Nine Japanese wrestling promotions are coming together to present a united front when it comes to event guidelines, best practices and governmental communication, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling will be a big part of it.
NJPW announced today that it will join eight other promotions to form United Japan Pro-Wrestling, “a new industry group representing professional wrestling in Japan.” The focus of the group will be to help grow the Japanese wrestling industry as a whole, with a special focus on wrestler safety, information sharing, and establishing a point of contact between “between the industry and national and municipal governments.”
Along with NJPW, the other promotions making up United Japan Pro-Wrestling to start are:
- All Japan Pro-Wrestling
- Pro-Wrestling NOAH
- DDT Pro-Wrestling
- Ganbare ☆ Pro-Wrestling
- Big Japan Pro-Wrestling
- DRAGONGATE
- STARDOM
- Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling
While it wasn’t presented as such in New Japan’s announcement, it’s clear that as the industry leader, it will have a big role in steering the group. New Japan advisor Seiji Sakaguchi is the founding chair, and the executive chief is Naoki Sugabayashi — the chairman of New Japan.
An event is planned under the United Japan Pro-Wrestling banner for May 6, 2024 in Nippon Budokan. Expect to see more details on the group’s structure and goals to be revealed over the coming months.