E#37 Posted October 17, 2019 Report Share Posted October 17, 2019 New Japan Pro Wrestling's parent company, Bushiroad, has purchased the all-woman's Japanese promotion, Stardom. Bushiroad's Takaaki Kitani and Stardom's Rossy Ogawa reportedly met back in April, but a deal between the two sides wasn't completed until August. Stardom's Twitter account commented, "Stardom has been acquired by Bushiroad. More details to come shortly! A press conference will be held today at 2 pm JST (1 am EST in the US) on the official Bushiroad YouTube channel, addressing the Stardom acquisition. The Stardom roster will be on stage." Stardom was founded in 2010 and has featured names like Io Shirai, Toni Storm, Bea Priestley, Hana Kimura, Kagetsu, and Mayu Iwatani https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2019/10/njpw-parent-company-purchases-stardom-660850/ More details World Wonder Ring Stardom, the Japanese women's pro wrestling company best known as Stardom, has been sold to Kix Road, a subsidiary of Bushiroad, in a deal announced Thursday afternoon in Japan. The story is likely to be misinterpreted as either New Japan buying Stardom, a merger between the two groups, or that New Japan will start using women wrestlers on their shows. None of this would be accurate. But what is accurate is New Japan and Stardom would both be owned by the same parent company, but they are being run and kept completely separate. Stardom will be under the umbrella of Kix Road, which is the parent company of Knock Out, the Bushiroad kickboxing company. As part of the deal, Kix Road, on 12/1, Kix Road Co,. Ltd will have its name changed to Bushiroad Fight Co, Ltd. There are no plans for any interaction between Knock out and Stardom. Hiroshi "Rossy" Ogawa will remain CEO of the women's wrestling promotion, which will main using the name Stardom, but World Wonder Ring Stardom will no longer exist as a company. There will be people at Bushiroad joining Stardom to work in the front office but the Stardom staff will stay in place. Bushiroad's role will be attempting through advertising and television to build the popularity of the brand, similar to how the resurgence of New Japan Pro Wrestling was built. As part of the deal, a TV show will air on BS NTV and Tokyo MX starting in January, with the BS NTV show being a 30 minute show on Thursdays. The streaming service Stardom World will remain the exclusive for Stardom events. New Japan World will not be streaming Stardom, and with New Japan World part-owned by TV-Asahi and the Stardom TV deal with rival NTV, politically that would be almost impossible to work out. There are no plans at present for Stardom talent to appear on New Japan shows, or vice versa. However, if New Japan does see a demand for women's matches on foreign shows, where there is no sign of any at this point, this will give them easier access to broker a deal for such talent. Bushiroad will begin marketing Stardom in January with more advertising in wrestling magazines, on billboards and on television, and will be marketed as part of the Bushiroad family. As an example, on 12/7 and 12/8, Stardom talent will participate in CharaExpo 2019 at the Anaheim Convention Center, with a main event of Mayu Iwatani & Tam Nakano vs.Samie Sakai & Nicole Savoy. The Stardom talent will also be signed to full-time contracts. I can’t wait to see the growth of Stardom the coming years with such a huge financial backer behind them now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEGION Posted October 17, 2019 Report Share Posted October 17, 2019 This is huge! Looking forward to what this means for Stardom Now release Miyagi's theme, dammit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E#37 Posted October 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2019 This is huge! Looking forward to what this means for Stardom Now release Miyagi's theme, dammit! You'll be happy to know that theme is on the new CD that came out yesterday. So it's only a matter of time before it's online somewhere. https://stardom-world.ecwid.com/#!/Stardom-Entrance-Music-CD/p/152481907/category=18627019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEGION Posted October 17, 2019 Report Share Posted October 17, 2019 Nice.^^ Been looking for the theme for ages Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E#37 Posted October 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2019 Read that WWE also made an attempt to get Stardom. And that they tried to get Pro Wrestling NOAH too. But both turned them down. If WWE would have been able to buy both companies that would have been the foundation for NXT Japan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEGION Posted October 17, 2019 Report Share Posted October 17, 2019 I have no doubt that the WWE is going to continue to try buyinng a promotion for NXT Japan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E#37 Posted October 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2019 Big Japan is rumored to be their target now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEGION Posted October 17, 2019 Report Share Posted October 17, 2019 That....That would certainly be something. A Deathmatch territory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astro Zombie Posted October 17, 2019 Report Share Posted October 17, 2019 "WWE purchases Big Japan Pro Wrestling" isn't that crazy of a headline in 2019 tbh. I don't follow it but their Strong Style division is really well praised isn't it? Presumably they'd get Sekimoto that way. Hope that doesn't happen though because as a deathmatch fan, losing BJW would be a big loss to deathmatches in Japan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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