This week at the NJPW G1 Special press conference, Wrestling Inc. President Raj Giri asked IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega where he’d like to see NJPW expand next in the U.S. So far, the company has only held their shows in California.
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Omega mused on the question before answering with, Alaska. As transcribed by WrestlingInc:
“I mean, this might sound strange, but maybe a place like Alaska? The reason why I say that is because geographically it might be the most difficult place for citizens of Alaska to travel outside of to get to [shows],” Omega said. “Like I said, I feel like if we’re already making the strides to visit these new and exciting places, I want to make it as fair as possible for everyone to get to places we’re going to. Of course, we can’t travel to every state, we can’t travel to every country, but for ease of travel and to spread our wealth – so to speak – it would be cool to do that. I’m not sure how much wrestling is in Alaska. I know they have independent promotions, but for me that sounds exciting and I think we’d reach a lot of new people and the people there would probably also appreciate it, as well.”
NJPW‘s new President and CEO Harold Meij (the former President of Takara Tomy, just saying I’m down for some Bullet Club x Transformers merch) announced that the company will return to Long Beach, California on September 30 for The Fighting Spirit Unleashed. Meij also announced NJPW will hold two more events featuring the company’s “young lions” on November 10 and 11 at the Anaheim Convention Center, titled The Lions Break.
The past few years have seen NJPW expand their brand. Their online content is more easily accessible to English speakers, merchandise of all kinds is being released outside of Japan, and as of today, there will have been three fully NJPW branded wrestling shows in the U.S.
All that along with crossover tours with Ring of Honor in North America, RevPro in the U.K., and even an appearance at the CEO fighting game tournament last month in Florida. NJPW is growing into a global brand.
Where would you like to see NJPW go next? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter here. You can also join us on Discord to chat with Oli, Luke, the magazine team, the website writers and each other here!
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