An article by Tokyo Sports has revealed that Jun Akiyama has resigned from his role as president of All Japan Pro Wrestling. He will be replaced by Tsuyoki Fukuda. Akiyama made shareholders aware of his decision on July 8th and the change will go into effect after the October 10th Korakuen Hall event. Akiyama is quoted as saying “I’ve been working hard for 5 years, so I’d like to focus on the fight in the ring instead of following the numbers.”
Akiyama became president in 2014 and has overseen a changing of the guard withing AJPW as he focused on building new stars like Kento Miyahara, Naoya Nomura, and Jake Lee among others. While this has helped AJPW to some extent they have stagnated recently and it is believed that the company owners have been unhappy with the lack of advancement under Akiyama.
It can’t be argued that Akiyama saved All Japan Pro Wrestling but now is the time for change according to higher-ups in the company who are seeing the gap to NJPW grow ever bigger and Pro Wrestling NOAH making huge changes this year in an attempt to kickstart their stagnant business too.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. Make sure to subscribe to AJPW TV to see what change, if any, this new owner has on the in-ring action.
