Dec 5, 2023 14:29:58 GMT RT said:

I would be shocked if Okada headlined Wrestlemania. Absolutely stunned.

I'm not saying it wouldn't happen, I just don't see it.

I can.  Dude is infectious.  He wins over US crowds without really trying.  Take his gimmick tweak it for the US portraying him as the Japanese superstar of superstars, and put the weight of WWE behind him and you got a massive superstar.  His rainmaker will be insanely over in WWE too, as it is like a perfect move for the WWE audience with it's setup.  And everything is there, just need to take what he does now, and just ramp it up.

With two nights of WM as the norm, get a lot more variety in what can main event as well.

And this is why I think he jumps.  Sure he is loyal but so was Nakamura.  In the end though he needs to decide does he want to be a Japanese superstar, and American superstar or a global super star.  Only WWE gets him to the global level.

Also should he get bored of WWE or not like it there, after 3 years on WWE TV, he can go to AEW on a larger contract from the exposure.  There is almost no downside.

Dec 5, 2023 20:40:59 GMT c said:

Dec 5, 2023 14:29:58 GMT RT said:

I would be shocked if Okada headlined Wrestlemania. Absolutely stunned.

I'm not saying it wouldn't happen, I just don't see it.

I can.  Dude is infectious.  He wins over US crowds without really trying.

He won over the type of US crowds he's worked long before he stepped foot in the country. Winning over WWE fans will be a different story. I'm sure he can do it but I doubt it's as easy as you say. It took Nakamura a while and his presentation is much more Westernised than Okada.

Dec 5, 2023 21:58:42 GMT Emperor said:

Dec 5, 2023 20:40:59 GMT c said:

I can.  Dude is infectious.  He wins over US crowds without really trying.

He won over the type of US crowds he's worked long before he stepped foot in the country. Winning over WWE fans will be a different story. I'm sure he can do it but I doubt it's as easy as you say. It took Nakamura a while and his presentation is much more Westernised than Okada.

Also the fact that Nakamura debuted in NXT and everyone there already knew who he was and was excited to see him. Okada isn't going to join NXT, and I doubt the average WWE fan has any idea who he is.

Again, I'm not saying it wouldn't happen, I'm just saying I would be really surprised. I'm still of the belief this story is all posturing to get a few more bucks out of NJPW and Okada intends to stay put.

I see him coming. He is built for WWE. His gimmick is far easier to get than Nakamura's and his style is WWE style turned up a bit right now.

And SI reported that Okada has said he is seriously considering WWE or AEW right now. And WWE is going to pull out all stops to make sure it is not AEW, as Tony will try to lock him down to five to seven years on the first contract. I expect both to offer at least 3 million as a floor, doubling what he is making now. Not sure how deep the pockets of NJPW go, but both WWE and AEW can go a lot higher knowing they can get another decade from him. Which really is what AEW and WWE want, Okada for the rest of his prime.

Okada may say fuck it and stay home, but he would be stupid to leave this sort of insane cash on the table.  Sign three years at top dollar, then bail if you do not like it taking with you 10 million or so in the process.  

Even would be good for his wife's career, as they can always move near Hollywood to get her voice work there.

lmao Emperor

x.com/richlatta32/status/1732408897866981527?s=46

“I love how when we find out someone joins house of torture we take the news as if we found out someone has decided to dedicate their lives to smoking crack”

Accurate.

World Tag League update.

War Dogs (Gabe Kidd and Alex Coughlin) won A Block by defeating TMDK (Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls) in the final round. TMDK place second in the block - both teams advance to the semifinals.

NJPW STRONG Tag Champions Hikuleo and El Phantasmo won B Block, closely followed by IWGP Heavyweight Tag Champions BISHAMON (Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI).


The biggest news is that House of Torture have added another new member to their ranks - Ren Narita!!



www.njpw1972.com/165792

NJPW STRONG Tag Champions Hikuleo and El Phantasmo defeated TMDK in an excellent match to secure their place in the finals. They will meet IWGP Heavyweight Tag Champions BISHAMON, who beat War Dogs in a not-as-excellent match.

Champions vs champions in the final. Interesting booking since champions never win these round robin tournaments. Hikuleo and El Phantasmo defeated BISHAMON in the group stages, and I feel like they will do it a second time.

World Tag League is over.

IWGP Tag Champions BISHAMON defeated Strong Tag Chanpions ELP and Hikuleo in a 30 minute+ final that featured just as many finisher kickouts as KOZayn vs The Usos at Wrestlemania. An event that almost never happens, the champions win the tournament and choose their Wrestle Kingdom opponents. Bishamon chose to face ELP and Hikuleo once more in a double title match. At least four guys I don't care about will be out of the way in the same match.

On the undercard Gates of Agony got a shot at Tanahashi and Okada. The match was decent, it ended when Okada pinned the bigger Gate of Agony with a Rainmaker. Okada got dropped on his head tgree minutes before in an odd botch, so the final moments were very cautious indeed. Okada seems fine. He is invulnerable.

Ren Narita is not only in House of Torture, but even worse, someone in the back told him to smart smiling when dishing out his beatdowns. Someone higher up needs to tell him to stop. When he betrayed Shota with a dead serious expression...that was much better. Stop smiling please. Leave the goofiness to SHO and Yujiro.

As far as I know the full Wrestle Kingdom card hasn't been announced, but there are a couple of interesting news items.


Tetsuya Naito takes Tokyo Sports MVP 2023

www.njpw1972.com/166514

Tetsuya Naito has won Tokyo Sports’ prestigious pro-wrestling MVP award for 2023. Naito’s victory in the G1 Climax, and having received the honour of being Keiji Muto’s last official opponent before his retirement in February gave Naito his first MVP cap since 2020, and his fourth overall.

"In September in Kobe, I defeated Jeff Cobb and got revenge for my G1 loss. Now I’m heading to ward the main event January 4. Yes, I won the G1, but I’m not sure I was able to really stand out as much as I’d like this year. I never had a title match, and with that in mind, I had thought Hiromu Takahashi would take the prize. I bet Hiromu is pretty disappointed right now. But I’m sure he’ll keep going more and more to increase his standing."

More important, the man who won the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in April in Ryogoku, and has held the World Heavyweight title longer than anyone, SANADA. Being able to hold the top title for a long period of time is impressive. Yet it feels like ever since April, he’s been less and less prominent. Now he got, how many votes for MVP from the panel? Two? That says a lot doesn’t it. January 4 2024, the main event, it has to be do or die for him. All the same, I will come in as challenger and as Tokyo Sports MVP, win, get my roll call, and get 2024 started the right way. You can imagine what that might look like."

IWGP Global Championship announced for Dome three way

www.njpw1972.com/165949

The post World Tag League press conference on December 11 saw the face of January 4’s three way battle between Jon Moxley, David Finlay and Will Ospreay change with the official introduction of a new title for the match.

After Finlay destroyed both the IWGP United States and United Kingdom Championships at Power Struggle in November, Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi announced that a new title would replace the IWGP US (UK) Championship designation. Today that title has officially been named the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship, with this comment from Sugabayashi.

Super J Cast tweeted this morning “the Bloom may be off the rose for Okada and NJPW.”

His agent is Barry Bloom, who also represents Chris Jericho & Will Ospreay.

Super J Cast usually gets this stuff right. Okada may be done with NJPW after January. And if they are referencing his agent, I have to assume that means things look good as to where Okada might end up.

AEW just gave Will Ospreay a huge money deal that still allows him to work in Japan. Okada would be interested in a similar deal I would think, since his wife is a big star in Japan and wouldn’t want to move to the US full-time. Money isn’t a problem either; she makes far more than Okada ever would wrestling.

Who is Okada's wife?

Dec 17, 2023 19:30:43 GMT Emperor said:

Who is Okada's wife?

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuko_Mimori

Famous people and their marriages is not something that registers with me. I'm oblivious to that side of the world. But Okada's famous wife is never mentioned on NJPW, so how do you guys know?

Yeah unless they're involved with another worker I generally would never know. Interesting a voice actress is the real rainmaker...

Dec 17, 2023 19:57:09 GMT Emperor said:

Famous people and their marriages is not something that registers with me. I'm oblivious to that side of the world. But Okada's famous wife is never mentioned on NJPW, so how do you guys know?

wreddit is full of crazy people that know every detail of every wrestler's life. I read it on there a while ago and forgot about it then it got brought up again today when the Super J tweet was being discussed.

Dec 17, 2023 21:26:23 GMT RT said:

wreddit is full of crazy people that know every detail of every wrestler's life.

Don't act like you're not one of them. You and Lony.

Not sure how rich Suzuko Mimori is. Voice actors are disgustingly underpaid.

I would think the biggest issue is they have a kid, so they move to the US, it would be raising the kid away from their families and outside their culture.

Bloom is a rep for mostly people in AEW it seems. Reps a lot of the guys. I would say this locks his path. Which is a pity, I think he would be huge in WWE.

Dec 17, 2023 21:32:21 GMT Emperor said:

Dec 17, 2023 21:26:23 GMT RT said:

wreddit is full of crazy people that know every detail of every wrestler's life.

Don't act like you're not one of them. You and Lony.

Meh.

I looked on Okada's wiki page.

Dec 17, 2023 21:32:21 GMT Emperor said:

Dec 17, 2023 21:26:23 GMT RT said:

wreddit is full of crazy people that know every detail of every wrestler's life.

Don't act like you're not one of them. You and Lony .

I did not intend to act like I was not one of them. I totally am. :lol:

Hell it was RT who added that part to his wikipedia page!

Dec 4, 2023 20:18:12 GMT RT said:

Okada is a free agent at the end of January. SI reporting that he is seriously considering signing elsewhere.

99% sure this is posturing to get as much money from NJPW as he can but him pulling an Ibushi and signing with AEW while still being based in Japan could be interesting. Or Shinsuke’s recent push entices him to give the WWE a chance.

Something to keep an eye on.

This is probably just trying to steer us away from the real big swerve: Okada signs with NJPW again, but also joins House of Torture.

Dec 6, 2023 16:43:05 GMT RT said:

lmao Emperor

x.com/richlatta32/status/1732408897866981527?s=46

“I love how when we find out someone joins house of torture we take the news as if we found out someone has decided to dedicate their lives to smoking crack”

Wife literally said in response to Narita joining: “Why is he just throwing his entire career down the drain? He just started and had a huge promising future ahead of him.”

And it was not meant as a joke in any way. The exact response she would give if he quit NJPW to be a crackhead.

CMLL superstar Soberano Jr., has apparently signed a one-year contract with NJPW.

www.fightful.com/wrestling/soberano-jr-says-he-s-signed-one-year-deal-njpw-will-continue-work-cmll

As far as I'm concerned this is great news.

Hiroshi Tanahashi has just been named the new president of New Japan.

Once again proving who the real ACE is.

The real ACE doesn't hide in backstage roles, he fights as the strongest wrestler in the company. Okada.

Dec 23, 2023 22:14:55 GMT Emperor said:

The real ACE doesn't hide in backstage roles, he fights as the strongest wrestler in the company. Okada.

Okada is not the ACE. He is the RAINMAKER. He makes all the money by being the big drawing face. Tanahashi is the ACE up his sleeve, backstage plotting him to success.

This is all very basic.

It turns out Tanahashi is now not only President, but also Representative Director. One role was not enough to contain his raw power. He is collecting titles just like he does in the ring.

The president stepping down, Takami Ohbari, had some words to share about Tanahashi:

Together with our staff, our wrestlers and our fans, I was able to have the strength and energy to do my job to the fullest of my ability. During that time, a key figure in supporting me and helping us through those difficult times was our new President Hiroshi Tanahashi.

I never thought of my relationship with Tanahashi as one of executive and wrestler but rather a confidant and a guiding figure. He would always talk to me about how things were running from a management perspective, and I would share that information with him, as he offered advice and consultation. I’ll never forget the work we did to bring cheering back to wrestling, and the tears we shared at making it happen.

Not being a wrestler myself, I’ve always leant on my business experience outside of the ring. But Tanahashi will have a wrestler’s mindset as well as an executive insight, giving him a full perspective in and out of the ring.

Tanahashi has apparently been a major influence on management for years already. This is quite surprising to learn. Here's some excerpts from Tanahashi's statement outlining his primary goals:

I always carried a dream and ambition to be President as well as an active wrestler.

I have some key goals that I would like to meet in my time as the President. First of all, I want to sell out the Tokyo Dome.

I also plan on having more title matches outside of major cities. I feel that selling out the Tokyo Dome only becomes possible when the towns all around Japan are sold out as well.

I also want to further increase our work with sponsors. Our sponsors are the best tag partners that we have.

There is a lot that I want to do in this role, as well as a lot I know I still need to learn. I look forward to your support.

I still haven’t won the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, and there’s a lot to be done in that respect too, but it’s a true Ace that can perform in both positions.

It's almost like he is directly addressing criticism from Emperor. He is THE TRUE ACE.

Early contenders for banger of the year at Battle of the Valley on the 13th:

Okada vs Ospreay
Moxley vs Shingo
Giulia vs Trish Adora

Also TMDK (ZSJ & Bad Dude Tito) will be facing Matt Riddle and a mystery partner.

Eddie Kingston is defending the Continental Crown against Gabe Kidd

Rest of the card is decent too. Even the tag matches and throwaway matches have potential.