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New Japan rumors
By Zach Arnold | January 19, 2006
Gryphon on his blog reports some rumors (in Japanese, via the infamous 2ch gossip Japanese message board system) regarding the relationship between New Japan & TV-Asahi. The rumors claim that TV-Asahi wants to discontinue airing NJ’s weekly television show. Here’s a more direct link (in Japanese).
The reality of the situation for New Japan is that several local markets (in Western Japan) were airing the weekly TV shows on a week’s delay. It’s hard to have a real impact on TV at 3 AM, no matter what the ratings are. A multi-tiered strategy of espn-I (ESPN International), Samurai TV, SkyPerfecTV, and video-on-demand (through cell phones and the Internet) is probably just as effective, if not more effective at this point.
Losing the television show on TV-Asahi would be an image blow and would certainly knock New Japan from being a “major” promotion. However, it would not be the end of the world given the current state of business.
Here is Black Eye’s web page (in Japanese) covering the comings-and-goings of New Japan wrestlers at the contract negotiations. If you can display Japanese fonts on your computer but do not understand the language, here’s a quick color-coding key for you: turquoise/blue (signed), yellow (undecided/not signed), red (now freelancer or entirely gone from the company).
Topics: All Topics, Japan, Pro-Wrestling, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
i think new japan could survive being bulldozed, ran over three times, hung by the genitals and set on fire after all theyve survived. all the best to them though seem to be getting their act together bookingwise seen some good shows from em recently.