Posted October 12, 200519 yr comment_3652506 Since TNA and New Japan have a working deal (Liger working Bound for Glory) and Inoki has always been a mark for the NWA, could it be feasable for the new IWGP champ to make an appearance on a TNA show?
October 12, 200519 yr comment_3652548 Brock Lesnar, IWGP champion vs. Chris Jericho or Bill Goldberg, TNA champion needs to happen.
October 12, 200519 yr Author comment_3652659 Inoki's not a NWA mark. I was always under the impression Inoki was a mark for the NWA name since he's all about old school in wrestling. I know when guys working for NWA territories work in Japan, they're promoted as if the NWA still was as big in America as it was in the 80s.
October 12, 200519 yr comment_3652725 The NWA was big in Japan since the first American stars there were NWA champions, or at least NWA promoted: Thesz, Gotch, Blassie, Destroyer, etc. This set a precedent of NWA having the top stars and routinely sending them to Japan for tours. This went on all the way up to Flair, and established NWA as a big deal in the minds of Japanese fans even as WWE was devouring the territories here. As for Inoki himself, he's not a mark for NWA wrestlers, or any wrestlers in particular. His biggest concern is how to push some shitty MMA worker to the top of the professional wrestling business AND MMA industry in order to get back to the days when the Japanese public thought professional wrestling was the strongest fighting code there was. Unfortunaly, he's been tilting at windmills for close to 20 years now, and it's done New Japan damage that may well prove to be irreversible. EDIT: Edited for clarity.
