COUNIHAN’S TAKE: With news of imminent departures of Naitio, Bushi, Cobb, here’s precisely what New Japan should do to rebuild the brand

It’s a tumultuous time to be a fan of New Japan Pro Wrestling. There are as many valid arguments to be bullish about the company as there are equally valid ones to be filled with doom and gloom.

Tetsuya Naito’s departure, and the ramifications that will be felt, is going to be the next crisis for fans to try to make sense of and separate the positives from the negatives. It comes shortly after the news that Jeff Cobb will be departing his post in the coming weeks and vacating the IWGP Tag Team Titles in doing so.

If your argument or concerns for NJPW are that they are no longer a company that can hold on to its talent, then you’ve got yet another round of evidence. Being a feeder company is a tough spot to be in.

But another person might argue that this kind of turbulence can be good for a promotion and many times in history, departures have allowed new stars to surge to the top. Next man up. It’s a cycle that doesn’t leave room for complacency, and it’s one that can be beneficial but it takes a lot of work, clever usage of talent, and a deep pool of talent at that.

In the first few months of this year, we did start to see an acceleration in the pushes of younger NJPW talent. Shota Umino, Gabe Kidd, Yuya Uemura, David Finlay, Yota Tsuji, Callum Newman, Boltin Oleg, Drilla Maloney, and Kosei Fujita have all gotten quite a degree of spotlight.

However, in most of those cases one could argue it was 12 months ago that the foot needed to go on the pedal. There are question marks attached to everyone that NJPW could make “a guy” in the coming months. Is Oleg polished enough? Does Shota have the connection and charisma? Is Gabe already being eyed up by other suitors? Just some examples. But these are the guys they have, and they are the ones they have to go with right now. Tanahashi, Okada, Ospreay and Naito are no longer options.

Luckily the Hirooki Goto world title reign is clicking both at the gate and in execution and that gives them a chance to take a deep breath here. But if it becomes more than a deep breath, and the foot goes off the pedal for these guys again, then it will be a disaster.

So step 1 is clear. Keep progressing those key guys and get them as high as the crowd will accept them as quickly as possible.

Step 2 is to stack that dojo. They have some good Young Lions already on their books, but they need more coming behind. This is one of NJPW’s big advantages. With the exception of Yuma Anzai who was brilliantly recruited by All Japan under the nose of New Japan, the lion mark is going to be the biggest draw to any young would-be Japanese wrestlers.

There is no reason that NJPW can’t take the pick of the litter. AEW or WWE aren’t going to be looking at the best 19 year olds in the Animal Hamaguchi Gym, or the best prospects in Japanese high school wrestling. NJPW need to make sure they are taking as many guys as they can so that the bench is as stacked as possible in five years.

Step 3 is to see what recruiting they can be doing themselves of seasoned polished pros. If AEW and WWE are taking their guys, who can NJPW grab from the rest of the Japanese landscape? This is always tricky in a country where company loyalty is such a big factor. They got Jake Lee to jump last year, but not everyone has the mercenary mindset of guys like him and Taiji Ishimori. Most over there don’t. That being said, there are guys out there who could do a great job.

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Why let NOAH gobble up all the talented Osaka Pro youngsters? As much as it would bother me as a Dragongate fan, I’d be courting half that roster for my junior division if I was NJPW. I’d be asking Shotaro Ashino if he’s content with never being pushed in All Japan. I’d be buying Mao the nicest dinners of his life for the whole BOSJ tour. I’d call up Soberano Jr. and say “Hey lad, I know you and Ultimo Guerrero can’t be in a room together for five minutes so why not come to Japan for a year?” They may have already done that last one, but injuries scuppered it.

Recruit, develop, utilize, recruit, develop, utilize. And never stop.

That’s all big picture. Let’s come back to right now. Tetsuya Naito is going. How does the rest of 2025 look for NJPW?

First question for me is the unit landscape. This is the most interesting it’s been in 15 years. They have essentially merged Chaos, Just 4/5 Guys, GBH, and Hontai into one giant home army.

Meanwhile, the various branches of what was once Bullet Club are at each other’s throats in a feud which feels like it’s finally going to bring that brand to its long overdue denouement. Zack Sabre Jr’s TMDK is still in it’s infancy and has a fresh, vibrant feel. I wouldn’t touch that except maybe adding a body or two if suitable.

That leaves United Empire and LIJ, 5 years old and 10 years old respectively. UE hasn’t felt right since the departures of Aussie Open and Will Ospreay, and now with Jeff Cobb leaving, the other members feel very much a drift. With apologies to TJP, I’m afraid “THE CAPTAIN” isn’t a man you can build a unit around. Henare is on the sidelines. Akira and Callum are young guys who can slot in wherever you want them to and Great-O-Khan feels like someone who needs his own deal to be his own weird self.

LIJ without Naito? Is there any point? Bushi’s leaving town too so that would be the original four members all gone. Would the LIJ branding act as an anchor weighing down Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi, and Hiromu, or is it so strong still that it would prop them up? I’d lean towards the more negative outlook here.

I think the bigtime LIJ fans are mostly bigtime Naito fans and I’m not sure they would get behind Yota Tsuji taking their guy’s place. Let LIJ die gracefully now. Don’t let it linger and turn into a stale smell like Bullet Club. If you watch any subtitled interview with Tsuji, you can see he’s a strong character with his own ideas and philosophies. Let him create his own thing. It might be the last piece of the puzzle to making him a top tier guy.

When you step back and then look at the pieces on the board that Gedo and the NJPW decision-makers have to play with, there are a ton of interesting directions they can go. There’s potential for hot angles and surprises that could give the company a burst of life during the summer. But there’s also a strong likelihood that they just have more guys join House Of Torture in cliche fashion and Sanada turns on someone again with all the energy of a sloth.

Again, popping on my Dragongate fan hat, I’d encourage Gedo to get Shingo Takagi into the room and help him plot this all out. Shingo was a part of countless unit shuffles and roster resets in DG during his 15 years there.

The creation of Blood Generation in 2005 set that company up for an incredible year after the tumultuous 2004. His return from the U.S. in 2007 with his own faction New Hazard was so exciting for fans at the time – the wild angles and turns in 2008 which set up Real Hazard vs. World-1 and then in 2011 Blood Warriors vs. Junction III. This can be done, and it can be done in a way that creates excitement, produces quality, and eventually draws at the gate. I do not buy that they don’t have the roster to make this work. If they keep planning for the future as I outlined above then they can be ready for the next wave of problems.

There is simply no room for complacency, though. You can’t be stubborn, you can’t dig your heels in, and you need to source fresh voices and ideas. Gedo is going to need to keep a lid on some of his natural tendencies here. He’s historically been patient to a fault, possessive with his plans, and a creature of habit. Those can be good traits in certain circumstances, but they are not what New Japan needs right now.