{"id":219108,"date":"2026-07-08T21:04:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T02:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=219108"},"modified":"2026-07-08T21:10:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T02:10:51","slug":"njpw-announcer-chris-charlton-says-njpw-president-hiroshi-tanahashi-brings-a-light-atmosphere-behind-the-scenes-discusses-how-tanahashi-has-strengthened-korakeun-hall-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/07\/08\/njpw-announcer-chris-charlton-says-njpw-president-hiroshi-tanahashi-brings-a-light-atmosphere-behind-the-scenes-discusses-how-tanahashi-has-strengthened-korakeun-hall-shows\/","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: NJPW announcer Chris Charlton says NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi brings a &#8220;light atmosphere&#8221; behind the scenes, discusses how Tanahashi has strengthened Korakeun Hall shows"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1268927154\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>NJPW announcer Chris Charlton said one of the ways that NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi\u2019s influence on the company can be seen is in the resurgence of the recent Korakeun Hall cards. \u201cI think one of the big things was when Tanahashi was sort of active in pulling New Japan to the mid 2000s kind of era, I think there was a focus back then of, well, let&#8217;s hone in, let&#8217;s start in Korakuen,\u201d said Charlton during a new interview on <a href=\"https:\/\/vip.pwtorch.com\/2026\/07\/07\/vip-podcast-7-7-radican-worldwide-interview-with-chris-charlton-thoughts-on-njpw-rebuild-working-relationship-between-njpw-and-aew-rising-talent-in-njpw-g1-climax-36-more-43-min\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Radican Worldwide<\/a> available for PWTorch VIP members ahead of NJPW\u2019s G1 Climax 36: Night 1 in Chicago on July 11.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know what I mean? Korakuen has always been the base for most promotions in Japan. But let&#8217;s make sure we&#8217;re in a position where Korakuen Hall is rocking and rolling and that has&#8230; you know, once you&#8217;re in a position that where you&#8217;re selling out Korakuen Hall every night with hot crowds, you know, and we&#8217;ve sold out Korakuen Hall the last few nights with hot crowds, um, then that&#8217;s something that kind of, the appeal for that radiates out from Tokyo and goes into the other markets that are outside and further away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of the &#8220;All Elite Conversation Club&#8221; with Joel Dehnel and Gregg Kanner, part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/all-elite-conversation-club-dehnel-kanner-discuss-omega-vs-mjf-stipulations-ospreay-joins-death-riders-fd-review-more--72819325\">CLICK HERE<\/a> to stream (or search \u201cpwtorch\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"All Elite Conversation Club - Dehnel &amp; Kanner discuss Omega vs. MJF stipulations, Ospreay joins Death Riders, FD review, more\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=72819325&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>The July 6 Road to G1 show featured two G1 Climax 36 qualifying matches, Shota Umino defending the IWGP Global Hvt. Championship against Gabe Kidd in a red hot match, and Yoh defending the IWGP Jr. Hvt. Championship against Francesco Akira in the main event. The July 7 Tiger Mask Retirement Match show at Korakuen Hall was built around Tiger Mask\u2019s last match. Both shows drew nearly 1500 fans for NJPW.<\/p>\n<p>Charlton said that NJPW&#8217;s recent run of sold out shows in Korakuen Hall in Tokyo with Tanahashi putting an emphasis on making those shows stronger has had a ripple effect on NJPW\u2019s business heading into G1 as they set out to run markets further away from Tokyo in Japan. \u201cCertainly from what I gather the uptake has been strong for G1 in that regard as well.\u201d said Charlton. \u201cSo yeah, I mean, I think that makes a lot of sense in terms of when you have those really red hot sort of Korakuen Hall cards, you know what I mean?<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think there&#8217;s a sort of likeness in a sense where Korakuen Hall is almost like your, your television, so to speak. <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those Road To&#8217;s are almost like the TV events, and then you have those bigger events that are pay-per-views maybe in other cities. Yeah, it&#8217;s been really fun to have those big time Korakuen Hall cards recently.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Charlton said that Tanahashi has brought a light atmosphere behind the scenes while taking on his current role as president of NJPW. \u201cTanahashi, I mean, I think one of\u00a0 the biggest things that we always feel is it&#8217;s just a real positive sense,\u201d said Charlton. \u201cYou know what I mean? There\u2019s a light atmosphere, you know what I mean? I think that&#8217;s something that Tanahashi brings to every room that he comes in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut having that, I mean, just in the office day-to-day, you know what I mean? I think that&#8217;s a great thing to have. And obviously him having the level of perception and awareness that he had of having wrestled for so many years, you know what I mean? He understands how the talent feels. He understands how the publicity work feels. He&#8217;s understood over the last few years how the business end feels as well. So, yeah, I mean, he&#8217;s become an all-rounder and growing into that role, too.\u201d<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3867587356\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>To listen to the entire interview with Chris Charlton <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/govip\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GO VIP<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>NJPW G1 Climax 36: Night 1 airs on July 11 at 8pm Eastern on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.njpwworld.com\/?mc_cid=7e679c7fcb&amp;mc_eid=bffe8cf496\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NJPW World.<\/a> The tournament then resumes in Japan on July 18 and you can watch every G1 Climax 36 event with a subscription to NJPW World. Tickets are currently on sale for the G1 Climax 36: Night 1 in Chicago at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ticketmaster.com\/event\/0400646AE39194F6?mc_cid=7e679c7fcb&amp;mc_eid=bffe8cf496\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ticketmaster.com<\/a> and fans can get 20% off tickets using the code G1CHICAGO.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wade Keller Post-show (7\/1) - AEW Dynamite w\/Keller &amp; Lilly\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vvDaa6jptyo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>NJPW announcer Chris Charlton said one of the ways that NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi\u2019s influence on the company can be seen is in the resurgence of the recent Korakeun Hall cards. \u201cI think one of <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/07\/08\/njpw-announcer-chris-charlton-says-njpw-president-hiroshi-tanahashi-brings-a-light-atmosphere-behind-the-scenes-discusses-how-tanahashi-has-strengthened-korakeun-hall-shows\/\" title=\"EXCLUSIVE: NJPW announcer Chris Charlton says NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi brings a &#8220;light atmosphere&#8221; behind the scenes, discusses how Tanahashi has strengthened Korakeun Hall shows\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":171205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4247,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prowrestlingnews","category-interview-highlights","category-news_japan"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2023\/12\/IMG_6199.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219108"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219113,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219108\/revisions\/219113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}