New Japan in 2024 was definitely a rebuild period. They got some things right and some things that could have been avoidable.
What are somethings you think need fixing for new Japan?
For me:
The booking of the heavy tag division and the perception of it.
The trios division. There is no excuse from booking a fantastic run with the belts last year to just be forgotten was again.
The Jr Heavy division title. The quality of the title matches have not been to the level compared to previous years.
There builds for shows outside of Japan.
by DeathTriangle720
13 comments
Detach from the booking vacuum AEW is currently creating.
Destroy the Strong brand and integrate the Strong regulars more heavily into the main product. Limit US shows to a few bigger and more well produced shows.
Continue to branch out working with other promotions, especially other smaller Japanese promotions.
Push Taichi.
This is Tanahashi’s last year – make it special.
I list my hopes for next year
– Try to create a more consistent major Heavyweight scene and decide who your major players are and not constantly changing who is in those top spots.
– No ex-wwe guys being bought in to win titles and do basically nothing for months until they lose their belts and never appear again
– Work more with other Japanese promotions (Noah, Dragon Gate and hopefully more) and focus more working with the other Asian country promotions.
– Faster turn around with Young Lions and try doing more stuff like they did with Fujita
– Less us shows and only do them for special occasions like NJ used to do.
– Do something of real note with Oleg next year and not have him just doing Never Six man stuff with Yano and Tana.
– Focus signing more local Japanese like they did with Jake Lee.
There are waaayyyy too many belts. I wish to see the creation of the NEVER global openweight championship. Also, I would like to see a redesign for the TV title if possible.
Chop off a few belts.
Get committed to making both tag divisions consistent.
Tell Gabe Kidd to get a better character (preferably one that isn’t “kid getting punked out by Colin Farrell in Gentleman”)
Book House of Torture outside of Japan more.
Well, I’m gonna list things for basically every single division that isn’t the Juniors, so here goes.
Stop acting like the next gen ain’t ready yet. At this point, the Reiwa 4 just need to be allowed to make an earnest attempt. They seem fine on letting Shota and Yota do so, but when Yuya gets back from injury they need to do the same for him, and they need to find some way for Ren to get out of the goon shadow of EVIL.
Stop undervaluing the previous generation. I get that Naito’s body is very clearly falling apart, but the sheer devaluing that SANADA, EVIL, and Shingo have gone through in recent times has been catastrophic. These guys all clearly should be pulling more of their weight, but you relegate them to midcard acts? It’s unbelievable.
Fix the tag divisions. The juniors can stay as is, their tag division is perfect, but Heavyweight tag needs to be entirely rebuilt, and the 6-Man tag, despite being the best multi-man division of 2023 completely went up in smoke because we lost one (1) guy. That shouldn’t have been possible; we need to stabilize these divisions in freefall by introducing more consistent acts (for the heavyweight) and making the title more prevalent (for the 6-man).
Actually treating openweight competiton with some respect. Another reason why the 6-Man has been struggling, but it also goes for the main NEVER title too. These titles are objectively less interesting if we treat them as just another heavyweight belt. Openweight is in the name. How about instead of having 3 of the past 6 champs be Shingo, we try and let more Jrs run with these belts? This way we can use more of the wrestlers we’re paying for.
Stop it with the STRONG nonsense. Nobody wants to go to an NJPW show to see random american indie guys. Drop the entirety of the STRONG branding, stop this weird ppv paywall that *only* STRONG shows have for some reason, and just do regular NJPW shows but in America. It’s really that simple. Also, while we’re at it, unify the 3 STRONG titles into their respective counterparts (NEVER, IWGP Tag, and IWGP Women’s) so that they can stop polluting our already bloated title scene.
Demand more out of our relationship with AEW. Asking for it to be cut entirely is unrealistic and quite honestly probably is bad overall for the brand. Instead, let’s get more aggressive, demanding people the crowd actual cares about for our shows instead of random heatless goobers like Jack Perry.
Better factions and better combinations of tag teams and trios
Kill off the NEVER Six Man Titles (Ishii, Tana, and Okada did their best to give them new life, but they’ve run their course)
Maybe scrap the KOPW idea too, or at least designate it as the prize for whoever wins the NJ Rambo.
People literally say “the tag division “ every year. Literally ppl have been complaining about it for as long as I have been watching. Maybe we should forget that one.
The biggest thing for me that I would like to see is more synergy between NJPW and Stardom when it comes to booking the IWGP and STRONG Women’s championships with matches on NJPW shows that feature Stardom talent.
The reality is that with the Yen in the crapper exchange rate wise, the US shows are a vital source of revenue for the company for the foreseeable future. I know several people in this chat want them downplayed, but if you want New Japan to be close to competitive for signing overseas’ talent they are the price to be paid.
Maybe they should bring back Young Blood, and do the exact same thing with SHO and YOH and put the IWGP Tag Titles on them at their return
– Less belts, there are too many.
– Fix the tag team division.
– Focus more on the NJ talent than people like Moxley and avoid another Riddle/Nemeth disaster
– Keep Strong apart from NJ
– More interaction with other Japanese promotions, NOAH, Stardom
– Minimize the HoT Bullshit, keep it to a show a month
Simply put, they need a heel everybody hates without question. Not just dislikes like David Finlay, but I mean visceral hatred. And they need a babyface everyone can love and get behind and cheer for. And those two need to absolutely hate and despise each other. The heel needs the title, the babyface needs to fail time and again over the next couple of years, until one Wrestle Kingdom he finally wins the big one, beating that heel.