Next Triple Crown Champion?

[JustS2pendous]

Who will get those glorius three belts next? Who should get them next?

[JustS2pendous]

Out of blind loyalty I've voted for Johnny Smith, whether he gets the belts or just gets a shot I'd like to see him pushed. Seriously though, Bill Goldberg is your next Triple Crown champ

[Jason]

Call me crazy, but I have a hunch they are building towards a Mutoh vs. Misawa dream match (5 years too late) where Mutoh is the Triple Crown champ and Misawa is the GHC champ.

[JustS2pendous]

Jason, your crazy. Although it would be fantastic to finally see them in a match, I just don't see it happeneing anytime soon.

[Luds]

I think that Great MUTA will win next. It's been announced that Tenryu's next defence is against MUTA...

[JustS2pendous]

When is that scheduled and when was it announced. I guess if Tenryu, Vader and Muto have held both the Triple Crown and IWGP, then Muta being a former IWGP champ would be interested inthe Crown.

[Hijo de Carlos]

Luds' comment makes it sound like the next challenger will be Keiji Mutoh in his guise as The Great Muta. Is that right? Since NJPW have created the "new" Muta, I presumed they retained control of the gimmick. Is that not so?

[Jason]

It's true NJPW retained the rights to the Great Muta gimmick. However, at a recent AJPW show (8/18?), Mutoh wrestled 3 matches under 3 personas in the same night, one of which was the Great MUTA (in caps). He used the spiderman paint for the gimmick. So, I don't know how AJPW pulled that off legally, but they did.

[Haiku Warrior]

Although, like many others, I would hate to see it happen but I think Goldberg is the next champion.

Even though most purists, like myself, would hate to see him win, his winning the title will push the prestige of it higher. We all liked him when he first won the WCW Title by beating Hogan. He was unstoppable, then WCW killed any momentum he had due to backstage politics. A former (dominant) WCW Champion will give prestige to the Triple Crown and who ever defeats Goldberg will also elevated to a higher level.

Just my thoughts, though....

[JustS2pendous]

Well considering the next title match is Tenryu vs Great Muta, with the build up of it being the final match in All Japan vs WAR, I think it's safe to say the Muta will add the Triple Crown to his World ttitle collection.

[screwloose]

Originally posted by Jason
It's true NJPW retained the rights to the Great Muta gimmick. However, at a recent AJPW show (8/18?), Mutoh wrestled 3 matches under 3 personas in the same night, one of which was the Great MUTA (in caps). He used the spiderman paint for the gimmick. So, I don't know how AJPW pulled that off legally, but they did.

when they put it in all caps it's legal since they refer to him as simply MUTA if i am not mistaken.

[JustS2pendous]

Forgetting Keiji Muto's accomplishments for the time being it would be nice to see The Great Muta with the Triple Crown to accompnay his previous IWGP and NWA title reigns. Curious as to why he's booking himself as Muta.
1) Is it to put a new spin on the Tenryu matchup?
2) Is it to gazzump or belittle NJPW's version of Muta?
3) Is it to change his ringstyle and ease the load on his legs?
4) Is it simply to win the Triple Crown as two characters as he did with the IWGP strap?
5) Is it for the American's to be familiar with the Triple Crown champ?

[lonewolfsuarez]

Most likely scenario is that Mutoh, then Goldberg, then Kea will be the order of who wears the Triple Crown.

[Tradewynd]

Well, out of Jus2's list, I'd have to go with numbers 2 and 5. If I were MUTA I'd be ****ed if they gave the gimmick I made legendary to some gaijin. And it's not like the guy is anywhere near Mutoh's level, at least from what I've heard(I don't plan on getting any of the NJ tapes from the tour). And, for some reason, everyone seems to want to expand into America these days, why, I can't fathom since the business is heading for a bigger and bigger slump, but other than Goldberg MUTA is the only name that would be known in America. If the IWS show he did is any indication, he's a pretty big name over here. Either that or everyone listened to my post when I said we should all go and get Dr. Death, Kojima and Mutoh the biggest pops of the night.

[Rex Idol]

"...for some reason, everyone seems to want to expand into America these days, why, I can't fathom since the business is heading for a bigger and bigger slump..."



That's a good point. Maybe they think that since the U.S. has become basically a one fed market, there's room for an alternative product. They could be looking to market toward old WCW and ECW fans who aren't watching WWE.