It looks like the Rainmaker will soon be making it precipitate somewhere other than New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
While speculation about the future of Kazuchika Okada has been rampant over the past few months, it was still shocking to see NJPW confirm today that he will leave the company at the end of the month. The company posted on its official sites that while Okada will still work a few February dates on the New Beginning series, he won’t re-sign once his contract expires on Jan. 31.
Kazuchika Okada will be leaving New Japan Pro-Wrestling after the conclusion of his contract on January 31 2024.
We apologise to fans for the abrupt nature of this announcement, but join them in wishing Okada the very best in his future.
A short statement from Okada himself was also included:
I have nothing but gratitude for having been a part of New Japan Pro-Wrestling since 2007, and for NJPW bringing me from a 19 year old kid off the plane in Mexico to the Rainmaker I am today. Thank you to the best of companies in NJPW, to the best of opponents that I’ve been able to face here, and to the best of fans that have cheered and booed over the years. I promise to make it rain in every match I have left, so keep watching.
The 36-year-old Okada is widely considered one of the best pro wrestlers in the world, and has carried the NJPW banner proudly for the majority of his career. Taking the baton from Hiroshi Tanahashi (now New Japan’s president), Okada was the company’s true ace for most of the last decade, and has won nearly every championship and honor NJPW has to bestow.
Ironically, the very sense that Okada had nothing left to accomplish in New Japan also drove the idea that he might look to make a move elsewhere while still in his athletic prime. His options would seem to be unlimited; he’s worked before with TNA and recently made an appearance there, is familiar with AEW (and its fans with him) thanks to matches at the two Forbidden Doors and has appeared on Dynamite, and WWE is said to be interested in him as well.
It’s safe to say that all eyes will be on his next move, and the buzz for his first appearance elsewhere will certainly be huge. In the meantime, NJPW fans will be relishing his final matches there, and he almost certainly will get a warm farewell from crowds in Japan over the next few weeks.
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