State of New Japan Address

If one word could be used to describe New Japan it would be expansion. Starting in January last year the company would get the year off on a high note with another successful Wrestle Kingdom. Though some fans believe that Tetsuya Naito vs Kazuchika Okada ended the wrong way it was a very good event and the right way to start the year. Seeing Chris Jericho appear at his first non WWE event in almost twenty years makes him the wild card from the event. It is amazing to recall the amount of hype that went into this event and how this really set the stage for what would be another year of expansion for the top Japanese wrestling promotion. 

One major point of the year was the event in May as this was the next United States based event which once again went extremely well. From the first event last year when New Japan brought their brand of pro-wrestling to California. This year the company went to San Francisco specifically the world famous Cow Palace and they sold out the legendary arena. 

The success of this event as well as the event in 2017 has set the Japanese based promotion to run two events in the United States in 2019. In my opinion this sets the promotion up for even more expansion as long as both events especially the special in MSG are as successful as they are projected to be. Overall though this year wasn't all good for New Japan as they have lost a number of wrestlers and need to rebuild the company a little bit next year with some top names not yet signing back with NJPW. To be frank though I think they succeed for the most part in the last twelve months, but we need more time to see the success or failure of major booking decisions, like Jay White's ascension into a leadership role in the bullet club.