Angle IWGP champion?? Nagata IWGP Champion??

[The Great Gouki]

so one of my friends told me there might be a unification match between Kurt Angle and Yuji Nagata for the IWGP Championship....true??

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

That all depends on the relationship between New Japan, TNA, and Inoki. I believe people are just speculating at this point, but who knows. I hope there will be a unification match anyway.

Nagata is the IWGP Heavyweight champion. Nobody else is.

Lesnar was stripped of the title but refused to return the belt. Inoki used the belt for the match between Lesnar and Angle, but it wasn't even announced as a title match.

Whatever people say about him, I (usually) like the way Inoki creates the heat and controversy.

[CyclopsScott]

I just read an interesting development concerning Angle's extra title on two sites. Basically at the January 4th Tokyo Dome show TNA will be taping matches for a special after-Impact episode for Spike. Not sure which ones will be taped, but its the card itself that has me intrigued.

It's a New Japan show, and has Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura for the true IWGP title. However it also seems that Angle is defending his TNA World title and the IWGP 3rd Belt against Yuji Nagata. That's almost halfway sorta-but-not-really lending credibility to it, since Nagata was the champion when Lesnar 'lost' the 3rd Belt to Angle.

That's all via this link: http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=139815 and admittedly, it's a forum so I did some hunting around for more details. I found them at http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/co...t-12.16.07.htm

From what I can tell here, New Japan is billing it as only being for the 3rd Belt (but why THEY would is beyond me... why recognize a non-real title?) However it's Spike that is spearheading the "for the TNA title" details, and that's where it gets tricky.

If it's simply for the 3rd Belt, have Nagata win that and, as the 411 article theorizes, have Nagata vs the true IWGP champ to restore any potential broken lineage problems. If Angle's TNA title really is also on the line, it's highly doubtful Nagata would win.

Of course, with the match being taped, who knows what they will and won't air. Dusty finish anyone?

Any thoughts on this and what could go down here?

Scott

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

New Japan's official site doesn't mention the TNA title.

[Pheonix_Chi25]

I still say Mike Tenay and Kurt angle, as well as anyone else, should not refer to Angle as the IWGP Champion, I recognize one IWGP Champion, it's Shinsuke Nakamura.