dykepatton replied to your post “After watching the latest interview with Kenny on NJPW World to...”
im trying to be hopeful and hope that kota will be able to focus on his singles career going forward, maybe even finally win a hw singles belt, even if it is not the top belt. we’ll still be able to see them together in multiman tags, at least?? idk, my feelings about this match are complicated, but i don’t think kenny winning would sideline kota. i think kota kind of sidelined himself by being so flighty, unfortunately :(
like, this is obviously part of sidelining kota, but it is happening bc of how njpw sees him as an individual, not bc of kenny. which like, still sucks, but i don’t think kota is being sacrificed for kenny’s singles career. i think they had a limit on how far he’d go before golden lovers reunited.
ofc, this all sucks bc kota is the best wrestler in the world and deserves better than to be held back bc he's cautious about signing an exclusive contract. also, tbh, we could have avoided this entire disaster if naito had just won at wk12, imho
Yeah, good points! I definitely didn’t mean to imply that this is Kenny’s fault in any way, or that Kota is being sacrificed for Kenny’s career (although I think that vibe is a risk story-wise). Kenny doesn’t have control over his own booking and it would be ridiculous to turn down the IWGP Heavyweight title, as romantic and dramatic as that would be. I’m sure Kota would not want him to do that, either.
As you said, this is likely an effect of Kota not being willing to sign, which is why I’ve been cynical about anything good happening for him in NJPW. It’s just how stuff is and it’s sad but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ this is the reality we take on as Ibustans, as you well know @dykepatton. Although, I am of the (extremely unpopular on this hellsite) opinion that Naito losing @ WK was the right call, and I don’t think it would have had much effect on this particular thing for the reasons discussed above.
