Bushiroad has announced that they have fired STARDOM founder Rossy Ogawa.
The parent company of New Japan Pro Wrestling released a statement on the STARDOM website, pointing to the knowledge that Ogawa “poached many Stardom players and staff” as the reason for the firing:
“Since 2019, our company has entered into a contract with Rossy Ogawa, the founder of Stardom, and has appointed him as an executive producer and outsourced work related to Stardom. However, we would like to inform you that we have come to know that he has poached many Stardom players and staff, and we have decided to cancel this contract.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. As a company, we will continue to aim for the further development of Stardom, and the players and staff will continue to work together to deliver excitement to all the fans, so we will continue to receive the same compliments as before. I am very fortunate.”
Ogawa, who founded the promotion in 2010, has since posted on social media, stating he was informed of the firing after the promotion’s event the previous night before saying “the truth of the matter may be told someday” and that he was “worried about the players right now”:
Following up on the news, F4WOnline has reported that Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer will have more on the situation in an upcoming Wrestling Observer Radio, after Alvarez noted that the story is “way bigger than just Rossy leaving.”
AEW President Tony Khan took to social media to comment on the situation: