely message given where Hero stands in his career. He had what he hopes to be his final independent match ever against Zack Sabre Jr. on Saturday afternoon at EVOLVE 77. The match itself was as predictably great as you would expect. It was indie wrestling’s standard-bearer facing off against the person who may now be the best unsigned talent in the world.
Hero passed the torch to Sabre at the end of their excellent main event. The match was great, but the finish brought it up to another level and made it an early contender for EVOLVE’s Match of the Year. Sabre withstood a barrage of offense before he finally got the win.
He survived a massive tombstone piledriver, kicked out of a Pedigree at one, and transitioned a Gotch piledriver into a submission after Hero had already dropped him on his head twice.
The animosity between the two ended after the match as they both put each other over. Speeches like the one Hero gave have become commonplace with WWE signing so many indie wrestlers, but either because it felt so genuinely sincere or because Hero returning to NXT seemed so in doubt after he had already been released by the company previously, this felt like something special.
Before mentioning the need for support in both wrestling and life, Hero brought up that he’s only getting this opportunity to return to WWE because of what’s happened in his time away from the company. He claimed that it’s not only because of the matches he’s had, but because of how the fans have supported him and the wrestlers he’s gotten a chance to work with.
An angle to set up the next challenger for the EVOLVE Championship was done in the middle of the speech, with Sabre and ACH both wanting a shot at Timothy Thatcher’s title. Thatcher’s manager Stokely Hathaway tried to deny them both a shot, but Thatcher came to the ring and pointed at Sabre to indicate his next challenger. Sabre told ACH that he would give him the first shot once he wins.
Sabre’s win in the main event was his second of the night, as he also opened the show by picking up the victory for his team in a six-man tag. An angle with Ethan Page and The Gatekeepers played off of their continuing feud with Darby Allin, and what was originally supposed to be a singles match between Allin and Barrett Brown saw them team up against Page and his Gatekeepers in a handicap match.
But the odds were evened pretty quickly. Sabre joined the match to thank Allin for his help in fending off The Gatekeepers last night. The match was incredibly fun, with Sabre showing off his aggressive side that would continue in the main event and Allin defying death as usual.
At one point in the match, Allin even hit a Coffin Drop off of a pillar onto a pile of bodies. Sabre got his first submission victory of the night when he tapped out one of the Gatekeepers (Blaster McMassive).
The night’s other best match was a wild brawl between Matt Riddle and DUSTIN. They fought their way through the crowd and expertly utilized weapons to enhance the no disqualification match. DUSTIN suplexed Riddle onto the merch table without it breaking, so he followed up by hitting a dive through a table later.
DUSTIN tried to cover Riddle in the ring, but he kicked out at one. Following a DDT onto a chair by DUSTIN, Riddle came back with a suplex of his own through a massive pile of chairs before finally covering DUSTIN after hitting a flurry of strikes.
Thatcher was able to find a new challenger in the main event segment only after defeating Jeff Cobb to retain his title. The two had a solid match with good arm work in the end that resulted in Thatcher trapping Cobb in a pin for the win.
But their match had the difficulty of following Riddle vs. DUSTIN, while also continuing the trend of Thatcher working his usual style in a title match when the crowd wanted to see something different. They were clearly into Cobb and would’ve liked to see him on offense for more of the match, giving him a good ovation after.
ACH also got another nice reception in his home state for his second EVOLVE match. After losing against Riddle last night, ACH was able to get his first win for the company after beating Fred Yehi with a brainbuster.
Yehi’s loss was the only one that Catch Point suffered on the night. After Laredo Kid got a bit of shine early in their match, Tracy Williams quickly submitted him with the crossface after leveling him with a forearm.
Chris Dickinson & Jaka were also victorious against Jason Kincaid & Sammy Guevara, before Larry Dallas again tried to stir up trouble after the match by asking if Dickinson & Jaka should get a shot at Williams & Yehi’s titles. The segment ended with a strange promo from Kincaid that left Catch Point having to stop Dickinson from attacking him.
Final Thoughts —
This was an excellent show. Hero’s farewell would be must-see regardless of what else happened, but the rest of the card delivered as well. Riddle vs. DUSTIN and the six-man tag opener were the other standouts on the show.
Hero’s exit leaves a hole on EVOLVE shows going forward that will be impossible to fill. The company has still been able to maintain its quality with the loss of so many other wrestlers, but EVOLVE is definitely still entering a new era without Hero, Drew Gulak, Johnny Gargano, and others.
The wrestlers they’ve added recently are talented, but it remains to be seen if they can consistently put on the level of matches that those guys did.
EVOLVE 77 results —
Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Chris Hero
EVOLVE Champion Timothy Thatcher defeated Jeff Cobb to retain his title
Matt Riddle defeated DUSTIN in a no DQ match
ACH defeated Fred Yehi
Chris Dickinson & Jaka defeated Jason Kincaid & Sammy Guevara
Tracy Williams defeated Laredo Kid
Darby Allin, Barrett Brown & Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Ethan Page & The Gatekeepers
Friday night was both the beginning of Royal Rumble weekend and EVOLVE’s two-day farewell to Chris Hero in San Antonio. Unfortunately for Hero, things didn’t quite go as planned.
Hero’s main event against Keith Lee was affected by the ropes breaking two different times. The top rope broke just after they had their feeling out process to begin the match, with Hero unharmed after being sent into it. The middle rope survived a bit longer, but succumbed under the pressure of Lee as he fell onto Hero. It was the second time that particular rope had issues after also breaking earlier in the night due to what seemed to be shoddy ring conditions.
It was likely the best match you’ll ever see with two different rope mishaps. Hero again proved how smart he is as a worker by getting the most out of a situation that would’ve totally ruined the match for most other wrestlers.
There was a great improvisational spot where Hero got the ref to make it a no countout match after the ropes broke, then had him start counting after he had laid out Lee on the outside. After Lee got a massive near fall off of a powerbomb, Hero hit some of his trademark elbow strikes and won the match with the Gotch piledriver.
Hero didn’t wait until tomorrow to start passing his EVOLVE torch. He put over Lee in his post-match promo, saying that no one will stop him once he develops the killer instinct that Hero has found over the last three years. They shook hands, hugged, and posed on what was still left of the ropes to close the show — but that was after Zack Sabre Jr. made his way to the ring.
Sabre told Hero that his send-off doesn’t end until Sabre beats him in EVOLVE. He said that Kassius Ohno could head off to Florida after that. The two will meet tomorrow in what is Hero’s final independent wrestling match before going back to WWE.
Earlier in the night, Sabre showed an aggressive side of him that’s rarely seen against Ethan Page. Sabre took out Page and his Gatekeepers before the match even began. The storyline between the two was that Page had beaten Sabre in their match last November.
They had a good match here with their styles meshing better than they did last time. Sabre appeared to have won after countering Page’s spinning Dwayne into a triangle choke. Page tapped out, but Sabre wouldn’t release the hold. Darby Allin hit the ring to stop The Gatekeepers from breaking it up, which led to the referee reversing the decision and giving Page the win by disqualification due to Sabre not breaking the submission.
Despite Hero’s exit, EVOLVE’s weekend might ultimately be close to as remembered for its debuts. Lee got over well in his first EVOLVE match. Being able to work around the ring problems likely endeared him to the crowd even more than his match against Hero otherwise would have. It was also the debut of another former Ring of Honor wrestler, with ACH standing out in what was likely the best match of the night against Matt Riddle.
ACH got a very good reaction in his home state before falling to Riddle. A great striking sequence led to Riddle hitting the Bro to Sleep and fisherman buster to get the win. Both Lee and ACH are excellent additions to a roster that is continuing to add talent after so many EVOLVE regulars were signed by WWE in 2016.
After losing by submission against Jason Kincaid earlier in the night, DUSTIN attacked Riddle after his win to build to their no DQ match tomorrow. DUSTIN laid him out with a DDT onto a steel chair and mentioned doing it for Drew Galloway, who will make his return to EVOLVE next month and likely pick up where he left off with his crusade against the company.
Before the ring finally gave way in the main event, the Catch Point team of Tracy Williams & Fred Yehi successfully defended their EVOLVE tag team titles against Timothy Thatcher & Jeff Cobb. The challengers were thrown together in advance of Thatcher defending his EVOLVE title against Cobb on tomorrow’s show.
The finish to what was a strong tag match saw Thatcher submit to Yehi’s Koji clutch. Larry Dallas came to the ring to stir up trouble after the match by interviewing Thatcher’s manager Stokely Hathaway, who blamed the loss on Cobb and claimed that Cobb had given up on the team. Cobb referenced coming up together in wrestling with Thatcher and training with him in California before vowing to take his title tomorrow.
EVOLVE 76 was bookended by issues with the ring, as the middle rope broke for the first time in the night’s opener. Jaka defeated Peter Kaasa in a rushed finish after Kaasa’s moonsault attempt broke the middle rope in a scary moment, though Gabe Sapolsky tweeted that Kaasa is doing okay. Jaka hit a sit-out powerbomb to get the win.
Jaka’s partner (and the other most recent addition to Catch Point) wasn’t victorious in his match. Darby Allin got a win over Chris Dickinson after seemingly defying death all match as he avoided Dickinson’s offense. Allin fought off Dickinson attempting to throw him across the ring and transitioned it into a pin to pick up the victory. Catch Point had to stop Dickinson from attacking Allin after the match.
Final Thoughts —
Despite the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the main event, this felt like the typical EVOLVE show. The undercard was good and had solid matches that were easy to watch. The last few matches all delivered to some extent, though Hero vs. Lee wasn’t at the level of what the two could produce without the problems with the ring.
Tomorrow afternoon’s show should be noteworthy with Hero having his final indie match against Sabre, as well as an EVOLVE Championship match between Thatcher and Cobb.
EVOLVE 76 results —
Chris Hero defeated Keith Lee
EVOLVE Tag Team Champions Tracy Williams & Fred Yehi defeated EVOLVE Champion Timothy Thatcher & Jeff Cobb to retain their titles
Chris Hero returned to NXT as Kassius Ohno last week after a little over three years away from WWE developmental. All that happened in between is that he became arguably the best professional wrestler in the world.
It’s not that Hero didn’t enter developmental in 2012 as an excellent performer. He was a genuine independent wrestling star even then, having worked for Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling NOAH, and seemingly everywhere else across the globe. He had developed as an elite in-ring talent by utilizing a unique style that was shaped by those experiences and his knowledge of pro wrestling history.
But Hero reenters WWE better than he has ever been because of how he has further dedicated himself in the ring since being released. And he does so after having had more outstanding matches than anyone else did in 2016.
A lot of that is because of opportunity. By not getting locked down with any one company, Hero was given the opportunity to work almost anywhere he wanted against such different opponents. He worked across the United States indie scene while finding homes in its most popular promotions. He went overseas and toured Europe while being just as welcomed in their top companies.
That led to Hero working more diverse matches than anyone else did last year. He elevated every EVOLVE card that he was on while giving many of his peers their best match of the year. He was Timothy Thatcher’s opponent in his best title defense of the year, along with being involved in the promotion’s best tag match of 2016 as he teamed with regular partner Tommy End against frequent rival Zack Sabre Jr. and Sami Callihan.
Hero’s two matches against “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams brought out the best in Williams, and his trilogy with Matt Riddle helped cement the former UFC fighter as the clear top star in EVOLVE as it enters a new era.
Hero teamed with End against Pentagon Jr. and Fenix in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla over Battle of Los Angeles weekend, with the contrasting styles of the teams (even though Hero did show that he’s adept at lucha in the match) producing one of the best tag matches of the year.
Across the pond, Hero had stellar matches in PROGRESS with Marty Scurll and Mark Andrews, along with another great match with Scurll in Revolution Pro Wrestling. Hero’s involvement with RevPro led to him getting to wrestle in two dream matches at their co-promoted shows with New Japan Pro Wrestling. He faced off against Tomohiro Ishii and Katsuyori Shibata on the two shows, with the Ishii match especially showing that Hero is the best in the world at his bruising, strike-heavy style.
And that brief list doesn’t even come close to doing justice to the year that Hero had. He was the top star on the indies and made every show that he was on — regardless of size — feel like a big deal.
Other capable indie workers will be given the chance to step up as we get deeper into 2017, but no one person will be able to fill Hero’s spot. No one else has the combination of longevity, knowledge, and experience working so many different styles that Hero has.
But the indie scene’s loss will be NXT’s gain. And NXT has never needed Hero more than they do right now.
As NXT has strived to become a brand, it feels like it has lost an identity. The need to fill moderately sized buildings on the road and the reliance on stars who have already made their names on bigger stages elsewhere has made NXT feel less like the distinct product that it used to be.
Of course, NXT has always relied on already established talent. It’s never going to be a promotion that solely features developing wrestlers. Finn Balor was a ready-made star when he stepped foot into developmental. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn were stars in ROH, PWG, and many other promotions before coming to WWE. But those three wrestlers fit into the product that NXT was trying to produce far more seamlessly than Shinsuke Nakamura, Samoa Joe, and Bobby Roode have. They were talents obviously motivated for the opportunity ahead of them and out to prove themselves.
Established stars will always be needed in NXT. They’ll help sell tickets, draw viewers to the WWE Network, and work with younger talents. But Nakamura, Joe, and Roode as the top male stars seems to have fundamentally changed what NXT is.
Nakamura has seen far bigger stages than Full Sail University. And he was a legitimate top star in NJPW in a way that Balor never was. He’s 36 years old with a lifetime of pro wrestling wear and tear on his body. Even in NJPW, he got by on charisma and only gave everything he had when it mattered most. He’s had a couple of standout matches since signing with WWE, but it shouldn’t be surprising that he’s picked his spots up to this point.
Joe and Roode are even older with just as much mileage on their bodies. And both former TNA stars have already experienced what it’s like to work on television.
Some of the identity that NXT lost was inevitable. They’ve understandably been unable to adequately replace Sasha Banks, Bayley, Charlotte, and Becky Lynch. And with WWE now a legitimate place to watch high-end women’s wrestling, NXT has lost a lot of what made it special.
SmackDown has also made NXT’s place in the weekly WWE product less clear. NXT used to exist as a shorter and easier to watch alternative to Raw that had logical booking and storytelling that built to their big shows, but SmackDown has done all of that better than NXT has since the brand split.
Adding another star well into his 30s shouldn’t feel like something that will rejuvenate the brand, but Chris Hero has proved in his three-plus years outside of the company that no one is more motivated than he is to consistently put on great wrestling matches. He also comes back to NXT with something to prove after previously being released.
Whether Hero ultimately has main roster success remains to be seen. There are obvious obstacles that stand in his way, with his physique always going to be a talking point. But he was released when he was near the best shape of his life and comes back to the company with officials obviously knowing what he looks like.
Hero is getting an unlikely second shot at wrestling for the biggest company and on the biggest stage possible. If he does eventually find success in WWE, it will be because of how he dedicated himself to becoming maybe the best in-ring wrestler in the world during his time away.
Chris Hero returned to NXT as Kassius Ohno last week after a little over three years away from WWE developmental. All that happened in between is that he became arguably the best professional wrestler in the world.
It’s not that Hero didn’t enter developmental in 2012 as an excellent performer. He was a genuine independent wrestling star even then, having worked for Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling NOAH, and seemingly everywhere else across the globe. He had developed as an elite in-ring talent by utilizing a unique style that was shaped by those experiences and his knowledge of pro wrestling history.
But Hero reenters WWE better than he has ever been because of how he has further dedicated himself in the ring since being released. And he does so after having had more outstanding matches than anyone else did in 2016.
