10 Things That Must Happen In NJPW In 2018

4. Give Jay White Time

Jay White Switchblade NJPW
njpwworld.com

Jay White has well and truly been thrown into the deep end.

A Tokyo Dome match with Hiroshi Tanahashi awaits, for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship no less, and it is unlikely that the young Kiwi will face a bigger test in his entire career. Tana’s list of opponents in the Dome read like a ‘who’s who’ of modern Japanese wrestling, after all.

Many fans will believe that Switchblade simply has to win on January 4, but I would argue against that. There’s no shame in losing to Tanahashi at the Dome, and the slow build with Jay White is without doubt the right route to take. There’s no need to rush him.

The last few years have seen NJPW spoiled for choice when it comes to the quality of its young lions. Jay White has the potential to be the biggest of the lot, and the company is obviously aware of this. Not everyone gets a Tokyo Dome match with Hiroshi Tanahashi, obviously. White must not be judged on this one performance, whether it is good or bad.

He is a long-term project, and he could bring long-term success.

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Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.