New Japan Is Back Baby, Love Da New Japan

Gonna post you a bracket so you know it's real
Graphics via @njpwglobal on Twitter

At the height of the first spike of COVID-19, while WWE and All Elite Wrestling were running shows with no crowds, New Japan Pro Wrestling president Harold Meij proclaimed that while the pandemic wouldn't stop the company, they wouldn't put their fans or wrestlers at risk in order to put out an inferior or incomplete product. It would explain why they cancelled every show after the New Beginning tour ended, when the virus was in the midst of ravaging China and spreading its way further around the globe like Italy and the United States. Japan was hit hard, saw a lull, reopened, and then saw another spike. To their credit, Meij, the BUSHIROAD Corporation, and the rest of the people in charge were more judicious than even other Japanese wrestling companies, let alone those in America whose operations continued nearly unabated.

While the United States hasn't necessarily made the advances in containment and curve-flattening that other countries have at this point, it is in the process of a forced reopen that may or may not be premature. I feel like there are right ways and wrong ways to do everything. If you're going to be a restaurant or entertainment venue, you should probably do things like the place I just profiled on my food blog (SHAMELESS PLUG) and not like casinos in Las Vegas or resorts like Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. Japan seems to be further along in handling the virus. Without a vaccine, I'm not sure how full, safe containment can be achieved. Japan's baseball leagues have returned, but already, two players on the Yomiuri Giants have tested positive for COVID-19.

Still, New Japan has announced it will soldier on, first with a "Together Project" special show in front of no fans and that will air live on Monday, June 15 on New Japan World at 6 AM Eastern/3 AM Pacific (7 PM local time). The show's matches will not be announced until bell time, so that should be fun. Perhaps the anniversary show main event between Tetsuya Naito and Hiromu Takahashi will happen there? Don't quote me on this; it's pure speculation. I'M JUST THINKING OUT LOUD. Anyway, that announcement was followed the doozy, that the New Japan Cup that was originally scheduled for February will happen starting Tuesday, June 16 to run through July 3. The bracket has some changes due to travel restrictions. Gone are Juice Robinson, Will Ospreay, KENTA, Jay White and others, replaced by a smattering of junior heavyweights, Young Lions, and old dudes. The tournament will conclude with a two-day Dominion event at Osaka-Jo Hall on July 11 and 12, where the winner of the Cup will face off against Naito for the IWGP Double Championship.

Of course, the first question is whether or not it's safe enough to run shows right now even in a country that has the coronavirus under control. On one hand, ass someone who hasn't missed an episode of All Elite Wrestling Dynamite since quarantine started, I'm just happy my favorite mainstream wrestling promotion is coming back. On the other, shows with no fans are still dangerous given wrestlers have to be in close contact with each other to wrestle. WWE and AEW have handled things well, and I have no reason to believe that New Japan won't either. That being said, I still don't know if it's a good decision without the vaccine. That's the key to returning to any sense of normalcy, even if COVID-19 has inexorably altered what normal can even be defined as.

For now though, I will enjoy whatever I can get out of New Japan Pro Wrestling. Even if it ends up shutting down again after another spike in the virus, it's good to have more wrestling to look forward to again, no matter how ill-advised. Capitalism is a double-edged sword where you oftentimes have to end up dragging the things you love, and wrestling companies, WWE or otherwise, seem to love to give fans reasons to drag them. I don't know if the product that New Japan will be close to what Meij says is their best. I think they deserve the benefit of the doubt more than some other companies though.