Quote:
Originally Posted by Fignuts
You know in the 90's, at the very peak of NJPW's success, they didn't have "THE GUY". They had three guys. Chono, Mutoh, and Hashimoto. And they would all have multiple reigns, with the odd Fujinami or Choshu title win thrown in to mix it up a bit.
I fully believe they have the potential to be in that spot again. Where instead of just one guy to rely on, with a few people to hold on to the belt for him when he needs a break, you have multiple mega stars.
Wrestling is all about timing, and I think this moment could of cemented Naito as more than just a main eventer who can occasionally challenge THE GUY, but instead an equal to Okada. He already outclasses Okada in the charisma department, and while I feel Okada is slightly better in ring overall, in large part to his amazing story telling, there are some things Naito still does better than Okada.
Omega is talented enough, more than over enough to be your third, giving you your modern day "three musketeers", as it were.
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I recognize what you're saying, but they kind of do have their guys all set up. Okada is now in the Tanahashi spot. Tanahashi is now in the Nakamura spot. You have Goto who is the "he's got real potential and we want you to love him" spot. I get that you love Naito, but to make him an equal to Okada you'd have to pay him equal to Okada. The goal is to be making money here, not spending it by working yourself out of your own game. Naito knew what his role was there. It's to be the hot challenger to reinforce the story that the national hero really is a national hero. Otaku fans are probably the only ones, not bitching -- I get that you're not doing that -- but they're the only ones thinking this way about it, because we've been conditioned to expect 15 title runs for Randy Orton or whatever.
I think you're right about timing, but I think you just have the wrong time. How many Japanese fans would have tuned in to Wrestle Kingdom 12 and saw that Okada was the champ and gone "Oh shit, he's still the guy?" and discovered that he had the longest IWGP Title reign in history? I mean, if you gave WK11 a shot and then order WK12, that's the big story, surely? That and Jericho being in. So why smack that investment away? Everyone just gets this itchy trigger fingers with these things. Okada would have been
introduced to many lapsed fans of New Japan, or puroresu in general, as the greatest IWGP Champion of all-time. You don't have him dethroned the same night just to go "Oh look, we also have Naito, isn't Naito cool too? Buy his t-shirt."
New Japan's business has grown quite well under Okada. And it's grown with Naito as an A2 guy. Sometimes you need to know when to pull a switch (Bockwinkel/Hogan in the AWA), but sometimes it's a lot smarter to just not fuck with what's working. Naito will not go away or disappear. He will still be popular. He will still sell t-shirts. You just don't need to pay him $2.2 million and devalue your top player, which given the sports atmosphere of NJPW, losing to an "almost guy" might do. Totally sane booking, in my opinion. I think you're coming at it from a western perspective, where nothing works, so if something gets hot you should run with it, haha. Okada is doing great as champion. Naito is great in his role. There was no reason to switch them.
And the story of Naito is that he not only lost last time to Okada, but the fans voted the IC Title match above his. His story has been one of being this underappreciated near-miss guy, that is slowly winning over support and proving that he can do it. You don't need to tell it all at once. Like A) Naito loses to Okada in semi-main; B) Naito beats Okada in main. If they wrestle at Wrestle Kingdom again, and I suspect it won't be for at least two years, then I'd completely agree with the timing of Naito beating Okada. But it's just rushed right now. Prior to the G1, I didn't even hear anyone talking about the match. It was all Okada/Omega and whether or not they'd run that again.