NJPW Launching American Wing, New Japan Pro Wrestling Of America
New Japan Pro Wrestling is coming back to America, but this time they don’t plan on leaving.
NJPW held a special press conference Monday to announce a United States subsidiary, named New Japan Pro Wrestling of America.
Company CEO Takami Obari stated that the they’ve long been on the hunt for talent, and successfully ran events in the States, which has led to their third phase — launching a subsidiary to be “fully established” in the market. Obari noted that live events will be an integral part of the new wing of NJPW, and that their brand, concept and style are already valued stateside.
New Japan Pro Wrestling of America plans to run events on the west coast, as well as the south east, Texas and midwest areas as a focal point. It was made clear by Obari that this wouldn’t take away from plans or business in Japan, but hoped it served to attract more American fans and allow for improved talent relations in the United States. The United States schedule and tours will kick off while the Japanese schedule is in between tours, though it was mentioned that tours could happen simultaneously. There won’t be a reduction in the Japanese schedule, but they hope to possibly double the 13 events in the U.S. from this year to next.
Other plans call for events to air on New Japan World live whenever possible. The relationship with AXS was also touted, with Obari putting over the relationship and saying they will continue to work together for the foreseeable future. AXS was recently purchased by Impact Wrestling’s parent company, Anthem.
Previously, New Japan had worked with Ring of Honor, but as of now have no more joint shows planned.
A Twitter account “NJPWofAmerica” was launched in March of this year.
Fightful will provide more news on this situation as it develops.
