As mentioned, WWE recently offered a contract to NJPW star Tetsuya Naito, but he turned it down, saying in a statement to WhatCulture, “I didn’t even give it thought. This New Japan ring is already the world’s #1 stage. The fans know this. That’s why I think we should focus on our home crowd before looking international.”
Naito has recently feuded with and wrestled against Chris Jericho in NJPW.
WWE has also sent out “feelers” to at least two other “top guys” in Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, which explained, without naming names, “The other two that we’re aware of didn’t turn the offers down without thought although one would be a huge surprise and the other would be a great worker who I didn’t see flourishing in the WWE system, but also probably wouldn’t have any reservations about moving to the U.S. like many of the Japanese might.”
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