The biggest news coming out of All Japan’s Fan Appreciation show was the announcement that, as of October 10th, Jun Akiyama would be stepping down as President of the company. Such news sent shockwaves through the fan base as All Japan has been plagued by boardroom instability since the Misawa exodus. This volatile environment has destroyed many of All Japan’s rebuilds. On the surface, Wednesday’s news felt like the continuation of this cycle.
Thankfully, this was not the case as the announcement signals a change within All Japan’s management structure. Akiyama will still be with the company in the form of the newly created GM position (a first for AJPW) with the Presidency being moved over to businessman Takeshi Fukuda. But what does this actually mean for All Japan moving forward? Well let’s take a look from both a wrestling and business stand point.
From a wrestling perspective, not a whole lot will change in terms of what you see in the ring. Since taking over as President in 2014, Akiyama has done a tremendous job in rebuilding a decimated roster. The newly created GM role will keep Akiyama close to the in ring product and the wrestlers involved. Booking, talent scouting and running of the dojo will remain under Akiyama’s control and ensures his vision for All Japan remains intact. With the untimely passing of Atsushi Aoki last month, Akiyama lost not only a personal friend but his right hand man. Aoki assisted with talent relations, running the wrestling side of the business and was the head trainer at the dojo. His passing placed more responsibility on Akiyama from a wrestling stand point, so now feels like the perfect time to alleviate the pressure of running the company on a daily basis.
But what does the transition to Fukuda mean from a business perceptive? This is a little harder to answer and we may not know the full extent of the change until October 10th. With that said, Fukuda isn’t an outsider coming in to the promotion. Fukuda had been backing All Japan as an owner so he is familiar with the current product. This also means that he has an established working relationship with Akiyama. From the comments made during the press conference, Fukuda is happy with the direction and growth of All Japan. As a whole, All Japan’s houses are up with the addition of AJPW TV (All Japan’s streaming service) providing a steady revenue stream.
Therefore, Fukuda’s focus is to continue to help expand on the foundation that Akiyama has laid down. He states that there will be a heavy focus on retaining the current crop of talent. This suggests there’ll be no change to the current contract structure. A move that lead to further talent exits when Akiyama took over in 2014. If this holds true, then it will continue to add stability to All Japan and hopefully lead to more wrestlers signing permanent contracts. With New Japan’s continued raise, retaining talent is vital to the survival of All Japan and smaller promotions across Japan.
Personally, I’m cautiously optimistic with this announcement. I’m keen to learn more about business side of this restructure and how Fukuda plans to continue the finical growth. However, allowing Akiyama to focus purely on the wrestling side of the business can only be a positive. In the five years since taking control of All Japan, he’s taken them from being a laughing stock to forming a solid foundation. His vision has led to establishing Kento Miyahara as the Ace, developing young talent in Naoya Nomura and Yuma Aoyagi, investing in pre-existing talent such as Jake Lee, Zeus and Dylan James and bringing in talent such as Koji Iwamoto. Giving him the freedom to solely focus on this vision is an exciting prospect. Yes, the history of previous boardroom fights still hangs heavy over this announcement. However, this time we have a figure stepping forward into the spot light than a complete change in philosophy. This fact gives me hope that All Japan can break away from its previous cycle.
Fighting Fullosophy 