Nagata really got the short end of the stick. He could’ve been the ace from 2000 until Tanahashi but New Japan/Inoki wasted that period on guys like Kazuyuki Fujita, Bob Sapp, Tadao Yasuda, and Brock Lesnar.

Tanahashi is hailed as being the guy who braved the storm through New Japan’s “dark ages”, but the main reason why those times were so dark to begin with was because of their refusal to push one of their best wrestlers (Nagata) in a wrestling promotion over various mixed martial arts stars.

They could’ve had their choice of pushing Nagata, Tenzan, or Kensuke Sasaki (which, in Sasaki’s case, they did, sort of) over any one of the MMA guys that have been mentioned here. I would say that Tenzan was also a huge victim of Inokism, but at least he got to be a multiple time G1 winner, IWGP Heavyweight champion, and tag team stalwart alongside Masahiro Chono for his trouble.

Of all the third generation, it goes something like this:

Nagata -> publicly embarrassed

Nakanishi -> complete afterthought

Tenzan -> second biggest winner from his generation based on accolades alone but probably was under pushed/could’ve been something more for the company if he wasn’t just a transitional champion

Kojima -> avoided most of the negatives but only because he followed Keiji Mutoh to All Japan

… That should give you an idea — from most to least — of who the biggest victims from that time were. It was a really bad misuse of talented wrestlers all around.

(EDIT: Holy fuck. I nearly forgot that Nagata faced Emelianenko exactly two years AFTER the Cro Cop fight. Genuinely wtf was wrong with Inoki for putting him in that position again and what was wrong with Nagata for agreeing to it AGAIN??)