Rossy Ogawa Launching New Promotion Following STARDOM Firing
Rossy Ogawa launching his own promotion following STARDOM exit
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Feb 6, 2024
Following his firing from World Wonder Ring STARDOM, Rossy Ogawa is looking to launch a new promotion.
Ogawa told Tokyo Sports: "A new organisation? That's right. I want to do again what we can't do here. There are quite a few things we can't do here. Because we are a big company, we can't do everything."
Ogawa's firing was made official on Sunday night, with STARDOM claiming that he tried to poach talents from the promotion. Ogawa's departure was originally scheduled to take place on February 18, with relations between the STARDOM and Bushiroad founder having been troubled for the past several months due to the parent company's interference in Ogawa's booking.
Ogawa rejected the accusation that he tried to poach talent, saying: "We did not do this. After hearing the rumours, there were a lot of players who wanted to come to this (new organisation). I guess they were panicked too. However, President (Taro) Okada 'accepted' (the new organisation). He said, 'We'll make an offer to (Yokohama) BUNTAI,' and 'Let's have a rivalry match two years from now on the 15th anniversary. I was like, 'What are you talking about now? I don't want to get into a mud-slinging match.'"
STARDOM President Taro Okada in his own interview with Tokyo Sports addressed Ogawa's firing:
"Around December, we began to hear information that Mr Ogawa was poaching people out of the company. We had always verbally told him, 'If you are doing that, please stop' and 'We would like to continue working together in the future,' but we were able to confirm that he has continued to do so since then, so we have taken these measures."
Many of the talents set to leave STARDOM are top wrestlers in the promotion and Okada stated the promotion might have to close in a worst-case scenario.
"We are aware that many of the wrestlers (who have been poached) are title holders and other popular wrestlers. If those wrestlers leave... in the worst-case scenario, there was a possibility we would have to close the company. After internal consideration, we notified STARDOM that we would be terminating the contract immediately," Okada added.
