A major departure in STARDOM, and potentially more on the way.
Bushiroad and STARDOM have announced that, effective immediately (February 4th, 2024), they have cancelled the contract of founder Rossy Ogawa.
The announcement, seen below, states that Ogawa “poached many STARDOM wrestlers and staff,” although the extent to which this is the case has yet to be revealed.
“Notice Regarding Termination of Contract with Rossy Ogawa
-Bushiroad
Regarding the Termination of the Contract with Rossy Ogawa
To whom it may concern, and to our fans
Thank you very much for your continued support of Stardom.
We would like to inform you that Bushiroad Fight Inc. (the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a business consignment agreement (the “Agreement”) with Mr. Rossy Ogawa. We are pleased to inform you that we have terminated the business consignment agreement (the “Agreement”) with Rossy Ogawa as of February 4, 2024.
Since 2019, the Company has entered into the Agreement with Rossy Ogawa, the founder of Stardom, and has invited him to serve as Executive Producer and has entrusted him with Stardom-related tasks. However, we have recently become aware that Mr. Rossy Ogawa has been poaching a number of Stardom athletes and staff members, and we have decided to terminate this agreement.
We sincerely apologize for any concern this may have caused. We, the players and staff of Stardom, will continue to make concerted efforts to further develop Stardom and to deliver excitement to our fans.
We look forward to your continued support.
February 5, 2024 Bushiroad Fight, Inc.”
Ogawa, alongside Fuka and Nanae Takahashi, founded World Wonder Ring STARDOM in September 2010. Bushiroad purchased the company in 2019, leading to Ogawa becoming the executive producer.
Shortly following the announcement, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful tweeted that there have been rumours of Ogawa potentially heading to WWE. However, he later noted that Dave Meltzer has claimed that this is not the case.
Seemingly in response to Ogawa’s departure and the subsequent WWE rumours, AEW President Tony Khan took to Twitter to share a collection of GIFs addressing the situation, heavily implying that Ogawa had been in liege with WWE.
AEW have yet to work with STARDOM despite their working relationship with fellow Bushiroad-owned promotion NJPW, and thus it’ll be interesting to see whether Ogawa’s exit changes things moving forward.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, as previously mentioned, has also touched on the situation, revealing that in the wake of Ogawa’s departure, several talent departures are also expected in March. Also, Meltzer revealed that the only wrestler currently tied down with STARDOM long-term is Mayu Iwatani due to her upcoming biopic.
“A lot of the talent is loyal to Rossy Ogawa, who founder STARDOM and gave most of the women their career breaks. Expect several departures from the group in March, when most of the contracts expire. The only wrestler under a longer term commitment to STARDOM is Mayu Iwatani, because of the movie on her life coming out.”
-Dave Meltzer
Regarding said departures, Meltzer went on to elaborate that STARDOM’s parent company had been aware of this and that legal threats had been issued in some cases. Talent are expected to remain with STARDOM until March upon the expiration of their contracts, with this being noted as part of why Giulia is not set to feature on NJPW’s Windy City Riot show in Chicago in April.
“Bushiroad had known about talent leaving and some were given legal threats in recent weeks. Those who are leaving wouldn’t be doing so until their contracts expire. This is part of the story of why Giulia will not be wrestling in Chicago (NJPW Windy City Riot) and had said she was taking time off in March, when her contract expires.”
-Dave Meltzer
As for Ogawa’s replacement in terms of the creative direction of the company, newly christened STARDOM President Taro Okada and Bushiroad Fight merchandise manager Oyama are reportedly set to take over, with neither one having a background in professional wrestling booking.
“Taro Okada and Bushiroad Fight merchandise manager, Oyama will take over as the bookers for STARDOM effective immediately. The two don’t have any background as bookers although Okada was part of a pro wrestling club while in college that staged matches.”
-Dave Meltzer
STARDOM celebrated their 13th Anniversary at their Supreme Fight event last night, with the roster taking to the ring for a group photo alongside Ogawa following Maika’s successful World of Stardom Championship defence against Saya Kamitani.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Rossy Ogawa’s STARDOM exit, potential talent departures, and the reaction from the wider wrestling world as soon as we hear more.
