ROH (Ring of Honor)
In 2002, there was another upstart promotion on the horizon. Ring of Honor was an upstart promotion within the east coast. Ring of Honor started as a promotion to bring some of the future’s brightest stars of professional wrestling.
Throughout its first few years, the future of professional wrestling was portrayed in a major way through the likes of: Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Nigel McGuinness, Kevin Steen, El Generico, Jay Lethal, Mark & Jay Briscoe, Austin Aries, Tyler Black, Chris Hero and many others.
ROH was a promotion on the rise. However, not many knew about the upstart promotion. ROH got word spreading using a tool that was just getting around, the internet. Besides their DVD sales, ROH used the internet to catch the eye from wrestling fans who was looking for something other than the WWE.
ROH was known for being some of the purest wrestling in America. Putting on instant classics every where they had shows. If you are a passionate wrestling fan, this was the show to see.
Over the years, ROH worked with other promotions from all around the world. ROH was able to showcase their wrestlers alongside other talented wrestlers in some of the best matches of the 2000’s.
The future has speed bumps sometimes, especially in building wrestling promotions. The future stars become hot commodities, gaining interests from all over the world. While stars made their move to the big leagues. But, that did not halter ROH’s success. ROH continued to strive on the future of professional wrestling. They continued on building and showcasing the brightest of the future of professional wrestling.
ROH throughout the next few years found even more positives. In 2009, ROH finally was able to reach an agreement with a television network. They aired on HDNet Fights. ROH continued to grow which forecasted a massive 2010’s to come.
NJPW (New Japan Pro Wrestling)
Japanese wrestling has a culture unlike any other. The top promotion in Japan, NJPW is a highly prestigious promotion based on its history and lineage throughout time. A company built on honor and culture, telling stories in the squared circle.
The who’s who have wrestled in Japan. Legends and the future of professional wrestling began their legacies in Japan. However, with the new millenium, Japan had a conflict of interests, leaving a dark cloud over professional wrestling.
During the beginning of the new millenium, there was a new interest surrounding Japan, mixed martial arts. The rise of mixed martial arts with companies such as K1 and Pride became a huge eye in Japan creating a disinterest in professional wrestling.
Now, I am not saying Japanese wrestling died—I am saying that there were dark days looming in Japan due to the conflict between MMA and pro wrestling. During this time there were problems within NJPW behind the scenes that created chaos for wrestling in the country.
There were the already developing wrestlers within the promotion. But with potential talent going to MMA, NJPW had to cross brand their talent with MMA fighters to show their worth in Japan.
Once NJPW gained the majority back in Japan, they continued to be in a rut with no potential stars of the company in sight. Poor booking and conflict backstage created chaos for the promotion.
Which brings us to 2005, arguably one of the worst and most chaotic years in NJPW history. New Japan Pro Wrestling brought in one of the biggest free agents in the world, Brock Lesnar. On his first night in the promotion, he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and would hold on to it for a lengthy amount of time.
However, Lesnar was in an ongoing lawsuit at the time with WWE. Creating chaos being that he is the Champion. At the time NJPW were building up new talents like Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi to be possible challengers to dethrone Brock as Champion. However, that did not happen. The way Brock lost the Championship was due to visa issues trying to get back to Japan.
But, Brock never gave back the Championship Title back to NJPW. Ongoing backstage conflicts created even more tension in Japan.
Once Brock returned to Japan but to a new promotion. NJPW founder Antonio Inoki created IGF (Inoki Genome Federation) which recognized Lesnar as IWGP Heavyweight Champion as he never lost it in a match. However, Lesnar was not viewed as the rightful champion. Lesnar would defend the championship in the promotion and would ultimately lose it to Kurt Angle.
Kurt would then defend the championship against Japan wrestlers which led him to have a unification match against Shinsuke Nakamura in 2008. The match unified Kurt’s Championship and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship the NJPW recognized. Shinsuke would defeat Angle crowning a unified champion.
After a rocky beginning, Japan was on the rise. Stars like Shinsuke Nakamura, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kenta seemed poised to create a massive impact to the new decade in 2010.
Will the momentum continue for NJPW?
The 2000’s was one of the biggest decades in professional wrestling history. Let us dive into the countdown to show who stands supreme as the best wrestler of the first decade of the new millenium.
David Jacobus
Contributing Writer