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What's the story?
On the latest edition of the Stone Cold Podcast, Stone Cold Steve Austin spoke about the possibility of the reigning IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada signing for the WWE. Okada is currently working under New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
The former six-time WWE (then WWF) Champion said that he has no clue what WWE's plans for Okada would be. Austin had some very nice things to say about the NJPW Star.
In case you didn't know...
Kazuchika Okada is one of the biggest names in Japanese wrestling and is currently the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, his fourth run with the belt. Okada graduated from NJPW's Junior Heavyweight Division to the Heavyweight Division in 2008 but failed to impress.
NJPW then sent him on a learning expedition to American promotion GFW/Impact Wrestling (then TNA). Okada returned to NJPW in 2012 and within one month had his first ever IWGP Heavyweight title victory against Hiroshi Tanahashi as the "Rainmaker".
The heart of the matter
On his Stone Cold Podcast, Stone Cold Steve Austin brought up the topic of Kazuchika Okada possibly signing with WWE. He said:
“I don’t know what they’d do with Okada. Well, I mean, Goddang, what would you do? Obviously, push him to the top! I don’t know. I really don’t know. He’s a good looking kid, and Goddang, he can work his ass off, he can sell, he can do it all. He’s just a good looking talent that can do everything.” Austin added, “he’s a superstar over in Japan. He’s a big star over here. So I always believe you want to have the best talent you can find and put it into your company, but they just need to, if they’re going to do that, they need to know what they’re going to do with that guy.”
What's next?
It's no secret that WWE is looking for fresh new talent across the globe and Okada is one of the most talented Stars to have emerged from Japan.
So him getting a call from WWE in the future seems not only likely, but inevitable.
Author's take
Having a more global pool of talent would really help WWE's fan base grow in non-US countries as we have seen with Jinder Mahal and Shinsuke Nakamura - both of whom have caused a considerable spike in WWE viewership in previously discounted countries.
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