>
>the point isnt that Tanahashi might beat Punk, just that it
>would happen. the idea that theyve constructed this nonsense
>in a way that seems specifically designed to kick it down to
>road to Labor Day, but arent going to actually do that, is
>confusing to me.

It’s not big enough for All Out, simply cause NJPW isn’t big enough here. It’s a dream match for some, a novelty match for some, and meaningless for others. The point of booking the match is Tana is big enough to be a believable challenger to anyone at the top, but he’s not a guy who HAS to win.

>right, but they dont have to make a participant the interim
>champion

I don’t understand the issue here. Mox holds up the title, people cheer, and then he gets bloody with a bunch of guys.

>
>well then this doubly confusing, because they seem to be
>building their own weekly TV around what you say is a NJPW
>storyline.

They’re not building anything. They stumbled into this. This whole PPV is stumbling into matches. It’s a mess.

Tanahashi, with a win over Moxley and a summer of
>"taking the belt back to Japan", is a much more appealing All
>Out opponent for Punk imo than Moxley becoming champ again
>after beating a battle royal winner and someone who's never
>been on American TV.

Like I said, it may be more interesting, but it’s simply not how these companies do business. Inter-promotional shows are built around who each company is willing to see lose. There may be a couple surprises, but nothing crazy. Tana is a guy who would be booked to lose to Punk, Mox, Bryan, Page… maybe even Jericho still. Again, that’s not a knock on the guy, he’s where John Cena is at today (w/o the Hollywood career of course).