AJPW President Reveals Why Partnership with WWE Ended

WWE and All Japan Pro Wrestling formed a partnership at the end of 2023, but it was short-lived as the companies stopped collaborating soon after. Fans speculated about the reasons behind the sudden end of the partnership, and now AJPW President Takeshi Fukuda has revealed the reason for their partnership ending.

While speaking to Tokyo Sports, Takeshi Fukuda, referring to WWE as the “top entertainment company,” explained why AJPW’s partnership with the company came to an end. Fukuda explained that he discovered an exclusive deal had been signed between a major Japanese corporation, notably CyberAgent and WWE through the corporation’s video distributor, ABEMA.

This deal also involved other domestic wrestling organizations. Neither the top executives of Pro Wrestling NOAH, nor AJPW’s key decision-makers seemed aware of the arrangement initially. Fukuda said he had hoped to create a strong partnership with WWE but was disappointed when the exclusive deal was revealed. When he told AJPW’s main leader, known as the “mastermind,” about it, they didn’t believe him. This led to the end of the WWE-AJPW partnership.

At that time, I still thought that I could build a good relationship with a certain organization that might lend me a hand. However, I learned a shocking truth. It turned out that a large Japanese company had signed an exclusive contract with a certain organization through its video division and with other domestic organizations. Neither the top management of the other company nor the mastermind behind our company knew about this fact.

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I was disappointed that I could no longer build a relationship with that organization. When I told the mastermind about it, he didn’t believe me at all. So I decided to leave the mastermind.”

In 2020, CyberFight, a subsidiary of CyberAgent, was formed to manage Pro Wrestling NOAH, DDT Pro-Wrestling, and Tokyo Joshi Pro. CyberAgent also owns ABEMA, which is the aforementioned streaming platform that now hosts WWE content in Japan, including RAW, SmackDown, and premium live events.

Earlier this year, Yasuo Okamoto, President and Representative Director of CyberFight, stated that one of their main goals was to “strengthen the relationship with WWE.” Regardless, it’s unfortunate WWE and AJPW’s partnership ended as there was certainly a lot more that could have been done in the end.