Csonka: Jay White is Slowly Taking Over NJPW

Welcome back to column time with Larry, and today we’re going to talk about Jay White and his impact on NJPW. White came back, challenged Tanahashi and came up short at the biggest show off the year, but that didn’t stop him. Jay White has turned into one of the most interesting characters in all of wrestling, and in my opinion, is slowly taking over NJPW; I’d like to examine that journey here today. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy today’s column, and feel free to share your thoughts. It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful of other’s opinions and don’t be a dick.”

Young Lion & Excursion Status: Jay White started his career in NJPW in 2014, training in the dojo for a year before making his main roster debut, losing to Alex Shelley. White & Finlay ended up paired off, like they tend to do with the lions, for tag matches and a singles feud, which White dominated. After a good first year, White was sent on excursion to the US, and worked for Ring of Honor, while living with Alex Shelley. Shelley, with his past in Japan, took on a mentorship role on and off TV as White was part of the Search and Destroy stable with Shelley, Sabin, & Gresham. White had the best ROH excursion of the recent NJPW talent, especially when compared to EVIL & 3k, who barely made TV and were never presented as important. White was given a long undefeated streak before losing to former world champion Jay Briscoe, was a regular fixture on TV and was given opportunity on iPPV & PPV, where he delivered some great matches (he appeared 5 times on my Top 24 ROH Matches of 2017 list). He had a great run, but it was time to return home…

The Return: At the NJPW Power Struggle event, the identity of “Switchblade” was finally revealed, and unlike the big Chris Jericho reveal, it wasn’t a big surprise. Jay White made his return from his excursion, coming back home and revealing himself as the mysterious star of the video packages that have been airing for months. Jay White was back from his excursion with ROH, and he made the challenge and laid out the ace and due to that was involved in one of the top three matches at NJPW’s biggest show of the year.

The Wrestlekingdom Failure: At WrestleKingdom 12, White got his chance, in NJPW’s biggest event against their biggest star. But IWGP IC Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Jay White to retain the championship, and ending White’s chance at starting off on a hot streak. The match was good, but easily Tanahashi’s “worst” dome effort in some time. It was a very paint by numbers Tanahashi match, and while Jay White worked hard, this ended up being the wrong time for him. While the thought process here was good and losing to Tanahashi is not a horrible thing, having White’s big match at the dome ended up being a mistake. He worked hard, looked good and didn’t do anything wrong, but I feel he would have benefited from a program with someone ahead of Tanahashi, so that fans would have a real reason to care and treat him as a threat, which they didn’t here. Even if he lost, he should have looked more dominant and threatening to Tanahashi, and he didn’t. But for White, this “failure” was only a set back, and despite some worrying he was “done” as a potential top guy, tomorrow would be another day…

Swerve!! Switchblade says he's taking Kenny's belt now! #NJPW #njdash https://t.co/8lcnprw4F8 pic.twitter.com/wmItITu4ie

— LARIATOOOO!! (@MrLARIATO) January 5, 2018

#NJPW #njdash https://t.co/8lcnprw4F8 pic.twitter.com/hq8fI4F5rX

— LARIATOOOO!! (@MrLARIATO) January 5, 2018

The New Years Dash Angle: The next day at New Year’s Dash, Jay White defeated Katsuya Kitamura as part of Kitamura’s trial series and got some momentum back. But while a win is nice, beating Kitamura wasn’t exactly setting the world on fire. But later on that night, after an issue with Cody Rhodes involving Kota Ibushi, Kenny Omega admitted that Bullet Club hasn’t been whole for a long time, and they need to stop the fighting, and that they needed to be #1. This led to Omega calling out White, and offering him a spot in Bullet Club. But White refused the offer, which would have seemingly given White the boost he needed following the loss to Tanahashi. But White had a different plan in mind, which would be revealed soon after…

Bringing CHAOS to Order: Following the events on New Year’s Dash, the next stage of White’s plan was revealed as he joined the CHAOS faction. V’s reasoning behind this was that he wanted to battle Bullet Club and destroy them, but was smart enough to realize that there was no way that he could do it on his own. But while White is with CHAOS, he also made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t there to bow down to, or kiss the ring and or ass of Okada. White made his standing perfectly clear, and that was that he wanted to be a champion, even if that meant challenging the status quo of CHAOS and challenging a member of the stable namely Okada. White now had backup, he had a plan and more importantly, a new title shot in Sapporo against Kenny Omega.

Winning The US Title: And in Sapporo, the plan continued to evolve as Jay White defeated US Champion Kenny Omega to become a champion in NJPW. In the build to the match, White constantly mentioned taking down Bullet Club and causing them to breakdown from inside, and his victory, in a very good performance, ended up leading to that. After the match, Adam Page (who had been positioned well with wins on both Sapporo shows), arrived to be the first challenger, but when Omega interrupted to hand White the title, Cody Rhodes arrived and accused Omega of stealing Page’s moment. This led to a confrontation, which had been built up very well on Being The Elite, and Cody laying out Omega, and seemingly taking control of Bullet Club. Not only was Bullet Club ripped apart, but also this led to Kota Ibushi making the save and reuniting with Omega, further changing the landscape of NJPW.

.@CodyRhodes WHAT ARE YOU DOING???? CROSS RHODES TO KENNY OMEGA #NJNBG #NJPW #NJPWWorld pic.twitter.com/bdbXbVKLZy

— Italo Santana (@BulletClubItal) January 28, 2018

Fitting Into His New Role: Following his title win, White has continued to evolve, showing a very serious and vicious side in his matches. White has refused to enter with CHAOS team members, opting to enter on his own. He has also taken out opponents with the blade runner, but instead of taking the easy pin, has started laying in elbow strikes and winning via referee stoppage. Jay White is a new man, he’s a man with backup, and a man with a vicious mean streak; he’s doing things his way and is getting results by doing so. Jay White’s a very different man than the one that came back from excursion and it’s fascinating to watch.

Who rules the wrestling world? CHAOS.

A post shared by Will Ospreay (@willospreay) on Feb 5, 2018 at 2:12am PST

Is CHAOS About to Break?: He’s had a big hand in Bullet Club breaking apart, but we shouldn’t forget that to him the relationship with CHAOS is one of convenience to him. He needed back up, he wanted a title, and wanted to ruin Bullet Cub and he accomplished all of these goals. Right now CHAOS looks to be one happy and successful family, holding 5 different titles, and Ishii & Yano are primed for a tag title shot. But after Okada successfully defeated SANADA in Osaka, he announced his desire to face CHAOS stablemate Will Ospreay at the anniversary show. Okada is even more full of himself than usual and White’s plan seems to be working perfectly, as he is bringing CHAOS to what was once order. Slowly but surely, White is taking control of NJPW, but what will his end game finally be?

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia.”