JONAH and the NEVER Openweight Title

By: Jeremy Peeples

On August 6, 2022, one year to the day after being released from WWE, JONAH defeated the most iconic main event superstar in the last decade of New Japan Pro Wrestling in Kazuchika Okada. The former Bronson Reed went from being released from WWE’s developmental brand to beating a modern-day wrestling icon and as with any career-defining victory, the question becomes how to best follow through with it. Until that victory, JONAH’s time in New Japan has been spent as a shining star of the TMDK group once again. However, with that group setting came a lack of a showcase for him as a singles act.

In WWE, he felt like someone who could get to that next level if given the presentation to do so and he was building a tremendous amount of momentum before his run ended. His North American Title win led to a memorable promo about his struggle to get to that point and then a month and a half after losing it, he was gone. However, he was very clearly a talent that wanted to take that release and use it as fuel to create a career-defining run because he set out to forge a new identity as JONAH right away. However, being a global talent released amid a pandemic made it hard for him to gain much traction anywhere.

His Impact run was something that gave him a chance to shine again on US TV against a wide variety of opponents, while a Bloodsport match with Josh Barnett showed that he had a level of diversity that hasn’t really been seen in a big man in decades. Vader came the closest with his legendary run that started on December 27, 1987 when he beat Antonio Inoki in under 15 minutes in his debut as Big Van Vader to become a made man in a single night. He went on to have a legendary stretch over the next decade that included UWFI shoot-style matches very much akin to modern-day Bloodsport and a WCW run that was the stuff of legend.

JONAH has been able to prove himself against a wide variety of opponents across multiple genres of pro wrestling, and doing so alongside a New Japan run makes it easy to think of ways to forge him into a killer act in the company. While much of his tenure has been spent in six-man tags, his singles showcases allow him to shine against foes both great and small and when combined with his agility, the NEVER Openweight Title feels like a perfect fit for him.

The NEVER Title has been in search of direction for years and JONAH being a dominant force of nature who streamrolls everyone could give it an identity that has largely been missing since Will Ospreay lost it and essentially used it as a bridge from junior heavyweight to heavyweight. Karl Anderson is keeping the title warm, but not lighting the world ablaze as champion. While, historically, Tanahashi would likely have been the better champion, Anderson offers more ways to go from a storytelling perspective.

JONAH could easily want to prove TMDK’s superiority against the Bullet Club and show that he is the most dominant man across all weight classes by making the overweight crown his to reign supreme over. There are plenty of BC members for him to go on a tear against and given NJPW’s deal with both Impact and AEW, it is a chance to open the door to him being back on Impact airwaves or making a strong impression on AEW TV with a New Japan title in tow.

The NEVER Title after the deactivation of the IC Title felt like it could step into that slot, but it’s never had consistent enough booking. The US Title has consistency now and it’s to the point of feeling like a main-event-level title thanks to Will Ospreay holding it — and there’s no reason we can’t see something similar with JONAH and the NEVER TItle. He always delivers the goods in the ring and his intense facial expressions are underrated. Over the years, he has been compared to both Vader and Bam Bam Bigelow, and while he isn’t quite as fear-inducing as Vader, he is faster than him and gets his power and size across better than Bigelow did.

JONAH getting a six month to a year-long dominant run as NEVER Champion would both allow that title to be known for something again instead of being a hot potato title, but also give him some much-needed long-term credibility. It’s one thing to book a talent perfectly for a night, but getting a title on him and test driving him as a main eventer for secondary PPVs would be an experiment worth trying at least once. If it doesn’t work, that’s fine — it’s the NEVER Title, not the World Heavyweight title. If it doesn’t pick up steam immediately, there’s always another show down the road to try it with.

He’s too much of a can’t-miss talent. If a single short secondary NXT title win can make him seem like someone a company needs to do more with, then a longer run with gold in New Japan would help him greatly now and in the future. At Declaration of Power on October 10, Jay White faces Tama Tonga for the IWGP World Heavyweight Title and Kazuchika Okada faces JONAH in a rematch of one of New Japan’s most talked-out bouts of 2022. A win for JONAH won’t get him Okada’s briefcase, but a loss could be something that gets him over nearly as much. They have set up Okada and JONAH as regular rivals in tag team matches and that alone has helped his stock rise. A loss to Okada setting up a refocusing on the NEVER crown could be just what he needs to cement his New Japan run.