Very quietly this weekend, the scope of pro wrestling, and specifically, Total Non Stop Action Wrestling has changed dramatically. Or, let’s say it could change, if given the opportunity by the suits and idiots behind the scenes. Oops, was I politically incorrect? Too bad.
As I have said numerous times, following Japanese “puroresu” has been a hobby of mine. With that being said, some of the favorites in my DVD collection include the Best of Dragon Gate, the Pro Wrestling NOAH DVDs I own, and the TNA Global Impact DVD showing the card from the Tokyo Dome last January as a part of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s marquis show.
This past weekend was that same Tokyo Dome show, and TNA really scored this time, even more so than last year.
Last year, Angle went in to Tokyo as the IWGP 3rd belt champion, and came out the champion after defeating Yuji Nagata, one of New Japan’s top aces. This year, two tag teams come out with IWGP gold, and the possibility of two other major angles exist for TNA to snatch and grab and milk for all its worth.
First, the obvious. Team 3D & The Motor City Machine Guns are IWGP Tag Team Champions. For 3D, it’s another trophy in a hall of fame career. For the Guns, it’s a major step up in competition and a major kudo in their record book to be able to come to Tokyo and snatch the Junior tag team titles from New Japan and bring them to TNA.
In my eyes, it had appeared that the Guns were being soured on by TNA brass, even though they appeared to be, and still do appear to be on a collision course to determine the X Division Champion at Genesis. However, with the new gold around their waists, it epitomizes the fact that the TNA tag team division, specifically just by these two teams, outshines the WWE attempt at a division by a landslide. And the fun just begins, obviously.
If they play this right, they meaning the egos of New Japan and TNA, they can have invasion angles, and the whole schmere in Florida, and all over the country. The talent from New Japan coming in to the states can be a heavy duty force to re-vitalize the business that TNA desperately needs. And it could be led, here’s my first angle idea, (no pun intended), it could be led by one man.
Hiroshi Tanahashi.
The man who came to the states, to TNA, and got soured on like Kizarny during his debut on Smackdown last week. The man who back in 2006, took AJ Styles to the limit. The man who just over this past weekend, took the legendary Keiji Muto, known to the US as the Great Muta, to the limit, and took back the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. I don’t know about you, but if I were New Japan, after the way TNA treated one of, if not, the top star in the company, I’m making a beeline for Orlando, and turning this MEM/front line story in to a memory, and making it TNA vs. the World.
You put a faction together of Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Jushin Liger, Giant Bernard, and either Manabu Nakanishi or Milano Collection AT, and send them over to the states & make the lives of TNA stars a living hell. And you get the extra twist of being able to showcase championship matches for the New Japan company on United States soil. Damnit, if NOAH and Dragon Gate can do it in an ROH ring, let New Japan do it in a TNA ring. It’d get ten times more exposure for both companies with the television deal.
I’m by no means an expert in Japanese talents. But I do know from watching the little that I have that they are indeed, as talented as they come. And they’re possessing the one aspect that all of pro wrestling needs in the United States.
SOMETHING DIFFERENT.
Now, I had another angle (no pun intended) that I wanted to bring up. Over the weekend in Tokyo, Low Ki was beaten for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title by Tiger Mask. It’s a bad thing for Low Ki, or is it? It’s obvious to all the world that the Suicide character is in TNA to stay for the forseeable future. With Kaz on the shelf, obviously coming back way too early, and Low Ki being the voice of Suicide in the Impact video game, can you put two and two together? If I’m Jeff Jarrett & Dixie Carter, I’m on the phone to the World Warrior with a blank check, and put his character to the ultimate test in trying to bring this video game talent to life. I like the angle, I like the idea, but he’s got to be able to talk, and the only one who can do it is Low Ki. He’s been freed up, to the most part, now, with his IWGP Jr. strap dropped, so if TNA has any brains, they scoop him back up in a hurry.
If this information and the results from this one show, are worked in a way that, in my opinion, is creative & unique, the entire wrestling spectrum all across the world will have change almost overnight. It’ll be a matter of time to find out if my dreams can potentially come true.
What are the chances? Slim to none, but hey, someone can dream can’t they? And I’m lucky enough to have the forum to publicize this dream.
Thanks for reading.
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