Credit: Strong Style Spirit
Yomiuri Sports in Japan announced earlier today that New Japan Pro Wrestling has finally acquired the “super-important foreigner” that NJPW President Simon Inoki promised to fans after the Tokyo Dome show on January 4th. Former Olympic gold medalist, WWE superstar, and current TNA superstar Kurt Angle has been announced as the foreigner and he will make his NJPW debut on February 18th at Sumo Hall as an agreement has been reached between both sides. Possible opponents for Kurt Angle’s first match in a Japanese promotions have been narrowed down to former IWGP World Heavyweight Champions Yuji Nagata and Shinsuke Nakamura, although Inoki believes that a tag match will be set up with the Naigai Times suggesting that both men will be involved.
Kurt Angle was scheduled to appear at the January 4th Tokyo Dome show against either Nagata or Nakamura, but due to a scheduling conflict, the match was delayed. Yomiuri Sports also reports that this was part of NJPW making use of its working agreement with TNA which has mostly been used by TNA to use stars like Jushin Liger in their World X Cup. Simon Inoki stated that he hoped this would be the first of many dream matches to come in NJPW’s 35th anniversary and he continued to hint at other foreign participation for the February 18th show. He also stated that he has been in negotiations with Kurt Angle and TNA since November and that Angle is very interested in Japanese wrestling, especially former amateur wrestling stars like himself such as Yuji Nagata and Shinsuke Nakamura.
