Trivia / New Japan Pro-Wrestling

• Breakup Breakout: Rocky Romero outlasted all his old tag team partners, Davey Richards, Alex Kozlov, and Barreta.
• Career Resurrection: For many foreign wrestlers, such as Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer, former WWE wrestlers who teamed up as Suzuki-gun's Killer Elite Squad.
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: After Ivan Gomes's short career in New Japan, a Brazilian sport magazine published a spirited but hilariously inacurate article in which they claimed NJPW was a Japanese martial arts school, and described Antonio Inoki as a man named "Inoche" who was a 7 ft tall world Judo champion who led the school after he had roamed the world defeating fighters. One has to wonder if the writers did their research by reading Ikki Kajiwara manga books or if they simply wanted to make up a good story from the little they knew with the assurance that probably nobody in Brazil would check it.
• Creative Differences:
  • What ultimately did in their working agreement with WCW, as NJPW wasn't the biggest fan of what WCW did with NJPW talent and WCW wanted to dictate how NJPW used their version of the nWo.
  • In 2008 NJPW sent their biggest star, Hiroshi Tanahashi, to TNA as a return favor for Kurt Angle helping settle the "third IWGP belt" debacle, but pulled him out early when they found out what the long term plans for him (a lot of nothing) were. Following other incidents such as New Japan tag team No Limit being squashed in a 2-on-1 handicap match by Kevin Nash, the straw that broke the camel's back and resulted in NJPW breaking off their deal with TNA was sending Kazuchika Okada on an excursion there, only for TNA to give him a Kato Expy gimmick and almost exclusively use him on their B Show Xplosion. By then, TNA's poor booking of New Japan talent became so well-known that some actually believed that New Japan sent Okada to TNA actually counting on TNA to do nothing with Okada, so that when they brought back Okada and pushed him to become IWGP Heavyweight Champion, he would actually be grateful and appreciate it rather than letting it go to his head (if that was the case, given how Okada would recount how miserable his time in TNA was to anybody who would listen, it worked flawlessly). It went to the point that after TNA became Impact Wrestling under new management and sought to rebuild their partnership with NJPW in 2020, it was reported that their first step was to metaphorically make a beeline to Okada to apologize directly to him for the past treatment he received, even though the new management was obviously not responsible for it.
  • Following Harold Meij's ascension as NJPW president in May 2018, he had supposedly been responsible for souring relations with The Elite over their prominence and pay status - ironic, considering that Meij had been brought in to further NJPW's own Western expansion plans. By Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks' own admission, their pay offers (in addition to keeping the Bucks' commitments between ROH and NJPW) were so low they had even considered jumping straight to WWE rather than staying with NJPW, despite their past reticence to signing with the promotion. With the Elite later leaving NJPW to form AEW with Tony Khan - in turn taking a fair amount of gaijin talent NJPW had, it is also likely that the differences between both sides prevented any true partnership AEW could have with NJPW at the time. Tellingly, Meij's departure in October 2020 would then be followed up by a proper NJPW/AEW relationship being established the following Febuary.
• Creator Killer: During the MMA rise, Antonio Inoki became obsessed with adding (more) legitimacy to his company, so he started to bring MMA fighters to New Japan to book them victories over the established roster and send New Japan wrestlers to compete in MMA (getting from little to average level of success). This decision enforced his exit from an almost-dying New Japan few years after. Nonetheless, he kept his philosophy in his Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye events and his late company Inoki Genome Federation.
• Dyeing for Your Art: AKIRA late in his career, Tetsuya Naito, Yujiro Takahashi, Norio Honaga, Hiro Saito, Black Cat, Togi Makabe, Yoshihiro Takayama, Toru Yano, Tomoaki Honma, Kazuchika Okada after becoming the Rainmaker, and Tatsutoshi Goto.
• Executive Meddling: Similar to Jushin Thunder Liger dropping the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship on Nitro, The British Invasion becoming IWGP Tag Team Champions was an idea taken unilaterally by TNA, and NJPW didn't like the idea any more than the fans.
• Fake Nationality: Milano Collection A.T., George Takano as the Cobra, Tomoaki Honma as Makai Masked Canadian, and El Desperado.^note All four men were Japanese and had gimmicks where they respectively played an Italian fashion designer, a masked Ugandan, a masked Canadian and a half-Japanese, half-Mexican luchador (the half-Japanese bit was the kayfabe reason why Desperado can speak Japanese)
• In Memoriam: The Roppongi Vice theme was done for Alex Koslov when he retired.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Kenny Omega was originally supposed to hold the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Dominion 2018 until the G1 Supercard in Madison Square Garden, where he would have dropped the title to Kazuchika Okada in the fifth installment of their storied rivalry, as well as the first on American soil. Omega's decision to instead leave New Japan a few months early and go join All Elite Wrestling opened the door for two brief, but important title reigns before Okada ultimately took the gold in New York.
  • First, Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 13. This made Tanahashi the first 8-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion in history, as well as the first G1 Climax winner to successfully take the title since the "G1 Climax winner challenges at Wrestle Kingdom" tradition began in 2012.
  • Then, at the New Beginning in Osaka the following month, Tanahashi dropped the title to Jay White, firmly establishing White as not just Omega's replacement in New Japan's main-event scene, but a full-on Shadow Archetype to Okada.
• Real Song Theme Tune: Besides instances of wrestlers coming out to licensed music (Prince Devitt, Togi Makabe, etc.), the music used for the VTR leading to Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho at Wrestle Kingdom 12 consisted of songs originally composed for Tekken 7.^note Likely as a result of NJPW's prior collaboration with the game in the previous year, in addition to their generally healthy relationship with Bandai Namco.
• Screwed by the Network: Katsuyori Shibata was massively over with crowds but not so much with the bookers or Tanahashi, mainly all holding a grudge against Shibata for leaving NJPW in the early '00s as well as questioning the longevity of his wrestling style.
• Throw It In!: Shannon Ritch was brought as an one night wrestler when he got his arm broken by Frank Shamrock in a fight and he "sold" it so well that Antonio Inoki thought it had been a fabulous work.
• Paying Their Dues: The Young Lions start from rock bottom, doing chores and being part of the ring crew when they aren't in matches, training, or sleeping.
• What Could Have Been:
  • A long standing rumor says that Jushin Liger was originally meant to be yet another Keiji Muto gimmick, but he refused and thus they chose Keiichi Yamada.
  • Seiji Sakaguchi was really interested in competing in MMA during the 2000s, as he had been an Olympic Judo medalist in his youth, but he had to back down due to his advanced age. He did open a MMA dojo later in his life, though, and his son Yukio became a Pancrase fighter.
  • During his stint in NJPW, Don Frye was scouted by all the major wrestling promotions in United States, mainly WWF and WCW, but both of them lost interest on him, the former after learning of his legendary drinking habits and the latter when Frye got into a verbal altercation with Ernest Miller. It was then when NJPW got a hold of him, as such things are generally not big deal in Japan.
  • Kazuhiro Hamanaka of PRIDE fame could have debuted in NJPW as a pro wrestler, as they were eagerly after him when he left Takada Dojo in 2003. Although K-1 was interested in him too and PRIDE naturally wanted him back, he signed with Inoki Office, which could make it possible for him to compete in New Japan. However, he ended up sticking to MMA, and when Inoki Office was absorbed by NJPW and he couldn't fight through them, he left and never came back.
  • In 2003, Antonio Inoki pushed to have a pro wrestling/MMA event in which several New Japan wrestlers would face Gracie family representatives in real fights, but NJPW executives swiftly shut down the idea, knowing it couldn't end well for them. (They did have a few amateur wrestling champions and a pair of shoot-stylists who might have held their own to some degree, but the Gracies were just too experienced opponents for them.)
  • Dolgorsürengiin Sumyaabazar, brother of New Japan wrestler Blue Wolf/Dolgorsürengiin Serjbüdee, was going to join NJPW full time under the name of "Blue Dragon". He did wrestle a few matches for the company, but neither used that name nor became a full time wrestler.
  • Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu personality Wallid Ismail had planned to debut in pro wrestling teaming up with Kazuyuki Fujita, but unknown reasons impeded it. K-1 fighers like Tsuyoshi Nakasako or Musashi were also proposed by Masahiro Chono to compete in the company, and Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata wanted to have Mirko Cro Cop wrestling for NJPW, but they were not interested.
  • After leaving Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling, joshi puroresu star Michiko Omukai proposed NJPW to become the female manager of Team 2000, but they weren't interested either.
  • Místico and Shigeo Okumura were to return to New Japan in May of 2009 while Misterioso Jr was to debut. The former had plans to challenge for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title, but New Japan put off the date due to a Swine Flu outbreak. Místico would win the title latter but Okumura stayed in CMLL outside of Fantasticamania and Misteriosos Jr's debut did not come.