posted on May, 2 2004 @ 04:53 AM
New Japan owner and wrestling legend Antonio Inoki challenged WWE to take them on at the Strong Energy 2004 show on Saturday. Inoki said that he wants
to challenge WWE and that American wrestling promotions are in a state of depression. Inoki went on to say that WWE should not be the leading force in
the industry and New Japan will soon take that spot away. He has mandated his staff to contact all former WWE talent, including Steve Austin and Brock
Lesnar to achieve the goal of being the new wrestling leader of the world.
Last week on WWE Byte This, Jim Ross ripped the Japanese wrestling industry and their tactics. "They are desperate. The Japanese pro-wrestling is
sucking pond water," said Ross, former WWE VP of talent relations."It's not drawing. Goldberg went there; he didn't draw, maybe once or twice."
Japanese wrestling journalists have deemed Ross statements as "ignorant". The comments from Ross came just two days after WWE had announced two
SmackDown house shows would be held in Tokyo, Japan in July.
The situation is said to be getting heated. You may remember that Austin was in contacts with Japan just before and after his release. Bill Goldberg
also left WWE to jump over to Japan. Since then, WWE has been left with a bad taste in their mouths.