Report: NJPW Has Discussed Running Empty Arena Shows

The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The promotion had big plans for 2020 as they were looking to push on with Tetsuya Naito as the Double Champion, and other stars like Will Ospreay were set to be prominently featured in the heavyweight division. NJPW also planned to continue its expansion into the United States by holding Wrestle Dynasty at Madison Square Garden on August 22.

The pandemic has forced New Japan to cancel all these plans, however. Their last show was back on February 26 and the promotion cancelled Best Of The Super Juniors 27 earlier this week and Wrestle Dynasty was postponed to 2021.

With no events currently scheduled for the foreseeable future, Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that NJPW has discussed running empty arena shows. 

Meltzer said: "They are now talking about empty arena shows which for a long time they were not even considering."

If New Japan did decide to go ahead with empty arena shows, they could not be held until at least June 1 as the state of emergency in Japan was extended until May 31. With the cancellation of Best Of The Super Juniors 27, however, it seems more likely that NJPW wouldn't run any shows until after June 6.