Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
I meant to create this threat yesterday but it slipped my mind and, for some reason, I suddenly remembered reading this story at wrestlinginc.com yesterday afternoon. There hasn't been any follow up, or at least none that I'm aware of, to this and there may be nothing to it, but I figured it was worth discussing.
There are reports that top New Japan stars Shinsuke Nakamura and Kazuchika Okada received WWE tryouts yesterday or will be having them sometime soon. The report stated that WWE was planning to hold tryouts in Japan this week though, again, there's been no further information about all this.
Nakamura's billed at 6'2" and weighing about 225 pounds, is a near 13 year veteran and has been a top star in New Japan Pro Wrestling for quite a few years. Nakamura is a 3 time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, 4 time IWGP Intercontinental Champion , a1 time IWGP Tag Team Champion with Hiroshi Tanahashi and has won a slew of various tournaments over the years.
Okada has been wrestling for almost 11 years, is billed at 6'2" in the 230-235 pound range. He's made his mark in New Japan over the past 3 years or so and is especially known for his feuds and matches with Hiroshi Tanahashi. Okada is a 2 time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, a 2 time winner of the G1 Climax tournament in 2012 & 2014 and winner of the New Japan Cup in 2013.
I think it's official policy that EVERYONE goes through NXT no matter what they've done or how big of a star they've been elsewhere. If Samoa Joe, someone that American fans are much more familiar with, has to spend some time in NXT, then it'd be a no brainer if either of these two signed. One potential problem, or possibly a problem as far as WWE is concerned, for Nakamura is that he's already 35 years old, meaning the amount of time he could potentially be among the top guys is limited to a small handful of years. As a result, at least from my perspective, he may be better off staying in New Japan even though he's already done it all. As for Okada, he's only 27 years old and has really come into his own the past few years and he has time on his side.
In any case, signing either of them would generate every bit as much, if not more, buzz than the signing of Kenta.
There are reports that top New Japan stars Shinsuke Nakamura and Kazuchika Okada received WWE tryouts yesterday or will be having them sometime soon. The report stated that WWE was planning to hold tryouts in Japan this week though, again, there's been no further information about all this.
Nakamura's billed at 6'2" and weighing about 225 pounds, is a near 13 year veteran and has been a top star in New Japan Pro Wrestling for quite a few years. Nakamura is a 3 time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, 4 time IWGP Intercontinental Champion , a1 time IWGP Tag Team Champion with Hiroshi Tanahashi and has won a slew of various tournaments over the years.
Okada has been wrestling for almost 11 years, is billed at 6'2" in the 230-235 pound range. He's made his mark in New Japan over the past 3 years or so and is especially known for his feuds and matches with Hiroshi Tanahashi. Okada is a 2 time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, a 2 time winner of the G1 Climax tournament in 2012 & 2014 and winner of the New Japan Cup in 2013.
I think it's official policy that EVERYONE goes through NXT no matter what they've done or how big of a star they've been elsewhere. If Samoa Joe, someone that American fans are much more familiar with, has to spend some time in NXT, then it'd be a no brainer if either of these two signed. One potential problem, or possibly a problem as far as WWE is concerned, for Nakamura is that he's already 35 years old, meaning the amount of time he could potentially be among the top guys is limited to a small handful of years. As a result, at least from my perspective, he may be better off staying in New Japan even though he's already done it all. As for Okada, he's only 27 years old and has really come into his own the past few years and he has time on his side.
In any case, signing either of them would generate every bit as much, if not more, buzz than the signing of Kenta.