WWE NXT Japan Announcement Imminent ?
Is the global TakeOver set to continue?
A "huge" story is set to break out of Japan within the week, per a tease from the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer. He tweeted yesterday that this week in particular is a "great one to subscribe", and in the same tweet, he promised the inside scoop on whatever this story may be.
Making sure to add in the "unless something falls through" caveat, Meltzer claims the story is so big that an entire edition of Wrestling Observer Radio will be dedicated to it.
r/SquaredCircle sleuths brokenbatarang and -High-Energy- may have hit upon the nature of the story. The creditable and knowledgeable puro insider Fumi Saito was asked on the Pacific Rim radio show last week whether we'll ever see an NXT Japan. Perhaps tellingly, Saito claimed he could only answer that question "after October 18".
Author's Note:
This is big in itself, but the puro landscape doesn't lend itself to the from-scratch formation of such a venture; the best or most promising talents are mostly tied to name promotions through the dojo culture. To make this remotely WWE-like in scale, you'd have to expect the company to transfer, temporarily or otherwise, its own name talent to the brand.
Or, alternatively: we know, from recent editions of the Observer Newsletter, that WWE has held discussions, of an unspecified nature, with STARDOM, Dragon Gate and Pro Wrestling NOAH. The assumption was that these talks were related to the expanded Network tier. But could WWE reimagine a name puro league by absorbing it under the NXT umbrella?
Is this even related to WWE? Might NJPW finally launch a Women's division? Will we see the sort of mass exodus from a major promotion that seems to recur every other decade or so?
Check back with WhatCulture as this story develops.
Unless plans change.