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Jay White has a bone to pick with Kazuchika Okada ahead of their match at New Japan Pro Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom 17. Two of the highest-profile performers working outside of “The Big 2,” WWE and AEW, today, White and Okada held the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship for 361 of 2022's 365 calendar days, with the duo combining to defend the straps seven total times over that period.
Now, in other promotions, that wouldn't be too unusual, as plenty of world champions save their title matches for main events, but Okada fans have taken particular issue with White's workload, suggesting that maybe he isn't the man to lead the promotion into the future. White, obviously, quibbled with that assertion, as he discussed in an interview with NJPW.com.
“Yeah, but what were people talking about when it comes to our reigns? White said. “Did people talk about any of those four defenses? No, they talk about the four-way I had at Forbidden Door. Everybody remembers that match, don’t they?”
White, too, remembers how often Okada defended the strap when he had it from January through mid-June and how he decided against defending his right to challenge from the G1. While the decision to instead have a special bout against Jonah, aka WWE's Bronson Reed, was a real crowd-pleaser, White credits the match for forcing the “Top Dog” out of the promotion.
“During the whole pandemic they tried to paint him like that, but he doesn’t even have the balls, the integrity, the courage to defend his right to challenge me from the G1,” White said. “All of a sudden, for the first time in a decade, Okada decides that he doesn’t want to defend his right to challenge. And look what happened? JONAH isn’t here anymore. Okada and NJPW drove away a tremendous star in JONAH because they were so concerned with making everything easy for Okada. New Japan has to protect him at all corners. This is what I’ve been trying to say, and nobody listens. Just like two years ago when I said nobody wanted the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships unified. I was right then and I’m right now.”
Whoa, now that is one heck of an accusation; Jonah's big win over Okada did have some fans feeling like he was gearing up for a massive glow-up in 2023 before he opted to instead leave the promotion for a shot to become The Miz's heater on WWE RAW, but suggesting that NJPW opted to run him out of the promotion to somehow protect Okada is crazy… right? Sure, Okada is arguably the top homegrown star in NJPW now that Hiroshi Tanahashi has transitioned out of his spot as the unquestioned Ace of the promotion, and it would be unrealistic to believe that the 35-year-old won't hold the promotion's top strap at least one more time before his reign comes to an end. Still, that next reign doesn't necessarily have to begin at Wrestle Kingdom 17, as White has a 4-1 record against the former star champion, and a whole Club behind him.
Bronson Reed wants to wrestle another former NJPW star on WWE RAW.
Elsewhere in Japan, Shinsuke Nakamura, the “King of Strong Style” who has been working an artist gimmick in WWE for much of the past seven years, made his triumphant return to Japan to wrestle one of the final matches of The Great Muta's career for Pro Wrestling Noah. While many a fan watched the match in awe, with both performers hitting the other with the Muta mist before Nakamura secured the win with a Kinshasa, one fan who watched the match a bit differently was Reed, who took the occasion as an excuse to call out the NJPW legend in the pursuit of a match.
Now that would be an interesting match to see, especially since the duo have never actually worked a singles match together at any point in their prolific in-ring careers. Though it may not be Jonah-Okada II, may not be coming to fans live from the Tokyo Dome or Budokan Hall, and may not be the sort of star-making performance that christens a certain Australian performer as the next coming of Big Van Vader in the company Antonio Inoki started a few decades ago, it should serve as a fun match all the same, even if The Miz will probably add some comedy to what could be a hard-hitting match.
