On December 22, NJPW announced the appointment of Hiroshi Tanahashi as President and Representative Director, among other changes.
Takami Ohbari and Michiaki Nishizawa are stepping down as President/Representative Director and Director, respectively, as a result of this change.
On Twitter, Ohbari issued a statement on the changes, wishing Tanahashi well in the role.
For our international fans,
Today, I resigned from the roles as president of NJPW and NJPW of America, and, as you know, our "ACE" Tanahashi-san just took over my roles.
As he has fan's, wrestler’s, and management perspectives, there is no doubt that he will create the best NJPW ever.
I spent five years with NJPW, and as its president 3 years and two months. My management started from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, when cheering, the number of attendance, and many other key factors for both fans' and wrestlers' motivation were strictly restricted by the government. People out of Japan might not be able to imagine how despairing environment it was.
As our traditional business model collapsed quickly, I focused on prevention of COVID-19 and cost reductions first. To adapt to this changing external environment, I put all my efforts to modify the old system, to create new businesses, and to accelerate the globalization. Honestly, most of the time I had felt "pains of birth''.
However, whenever I went to the venues in Japan and overseas, I always received huge encouragement from our fans like you and wrestlers, which motivated me to do my best again. Through this cycle, which might be called "STRONG STYLE", we managed to recover our business to the level that almost hits the record high.
All the new president, Tanahashi-san, to do is to easily surpass the record and make a much brighter future of NJPW. I know everything is prepared.
Although I left NJPW and will leave Bushiroad quite soon, I would like to once again thank everyone at the press conference on December 26.
See you then!
Fans can see reactions from NJPW wrestlers to the announcement here.
Fightful will have coverage of the press conference on December 26.
