New Japan Pro-Wrestling has canceled or postponed all of its remaining shows scheduled for January. New Japan made the announcement early Monday.
“With a number of wrestlers presenting elevated temperatures or being in close contact with same, and in accordance with event protocols, New Japan Pro-Wrestling has arrived at the difficult decision to cancel or postpone remaining live events on the schedule for January.
“We deeply apologize to fans for the inconvenience, disappointment, and concern caused by this decision, and appreciate your understanding.”
New Japan canceled three shows. They were scheduled for Tuesday, January 25 at the Toyota Crown Arena in Fukushima, Saturday, January 29 at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall, and Sunday, January 30 at Kamisu Bousai Arena in Ibaraki.
New Japan postponed and rescheduled the fourth show. It announced a new date on Monday. The show scheduled for Friday, January 28 will now be held on Monday, April 18 at Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall in Aichi.
Monday’s announcement came after New Japan pulled six wrestlers from a show last Friday. Toru Yano, Satoshi Kojima, Tomoaki Honma, Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, and TAKA Michinoku had participated in a 6-man tag team match on last Thursday’s New Japan show at Korakuen Hall. New Japan said one of the participants in the match was found to have a high temperature. It did not specify who that wrestler was.
New Japan held events over the weekend in Gunma and Tochigi. None of the wrestlers pulled from Friday’s card appeared on those shows.
All of the shows are part of the company’s Golden Series tour. It’s part of the celebration of the company’s 50th anniversary.
New Japan plans to resume live touring on Sunday, February 6 with its show in Chiba. Its next major show is at Xebio Arena Sendai on Friday, February 11. The scheduled main event for that card is El Desperado defending the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Master Wato.
