Current New Japan

[NintendoLogic]

It was reported a while back that WWE had renewed interest in Okada with the pitch being he had done everything he could do in New Japan and WWE would be the one thing he hasn't done. Part of the reason for the recent Nakamura push was to show Okada he wouldn't be given a stereotypical childlike foreigner gimmick if he signed with them. I do hope we see more of Weird Okada if he goes to WWE. I like how being champion is so central to his identity that he feels lost when he's not in the title picture and compensates by doing things like bringing balloons to the ring and trying to win all his matches with a shitty cobra clutch.

[strobogo]

NJ losing Okada would be brutal. Especially losing Ospreay at the same time at least as a full timer. Much worse than losing Nakamura and AJ in 2016.

[KawadaSmile]

Besides, Nakamura's push has shown that even being featured in high profile feuds doesn't mean your body will be torn to shreds. Shinsuke has been having a fun run for the past few months and it's just as light as the majority of his time in WWE.

[The Man in Blak]

54 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

Part of the reason for the recent Nakamura push was to show Okada he wouldn't be given a stereotypical childlike foreigner gimmick if he signed with them.

Ah, so that's why Nakamura has been spitting red mist and speaking in pre-taped promos with subtitles and ominous kung fu movie music in the background.

[Jmare007]

I mean, Okada becoming a free agent in February isn't really news. He usually becomes one considering how short term New Japan contracts are, lol.

But with Bushiroad having a shitty year and wanting to cut costs, I guess this is the ideal time for someone to come in an snatch Okada away from them.

It would be a heavy blow though, they have no one set up to become their next Ace. I have no clue why Tsuji, Umino and Narita are still booked as midcarders.

[Autistic Dragon]

Okay folks we're in the closing stretch of World Tag League and thanks to a helpful Reddit user, I can confirm that the following teams have a chance to advance from their blocks...

From Block A we have TMDK, War Dogs and Chaos (Ishii & Yano).

From Block B we have Monstersauce, Just 5 Guys, Hikuleo & ELP and Bishoman.

Who you got in the semi's, finals and who takes it all?

[Control21]

29 minutes ago, Autistic Dragon said:

Okay folks we're in the closing stretch of World Tag League and thanks to a helpful Reddit user, I can confirm that the following teams have a chance to advance from their blocks...

From Block A we have TMDK, War Dogs and Chaos (Ishii & Yano).

From Block B we have Monstersauce, Just 5 Guys, Hikuleo & ELP and Bishoman.

Who you got in the semi's, finals and who takes it all?

Seems like they might be aiming for a TMDK vs Bishamon match at Wrestle Kingdom, so perhaps TMDK?

As for the Okada story, I don't buy it. I would be shocked if he left but who knows?

Edit: On the other hand, Super-J Cast seems to be hinting that NJPW has a lot of deeper issues going on and it might be a bigger mess than most of us realize. Kidani might need to clean house over there.

[KawadaSmile]

2 hours ago, The Man in Blak said:

Ah, so that's why Nakamura has been spitting red mist and speaking in pre-taped promos with subtitles and ominous kung fu movie music in the background.

He did say "childlike"!

[sek69]

The funniest part is that Okada is at least as fluent in English as Nak is, if not more.  If anything I would expect Okada to do like Ospreay and sign a deal with AEW that allows him to still do New Japan dates.  If he wants to scratch having a run in America off his bucket list, that would seem to be the best way for him to do it.

[Control21]

32 minutes ago, sek69 said:

The funniest part is that Okada is at least as fluent in English as Nak is, if not more.  If anything I would expect Okada to do like Ospreay and sign a deal with AEW that allows him to still do New Japan dates.  If he wants to scratch having a run in America off his bucket list, that would seem to be the best way for him to do it.

Tony Khan doesn't let his top guys wrestle New Japan more than occasionally. The exception seems to be Jon Moxley and that's just for Strong shows in the US. The myth that TK lets guys sign contracts that allow them to wrestle in Japan needs to die. Danielson took like two years to show up in NJPW and that's for a Tokyo Dome show. Omega didn't even defend his US title in Japan. Takeshita rarely wrestles for DDT and his last match there was to advance an AEW storyline. We'll rarely see Ospreay in NJPW after February. TK signing Okada wouldn't go over well with NJPW either. Don't point and say WWE is the alternative because neither outcome benefits NJPW. People have turned NJPW into a junior partner in this relationship with AEW and the way some people talk about NJPW as a feeder now is very annoying. In any case, I don't expect Okada to leave. 

 

[El-P]

If Okada signs with an american company, it's not because he wants to work for NJPW more than occasionally, or at all anymore.

Okada's aura in WWE would so not translate at all. His identity is being the Ace of NJPW. That's not something you can transfer to a US company, especially WWE, with just snapping your fingers. Hell, Shibata in AEW does not come off even close to what he was in NJPW (although mostly working ROH in front of half-empty buildings don't help). Saying he did everything in NJPW is ignoring he can be grumpy Jumbo Tsuruta beating up the up and coming generation for years. Plus, it's still a different culture, although this has changed a lot with pro-wrestling becoming more and more of a global market.

If Okada leaves NJPW and Giulia leaves Stardom (both for WWE too), that would paint a pretty dim picture of Bushiroad's management. Losing your top foreigners was bad enough (White and Ospreay, and one could argue Mariah May could also have become something for Stardom if she had stayed, although she never went higher than tag champs), but the two top native stars (although Giulia lost the belt early, I think it's safe to say she's still considered the biggest star long term) at the same time in both companies would be just terrible.

[Jmare007]

On 12/4/2023 at 8:16 PM, Jmare007 said:

 I have no clue why Tsuji, Umino and Narita are still booked as midcarders.

And now Narita joined House of Torture, lol.

For the love of Terry Funk, someone take the fucking book away from Gedo.

[El-P]

1 minute ago, Jmare007 said:

And now Narita joined House of Torture, lol.

Damn. From El Hijo del Shibata to Dick Togo's new NPC. Talk about a kiss of death already.

[kas]

Okada's been doing his best work since 2018. With how much I enjoyed the Kaito feud and the Shota mini-feud it would be a crying shame if he suddenly left right when the next generation is poised to break through when there's so much potential for him to lean further into the grumpy Jumbo-esque role.

[NintendoLogic]

New Japan and Stardom's combined revenue for fiscal 2023 was a shade under $47 million. By comparison, AEW is projected to take in $170-175 million this year and WWE took in $449.1 million in just the last quarter. The reality is that Japanese promotions simply can't compete financially with the major American ones, especially with the decline in the value of the yen. The fact that Ospreay was in serious talks with TNA says it all.

[Migs]

13 hours ago, Control21 said:

Tony Khan doesn't let his top guys wrestle New Japan more than occasionally. The exception seems to be Jon Moxley and that's just for Strong shows in the US. The myth that TK lets guys sign contracts that allow them to wrestle in Japan needs to die. Danielson took like two years to show up in NJPW and that's for a Tokyo Dome show. Omega didn't even defend his US title in Japan. Takeshita rarely wrestles for DDT and his last match there was to advance an AEW storyline. We'll rarely see Ospreay in NJPW after February. TK signing Okada wouldn't go over well with NJPW either. Don't point and say WWE is the alternative because neither outcome benefits NJPW. People have turned NJPW into a junior partner in this relationship with AEW and the way some people talk about NJPW as a feeder now is very annoying. In any case, I don't expect Okada to leave. 

 

Mox worked in Japan LAST MONTH.

FTR worked multiple shows in Japan and in England.

Eddie Kingston did the G1.

Gates of Agony and Lance Archer are currently in tag league.

Plus all these guys get to do big matches as part of Forbidden Door.

Further, I really don't think any of these guys are looking to do full tours. When Ospreay "wants to work New Japan," I assume it means he wants to work the Tokyo Dome and maybe one or two other big shows. TK's shown that be very plausible. That's a real difference with WWE, where they've only shown a willingness to work with New Japan on guys already committed there (Good Brothers).

NJPW is absolutely the junior partner at the moment and they know it. 

 

[Control21]

1 hour ago, Migs said:

Mox worked in Japan LAST MONTH.

FTR worked multiple shows in Japan and in England.

Eddie Kingston did the G1.

Gates of Agony and Lance Archer are currently in tag league.

Plus all these guys get to do big matches as part of Forbidden Door.

Further, I really don't think any of these guys are looking to do full tours. When Ospreay "wants to work New Japan," I assume it means he wants to work the Tokyo Dome and maybe one or two other big shows. TK's shown that be very plausible. That's a real difference with WWE, where they've only shown a willingness to work with New Japan on guys already committed there (Good Brothers).

NJPW is absolutely the junior partner at the moment and they know it. 

 

But how often does Mox work in Japan?

Eddie Kingston and Gates of Agnony are not top guys.

Calling NJPW the junior partner in a relationship that has been promoted as something between equals is not exactly the way I would go about this. There are reasons why AEW hardcores are annoying a lot of people, and talking down on promotions like NJPW is one of those reasons. 

Edit: My larger point is that a lot of folks, including myself, primarily follow NJPW. It irks us when people lecture us about how AEW's relationship with NJPW is beneficial when we don't really see the results and then say NJPW is the "junior partner."

[strobogo]

NJ has been the junior partner in relationships with the WWF in the 70s/80s, WCW in the 90s, and AEW now. It's just simply based on American stars being much more popular and an impact to shows than Japanese stars in America. 

There have been times when NJ was not the junior partner, like with ROH where ROH basically died immediately after NJ stopped working with them, or TNA/MLW today.

[NintendoLogic]

New Japan was hardly the junior partner to pre-expansion WWF or early 90s WCW. I don't know if their revenue exceeded the WWF's, but it absolutely blew WCW's out of the water. They were also far bigger in their culture than any American company. Japanese promotions generally had the pick of the litter when it came to dates on top stars because the pay scale in America didn't surpass Japan's until the Monday Night Wars era. Needless to say, none of that is true for current New Japan vis-a-vis AEW. It's not so much the relationship has been a major boon for them as the relative crumbs they're getting now are better than the nothing they'd be getting if there was no relationship. That's just the way it is whether you like it or not.

[strobogo]

I'm not arguing any of those things. NJ was obviously doing much better than WCW in the early to mid 90s, probably bigger business than WWF in the late 70s/early 80s, too. My argument is that American stars are bigger stars in Japan than Japanese stars in America, and so the NJ relationships with national promotions in the US have been uneven no matter how great NJPW was doing at the given time. 

I think there are a few pretty obvious reasons: US global cultural hegemony in general, puro being quite literally built on the basis of American stars coming in being a big deal from the start, and American audiences generally not giving a shit about entertainment from other regions outside of certain games/anime breaking through during that period.

What I'm really saying, I guess, is that Backlund/Hogan/Sting on NJ shows in the 70s/80s/90s did a lot more for those shows than Inoki/Fujinami/Muta/Chono on US shows.  

[Autistic Dragon]

The 2023 World Tag League Semifinals are set.

Bullet Club War Dogs (Alex Coughlin & Gabe Kidd) vs IWGP Tag Team Champions Bishoman (Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi)

TMDK (Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholas) vs New Japan Strong Tag Team Champions Guerrillas of Destiny (Hikuleo & EL Phantasamo)

[Alucard]

I was rooting for Archer & Alex Zayne to make the finals.

[Autistic Dragon]

The 2023 World Tag League Finals are set. It's champions vs champions as Bishamon take on GoD.

[Autistic Dragon]

And your winners of the 2023 World Tag League.... Bishoman! This makes them the first team to win the tournament three years in a row and for Goto specifically it makes him a record setting five time winner.

After defeating GoD they promptly challenged them to a rematch at Wrestle Kingdom 18 but this time it's Title vs Title.

[El-P]

This Wrestling Kingdom show on paper is the most meh I can remember in years. The only really cool, unique match is Okada vs Danielson, and it's one that has happened already, so it's not even a first time. Rest of the card is the definition of there, although the in-ring will probably be very good on average, if not excellent. But there's no feel of anything special. They made a big deal out of having Stardom talents before, they introduced the IWGP women championship, only to not even have it on the card at all this year (that says a lot about how much they basically only wanted it for Mercedes). Tama Tonga and David Finlay, all due respect to them, in championship matches. Tana vs ZSJ and Hiromu vs Despy are great matches but matches that have occurred a lot already I feel. And of course, SANADA in the main event. Where the FUCK are Tsuji and Umino ? I don't see any of this jumpstarting a strong year for NJPW at all.