Rumour: NJPW To Launch Women's Division With Stardom Purchase?
Could THIS be the major Japanese wrestling story teased earlier this week?
Something massive is brewing in Japanese wrestling at the moment.
Dave Meltzer reported earlier this week that a huge puroresu story would be breaking later in the week, leading to immediate speculation that WWE were on the verge of launching NXT Japan, with a potential Dragon Gate partnership mentioned.
Now, the talk has turned to a different kind of partnership: one between New Japan Pro Wrestling and World Wonder Ring Stardom - the country's leading joshi promotion.
This is entirely speculative at the moment, but the rumour is everywhere right now, from Reddit to social media. It states that NJPW's parent company, Bushiroad, may have purchased Stardom, and that this could lead to New Japan starting their own women's division or keeping the smaller company going under the Bushiroad banner.
From Io Shirai and Kairi Sane to current roster members like Mayu Iwatani and Momo Watanabe, Stardom has long been considered a fertile breeding ground for Japan's most promising female wrestlers. It'd be a real shame to see them go away, though women's wrestling is something that some portions of the NJPW fanbase have been campaiging for for a long, long time.