From the Impact/NJPW Rumor Mill: Impact Wrestling apologises to Kazuchika Okada for mistreating him in the company
What’s the story?
A few weeks ago, it was reported by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Impact Wrestling has been trying to make up to a few wrestlers, whom they believed were mistreated during their time in the company.
As reported by PWInsider, it has been noted that GFW vice-president Scott D’Amore and Anthem’s Executive vice-president Ed Nordholm visited Japan a few weeks ago. The two men reportedly also went to New Japan Pro Wrestling and visited the promotions locker room, in order to apologise to NJPW star Kazuchika Okada.
In case you didn’t know…
Kazuchika Okada is currently working with Japanese promotion NJPW and is one of the biggest stars in the company’s history. However, Okada is also known for his time in Impact Wrestling for whom he wrestled from 2010-2011.
During his time in Impact, Okada was heavily mistreated by the company’s creative team as he would occasionally job to various Impact stars such as Alex Shelley, Jay Lethal, Christopher Daniels, and Samoa Joe. Okada was mostly performing in dark matches during his time with the American promotion.
In 2011 Okada was eventually let go from the company but Impact wrestling also suffered a major blow due to them handling Okada so poorly, as NJPW ended their working relationship with the American promotion shortly thereafter.
The heart of the matter
As reported by PWInsider, both Scott D’Amore and Ed Nordholm were in Japan a few weeks ago in order to visit a Pro Wrestling NOAH— with whom Impact currently has a working relationship. It was also claimed that during their visit to NOAH, the duo decided to visit an NJPW event which took part in a nearby area.
Scott D’Amore would then personally go on to visit the NJPW locker room and apologise to the current IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, whom Impact mistreated a few years ago by not booking him properly. D’Amore also stated that Impact would love to work with NJPW and build a working relationship between the two companies.
What’s next?
NJPW is very much aware of how badly Impact treated Okada a few years ago, and it is likely that they will reject the offer that D’Amore made. However, as of right now New Japan Pro Wrestling continues to focus on their working relationship with American promotion Ring of Honor.
Author’s take
Personally, I believe that Okada was one of the most mistreated wrestlers in Impact Wrestling history and it would be best for NJPW to avoid any sort of relationship with Impact. The Japanese company is currently at the top of their game, and a relationship with Impact would do major damage to the company’s momentum.