As first noted by Hunter Golden yesterday in his weekly “Rising Sun Soliloquy” column, the upcoming TNA “Global Impact 2” special is expected to be airing in February after TNA talent competed at New Japan Pro Wrestling’s “Wrestle Kingdom III” event at the Tokyo Dome a few weeks ago.
TNA is not expected to acknowledge Team 3D as the IWGP Tag Team Champions or Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin as the IWGP Junior Tag Team Champions until the show airs. While they did make an announcement on the company’s official website about the title changes, they had been avoiding bringing it up on TV and especially with the company trying to sell Brother Ray’s storyline injury angle after the Main Event Mafia attack.
It should be noted that New Japan is trying to build up relations with TNA and are hoping for championship defenses of IWGP titles in TNA that they can broadcast back to Japan. Yujiro and Tetsuya Naito are being taught English with the idea of having them go to the U.S. for an extended stay and hopefully feud over the IWGP Junior Tag Team Titles with Shelley and Sabin. New Japan is also wanting Team 3D to defend the IWGP Tag Team Titles in TNA as well.