New Japan vs WWE

First up, thanks to everyone who visited the blog on Sunday, as we set the all time pageviews record, and then shattered it again on Monday!

> Hello Scott.
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> I’ve never followed New Japan, but the recent signings by WWE have peaked my interest in the company. I’ve heard they have merchandise and a streaming service, so are they in the same ballpark of WWE in terms of financial success? Do they consider WWE competition and now have to worry about “talent raids?” When I read about talent going to wrestle in Japan, I always assumed that the pay was good, but maybe not so because of the recent signings of AJ, Nakamura, etc?
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They’re not even in the same ballpark as WWE in terms of financial success, but they’re still up there enough to be #2 in the world. Pay is good by indy standards, but travel costs can be brutal if you’re not living in Japan, which is why WWE could so effortlessly sign away guys like AJ and the Bullet Club. They are actually signing guys to long term deals to prevent WWE raids now, like Okada, which is something they had never done before. The streaming service is neat, but there’s no TV interface app like Roku or Xbox so I ended up canceling around Royal Rumble. I’d heartily recommend checking out the show on AXS TV, though.