10 Impact Vs. New Japan Matches We Need To See

The Forbidden Door has been blown open.

For the first time in years, Impact Wrestling have a working relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling, as evidenced by the arrival to Impact of FinJuice at the culmination of No Surrender this past February. The former IWGP Tag Team Champions are now set to challenge for The Good Brothers' World Tag Team Championships at Sacrifice on 13 March.

The previous relationship between Impact and New Japan saw matches like Jeff Hardy vs. Tetsuya Naito and Rob Van Dam vs. Toru Yano. Yes, Naito wasn't the star he is today, and yes, Yano was still the drizzling sh*ts, but these matches happened because they could.

Of course, it's not just New Japan working with Impact, as All Elite Wrestling have also secured a relationship with the Anthem-helmed promotion that will see Kenny Omega defend the AEW World Championship on Impact programming at the Rebellion pay-per-view next month. The implications this has for Impact's reputation are huge.

That relationship sparked an article surrounding ten potential matches between Impact and AEW talent. Why wouldn't we do the same thing for Impact and NJPW talent?

Spoiler alert: Toru Yano isn't in here. Sorry, Yano.

There's no bigger trope when it comes to fantasy booking than pairing two guys whose gimmicks are at least the tiniest bit similar.

Will it stop us, though? Haha, lol, of course not.

Ace Austin vs. Yujiro Takahashi seems like a match that's too good to pass up when you first think of Impact and New Japan inter-promotional clashes. On one hand, you've got a genuinely outstanding in-ring talent with a cracking character to back it up. Against him, you have Takahashi.

While the primary aspect of Ace's character has forever been that he's one step ahead of the game, having an ace up his sleeve if you'll pardon the pun, his Impact run has seen him stoop to some low levels. From attempting to have an affair with Eddie Edwards' wife Alisha to involving Trey Miguel's mother in their rivalry, there was nothing he wasn't willing to do.

As for Yujiro, he's literally nicknamed 'The Tokyo Pimp'. Often accompanied to ringside by scantily-clad women, Takahashi has taken the ladies' man schtick, and ran with it, making him a perfect fit to face someone like 'The One True Ace'.

Yujiro is nowhere near as good as he once was, but he's still decent. You'd get an alright match so long as Ace does most of the heavy lifting.