Outgoing NJPW President Reportedly Had Issues With Kazuchika Okada, More On NJPW Management Changes

As previously reported, Takami Ohbari and Michiaki Nishizawa will be step down from their roles as President/Representative Director and Director of NJPW. In their place will be Hiroshi Tanahashi as President/Representative Director of NJPW and Hitoshi Matsumoto as Director. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has more details on what led to the management changes.

It was noted that both Ohbari and Nishizawa are leaving for several reasons, including NJPW’s (and all of Japanese wrestling’s) difficulty recovering from the pandemic. NJPW used to be the #2 wrestling company in the world, but after the pandemic and rise of AEW, they fell to what is likely #3. They also lost a lot of their top stars and other independent wresters have signed with WWE or AEW.

While NJPW attendance in 2023 was up 20.7% from 2022, and the Tokyo Dome performed well, the company didn’t sell out the G1 finals. This is something they’ve been able to do even in bad years, before the pandemic.

There were also said to be problems with Ohbari and the staff members. He reportedly had heat with several people, including Kazuchika Okada. It got to the point that Okada wanted Ohbari gone from New Japan. Others claimed that Ohbari didn’t understand wrestling and didn’t see Okada’s value. Another source noted that Ohbari saw Okada as “the lead role actor in a touring show.”

A former staff member added: “Depending on how successful Tanahashi as president will be, it could be one of the best business decisions made by Bushiroad about NJPW. Since 2013, all presidents were Bushiroad people (Kaname Tezuka and Katsuhiko Harada), or people chosen by Bushiroad (Harold Meij and Ohbari). It was the way Bushiroad controlled NJPW, but they were all people with either a little or zero experience in the industry so (they) couldn’t be popular enough among the NJPW talents and employees. While it was one of the reasons why all of them didn’t last long, Tanahashi has no such issues and should be meant for a long-term as president that would give NJPW stable leadership. Though the power structure will remain the same (Bushiroad will always remain the highest decision maker), Tanahashi’s regime should influence their power balance for the better for NJPW.”

Another former staff member said: “I think it’s great. He’s going to be a guy who changes how you do business. I know he sees NJPW as being the WWE of Japan and he is young enough to enact changes and get New Japan out of the dark ages of how they do business.“