NJPW President Harold Meij: “Talent Will Come And Go”
NJPW President Harold Meij believes talent leaving the company is just a part of life.
It’s no secret by now that NJPW is undergoing a talent makeover. The company is not only losing The Elite (Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, and Hangman Page) to the newly formed AEW, they are also losing KUSHIDA and reportedly losing Kenny Omega at the end of the month.
Speaking to NJPW (translation via NJPW announcer Chris Charlton), Meij gave his thoughts on talent leaving.
“‘’Is New Japan OK?’ Yes it is. ‘Is this the beginning of the end?’ Twitter’s getting ahead of itself,” said Meij. “More promotions in the market is proof of a healthy sector with more people watching. A billion dollar market is turning into 1.3, 1.5 billion. It’s not a tiny space with everyone fighting over scraps anymore.”
Meij continued, “Talent will come & go. That’s life. Half of Japanese people have had more than one occupation. More overseas. There are different life stages, priorities change. What counts is that while here, ppl shine as bright as possible & produce the best product possible for us”
In the same interview, Meij addressed criticism of NJPW focusing more on the United States market and less on Japan. NJPW will hold three New Beginning shows in the US within the next month and the G1 Climax will begin in Dallas on July 6.
“I often see talk along the lines of ‘since Meij came in, they’re only looking at international, they don’t care about Japan.’ That couldn’t be more wrong,” said Meij. “New Japan has gotten to the stage that the world has taken notice of it and we can do these things abroad. I’m not pushing the company international; if anything it’s the other way round. I’m doing my job as a professional to fulfill very strong demand.”
NJPW has ambitious plans over the next year with more shows in the United States, a show in London and back-to-back nights at the Tokyo Dome on Wrestle Kingdom weekend.
On the talent front, they did sign Juice Robinson, Rocky Romero and Chase Owens to new deals.
