Saptarshi Sinha on January 22, 2023
Kazuchika Okada is the current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion in his record-setting second reign. Okada defeated Jay White to win the title at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17, and he’s far from finished. Okada is a five-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, where his fourth reign with the championship is the longest in history at 720 days. He also holds the record for most successful title defenses with 12. An accomplished wrestler, Okada now wants to pave the way for something grand in professional wrestling.
The Forbidden Door is wide open right now and it’s quite evident courtesy of NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17. The grand pay-per-view featured contracted wrestlers from WWE, AEW, and NJPW.
While speaking to Tokyo Sports, Kazuchika Okada shared his own pitch for a cross-promotional world cup tournament, The 35-year-old wrestler is even ready to approach Triple H and Tony Khan with the idea.
“It would be interesting to have a wrestling World Cup, it would be fun to have a big event on a global scale. We could have a tag team of Okada and Nakamura or Naito to fight for their country. If necessary I will go see Tony Khan and Triple H.”
Karl Anderson wrestled at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 while under a WWE contract. There were reportedly talks for AJ Styles to make an appearance on the show as well. Anderson’s appearance marked the first time a WWE-contracted Superstar has ever wrestled for NJPW.
Earlier this month, Shinsuke Nakamura also shared the ring with The Great Muta for Pro Wrestling NOAH. Triple H made the match possible after Vince McMahon had initially turned down the idea.
Only time will tell if Okada can turn his cross-promotional world cup dream into a reality. As of now, the reigning IWGP World Heavyweight Champion has a ton of groundwork to do in order to set his plan in motion.
What’s your take on the story? Sound off in the comments!
January 22, 2023 9:26 am
Disqus Comments Loading...
