NJPW booked a fantastic show tonight, they did a great job presenting their own wrestlers and a better job presenting the outside talent than their own home promotions do. I think it should be seen as a huge compliment that wrestling fans often talk about how much more they enjoy someone’s work in New Japan than in their US promotion. They showed once again why they are the best wrestling company in the world when it comes to the base mechanics of booking good shows and telling classic style pro wrestling stories.
This company isn’t obsessed with wins and losses, they tell stories. Naito and Sanada told an incredible story but once that ended, you had hobbled Naito with a lack of main event competition and a period on the schedule where you don’t need the IWGP belt in Japan for a month, which finally created the opportunity to continue their 5 year arc with the reinvention of Jon Moxley and how it connects to Shota Umino, at a time the company needs Shota to start taking that next step.
It’s a transition period for NJPW, and as the old saying goes it’s a marathon and not a sprint, it’s going to take time and that means the personnel deck is going to shuffle a bit, but if NJPW keeps telling stories like they have this year they will be in great shape for the future once everything plays out.
by officerliger
