Back in October, New Japan announced they were establishing a California-based subsidiary, New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America, as part of the final phase of their expansion into the U.S. market.
The announcement included touring plans, targeting five regions of the country. Yesterday, they tweeted a schedule for their first 2020 swing. It will take place in the southeast:
Coming in 2020!
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) December 10, 2019
The New Beginning USA!
1/24 St. Petersburgh Coliseum, Tampa!
1/26 War Memorial Auditorium, Nashville!
1/27 Durham Armory, Raleigh!
1/30 Charles F. Dodge City Center, Miami!
2/1 Coca-Cola Roxy, Atlanta!
Details: https://t.co/uWkmmkV5mf#NJoa #njnbgusa pic.twitter.com/OwuPQPZMqI
On their launch graphic, the south region was listed as including six cities across four states. This is obviously only five, but the company never specified how many shows they’d run in 2020, when they’d get to each region, etc. The venues hold approximately 2,000, which is in line with what management indicated they’d be targeting.
The art for the tour also features the main NJPW logo, not the new one they unveiled for the U.S. subsidiary. That also probably doesn’t mean anything. But seeing as this trip runs concurrently with The Road to New Beginning tour in Japan (which has shows Jan. 25 - 29 and Feb. 4 - 6) and New Beginning events on Feb. 1 - 2 before the main one on Feb. 9, it will be interesting to see how they juggle talent between their big Japanese stars and the L.A. Dojo trainees they’ve used on past tours of the States.
Cards won’t be announced until after Wrestle Kingdom 14.
Will rasslin fans go check out some puroresu?