Three New Japan names we’d like to see compete in an AEW ring

December 2nd, 2020 was your regular, average, run of the mill day. When the nighttime rolled around and AEW Dynamite was flashed onto television screens across the globe, the day got a bit more eventful – and that’s an understatement.

Not only did Sting make his presence known for the first time in the esteemed start-up, but also Kenny Omega defeated Jon Moxley in the main event to win the AEW World Championship. The story at the end of the show wasn’t necessarily how great the match was, but rather the aftermath of the world title bout.

Don Callis had distracted Jon Moxley and the referee enough to where he was able to slip Kenny Omega a microphone, who blasted Moxley in the head with it shortly after before lifting him up for the unbeatable One-Winged Angel finishing maneuver. Only three seconds later, Omega was the new world champion of All Elite Wrestling.

Omega and Callis wasted no time clearing the ring, dashing through the backstage area to the puzzlement of the locker room and even head honcho Tony Khan. Alex Marvez tried to get some answers as Omega and Callis climbed into an SUV to which Callis simply told everyone to watch Impact Wrestling this Tuesday on AXS TV.

With those few lines uttered from Callis, the Forbidden Door was officially opened. The door opened even further a few months later when former NEVER Openweight Champion KENTA showed up on AEW Dynamite to attack Jon Moxley. KENTA was the first full-time NJPW contracted talent to show up on AEW programming and was followed up by guys like Rocky Romero, Hikuelo, and Ren Narita. I’m a firm believer that the best is yet to come.

Here are three names we’d like to see perform in an AEW ring

Kazuchika Okada

This one was an absolute given, right? The “Rainmaker” is undoubtedly one of the best performers of all time and has tangled with many of AEW’s top stars. But there are so many guys that he hasn’t shared a ring with, guys like Jon Moxley, Rey Fenix, PAC, Eddie Kingston, and more.

Not only are there a ton of new fresh matchups for the former 5x IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, but a lot of past battles should be revisited as well. Having the 5th edition of Omega/Okada on American soil would be a monumental wrinkle to only add to their historic feud. Okada could also revisit some other previous foes like Cody, Hangman Page, and even tangling back up with The Young Bucks in some shape or form. Okada has only wrestled in North America a handful of times, so his appearance in AEW would undoubtedly move some tickets as well.

Kota Ibushi

This one writes itself as well. Ibushi has a long history with Kenny Omega, both being in a tag team and rumored relationship at times. Omega and Ibushi have only had a total of three singles matches during their illustrious 13 year run as a duo, so there’s a ton of new match material to explore.

Not only should they face each other, but I feel like a proper Golden Lovers reunion would be on tap first. You could revisit the previous 5-star encounter between the aforementioned and the Young Bucks, or even pair them up against teams like FTR, Santana & Ortiz, and the Lucha Bros.

Ibushi’s popularity isn’t just limited to NJPW, as he’s just popular in the country of Japan in general. This would surely bring a ton of new international eyes to AEW’s product and allow for the Golden Lovers story to continue.

Ibushi himself even teases something brewing between the two regularly on Twitter:

Guerrillas of Destiny

It’s no secret that Tama Tonga likes to stir stuff up on Twitter, but he also likes to start wars in the ring as well. The Guerillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) and their father Haku were growing tired of The Elite’s version of Bullet Club back in 2018, so they jumped Cody, Kenny Omega, and The Young Bucks accordingly at an NJPW show in July 2018.

A Bullet Club civil war seems like something that would churn out great promos and fantastic matches, right?

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case. AEW’s creation was slowly rising above the horizon which meant the Elite was only contracted to NJPW for about 5 more months. As a result, The Young Bucks and G.O.D only had one tag team match. G.O.D would tangle with other variations of The Elite like Chase Owens and Kenny Omega, but nothing major ever stemmed from it.

On the Jericho Cruise in October 2018, The Elite officially announced they were leaving Bullet Club. This was expected by many, but, still, a disappointment as the “OGs vs Elite” storyline hadn’t even remotely taken off yet.

I feel like this story writes itself easier than anything else. With The Elite using a lot of Bullet Club mannerisms as of late (Omega even wore a Bullet Club shirt on an IMPACT PPV) and multiple NJPW guys working AEW shows, the feud can restart itself at any time.

There’s a ton of source material here as well. Tonga has gone on record numerous times about The Elite, calling them “Bootleg Club” and saying that they’re “just not Bullet Club”. Even a guy like Karl Anderson, someone that Tonga has had a great relationship with, threatened to “kill off” the Bullet Club in a recent tweet.

All in all, there are actually very few people from New Japan Pro Wrestling that I wouldn’t like to see make an appearance in AEW. With rumors of Jon Moxley facing a top-level NJPW star at All Out swirling, I hope that we get to see one of the aforementioned or any of the luxurious talents that New Japan has to offer in the near future.