By Jim Valley, PWTorch contributor

Actually the title should say, "Help Me, Obi Wan Kidani, You're My Only Hope."

Kidani is the owner of New Japan Pro Wrestling. While Gedo and Jado are the bookers, if it wasn't for Kidani, I would have little hope for pro wrestling in 2015.

Wednesday night's premiere of TNA Impact on Destination America had me singing "Once In A Lifetime," the old song from Talking Heads. "Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was."

I feel so bad for Bobby Roode, James Storm, Samoa Joe, EC3, and a few others. Do I really need to write about this? You know. I can't wait for this contract with Destination America to end and see TNA's premiere on a cable access channel in NYC. It's only going to get worse.

WWE says that Booker T, JBL, and Michael Cole are the new Raw announce team. I shucky ducky don't get it. I respect Booker T. He's had a great career. He's the one WCW guy who successfully charted the shark-infested WWE waters during at time when being from WCW had the same stigma as being an Ebola patient. Good for him. But, I can't take both him and JBL for three hours on my television every Monday. I have to admit Booker T and JBL did the impossible: they made me feel bad for Michael Cole. Shucky Ducky.

Like many kids at the time, Tiger Mask was my gateway into New Japan Pro Wrestling. He was my Rey Mysterio, Jr. In the early days of the USA Network, I would beg my mom to watch WWF MSG cards on USA at a friend's house at like 10 o'clock at night. I remember a young Dynamite Kid, The Cobra, Tatsumi Fujinami, and Tiger Mask. Not only was WWF a big man's territory, but very few wrestlers that I saw on cable had that kind of athleticism. I was mesmerized.

I felt a similar feeling during New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 9. Thanks to technology, I can now watch all the New Japan I can handle. The thought that this style of wrestling could come to North America excites me. Something new. Something fresh.

Look around. Cosplay at Comic Cons, video games, manga, Disney's Big Hero 6 movie, Japanese culture and trends do have a hold on a segment of the population outside of Japan. Even Hideo Itami took his name from it.

If I was in charge of New Japan, I would try to target that niche. Ibushi, Nakamura, Marufuchi, Okada, and Tanahashi look like they come from the Final Fantasy video game series. New Japan is the wrestling that should be on the Syfy Channel, not Smackdown. Too bad it's a Viacom property.

As the new year begins, I hope your resolution is to pay for the wrestling you like. That is the only way it can grow. No wrestler can eat or pay rent from torrents, tweets, or chants. You can change wrestling. I hope you join me in supporting change with your debit card. If you don't, you're going to have a shucky ducky of a 2015.

Random Thoughts: Josh Mathews has seemingly had months to prepare for his debut show. He should have known more about the stars of TNA...Congratulations to The Young Bucks. They have a vision. Many people criticized it. They stuck to it and it worked. The definition of success....Congrats to ReDragon. Years ago, I commentated one of Kyle O'Reilly's matches. I don't know him. I spoke with him briefly. I'm sure he doesn't remember me. But, you could see he wanted it. He looked good, showed respect, and had good gear even at a young age. I had no idea he would make all the way to a New Japan Tokyo Dome show, but I'm very happy for him and his success.

(Professional broadcaster Jim Valley is a long-time wrestling fan, PWTorch subscriber, and currently PWTorch Livecast guest host and now a PWTorch.com editorialist. He won a National Edward R. Murrow Award and several regional awards during his 20 year broadcast career. He has done TV announcing for several independent wrestling promotions, hosted his own wrestling radio show, interviewed many top stars, and was flown out to Stamford to audition for WWE. He took second to Todd Grisham. His Attitude Era "Total Chaos" wrestling radio show is currently being featured on PWTorch.com's VIP membership website, with new episodes added each month.)

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