7 Reasons NJPW Should Be Worried About 2017

7. How Will Kenny Omega Fare On Top?

Kenny Omega NJPW G1 Climax Tetsuya Naito
NJPW.co.jp

After becoming the first gaijin to win the prestigious annual G1 Climax, Kenny Omega guaranteed himself a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 11. In putting the rocket behind Omega NJPW is breaking new ground, as Omega will become the first gaijin to main event NJPW's biggest show of the year and only the third to headline the annual January 4 Tokyo Dome show.

Many believe that Omega's push will continue, and Wrestle Kingdom 11 will end with The Cleaner standing tall as IWGP Heavyweight Champion. If you'll pardon the pun Omega is clearly an elite talent, but there must be some trepidation going into the new year. AJ Styles was the most recent gaijin to hold the belt, and his two reigns came with as many negatives as they did positives.

The New Japan audience has largely taken to Omega as a heavyweight main event performer, but at the same time he has spent the last two Wrestle Kingdoms wrestling as a junior heavyweight. His rise to the very top would be astronomical to say the least. It isn’t too much too soon for the man himself, but will the audience respond as hoped?

Advertisement
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.