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So EVIL leaving is a big vacuum not just because he was their top heel but also because he’s the leader of House of Torture, a prominent merch seller.
Naturally, New Japan isn’t going to want to give that up especially now that Bullet Club is no more so HoT needs a new frontman. People lean towards Ren Narita to be that as he is the second most prominent Heavyweight of the group. However there is a problem:
Narita has been reinvented for the better being in the House but it also feels like something is missing. An immediacy where if he becomes the main focus of a group, we wouldn’t immediately be all for it. Part of it is his ability which is passable and the other is his character. He is a snarling sadist used as an attack dog by EVIL to inflict pain. While he could be the next top heel, he is inherently limited by his current character.
Shota Umino is in a crisis of his own. Fans started turning on him a year and a half ago and that still occasionally pops up. It’s not a Roman Reigns situation but at the same time it’s worrying for someone who is intended to be one of the main guys in Hontai. A heel turn has been suggested as a way to refreshen him as it successfully did with both Roman and Naito. And EVIL leaving is an opportunity.
Make Shota the leader but instead of it being an EVIL type leader of a supervillain surrounding himself with scumbags united by utter devotion to being bastards. Shota says fuck you Hontai, Strong Style, the fans who rejected him and surrounds himself with people who enable his dark side. He goes from all white to all black, he starts believing the hype people used to give him as a Reiwa Musketeer and it changes him for the worse.
AND…it gives the best choice for a next top babyface an obstacle to overcome: Yuya
This is all just an idea of course because I can’t see New Japan changing the way House of Torture matches are booked, not when the alternative is exactly what they are trying to build United Empire as
Thoughts?
by ZakFellows