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Old 06-17-2018, 12:19 PM   #267
Ultra Mantis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Noid View Post
You're right on the Liger front. I got the feeling that Nakamura heading to WWE was something that New Japan was behind? I mean, they obviously would have liked to have kept Nakamura, but they knew he was leaving when he wrestled AJ Styles, right? I thought it was like a send-off. I wasn't aware of there being any heat there.
The send off was for AJ, who had let them know in advance he wanted to go and work back home. It was all booked around the usurping of AJ by Kenny Omega because AJ couldn't get the job done and then Omega would challenge Nakamura and beat him for the IC belt to prove he can do what AJ could not.

Nakamura however, along with Gallows and Anderson, allegedly told New Japan he was leaving on the morning of Wrestle Kingdom which gave them a bit of a dilemma because both guys in the IC match are now leaving, so they can't just change the finish to fix it. Plus the big Bullet Club angle was attached on the following night's show, based on AJ failing here.

They went ahead as planned with the whole thing, even down to Kenny challenging Nakamura and Gallows & Anderson siding with Omega then bumbling around for a month because everyone knew they were leaving too, but the payoff match never happened because it would have taken place two weeks after his contract expired and he became property of the Performance Center. Instead they stripped Nakamura of the IC belt and had him work six man tags until he left. Okada cried, then Omega went over Tanahashi instead. I don't believe there was any heat on Nakamura for leaving, he had stuck with the company through the dark times, but WWE sniping him and ruining the payoff of that angle definitely didn't go over well.
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