The Terrifying Decline Of NJPW
Amid the fury aimed at Okada over the last few weeks, it's easy to overlook that Shinsuke Nakamura simply vacated the Intercontinental title before departing for WWE in 2016, and in a notable parallel, he went out in the exact same manner as Okada. Both Nakamura and Okada represented CHAOS eight years apart in a multi-man and won on their last night. That the CHAOS stable has existed between those two dates, incidentally, highlights yet another issue.
The difference is that Kenny Omega, who won the vacated title, was actually ready. Also: Omega disclosed on the short-lived Wrestlers On The Road Ordering Room Service YouTube series that Nakamura not doing a job was a WWE demand. Nakamura might well have done the job, were it up to him, but ultimately, it didn't happen. Nor did it matter: Omega very, very quickly became one of the top stars in the company. He and Tetsuya Naito, reborn as a member of Los Ingobernables having joined on a tour of CMLL, replaced Nakamura and AJ Styles at the top of the card, driving the resurgence yet further. Naito wrestled three singles matches against Styles, and while the record was 2-1 in his favour, Styles won their most significant meeting at Wrestle Kingdom 9. Naito last defeated Styles half a year before Styles left. There was no ceremonial passing of the torch. Naito was booked well and consistently and had truly earned the push; he did not need a symbolic last-ditch win even if it were that easy. Styles was battered out of New Japan by the Bullet Club Elite, yes, but that fabled last big job?
Neither AJ nor Nakamura did it.
All of which is to state that NJPW is in deep sh*t, and the solution that never ended up happening probably wouldn't have made an iota of a difference. This is Gedo's fault, not Okada's.
The Reiwa Musketeers branding exercise of Shota Umino, Ren Narita and Yota Tsuj is a betrayal of show-don't-tell, and worse still, Gedo is barely telling the audience that these young men are stars capable of replacing Okada nor Will Ospreay. The rot - that cannot be reversed with a token win - set in long before Okada even entertained the notion of leaving. Even before the pandemic, NJPW was declining slowly. By 2019, many of the key combinations of top guys felt very familiar, and the likes of Tanahashi and Naito and Ibushi looked battle-worn in particular. Even when it was great, it was an echo of itself.
Omega departed for the nascent All Elite Wrestling in early 2019. He did his last job for up-and-comer...Hiroshi Tanahashi. He famously tasked Ospreay and Jay White with leading New Japan into the next decade. Ospreay took the challenge more literally, becoming the consensus best wrestler in the world amongst critics (although some continue to loathe what they perceive to be a heavily indulgent and transparent composite approach of what all great wrestling should look like).
White is altogether more difficult to judge.
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