This past weekend, New Japan Pro Wrestling fired a shot across the bow of professional wrestling at their top competitor, WWE, by holding their first 2 shows in the United States under the New Japan banner. They held 2 sold out shows in Long Beach, California and are expected to hold 2 more shows late in the fall of 2017 in New York City. The shows were highlighted by the 8-man tournament for the newly-developed NJPW United States champion and a champion vs. champion match for the IWGP title as IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada battled ROH World Champion Cody. Below are the highlights (and a lowlight) of the weekend and how they will shape New Japan going forward.
#1: Kenny Omega become 1st IWGP United States Champion.
In the predictions article that Callum Owen and I did for the Long Beach shows I noted that the U.S. title is actually beneath Omega, while Callum correctly predicted that Omega would win the title. All Omega did was have the match of the night on both nights, the first in the quarterfinal round with Michael Elgin, and the 2nd night had an even better match with Tomohiro Ishii than there Match of the Year candidate affair at Wrestling Dontaku. Oh yeah, he also beat one of the longest reigning world champions in Ring of Honor history in Jay Lethal in the semifinals (although Lethal was banged up with sore ribs). Omega could be the Rob Van Dam of New Japan with the U.S. title. When Van Dam held the ECW TV title, it was established as being a much more prestigious title than the ECW World title. Maybe Omega won’t be able to do that with Okada holding the major title, but the 2 of them have seemingly been on a mission as to who puts out the best performances every show.
#2: Kazuchika Okada retains IWGP Heavyweight title over Cody amid Bullet Club rift.
I never thought Okada’s title reign was in jeopardy at any time against Cody, but I never really expected Cody to be pinned clean in the middle of the ring. I just didn’t believe that ROH officials would let their world champion get beaten clean. Okada’s current reign has now gone over a year and he has beaten a wide variety of opponents. At the moment, it looks like nobody can beat him. In this title defense, it was Kenny Omega coming down with a white towel and the Young Bucks, while at Dominion, it was Cody who was threatening to throw in the white towel for Omega. This led to some disagreement and an argument at Saturday’s after-show press conference between the 2 alpha males of the Bullet Club.
3: War Machine’s ROH contracts expire, then they reclaim the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team titles.
The G1 Special in Long Beach was the first show that War Machine competed in as free agents as their ROH contracts expired at the end of June. New Japan putting their tag team titles on the duo is a good sign that they really liked what they have seen of War Machine since they debuted in the company at the Global Tag League in late November. War Machine and their style are wildly reminiscent of the Steve Williams-Terry Gordy pairing that terrorized Japan in the early 90’s. The tag titles have been quite the hot potato lately but if War Machine does indeed sign full-time with New Japan (with the same kind of deal Michael Elgin has with them), this could be a lengthy title reign as the only real competition being the team they won the titles from, Guerrillas of Destruction.
4: Roppongi Vice loses to the Young Bucks, split when Rocky Romero gives Trent Barreta his blessing to move up to heavyweight.
The Young Bucks successfully defended their IWGP Junior Heavyweight titles with a clean victory over Roppongi Vice. The Bucks are arguably the most popular and news-making team in the world, but they took a backseat this weekend to a lot of different stories. This one involves the breakup of Roppongi Vice with Trent Barreta moving up to the heavyweight division. This is problematic for me in a couple of ways. One, this clearly thins the junior heavyweight tag team division more than it already is (sure, we have seen The Bucks vs. Roppongi Vice about a million times, but there might not be another good matchup throughout the whole division). I don’t mind the make-shift team of Taguchi and Ricochet being the next contenders, but with Ricochet not being able to compete in a U.S. ring until his contract with Lucha Underground expires (where he is Prince Puma), there is no realistic expectation that The Bucks will lose the titles. Two, Barreta moving up to heavyweight with so much competition for spots makes no sense. The G1 Climax tournament is coming up with 20 of the top stars in New Japan and he won’t be in it. Guys like David Finlay and Jay White, the future of New Japan, aren’t in it either. He has a long way to go to become a success in the heavyweight division. Also, he is a tag team specialist. I have not seen him fare well as a singles wrestler at all. All in all, I think this is a tough time for Trent Barreta.
5: Billy Gunn is challenging for a title in 2017.
Now for a low-light. Billy Gunn was brought into New Japan in November for the World Tag League to be partners with Yoshitatsu as “Hunter Club” (get it, they are both WWE guys, and Triple H guys). He never fared well in 2016, but some how parlayed it into a high-profile match with Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Intercontinental title on the 2nd night of the weekend. Gunn put out another lazy effort and even Tanahashi couldn’t save the match. I question why have Billy Gunn on a show when you are trying to put your best foot forward to a new audience.
Overall, I thought it was a great weekend for New Japan and wrestling. They feel it was so successful that they are building a Los Angeles office and dojo, to be finished in late-2018. The odd thing was having WWE doing shows in Japan while New Japan was here in the U.S. I guess it could be time for a new “Monday Night War” here pretty soon.
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