It has been announced that New Japan Pro Wrestling will fully acquire the stakes in Bushiroad Fight from Bushiroad itself, and in the process take control of Stardom. This will result in Stardom being a “fully owned subsidiary’ within NJPW.
It will remain to be seen what changes this will have as ultimately, NJPW is still owned by Bushiroad in Japan as a whole so in turn still controls Stardom. Speculation has it that there may be a combination of NJPW World and Stardom World’s streaming services.
The relationship between NJPW and Stardom has been rocky over the years. Mayu Iwatani is the IWGP Women’s Champion but has only defended her title once in a NJPW ring in Japan in a long reign, and Stardom talents were not allowed to be on this year’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom event. The previous year, a Stardom match for that title was cut short to mere minutes to dedicate more time to Mercedes Mone’s long entrance and in-ring segment. The relationship has softened in recent months with a management change of a new President and the departure of former Executive Producer Rossy Ogawa. With Stardom talents appearing in NJPW Strong events and recently a NJPW show in Taiwan, along with appearances in ROH and AEW and a second ‘Historic X-crossover’ event planned for 2025.