NJPW Planning Changes To NJPW Strong

With the impending arrival of ROH television and the news from Hiroshi Tanahashi that NJPW STRONG as we know it will be coming to an end, speculation regarding the status of NJPW's New Japan of America branch has been rampant as 2023 has gotten underway. However, today NJPW President Takami Ohbari confirmed via Twitter that NJPW Strong will see an overhaul in 2023.

"#NJPWSTRONG will be rebuilt to adapt external and internal environments." Ohbari said in his tweet, confirming Tanahashi's statement about western shows taking a "different form" moving forward. The NJPW President continued, touching on how different the wrestling world is now in comparison to when NJPW STRONG began back in 2020. "We started it when the strict lockdown was forced, so we focused obviously on continuity,'" Ohbari explained.

NJPW STRONG first started in August 2020 with the first-ever New Japan Cup USA tournament, which was contested in front of zero fans. The tournament was ultimately won by KENTA, who was the face of the brand for much of its first year. As lockdown restrictions were discontinued, NJPW STRONG was presented in front of an audience for the first time at the Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2021 event in Long Beach, California.

Ohbari continued, implying that this will not be the end of standalone NJPW events in North America and that NJPW STRONG, in some form, will continue. "Fortunately... we are about to overcome the pandemic. We should now focus on 'quality' rather than quantity." Ohbari concluded.

As of now, NJPW's American brand has two championships in its ranks, with the STRONG Openweight Championship currently held by Fred Roser and the STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championships held by Motor City Machine Guns. It is unclear how this change will affect the titles and their holders.