We now have more on the recent changes behind the scenes in NJPW.
On December 23rd, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced that effective immediately, Takami Ohbari and Michiaki Nishizawa would step down from their positions as President/Representative Director and director, respectively. NJPW additionally announced that the company’s ‘Ace’ Hiroshi Tanahashi would be assuming the role of President/Representative Director, whilst both Hitoshi Matsumoto and Taro Okada will assume Director roles.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has now provided an insight into the reasoning behind Ohbari and Nishizawa’s sudden exits, noting that both external and internal factors played their part in the decision making.
“Ohbari and Nishizawa are gone for a number of reasons, both the external ones, New Japan and all of Japanese wrestling’s inability to fully recover from the pandemic, and internal ones not talked about.”
-WON
Additionally, Meltzer revealed that another major reason for Ohbari’s departure in particular came down to him having heat with several people within the company, including former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, along with a basic lack of understanding for the wrestling business.
“Another key reason has been that there were issues with staff members and Ohbari’s usage of power over them. Another major reason was that Ohbari had heat with a number of people, including the company’s top star, Kazuchika Okada. Okada was said to have wanted him out. Others said that Ohbari never really understood the wrestling business and didn’t respect the value of Okada. One person said that Ohbari saw Okada as the lead role actor in a touring show.”
-WON
The change of management with the added context comes at a particularly interesting time, as multiple reports are suggesting that Kazuchika Okada could soon find himself in free agency, with both WWE and AEW expected to be interested.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on NJPW’s change in management, along with the future of Kazuchika Okada, as soon as we hear more.
