TNA Missed the Boat Big Time on Kazuchika Okada

[It's Damn Real!]

I watch NJPW on AXS TV every week and every week when Okada's "Rainmaker" comes out I'm reminded of just how badly TNA fucked up after bringing this guy in. I get that Japanese/foreign stars aren't as easy to market to a U.S. audience, but based on the time and the roster TNA was working with, you can't tell me that more of an effort couldn't have been made to highlight Okada in a better light than he was.

He deserved more than some fucking Green Hornet knockoff run as "Okato", playing sidekick, literally and figuratively to Samoa Joe. He should have been working a wrestling program with Joe. With Styles. With Angle, Shelley and more.

All he needed was a mouth piece, just as he has in NJPW with Gedo.

 

[TDFG]

Wasn't TNA's treatment of Okada one of the factors behind NJPW dropping the partnership with TNA?

TNA have been notorious in not using talent exchange programs to there advantage, The Great Sanada or whatever he was called is another, didn't he end up as the whipping boy in Storm's Revolution.

Akiri Kiyoshi was another talent they had no idea how to utilise.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Yup. Sanada could have been another solid foreign star to build on, but instead, they tended to use him in silly comedy roles.

Kiyoshi had the best run of all of them. At least he was allowed to wrestle Angle.

 

[klunderbunker]

This is yet another name on a long list of people that TNA had and then messed up for the sake of some nothing angle that people only remember as being another time where TNA messed up a big star. They could have gone somewhere with Okada on pure wrestling ability alone and he would have been fine but instead they turned him into a character for a superhero movie that no one remembers.

I know that every company screws something up every now and then, but TNA seems to do this at a rate that hasn't been done since WCW.

 

[MrHashasheen]

Wasn't TNA's treatment of Okada one of the factors behind NJPW dropping the partnership with TNA?

TNA have been notorious in not using talent exchange programs to there advantage, The Great Sanada or whatever he was called is another, didn't he end up as the whipping boy in Storm's Revolution.

Akiri Kiyoshi was another talent they had no idea how to utilise.

Supposedly Gedo and Jado figured how TNA were likely to treat their excursion guys after Tanahashi, Naito and Takahashi, and purposely sent Okada to TNA to humble him up in preparation for his big push for when he got back.

As for what killed the relationship, I believe it was Jeff Hardy at Wrestle Kingdom in 2011 when he came over to defend his TNA World Heavyweight title against Tetsuya Naito and it was basically the Victory Road match with Sting. New Japan officials were so offended by it they just ended the relationship there, IIRC.

 

[Papa Pillman]

Supposedly Gedo and Jado figured how TNA were likely to treat their excursion guys after Tanahashi, Naito and Takahashi, and purposely sent Okada to TNA to humble him up in preparation for his big push for when he got back.

I love this theory. And to think that TNA could have the type of relationship with a thriving New Japan that ROH has right now is crazy. They'd be in a thousand time better position than they currently are, but damn did they not respect that partnership. And a company having access to Tanahashi, and later Okada, and managing to do absolutely nothing with either one of them seems almost unfathomable, even for TNA.

As for what killed the relationship, I believe it was Jeff Hardy at Wrestle Kingdom in 2011 when he came over to defend his TNA World Heavyweight title against Tetsuya Naito and it was basically the Victory Road match with Sting. New Japan officials were so offended by it they just ended the relationship there, IIRC.

God I almost forgot that match. The day before the show Jeff couldn't even tell a reporter his opponent's name. And he showed up to the Tokyo Dome to defend his World Title, and perform in front of 50,000 people, looking like he was on enough pills to sedate the entire locker room. And Naito is such a pro that he pulled an ugly and awkward 10 minute match out of Jeff anyway. The poor crowd had no fucking clue what they were watching or how to react to Hardy. It was pathetic. If that truly was the final nail in the relationship, it was a well hammered nail.

 

[New Hot Fed]

Sanada sucked though. For a high flyer he wasn't very creative. And his striking ability was awful he was soft as a feater. No idea why they paired the Cowboy with him.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

They could have gone somewhere with Okada on pure wrestling ability alone and he would have been fine but instead they turned him into a character for a superhero movie that no one remembers.

Indeed. Okada did not have a gimmick originally I can remember on an episode of Xplosion Desmond Wolfe was on commentary and introduced him as "The Master of the Dragon Suplex" Okada wore all black and had a good match, can't actually remember who with though haha

But at that time Okada wasn't as good as he is now. Look at his early matches when he first used the Rainmaker persona. So it is somewhat understandable TNA saw nothing in him. The gimmick was unforgivable though.

Okada is absolutely one of my favourites now, his matches always deliver, and the Rainmaker is such a great move. He makes a great champion and ace of the company,

 

[Bischoff's Knob Slobberer]

Put me in the Senada sucks crowd. I saw nothing but a generic ripoff of Muta. The guy was garabage. I think the OP has too much time on his hands and is making things up for the hell of it.

 

[Papa Pillman]

Put me in the Senada sucks crowd. I saw nothing but a generic ripoff of Muta. The guy was garabage. I think the OP has too much time on his hands and is making things up for the hell of it.

You do realize that the "OP" never mentioned Sanada, right? And the topic is not about Sanada, who is merely a developing mid level Japanese junior who was brought up in a third rate promotion, Right??

Its about Kazuchika Okada. I'll save you the wiki search since you're obviously incredibly ignorant; Okada is the top star for the world's second biggest promotion and is arguably the best pro wrestler on the planet right now.

 

[bigandpissed]

I'll play a bit of devils advocate here for TNA. It wasn't like Okada was some big star when TNA got him. He was a complete unknown in the United States when he came in (and when he left TNA for that matter). Also I'd have to question the wisdom of someone who would build up someone recieved in any sort of talent swap. If TNA had made a big deal out of Okada then he would have just went back to NJPW anyway and it would have taken screen time from someone who they could actually develop and keep.

As for his gimmick... well it was awful. There is no disputing that. With that being said, I can see why TNA gave the gimmick to him. They had made a deal to promote the Green Hornet by having a character based off the movie (which was a stupid decision, but that is a whole different topic). Someone had to play the promotional character, which they probably knew was gonna be garbage, and who better than the foreign exchange talent that isn't gonna be around in a few months to suffer the consequences of the gimmick anyway? People hated that gimmick at the time but imagine the complaining that would have ensued if they would have given that gimmick to anybody except for the unknown japanese guy that wasn't around for long anyway. If they had given that gimmick to anybody else in the company who had to stick around after the gimmick ended, it would have done alot more long term harm to that persons career (and the company for that matter) than it did to Okadas.

 

[MrHashasheen]

I have to disagree with you, bigandpissed. TNA was supposed to have Okada for 2 years, from February 2010 to February 2012. 2 years is more than enough time to build a wrestler and market him to an American audience, and it's not something they haven't done with the likes of EC3 or Rockstar Spud.

Not to mention, if they had done right by Okada and kept the New Japan deal sweet, they'd have had continued access to him, along to the remainder of New Japan's roster for shows. Much of ROH's existent hype comes from the fact that they had guys like AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Rocky Romero, etc... able to come in in a pinch to work matches and storylines.

In the time period we're talking about, NJPW had access to a lot of great Japanese and gaijin wrestlers, including the likes of Finn Balor, Ricochet, PAC, Kenny Omega, etc... guys who could have worked both the New Japan and TNA circuits as they do for ROH and remained stars.

We always talk about how TNA struggles to build stars and how they always bring back older workers, well through New Japan they could have had a consistent rotating base of TV-experienced wrestlers of a variety of backgrounds and styles to keep their roster fluid and their programming exciting.

I realize that putting all this on Okada's shoulders was something of a stretch, but the guy was a big piece of New Japan's future even then, and having access to the future star and staying on good terms through him isn't anything to sneeze at. I consider it one of the major failings of the Bischoff/Dixie/Hogan creative years that the New Japan relationship was allowed to fail, much as it was with WCW.

There's a time and a place to benefit from those sort of relationships, and a mega-protege like Okada coming along was one of them. Even if they'd just treated him to the highest level they did Sanada with an X-Division run, then it would have paid off dividends in the future.

 

[Rayne]

Huh? Who's this numb nutted bastard? I swear the inmates run the asylum around here. Every Tom, Dick and Leroy thinks they're a mod. SMH......

Serious question here, are you reading the posts you're responding to in this thread? Because the words you are typing seem to bear no relation to the comments you are referring to. First it was the Okada/Sanada thing, now this.

You seem angry lately. Settle down there, son.

 

[stingray11214]

The Okada screwup came at the time when you had Bischoff and Hogan in Dixie's ear. Those two wanted TNA to be WWE-Light so badly it was not funny. Dixie, to her ever stupid fangirldom, listened. But, seriously, what was she going to do? We are not talking someone like Stephanie McMahon here. At least Stephanie has somewhat of a brain for the business. Dixie is Daddy's girl with her own little doll house in TNA. Had she had 1/10 of Stephanie's wrestling intelligence, Dixie would never have hired Hogan and Bischoff to begin with.

 

[conici]

Hindsight is a powerful thing; yes, TNA management dropped the ball massively on Okada in fact, TNA has dropped the ball on most if not all New Japan talents that have come over to TNA, at one point or another TNA has had Nakamura, Tanahashi, Naito and Okada wrestle for them for either an appearance or an extended period of time and 100% could of done more with all the New Japan talents they had.

But, as I said; hindsight is a powerful thing and there was no way that TNA management could see Okada for what he was going to be; all they had on their hands was a talented Young Lion who was primed for something big. They had no idea that he would become the face of New Japan with his rainmaker gimmick so in that aspect, I can play devils advocate for TNA and say that there was no way they were going to make him or utilise him as the big star he is today.

The way they treated Okada was terrible though, the thought that someone would give Okada a gimmick as bad as 'Okato' to a up and coming Japanese wrestler bothers me to no end and yes they did drop the ball. Especially since this was one of the reasons that the working agreement between NJPW and TNA ended (the other being the Hardy/Naito match at WK 5)

No TNA didn't know Okada would become the Rainmaker and take Japan by storm but yes they should have utilised Okada a hell of a lot better than leaving him as massive damaged goods for New Japan to salvage.

 

[TellMeWhy]

The Okada screwup came at the time when you had Bischoff and Hogan in Dixie's ear. Those two wanted TNA to be WWE-Light so badly it was not funny. Dixie, to her ever stupid fangirldom, listened. But, seriously, what was she going to do? We are not talking someone like Stephanie McMahon here. At least Stephanie has somewhat of a brain for the business. Dixie is Daddy's girl with her own little doll house in TNA. Had she had 1/10 of Stephanie's wrestling intelligence, Dixie would never have hired Hogan and Bischoff to begin with.

Wrestling Intelligence?? Exactly what "wrestling intelligence" does Stephanie possess? This is a woman who used to argue with Heyman and ultimately helped get rid of Heyman out of creative. Dixie isn't a wrestling mind but she doesn't go out and pretend to be which is why she hires people with expertise to book the shows. I doubt if Dixie got Heyman to book her show that she would sit there and annoy and aggravate the man like how Stephanie did to Heyman.