New Japan's dark years.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

I started watching New Japan around 2006 when Brock Lesnar took the belt with him and during that time Bryan Alvarez said that the company was being sold to Yuke's because they were really in bad shape and almost had to file for bankruptcy. Thankfully things over time improved for them.

I always wondered why such an important company was such in a shit shape. Oh boy, apparently Antonio Inoki from 2000 until 2004, blinded by his ego, tried to capitalize on the popularity of PRIDE and mma, by having his top guys do real fights.

Inoki booked Yuji Nagata against Mirko CroCop and Fedor f***ing Emelianenko. Nagata lost in ten seconds or so against both men. Shinsuke Nakamura in one fight received a broken eye socket, it was embarrassing.

Those Inoki Bombaye shows were truly a clusterf***. Inoki also did some weird ass entrances. In one he was crucified, on another he was carried in a throne like Xerxes in 300, then in another show he was carrying a casket.

When I was watching the lowest point was Brock Lesnar facing Akebono in an awful match, then he refused to return the belt because allegedly the Inokis short changed him.

If you want to know why Hiroshi Tanahashi is such a beloved figure in the company, it's because he had to carry New Japan when they were in a really bad shape and in front of small audiences.

What the hell was Inoki thinking?

[Wolf Hawkfield no1 NZ poster]

Jan 6, 2018 22:03:35 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

I always wondered why such an important company was such in a shit shape. Oh boy, apparently Antonio Inoki from 2000 until 2004, blinded by his ego, tried to capitalize on the popularity of PRIDE and mma, by having his top guys do real fights.

Inoki booked Yuji Nagata against Mirko CroCop and Fedor f***ing Emelianenko. Nagata lost in ten seconds or so against both men. Shinsuke Nakamura in one fight received a broken eye socket, it was embarrassing.

Well its hard not to get the idea that after Sakuraba started doing well in MMA that Inoki got the wrong idea and thought that maybe of one of his boys could do the same.

Also poor Nagata as talk about getting thrown to the lions.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Well Saku was a legit monster whereas poor Nagata was years remove from legit competition, he did amateur wrestling in high school.

Antonio Inoki actually thought that a guy who had been doing only fake wrestling for more than ten years without any sort of preparation actually had a shot against the best heavyweight fighters ever. Yep that man deserved to lose his company.

It would be the equivalent of Vince sending fn Bob Holly to the UFC only because he's a tough guy.

[honsou]

I always found it interesting how many of the top guys in NJPW from those days that have stuck around seem perfectly fine working undercard matches now a days. Its almost as if the experience of terrible booking and being treated like crap on a whim made them more willing to give the younger guys their due and make sure they have a better experience than when Inoki was running things

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Jan 7, 2018 7:00:19 GMT -5 honsou said:

I always found it interesting how many of the top guys in NJPW from those days that have stuck around seem perfectly fine working undercard matches now a days. Its almost as if the experience of terrible booking and being treated like crap on a whim made them more willing to give the younger guys their due and make sure they have a better experience than when Inoki was running things

Yeah they definitely want to be mentors and protect the younger guys so the company doesn't goes to shit again.

Unfortunately Tanahashi and Nakamura didn't have Mutoh and Chono to guide them, since they left before Inoki went senile and tried to kill their careers.

[Fundertaker]

Jan 7, 2018 9:02:02 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Jan 7, 2018 7:00:19 GMT -5 honsou said:

I always found it interesting how many of the top guys in NJPW from those days that have stuck around seem perfectly fine working undercard matches now a days. Its almost as if the experience of terrible booking and being treated like crap on a whim made them more willing to give the younger guys their due and make sure they have a better experience than when Inoki was running things

Yeah they definitely want to be mentors and protect the younger guys so the company doesn't goes to shit again.

Unfortunately Tanahashi and Nakamura didn't have Mutoh and Chono to guide them, since they left before Inoki went senile and tried to kill their careers.

Err... Chono was around. He even booked in the post-Inoki, post-Choshu, pre-Gedo years. He only really left in 2010 and the company was already the biggest thing in Japan by then.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Jan 7, 2018 9:30:14 GMT -5 Fundertaker said:

Jan 7, 2018 9:02:02 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Yeah they definitely want to be mentors and protect the younger guys so the company doesn't goes to shit again.

Unfortunately Tanahashi and Nakamura didn't have Mutoh and Chono to guide them, since they left before Inoki went senile and tried to kill their careers.

Err... Chono was around. He even booked in the post-Inoki, post-Choshu, pre-Gedo years. He only really left in 2010 and the company was already the biggest thing in Japan by then.

Oh I didn't know he was still in njpw, I legit thought he left during those years. I remember even seeing him as a freelancer on other promotions.

[Deleted]

Jan 7, 2018 6:40:43 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Well Saku was a legit monster whereas poor Nagata was years remove from legit competition, he did amateur wrestling in high school.

Antonio Inoki actually thought that a guy who had been doing only fake wrestling for more than ten years without any sort of preparation actually had a shot against the best heavyweight fighters ever. Yep that man deserved to lose his company.

It would be the equivalent of Vince sending fn Bob Holly to the UFC only because he's a tough guy.

Vince has a long way to go before he's as bad as Inoki during this time frame.

There's a large gulf between "I want realistic looking matches with a sports-like presentation, similar to MMA" and "Let's completely murder our guy's pushes by putting them against the two baddest heavyweight fighters on the planet who will dismantle them like it's a walk in the park."

[Fundertaker]

Jan 7, 2018 14:06:12 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Jan 7, 2018 9:30:14 GMT -5 Fundertaker said:

Err... Chono was around. He even booked in the post-Inoki, post-Choshu, pre-Gedo years. He only really left in 2010 and the company was already the biggest thing in Japan by then.

Oh I didn't know he was still in njpw, I legit thought he left during those years. I remember even seeing him as a freelancer on other promotions.

New Japan gave him freedom to do so as long as he didn't do anything major. Especially with his 25th anniversary coming up New Japan wanted that big house (and they got it).

[cabbageboy]

Yeah I have watched some You Tube videos discussing the whole 2000-2006 era fiasco that was NJPW. Keep in mind that in addition to throwing his main event guys into MMA fights they were unprepared for Inoki also had stuff like Bob Sapp winning the IWGP title when he couldn't do pro wrestling worth a crap.

I wasn't really watching NJPW during the Lesnar reign but I sorta kept an eye on it. Keep in mind he left them high and dry a few years after leaving WWE as well, yet he still managed to come back to WWE in 2012 and has been using the place as his own playground ever since. I've always been baffled as to what all of these promoters see in the guy. Actually in Inoki's case I can kinda see it. Lesnar was a former WWE champion, had the amateur and wannabe (at that point) MMA style he wanted, and was the sort of burly and vicious American that used to be adored in Japan.

[Crow Dust]

Jan 7, 2018 6:40:43 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Well Saku was a legit monster whereas poor Nagata was years remove from legit competition, he did amateur wrestling in high school.

Antonio Inoki actually thought that a guy who had been doing only fake wrestling for more than ten years without any sort of preparation actually had a shot against the best heavyweight fighters ever. Yep that man deserved to lose his company.

It would be the equivalent of Vince sending fn Bob Holly to the UFC only because he's a tough guy.

This was more like if Vince sent John Cena to UFC because Nagata F*****g lava hot at that point.

[AdamAFL was sooooo wrong]

Jan 7, 2018 18:28:56 GMT -5 Crow Dust said:

Jan 7, 2018 6:40:43 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Well Saku was a legit monster whereas poor Nagata was years remove from legit competition, he did amateur wrestling in high school.

Antonio Inoki actually thought that a guy who had been doing only fake wrestling for more than ten years without any sort of preparation actually had a shot against the best heavyweight fighters ever. Yep that man deserved to lose his company.

It would be the equivalent of Vince sending fn Bob Holly to the UFC only because he's a tough guy.

This was more like if Vince sent John Cena to UFC because Nagata F*****g lava hot at that point.

And while he did recover, he was never anywhere near that level of overness ever again.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

The only good things about that Lesnar/Akebono match were the opening "Versus" graphics and the heel promo Brock cut after the match.

[魔界5号]

Honestly people shit on this era a ton but a good deal of it is undeserved because most just go by what theyve read on the internet. There was a lot to enjoy about the inokiism era imo.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Jan 7, 2018 19:12:22 GMT -5 魔界5号 said:

Honestly people shit on this era a ton but a good deal of it is undeserved because most just go by what theyve read on the internet. There was a lot to enjoy about the inokiism era imo.

Inoki had his biggest stars massacred by real fighters killing their drawing ability. There was nothing good about that era except perhaps a dancing Bob Sapp.

[魔界5号]

Jan 7, 2018 20:26:04 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Jan 7, 2018 19:12:22 GMT -5 魔界5号 said:

Honestly people shit on this era a ton but a good deal of it is undeserved because most just go by what theyve read on the internet. There was a lot to enjoy about the inokiism era imo.

Inoki had his biggest stars massacred by real fighters killing their drawing ability. There was nothing good about that era except perhaps a dancing Bob Sapp.

Not really. Fujita, Murakami, Nagata, Takayama, etc were all in the primes of their careers and regularly putting on great matches. Shibata, Tanahashi, Nakamura, Goto and more were all developing into the stars they would eventually become. Yes there were shitty MMA fights but people act like thats all that happened at every single show.

[Deleted]

The Akebono match was properly hamstrung by an unwilling, lazy Brock and Akebono refusing to go up for the F5 which would have at least made for an awesome spot.