Kazuchika Okada leaving New Japan - Expected to go to AEW

[Silkk]

Breh, the tweet says there's a growing fear Okada's wife will leave Japan for the US. I'm taking that as the whole family is uprooting.

You’re jumping to conclusions.

We have no idea where he’s going…

That is a big con to him going to WWE…

 

[WhatsGoodTy]

I think he gets wasted wherever he goes

 

[bigdaddy88]

he will need a manager. one of the things that hindered nakamura (IMO) is his english....With an American and specially a wwe audience , if u can talk u can go very far. In AEW he's already known to that fanbase,so his english wont be an issue .

 

[Cattle Mutilation]

Why do people keep saying he can still do njpw events if he signs with AEW

What’s the point of announcing he’s leaving lol

If he's in AEW, he's going to wrestle less frequently in New Japan than Roman Reigns does in WWE.

 

[Cattle Mutilation]

So if Okada goes to WWE, how long do they keep him in NXT or do they give him the AJ Styles treatment and let him skip the "developmental" stint?

 

[Reality Check]

Agreed on being the best for his career and health but him half assing it in the ring plus not having the benefit of closing shows and doing 30-40 minutes "epics" will sour on fans fast. Unless Okada shows a side of him he hasn't shown yet and proves to be a much more versatile wrestler, the backlash on him will be pretty big in the E'

@Silkk idea of puttinng him against Günther soundd like an ideal scenario for him. Kinda like Nakamura 's debut being against Sami.

Don't think the WWE crowd would care about him putting on 30-40 minute matches every Monday night. He could probably put on a 15-20 minute match with Rollins for example that would give everything the crowd wants, plus there wouldn't be crazy spots like there are in Japan. There's fresher match-ups/feuds in WWE (can pretty much say that for anyone in NJPW) but the hiccup is uprooting his family to the states which they would require.

It's kind of weird how AEW doesn't get heat for taking NJPW talent though when their supposed to be "partners".

Outside of Ospreay, everyone Snowman signed that was most recently with NJPW were not under contract with them when they signed with AEW. Plus with their working relationship with NJPW, they could still work over there for the right program (it's insane though that it's been nearly a year and they still haven't done a BC Gold/Bullet Club feud).

Heyman said WWF paying him had something to do with music rights. Can’t find the clip rn

According to Jim Ross, they paid ECW regularly in order to eventually have access to the video library and the talent.

"We knew the dire straits that unfortunately Paul was in financially and we figured the logical conclusion in his case was bankruptcy," Ross said. "At that point in time, we were prepared to buy the assets which included the library in bankruptcy court. We had been helping Paul, I think we paid Paul $50,000 a month, I can't remember, I don't remember. That $50,000 a month number sticks out but I may be wrong on that too. In any event, we were helping him. He was getting a regular check to try to keep his doors open longer so that if he did indeed have a legitimate buyer, he had more time to negotiate a deal. Vince was very very kind to Paul in that part."

"It would've been very easy to put him out of business, all of his top talent wanted to leave because I hired most of them. We got everybody we wanted and they were calling me, I wasn't soliciting them, they were calling me because at Vince's insistence we're not going to go out of our way to do anything harmful to ECW. We wanted to buy the library at some point because we had the goal to do this network."

Ross mentioned that the main reason McMahon wanted to pay Heyman was to try and keep the company alive for a while and create a good relationship for when they ultimately went bankrupt. He said the main thing they wanted from ECW was their library so they could use the footage whenever they wanted to.

"Paying Paul was like moving around the deck chairs in the Titanic, you kind of knew it was going down, so you just tried to stop the bleeding as best you can and get in line for some of those talents," Ross said. "They did have some really good talent, I think we did a nice job of hiring the best that they had."

"Vince recognized talent, for any of us to try to argue the point that Paul Heyman didn't have significant talent from a cerebral standpoint would be ridiculous. He did a lot with the little engine that could, Paul did a phenomenal job motivating. Paul did a good job of us vs. the world mentality. We knew what we wanted to get out of ECW, the library #1, and select talents #2. All of that worked out, we knew we could do better if we stayed closer to Paul and showed him our loyalty. If the only person we got out of that deal was Paul Heyman and no talent, we'd win because he's a brilliant TV writer and a great creative guy, one of the smartest I've ever been around."...

JR also made reference to WWE knowing they would need the ECW library eventually given that they had signed so many of their talents. He said Vince didn't know much about ECW when they started bringing in talent but the main goal of the expansion was the library.

"The library had value knowing where we were going," Ross said. "You're not buying contracts, you're buying the library. That's tangible, you can touch it, you can feel it. Vince didn't have the product knowledge at that time on the positives and negatives of the talent because he did not watch the show. He didn't know Joey Styles did commentary solo. The library in general is what we had our eye on."

Jim Ross On Vince McMahon Paying To Keep ECW Alive

 

[Roid Jones]

Didn't expect this news but the truth is there is nothing left for him to do there. I wonder what has been happening behind the scenes

 

[Ohnoits]

he will need a manager. one of the things that hindered nakamura (IMO) is his english....With an American and specially a wwe audience , if u can talk u can go very far. In AEW he's already known to that fanbase,so his english wont be an issue .

Yes, even if he goes to WWE his best shot is a manager who can put him in a program against CM Punk/Seth Rollins etc for that title. If he goes for Roman everyone knows he won't win it and he'll just get fed to him to pad his record.

I don't even think the American audience knows who he is like that. I am strictly an American wrestling fan and I never would have heard of him if not for AEW fans discussing him...so to me that means the WWE audience wouldn't know him from a guy on the corner - and that's not an offense to him its just how it is here.

 

[Roid Jones]

So if Okada goes to WWE, how long do they keep him in NXT or do they give him the AJ Styles treatment and let him skip the "developmental" stint?

'Who's that attacking Randy Orton...OMG it's Okoto'

 

[Norrin Radd]

What if he goes to TNA

 

[Ohnoits]

What if he goes to TNA

lol I feel like it will come out that Tony threw 10 million dollars at him just to sign him and he can show up 3x a year...he's such a Japanese wrestling mark.

 

[TheGreatShowtime]

Okada saw Jungle Boy show up and decided to bounce. Can't blame him

 

[Silkk]

What if he goes to TNA

He is next week

 

[The Rainmaker]

On my birthday

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

Everybody said the same about Nakamura. I still prefer the NJPW one but his WWE one is fire as well and a lot of people prefer it.


Kenny's AEW theme is and has been straight ASS since day one imo. Really wish he comes back and sticks to Devil's Sky.


If Okada goes to AEW though, It's no doubt he keeps his theme.

Breh I remember watching a old njpw match with Naka and tanahashi. His old theme while flames just doesn't hit like the WWE one.

The violins man....when you hear violins in anything, you already know the shyt if fitting to be lit.