After watching the video of President Tana about how fast the WWE can make stars. When I first heard that, I was surprised because of New Japan’s track record where they could make someone a star in a matter of 2 months or a year. In the past, the company would entrust the future of the company to their young lions who would come back on excursions. The 3 best examples of this are Okada, Hiromu,& Jay White. The way these 3 returned were all different and all brought in to immediately challenge for a top-level title. You can tell from Okada & Jay that they were still green and hadn’t gotten comfortable with their new characters. However, for both of those guys in a short span, they won major titles in the company and the company ran with it. The company took a gamble and I could say they both became a success.
One of the strongest things New Japan did was have someone step up once other people left. In 2016, Nakamura, AJ, and Good Brothers all left. Who took their spots Kenny, Naito,& G.O.D. In 2019 the ELITE left and Ospreay, Jay, and Ibushi stepped up. The company had a strong roster and talent who were ready and built to be pushed further. And it paid off for the company(look at WK14).
Then Covid happened and for any young talent they brought back there was a hesitance to push them. Last year there were debates about having Tsuji or Shota beating Ospreay for the US/UK title. And for both of those matches, they could have crowned either guy especially when it was clear Ospreay was gone after February. They could have pivoted to Shota vs Mox at the dome and have Ospreay vs Finlay if Finlay got over at the dome to push him as the “Savage” leader of War Dogs.
Now we’re in a situation again where so much talent left and this time outside of Tsuji, it doesn’t feel like anyone else has been elevated. Again it’s not like they don’t have the talent it’s more of the issue of the booking and the lack of faith in the young talent to develop.
by DeathTriangle720
