Former NJPW GM Recalls Company’s View Of Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, Young Bucks & More In 2018

Former NJPW GM Michael Craven recalled how the company viewed Kenny Omega, Hangman Page, the Young Bucks & more at the close of 2018. Omega, Page, Cody Rhodes, the Bucks and Marty Scurll’s contracts between NJPW and ROH were all up at the end of that year, and Craven spoke with Conrad Thompson on Insiders for AdFreeShows, where he was asked what NJPW thought about all six talents and retaining them. You can see some highlights below (per Fightful):

On NJPW’s view of Omega, Page & Scurll: “In order, Kenny was the only one we were concerned about leaving. We would have liked to have gotten a deal for Hangman Page, if ROH wanted to let him go, we would have taken Hangman. Marty Scurll, I know it’s a name that people don’t mention, but in Japan he was in incredibly over. I don’t know about his circumstances and I’m not going to say anything negative. At that time, we wanted him very badly. We wanted Marty, we wanted Hangman.”

On Rhodes: “Cody, we thought was too expensive to keep. Cody, we wanted for America. For having him in Japan, I mean no disrespect to Cody, we wanted somebody like Kenny Omega who can give us five star matches. What makes New Japan special is the quality of matches. To have somebody full-time, high salary, in Japan, we expect them to be performing at the top tier for every match. What I love about Cody’s matches, is he’s a good storyteller. He brings that emotion, but when you don’t speak Japanese, the Japanese fans don’t understand that story. We were interested, if ROH was going to get him, to have him for a few dates, but mainly use him for America. He helped so much with the American expansion, he really did.”

On the Young Bucks: “The other people were the Bucks. The office, because of Being The Elite, soured on the Bucks. We would be interested in having them part-time with an ROH contract, but when we heard the numbers what ROH was trying to put together for the Bucks, it was way out of our pay league. I can’t remember if it was $450,000 US per Buck. I honestly can’t remember the number. I remember hearing it and the office told me ‘we can’t do a deal with Joe Koff because it’s out of our pay scale.’ Tag team wrestling is not our priority. The Bucks are very popular in Japan, they really were. It would have been nice to get them, but with the issues and bad blood with Being the Elite, I’m sure people would have calmed down and negotiated differently with that, maybe the situation would have been different and we would have wanted them more. At the time, that priority was mostly Kenny.”

On who the company prioritized: “I have the notes. The priority, in order, is Kenny Omega, Marty Scurll, Hangman Page. I even know the numbers we were going to offer them, which I shouldn’t say. Cody, question mark. Bucks, question mark. That’s what we were looking at. That comes from a late September meeting.”