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Wrestle Kingdom puts NJPW back on track, maybe on some new ones too


Image for article titled Wrestle Kingdom getting NJPW back on track, maybe on some new ones too

Screenshot: New Japanese Professional Wrestling

The biggest event for weirdos and insomniacs, aside from perhaps the Australian Open, was back to normal last night. And it’s New Japan Pro Wrestling’s biggest event of the year, Wrestle Kingdom (bell time, 3 a.m. EST). Not only did it mark the return of the crowd that really cheered for NJPW performances, which gave the company the spice that the company had been missing for nearly three years, but it also opened up a whole new avenue for a Another aspect of promoting a new fan base. . Although it has been a bit difficult to do so, we will get there.

Thanks to Japan’s much stricter (though not always smoother) handling of the pandemic, NJPW has been holding performances since summer 2020 without crowds, very sparse crowds or the crowd can only clap and stamp their feet to express any kind. feel. Not the boisterous Japanese crowds on an AEW level, but the eerily quiet atmosphere made the promotion feel like being stuck in congestion or a high school meeting. There are still some great games left, but they all lack something solid to put them ahead. Stricter border and visa policies also keep a host of foreign talent from coming here to devote a celebrity or two.

And it looks like the company used that organizational model to book their shows in some sort of way. It’s hard to tell if NJPW is trying hard because there aren’t crowds reacting negatively to it, or not trying at all because there aren’t crowds reacting negatively to it, or both. The company entered the pandemic after ending Tetsuya Naito’s extremely emotional journey to become the first man to hold both the top and intercontinental titles. And then asked him to immediately drop them on a heel-turning Demon. This may have worked, as Evil used to be Naito’s stable friend and there was a lot to play there, but Evil’s move to Bullet Club also coincided with a shift to an unwatchable ring style. From there, the promotion eventually turned both belts into one, but that didn’t stop them from trying to transfer everything to Bullet Club, although there’s little information on that faction that fans can connect with. . At one point, it felt like every major title in the company was held by a member of that faction, and that was boring.

Understandably, the company feels very grateful to Bullet Club, as it was that group (and more of their merchandise) that propelled NJPW to fame on this side of the Pacific and provided a source of revenue. completely new. But that’s behind AJ Styles or Finn Balor or Kenny Omega. The pandemic has kept current leader Jay White away for a while, and even while White is there, he still doesn’t connect with American audiences the way his predecessors did. Maybe it’s because his matches can never seem to be shorter than 35 minutes, maybe it’s the memorization that always accompanies them, maybe that’s how White’s heel character can sometimes feel uncomfortable. Without a doubt, White is one of the best wrestlers in the world, there may not be anyone on the planet with a larger set of moves, but it doesn’t come close to the top. This only exacerbated NJPW’s problems trying to force deliver this Bullet Club repeat down everyone’s throats.

But without the cheering crowds, there doesn’t seem to be any urgency or pressure on NJPW to change or try too many new things beyond its intended purpose. It’s old.

Last night’s wrestling kingdom felt like a throwback to its pre-pandemic golden age, and maybe that’s just because Kenny Omega has returned to the Tokyo Dome. When Omega is at that stage, miracles tend to happen. The last time he joined NJPW was at Wrestle Kingdom 13 in 2019, when he lost to Hiroshi Tanahashi in the main event and left to start AEW. Last night, he returned to face Will Ospreay, the Wannabe backing for the US title, and it was little by little the classic match where Omega took the company to the next level after its past. (and I say it as an Ospreay loafer). It’s a reminder that when he’s healthy and in his day, there’s still no one better at the big game on the big stage like Omega. The style he and Okada wore seven years ago that the rest of the wrestling world couldn’t ignore and brought NJPW to global fame in the first place.

Of course that’s not all. FTR managed to drop their team belt in a match that was as good as, if not equal to, the FTR masterpieces we are familiar with. The heavyweight quartet between Master Wato, Taiji Ishimori, El Desperado and the eventual winner Hiromu Takahashi was an interesting car accident. The opening match for the base tag titles, with Lio Rush and Yoh against TJP and Francesco Akira, went so fast that the new crowd was immediately thrown into the upper rows from the jump line. .

The night ends with NJPW going where it always goes in uncertain times, which is resetting the main belt for Kazuchika Okada, who has headed the company for about a decade now. His match with White would have been much appreciated if it hadn’t been for Omega and Ospreay. While Okada’s return to the center of the company is familiar and somewhat exhausting, given the history he and White have that they have masterfully played and the feeling of turning into a new era. new to the crowd again, it’s not a terrible idea to have the most stable basis for that.

Oh, and one more thing…

Mercedes Moné arrives

Another big story coming out of Tokyo is that the former Sasha Banks, now Mercedes Moné, made her debut. She made a big splash after a one-woman duel, where Kairi defeated Tam Nakano to challenge Kairi for a company performance in San Jose in February.

It wasn’t the smoothest debut. Moné has never been the best commercial, and in front of audiences who barely speak her language, it’s awkward. The DDT she was supposed to hit Kairi to announce her heel was broken. However, it is Mercedes. She commands space, she feels like a star, and the possibilities are endless.

Just wondering if NJPW and their parent company Bushiroad have thought about them and how to get there. What the NJPW’s women’s division will look like is very unclear. Bushiroad owns both NJPW and Stardom, the female promotion. There is a women’s NJPW belt, but its only appearances have been in the two championship matches that Kairi has had in the past month. There isn’t a single “part” yet.

There’s Stardom, arguably the best women’s wrestling venue in the world and the birthplace of the NJPW women’s championship. But if they’re hoping that Moné will act like their own version of Omega or Chris Jericho, a North American wrestler, to introduce a whole new audience to a Japanese company, there’s a lot more work to be done. must do. When NJPW started making inroads in the West, it had a weekly show on AXS-TV and English-language broadcasts on their streaming channel for each. A fan can drop by and find out what’s going on and who’s who pretty quickly.

Stardom has none of those. There’s Stardom World, an app like NJPW World, but it has no English component and no English commentary on their shows. The site itself…well, let’s call it high school. If fans want to come see who Moné is wrestling with, they’ll have to piece the stories together a lot on their own.

And while launching Moné was a big deal, they missed an opportunity to really showcase what this division could be. Kairi and Nakano have only five minutes in the biggest card of the year. They just have another match on the NJPW card with English commentary. There’s still a long way to go if Stardom and NJPW’s women’s division are to gain a foothold on these shores, which Moné clearly will.

However, the roars that greet every big move of an Omega-Ospreay match or the conclusion that Okada takes the title back is like coming home. The company’s relationship with AEW has always provided the company with a path to more attention and fame, and that is in both the men’s and women’s divisions, if they so desire. Suddenly, the business outside of New York felt like it was growing again.

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