NJPW’s Parent Company Buys Stardom

New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s parent company, Bushiroad, has bought Stardom, the top women’s wrestling promotion in Japan.

The deal is expected to be officially announced tomorrow (Thursday, October 17), according to Yahoo News Japan.

The companies had been in talks since last fall.

Several wrestlers have wrestled in Stardom, including Io Shirai, Kairi Sane, AEW Women’s Champion Riho, Toni Storm, NXT UK’s Xia Brookside and Piper Niven and several others.

According to Dave Meltzer, this deal does not mean that NJPW and Stardom are merging or that Stardom wrestlers will begin appearing on NJPW shows. As of now, there are no plans for women’s matches on NJPW shows, but if that changes in the future, this deal gives NJPW easier access to broker a deal for women’s wrestlers on their shows.

NJPW and Stardom will remain completely separate companies, Meltzer added, and Stardom’s staff will remain in place. There are also no plans to stream Stardom on New Japan World.

Stardom has been acquired by Bushiroad. More details to come shortly! https://t.co/1IGN5tEMPZ

— We Are Stardom (@we_are_stardom) October 17, 2019

A press conference will be held today at 2 pm JST (1am EST in the US) on the official Bushiroad Youtube channel, addressing the Stardom acquisition. The Stardom roster will be on stage. https://t.co/SoknLasfSx

— We Are Stardom (@we_are_stardom) October 17, 2019