New CyberFight president wants to ‘strengthen relationship’ with WWE

The new president of Pro Wrestling NOAH and DDT’s parent company wants a stronger relationship with WWE.

Yasuaki Okamoto, who was appointed as the new president of CyberFight on Wednesday in a press conference, said one of Cyberfight’s targets was to strengthen their relationship with WWE.

CyberAgent, the parent company of CyberFight, also owns ABEMA, a streaming service that is the new home for WWE content in Japan including Raw, SmackDown, and premium live events.

WWE and Pro Wrestling NOAH have worked together in the past. Shinsuke Nakamura took part in a NOAH event back in 2023 where he wrestled The Great Muta in one of Muta’s final matches before retiring later in the year.  KENTA, who was under contract to WWE in 2018, participated in Naomichi Marufuji’s 20th anniversary show that year losing to Marufuji.

Wednesday’s press conference saw Keiji Muto being appointed as an official scouting advisor for Pro Wrestling NOAH. It was also announced that Ulka Sasaki and Eita would be officially joining NOAH.

Daily Update: Big E, AEW notes, CyberFight Festival

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TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • Chad Gable wrote a statement on Twitter about he and Otis’ relationship as a team after they won the Raw Tag Team titles last night on Raw.
  • John Cena was on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
  • In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Big E said he was disappointed with how his WWE title run ended. “I wanted it to be a five-course meal, and it was more of an appetizer,” he said. “I’m overly critical of my work to begin with, so I wouldn’t say I was happy with it. My hope was to knock it out of the park, and I fell a bit short. So it’s motivating to start that climb back.”
  • The company has filed a trademark for the term ‘As Good as It Gets”.
  • A behind-the-scenes video from Sasha Banks’ College Football National Championship intro that aired on Monday night.
  • Free matches added to WWE’s YouTube account today include Dolph Ziggler vs. Drew McIntyre from the December 3, 2018 edition of Raw, John Cena vs. Randy Orton vs. Kofi Kingston from the January 11, 2010 edition of Raw, and a battle royal from the January 19, 2004 edition of Raw.

AEW

  • Road to Dynamite: Raleigh has been uploaded to AEW’s YouTube account, focusing on Sammy Guevara vs. Daniel Garcia, Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Dante Martin, CM Punk vs. Wardlow, and Hikaru Shida vs. Serena Deeb.
  • Mikey Ruckus was interviewed by Bandcamp about his music, how he started doing music for independent talent, and his work in AEW. 
  • Ruckus went into detail on Twitter about a hip hop compilation for Black History Month featuring AEW talent after Mark Henry confirmed the project in an interview.“This has been in the works for a while,” he wrote. “To give a better understanding. I assembled many familiar producers, musicians, rappers/artists within our pro wrestling space to come together and make amazing music that tells the stories of our black talent. This is a celebration of black excellence. It is pure, authentic storytelling. Each star getting an original song written about their come up. We will press a limited commemorative CD for purchase with 100% of the proceeds going to charity. You will hear music made by the following: @IamLioRush, @PlatinumMax, @SonnyKissXO, @IsiahKassidy, @MegaRan, @OmegaSparx, @JDeanWilliams, @DARTrueGod, @R8edR_, @IAmBrinson, @WilliamRBR, @RighteousReg, @ItsBliz, @sir_tizzy09 @mistercutright. The music that is being turned in is amazing & I cannot wait for the world to hear!
  • Sammy Guevara’s latest vlog.

Other Wrestling

  • Johnny Gargano on Twitter: “You know when I start working out to wrestling theme songs.. the itch is slowly starting to come back..”
  • Additionally, Gargano released a limited “Iron Man” colorway of his t-shirt that runs through January 25.
  • Tony Deppen vs. Dark Sheik has been added to GCW’s card in Detroit, Most Notorious, on January 14.
  • Tom Hannifan is the guest on this week’s Oral Sessions with Ranee Paquette.
  • CyberFight, the parent company of Pro Wrestling NOAH, DDT, and Tokyo Joshi Pro, will hold their second annual CyberFight Festival on June 12 at the Saitama Super Arena.
  • NOAH has uploaded the entire match between Kastuhiko Nakajima and Go Shiozaki from January 1 on their YouTube channel.
  • Sean Ross Sapp talked to Zicky Dice on the NWA, and his Impact deal.
  • Former WWE star Ariane Andrews, best known as Cameron, has launched a new fitness app.
  • Bret Hart has announced a new NFT venture.

NOAH, DDT parent company announces CyberFight Festival 2021

CyberFight has announced a new interpromotional event that will take place in June at the Saitama Super Arena.

In a press conference held this evening, CyberFight announced their CyberFight Festival 2021 event will take place on June 6th. It will feature matches from the four brands under the CyberFight umbrella: Pro Wrestling NOAH, DDT, Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, and Ganbare Pro. It was also noted that all of the major championships (GHC World Heavyweight, KO-D Openweight, and Princess of Princess Championship) would be defended.

There are also plans for cross-promotional matches. However, NOAH and DDT president Sanshiro Takagi noted there were no specific plans for the matches yet.

Two promotions under the CyberFight umbrella have made moves recently to put their top championships on established names from the past. Keiji Mutoh won the GHC Heavyweight title earlier this month at Budokan Hall, while Jun Akiyama holds DDT’s top title, the KO-D Openweight Championship.

Pro Wrestling NOAH, DDT to merge into single company

DDT and Pro Wrestling NOAH will soon merge into one promotion.

A press conference was held this morning to announce the merger of the two companies into one promotion, which will be called CyberFight. The promotion will be named after DDT and NOAH’s parent company, CyberAgent. These changes will go into effect on September 1.

Both promotions, as well as Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling and GanPro, will continue to operate as separate brands within the promotion. Sanshiro Takagi, who recently took over as president of Pro Wrestling NOAH in January, will serve as president of the new promotion with NOAH star Naomichi Marufuji and DDT star Akito serving as EVPs. 

In the press conference, Takagi stressed that the in-ring content of both promotions will remain the same. He said that the move to merge the companies is a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to streamline costs.

Takagi also said that one of the goals of the new company is to run a Tokyo Dome event.