Brock Lesner has been stripped of the IWGP Title.   Strong Style Spirit ~ Half a decade of New Japan support

The worst possible scenario has happened, and Simon Inoki is hanging his head in shame today. Due to "problems with a working visa" (well, there's a new one), Brock Lesnar cannot attend Monday's Tsukisamu Green Dome show and New Japan has stripped him of the IWGP Heavyweight Title. For many, this was expected when he first won the belt, but when he kept returning and returning, doubts started to fade. Whether there is any truth to the "working visa" reason I don't know, but the fact is again an overpriced and undertalented primadonna has turned out to be nothing but a problem for New Japan. Simon Inoki posted a formal apology on the official site and gave refundment details (they don't usually do this, but they realize the severity of this incident), but there will be a tournament on Monday to determine a new champion right before the G1. On a personal note, and I try to stay positive (I will always support New Japan, but not everyone will), Simon Inoki should take all the blame for this and instantly be removed as New Japan president (or better yet, resign his post and take responsibility). Lesnar has been Simon's project when opposition in the company has called for him to get the belt off Brock for months now. There was a high chance that could have happened at the Green Dome, but we'll never know. After regaining so much trust this year, New Japan has again taken a step back and again has to restart from scratch in building fan trust. There may come a time, and it could be this one, that it is too late to do that. There is also the question of how this will effect wrestlers. The tournament on Monday has to be done as well as possible in this situation, and the G1 has to be done even better. The 9/1 Budokan show, an Inoki(s) brainstorm, should be axed immediately by Yuke's, and Naoki Sugehayashi or someone equally suitable has to replace Simon as president.

And here is the news on the tournament that New Japan has been scrambling to put together all night. Six wrestlers will take part, so I'm not exactly sure how this will be laid out. As you can see, all they have done is cancelled the six man tag and put five of them in a tournament, with Tanahashi instead of Choshu (he might be moved into another match), so they have managed to avoid changing the card too much. There was a rumour that Nakamura's stay in Japan was insurance in case Lesnar bailed out, but this proves that to be false. However, it is time to start thinking about bringing Nakamura home very soon...

- Hiroshi Tanahashi
- Hiroyoshi Tenzan
- Yuji Nagata
- Giant Bernard
- Akebono
- Travis Tomko