The booking of tonight’s card was abysmal and head scratching. Immediately giving ex-WWE guys belts. How long did it take ZSJ to get a singles belt???
Okada suddenly leaving without a plan indicates the he had little faith in the future.
NJPW President resigning and being replaced with Tanahashi while good for the future is never a positive for the current situation.
Expanding last years G1 for no reason and being unable to book it in a logical way (so many stories went unresolved/of all the young guys Hikuleo is the one they pushed??)
The Reiwa 3 Musketeers naming which no one liked and their gimmicks being cosplay of other wrestlers instead of giving them freedom to be themselves from the outset.
Looking back on Kota Ibushi’s situation… yeah he’s a bit weird but how much did bushi road just screw that up as well? (As in dealing with him and the drama, it was Ibushi’s own fault not taking care of his body).
All the issues Stardom has had have reportedly been attributed to bushi road…
Splashing the money for Mercedes Mone, creating a belt for her, and getting very little in return.
Speaking of belts…. all of the decisions related to merging and creating new ones has been shit. Killing a long lineage like the IWGP Heavyweight championship just reeks of some executive trying to stamp their name on a project.
I’m sure I’m forgetting some things and this is just going back a year or so.
Personally, from the time of The Elite leaving and then their unwillingness to work with AEW from the start hurt them both domestically and internationally. NJPW Strong was never going to work. They had the talent but their lack of commitment to production and to this day the US events lack the production quality to match a the in ring quality.
Waiting until AEW was bigger before collaborating really took their leverage away in the relationship. I think things could have been very different if they worked together much earlier.
They’re in a tough position and can still put on great events like WK and the New Beginnings Osaka card but it just seems like it’s been trending downward for so long in spite of the excellent matches and talent they have.
TL/DR – I vented.
by xMattewx4
