NJPW Renaissance

New Japan Pro Wrestling and the End of the Rennaisance

Originally published in "Callingspots" magazine issue 21.

Firstly, let’s examine the tag division- perhaps the weakest area of the NJPW roster. For much of the last two years the tag team of Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows have been the cornerstone of the IWGP Tag Team championship scene, holding the belts for a staggering 601 days on and off between Wrestle Kingdom 8 and Wrestle Kingdom 10. While some talent like The Kingdom from ROH had moderate success (largely to the Japanese reaction to Maria Kanellis and Karl Anderson’s banter with her) the division itself was already in a semi makeshift place prior to the announcement of Anderson’s and Gallows’ departure. The current champions, Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma are certainly able to carry the division in terms of generating interest from the crowd but the problem is that there are no viable contenders right now without throwing together makeshift teams. (With the exception of Tama Tonga bringing his brother, the former WWE wrestler Camacho now Tanga Roa, as his new tag partner) With the inclusion now of a trios style belt in the Never Openweight division it seems as though this may be a problem that will persist in time.

For those unaware of just who Shinsuke Nakamura is I’ll keep it short and simple. Jim Ross has described Nakamura as “one of the most unique human beings I’ve ever spoken with” and many fans around the world consider him to be the most entertaining, if not the most talented, active wrestler today. Nakamura’s career is much like that of Randy Orton. Both men were the youngest heavyweight champions of their respective companies, both became top guys and both underwent considerable gimmick changes at key times. Nakamura's popularity is so strong that due to fan reaction, his Intercontinental title match was successfully petitioned to close Wrestle Kingdom 8 in 2014 over the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. This is a man who has done all that he can do in Japan and has now set his sights on WWE and NXT. Needless to say, his departure creates a void for New Japan as the Intercontinental championship is something many immediately associate with Nakamura. It certainly doesn’t help that he was put in a position where he had to vacate the belt rather than stick around a fortnight extra and put over Kenny Omega-but we’ll get to that in due course. Nakamura’s departure is certainly something that will sting as not only is he one of the top four men in the company, he’s a homegrown talent and recognized as a top guy globally. Just ask the fans of ROH, CMLL or over the next few months-NXT.

Coming full circle, AJ Styles is a man who, since departing TNA in 2014, has undoubtedly shown that he deserves to be called “The Phenomenal” one. In his debut match for NJPW he captured the IWGP Heavyweight championship and established himself as a top dog. Styles in Japan had a surreal reaction from the crowd. When he came to the ring on his own he was met with cheers, but when accompanied by members of the Bullet Club, he found himself able to generate plenty of boos. Despite being booked as a top heel, Styles popularity rose so high that it was difficult to maintain heat at the top from the crowd. To take a perfect example, consider his match from Wrestle Kingdom 10 this year against Shinsuke Nakamura where the crowd is nearly 50/50 split for who to cheer for. (we might as well take 12 months off watching wrestling because it’s frankly going to be near impossible to top that as match of the year). Being one of the “big four” (the others being Nakamura, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada) Styles’ departure is obviously leaving a void with him being as important to the Heavyweight scene as Nakamura was to the Intercontinental. Thankfully, Styles was able to put over somebody in a manner of speaking on his way out by being “fired” from the Bullet Club after receiving a beating from Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks and the rest of the Club, thus ending his run with NJPW. Should he ever decide to return at some point, the reaction Styles would get from a NJPW audience would possibly even overshadow Malenko/Jericho from Slamboree 98 in terms of a frenzied crowd. Styles has proved that you can become a major success overseas and perhaps has been one of the reasons why more and more workers look towards Japan as a perfectly viable option outside of WWE.

The question now is where does NJPW go from here? Well, as previously mentioned, Kenny Omega took over the reins of the Bullet Club by “firing” AJ Styles but with the departure of Styles and the loss of Anderson and Gallows, the Bullet Club has never looked weaker. Omega has already bulked up from the Junior to the Heavyweight division in a short span of time and was even there to interrupt Nakamura’s send off from NJPW post-match. With that said, Omega has since captured the IWGP Intercontinental championship after defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi as well as winning the Never Openweight Trios titles with fellow Bullet Club members The Young Bucks. Kenny Omega right now finds himself in uncharted territory as he seems set on establishing himself as the top gaijin in NJPW by not only heading the Bullet Club (or The Elite as he refers to himself and The Young Bucks), but presenting himself as this unstable almost anime styled villain. This is where my concept of a reform into an “Age of Enlightenment” to follow the Renaissance began to form in my mind. NJPW is currently down 50% of its top stars and needs to build up some more star power quickly. The safe path would have been for Tanahashi to capture IC gold and enjoy a reign, giving the fans something they are familiar with. While a proven draw must be a tempting thing, now is the time to build something new and it seems that Omega is the first new star.

Kenny Omega is a man who has been drastically overlooked in my mind in the past few years, especially as he was single handedly carrying the entire singles aspect of the Junior division of New Japan over 2015. If anyone deserves recognition for his work it’s Omega and establishing him as the top gaijin heel is something I certainly believe he’s capable of (his entrance theme alone is something straight out of a final boss theme from a video game). When he hasn’t been putting on quality matches on the undercard he’s been entertaining crowds with his mic work and has had me choke on my morning coffee with laughter on more than one occasion. (his tribute to Raúl Juliá’s portrayal of M. Bison in the 1994 film Street Fighter is for me the single greatest use of a microphone in wrestling since CM Punk’s attempted conversion of fellow participants in the 2007 Royal Rumble). A proven good hand, Omega has certainly paid his dues and deserves all the success I hope is coming to him. While he may be more known to people for his matches with nine year old girls, a viewing of his matches with Kushida this past year or his title match with Ryusuke Taguchi from the New Beginning in Osaka in February of 2015 should make it clear to anybody that this is a man who is ready for the big time. Perhaps most important of all, Omega is a professional who seems to always have wanted to make it in Japan. After the horrors that were his brief time with WWE’s developmental system, Omega’s success in Japan is inevitable. Certainly one to watch out for in 2016, this could well be the year of Omega in NJPW-regardless of whether Kota Ibushi ever returns to the promotion for a high profiled match between the two.

With Omega now on the move up from the Junior division a new void is created. Kushida, the reigning IWGP Jr Heavyweight champion, doesn’t have much by way of serious contenders at the minute outside of Taguchi and Matt Sydal (formerly Evan Bourne). Similarly, the Jr Tag division is in a bit of stagnation with The Young Bucks, ReDragon and Roppongi Vice being the only steady teams in the running right now. There’s a distinct lack of Japanese talents in the Jr division currently which may be a concern with more and more gaijin coming over and taking up spots. While the stars of the Junior division are still capable of putting on quality matches there is a genuine worry that by year’s end there won’t be much new to see from them without an injection of fresh talent. The latest CHAOS member Will Ospreay along with Los Ingobernables’ Bushi are certainly welcome additions but for the bigger picture it’s not enough.

Perhaps CMLL and ROH will be able to help fill the void in coming months but the priority should absolutely be on Japanese talent and not importing a roster. Maybe the return of the Super-J Cup this year (a tournament for Jr Heavyweights) will lead to the signings of new talent or the development of it at least. Unlike the other issues in the roster, this is the one that certainly doesn’t seem to have a simple fix to it. In my own naivité, there may well be homegrown talent overseas that will be returning to the division in the imminent future but outside from a raid of the likes of NOAH, DDT or All Japan Pro Wrestling, I can’t imagine a quick fix anytime soon unless a series of hotshotting the titles is planned just to keep matchups fresh. I also worry that with the introduction of the Never Openweight Trios championship that time will be taken off the Juniors for a while and despite my concerns about depth on their roster, there lies a fear that their time may be cut indefinitely.

The Never Openweight title (a tertiary championship for Heavyweights to compete for) has seen an interesting take on it in the past year. In 2015 it was dominated by Tomohiro Ishii, Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma in what I would label as “the stiff section” of the card. When the Never Openweight was defended last year you knew you were in for 10-20 minutes of agonizingly painful looking strikes and more often than not, somebody aggravating an injury. (I still can’t fathom how Ishii continued to have so many gruelling matches while seemingly held together with tape for the majority of last year). At WrestleKingdom 10 however Katsuyori Shibata finally captured the belt from Ishii and ultimately broke out from the shadows. In his early days Shibata was a rookie with both Tanahashi and Nakamura before becoming a freelance wrestler in the mid 2000s and ultimately entering MMA in 2007. When he returned in 2012 the reception was mixed for Shibata. On one hand, his no nonsense striking and submission style were welcomed but on the other hand, to some he was just a man who walked away from the business before giving it a real chance. In the last three years there have been signs of a singles push and testing the waters with him but now, with him finally holding a major championship, he’ll be ushering in a new wave of match ups for the Never Openweight belt. To cap off the positivity, Shibata has just signed a new contract with NJPW tying himself exclusively with the promotion. With Makabe and Honma as the current tag team champions since overthrowing the run Anderson and Gallows had on top, this truly blows the division wide open and once again leaves the viewer with massive potential for new and exciting matches to take in. Personally, with this division’s opportunity to steal the show along with a new line up of main events on the cards this really could be a phenomenal year for New Japan even without the Phenomenal One himself.

If this truly is the end of the Renaissance then I believe an Enlightenment is at hand. It’s an exciting time to be watching the product which has literally never been easier to watch with New Japan World (with thanks to their online streaming service, which actually runs cheaper for those like myself in the Republic of Ireland than the WWE Network does). While Bullet Club, arguably the most popular faction in professional wrestling today, is down three members, Omega and the Young Bucks have had great success on the independent circuit billing themselves as “The Elite” and with this strong push-could become top players and maintain the relevancy of the Bullet Club. The Never Openweight, the Trios championship, the Tag Team championship and the entirety of the Junior division are all in an uncertain area in terms of what talent will be the figureheads of each championship. The Trios championship has changed hands 4 times in 5 matches so far with The Elite being the first team to successfully defend the belts. (This took place in Ring Of Honor of all places at the very entertaining 14th Anniversary Show). There is however a formula for success that seems to work for each area of the company so all that is missing now is slotting the right wrestlers into the roles and reigniting interest across the card. Hiroki Goto is a man that seems to be getting a start/stop build at the moment. After being billed as losing every shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and attacking the champion Okada, Goto was presented as a no nonsense asskicker, only to come up short immediately again. Could this be part of a slow burn for Goto to make him credible in the fans eyes? Possibly. He’s had large success so perhaps the idea is to make him a sympathetic ass kicker. Goto joining CHAOS is a definite indicator that he’s going to be treated as a top tier talent moving forward. Could Okada reign with the belt for another six months? Absolutely. He’s the top guy right now and deservedly so. Okada has immense consistency in the ring though I wouldn’t be surprised if a Naito reign was to come out of Invasion Attack. The entire company is in a state of uncertainty but for once in professional wrestling it’s a good thing. NJPW have learned over the last four years how to succeed on a global level and now,they have an opportunity to revamp things and do it all over again. The build to Invasion Attack in April has never been so unpredictable with the New Japan Cup tournament delivering some entertaining shocks along the way to it. The final of the tournament between Goto and Naito was a stellar match with the right man winning. Naito is truly in his element since his reinvention this past year and could well cause an upset against Okada shortly. At this moment in time the world of professional wrestling is looking at all the talent that’s leaving this company instead of looking at the amazing talent that is still there right this minute. All eyes should be on this company. It may very well be about to leave its Renaissance period but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing at all. Those running NJPW have truly done something amazing during these past few years and turned the company around after coming out of a bleak business period prior to this Renaissance. New Japan has proven the world wrong before so by all means, don’t be surprised when they do it again this time around.