NJPW: What’s Next For The Golden Elite?
There’s nothing more buzz-worthy in all of Professional Wrestling than The Golden Elite in NJPW. Here’s three different scenarios that I would love to see play out for four of the best wrestlers in the world.
Lover vs Lover
Since Ibushi/Omega is set to go down on the final night of G1’s B block, I’d assume Ibushi would have to win or draw in order to win the block. If he could lose the match and still advance to the final, there wouldn’t be any real stakes or drama. Ideally, their G1 match goes to a draw, but Ibushi advances to the final via tiebreaker or two point lead. Then, he goes on to defeat Okada or Tanahashi in the final. Additionally, Omega manages to hold onto the strap, setting up Golden Lover vs Golden Lover for NJPW WrestleKingdom 13’s main event.
Who turns?
There’s three different possibilities within this scenario that NJPW’s creative team could go with: 1) Omega turns heel, 2) Ibushi turns heel, or 3) Neither man turns and they have a joyous face vs face match at WK.
I’m here for any of these options… it just depends on what Omega’s future with New Japan looks like. There’s a real possibility that he’ll decide to sign with WWE when his current NJPW contract expires in 2019. If this is the case, I’d go with a Cleaner heel turn, and Ibushi going over in the Tokyo Dome. This would firmly establish Ibushi as a mega-babyface star in New Japan’s main event scene, as he’d be the first G1 winner to win the belt at Wrestle Kingdom since 2012 (when the winner of the G1 first started officially getting the Tokyo Dome contract).
If both guys are going to remain in the promotion full-time going forward, I think I’d prefer neither man turning (CAUSE LOVE WINS). However, an Ibushi heel turn would be extremely shocking and interesting. Really, regardless of specifics, NJPW couldn’t go wrong with The Golden Lovers main event’ing the Dome.
What about The Bucks?
In this scenario, The Bucks would be more in the background. Hopefully they hold onto the tag titles and have a big Wrestle Kingdom match no matter what, but as far as their role in the Omega/Ibushi program, it would just depend on exactly where the story goes. If it remained face vs face, The Bucks could just stay out of it entirely. However, if either man turned, I’d definitely have The Bucks side with Omega.