Once again in the wrestling world it looks like there could be a huge spat of Japanese talent signing with American promotions, which seems to have riled up certain companies a little. But what has caused this? Why do American promotions keep signing these wrestlers? And why do the wrestlers accept these offers?
Across 2023, there’s been a lot of news stories surrounding Japanese promotions, namely New Japan Pro Wrestling and Stardom, both of which are owned by the same parent company, Bushiroad. There’s been rumours and reports surrounding multiple wrestlers, including top names such as Will Ospreay, Giulia, Sareee, Kairi, and more.
All of their futures at point or another were looking uncertain, with their next career moves looking likely to take them to American shores. Will Ospreay has competed at the top level for New Japan Pro Wrestling for many years, while also in 2023 alone working for multiple indie promotions, AEW, Impact Wrestling, and also registering interest in WWE. Interest which was reportedly mutual.
Kairi worked for Stardom years ago, before her first WWE run as Kairi Sane. She left the wrestling side of WWE in 2020, returning to Japan but remaining as an ambassador for the company until 2021, when she left the promotion entirely. She would return to Stardom in 2022, but then returned to WWE again in November 2023 at Crown Jewel.
Sareee, or Sarray as some may know her, made a name for herself in Pro Wrestling Diana, before being signed by WWE in 2020. Following her brief run in NXT, she left WWE in May 2023, reportedly due to creative differences, with her last match coming nearly a year prior in July 2022. After rumours and reports of interest from American promotions, with WWE reportedly interested in reaching out to her to entice her back, Sareee signed with Sukeban, an American joshi promotion in November 2023.
Giulia has been regarded as one of the top names in Stardom for a long time, garnering interest globally, and it was reported in November 2023 by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that “WWE made [Giulia] an offer and she had not decided what to do.”
Mariah May had been rumoured to be signing with an American promotion for months before her signing with AEW in November 2023, after she’d grown in recognition in Stardom as well.
You may notice that the discussion around all of these names is pointing one way: talent moving out of Japan and into America. This has been the case in the wrestling world for decades. Aside from one name that made headlines: Megan Bayne.
Megan Bayne had started wrestling for Stardom in July 2023, after previously working for AEW from 2021 through early 2023. Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful reported that Bayne was still under an AEW contract, but had been sent to Stardom to continue working and improving.
But that brought about this since-deleted tweet from Stardom:
“No wrestler has ever been sent by AEW to come to Stardom. Not once.”
Further reports clarified that Stardom was refuti
Across 2023, there’s been a lot of news stories surrounding Japanese promotions, namely New Japan Pro Wrestling and Stardom, both of which are owned by the same parent company, Bushiroad. There’s been rumours and reports surrounding multiple wrestlers, including top names such as Will Ospreay, Giulia, Sareee, Kairi, and more.
All of their futures at point or another were looking uncertain, with their next career moves looking likely to take them to American shores. Will Ospreay has competed at the top level for New Japan Pro Wrestling for many years, while also in 2023 alone working for multiple indie promotions, AEW, Impact Wrestling, and also registering interest in WWE. Interest which was reportedly mutual.
Kairi worked for Stardom years ago, before her first WWE run as Kairi Sane. She left the wrestling side of WWE in 2020, returning to Japan but remaining as an ambassador for the company until 2021, when she left the promotion entirely. She would return to Stardom in 2022, but then returned to WWE again in November 2023 at Crown Jewel.
Sareee, or Sarray as some may know her, made a name for herself in Pro Wrestling Diana, before being signed by WWE in 2020. Following her brief run in NXT, she left WWE in May 2023, reportedly due to creative differences, with her last match coming nearly a year prior in July 2022. After rumours and reports of interest from American promotions, with WWE reportedly interested in reaching out to her to entice her back, Sareee signed with Sukeban, an American joshi promotion in November 2023.
Giulia has been regarded as one of the top names in Stardom for a long time, garnering interest globally, and it was reported in November 2023 by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that “WWE made [Giulia] an offer and she had not decided what to do.”
Mariah May had been rumoured to be signing with an American promotion for months before her signing with AEW in November 2023, after she’d grown in recognition in Stardom as well.
You may notice that the discussion around all of these names is pointing one way: talent moving out of Japan and into America. This has been the case in the wrestling world for decades. Aside from one name that made headlines: Megan Bayne.
Megan Bayne had started wrestling for Stardom in July 2023, after previously working for AEW from 2021 through early 2023. Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful reported that Bayne was still under an AEW contract, but had been sent to Stardom to continue working and improving.
But that brought about this since-deleted tweet from Stardom:
“No wrestler has ever been sent by AEW to come to Stardom. Not once.”
Further reports clarified that Stardom was refuti
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Once again in the wrestling world, it looks like there could be a huge spat of Japanese
00:03 talent signing with American promotions, which seems to have riled up certain companies a
00:08 little.
00:09 But what has caused this?
00:10 Why do American promotions keep signing these wrestlers, and why do the wrestlers accept
00:14 these offers?
00:21 Across 2023 there's been a lot of news stories surrounding Japanese promotions, namely New
00:26 Japan Pro Wrestling and Stardom, both of which are owned by the same parent company, Bushi
00:30 Road.
00:31 There's been rumours and reports surrounding multiple wrestlers including top names such
00:34 as Will Ospreay, Julia, Sari, Kairi and more.
00:38 All of their futures at one point or another were looking uncertain, with their next career
00:42 moves looking likely to take them to American shores.
00:44 Will Ospreay has competed at the top level for New Japan Pro Wrestling for many years,
00:48 or also in 2023 alone, working for multiple indie promotions AEW, Impact Wrestling and
00:54 also registering interest in WWE.
00:57 Interest which was reportedly mutual.
00:59 Kairi worked for Stardom years ago before her first WWE run as Kairi Sane.
01:03 She left the wrestling side of WWE in 2020, returning to Japan but remaining as an ambassador
01:08 for the company until 2021, when she left the promotion entirely.
01:12 She would return to Stardom in 2022, but then return to WWE again in November 2023 at Crown
01:17 Jewel.
01:18 Sari, or Saray as some may know her, made a name for herself in pro wrestling Diana,
01:22 before being signed by WWE in 2020.
01:25 Following her brief run in NXT, she left WWE in May 2023, reportedly due to creative differences,
01:32 with a last match coming nearly a year prior in July 2022.
01:36 After rumours and reports of interest from American promotions, with WWE reportedly interested
01:40 in reaching out to her to entice her back, Sari signed with Tsukuba, an American joshi
01:44 promotion in November 2023.
01:46 Julia has been regarded as one of the top names in Stardom for a long time, garnering
01:50 interest globally, and it was reported in November 2023 by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling
01:54 Observer Newsletter that WWE made Julia an offer and she had not decided what to do.
01:59 Mariah May had been rumoured to be signing with an American promotion for months before
02:03 her signing with AEW in November 2023, after she had grown in recognition in Stardom as
02:08 well.
02:09 You may notice that the discussion around all of these names is pointing one way, talent
02:13 moving out of Japan and into America.
02:16 This has been the case in the wrestling world for decades.
02:19 Aside from one name that made headlines recently, Megan Bayne.
02:23 Megan Bayne had started wrestling for Stardom in July 2023, after previously working for
02:27 AEW from 2021 through early 2023.
02:30 Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful reported that Bayne was still under an AEW contract, but had been
02:35 sent to Stardom to continue working and improving.
02:38 But that brought about this since-deleted tweet from Stardom.
02:41 No wrestler has ever been sent by AEW to come to Stardom, not once.
02:46 Other reports clarified that Stardom was refuting the use of the term "sent", as they had
02:50 actively recruited Bayne, rather than AEW being the ones who made the deal happen.
02:55 Though Fightful Select would also later clarify that AEW and New Japan sources would agree
02:59 with the terminology of "sent", and yes this might all seem like semantics on the
03:04 surface, but considering all this talk of talent from Japanese promotions going elsewhere
03:08 in the world right now, this might be hinting at something deeper.
03:12 And this is far from the first time something like this has happened.
03:16 American promotions signing top talent from Japanese promotions has been a thing for decades,
03:21 but particularly more so in recent years.
03:23 In the same announcement, WWE managed to sign AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Karl Anderson
03:28 and Doc Gallows from New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2016, where Styles and Nakamura were two
03:33 of the promotion's top stars.
03:35 The two having just faced each other in a hugely praised match at WrestleKingdom 10,
03:39 with Styles, Anderson and Gallows being hugely prominent members of the ultra popular Bullet
03:44 Club.
03:45 And of course there's WWE signing names such as Kana, who would become Asuka, Kairi
03:48 Sane, Io Shirai, Sarray, Finn Balor, even re-signing Giant Bernard in 2012, who'd
03:53 made multiple challenges for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship during his run in
03:58 New Japan Pro Wrestling.
03:59 Giant Bernard, also known as Albert, also known as A-Train, also known as Prince Albert
04:03 would return as Lord Tensai, and we all remember that one don't we?
04:07 Those huge signings aren't just done by WWE though, as if you look at AEW, the formation
04:13 of their company in 2019 saw New Japan lose a ton of their top names.
04:17 Kenny Omega, Matt and Nick Jackson, Hangman Adam Page, Cody Rhodes, and even years later
04:22 with signings like Kanosuke Takeshita from DDT, Kota Ibushi, Arturo Galef, New Japan,
04:27 J White Juice Robinson, the DNA of Japanese wrestling is found all over the company.
04:32 Not to mention those who'd made a name for themselves in Japan as well like Tony Storm,
04:36 Jamie Hayter, Riho, Hikaru Shida, Emi Sakura, Yuka Sakazaki, the list goes on.
04:41 Granted, in some of these cases they have non-exclusive contracts, so with Sakazaki
04:45 for example, she still wrestles in TJPW in Japan while also being signed to AEW.
04:51 Regardless, it's a running theme throughout all of wrestling history that Japanese promotions
04:56 like Stardom, New Japan, DDT all build up new stars, and then a bigger American promotion
05:02 signs them.
05:03 So given these American promotions' shaky records with that talent, some being successes
05:07 and others decidedly not, why do the wrestlers accept these offers?
05:12 Well Dave Meltzer had some insight on Wrestling Observer Radio, specifically talking about
05:16 WWE's interest in Julia, where he said, "We don't know the nature of the offer
05:21 from WWE.
05:22 She earns more in Japan than the women in NXT, although they can afford an NXT deal
05:27 if they wanted to that would beat her Japan earnings.
05:30 And this is a main roster offer that is well above what she would be making in Japan."
05:35 The crucial part of this is the fact that WWE can afford to pay her as much as she was
05:40 earning in Japan for an NXT deal, above the usual rate it is.
05:45 WWE, because of its size, has the luxury to be able to pay wrestlers more, and sometimes,
05:50 as we've seen through all of wrestling history, it's not just about signing that wrestler,
05:55 it's about making sure that other people don't sign them.
05:58 And this is why a lot of these wrestlers are willing to accept offers from these larger
06:01 promotions, because they can get paid a lot more than they otherwise would, and who can
06:05 begrudge them that?
06:06 It's not just about getting paid of course, but it's a pretty big factor, plus there's
06:10 the chance that they'll be featured on a national and international level, which only
06:14 raises their own personal stock even further.
06:17 In theory, signing with a big promotion is a nice symbiotic relationship, and it must
06:22 be frustrating for promotions like Stardom, who are always seen as a secondary promotion
06:27 to build stars up only for a bigger fish to come along and take all the hard work they've
06:32 done and profit from it.
06:33 Which makes it a lot easier to understand why, when reports come out saying that AEW
06:38 had sent a wrestler to Stardom, had sent a wrestler to a smaller promotion to get her
06:43 reps in, they'd respond with a bit of fire and passion.
06:46 Stardom would tweet again, now deleted, that says, "I'm the person that negotiated
06:51 with Megan every step of the way, leading to her coming to Japan.
06:54 I've been involved with bringing a large majority of Stardom's foreign talent for
06:58 8 years now.
06:59 It's my job."
07:00 You can feel the years of resentment underneath these tweets, and I totally get it.
07:06 If you look at wrestling history, it's not hard to see why promotions like Stardom can
07:10 start to feel put out by all of their top talent being signed by promotions with bigger
07:14 wallets behind them.
07:16 But even with all these big signings going elsewhere, the tides aren't as one-sided
07:20 as they perhaps once were.
07:22 There hasn't been much movement from American promotions to Japan in the past, but there's
07:26 been some notable exceptions.
07:28 Sasha Banks, after leaving WWE under controversial circumstances, actively chose to go to New
07:33 Japan's Wrestle Kingdom and challenge Kairi for her IWGP Women's Championship, as well
07:37 as wrestling in Stardom, despite obvious interest from parties like a big American promotion
07:43 like AEW for example.
07:45 She helped generate buzz for her move away from America, when she could have quite comfortably
07:50 chosen the biggest paycheck or the biggest company to go to, but she actively chose not
07:55 to, with her instead shining more of a light onto Japanese wrestling.
07:58 Now I don't mean to hyperbolise here, but it is one of the first big times that I can
08:02 remember where somebody has made a name for themselves in WWE and elected to make Stardom
08:07 and New Japan a priority.
08:09 It's stuff like this that makes Stardom feel like a big deal, like a destination for
08:14 people to wrestle, and not just a stepping stone.
08:16 Sarray meanwhile, despite reported interest from other top American promotions, chose
08:20 to sign with Sukiban.
08:22 Under the new management of Triple H, it felt as though he was trying to right some wrongs
08:25 that occurred under other management, hence why there were so many re-signings of fired
08:29 talent in 2022.
08:31 But while Hunter may not have been able to re-sign Sarray, it's indicative of the fact
08:35 that there are other options in the world of wrestling right now, actually sustainable
08:38 options where wrestlers can earn a living that aren't exclusively one or two promotions
08:43 in the world, because there is always fresh talent looking for a home.
08:47 New wrestlers with all the potential in the world are always being found and scouted in
08:51 all corners of the globe, and having multiple options for them as they progress through
08:55 their careers can only be a good thing.
08:57 Maybe they join New Japan's dojo, maybe they can wrestle in Stardom or Ring of Honor
09:01 or WWE's developmental program.
09:03 There's multiple avenues and multiple backgrounds for them that can lead to a fruitful and successful
09:08 wrestling career.
09:10 And having said everything I said about Mercedes Mone earlier, there have been reports from
09:14 Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio in November 2023 that there are no plans for
09:19 Mone to return to New Japan or Stardom.
09:21 Which is particularly interesting given that just one month earlier in October, the Wrestling
09:25 Observer Newsletter reported that once Mone had recovered from her ankle injury, she was
09:29 due to return and challenge Julia for the New Japan Strong Women's Championship.
09:35 And now, there might be no Julia or Mone for New Japan or Stardom soon.
09:40 And there was even more fuel added to that "Mone leaving Japan" shaped fire when
09:44 Mone in a cameo video mentioned that she's excited to get back to wrestling, where you
09:49 can expect to see her in "some wrestling company in 2024".
09:53 Which sure doesn't sound like something someone would say if they were returning to
09:56 the same promotion.
09:58 So does that mean she's AEW bound after appearing in the crowd at All In London?
10:02 Or does that mean that with Triple H in charge once again, that Mone could be going back
10:06 to banks in WWE?
10:08 And that's the nature of wrestling.
10:11 It's always going to be the case that the biggest promotions with the most money will
10:14 look for the best and most marketable talent in the world.
10:18 They have resources that others don't, and that's just the nature of the world.
10:23 WWE signed AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows.
10:27 AEW signed Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, Hangman Page and Cody to form their promotion.
10:31 There's always a bigger fish, and they are the big fish.
10:35 But there's always a bigger fish for these promotions too.
10:39 Much in the same way that talent is raised up in smaller promotions and signed up by
10:44 bigger ones, talent is raised up in WWE and whisked away by something bigger.
10:49 For WWE, it's Hollywood.
10:51 WWE creates mainstream stars, and because they are mainstream, they do bigger things
10:56 than WWE.
10:57 Batista, The Rock, John Cena, now even people like Seth Rollins who's in a Marvel project,
11:02 Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, all these top names are attractive to Hollywood because they are
11:07 top names.
11:08 In exactly the same way that a top name in Stardom or New Japan is attractive to WWE
11:13 or AEW, because they are a top name in those promotions.
11:17 This exact thing happened with John Cena, right now, and Oli spoke more about it in
11:21 Monday's episode, which I think you should go and watch right now, because I think you'll
11:25 enjoy it.
11:26 on screen.