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Post by CMPunkyBrewster on Jan 11, 2018 20:25:29 GMT -5
He got beaten by a guy who was blatantly cheating and getting his henchmen involved pretty much every time and would have won the belt if not for them, let’s not act like he was Finn Balor being squashed by Kane several weeks in a row with no response. Yet, somehow still considered the wins "clean" I don't get it Anyway, back to Kenny. Yes he sees what's going on with Nak but he also sees what's going on with AJ who has essentially been booked as The Guy since he came in the door Nak isn't some scrub begging for scraps but he's not getting the crazy push out the door that people complained about on Smackdown either. He will be fine and he will be champ eventually I'm sure Kenny also sees that AJ is the exception, not even close to the rule. Everyone else he is close with has been booked into oblivion at this point. Nakamura is a guy who was a big enough star that he legitimately could have walked in and won the title on his first night on the main roster and people would have eaten it up. Instead, he had a forgettable match with Dolph Ziggler that made him look like any other dude, and then followed that up by losing repeatedly to Jinder Mahal. He has since become just another guy. Owens and Sami are locked into a never ending feud that they don't even look good in because it involves a McMahon. This comes on the heels of a shit title run for Owens and a complete nothing run for Zayn. Finn Balor has been involved in probably the worst fall from "surefire success with the company behind him" to "he lost a bunch to Kane and nearly showed up as a pumpkin" in recent memory. Asuka has gone from the biggest female star the business has ever seen to just another face on the roster. Anderson and Gallows were setting the world on fire outside of WWE, and even came in with a little fanfare, only to quickly become 2 guys that I regularly forgot were even in the company. Samoa Joe did absolutely nothing forever, then looked like a killer for about a month so he could be fed to Brock f***ing Lesnar, and has since resumed doing basically nothing. They have had no idea what to do with Cesaro from Day 1, despite being one of the best wrestlers in the world and about as naturally over as one man can be. Kassius Ohno is one of the best workers on the planet, and he merely exists in WWE. These are all people that Omega came up with in the indies, they were all surefire stars, and they have all been horribly misused. And while I'm sure that AJ's success is appealing to Omega, surely the man is smart enough to look at all the others and realize that it's not exactly a promising future for most. |
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Post by HMARK Center on Jan 11, 2018 20:34:23 GMT -5
He got beaten by a guy who was blatantly cheating and getting his henchmen involved pretty much every time and would have won the belt if not for them, let’s not act like he was Finn Balor being squashed by Kane several weeks in a row with no response. Yet, somehow still considered the wins "clean" I don't get it Anyway, back to Kenny. Yes he sees what's going on with Nak but he also sees what's going on with AJ who has essentially been booked as The Guy since he came in the door Nak isn't some scrub begging for scraps but he's not getting the crazy push out the door that people complained about on Smackdown either. He will be fine and he will be champ eventually To be fair, being champ in WWE often doesn't equate with being the top guy on one of their shows...hell, sometimes the top champ only feels like the third or fourth most important guy on one of the shows. But still I think you're mostly right, I doubt Kenny's issues would be with how some of the guys he knows are being booked in WWE (and yeah, AJ's been booked as a big damn deal, for sure); where he voiced more concern was in the type of wrestling and storytelling people like Nakamura got to do upon getting to WWE. Omega's a guy who clearly values creative freedom in his wrestling, and he may simply not find what WWE's offering on that front alluring enough to make the move any time soon. It would be interesting to get a hint of how these negotiations went, though; I almost have to think that at this point NJPW would like to lock Kenny up for at least a couple of years, but I'm sure Omega's of the mind that his value will only keep going up for the next little while, so why lock into what could end up being a lower rate now, while the company's in the midst of expansion? That said, NJPW may still not be handing out many multi-year deals, not even to top talent like Omega, so maybe it's just par for the course business-wise at the moment. |
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Post by Tea & Crumpets on Jan 12, 2018 6:27:09 GMT -5
Kenny is one of the few guys I believe when he talks up the world outside of WWE. His commitment to New Japan seems strong, and the idea that even as in demand as he is and with the likelihood he can probably talk his way into a big contract he is so willing to keep with New Japan is going to carry him far, especially with how much value he has to the company. They know there are a lot of gaijin they bring in on a freelance basis or even slightly more permanently who see a run with them as a possible stepping stone to WWE, but Kenny left WWE and ultimately worked his way up to New Japan as his ultimate goal. Kenny is a different case than anyone previously. He lives out there and speaks Japanese which is a big sticking point because he's not "homesick" to a certain extent like guys get He's a part of the culture and gets everything about it so he has everything possible to be there "crossover star" in America but the question becomes will they give him that chance or will it be all Okada all day I think no matter what, Kenny isn't budging from NJPW until he wins the IWGP title so if he ever decide to make that money move to WWE, it will be after that Agree entirely. For my money, Kenny Omega is the best in the world by quite some margin right now (Not a knock on AJ, Okada, Naito etc. but Omega's 4/1/17-4/1/18 is unlike anything I've ever seen), and he has also loved Japan for basically forever and seems to have a genuine passion project for his goals in NJPW. I think WWE would have to promise him the absolute world- insane salary, company's #1 star ahead of Roman or Cena, the works- to get him atm. |
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TGM
Hank Scorpio
Posts: 6,073
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Post by TGM on Jan 12, 2018 6:40:05 GMT -5
Why would he want to leave his home and job where he must be making a ton of money and gets a lot of creative freedom to go and navigate the political minefield of WWE?
It's probably a goal of his to wrestle for WWE one day but Kenny is in his prime and New Japan is expanding with him, Okada and Naito at the top.
No chance he wants to lose that.
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adamclark52
El Dandy
I'm one with the Force; the Force is with me
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Post by adamclark52 on Jan 12, 2018 14:46:12 GMT -5
Nah, they pretty much killed any aura off of Nakamura as soon as he became the Jobber Champ's personal whipping boy. And if/when he wins the Rumble and wins the title at Mania? He’ll still be winning the title that Jinder Mahal held for a large portion of last year, it’s worthless in my eyes. |
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Post by Alice Syndrome on Jan 12, 2018 15:29:58 GMT -5
As long as keeps just signing for 1yr he wont win the heavyweight title IMO...but then again they also did not pull the trigger on Naito at WK so idk. NJ has had 1 year deals for a while, although they did understandably sign a few main eventers to 3 or 4 year deals in 2016 after the big WWE gouge |
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Post by corndog on Jan 12, 2018 18:49:34 GMT -5
Why would he want to leave his home and job where he must be making a ton of money and gets a lot of creative freedom to go and navigate the political minefield of WWE? It's probably a goal of his to wrestle for WWE one day but Kenny is in his prime and New Japan is expanding with him, Okada and Naito at the top. No chance he wants to lose that. The only reason I could think of is money and they would have to offer quite a bit. It's funny, because last year a lot of people thought he was going to WWE and this year it wasn't even really mentioned. So much has changed in a year. New Japan seems to be entering a boom period that they have not since the '90s. The US expansion is slow, but it's building and with the Jericho match, interest in the US is at an all time high. The Bullet Club's deal with Hot Topic has pushed merch sales to a new level, which means more money for the whole group, especially the Elite and Marty Scurll. While Kenny has still not captured the IWGP Heavyweight title, he's been given purpose as New Japan's North American face and it's been very successful. This has given Kenny drive and purpose that maybe even the IWGP Championship might not have. He wants New Japan to be a household name in the US/Canada and now it has been put on his shoulders. I don't see him having that kind of drive and purpose in WWE, I also don't think he would be able to "call his own shots" like him and Jericho did for their feud/match. |
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Post by Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) on Jan 12, 2018 19:35:05 GMT -5
Why would he want to leave his home and job where he must be making a ton of money and gets a lot of creative freedom to go and navigate the political minefield of WWE? It's probably a goal of his to wrestle for WWE one day but Kenny is in his prime and New Japan is expanding with him, Okada and Naito at the top. No chance he wants to lose that. The only reason I could think of is money and they would have to offer quite a bit. It's funny, because last year a lot of people thought he was going to WWE and this year it wasn't even really mentioned. So much has changed in a year. New Japan seems to be entering a boom period that they have not since the '90s. The US expansion is slow, but it's building and with the Jericho match, interest in the US is at an all time high. The Bullet Club's deal with Hot Topic has pushed merch sales to a new level, which means more money for the whole group, especially the Elite and Marty Scurll. While Kenny has still not captured the IWGP Heavyweight title, he's been given purpose as New Japan's North American face and it's been very successful. This has given Kenny drive and purpose that maybe even the IWGP Championship might not have. He wants New Japan to be a household name in the US/Canada and now it has been put on his shoulders. I don't see him having that kind of drive and purpose in WWE, I also don't think he would be able to "call his own shots" like him and Jericho did for their feud/match. Right The biggest difference and i'm sure it mattered in Kenny's eyes was despite the fact he came off a hot year, they didn't really cool him down or make him feel his hard work went to waste. He's the face of the U.S. expansion and he can still connect in Japan because he lives out there and speaks Japanese. Unlike guys before him their isn't a homesick feeling attachment. However, would he like to go to WWE one day to perform on a Mania or just be looked as a big star there? Sure, why not. It may come down to a case where he gets like Nakamura where your body is breaking down and you want a new challenge but your charisma and different style is an attraction. Hell, I will keep saying this even though it will never happen in the fact I would love for one off appearances for wrestlers. Liger was a fun watch at NXT in that environment but the possibilities overall would be fun |
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Post by corndog on Jan 12, 2018 19:42:34 GMT -5
The only reason I could think of is money and they would have to offer quite a bit. It's funny, because last year a lot of people thought he was going to WWE and this year it wasn't even really mentioned. So much has changed in a year. New Japan seems to be entering a boom period that they have not since the '90s. The US expansion is slow, but it's building and with the Jericho match, interest in the US is at an all time high. The Bullet Club's deal with Hot Topic has pushed merch sales to a new level, which means more money for the whole group, especially the Elite and Marty Scurll. While Kenny has still not captured the IWGP Heavyweight title, he's been given purpose as New Japan's North American face and it's been very successful. This has given Kenny drive and purpose that maybe even the IWGP Championship might not have. He wants New Japan to be a household name in the US/Canada and now it has been put on his shoulders. I don't see him having that kind of drive and purpose in WWE, I also don't think he would be able to "call his own shots" like him and Jericho did for their feud/match. Right The biggest difference and i'm sure it mattered in Kenny's eyes was despite the fact he came off a hot year, they didn't really cool him down or make him feel his hard work went to waste. He's the face of the U.S. expansion and he can still connect in Japan because he lives out there and speaks Japanese. Unlike guys before him their isn't a homesick feeling attachment. However, would he like to go to WWE one day to perform on a Mania or just be looked as a big star there? Sure, why not. It may come down to a case where he gets like Nakamura where your body is breaking down and you want a new challenge but your charisma and different style is an attraction. Hell, I will keep saying this even though it will never happen in the fact I would love for one off appearances for wrestlers. Liger was a fun watch at NXT in that environment but the possibilities overall would be fun They definitely booked Kenny very well this past year and I'm sure it played into why he stayed. Could he end up going to WWE a few years down the line? Sure, it also depends how things are going forward. Do top stars start coming to him, like we saw in Jericho? Does he start to make even more money and how much does the US expansion take off? I have a strong feeling Kenny does have a run in WWE towards the end of his career, but you never know, he could be like Stan Hansen and just work in Japan until he's done. |
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Post by HMARK Center on Jan 12, 2018 21:30:36 GMT -5
The only reason I could think of is money and they would have to offer quite a bit. It's funny, because last year a lot of people thought he was going to WWE and this year it wasn't even really mentioned. So much has changed in a year. New Japan seems to be entering a boom period that they have not since the '90s. The US expansion is slow, but it's building and with the Jericho match, interest in the US is at an all time high. The Bullet Club's deal with Hot Topic has pushed merch sales to a new level, which means more money for the whole group, especially the Elite and Marty Scurll. While Kenny has still not captured the IWGP Heavyweight title, he's been given purpose as New Japan's North American face and it's been very successful. This has given Kenny drive and purpose that maybe even the IWGP Championship might not have. He wants New Japan to be a household name in the US/Canada and now it has been put on his shoulders. I don't see him having that kind of drive and purpose in WWE, I also don't think he would be able to "call his own shots" like him and Jericho did for their feud/match. Right The biggest difference and i'm sure it mattered in Kenny's eyes was despite the fact he came off a hot year, they didn't really cool him down or make him feel his hard work went to waste. He's the face of the U.S. expansion and he can still connect in Japan because he lives out there and speaks Japanese. Unlike guys before him their isn't a homesick feeling attachment. However, would he like to go to WWE one day to perform on a Mania or just be looked as a big star there? Sure, why not. It may come down to a case where he gets like Nakamura where your body is breaking down and you want a new challenge but your charisma and different style is an attraction. Hell, I will keep saying this even though it will never happen in the fact I would love for one off appearances for wrestlers. Liger was a fun watch at NXT in that environment but the possibilities overall would be fun Of note, that last sentence is very much what Kenny's been emphasizing with his "Change the World" tagline: he even said on the Jericho podcast that a big goal of his is to help bring about a wrestling world where most borders between companies are cut down, allowing for full more collaboration and crossovers and one-off appearances like that. Obviously such an arrangement really wouldn't have much allure for WWE right now, but it's certainly a goal he'd have an easier time pursuing away from the WWE system. |
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Post by Magic knows Black Lives Matter on Jan 12, 2018 23:05:40 GMT -5
Cool beans. Kenny's practically one of the hottest acts in wrestling that's not in WWE so looking forward to see what else he does. I would love for him to get in that WWE run so he can get his clout with the goofballs that only care about that but he's got plenty of time.
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Post by Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) on Jan 12, 2018 23:08:09 GMT -5
Right The biggest difference and i'm sure it mattered in Kenny's eyes was despite the fact he came off a hot year, they didn't really cool him down or make him feel his hard work went to waste. He's the face of the U.S. expansion and he can still connect in Japan because he lives out there and speaks Japanese. Unlike guys before him their isn't a homesick feeling attachment. However, would he like to go to WWE one day to perform on a Mania or just be looked as a big star there? Sure, why not. It may come down to a case where he gets like Nakamura where your body is breaking down and you want a new challenge but your charisma and different style is an attraction. Hell, I will keep saying this even though it will never happen in the fact I would love for one off appearances for wrestlers. Liger was a fun watch at NXT in that environment but the possibilities overall would be fun Of note, that last sentence is very much what Kenny's been emphasizing with his "Change the World" tagline: he even said on the Jericho podcast that a big goal of his is to help bring about a wrestling world where most borders between companies are cut down, allowing for full more collaboration and crossovers and one-off appearances like that. Obviously such an arrangement really wouldn't have much allure for WWE right now, but it's certainly a goal he'd have an easier time pursuing away from the WWE system. It would be fun. Hell, WWE is doing it to a certain extent with their lower indies but that applies mostly to HHH/NXT It will be interesting if HHH tries something like it whenever he gets a hold of the company |
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Post by 2coldMack is even more baffled on Jan 12, 2018 23:12:36 GMT -5
Of note, that last sentence is very much what Kenny's been emphasizing with his "Change the World" tagline: he even said on the Jericho podcast that a big goal of his is to help bring about a wrestling world where most borders between companies are cut down, allowing for full more collaboration and crossovers and one-off appearances like that. Obviously such an arrangement really wouldn't have much allure for WWE right now, but it's certainly a goal he'd have an easier time pursuing away from the WWE system. It would be fun. Hell, WWE is doing it to a certain extent with their lower indies but that applies mostly to HHH/NXT It will be interesting if HHH tries something like it whenever he gets a hold of the company Here's the difference: To Kenny, he's trying to create a viable ecosystem outside of WWE's. For HHH, it's all about getting as much under WWE's homogenized umbrella as possible. Personally, I'll back Kenny every day. |
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Post by Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) on Jan 12, 2018 23:15:41 GMT -5
It would be fun. Hell, WWE is doing it to a certain extent with their lower indies but that applies mostly to HHH/NXT It will be interesting if HHH tries something like it whenever he gets a hold of the company Here's the difference: To Kenny, he's trying to create a viable ecosystem outside of WWE's. For HHH, it's all about getting as much under WWE's homogenized umbrella as possible. Personally, I'll back Kenny every day. Oh of course as both should. If Kenny was the under the WWE umbrella he'd be trying to do the same thing as well as if HHH was somewhere else he'd try to keep branching out with others At the end of the day, it's good for wrestling. Some doors are being closed while others are being opened. WWE keeps its wheels moving and can possibly help others under their wing while Kenny is focusing on opportunities for some others to get after what he's done |
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