I implore you to listen to this [Voices of Wrestling Flagship podcast](https://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2024/02/16/the-flagship-njpw-osaka-okadas-final-njpw-matches-scott-damore-more/) as they make a bunch of very good points about Okada’s leaving and the circumstances surrounding him. It’s a long conversation, but you need to just skip to 11:00 and that’s when they start talking about it.
A few salient points:
* The booking of the Reiwa musketeers and others has been questionable for a long time now. Just because Okada *allegedly* refused to put anyone over, doesn’t mean they couldn’t have utilized anyone else to put over Umino/Tsuji/etc. They didn’t. They had guys like Hikuleo beat them in the G1.
* Some of the stars like Tanahashi *haven’t even wrestled* these guys let alone put them over.
* If Okada did refuse to put them over, he has earned the right to say no *especially when no other star in the company is doing it.*
* Tanahashi didn’t put Okada over out of the goodness of his heart, he did it because he knew he had someone he could work with for years to come.
Is there still time? Sure. Unlike Okada, a lot of these other stars are still with the company. Will they actually use them to put them over? I guess we’ll see.
I also just don’t think a last minute singles match with Okada vs Tsuji or whoever and Okada losing would’ve helped them much.
by A_Man_of_Iron
27 comments
Don’t worry, I assure you that everybody knows that Gedo has dropped the ball massively with new talent.
Okada still should have put someone over. Both things are true.
Okada did put Sanada over so this is all Sanadas fault!!!!!! /s
What’s wrong with Hikuleo beating them as an aside ?
Tbh I think they young guys especially Shota and tsuji done a pretty good job of elevating each other. They do lack big wins though and there were some mistakes made last year
But shota and tsuji are in a pretty good spot for how long they’ve been back.
Okada we’ve already been over at length but nobody is above putting over talent.
i think Okada should’ve put someone over, but not the R3M or Yuya. ZSJ or Shingo could actually use the momentum from the win because they’re already main eventers. IMO the young guys are too far away from the main event scene to have 1 win propel them there. they would need to win something like the NJ cup or the G1, or consistently be booked like a main eventer for a couple tours
Okada going to AEW so he’ll be back in Japan
Stopped reading at “Voices of Wrestling Flagship podcast”. Anyway, Okada leaving without putting anyone over sucks.
The “they didn’t know he was leaving” is not the defense of Okada they think it is.
I’m sure Okada will put plenty of guys over in a few years when he makes his grand return to NJPW. Everyone’s acting like he won’t ever be coming back.
I don’t really care about Okada leaving. It happened, move on.
I don’t find the booking of R3M questionable at all. I think it makes sense considering that they may not be fully ready to be main event stars yet. God damn, one rainmaker shock and everyone thinks every young guy gets to be rocketed up the card regardless of if they’re ready.
Everybody is a booking mastermind with the benefit of hindsight.
One of New Japan’s biggest strengths under Gedo’s stewardship has been the commitment to long term booking. They don’t do hotshot angles and they don’t hit the panic button when stars leave. They set things up carefully and let them play out over the long term. By and large, this strategy has made for satisfying storyline payoffs and assisted to build new stars continually for over a decade now.
The Reiwa Musketeers (plus Uemura) were always intended to be a long term project. We are about one year into a likely two year plan to crown the next ace and his supporting cast. The probable outcome was for Tsuji to go over Okada at WK 19, and for Okada to remain on deck as a top player and elder statesman to assist with the process of transitioning to the next generation of stars for several years to come.
The problem is that nobody banked on Okada leaving. But now that he is, what do you do? Well, a lot of fans are upset and worried about the future, so naturally, they want the new stars to have been made *yesterday*.
All well and good, but giving a guy a monster push right out of the gate has rarely been proven to work. Okada was maybe an exception there in that he was put over Tanahashi almost immediately after returning from excursion. But Okada was a generational talent. Besides which, they already did that story with Okada. Attempting to repeat that formula with his successor will deny them the chance to build their *own* unique legacy, which is what they will need to truly be embraced by the fans over the long term.
Believe you me, if New Japan had pushed Shota Umino to the moon from the outset, the fans would’ve shit all over it. They learned their lessons from Naito’s initial failure. Shota is only really just starting to gather momentum now, and that’s because they have carefully managed his push. Tsuji perhaps could’ve been made instantly by going over SANADA in his first match back, but the company (probably correctly) deemed that it would be more satisfying ultimately to play a longer game.
So what happens now? Okada is gone so all of those carefully built plans are ruined? Not at all. You stick to the program, only now it will be Naito who transitions to the next guy. And if that next guy is Tsuji, you’ve got another in-built angle, in that Naito (who surely doesn’t have much time left on the clock) will also hand over the leadership of LiJ.
And when does this transition finally happen? Now? Yesterday? On the New Beginning tour? Why? Because fans are jittery over Okada leaving? That’s crazy talk. You do it at Wrestle Kingdom, because that’s where legacies are made. You stick with the plan and do the transition properly. What you don’t do is hit the panic button, abandon your long term goals and start hotshotting unproven rookies over established talent to appease a restless fan base that demands new stars *right now,* without ever really considering what it takes to make them. Hey, a big win over Okada is all well and good, but the real reason that meant so much is that it was always properly built to.
In any case, what’s the immediate concern? Okada leaving hasn’t made the sky fall in. In actual fact, attendance is up. *Attendance is up and Okada’s salary is off the books.* In other words, the company’s financial state is more healthy and secure than it has been in a good long while. Of course, it won’t remain that way indefinitely. And there’s much work to be done to get this new generation over. But thankfully, the process is already well under way. To suggest that nothing has been done to build these new guys up is just nuts. They’ve absolutely been a major focus ever since they came back from excursion.
Look, you’re arguing with people who just want to point the finger at someone and the guy leaving is the easiest one to blame. Anyone with a brain knows what this is, that Gedo/NJPW got caught with their pants down, someone in the office is salty and said Okada didn’t want to put anyone over.
Point 4 is very important. The Tana looks better than ever folks really need to understand.
At first, I thought Okadas issue with the dojo lads/younger guys and not wanting to work with them (last years G1 A block) was a bit of work in order to motivate them, but he genuinely seems to dislike the whole lot of them. Seems odd considering his NJPW career was given to him on a silver platter.
Alternatively, it was shitty booking and if he wasn’t going to do a job on the way out he shouldn’t have been in those matches.
If you’re a fan watching your favorite home team for the last time. U certainly dont wanna watch them lose. Especially not the goat!
I still think Okada should’ve put at least one of these guys over before going out to help them out on their road to the top. Adds some legitimacy to beat their top star while still in their physical prime. Especially considering that the rest of their main event scene is getting up there in age
That being said, I still have faith in Gedo and his ability to book a long-term storyline. Things may have not been great over the past few years booking wise, but he still has some goodwill from me due to his masterful work in the 2010s up to 2020. I’ll wait it out for this year
Armchair booker is so fucking dumb when we have no idea where he’s going or what he can do.
Why have him put over literal rookies when he might be able to come back for WK and put over someone in a meaningful way???
I’m just watching New Beginning in Sapporo, and damn… Okada not even acknowledging GoK.
Total false equivalence to say Okada shouldn’t have put over, say, Shota because Tanahashi hasn’t yet. Tanahashi isn’t leaving, he most likely will. And an Okada/Shota match wouldn’t have came “out of the blue” given they spent 6 months feuding last year with no payoff match.
It’s so funny that People say the Reiwa 3 have been booked badly when the reality is their presentation has made them seem better than they actually are to the point people think they’re all ready to be Ace.
I don’t understand why everyone is assuming Okada refused to put anyone over instead of the booking just being this way. Okada hasn’t ever been historically known to be that kind of guy.
There’s also that even 8 weeks ago I’m sure NJPW didn’t think Okada would actually leave. As soon as it was announced they could have had him lie down for everyone, but instead they have let him go out with good grace and tbh I’m here for it. Guy can’t really go from Final Boss of Wrestling to being pinned every night just cos he’s going out. It made sense for Jay White because they were writing him out in a planned way. Okada was a surprise, and BELOVED star. I’ve enjoyed his departure tour, and if there’s a shot of him coming back and doing some favours then that’s great. Who knows, maybe he’ll end up winning the Global title, defending it around the US and then drop it to a Shota/Tsuji at a Strong show
> * Tanahashi didn’t put Okada over out of the goodness of his heart, he did it because he knew he had someone he could work with for years to come.
Surely that’s just as baseless as any of the accusations towards Okada?
People are also acting like Okada won’t show up at next year’s WK card. He’s switching over to AEW but like many of their other stars I’m sure there’ll be special appearances.
1. The booking of the musketeers does not affect okada
2. Who the musketeers have wrestled does not affect okada
3. He’s leaving he should put over whoever them tell him to
4. Wtf does that have to do with anything
He could have put someone other than the musketeers over you know
I thought this segment of the podcast was excellent too. The way people have dragged Okada through the mud based on hearsay is disgraceful in my opinion. The guy is one of the greatest of all time and put his body through hell to elevate the company, he can do what he damn well pleases on his way out.
Because Okada has really had issues with putting people over so far. Don’t really believe these rumors, we genuinely have no idea what’s going on backstage.