New CyberFight President Wants To Strengthen Company’s Relationship With WWE

WWE has been attempting to gain a lot of important allies in Japan. Triple H has reportedly been interested in WWE getting a bit more involved in the area. At one point, there was an idea that they might open a Performance Center in the region. It would sort of act like a central hub for all Asian wrestlers WWE wanted to sign. This would likely even include an “Asian NXT” or “NXT Japan” type of thing. This might still be the plan for Triple H and WWE. Regardless of what happens, CyberFight wants to be involved.

For those unaware, CyberFight is part of a larger corporation known as CyberAgent. This is a notable digital advertising company in Japan. Due to being so successful in marketing & advertising, they went on to acquire Dramatic Dream Team Pro Wrestling, otherwise known as DDT Pro, in September 2017. DDT had been sort of a comedic company, where they made fun of the Western type of wrestling a lot.

Yet due to how good the performances were, DDT Pro would become a seriously successful company. Due to this, they were slowly earning their way up to become one of the noted “major promotions” in Japan. Yet that was solidified in 2020 when CyberFight purchased Pro Wrestling Noah, which had been part of the Big 4 Promotions in Japan for a long time.

CyberFight was now the owner of two big promotions in Japan. Interestingly, what is often forgotten is that the acquisition of DDT Pro also came with the purchase of Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling. This is an all-female promotion that was founded back in 2012.

All this being known, it would make sense for WWE to want to work with them. Yet it’s CyberFight that really needs this.

CYBERFIGHT WANTS A SOLID WWE RELATIONSHIP

It makes all the sense in the world for any Western company to partner with CyberFight. Being part of a larger, successful marketing company automatically makes them a great partner. This alone helped to raise the status of DDT Pro ever since they bought it in 2017. Plus, they followed companies like WWE and New Japan Pro Wrestling by opening the DDT Universe streaming platform.

This gave people access to DDT Pro content from anywhere in the world. Thereby allowing even more eyeballs to be centered in CyberFight overall. When Pro Wrestling Noah was purchased in January 2020, they automatically added Noah to its streaming platform. This began with the airing of the Noah Global Jr. League 2020, which took place later that same month.

That said, Noah & DDT Pro have done relatively well despite setbacks like the COVID-19 Pandemic.

While a lot of the success for both brands took place under successful CyberFight leadership, one issue was present. They did not seem to want to expand very much outside of Japan compared to places like NJPW. In fact, New Japan has an American Dojo now and various American shows taking place. Plus, they developed a partnership with AEW as well. They could continue to work with other American companies, including WWE.

FIGHT FOR WWE PARTNERSHIP

CyberFight realizes WWE is the best partner to work with. NJPW’s previous leadership seemed to hate WWE, which is what led them to partner with anyone but them. Of course, new NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi does not share that same hatred. Sadly, current partnerships might prevent NJPW from working with WWE for the time being. Yet new leadership also means a partnership with NJPW is not out of the question down the line.

CyberFight wants to get there first. Yasuaki Okamoto was named the new President of CyberFight this month. In his press conference where the world was informed of his appointment as President, he claimed he wants to “strengthen the company’s relationship with WWE.”

To be fair, CyberFight only has a small connection with WWE. Which could be what he meant by “strengthening” the relationship.

He might be referencing the fact that WWE allowed Shinsuke Nakamura to face the Great Muta in his last match at NOAH The New Year 2023. Ironically, NOAH is not done with Muta in the least. They named him Pro Wrestling Noah’s new Scouting Advisor. He, of course, went into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2023.

This move screams an attempt to put the right people in place to ensure a solid WWE partnership long-term.

CyberFight seems to realize that WWE is going to get into Japan regardless of their help. They could pull in a lot of great young talent, removing them before they could work for one of the other major Japanese promotions. If this happens, everyone loses in Japan.

THE SMART MOVE:

Thanos told the Avengers: “I am inevitable.” He did not say this because he knew he was going to win. He said this because it was true, that no matter what anyone ever did, he was going to do what he wanted. No one was going to stop that process, and he was right. They literally had to use time travel to defeat him. WWE is Thanos here, in that they’re going to make their way into the Asian market. This is going to begin in Japan, and they all need to know that it’s coming.

When WWE opened their UK Performance Center and NXT UK, they worked out a ton of deals with local companies. Most of the top English promotions worked with WWE at the time, because they knew they had to. If they didn’t, talent might be barred from working with them. Companies that did not embrace the WWE partnership saw far fewer appearances of the local talent signed by WWE, to the shock of no one.

Eventually, a lot of those workers ended up leaving to work in the United States.

At that time, NXT UK was not as successful as it could have been. WWE selling off to now form the TKO Group has given the company access to more money than it knows what to do with, honestly. This makes an expansion much easier. Therefore, CyberFight is smart to get on board now. Plus, WWE wins a lot here as they have an incredibly valuable Japanese partner to start this move.

That said, we could be seeing something big take place.