Current New Japan

[Makai Club #1]

R3K was a good team. Very consistent. Worked well together. But they always struggled apart. Sho had better performances and a stand out feud against Shingo. Yoh has always been a nothing worker. Weak offence, no real personality other than "goof". Just a boring wrestler to watch. 

[WingedEagle]

Its been the case forever, and didn't seem to really hurt business during the 2010s peak, but its still wild that they essentially shut down the top of the card for a full month to spotlight the juniors. Right before one of their biggest shows of the year!

Kosei Fujita should at worst be the world-beating face of the division the way Hiromu was for a while and Despy was for a minute. Its been great seeing him develop into an incredibly fiery worker and near killer ace of the division, but in reality he should probably get that promotion to the G1 and heavyweight scene sooner rather than later.

[El McKell]

TV Asahi bought NJPW from Bushiroad: 新日本プロレスリング株式会社の株式譲渡に寄せて｜株式会社ブシロード

[lost in ube]

People need to realize that it's not TV Asahi the TV channel that is buying New Japan. It is TV Asahi Holdings, which has set aside 100 billion yen for a four year plan that includes expanding their IP and their live events.

[donsem43]

CyberAgent will also be buying a part which makes me wonder how Japanese competition law works. Maybe they structured the sale to fit for government approval. It also possible that CyberAgent might already have the "For Sale" sign up on Noah or even CyberFight as a whole if they anticipated any issues.

This great news for Stardom, which is staying with Bushiroad. I'm sure at least a chunk of the sale money will be reinvested into Stardom. It also frees them up for pursuing any sort of network deal or association without having to be beholden to TV Asahi. 

[lost in ube]

New Japan will be a subsidiary of TV Asahi once the sale goes through which may be enough of a buffer between them and the CyberFight gang.

On the other hand, TV Asahi and CyberAgent are very close. TV Asahi helped put together ABEMA and they still have a stake in it.

A lot of online speculation is tying the WWE eventual jump to Netflix from ABEMA to the sale but I don't know how much of a factor it really is. I don't think the details of the ABEMA/WWE contract were ever revealed. People think New Japan will fill that scheduling gap. But there is now another option: AEW does not have much of a televised presence in Japan outside of New Japan World.

[Control21]

I hope TV Asahi doesn't waste time in changing up the booking, because it has needed a refresh for a very long time now.