{"id":49296,"date":"2017-10-12T19:08:56","date_gmt":"2017-10-13T00:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=49296"},"modified":"2017-10-16T13:27:41","modified_gmt":"2017-10-16T18:27:41","slug":"nxt-tracker-kassius-ohno-assessing-predicting-prospects-nxt-wrestlers-main-roster-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/10\/12\/nxt-tracker-kassius-ohno-assessing-predicting-prospects-nxt-wrestlers-main-roster-future\/","title":{"rendered":"NXT TRACKER \u2013 KASSIUS OHNO: Assessing and predicting the prospects of an NXT wrestler\u2019s main roster future"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-522748120\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Welcome once again to the NXT TRACKER, where I pick an NXT talent, assess their progression to this point, and make bold, sure-to-look-hilarious-in-retrospect predictions about their future prospects. Today I\u2019ll cover the ever-confounding Kassius Ohno.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><b>The Talent<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ohno, still probably better known as Chris Hero, has been working since 1998. He worked in almost every well-known American indie promotion before getting the call from WWE in 2011 for his first stint. He worked FCW and then NXT before being released in late 2013, with rumors popping up that he wasn\u2019t as committed as WWE liked to his conditioning. Ohno signed again in December 2016, now an eighteen-year veteran and 38 years old. Hero is one of the most successful indie performers of the last two years to never make a splash in WWE, and his time to do so is limited.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Signature Wins in NXT<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ohno\u2019s first NXT ended about as you\u2019d expect, with a long string of losses leading to his exit. Upon Ohno\u2019s return in 2016, he picked up a bunch of wins at house shows, and finally debuted on TV with a loss &#8211; though a high-profile one &#8211; against NXT Champion Bobby Roode in February. He got his heat back a couple of weeks later by beating Elias Samson in a \u201cLoser Gets Promoted\u201d match. He would soon after beat Andrade Almas during Almas\u2019s \u201ctoo much partying\u201d phase but wouldn\u2019t win another singles match on TV until the taping in August where he got the better of Hideo Itami in their No DQ match. With a win over Fabian Aichner soon after and other enhancement wins to come on TV, it would appear that Ohno is about to get his first major push in years on NXT TV.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-tag\" data-ad-name=\"pw_incontent_2\" data-ad-size=\"300x250\" ><\/div>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/tags-cdn.deployads.com\/a\/pwtorch.com.js\" async ><\/script><br \/>\n<script>(deployads = window.deployads || []).push({});<\/script><\/p>\n<h3><b>Live Reactions<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ohno comes with a lot of respect from indie fans, who are probably wondering if Ohno will ever make the main roster. Ohno was a welcome sight upon his return and was heavily featured in promos for upcoming house shows, and it seemed that the machine was going to get behind him in the absence of some recent callups. He remains popular with the live crowd despite the long history of start-and-stop pushing.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The Booking<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The next handful of months are critical for Ohno, as I can\u2019t imagine there are many more chances left for a guy of Ohno\u2019s advancing years. He\u2019s been a victim of circumstance as other hot babyfaces have leapfrogged him. I\u2019m glad to finally see an attempt with Ohno on the horizon, and hope he can back it up in a big way. I think it\u2019s fair to assume the WWE hasn\u2019t been thrilled with Ohno\u2019s figure at times, and this has to have held him back somewhat; this too, as uncomfortable as it is to bring up, will potentially be key to sustaining his push.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The Future and Predictions<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Normally I use this space to be positive, but it\u2019s somewhat difficult for me to picture Kassius having a meaningful main roster run. I know others in their mid-to-late 30s have made the jump, such as Asuka and Shinsuke Nakamura, but they came off of huge pushes. Ohno\u2019s character also lacks the universal hook of someone like Elias, who\u2019s obviously better off on the main roster than he ever was in NXT. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I hope I\u2019m wrong, and that this latest push is setting up a feud that will be Ohno\u2019s last before he gets a couple years on the main roster, but even if he makes it there, it\u2019s hard to picture where he fits in, with the roster as stacked with younger talent as it is. I don\u2019t like to withhold a specific prediction, but the current Ohno push is going to be everything for him, and will hopefully lead to long-deserved nationwide recognition of his work.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/09\/12\/nxt-tracker-aleister-black-assessing-predicting-prospects-nxt-wrestlers-main-roster-future\/\">NXT TRACKER \u2013 ALEISTER BLACK: Assessing and predicting the prospects of an NXT wrestler\u2019s main roster future<\/a><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2067733290\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1974081888\"><div id=\"pwtor-621714180\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Welcome once again to the NXT TRACKER, where I pick an NXT talent, assess their progression to this point, and make bold, sure-to-look-hilarious-in-retrospect predictions about their future prospects. Today I\u2019ll cover the ever-confounding Kassius Ohno. <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/10\/12\/nxt-tracker-kassius-ohno-assessing-predicting-prospects-nxt-wrestlers-main-roster-future\/\" title=\"NXT TRACKER \u2013 KASSIUS OHNO: Assessing and predicting the prospects of an NXT wrestler\u2019s main roster future\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,4381,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-nxt-tracker","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2017\/01\/OhnoKassiusKyleNiblett3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49296"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49424,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49296\/revisions\/49424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}