Could Kazuchika Okada as the longest reigning champ be bad for business?

[Geese]

Views From The Turnbuckle: Does NJPW Have An Okada Problem? - WrestlingInc.com

The writer Jess Collings makes the case that it should've been Tetsuya Naito's night at Wrestle Kingdom 12: He was the most popular star in New Japan. It was Naito, not Okada, who entered the ring to the biggest cheers from the crowd. He is the anti-hero and he sells a lot of merchandise. Okada has also ran out of credible challengers; his reign is well over 608 days and counting and during that time he's defeated Kenny Omega, EVIL, Tetsuya Naito, Hirooki Goto, Naomichi Marufuji, Katsuyori Shibata, Cody Rhodes and Sanada. He's run out of credible challengers.

Did booker Gedo make a mistake in not putting the title on Naito when he had the chance?

 

[¡Tranquilo!]

For Okada's reign to not turn sour he needs to start having quick and decisive wins over his opponents. He's endured 60 minute bouts with Omega, Somehow retained after Shibata headbutted him into outer space and survived a bout with Minoru-motherfucking-Suzuki, literally no one besides those 3 and maybe Tanahashi or Naito should even should be giving him a challenge this far into the reign. He should be completely dominant he's hailed as the greatest champion in wrestling today so book him like one let him go over in a one sided 5-10 minute match.

The difference between Naito and Okada is simple: People love Los Ingobernables de Japon with or without championships because they're great characters and charismatic on their own. I can't imagine Okada without the IWGP heavyweight championship his whole thing is being the champion. If he loses the title I can't see him doing anything but winning it back. Naito said it himself he is above the belt he doesn't need the belt to stay relevant. Him not winning actually helps him in the long run because he's more popular than ever now.

 

[Stopspot]

It definitely has the potential to become a catch 22 for them. Tanahashi is slowly but steadily slowing down. Nakamura is in the fed, Shibata is gone for the foreseeable future, Goto is seemingly the eternal gatekeeper of this generation. And there's always the risk of foreign stars like Omega also leaving for the fed. Naito is legitimately the only guy who is exactly on Okada's level right now within the company (I'd rank Omega as just below). And this is not even factoring in the guys who are freelancers like Ibushi who can not be guaranteed to stick around either.

New Japan has a stupidly deep talent pool but a sad fact is that a lot of the established acts are getting on in years. A plus is that they have a large amount of trainees right now so logically they will fill those spots eventually. The big thing that has to be done is for Gedo to try and find that star making button he pressed with Okada and build up some of those young guys. And the question is if he can hit it out of the park again?

As the guy above me noted another issue is how fans cannot imagine Okada without the belt. That is another issue with the booking that should be addressed. Talent are easily shoe horned into one particular role or division and rarely venture outside of it. For some it is logical like the junior and heavyweight divide. But there is no reason that says that Okada could not have a tag title run with either Goto or Hashi after he loses the belt, other than that that is just not how New Japan operate. Tag guys are tag guys and singles guys are singles guys. Okada and Goto vs Evil and Sanada was the first time the heavyweight champion had a shot at the tag belts in ages.

These are all issues that can easily be addressed, the former is a guaranteed one to be addressed but the second one is a bit more of a question mark if you ask me. At least as long as Gedo has the book.

 

[Jacob Fox]

I have to admit that I am biased here, as I am just a huge Okada mark. I've enjoyed the run and I am glad that Okada is still on top. I won't watch any match and hope for him to lose, even if it's good for NJPW that he does. Okada gives me that suspension of disbelief that I haven't really had in wrestling since Ric Flair. I can recognize, however, that even if it is what I want, it probably isn't the best thing to always do.

It's really hard to add anything to Stopspot's comments, which are right on. There is the potential that a Hulk Hogan syndrome occurs. When Hogan had his first WWF Championship run, he was popular throughout the whole run. For years afterwards, the WWF tried to build another champion. They tried Randy Savage, the Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart, but the shadow of Hulk Hogan loomed over them all. He became synonymous with the belt. It seems that this may be happening to a lesser degree with Okada and the IWGP championship.

When Okada loses the belt, it is likely that he'll just start working to get it back. Okada has already taken over Tanahashi in combined days as champion. It is really the only thing I can see him doing. It might actually be good if someone takes the belt and they do an angle concerning his obsession to get it back, but struggling to do so. Before he finally got the belt from AJ Styles, they were doing an angle where he fell into a slump and he just couldn't rebound, losing to the likes of Bad Luck Fale.

I dunno. This post is all over the place. I'll keep rooting for him regardless. In fact, I think this makes it more interesting to me. He's had such a long reign, it seems like each defense is more of a potential loss, so it makes it more exciting for me.

 

[Grievous 3D]

I have to admit that I am biased here, as I am just a huge Okada mark. I've enjoyed the run and I am glad that Okada is still on top. I won't watch any match and hope for him to lose, even if it's good for NJPW that he does. Okada gives me that suspension of disbelief that I haven't really had in wrestling since Ric Flair. I can recognize, however, that even if it is what I want, it probably isn't the best thing to always do.

It's really hard to add anything to Stopspot's comments, which are right on. There is the potential that a Hulk Hogan syndrome occurs. When Hogan had his first WWF Championship run, he was popular throughout the whole run. For years afterwards, the WWF tried to build another champion. They tried Randy Savage, the Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart, but the shadow of Hulk Hogan loomed over them all. He became synonymous with the belt. It seems that this may be happening to a lesser degree with Okada and the IWGP championship.

When Okada loses the belt, it is likely that he'll just start working to get it back. Okada has already taken over Tanahashi in combined days as champion. It is really the only thing I can see him doing. It might actually be good if someone takes the belt and they do an angle concerning his obsession to get it back, but struggling to do so. Before he finally got the belt from AJ Styles, they were doing an angle where he fell into a slump and he just couldn't rebound, losing to the likes of Bad Luck Fale.

I dunno. This post is all over the place. I'll keep rooting for him regardless. In fact, I think this makes it more interesting to me. He's had such a long reign, it seems like each defense is more of a potential loss, so it makes it more exciting for me.

Is it possible that NJPW is thinking LONG TERM & is saving Okada dropping
the title to a future star? I mean I have no idea about their up & coming talents
& how their federation is structured...but do they have a someone they could
be setting up to be the future Champion?

Also...does Okada only wrestle when he defends the title or does he wrestle
non-title & tag matches?

 

[Jacob Fox]

Is it possible that NJPW is thinking LONG TERM & is saving Okada dropping
the title to a future star? I mean I have no idea about their up & coming talents
& how their federation is structured...but do they have a someone they could
be setting up to be the future Champion?

Also...does Okada only wrestle when he defends the title or does he wrestle
non-title & tag matches?

He wrestles non title matches sometimes and tag matches. So he definitely wrestles more than he defends the title.

In regards to a future star, I don't really know. My impression is that they are very based in the present at the moment rather than the future

 

[Stopspot]

He wrestles non title matches sometimes and tag matches. So he definitely wrestles more than he defends the title.

In regards to a future star, I don't really know. My impression is that they are very based in the present at the moment rather than the future

Becoming a top talent in a Japanese company does not happen instantly since they are typically very hierarchy based (DDT being the rare male promotion exception that starts developing young talents in to top talents early). You have two or three years as a rookie, then a year or two on excursion before you are brought back. And that is not a guarantee that you will be a top star on your return obviously. Tomoyuki Oka was hyped a lot going into the dojo since he was already a big deal in junior MMA circles and Kidani is a big fan of the kid. Sadly it has not really translated into pro wrestling just yet but the guy has only wrestled for almost a year and is like 21 so he has time.

Kitamura is the one rookie I could see being sped up towards the belt. Age being a factor since he is closing in on 32 years old so he is probably not going on excursion and is doing a trial series right now. Also the dude is jacked to the gills.

 

[Jacob Fox]

Becoming a top talent in a Japanese company does not happen instantly since they are typically very hierarchy based (DDT being the rare male promotion exception that starts developing young talents in to top talents early). You have two or three years as a rookie, then a year or two on excursion before you are brought back. And that is not a guarantee that you will be a top star on your return obviously. Tomoyuki Oka was hyped a lot going into the dojo since he was already a big deal in junior MMA circles and Kidani is a big fan of the kid. Sadly it has not really translated into pro wrestling just yet but the guy has only wrestled for almost a year and is like 21 so he has time.

Kitamura is the one rookie I could see being sped up towards the belt. Age being a factor since he is closing in on 32 years old so he is probably not going on excursion and is doing a trial series right now. Also the dude is jacked to the gills.

This is why Stoppie always gets my vote for wrestling nerd over me.

 

[RedDwarfTechy]

Becoming a top talent in a Japanese company does not happen instantly since they are typically very hierarchy based (DDT being the rare male promotion exception that starts developing young talents in to top talents early). You have two or three years as a rookie, then a year or two on excursion before you are brought back. And that is not a guarantee that you will be a top star on your return obviously. Tomoyuki Oka was hyped a lot going into the dojo since he was already a big deal in junior MMA circles and Kidani is a big fan of the kid. Sadly it has not really translated into pro wrestling just yet but the guy has only wrestled for almost a year and is like 21 so he has time.

Kitamura is the one rookie I could see being sped up towards the belt. Age being a factor since he is closing in on 32 years old so he is probably not going on excursion and is doing a trial series right now. Also the dude is jacked to the gills.

Isn't Kitamura the guy who has his roots in Rugby or New Zealand or something? I remember seeing his debut way back.

 

[Stopspot]

Isn't Kitamura the guy who has his roots in Rugby or New Zealand or something? I remember seeing his debut way back.

Kitamura comes from a amateur wrestling and body building background (was banned from amateur wrestling because of taking steroids).

Bad Luck Fale however comes from New Zealand and has a background in rugby (got into university in Japan on a rugby scholarship and then went pro in the Japanese rugby league)

 

[RedDwarfTechy]

Kitamura comes from a amateur wrestling and body building background (was banned from amateur wrestling because of taking steroids).

Bad Luck Fale however comes from New Zealand and has a background in rugby (got into university in Japan on a rugby scholarship and then went pro in the Japanese rugby league)

Was sure there was a rookie that had a connection to NZ and rugby. This was a couple of years back though.

 

[Stopspot]

Was sure there was a rookie that had a connection to NZ and rugby. This was a couple of years back though.

Toa Henare is from New Zealand and recently graduated. But he doesn't have a rugby background that I can see. Then there is the third son of Haku/Meng as well but he is obviously Tongan American

 

[RedDwarfTechy]

Toa Henare is from New Zealand and recently graduated. But he doesn't have a rugby background that I can see. Then there is the third son of Haku/Meng as well but he is obviously Tongan American

Definitely was Henare, I guess I just assumed the rugby thing with his build and NZ background lol.

 

[InSaNe]

Is it possible that NJPW is thinking LONG TERM & is saving Okada dropping
the title to a future star? I mean I have no idea about their up & coming talents
& how their federation is structured...but do they have a someone they could
be setting up to be the future Champion?

Also...does Okada only wrestle when he defends the title or does he wrestle
non-title & tag matches?

I know next to nothing about NJPW, and this is how I feel. Maybe I'm just jaded from being a WWE fan, but this is the most logical explanation. If there's a huge talent pool in NJPW right now, then nobody can come close to Okada at the moment. And did I just read Omega attempted to take the title from him? Then that means the promotion has been holding their cards to their chest for a stronger competitor to come in and take it.

Kinda like how Paige came into WWE, by winning the Diva's championship on her first night.