7 Things You Need To Know About NJPW's American Expansion
2. Don't Expect Lots Of New Signings
While WWE’s UK expansion has been focused almost entirely on local talent, the same can’t be said for NJPW in the USA. This isn’t an attempt at altering their product to match the native marketplace, but one to bring an authentic New Japan experience to American soil. Thus, the company probably won’t be flooding their roster with a glut of US-based signings, and will instead rely on their existing talent.
They’ll likely pick up one or two new faces along the way, but as things stand, it’ll be the core NJPW group. The current roster is already very gaijin-heavy, however, and the likes of Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, and Will Ospreay will almost certainly be relied on alongside Japanese wrestlers like Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Tetsuya Naito.
This is probably the right move. It wouldn't feel like NJPW if they'd chosen to dilute their product their product with dozens of new faces and told their Japanese performers to stay at home, it. The unique selling point would be gone, and there’d be nothing to differentiate the shows from any other independent event taking place across the country.
Companies must represent a true alternative to stand out from WWE, and Kidani recognises this.