Young warriors head overseas, ex-NOAH stars on 1/31, Chono absent

Two of New Japan’s young warriors are heading overseas in an attempt to transform themselves. Kazuchika Okada, one of the better heavyweight prospects in many years, is leaving indefinitely for TNA Wrestling, while Taichi is off to CMLL. President Sugabayashi said he is giving Okada as long as he needs to transform himself into what New Japan knows he can be, not even ruling out a 2-3 year stay in America if Okada needs that long. He will have a special send-off match on 1/31 against Tanahashi. With the retirement of his tag partner Milano, Taichi now seeks new direction and where better for an upcoming junior than CMLL in Mexico…
New Japan also announced today that Tamon Honda and Kentaro Shiga, who recently left NOAH as part of the company’s downsizing, will appear specially on the 1/31 Differ Ariake show. The two will face Makabe & Honma in a tag match and Sugabayashi was complimentary of Honda, saying he had been a “symbol of strength” for NOAH after his surprising “boom” several years ago where he took many big scalps and won the GHC Tag Team Title. Also announced for the Differ show was El Samurai in another special appearance.
Masahiro Chono, however, has cancelled his appearance for an interesting reason. Chono is undertaking long-term “body remodeling”. Chono has just signed a new contract with the company but will be away for up to half a year and should return around summer (G1?). Could this mean one last run at the top for Chono, with so much effort going into improving his condition?