Current New Japan

[KawadaSmile]

Nak actually improved a lot in terms of motivation (not something new tbh) and he is more heavily featured. Maybe his most consistent run in a while. But he's clearly just riding the wave and cashing some checks in the grand scheme of things.

 

Okada would do well anywhere because the whole Rainmaker persona is supposed to be well-rounded and taking elements from Mexico, US and Japan. He'd is a great cocky heel. Could be a great underdog face.

[Embrodak]

Does Okada speak a respectable English? If he doesn’t, then realistically speaking, the Nakamura spot is prob the best he can hope for, unless WWE wanted to go all in on him and actually give the badass foreign heel a mouthpiece. AEW would push Okada to the moon regardless, and also let him fuck around wherever else he wanted to go. 

[Control21]

10 hours ago, sek69 said:

Okada has literally nothing else he can do in NJPW, since they've done such a piss poor job building up anyone new there's no major matches he can do there that hasn't been done a million times

Also as much as him in WWE would be intriguing, I'm not totally sold that their presentation of Japanese wrestlers is really that much different. Kairi came back and was immediately put back with Asuka as the Kabuki Warriors, Tozawa is still the childlike Asian stereotype, and Nak suddenly started the Asian Mist gimmick out of nowhere. If anything they just sanded down the edges and made it slightly less overt, but they are treating Japanese talent essentially the same as they always has.  I'm not sure they're doing the amazing sell job to Okada they think they are.

Hopefully I'm wrong, I'd like to see  them dropping Rainmaker bucks from the big screens at Jerryworld in a big Mania match.

Well, they were clearly preparing the New Generation for a feud against Okada, but it's kinda hard to do that now with him getting poached by AEW...I'd say they have done a good job of pushing some of the new guys and getting them to this point, although they probably could have been quicker/bolder with Tsuji and Umino.

WWE may have presentation problems, but there's also the problem with getting lost in the shuffle on the AEW roster and becoming just another guy on their massively bloated roster and eventually fading away as TK chases after a shiny new object every three months. 

It's sad to see Puroresu collectively become more like the NPB in terms of the biggest names eventually going over to the "big leagues." I think this will be the new normal for a while, at least until the TV bubble pops. Why get invested in anyone now? As soon as Umino becomes a massive star, I'm sure TK will come calling too and Moxley will be in his ear. It sucks if you are primarily a Puro fan. It's not a healthy environment right now.

[KawadaSmile]

Okada basically dominating all the records in NJPW history and then walking out without really passing the torch is just a true big brain move. I don't think he'll wrestle into his 40s or 50s, pals.

[WingedEagle]

6 hours ago, KawadaSmile said:

Nak actually improved a lot in terms of motivation (not something new tbh) and he is more heavily featured. Maybe his most consistent run in a while. But he's clearly just riding the wave and cashing some checks in the grand scheme of things.

This is entirely accurate. He looks more motivated than ever in this country outside of the early NXT days. But he still looks like a shell of his NJ run. The man lives the book of Rasheed Wallace and is here to CTC.

[sek69]

6 hours ago, Embrodak said:

Does Okada speak a respectable English? If he doesn’t, then realistically speaking, the Nakamura spot is prob the best he can hope for, unless WWE wanted to go all in on him and actually give the badass foreign heel a mouthpiece. AEW would push Okada to the moon regardless, and also let him fuck around wherever else he wanted to go. 

IIRC his English is pretty good but he's not always comfortable speaking it.  That would probably change if he was full time in the US I would guess.

 

[strobogo]

Okada def should go to WWE first even if it is a short time thing. That's a dude who needs to be at WM or a few stadium shows, especially with WWE as hot as it is right now. He'll always have a spot in AEW, but there's definitely more interesting things for him to do in WWE and in a HHH era where he can be treated as a top global star immediately especially in WM season.

[El-P]

The question is, would he be presented that way ?

In other news, EVIL is your new Openweight champion. Yeah, jokes writes themselves. And so Tama Tonga made his goodbye. He's not a guy that would have been in the main events, but in the past few years he really found his mark as a great babyface worker. So yeah, that's yet another loss (although he's been in NJPW for ever now, basically made his entire career there). I'm guessing he's showing up in WWE. The guy is 41, but at his peak right now. He's a good catch for whoever gets him, really.

[strobogo]

I do think they'd present him as an absolute immediate top star guy. We're post Vince, Okada would be a huge star immediately for WWE. Remember Nakamura's start to main roster run had him beating Cena and Orton clean in a few weeks period. Forget that it was to build to him jobbing to Jinder a couple of times.

[KawadaSmile]

3 hours ago, El-P said:

And so Tama Tonga made his goodbye. 

Another Samoan family member to help Roman Reigns maintain his status as head of the table.

[El-P]

20 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

Another Samoan family member to help Roman Reigns maintain his status as head of the table.

.....

As his name clearly states, he's not Samoan. Making him a fake Samoan would be so WWE though. Although "things have changed", despite the striking portait @sek69 did of japanese talent presentation in curent times, or the fact they just did a "foreigners talking shit about 'murica = bad" angle just a few weeks ago, for the Rock's no less, like there was nothing better for him to say.

It would be such a lack of imagination too. I dunno, this would feel like total typecasting. 

Jacob Fatu on the other hand. Still baffled he's not getting that WWE contract (when actual rapist Gabe Stevenson would, ya know). Then again, since we're talking about Fatu, he was on that NJPW Valley show, and I'm still exactly at the same point with him as I was years ago when I watched MLW. He's doing these few super impressive flying spots, and that's it. Still way overhyped to me. Maybe in a different environment he would blossom, but...

And speaking of Stevenson and rapist and shit, Matt Riddle kinda got a tedious reaction I thought. Certainly not the big-ass former indy sensation & former WWE star you'd expect. Not that it'll make any difference in Japan, I guess. Still, not exactly the kind of booking that'll make NJPW more desirable to me right now.

[Embrodak]

The one thing I’ll say about Okada going to AEW is AEW is not that good at the pageantry aspect of wrestling, which I think is necessary for a guy like Okada. WWE wouldn’t assume that fans are already familiar with him and coast on his prior reputation, so they would work harder to make him look and feel like a big deal instead of assuming he already is one.

[KawadaSmile]

1 hour ago, El-P said:

Making him a fake Samoan would be so WWE though.

You mean to tell me that a company turned Kofi Kingston into a Jamaican wrestler, turned Rodney Anoa'i into a Japanese icon and turned Scott Hall into a Cuban American would not be above thinking "eh, close enough" when it comes to grouping Samoa and Tonga?

[Embrodak]

Jacob Fatu as the outcast family member coming to get revenge would be so fucking good, dude. The Bloodline has had far more mileage than I think anyone would expect, but that would be a fantastic third act when they were getting ready to wrap it up.

[C.S.]

9 hours ago, KawadaSmile said:

You mean to tell me that a company turned Kofi Kingston into a Jamaican wrestler, turned Rodney Anoa'i into a Japanese icon and turned Scott Hall into a Cuban American would not be above thinking "eh, close enough" when it comes to grouping Samoa and Tonga?

Fair point, but the Cuban gimmick was actually Scott Hall's idea because he rightly assumed Vince had never seen the movie "Scarface" and rightly assumed again that the kids watching the WWF at the time hadn't seen it either. 

In any case, The Rock and Haku were presented as family members while their different backgrounds were still acknowledged, so this wouldn't be a stretch at all.

Fun aside: Tama Tonga blocked me on Twitter because he blasted J.R.'s NJPW commentary on social media instead of being a MAN and talking to him personally, and I was critical of that. So fuck him. You know he's adopted, because there's no way such a soft crybaby bitch could ever come from Haku's loins.

[KawadaSmile]

23 hours ago, Embrodak said:

Jacob Fatu as the outcast family member coming to get revenge would be so fucking good, dude. The Bloodline has had far more mileage than I think anyone would expect, but that would be a fantastic third act when they were getting ready to wrap it up.

I don't think that man is ever showing up on the big leagues, man. Like, his contract is due in a couple of years for the past six years or so.

[KawadaSmile]

What

[Autistic Dragon]

Always sad to hear someone kicked out of their own company.

[El-P]

Unsure about the google-trad.

.....

Not a good feeling about this though.

Whatever the case, wow. Another one bite the dust. 

[Alucard]

SRS saying he's heard from sources in WWE, AEW, and NJPW that Rossy could be WWE bound.

Tony Khan tweeted afterwards "Bye Rossy!" 

[El-P]

Rossy Ogawa in WWE ? What the hell ?

And what do they mean by "poaching a number of staff members and STARDOM athletes" ? Poaching ?

[NintendoLogic]

What the fuck is going on

[Alucard]

Alvarez says they'll have more later but the story is "way bigger than just Rossy leaving" 

[El-P]

So, "poaching" is basically "contract tampering" or something ? Is Rossy basically doing with STARDOM/WWE what Kevin Sullivan was doing with ECW/WCW (in reverse) ? 

[donsem43]

The name you wanted to use there is Tod Gordon.