Earlier today, Representatives from Major Japanese Promotions arrived to their House of Congress. The reason for this was to submit a formal request to allow pro wrestling events to resume, among other things asked were testing kits for each wrestler. Among the seven promotions that were represented they were New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Pro Wrestling Noah, Dramatic Dream Team (DDT), STARDOM, Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling (TJPW), and World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana (Diana). There were representatives in the form of wrestlers as well as chairmen of the promotions.
Each of these promotions and many more were hit extremely hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Having to either cancel numerous shows or run them in front of no-people crowds. While the no-people shows kept promotions running for some time, the recent declaration of a state of emergency made that option not possible for the time being. This compounds on further frustrations considering some promotions have been closed since the beginning of March. The most notable being the Bushiroad owned companies of New Japan and STARDOM. And a wrestler from each of the seven companies spoke to show their thoughts and frustrations on the situation. Most notably Hiroshi Tanahashi and Mayu Iwatani.
In the end things seemed to be received positively as Hiroshi Hase, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Thanked them for sharing their experiences and said pro wrestling was important in raising the flag of victory over COVID-19.
“Professional wrestling has a huge and very important role in raising the flag of victory over COVID-19. I ask all staff members and all wrestlers to keep working to be in the best shape possible to spread joy to the fans with incredible matches very soon” – Hiroshi Hase, minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
This meeting was regarded as a large step forward, and while being fully active may seem distant for most promotions even those not represented at this meeting. Many methods of support were discussed.
