NJPW - TPWW ***OFFICIAL*** Discussion Thread -- New Japan of America announced

[Emperor Smeat]

Current rumor going around the net is that Will Ospreay's neck injury is not as severe as originally assumed but him dropping the title is also rumored to not be due to it.

Supposedly he wanted to go back home in the UK for an unknown amount of time while NJPW officials want him to stay in Japan for medical treatment. That led to the two sides being involved in a big dispute backstage leading to him getting stripped of the title. Him not offering a return date from his trip also added to the frustrations between both sides.

Originally Posted by Voices of Wrestling We were able to gather more information on the "gaijin unrest" situation in New Japan. Regarding Ospreay, several Japanese wrestlers inside the company are insisting that the Will Ospreay neck injury is in fact legitimate, adding that the dispute stems from New Japan wanting Ospreay to remain in Japan for treatment, but Ospreay refusing, having already made up his mind that he was going home. Others have noted that while Ospreay may be hurting, the official neck injury story coming out of New Japan may be an office cover reason for Will leaving the country. In addition to whatever injury he may or may not have or the true severity of that injury, there is built up frustration among the gaijin (including Ospreay) over the promotions handling of the COVID situation, with the abrupt scheduling of the latest tour being a tipping point. Once Ospreay left the country, whether due to legitimate injury that will keep him shelved, or out of sheer frustration and an unknown date of return (or a combination of both), at that point the promotion had no choice other than to strip him of the World title. It should be noted that when RevPro's official Twitter account was asked about the status of Ospreay, the company was very non committal on whether he would be stripped of their version of the top title, noting that Ospreay would address this himself on an upcoming show. Ospreay gave a short, vague statement to Dave Meltzer in this weeks Wrestling Observer Newsletter, saying "he would be fine and just needs time". Neither Ospreay or RevPro directly addressing the alleged injury is worth noting ... Specifically in regards to the gaijins, the situation has been described by more than one source as a potential "mutiny", with the fly-ins already being frustrated with the constant quarantine and bubble arrangements, and the latest round of positive tests being a breaking point.

[ClockShot]

Personally, I'd like to know Zack Sabre Jr. and Gabe Kidd's state of mind right now.

I think they're the only 2 foreigners who have been in New Japan since the outbreak began. I could be missing 1 or 2 others. But I feel like they're taking this in stride.

[Emperor Smeat]

Okada recently confirmed that he was among those in NJPW who have recently tested positive for COVID.

Originally Posted by Fightful Kazuchika Okada has stepped forward to reveal he tested positive for COVID-19. In an interview with Radio Oshabering (via Tokyo Sports), Okada admitted he was one of the handful of positive tests coming out of NJPW following Wrestling Dontaku on May 4. Okada, along with SHO, YOH, Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru were pulled from Wrestling Dontaku and with the company saying they were undergoing thorough examination and PCR and antibody testing. Okada stated he repeatedly tested negative, but over time felt a fever and was unwell before he finally tested positive. He stated that he is feeling better now.

[Emperor Smeat]

Add Taichi to the pile who tested positive for COVID recently.

Taichi Reveals Positive COVID-19 Test https://t.co/9DO5HZdrXW

— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) May 24, 2021

[ClockShot]

The U.S. State Department added Japan to it's "COVID Do Not Travel" list.

Oh boy.

[Emperor Smeat]

Current rumor going around the net hints that Will Ospreay might be done with NJPW and might be considering signing with WWE for their NXT UK brand.

Edit: Some more details regarding the NXT UK part of the rumor and the conflicting stories about it.

Originally Posted by Voices of Wrestling Multiple Japanese wrestlers and at least some in the office believe that Ospreay could be NXT UK bound. The way the NXT UK speculation was described to me, reads more of a general misunderstanding of what NXT UK is, in that some of our Japanese sources don't fully understand the difference between NXT and NXT UK, and also a connecting of the dots scenario due to the feeling that Ospreay was homesick and anxious in the heart of a COVID crisis in a foreign country. It should be noted that Ospreay is under New Japan contract, so even if he wanted to leave, he would have to be granted a release. There is no indication that he has asked for a release, that New Japan would be willing to grant him one, or whether he even wants one to begin with. On its face, the NXT UK speculation makes very little sense. Assuming Ospreay were able to secure himself a release, it would be foolish to take an NXT UK level deal when he could unquestionably score a much larger contract from AEW or elsewhere (ROH). From WWE's perspective, it would be foolish to sign a star the level of Ospreay to a contract fair to his market value, and then use him on such a low priority brand. It would seem some on the Japanese side may have a misunderstanding of what NXT UK is and it's place in the WWE pecking order, and it should be noted that the NXT UK rumblings are not coming from anyone on the western side. Still, the talk among the Japanese wrestlers is that they believe Ospreay is NXT UK bound, and at least one person in the office is telling people he is convinced that NXT UK is Ospreay's end game. One source close to several Japanese talents chalked up the NXT UK talk to "ignorance of the western wrestling landscape" and went on to say that he wouldn't be surprised if the office is equally uninformed. There is also talk among the Japanese roster is that there is a very good chance of "a mass foreign exodus" in January, when several contracts come due. It is unknown if Ospreay's contract is up in January of 2022, but it should be noted various media reports in 2019 indicated that Ospreay had signed a 5-year contract.

[Emperor Smeat]

Add El Desperado to the growing COVID pile for NJPW.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling The current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado took to Twitter and revealed that he contracted Coronavirus as well. Desperado listed off symptoms he is dealing with such as: 39 ℃ Fever, back pain, incredible levels of malaise, dizziness, decline in cardiopulmonary function, coughing, a strange taste of drinks, Gastrointestinal issues and pain in his muscle and joints.

[Fignuts]

I thought Japan was handling the pandemic better than anyone at one point. How did they turn into such a shitshow?

[ClockShot]

Restrictions ain't tough enough, open borders, poor vaccine distribution, who knows.

But Suga flipping the state of emergency switch on and off every few weeks ain't doing the trick.

If it ain't going to get any better, NJPW either needs to shut down for a little while or take a page out of the WWE/AEW playbook and find an venue to hole up, put up a bubble, and shoot shows in isolation.

[Evil Vito]

Japanese citizens largely trust holistic stuff vs. vaccine so unfortunately they're gonna go through wave after wave for a while.

[Jordan]

Ringside news has a rumor that Will Osprey could be interested in getting out of his NJPW deal to work FOR NXT UK. They said he isn't hurt bad enough to justify a title vacate and that he was tired of dealing with Japan during covid.

[Emperor Smeat]

Originally Posted by Fignuts I thought Japan was handling the pandemic better than anyone at one point. How did they turn into such a shitshow?

Part of of it is due to the Olympics and Japan trying to get things going back to as normal as possible for the lead up to it.

Doesn't help that the IOC has already said that if it gets delayed again, Tokyo is going to lose it outright and not just be bumped to the 2024 Games or be put in the back of the current line of host cities.

That was the reason why their handling at the start of the pandemic was very shaky since they didn't want to lose the Games. Once the IOC approved of the Games being delayed a year, that's when they started to crack down hard on the pandemic and had it mostly under control.

[Emperor Smeat]

According to the Observer, NJPW and WWE have held recent talks regarding a potential partnership between both companies.

Dave Meltzer reported that there were talks somewhere around this past March or April but the current status or details of these talks are not known.

The biggest issue for any deal is WWE supposedly wants to be the exclusive US partner for NJPW meaning NJPW would have to drop their current partnerships with ROH, AEW, and Impact to make this possible.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter In what could end up being among the biggest wrestling stories of the year, or a non-story, depending on the end result, Nick Khan has been in talks with New Japan Pro Wrestling about WWE being the exclusive American partner with the promotion. Right now New Japan has been working with AEW (KENTA, Yuji Nagata, Rocky Romero and Ren Narita plus Jon Moxley working New Japan Strong) and Impact (Juice Robinson, David Finlay, El Phantasmo and Satoshi Kojima) and has had a relationship with CMLL and ROH, but things have slowed down with those companies since COVID. Obviously there are a million questions regarding such a deal if it was to happen, and there are no indications where talks are at past they date back to late March or early April. But it would include WWE sending talent and WWE top stars being allowed to work in New Japan if talks go anywhere. With Khan, the former isolationist attitude of WWE vs. everyone is changing with the idea WWE is part of the wrestling landscape and not separate from the pro wrestling landscape. Obviously it’s also to keep New Japan, which pre-pandemic was the third strongest company in the world, away from working with other companies which could strengthen the opposition and also be a factor with WWE gunning for the same talent as other companies because there is a percentage of younger talent that grew up on watching New Japan either via tape or YouTube where working there is a much bigger part of their career goals than the prior generation, and AEW talent has been willing to allow its talent to work outside its walls and Impact would allow talent to work with other promotions.

[Evil Vito]

Please god no. We only just got the AEW partnership I've wanted since the company started. I'd just stop watching NJPW if WWE was involved.

[erickman]

damn i was loving the wrestlers going to work impact

[Evil Vito]

I'm sure Rollins or Cesaro or whatever could go to NJPW and work bangers (even though the NJPW style of booking has led to a lot of matches that feel samey).

But I'd have no trust in WWE not misusing any talent that went to the States.

[erickman]

yeah new japan should know better then to work with vince.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lol, I always thought there was a better chance of New Japan working with WWE than AEW. The WWE is just so much more professional and has a much broader range. The Network has been amalgamated into Peacock in the US, but they could still give New Japan its own platform. Plus the quality of the match-ups would just be better.

WWE gives New Japan access to Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles, Cesaro, Seth Rollins, Shinsuke Nakamura, Sami Zayn and WALTER. Who can AEW offer? Kenny Omega & The Bucks? PAC? Lance Archer?

Even if this is just used to spice up NXT or for a random match here or there on Raw, it’s a better deal for all involved.

[Volare]

Originally Posted by Conspiracy Victim Vito I'm sure Rollins or Cesaro or whatever could go to NJPW and work bangers (even though the NJPW style of booking has led to a lot of matches that feel samey). But I'd have no trust in WWE not misusing any talent that went to the States.

Vince (or his "writers") booking NJPW would be the following...

Evil Japanese is here to "steal" a title or start a "war" while feuding with Otis in the opening match. Will also bow all the time.

One would think Nakamura would be phoning NJPW and warning them to get away from the E.

[Evil Vito]

That awkward moment when Jon Moxley is told he has to go to Raw to defend the US Title against Baron Corbin.

[Fignuts]

I doubt NJPW would enter a partnership if WWE wanted control of their booking. Probably just a few caveats on how their talent is used from both sides.

As much as I dislike WWE, there are far more exciting potential match up there, than what we'd get with an AEW partnership.

[Fignuts]

Ishii vs Walter and Sheamus, please

[Jordan]

Originally Posted by Fignuts I doubt NJPW would enter a partnership if WWE wanted control of their booking. Probably just a few caveats on how their talent is used from both sides. As much as I dislike WWE, there are far more exciting potential match up there, than what we'd get with an AEW partnership.

That's true. I kinda hope it happens.

[Evil Vito]

The ideal thought: dream matches galore

The reality: Hirooki Goto jobs to The Fiend

[Fignuts]

I love Goto, but given his position on the card there's no reason why he should be going over Bray.

[Emperor Smeat]

Rather NJPW not even bother with toying with the idea of a partnership with WWE since its just going to lead to very bad things for them in the end.

Short term-wise, the partnership would be very interesting for the talent swaps but long term wise, all its going to do is give WWE that strong foothold in Japan they desperately want for their planned NXT Japan brand and set things in motion to hurt NJPW in Japan and ensure their US expansion plans don't become successful.

All you have to look at is the UK or EVOLVE to see what happens when WWE decides to be friendly with others these days. NJPW is of higher status than those other affiliates but the end result is likely going to be the same.

They sign that deal and they might as well start the timer to when they lose Okada to WWE and he starts jobbing to Corbin in his debut feud.

[ClockShot]

Moxley and KENTA were probably guys who would call up NJPW and say don't do it.

On the other hand, guys like KUSHIDA, Finn Balor, and Nakamura would probably be calling and saying make the deal.

Either way, it's a disaster waiting to happen.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by Volare Vince (or his "writers") booking NJPW would be the following... Evil Japanese is here to "steal" a title or start a "war" while feuding with Otis in the opening match. Will also bow all the time. One would think Nakamura would be phoning NJPW and warning them to get away from the E.

Yes, because Nakamura is so sad earning more money than he’s ever made in his life, living with his family by the beach, and being more recognised than he ever has before in a company that gave him 15 months to acclimate to US living and make sure his family was settled.

There’s no way a guy like Nakamura, who re-signed with the WWE after AEW had been announced, would be excited for cross-promotional material between him and his old friends and co-workers. Better go and tell them to work with the promotion pushing their even less realistic answer to Toru Yano into their World Title picture, and also enabled Chris Jericho to get fat, bloated and erode his mass appeal, AND turned Jon Moxley into just another guy.

WWE, the largest wrestling promotion in the world, with the most talented wrestlers in the world, would absolutely SUCK lending their world class talent to New Japan. It would just be a disaster. Gotta have “The King of Sports” cross over with the TBS Comedy Revue.

Imagine being a fan of Okada’s presentation just to see him go to AEW and feud with a former WWE mid-carder over video games.

[Mr. Nerfect]

P.S. Thought experiment: Imagine Okada coming out on Dynamite vs. coming out on SmackDown. What’s the reaction going to be like on Dynamite? Pretty raucous right? On SmackDown? Much more tepid. If you think for a minute, you might be able to figure out why the latter is actually better.

[Emperor Smeat]

According to PWI, WWE is trying to use Daniel Bryan as the bridge piece for a potential partnership.

Basically trying to entice him to sign a new deal with them by going out and having these talks and entice NJPW to ditch all of their current partners for them instead by dangling Bryan in front of them.

Thing is Bryan technically could just work for NJPW on his own since his current contract with WWE expired but he knows the moment he does that, the level of pettiness WWE is going to unleash his way will be massive. He also likely knows that will tank his wife's chances of returning to WWE and not get hit with the petty treatment by association.

Originally Posted by PWI There was a report earlier today from Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer about WWE reaching out to New Japan Pro Wrestling about a potential working agreement. Since that report began making the rounds, we've heard from a number of readers asking whether there is anything to it. We are told there is and there isn't. PWInsider.com has been told today by sources from each company that there have been communications between the two sides for several months but the main crux of it was over the potential of Daniel Bryan being able to potentially work some dates in NJPW. Whether anything has come from those discussions remain to be seen. Is it possible the two sides could build a bridge to each other? Sure, but if so, it's not happening right now and it's not something that has happened yet despite talking for some time off and on. So, This is not a case where any sort of talks are about to lead to New Japan immediately pulling up stakes with their current working agreement or NJPW talents making some sort of shocking appearance on Raw. AEW's Jon Moxley has possession of the IWGP United States title, plus Yuji Nagata worked for them several weeks ago plus Roppongi Vice just reunited in AEW. Meanwhile, Satoshi Kojima just made his Impact Wrestling debut. Don't expect anything in regard to those promotions' relationships with NJPW to change anytime soon, if at all.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by Emperor Smeat According to PWI, WWE is trying to use Daniel Bryan as the bridge piece for a potential partnership. Basically trying to entice him to sign a new deal with them by going out and having these talks and entice NJPW to ditch all of their current partners for them instead by dangling Bryan in front of them. Thing is Bryan technically could just work for NJPW on his own since his current contract with WWE expired but he knows the moment he does that, the level of pettiness WWE is going to unleash his way will be massive. He also likely knows that will tank his wife's chances of returning to WWE and not get hit with the petty treatment by association.

Or Daniel Bryan is using his free agency and value in wrestling to better it (like I predicted). Like he did when he gained some measure of creative power (which I also predicted). Or it’s just the WWE doing something that benefits them creatively and in terms of their content production.

Man the IWC can be such marks.

[Emperor Smeat]

Or Bryan just wants to simply check off wrestling in NJPW and CMLL before he retires like he's mentioned a bunch of times before for his final career goals.

He's basically pulling a page out of Brock Lesnar's book by using his free agency as a huge bargaining chip to get it potentially done while also staying in WWE's good graces.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by Emperor Smeat Or Bryan just wants to simply check off wrestling in NJPW and CMLL before he retires like he's mentioned a bunch of times before for his final career goals. He's basically pulling a page out of Brock Lesnar's book by using his free agency as a huge bargaining chip to get it potentially done while also staying in WWE's good graces.

Yeah, and there’s nothing wrong with that. And it doesn’t make the WWE any more or less evil than they already were. And it could be beneficial to the entire industry.

[Emperor Smeat]

at the idea this would be beneficial to anyone but WWE for the long run.

Whatever benefits NJPW would get for the short term would be erased once NXT Japan pops up because Triple H hasn't been shy at all about what his real goals are for NXT's global expansion.

Last time WWE wanted to partner with someone in Japan, it almost led to two promotions being bought out and shut down. Only reason their first attempt at NXT Japan failed was Wdue to WE being too upfront about what the future of anyone who partners with them in Japan would be.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by Emperor Smeat at the idea this would be beneficial to anyone but WWE for the long run. Whatever benefits NJPW would get for the short term would be erased once NXT Japan pops up because Triple H hasn't been shy at all about what his real goals are for NXT's global expansion. Last time WWE wanted to partner with someone in Japan, it almost led to two promotions being bought out and shut down. Only reason their first attempt at NXT Japan failed was Wdue to WE being too upfront about what the future of anyone who partners with them in Japan would be.

You’re not smart, Smeat. All your thinking is borrowed from hucksters who have eroding sources in the industry.

The exposure New Japan would get from working with WWE would be immense. Their access to talent is far greater than with AEW. They aren’t working with a promotion that is any less credible. For all the zombies and Fiend bullshit, you get equally bad or worse shit in AEW. It potentially gives them a platform for their content via Peacock. WWE also live in a content-driven world. The landscape has changed dramatically since the last time you whinged about how the WWE we’re getting rid of long-term executives who wanted to cling to their already ageing OTT model instead of signing a $1 billion deal with NBC Universal. Because everything WWE does = bad. All they care about is ruining the market they thrive in. You fucking moron.

Think, you fucking stooge. Put down the second-hand opinions and form your own.

[Mr. Nerfect]

What we really need is more KENTA in AEW! That’s good for wrestling! *fart noise*

[Emperor Smeat]

Originally Posted by Mr. Nerfect You’re not smart, Smeat. All your thinking is borrowed from hucksters who have eroding sources in the industry. The exposure New Japan would get from working with WWE would be immense. Their access to talent is far greater than with AEW. They aren’t working with a promotion that is any less credible. For all the zombies and Fiend bullshit, you get equally bad or worse shit in AEW. It potentially gives them a platform for their content via Peacock. WWE also live in a content-driven world. The landscape has changed dramatically since the last time you whinged about how the WWE we’re getting rid of long-term executives who wanted to cling to their already ageing OTT model instead of signing a $1 billion deal with NBC Universal. Because everything WWE does = bad. All they care about is ruining the market they thrive in. You fucking moron. Think, you fucking stooge. Put down the second-hand opinions and form your own.

And your just someone who's shtick on these forums got very old and annoying fast.

Why the fuck would you even care about NJPW since you already mentioned before they lost whatever respect you had for them that you rarely ever showed around here when they partnered with Impact. Same for coming back to TPWW since you also mentioned about not caring about these forums anymore.

You also must be bored or got kicked out from being an annoying twat at other places if you crawled back here again.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by Emperor Smeat And your just someone who's shtick on these forums got very old and annoying fast. Why the fuck would you even care about NJPW since you already mentioned before they lost whatever respect you had for them that you rarely ever showed around here when they partnered with Impact. Same for coming back to TPWW since you also mentioned about not caring about these forums anymore. You also must be bored or got kicked out from being an annoying twat at other places if you crawled back here again.

No points, just more “wah, your opinion sucks.” At least I explain why you’d full of shit without deferring to someone else’s cliched talking points.

I would care about New Japan way more if they worked with WWE instead of one of the bush leagues. I haven’t watched in ages, but why does that matter? My points are salient. All you’ve got is “Well, actually it would be bad because WWE is evil and NXT Japan and Vince is old.”

And yeah, I had some spare time to come and visit these dead fucking forums. You should consider yourself lucky. at “crawled back” like signing in and calling you on your shit was some sort of ordeal.

My shtick is to tell the truth, by the way. It gets old because it’s nicer to live with the fantasy that wrestling outside the WWE is some haven and WWE is this actively evil entity that wants to shit on all their potential business partners.

[Fignuts]

I don't think people would stop watching NJPW, just because NXT Japan showed up. There's a huge difference between the UK scene and Japan, so I don't think those results would be the same. And if both companies are willing to cross promote each other's services, NJPW would get boatloads of new subscribers.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by Fignuts I don't think people would stop watching NJPW, just because NXT Japan showed up. There's a huge difference between the UK scene and Japan, so I don't think those results would be the same. And if both companies are willing to cross promote each other's services, NJPW would get boatloads of new subscribers.

I don’t even think NXT Japan is viable. Probably smarter to just work something out with New Japan.