NOAH just doesn't know how to pull the trigger at the right time, in my opinion. Sure, building up new stars is good, but it just gets a bit ridiculous in NOAH. Essentially, it boils down to having them look strong in tags, challenge for belt, win belt, have a few defenses, swap. And the process begins over again, even though they are now established and should be a consistent challenger. I mean, it eventually just gets to the point where they spend so much time building someone that the initial fire regarding that individual is lost, just look at Shiozaki. He's liked, he has ability, yet he's still not even in the scene of contention for the GHC simply because he hasn't been wrestling long. They won't put the belt on him simply because of the principle that he's "inexperienced".
Another thing that grinds me about the GHC is the way in which a challenger usually seems to be appear for the belt, i.e at total random. Sugiura randomly pins Morishima in a tag, gets a title match. Rikioh...what did he do? Got a title match. Kensuke at least made since because of the thirty minute draw, but it was so predictable, both results, the draw and then the subsequent title match and win. You know who needs a title shot? Go Shiozaki. But they won't, because they're afraid to pull the trigger and be daring. Nothing is surprising about NOAH, and the only person I'm really entertained by anymore is Hirayanagi, because his heel work is tops. I love Shiozaki, and hopefully his reign as FIP champion will proceed him making a challenge for the GHC when he returns.
NOAH needs to take lessons from NJPW, who are doing a great job pushing their entire new generation while still having the older guys look strong without being necessary to carry the company, bring in good gates, or hold the IWGP title. Sure, Mutoh's got it now, but look at who's challenged for it. Nakanishi, Goto, and Makabe. Two new generation stars and an older one who probably had the year of his life, wrestling wise. Nakanishi's resurgence this year was amazing, even if it's tapered off a bit. And Mutoh is pretty much guaranteed to lose to a new generation star to complete the cycle and produce a great blast of momentum for whomever wins the belt (probably Nakamura, or if they want to wait, Tanahashi would be a great choice simply for his history with Mutoh). Tetsuya Naito is getting elevated rapidly, he's a great performer and NJPW has already given him a high profile match (the tag on the Red Shoes Unno anniversary show). And man, yeah, Goto winning the G1 this year is exactly what I mean. NJPW knows how and when to pull the trigger, which is something NOAH needs to learn. It's the quality of the build up, not quantity.
*shamelessly copied from my post on GameFAQs Pro Wrestling OF board*
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