New Japanese Promotion Expected; WWE Could Be Heavily Involved

It seems a new Japanese promotion could be on the horizon and WWE could be open to working with any new group.

The parent company of both New Japan Pro Wrestling and STARDOM, Bushiroad, has announced that STARDOM founder Rossy Ogawa has been let go from his role. A statement released by the company sheds some light on why the decision was taken (translation courtesy of Google):

Since 2019, our company has entered into a contract with Rossy Ogawa, the founder of Stardom, and has appointed him as an executive producer and outsourced work related to Stardom. However, we would like to inform you that we have come to know that he has poached many Stardom players and staff members, and we have decided to cancel this contract.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. As a company, we will continue to aim for the further development of Stardom, and the players and staff will continue to work together to deliver excitement to the fans, so we will continue to receive the same compliments as before. I am very fortunate.

Tony Khan appeared thrilled with the news of Rossy’s exit while legal threats have been issued to several STARDOM stars ahead of their contracts with the company expiring as they possibly explore their options, including the possibility of a new promotion being launched with Rossy at the helm.

WWE Could Work With New Japanese Promotion

Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that he expects Rossy Ogawa to launch a new promotion with many of the female stars of Stardom when their contracts expire in March:

This 13th-anniversary show was originally going to be his last show and then they made an agreement that he’d stay until the 18th [of February] so [his exit] wouldn’t be on the anniversary. Then they decided to get ahead of the story and go public with the story of him trying to poach wrestlers which they were not happy about.

Whatever they were thinking, they were under the impression he was going to start his own company and that may happen. I would expect that it will happen, it’s not official or anything like that but if you’re talking to talent and talking about them leaving. Most of the contracts are up in March, we’ll see who goes and who stays. The one we know is going is Giulia and the one we know is staying is Mayu Iwatani because she’s on a longer-term contract.

Meltzer was then asked if there was a possibility that the long arm of WWE is somehow involved in the issues and if any new promotion launched by Rossy Ogawa would have a partnership with the sports entertainment giant:

I can’t 100% say he’s going to have a new promotion but if you read the tea leaves I think it’s pretty clear that would be the case. As far as WWE goes, WWE made a play – they wanted to work with Stardom. So that’s where that stands. As for what that means, if it’s going to be Stardom or if it’s going to be Rossy’s group, that remains to be seen. But they contacted Stardom, they wanted to work with Stardom and all that.

STARDOM star Giulia is widely expected to be heading to WWE when her contract expires. Eyebrows were raised as it emerged that AEW had not even put forward an offer to the highly sought-after star.

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