NJPW reveals IWGP Committee members
NJPW has named five members to its IWGP Committee, a group that oversees championship matches and tournaments in the promotion.
The restructured group was announced by NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi at the company’s pre-G1 Climax press conference. Tanahashi said that, while the committee has always been a vague concept to fans, he wants the audience to understand more about it. The committee will consist of the following five people:
- Former IWGP Champion Yuji Nagata
- NJPW legend Jushin Thunder Liger
- Former referee Tiger Hattori
- NJPW Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi
- NJPW board member Hitoshi Matsumoto
Tanahashi said the committee members will work closely with NJPW’s wrestlers and referees. There is no committee president, but group members “will attend various events and be on hand whenever required for decisions in [the] future.”
In December of last year, Tanahashi was named the new president of NJPW. He still competes in the ring but isn’t part of NJPW’s G1 Climax this year, marking the first time he hasn’t been in the tournament since 2001. Tanahashi lost to Oleg Boltin in NJPW’s G1 qualifier tournament.