Who will New Japan partner with in the US?

[corndog]

The hot topic for the aftermath of the G1 Supercard is does New Japan stick with ROH after what happened? Some have said AEW, some say New Japan doesn't need anyone in the states. Someone did point out a good point that New Japan likes to send young lions for excursion in the states, which is why they tend to have a US partner. Although signs seem to be pointing towards New Japan building a US touring brand.

Personally, I think they should do an open door policy. Kidani has spoken in the past of the revival of the territories in the US. While I think that would be very difficult, I believe it could work in a way. AEW, MLW and Impact all have open door policies, unlike ROH. So why couldn't New Japan just form a loose partnership with those companies and others as well? Thinking back to Naito's mini-US tour, he worked for three different promotions all working together. New Japan could build a touring brand as well, using talent from the US/Canadian indies and have their young lions tour the US indies, which would give them a more full time schedule vs ROH's off and on touring.

As far as ROH, this would likely be the death nail, but it might as well happen. I was interested in what ROH would do with life after the Elite as it would force them to get themselves over. Despite making some nice signings in Rush, Cobb, Bandido, Tracey Williams and Mark Haskins, their biggest problem that has plagued them for quite a while, the booking, is something that talent can't overcome. Unless ROH makes major overhauls in the front office and booking, I think it is time to end that relationship.

[Convoy]

Due to Japanese business practices being centered around loyalty and tenure, it's not a easy move to break things off with ROH. Though I personally believe ROH has done enough to make New Japan question their loyalty. I always point to the NOAH/NJPW relationship deterioration as an example of how far New Japan will go before they feel disrespected and cut ties.

Even bigger than that, a partnership with AEW is now tougher due to their connection with AAA. As much as we can talk about ROH, New Japan has a stronger bond with CMLL and will avoid doing business with any Mexican competitors out of respect for them.

As for my answer to the original question - while I don't think NJPW needs an American partner to run shows, perhaps PWG could be a good one? They aren't huge, but Cobb and Bandido have a place there already.

[Mozenrath]

It's probably complicated by things like Juice and Cobb being in ROH. I doubt this is the kind of agreement they can just dissolve overnight.

[Fundertaker]

Also, New Japan needs ROH structure in the US if they plan on doing more shows there this year. If they don't come back after G1 night 1 in Dallas, then they may dissolve the partnership by the end of the year and have a go with AEW.

[octopus]

Aside from Callis doing commentary, I don't think Impact care about partnering with New Japan as much as they did. Callis was out the door of New Japan until the backlash they got for not using him to the point they had to bring him back. (Callis is very well liked). Impact's style today is VERY Lucha influenced. So they'd be better off partner with someone like DDT, Dragon Gate or Michinoku Pro. Given ROH are going to be more sports entertainment New Japan should probably cut back on the shows they do with them but not cut completely.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Apr 9, 2019 13:48:35 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

It's probably complicated by things like Juice and Cobb being in ROH. I doubt this is the kind of agreement they can just dissolve overnight.

Yea, plus you add in the loyalty factor of it all and that plays a part too

If they could get a clean break, i'm sure they try it in terms of once guys are off contracts but right now they are in the thick of it again

[honsou]

ROH is the default for now, AEW hasn't even run a show yet and everyone else is way too small. There will be a lot of wait and see over the next 8 months and it will be interesting to see what happens. I do think by the time Wrestle Kingdom comes along there will be some sort of working agreement with AEW unless they completely fall apart and ROH will be phased out to some degree.

[thetower52]

I’d love if Triple H made a deal for new japan and nxt

[Mozenrath]

Apr 9, 2019 18:37:08 GMT -5 thetower52 said:

I’d love if Triple H made a deal for new japan and nxt

I mean, obviously, that could be interesting, and they did book Liger that one time, and WWE has worked with NJPW directly in the past, but I can't imagine that's terribly likely to have happen, especially if WWE considers doing an NXT Japan or something like that.

[thetower52]

Apr 9, 2019 18:40:56 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Apr 9, 2019 18:37:08 GMT -5 thetower52 said:

I’d love if Triple H made a deal for new japan and nxt

I mean, obviously, that could be interesting, and they did book Liger that one time, and WWE has worked with NJPW directly in the past, but I can't imagine that's terribly likely to have happen, especially if WWE considers doing an NXT Japan or something like that.

I don’t think it happen at all but it be pretty god damn interesting of it happens

[Yamashita Enforcement Division]

I mean, the fed hasn't really done "partnerships" since like the early to mid nineties. They do more parochial, patriarchal, condescending agreements, where they explicitly hold all of the power.


edit: I should probably give my answer the question: I don't really see why New Japan will break from ROH just for running a shitshow. They worked with TNA when TNA was putting together hilarious farces and really only broke with them when TNA disrespected New Japan's wishes vis-a-vis bookings (I'm referring to the IWGP Heavyweight tag title change that I believe was part of what broke the relationship, but it has been years since I even thought about it.

I mean, the thing I thought that might piss New Japan off, more than the shit angles and bad production values, was that the nZo and Azz thing seems to have ruined an angle New Japan was doing with Yano. Who knows, though.

[Deleted]

They shouldn't partner with anyone. They don't need to.

[Mozenrath]

Apr 9, 2019 21:22:04 GMT -5 @mack619 said:

They shouldn't partner with anyone. They don't need to.

There are major logistic reasons that they do need to, unfortunately. Look at how much it f***ed them over when they were having visa problems like not even that long ago. That can happen at any time, and that's not even the only potential problem.

Like, they are popular enough, that's not in question, but infrastructure is still necessary.

[Deleted]

Someone brought it up already

But NJPW is pretty much stuck with ROH because unless AEW ditches the AAA relationship then they aint ever hooking up with AEW because they are fiercly loyal to the CMLL relationship.

[octopus]

Apr 9, 2019 18:55:46 GMT -5 Yamashita Enforcement Division said:

I mean, the fed hasn't really done "partnerships" since like the early to mid nineties. They do more parochial, patriarchal, condescending agreements, where they explicitly hold all of the power.


edit: I should probably give my answer the question: I don't really see why New Japan will break from ROH just for running a shitshow. They worked with TNA when TNA was putting together hilarious farces and really only broke with them when TNA disrespected New Japan's wishes vis-a-vis bookings (I'm referring to the IWGP Heavyweight tag title change that I believe was part of what broke the relationship, but it has been years since I even thought about it.

I mean, the thing I thought that might piss New Japan off, more than the shit angles and bad production values, was that the nZo and Azz thing seems to have ruined an angle New Japan was doing with Yano. Who knows, though.

You know who was behind that tag title change? Bully Ray with support from Russo.

[Mozenrath]

Apr 9, 2019 21:57:06 GMT -5 @sigmax said:

Someone brought it up already

But NJPW is pretty much stuck with ROH because unless AEW ditches the AAA relationship then they aint ever hooking up with AEW because they are fiercly loyal to the CMLL relationship.

That's kind of a greyer area, I think. Like, I could see it still happening so long as they had some kind of understanding that NJPW guys would not be wrestling AAA ones, and even then, if they're doing it on neutral ground, that might not be a violation of their agreements.