Ever since COVID-19 ravaged the wrestling world, Japan has been one of the most effected countries. The leading company in the region, New Japan Pro Wrestling has not ran a show since February, cancelling shows like their Anniversary event, the entire New Japan Cup tour, Sakura Genesis and most recently the Best Of The Super Juniors tour. They are not set to run shows again until atleast June 4th, but things are looking good. Japan has raised their state of emergency, and are looking to reopen sports arenas at 50% capacity by July 10th.
NJPW Could Start Running Empty Arena Shows By June 19th
NJPW president Harold Meij explained that the company hadn’t held empty arena shows due to the state of emergency, but would only do so “when the state of emergency restrictions are lifted, the number of new coronavirus infections declines, and when matches can take place in a properly disinfected and safe setting.” This is soon going to be the reality, meaning we will be able to see the stars of NJPW finally get back into the ring and do what they do best. They have been working hard in the dojo to stay in ring shape, meaning that they will come back both healthy and better than ever.
Will They Post-Pone Dominion To July?
The annual June event of Dominion is often a fan favorite event in the NJPW calender, essentially being their Summerslam. With them potentially being able run this as their first show back with fans should they postpone until July. It would make it absolutely huge for them, as fans have been eager to get back in shows, and NJPW has been sorely missed in these last few months.
Moving back Dominion and building to it with empty arena shows would be a great way to handle it. There are several cancelled matches that fans have been eager to see, like Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi, that would make for an incredible card. They could even run the New Japan Cup tournament during the empty arena shows to decide a challenger for Naito at the event, giving him a second title defense of the double gold that he won at Wrestle Kingdom.
Are you excited to potentially see New Japan Pro Wrestling back in action? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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