NJPW G1 Climax: Dallas

[BestSportsEntertainer]

They're trying to expand in the US, but a 20,000 seat arena is... well, bold. I couldn't find an update on ticket sales, but this won't come close to selling out.

However it does look like a great card. The last 3 matches are SANADA vs Zack Sabre Jr, KENTA vs Kota Ibushi, and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada.

[Jack-Hammer]

The formation of All Elite Wrestling and the fact that it was formed by most of the biggest draws New Japan has had in the last 4 or 5 years is a significant blow. Not that they still don't have a good product and all that, but whenever I read a story talking about New Japan or read some sort of Op-Ed piece on it, the central figures of the article were quite often the Bucks, Cody, Omega, Jericho or some combination of any or all of the above. Among American fans, those were the names they were familiar with and those were the names that were the primary draw. Without them, the buzz and general coverage of New Japan in 2019 regarding New Japan isn't nearly what it has been compared with the past few years. Even when the Bucks, Cody and Omega were still working with/for New Japan, if I remember correctly, their last few American shows out west didn't come anywhere close to expecations in terms of the number of tickets sold.

In some ways, at least based on people I've talked to and have known as fans for years, some of the differences between Japanese and American fans are significant. The language barrier is a big issue for many American fans, it's just simply a lot more difficult to really, really invest in someone who speaks a different language. Some will be impressed enough by the in-ring abilities and match qualities to look past that, but I don't think that's true for most. Among American fans, Cody, the Bucks and Omega had been synonymous with New Japan for a few years now and had led to something of a boom in terms of drawing English speaking fans but with them doing their own thing now, a lot of English speaking fans are now more interested in seeing what AEW is capable of rather than investing more in New Japan.

Jon Moxley working with New Japan has been something of a boon for them, he might be a bigger star among American fans than Cody, the Bucks and Omega combined, but, eventually, I think he'll sign with AEW exclusively within the next several months. New Japan's best bet, for now, might be to just do what they can to forge a working relationship with AEW and go from there. Plus, if WWE manages to get itself back on track creatively and is able to draw some lapsed fans back in, then that's a far bigger hurdle for New Japan to jump over.