NJPW History with Chris Charlton – Surviving Inokism, Tanahashi’s Rise

Inokeism is difficult because I can see you can understand where he was coming from. And Ininoi I think saw he was kind of put off by guys like Keiji Muto right from the outset and right from that sort of three musketeers period because he saw someone in Muto someone that was very influenced by his time in America and he didn’t really he wasn’t a big fan of the Americanization of Japanese wrestling and so his take was, you know, he didn’t want matches where people would stall. He didn’t want matches where people would taunt to the crowd and, you know, he didn’t want matches that started with a lock up.

He would want something that was more aggressive and then he kind of saw at the same time you know, Pride was booming, race was doing well or whatever. So he’s in a way like his logic sort of was sound. But he didn’t really realize that the audiences were separate, right? Because it the I think the pro wrestling fans wanted to see them, you know, wrestle and Nakamura like for him specifically at his point in his career, he wasn’t that great of a pro wrestler. And I think he himself would admit that. And you know he was kind of rushed to into this expedition match with Fujer and then went straight to the LA dojo to basically train MMA, you know.

So I think the pro wrestling fans didn’t, you know, didn’t really view him as one of theirs. Even though Nakamura wanted to be a pro wrestler more than a fighter. So like the wrestling fans wanted to see him be a wanted to see him dedicated and be a pro wrestler. But to the MMA fans, they were saying, “Well, he’s an Inokei guy, so he’s a New Japan guy. He’s a pro wrestler. If he’d applied himself to be an MMA fighter, then we’d sit up and take notice.” So it was like it was yeah, like this neither fish nor foul thing. And I think like that’s where you know around that era UFC would knock on the door of the LA Tojo of course and like so then Leoto Machito would go into UFC and dedicate himself there and Nakamura would dedicate himself into pro wrestling of course.

What I liked about the book is that you did a ranking of the some of the most major stars of all time especially like the junior heavyweights and everything. Is there somebody in a certain time period in New Japan, whether it be Nagata in the early 2000s, you know, Tanahashi when he had the torch past him, and Noki back in the day, Okada now, somebody that was the most valuable at a certain time for New Japan that they just could not afford to lose? I think you Yeah, I think if you’d taken Tanahashi out right as things were going then yeah you’d have been really I think Nagata you’re right Nagata and Tanahashi to their respective areas were key because with Nagata like Nagata was able to bridge that divide in a way and even though he did yeah I mean like we said he got his ass kicked by federal or whatever But there was a certain he managed to gain a measure of respect from the pro wrestling people at the time and he was this guy that was put in all of these these crazy mixed matches on New Japan cards and with such a diverse array of opponents and usually dragged a really good match out of them.

And for Tanahashi, yeah, to be in there in, you know, where he was persisting and he was evolving and doing everything right when the business was still bad. You know, he was somebody that really held it together. But where we are now, I think like there’s more depth and more more depth than we might even know because I think if you look back to two years ago where suddenly you know we heard Shinsuke Nakamura is leaving AJ Styles is leaving you Anderson and Gallows as well that was really a sort of I don’t know if you remember like the day when all of that news drops people were writing their think pieces on how Nutan’s going to collapse and go out of business within a year.

And the opposite happens and business went went better than ever because it revealed like a Tetian. It revealed to an extent a Katsuyori Shibata although you know that sadly hasn’t worked out with his injury. It certainly reveals like a Kenny Omega who is just I think if there was a person right now that you would say on the new Japan roster that’s indispensable then I would say Kenny Omega because he’s you know in the space of the last couple of years done far more than AJ Styles could have done or perhaps perhaps even Prince Devitt could have done in that same position. As like the foreign ace in charge of the club.

And Chris, I don’t know if you remember this just a couple years ago too was when those guys left, there was a legit debate of whether or not Kenny Omega could fill AJ Styles spot. And it seems silly in retrospect, but at the time, even though Kenny was a great wrestler and is still a great wrestler, you know, there were legitimate questions and he I think he’s unbelievably overd delivered since then. Yeah. I mean I think that the people that knew Kenny would knew that he would step up because you know he’s this guy that you know that I think the key thing for Kenny is that he was media friendly pure you know and as somebody that has spent you know a good chunk of his career in Japan.

I think that the Japanese fans were familiar with him. That he’s able to speak Japanese and talk to the Japanese media here even though his his promos would tend to make you think that wasn’t the case. But that’s like a key thing because he can go out and talk to a Tokyo sports. He can go out and talk to Pro Wrestling or whatever. And get the word out that way. I think like the people that really knew Kenny knew that he was going to do well, but yet I mean to the extent that he has you know and it’s I don’t know it’s easy to be sort of caught in a wind tunnel when you’re on especially for following pro wrestling on social media.

You don’t you kind of have people around you with similar thoughts to you. But yeah, it always feels like Ken is the biggest star, you know, not just in New Japan, but like I think is he’s is the biggest figure in pro wrestling at large right now. Because yeah he managed to take the ball run with it and kind of show a not just how good he is in ring but how much of an everyman he is and how sort of you know likable a personality he has the outside the ring as