Episode 36: The President's Dream
March 13, 2026
I haven't been able to visit the venues much lately, but I’ve been keeping up with the NEW JAPAN CUP 2026 by watching the broadcasts on NJPW WORLD.
The other day, I watched the main event of the Okayama show: Yuya Uemura vs. Drilla Moloney. It was fascinating. What made it so good, you ask? Well... Moloney’s power was incredible! There were so many "turning points" in the match where I thought, "This is the climax," that my predictions couldn't even keep up. It was truly a main-event caliber match.
It’s funny—when you watch a match while being conscious of its spot on the card (the "match order"), the content of the match starts to look exactly like what that spot demands. The reason for this, of course, is "competition."
In New Japan, every wrestler starts their career as a Young Lion in black trunks, beginning at the very first match on the card. As they compete every day, what they’re constantly thinking is: "I want to move up even just one spot on the card." Because every wrestler wants to be in the main event, passion and jealousy are born. As a result, a hierarchy is formed with the IWGP Champion at the very top.
Why is it better to be higher up on the card? It has to do with NJPW’s contract structure. Essentially, NJPW operates on single-year contracts, and negotiations take place from the end of the year through the beginning of the next. It’s like what you see on sports news when pro baseball players sign a deal—or put it on hold—after their annual salary goes up by a certain amount. During this annual contract renewal, the company and the wrestler clash over their respective opinions.
For a wrestler, the amount offered is the company's evaluation of them, and it becomes their motivation for the coming year of competition. So, as President, I want to offer salary increases... However, there is a fixed budget for player compensation for the year, and within that frame, the wrestlers must compete for their share.
To raise the players' salaries, we have to increase NJPW’s overall revenue. Currently, my dream is to produce not just "Million-Dollar Players" but "Million-Dollar Wrestlers" (Oku-Wrestlers) within New Japan. If the earnings become that aspirational, more children will dream of becoming pro-wrestlers. When the number of aspirants increases, talented people naturally gather.
This isn't a short-term goal, but I will work hard on this to ensure that New Japan Pro-Wrestling continues for a long, long time.