NJPW - Young Lions - Excursions

[saviorofstrongstyle]

I was just thinking, it seems like Tanaka and Komatsu are overdue for their excursions?
With this recent news that Liger will be wrestling in NXT and rumors around further NXT / NJPW working relations, do you think it is possible any of the Young Lions would get an excursion to NXT?

I would think ROH would also be a likely candidate.

Also, will Jay White and David Finlay etc. do excursions as well?

[br26]

It's a weird situation. They've been ready for a good while. Problem is, that system needs other young lions to replace them before they can go. They have David Finlay and Jay White, but not many others to replace them. They really need to amp up their recruiting.

The tough thing about excursions is that there's only one real place to send them for regular work, and that's CMLL. They used to have TNA, but we all know how Okada did, and believe it or not Naito and Yujiro were there for a stint and they did largely nothing with them either. Watanabe has been working in the US during his excursion but aside from the NJPW/ROH shows his name's barely popped up in the last year.

If they get sent here, it should be through ROH. No idea what the NJPW/WWE thing is yet so I don't want to speculate on that. CMLL is also cool, but you can only send so many guys to the same place.

[Robareid]

I could see a young lion being sent over to the UK at some point in the near future.

[saviorofstrongstyle]

I could see a young lion being sent over to the UK at some point in the near future.

Oh yea, that would be really cool also, like RPW, who they already work with.

[Robareid]

They could be based in RPW but get work at a host of places. The UK scene is almost perfectly suited to it, because it's so compressed size wise compared to the US. If he was based just outside of London there'd be about twenty promotions within three hours drive.

[cbacon87]

I know NOAH doesn't count as an excursion, but sending them there gives you the best of both worlds- they gain some experience working higher up the card (albeit in a similar style) and New Japan can still book them on their shows whenever they want as well. If they don't think these guys'd benefit from going abroad, at least putting them on NOAH cards lets you give them some wins and work competitive matches.

[Joe Lanza]

Takahashi/Kamaitachi was sent to Europe before he ended up in CMLL.

Watanabe was originally supposed to be based out of Texas where he would work for the various NWA affiliates. He was going to live with Lance Hoyt. Hoyt actually found out from one of our Tweets that plans changed when they switched gears and sent him to New Jersey to live with Sumie Sakai. He was actually going to be based out of PWS (seriously) and work out daily at the PWS school, but after one or two shows they lost interest and stopped booking him. SMASH wrestling out of Toronto is the only place that books him regularly, with ROH & Inspire Pro out of Texas using him part time. His excursion can only be classified as a fucking mess. Why they chose PWS over Texas is beyond me. Maybe he was more comfortable living with a Japanese person. I don't know.

I am of the belief Tanaka & Komatsu won't be leaving. I think they'll just push them. To send them away for a year or two now seems pointless aside from tradition. They're better workers than half of the roster already.

[PKThree]

Yeah, I just see Tanaka and Komatsu maybe disappear off the shows for a while, and re-appear with gimmicks and start getting pushed. I'd be all for one of them replacing Tiger Mask 4

[Morten VH]

I keep thinking that some day, they're gonna be in one of those 10-man tags, and Komatsu will get the pinfall on someone important. It could happen at any major show now.

[strikamura]

Taking them out of the equation for any period of time would leave a hole in most New Japan cards for me. I think they're a constant highlight. Here's hoping they just get moved up the card.

[JML]

Has there been any news of any new guys being signed other than White and Finlay?

You have to think that NJPW wants to keep Finlay as much as possible before he goes to WWE, right?

[PKThree]

It is kinda frightening that most of NJPW's rookie signings are foreign. Is the stigmata of the NJPW dojo being super rough still around?

[Joe Lanza]

They have a highly regarded Japanese amateur wresting prospect in the fold who has been to the dojo but isn't set to start full time until after the next Olympics. I forget his name.

[Drew Wardlaw]

It is kinda frightening that most of NJPW's rookie signings are foreign. Is the stigmata of the NJPW dojo being super rough still around?

It makes sense to me. They are trying to be an internationally viable wrestling promotion with a worldwide streaming service so they need guys that are relatable to different audiences. And obviously they've always had gaijin young lions so it doesn't seem like a big deal to me. I get what you're saying that it would suck to whitewash the roster with a bunch of outsiders, but I don't think thats likely.

Taking them out of the equation for any period of time would leave a hole in most New Japan cards for me. I think they're a constant highlight. Here's hoping they just get moved up the card.

Same here. Tanaka/Komatsu matches Fill out the lower half of the card and are almost always must-watch for me. It's cool to be really excited about the opening 1 or 2 matches on New Japan cards.

[Shining Wiz]

It is kinda frightening that most of NJPW's rookie signings are foreign. Is the stigmata of the NJPW dojo being super rough still around?

If they're getting stigmata, that's impressive.