9 Wrestlers AEW Will Sign In 2024
1. Kazuchika Okada
New Japan Pro Wrestling is either already in, or about to descend into - the downfall era.
The resurgence led by Hiroshi Tanahashi in the 2010s is over, certainly. NJPW was for several years the very best wrestling promotion on the globe - to such a seminal extent that a Japanese promotion became the #2 company in the United States. The unparalleled in-ring; the immaculate presentation; the incredible cast of cool, striking top guys: NJPW was so monumentally brilliant that, to this day, Gedo's mathematical genius G1 booking is still sought after by hardcore fans as the answer to all of pro wrestling's problems. It is no coincidence whatsoever that the Continental Classic was Tony Khan's shortcut with which to ease fan tensions. The mid-to-late 2010s G1 run was, for many, the best pro wrestling ever got.
A few factors converged to put paid to that glittering era.
Gedo's booking patterns developed a familiar, missable feel (to his immense credit, though, his prime lasted longer than anybody's). AEW stole its buzz and USP as the wrestling-forward league du jour. The pandemic battered a company that relied heavily on live gates for revenue. The intoxicating, counter-driven main event epic became inflexible and daunting after a while.
Kazuchika Okada supplanted Tanahashi as the Ace, but nobody supplanted him. Gedo lost the courage to boldly replace his top stars. He did this to awesome effect when Tetsuya Naito and Kenny Omega elevated NJPW in the wake of Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles leaving, and repeated the trick when Jay White and Will Ospreay replaced Omega - but this hasn't really happened since.
Gedo might have to go all in on Yota Tsuji and Shota Umino now - in addition to giving up on the guys who've been around forever and simply do not have "it" at the main event level - since Okada's rumoured signing with super agent Barry Bloom strongly indicates that he could be AEW-bound.