Kazuchika Okada to leave New Japan Pro-Wrestling

26 comments

1. Biggest Puro news since… Well, to put it a different way, biggest Puro news in a great number of years.

2. Even though I didn’t want this to happen, i also think this was inevitable in a way. Thank you Rainmaker, for everything

3. This changes everything.

4. Damn that honestly is terrible news I thought with Tanahashi as Pres. and him advertised for events in March he would for sure be staying. Hopefully he faces Shota or Tsuji in his last match and puts em over

5. It’ll be interesting seeing who moves up, but they should’ve been preparing months ago. Okada leaving without putting anyone over is criminal.

6. This is legit one of the most shocking news ever

   Where does he go

7. 2024 needs to slow the fuck down

8. Wow. I thought it was a joke at first when I saw the headline. Thought he’d be like Tana or Naito. Losing him and Ospreay within the same couple of months. Fuck.

9. Okada is a big deal in NJPW because of the way he’s been booked and presented over the past 10 years. If he shows up in another company he’ll be treated like a big deal, but it’ll be a lot of tell and not show.

10. Sooo, with that spot open, it leaves room for guys like Katsuhiko Nakajima or even Kaito Kiyomiya to jump into a main event role in NJPW (even though he’s AJPW’s Triple Crown champ, I think Nakajima may be freelancing and Kiyomiya gets treated like dogshit by NOAH as of late).

    I’m just imagining if Nakamura was more persuasive than Tanahashi was at the end of the day (if Okada is WWE bound).

11. Damn, man! First Giulia is leaving STARDOM and now Okada is leaving!?

    Wtf is going on here!?

12. Need Nooj and NOAH to book him on the next NOAH show so Kaito finally finishes the story

13. WHAT THE FUCK

    NOOOO

14. I’m not shocked because I bet he feels like he’s accomplished everything he can in New Japan.

    I am, at the same time, completely shocked and gobsmacked that it’s actually happened. Holy shit.

15. Well. NJPW is about to go through a lonnnnng rebuild period. Holy shit.

16. So… Okada gone. Ospreay gone. Naito on his last go round. Tanahashi stepping back.

    Lots of opportunities about to open up, young guys. Who’s going to step up and seize them?

17. Talk about a gut punch. I thought for sure Okada would be a NJPW lifer. Man, I’d hate to see them lose the Rainmaker, too, immediately after losing Ospreay.

18. President Tanahashi: “We want you to put Shota over as the new ace of New Japan.”

    Okada: “That’s not gunna work for me, brother.”

19. The Goto CHAOS takeover gonna hit hard.

20. Really curious to see how the Japanese fans are reacting to this.

21. Barely a year ago NJPW ran WrestleKingdom 17, which featured a double main event of Kenny Omega, who left NJPW to help start AEW in 2019, vs. Will Osperay, who left NJPW to go to AEW in late 2023, and Jay White, who left NJPW to go to AEW is early 2023, vs. Okada, who is now leaving NJPW to potentially go to AEW.

22. Nakajima or Kiyomiya should be a priority now.

23. It’s been a mass exodus in NJPW since 2019 and it makes me very sad.

24. This is lowkey emotional, I haven’t watched in a while but Okada was NJPW for me, this feels like Cena leaving WWE it’s just not right.

25. Tanahashi once again given the burden of carrying the company through its dark ages, this is a shocking loss

26. I thought losing Shinsuke and AJ back then to America was huge (it really was) but this news is seismic. Okada IS New Japan. It’s like if Misawa or Kobashi left AJPW to wrestle for WWF/WCW. Best wishes to Okada though. He’s gonna be producing 5-star matches wherever he ends up and he’ll have more chances to enjoy In ‘N Out!

    I wonder which among the new musketeers will be built up as the next Ace.