Kazuchika Okada wanted Takami Ohbari out as NJPW president

Kazuchika Okada wanted Takami Ohbari out of NJPW. 

Ohbari stepped down from his role as NJPW president last week following a shareholder and Board of Directors meeting on December 23. Hiroshi Tanahashi was announced as his replacement.

Our own Dave Meltzer covered NJPW’s front office changes in today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Meltzer writes that NJPW losing many of its top stars to other companies, and failing to sell out the G1 finals this summer played a role in the change but Ohbari’s relationship with staff and talent was also a factor. 

Meltzer writes: 

Another key reason has been that there were issues with staff members and Ohbari’s usage of power over them. Another major reason was that Ohbari had heat with a number of people, including the company’s top star, Kazuchika Okada. Okada was said to have wanted him out. Others said that Ohbari never really understood the wrestling business and didn’t respect the value of Okada. One person said that Ohbari saw Okada as the lead role actor in a touring show.

The change in management comes just weeks after Sports Illustrated reported that Okada was “seriously entertaining” signing with a company other than NJPW. 

Meltzer’s coverage of New Japan’s management changes also includes comments from former NJPW staff. 

One former staffer wrote of Tanahashi replacing Ohbari:

Depending on how successful Tanahashi as president will be, it could be one of the best business decisions made by Bushiroad about NJPW.

Since 2013, all presidents were Bushiroad people (Kaname Tezuka and Katsuhiko Harada), or people chosen by Bushiroad (Harold Meij and Ohbari). It was the way Bushiroad controlled NJPW, but they were all people with either a little or zero experience in the industry so (they) couldn’t be popular enough among the NJPW talents and employees. While it was one of the reasons why all of them didn’t last long, Tanahashi has no such issues and should be meant for a long-term as president that would give NJPW stable leadership.

Though the power structure will remain the same (Bushiroad will always remain the highest decision maker), Tanahashi’s regime should influence their power balance for the better for NJPW.

Another former NJPW staffer offered the following:

I think it’s great. He’s going to be a guy who changes how you do business

I know he sees NJPW as being the WWE of Japan and he is young enough to enact changes and get New Japan out of the dark ages of how they do business.

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