>>13520590This is all true, to add to it:
>AJPWNakajima holds the top title, Miyahara still performing at the highest finally has a legit rival. Ashino is climbing the ranks, having emerged from Suwama's shadow and routinely featuring in title defenses and tournament finals. Yuma Aoyagi is a reliable heavyweight champ, and even Suwama while on the decline fits the grumpy old veteran role perfectly.
AJPW has a crop of young talent for the first time in... decades. Young talent including one of the best prospects in Japan (Anzai), but also a host of under 25 year talents like Rising Hayato, Ryuki Honda, Dan Tamura, etc. Plus, their working agreements with other feds give them access to good hands like Fuminori Abe, El Lindaman, T-Hawk, Hideki Suzuki, Takuya Nomura, etc.
Is it all great? No, of course not. They still fumble a ton of shit and booking can be a head-scratcher from time to time... but it's on an upward swing. There's positive momentum for the first time in ages.
NJPW is depleted. Years of chasing foreign exposure has left them vulnerable, poached and tired. Their top guys are overseas, their old guard are retiring, their young lions need to make up for lost time. They can be great again, and relatively soon... but crap booking and mediocre foreign talent won't help.
NOAH had all eyes on them during the last few years. They had emerged from the dark days with a host of top talent from retiring legends like Mutoh to homegrown talent finally getting there due like Shiozaki, Sugiura and Nakajima were demolishing guys, Marufuji became a grumpy vet, Kenoh took off like a rocket, and Kiyomiya seemed destined to become the next ace... then they just squandered it all. They wanted their own foreign heel group, despite the Bullet Club being well past expiration date they made a bargain copy. Jake Lee was signed and then went over their entire roster. Kiyomiya was made to look like a joke. They're not dead yet but they need to fix some things.
