A little more on the New Japan/WWE situation from Nikkan. Uei said there is a good chance that two WWE wrestlers will enter this year’s G1 Climax. The two names mentioned as possibilities were the WWE’s current world champions, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero, who were full-timers in New Japan’s junior division in the past, and Benoit is actually considered a semi-trueborn New Japan wrestler, as he graduated from the dojo and worked his way up through the ranks, before holding the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title. Benoit’s last appearance in New Japan was on 1/4/00 at the Tokyo Dome, when he lost to Tenzan. Guerrero’s was on 3/24/02, during his brief stint before returning to the WWE, where he was involved in a New Japan vs. Team 2000 Jr. Singles Elimination Match, pinning Kakihara and Samurai, before falling to Minoru Tanaka (Heat). The key to these talks is not Vince McMahon, but Johnny Ace, who has extensive Japanese experience, having wrestled for all of the 1990s in All Japan. As second-in-command of the WWE now, he was the one who spoke with Uei, and further talks will be held when the WWE hits Japan in July for it’s Tokyo Nippon Budokan double header. Uei said this would be different to the New Japan/K-1 relationship, which is all-out war, saying he hoped for a long-term plan where the company’s could help each other fight the current pro wrestling slump in both the U.S. and Japan
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