Category: Stardom

NJPW And Stardom Announce IWGP Women’s Championship

It’s been a big week for new championships in wrestling promotions. In the United States, AEW has introduced the AEW Trios Championships, with the inaugural champions to be crowned at AEW All Out on Labor Day weekend. Now, in Japan, New Japan Pro-Wrestling and World Wonder Stardom Ring are getting in on the fun, announcing a historic new championship.

“Just announced in today’s Stardom 2022 Strategy Meeting: The IWGP Women’s Championship!” Stardom’s official account tweeted. “NJPW and Stardom are creating this title for defenses not only in Japan but also in the US on New Japan Pro Wrestling events, appealing to the world with the rich IWGP history!”

While the IWGP Women’s Championship is being announced now, the Stardom account went on to reveal that there will be a little bit of a wait before the first champion is crowned.

“The inaugural IWGP Women’s Champion will be crowned at the NJPWxStardom joint show on November 20th at the Ariake Arena,” the tweet read. “Please note, this belt does not usurp the Red and White Belts in any way. They are the main titles for Stardom events.”

The promotion also offered some more clarification regarding where fans will see this new IWGP Women’s Championship defended.

“The IWGP Women’s Championship is for the NJPW events,” Stardom tweeted. “It’s possible that it could be defended on big Stardom events though. Stardom’s main title remains the World of Stardom title (the Red Belt) along with the Wonder of Stardom title (the White Belt).”

For New Japan, the IWGP Women’s Championship marks the first time a belt exclusively for female talent will be featured in the promotion’s 50 years of operation. Women in NJPW have traditionally held the role of valet, though former WWE star Chyna did briefly wrestle for the promotion in 2002.

New Japan began featuring Stardom talent at Wrestle Kingdom 14, the first Wrestle Kingdom to feature a women’s match, shortly after Bushiroad, NJPW’s parent company, purchased Stardom in late 2019. The promotion has continued to feature talent from their sister promotion at various shows ever since. Earlier this month, Bushiroad announced Stardom talent would also be featured on NJPW shows in the US going forward.

As noted, NJPWxStardom will take place on November 20. As of this writing, it is unknown which talent will be competing for the IWGP Women’s Championship or what format will be used to crown the inaugural champion.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

NJPW And AJPW Cancel More Shows Due To The Coronavirus Outbreak

In response to the novel Coronavirus outbreak, NJPW and AJPW have announced that they will be cancelling their events scheduled between March 16 through March 21 and March 14 through March 22 respectively. New Japan’s cancelled dates will result in the cancellation of the New Japan Cup tour.

New Japan had previously cancelled the first half of the New Japan Cup tour earlier this month. Many other promotions in Japan have announced cancellations of events earlier this month as well in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Japan.

Stardom recently held a show called “No People Gate” in response to the events they cancelled. They also announced recently that they will be canceling more shows. This was an empty arena show held in Korakuen Hall and was broadcast live on YouTube for free.

New Japan have been releasing videos for their NJPW Together Project on NJPW World in replacement for the cancelled shows. New Japan’s next big show is Sakura Genesis. The show is scheduled for March 31, and in their official statement, New Japan has stated that they will be making an announcement in regards to the status of future shows.

In their statement, they said, “We apologize to fans who were looking forward to the remainder of the New Japan Cup. Ultimately, the health and safety of our fans, wrestlers and staff, as well as society at large is our utmost concern, and we will make announcements about events scheduled after March 22 upon careful monitoring of this developing situation.”

https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1237288925745446913

https://twitter.com/alljapan_pw/status/1237267546367094784

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Stardom Cancels More Events Due To The Coronavirus

Last month, Stardom announced a number of events were cancelled due to the ongoing coronavirus situation happening in Japan (and around the world). Earlier today, the promotion announced shows on March 20, 21, and 22 have been cancelled for the same reason. As noted, the promotion is streaming a live and free No People Gate event on its YouTube channel from Korakuen Hall where no fans will be in attendance for the show. It begins at 9:30 pm ET / 6:30 pm PT on March 7.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Stardom Cancels Shows Due To Coronavirus Situation In Japan

Japanese promotion Stardom announced earlier today on Twitter they will be canceling a number of upcoming shows as a precaution to the Coronavirus. The virus has infected more than 73,000 people around the world, mostly in mainland China, according to CNN. The death toll is 1,873, including five people outside mainland China.

In a series of tweets, Stardom announced which events would be cancelled, also revealing its March 8 show at Korakuen Hall will take place in an empty arena, streaming for free on its YouTube channel.

“Due to the current Coronavirus situation in Japan, the following precautionary measures are being taken:

2.19 Mayu Iwatani Birthday Fan Event – cancelled
2.20 Fan signing event – cancelled
2.20 Press conference – will be held, but no fans in attendance
2.22 Osaka show – cancelled
2.23 Nagoya show – cancelled
2.29 Shinkiba show – cancelled
3.8 Korakuen Hall show – will be held, Empty Arena (no fans in attendance)
3.14 Osaka Day and Night shows – cancelled

“Refunds to these shows are available. If you are from a foreign country and have tickets, please email we.are.stardom@gmail.com and we will help you resolve your case as efficiently as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.

“Our March 8 show at Korakuen Hall may not have any fans (Empty Arena due to the Coronavirus outbreak) but you’ll be able to watch the entire show for free on our official YouTube channel!”

As noted, NJPW’s parent company, Bushiroad, purchased Stardom back in October. The two companies have been running separate from each other, although a Stardom dark match (Mayu Iwatani and Arisa Hoshiki defeating Hana Kimura and Giulia) took place for the first time at last month’s Wrestle Kingdom 14.

NJPW has not currently cancelled any upcoming live events. They issued a notice to fans attending their upcoming shows, and announced that upcoming meet-and-greets have been cancelled.

https://twitter.com/we_are_stardom/status/1229663347068456960

https://twitter.com/we_are_stardom/status/1229663415599153152

https://twitter.com/we_are_stardom/status/1229663507546685440

https://twitter.com/we_are_stardom/status/1229764620824395777

Source: Wrestling Inc.