Usually WWE is the company poaching talent from other promotions, but it appears New Japan Pro Wrestling is going on the offensive.
New Japan has been aggressively increasing its presence in the West over the past few years, hoping to grow a larger fanbase amongst American fans. A whole new audience is being exposed to New Japan’s brand of “strong style” wrestling. Another big step in that effort would be acquiring WWE talent that fans are familiar with.
According Dave Meltzer, NJPW has been reaching out to WWE’s wrestlers in an effort to lure them away with comparable money for fewer dates.
“There were some offers that have been made to some guys in WWE that surprised me in the sense of how much they could make outside of WWE,” Meltzer said, before adding, “One person who is there [in the WWE] got an offer for ridiculous money for way less dates and it very much surprised me. This would be one of the top guys in WWE. New Japan is weird but they are willing to pay real big money, like they did with [Chris] Jericho.”
No specific names were mentioned during his observations, but rumors are rife with names such as current US Heavyweight Champion, Shinsuke Nakamura, Karl Anderson, and Luke Gallows – all of whom have been previously associated with NJPW in the past and that many fans believe have been grossly underutilized during their time with WWE.
What do you think of this? Do you feel they’ve been misused in the WWE? Who would you like to see get signed to NJPW?
