NJPW Is Cursed: Factions Are Crumbling, Vision Is Lost, and No One’s Steering the Ship

The Soul of NJPW Is Cracking—and Everyone Pretends It's Fine.

💥 NJPW is in Shambles—and No One’s Saying It Loud Enough

New Japan Pro Wrestling is cursed.
And no, I don’t just mean that in a metaphorical “bad luck” kind of way—I mean deeply, spiritually, something-is-rotten-in-the-foundation cursed.

You know it’s bad when titles keep getting vacated, factions fall apart with no structure, and even the legendary IWGP Heavyweight Championship feels like it’s floating in a creative void.

I’ve been watching and covering this for years now, and I love NJPW. But I’ve reached a point where I’m sitting here just going: “What are we doing?”

This newsletter is a breakdown of all the madness—from Jeff Cobb’s exit to Callum Newman’s overreach, to why factions aren’t functioning, why the tag division is lifeless, and why nobody in the promotion seems to have a clue about long-term storytelling anymore.

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🧳 Jeff Cobb Leaves NJPW: An Opportunity or a Wake-Up Call?

Let’s start with the obvious. Jeff Cobb, one of the best heavyweights NJPW had, is gone. He should’ve been IWGP World Heavyweight Champion at some point. But instead of giving him the push he deserved, they handed him the NJPW TV title—a short-format, 15-minute belt made to push subscriptions. Come on.

His departure left the IWGP Tag Team Championships vacated. Because of poor planning, poor vision, and no backup strategy.

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🧢 Callum Newman’s “Leader Era” & Why It’s Way Too Soon

With Cobb gone, Callum Newman stepped up at the press conference and said he wanted to challenge Goto for the World Heavyweight Championship. That’s bold. Too bold.

I’m not mad at Callum for having ambition. What I am calling out is the ego and lack of readiness. You can’t skip past the hard work of building your identity just because your partner dipped. And mimicking Will Ospreay’s moveset—cutters, pacing, gear—is not the answer.

This isn’t a personal attack. This is me giving real advice: Slow down. Find out who you are. Stop trying to get all your shit in. Build ring psychology. Connect with the crowd. And play the long game. Because that’s how leaders are made.

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🥀 The United Empire is Dead. Let’s Just Say It.

Will Ospreay’s exit left the group without direction. Davis and Fletcher leaving for AEW? Another blow. Henare’s injury? Brutal. And now The United Empire is just a ghost of what it used to be. The whole “we don’t have a leader” thing is not working. You need someone to regroup the pieces, give them purpose again.

Right now, the only person I see potentially leading is Great O-Khan—but even that feels undercooked. And with TJP, Henare out, and barely any other heavyweights left, this faction is limping. Once the most stylish, story-rich faction in NJPW, the United Empire is now just…there.

I used to be a huge fan. I loved their presentation. Their unity. Their war with Bullet Club War Dogs. But now? It’s over. And unless someone steps up soon, it’s time to close the book.

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🧩 The Broken Tag Division & Missed Opportunities

We could’ve used the Freebird Rule. We could’ve put Callum with Great O-Khan and let them run it back. Or we could’ve scouted new tag teams to elevate the whole division.

Instead? Goto and Yoshi Hashi—Bishamon—are getting another tag team title shot against Callum and Great-O-Khan. Again. Safe. Predictable. Uninspired. We need creativity in the tag division. And we need to build it, not just throw titles around to whoever’s not injured this month.

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🔄 Faction Fluidity or Booking Chaos?

What even are the factions anymore? CHAOS? Hontai? Just 5 Guys turning into Just 4 Guys after Sanada bounced. All of these alliances feel like loose associations with no real anchors. You want me to care about these groups, but there’s no glue.

And don’t even get me started on House of Torture and Sanada joining them. What sense does that make? It feels like no one is checking for consistency. No one is minding the faction storylines that used to be NJPW’s backbone.

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🎭 Wrestling Is Still Storytelling. Don’t Forget That.

This whole mess is happening because NJPW forgot what made it special: long-term storytelling, faction hierarchy, and meaningful title chases. Not everything can be perfect by the way. Right now, it feels like everything is being thrown at the wall—multi-man matches every show, no clear direction for the main event scene, and one or two compelling rivalries buried in clutter.

The Road To shows (like Road to Dantaku) are filled with these tag matches meant to build feuds—but if you’re not keeping up religiously, they just look like filler. And even then, the champion isn’t in the main event. Why is Goto not anchoring these shows if he’s holding the top belt?

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🧠 Callum vs. Goto: Not the Story You Think It Is

This match might happen, but it’s not the one we need right now. The better story would’ve been Callum fighting NJPW management, keeping the tag belts alive with a new partner, and proving his worth that way. That’s the underdog, rebuild arc that would’ve worked. Not jumping the line and calling out the company’s guardian, Goto, like it’s a video game and you skipped to the final boss.

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🦁 Factions Were Built on Trust and Unity—Not This

Let me break this down again: NJPW is built on factions because of Japan’s cultural value of togetherness. These groups exist to mirror that. But when leadership disappears (Gideon, where are you?), when founding members vanish without closure (Ospreay didn’t even hand off the torch properly), and when younger members want to run before, they can walk—things fall apart.

This isn’t just poor booking. This is cultural dissonance within NJPW’s own identity. If this doesn’t get addressed soon, more groups are going to disintegrate into meaningless labels.

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🎤 Final Thoughts: This Is Love, Not Hate

I care deeply about this business. That’s why I’m this passionate. I’ve worked backstage. I’ve helped craft SEO content for WWE Network. I break down matches and promos with respect and precision. I’ve seen what goes into this art form from the ground up. So when I say this, understand it’s not coming from hate—it’s coming from love, from vision, from experience.

NJPW needs to recalibrate.

You have talent. You have passionate fans. You have a history of greatness. Don’t waste it by being directionless. Take risks. Tell stories. Let your champions feel like champions. And if you're building the next generation—build it the right way. Brick by brick, not hype by hype.

I’ll be here calling it as I see it.

Until then…

Stay smart. Stay passionate. And stay tuned.

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✍️ Marie Shadows
Square Circle Podcast | Tape Study Series | MLW Media & Beyond
— “No hate. All love. Just straight-up real talk.”

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