New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2024: What Can They Do

For New Japan Pro Wrestling the year 2024 is off to a start where they need to look into a massive rebuild of their company. In the past 12 months or so they have lost Jay White, Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada leaving a hole in the top of their card in such quick order without being able to build replacements for them. It does seem dire but such is the current landscape of the wrestling world. New Japan will have to settle into being the third biggest company in the world unable to match the money that WWE or AEW can offer. I just wanted to cover my thoughts and if it was down to me how I would approach 2024 & 2025 for New Japan Pro Wrestling and booking the company.

On the majority of things I'm willing to give New Japan a pass on booking decisions this year. This is a rebuilding year and as such some things will be done. I don't like them hiring Matt Riddle for dates and personally wouldn't but understand they want anyone with a name in wrestling to hope to fill any void in terms of drawing power (although I don't really see how a WWE midcarder will do that). What I can see is a underbelly of the roster that has a good young talent that they will look to build. The Reiwa Three Musketeers (Shota Umino, Ren Narita & Yota Tsuji), Yuya Uemura & Gabe Kidd would be my pick of the five to build over the next year as the main pieces of the company for the next few years and look to the likes of Kosei Fujita & Master Wato for the junior division (I don't know where they'll want Oiwa but I imagine he will be a heavyweight doing forward). If you look at all of these plus the likes of Yuto Makashima & Oksar Leube they have a strong group of young talent being developed it just hurts New Japan they do not have the chance to slowly build them up.

So where do we stand on talent and how they currently are? David Finlay is a major player and while I will give him credit for his performance in the Dog Pound Cage Match I still find him the least interesting person in his group. Naito it a key person to build around although there's a timer on his career after having the final eye surgery he can have and while he will be backed up but Tanahashi as his body breaks down more and more as well as Zack Sabre Jr & Shingo Takagi I would also look at Hiromu Takahashi moving the heavyweight and also possiblt win the New Japan Cup. Speaking of the New Japan Cup it is the best opporunity to build someone (metaphorically) overnight. I would honestly have all those you want big things from to have big runs you'd want semi finals with the likes of Shotam Yota, Ren, Yuya, Hiromu and Gabe all considered for those spots alongside you reliable hands in Shingo, Ishii and ZSJ. I think it's an interesting tournament to establish what we could see in the G1 later this year. 

But speaking of talent and looking forward in the calander and I can't help but look at Windy City Riot. While not a title match at the moment as Naito will have a maximum of two title defences (against Sanada and if he wins that then against the New Japan Cup winner) but he is scheduled to face Jon Moxley on the card. Now if Naito is still champ I imagine that will be a title match. But I am fantasy booking here but what if Mox wins the world title here and Forbidden Door 3 is in the Tokyo Dome and then Mox drops the belt there. Look Japan has had a downturn in its economy and having a big show with a lot of foreign tourists coming in and spending money on accomidation, food and souvenirs at the least would be a good idea for New Japan (and Japan) to push for that. AEW used Mox as the reliable guy to put the company on his back and him doing it for New Japan. Then at Forbidden Door you can have him drop the title to someone in New Japan (maybe even Shota Umino in a nice student vs. teacher moment). It's a large bit of fantasy booking but if everything fell into place I think it could be a good moment. 

But what about hiring talent. If New Japan is struggling to match offers from American companies I imagine they could look to outbid other Japanese companies for their talent. Kaito Kiyomiya has had a lot of time in New Japan recently and I have always thought that he could sign with them at any point and honestly if he did would be a great person to have to build a youth movement with as well as those mentioned before. At 27 a former 2 time GHC champion and the final protégé of Keiji Mutoh (as it stands) you don't often get a wrestler under 30 with the championship history of Kaito, if the opportunity arose I'd expect New Japan to push heavily for it. But what of other companies? I look at the top young wrestlers of other Japanese companies like Yuma Aoyagi, Atsuki Aoyagi & Yuma Anzai of All Japan Pro Wrestling, Yuki Ueno of DDT and Shun Skywalker of DragonGate as some of my personal favourites. New Japan (and Japanese wrestling as a whole) doesn't seem like the type of place to go and poach people from other companies at the moment especially after the formation of the United Japan Pro-Wrestling industry group. However, I imagine if any of these talents came into free agency they'd look into it you'd be foolish not to. If you look at Kaito & Yuma you have two names who are high on the card of their respective companies won the major tournaments of those companies and honestly both great wrestlers and under 30 both would be pickups to help rebuild New Japan at the top of the card by having guys you can work with and while they will hope their Young Lions come off as a golden generation you have some of the best young talents in Japan coming in pulling the load alongside your current roster.

But you also need to look at the LA Academy. If you have a training facility you might as well use it. At the moment Matt Vandagriff feels like the only person they wish to use and even then it is on pre-show matches to American shows in which I don't think they are showing a real progression for him. In my opinion I'd do away with the Strong Surivor matches and have him work as an actual member of the roster, put him in Best of the Super Juniors and actually showcase a way for talent to go from the LA Academy as it is. Sell your academy with a pathway to being part of the company, it's never really brought up that half the War Dogs went through that academy under Shibata maybe sell how it is with Fred Rosser and Kushida by giving Vandagriff higher profile matches or just something to do on the American cards. In a time where all the major American talent is mainly signed up to WWE or AEW build a homegrown star and show the way from trainee to the main cards. 

Up until the last paragraph I had written this before The New Beginning in Sapporo shows on February 23rd & 24th in which SHO won the Jr title via countout, Matt Riddle (for some reason) won the TV title and David Finlay who the company had beat Ospreay & Mox at WrestleKingdom and spent the best part of 2023 building him up as the next major non Japanese star in the company lost the new Global Title on his first defence on day 50 to Nic Nemeth, Shota Umino lost to EVIL and Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura plodded in a dull match. Sometimes I look back at what I wrote on wonder what the booking team at New Japan is doing, I guess they want some form of buzz by giving belts to former WWE talent but still it seems they have forgotten why the company got hot worldwide and it was off the back of their own homegrown talent. I can only help this is a brief stop gap and they go full force with someone in the New Japan Cup. They need to or risk falling further away from the high points they have had in previous years. The Rainmaker Shock was a gamble and it paid off, maybe New Japan need to be that daring again.