NJPW Announces US Expansion With New Japan Pro Wrestling of America

NJPW has announced that they will be expanding into the United States with a new subsidiary called New Japan Pro Wrestling of America. NJPWA begins operations next month and will be based in the Los Angeles dojo in California. Here are the touring plans from the US website:

The touring structure for NJPW of America will see events being run in five key areas:

WEST: 6 cities across 4 states

MID: 7 cities across 6 states

TEXAS: 4 cities

SOUTH EAST: 6 cities across 4 states

EAST: 4 cities across 3 states

With this in mind, the plan will be for the majority of the US fanbase- some 70% according to market research- to be able to attend an NJPW event and see New Japan action near to them.

This is the third phase of a larger overall expansion plan. The first, according to CEO Takami Ohbari, was discovering new talent outside of Japan and developing wrestlers at the LA Dojo. The second was running shows in America like Madison Square Garden and Dallas.

Ohbari said that the US events will take place while the Japanese schedule is between tours, although simultaneous tours are a possibility if the demand is high. There are currently no plans to reduce the number of Japanese events NJPW runs. Ohbari is hoping to double the amount of US events in 2020. There were 12 this year. He suggested they will run 2,000-seat venues or lower.

When asked about broadcast plans, he said that the shows will be on New Japan World as much as possible, and when they can do it live they will. NJPWA is also looking to air events from the LA Dojo. He added that he hopes to continue their relationship with AXS.