According to a New Japan source, initial negotiations between Sasha Banks and Bushiroad began many months ago, shortly after Banks walked out on WWE. STARDOM reached out to Banks almost immediately, with Rossy Ogawa telling talent at that time that Banks expressed mutual interest, noting that she actively followed the promotion and even noted specific talent she was interested in working with. Banks also told STARDOM she would not be taking wrestling bookings until 2023, which lines up with reports by multiple outlets at the time. However, Ogawa immediately lost interest when Banks presented an exorbitant asking price well beyond STARDOM’s budget.

A few months later, Ogawa was given the green light to pursue the deal by Bushiroad president Takaaki Kidani. Currently, there is what has been described to us as a “limited appearance deal” on the table with a per appearance fee that would be significantly higher that what New Japan paid for Chris Jericho, and would make Banks “by far” the highest paid Bushiroad contracted wrestler. The impression we were given is Bushiroad does not feel they can afford to invest in Banks beyond a small number of limited dates. We were unable to confirm whether Banks has signed the deal at this time. Both Mike Johnson and Dave Meltzer have reported that Banks will appear at the Tokyo Dome on January 4.

The idea would be to have Banks work a program around the IWGP Women’s Title. As reported in this space months ago, Bushiroad is determined to not only solidify STARDOM as the undisputed number two promotion in Japan, but also to increase STARDOM’s visibility worldwide, particularly in the west, where Bushiroad feels there is a hole in the market for high quality all women’s wrestling. The IWGP Women’s Title was conceived to help increase awareness in STARDOM, and the hope is that Banks working a program around the title will draw interest from western fans who will then continue following STARDOM after her deal is up.

Regarding Trinity Fatu (Naomi), in asking multiple sources, we were unable to confirm any interest from the Bushiroad side.

We are told the New Japan office was caught totally off guard by CyberFight announcing Shinsuke Nakamura for the NOAH Budokan Hall show on January 1. This came on the heels of Bushiroad being disappointed in not securing the Keiji Muto retirement show, which they fear has a real chance to outdraw their own January 4 show in the Tokyo Dome. Whereas Bushiroad see and treat New Japan and STARDOM as separate entities, they consider the collective groups associated with CyberFight as one singular promotion, with the corporate mandate to keep both New Japan and STARDOM ahead of CyberFight as the number one and number two promotions in Japan.

As reported in this space months ago, Bushiroad executives feel the NJPW Young Lion’s system moves too slowly, and have pushed  NJPW Chairman Naogi Sugabayashi and CEO Takami Ohbari to speed up the process so NJPW more closely resembles STARDOM in terms of pushing young stars. We’ve seen this process begin to play out with talent like Kevin Knight graduated suddenly (mid tour) from young lion status, the returns and early stage pushes of Shota Umino and Ren Narita shortly after the mandate was laid down, and other young lions being moved more quickly between excursion stops. These are directives from the top, with key veteran figures in the company still at odds with the strategy but at this point powerless to combat it. As we also noted here months ago, the NJPW TV title, with the directive to be focused around young talent, like the IWGP Women’s title, was an upper office directive, not a decision made by the on the ground booking team.

We’ve been told that there was a directive this past summer to create more separation between the domestic New Japan product and the international product (STRONG), with less crossover going forward (including the NJPW Extra show discontinuing coverage of U.S> based shows), which may have something to do with Tony Khan strongly hinting that New Japan content will appear on the ROH Honor Club streaming service. This also coincides with a directive to improve production quality on STRONG. TV ASAHI, which owns New Japan World, does not fund the production of STRONG or the U.S. PPVs, so has no vested interest in the international New Japan shows beyond additional content for New Japan World. This all hints towards the possibility that Khan struck a deal for Honor Club to be the exclusive home of STRONG and/or all of New Japan’s United States content, which should become clear come early January when Khan announces the details of the ROH “TV” show set to stream on the service.

Kota Ibushi’s New Japan contract expires during the first quarter of 2023. A source close to Ibushi tells us Ibushi has a “big money” offer on the table from CyberFight that far exceeds what he is currently being paid by New Japan (as reported in this space months ago, both sides agreed to stop the public sniping and quietly allow Ibushi’s contract to expire, and then part ways).

CyberFight wants Ibushi badly, primarily for Pro Wrestling NOAH but with the hope Ibushi will work big DDT shows as well (Ibushi had indicated recently that he isn’t interested in working DDT moving forward), with limited dates being something the CyberFight side is open to. CyberFight is said to be less open to Ibushi starting his own promotion under their umbrella (Ibushi is still pitching his idea for a non traditional promotion with bizarre shaped rings and wild storylines that he has talked about in the past), and there is major concern that Ibushi will move forward with a “tell all” bridge burning video expose of his treatment in New Japan which he is insistent on doing as soon as his contract expires. CyberFight is trying to talk him out of this, as depending on the content, it could make him untouchable.

Ibushi ending up with AEW is on the table. We’ve been given no indication that AEW would balk over concerns that it could sour their relationship with New Japan, which is said to be as strong as ever.

As noted here months ago, Ibushi has been healthy enough to wrestle for many months, and any comments from him that say otherwise are a total work. Whether or not he is in “ring shape” is unknown.

Lastly, PW Insider reported earlier today that Karl Anderson will be working WrestleKingdom on January 4. This lines up with our report months ago that New Japan and WWE had worked out two dates for Anderson to finish up business with New Japan.