New Japan quickly sells out both New Beginning USA shows

New Japan’s mostly taken a measured approach to their expansion into the United States. There was some debate over their decision to play a 12,000 seat arena like the Cow Palace, as they did to a roughly 60% house for July’s G1 Special in San Francisco show. Even though that event still brought it in at the gate (because the most expensive tickets were the ones which sold while the cheap seats sat empty), NJPW took a step back. They let their U.S. partner Ring of Honor take the lead on their next show in a full-sized building - WrestleMania weekend’s G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden - while they focused on smaller venues in their American home base of Los Angeles and a move into the traditional wrestling hotbed in the southeast - Charlotte, North Carolina.

Tickets for the two shows, dubbed The New Beginning USA and set for L.A.’s Globe Theater on Jan. 1, 2019 and Charlotte’s Grady Cole Center on Feb. 1, 2019 went on sale Saturday and...

Pretty impressive seeing as there’s no card announced for either show, and neither will likely feature loaded cards. Not only is the presence of acts like The Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes & Kenny Omega in question with their contracts expired or coming up in January and the announcement they’re teasing for Being The Elite (rumored to be their own promotion), but these events will not feature all the biggest Japanese stars as they’re running concurrently with the usual New Beginning tour in Japan. Some of the big names are expected to make the trip, and younger talent from NJPW’s L.A. Dojo will fill out the card.

The Globe holds somewhere between 600 - 1000 depending on how its configured. Grady Cole has nearly 4000 seats, but only 1200 tickets were initially offered. As Kevin Kelly’s tweet indicates, more will be released.