WWE Fail To Purchase Pro Wrestling NOAH To Use As NXT Japan
No-ah go for WWE's latest attempt to kickstart Japan territory.
On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer addressed the rumours stemming from his tease of a "huge" story set to break in Japan within the week.
According to Meltzer, WWE have in fact attempted to launch NXT Japan - with no success thus far. Instead of launching the promotion from scratch - which, as pointed out yesterday, is fundamentally very difficult to do within the framework of Japanese pro wrestling - WWE had attempted to purchase the ailing Pro Wrestling NOAH league, with the intention of using it as in-built platform to launch the third NXT brand.
The purchase fell through, and while this hasn't scuppered WWE's plans to create NXT Japan, it leaves the company in a disadvantageous position.
The dojo system attached to several major companies doesn't allow for a deep pool of freelance Indy stars, as is the case in the west. Moreover, the culture of loyalty - it is considered a transgression to "jump", and it is a decision that is taken rarely and not at all lightly - prohibits the strategy with which the main NXT brand has grown to prominence in the United States.
The creation of NXT Japan isn't a non-starter - to paraphrase Chandler Bing, if Vince McMahon sets his sights on something, he's more often than not going to f*ck it - but the first attempt has backfired.
Rumours still abound of an association with Big Japan Pro Wrestling, which, wow. WWE sure likes its strange bedfellows tag teams.